Leadership: Large Group Interventions Case Paper
Scenario 1
Future Search seems to be the best option for solving the existing problems of the college that students or employees bring. Since we have no experience running a college before, the complaints and suggestions must be handled carefully. For this matter, Future Search seems valuable as all stakeholders from the concerned departments would be invited to a meeting that would have a top-down approach to designing the future of the college (Norum, 2005, p. 405).
By designing the future, it is meant that the three simple phases of the meeting would help craft the action plan required for eradicating the issues faced at the college currently. The three phases are reviewing the past, where we stand at present, and what the future direction of the college is (Nixon, 1998).
Every stakeholder would have their say in the matter, and the process would be all-inclusive since their opinions would matter as they would be directly related to the issues they face. For example, involving students at this stage would help analyze the situation of educational delivery that is not satisfactory on the students end. The self-management and responsibility from the top management and the leadership would be gathered collectively to ponder the formulation of a comprehensive whole system (Nixon, 1998).
The setting of a round table for the stakeholders, preferably eight, as suggested by Future Search design, would be convenient (Leith, 1996). The reason for saying so is that the structure of the conference would facilitate an open flow of conversation leading to the desired future direction of the institute. The shared vision is communicated among all stakeholders since, without any experience running the college, it would be better to take advice from experts. The issues they face would be based on past incidents in the field, and they would know what could work better, which is mandatory for whole system participation (Leith, 1996). Once it is ascertained that stakeholders are on the same page, the purpose of creating a shared vision for setting the right future direction will be attained.
Scenario 2
Open Space Technology might be suitable in this scenario since there is a conflict between senior executives of finance and management departments and young video game designers. The reason for opting for this method is that the seniors should not be included in this meeting when they have made up their minds already about the solution (Rogers, 2010, p. 103). Similarly, in this scenario, if experienced executives of finance and marketing departments feel they are right, they would not help find a solution. Hence, arriving for and then leaving the meeting...
The law of two feet means moving on wherever the participant feels he can make a worthy contribution (Nixon, 1998). The aim behind Open Space Technology for this scenario is the inclusion of all young video game designers, possibly from all over the world, and the finance and marketing executive, that too...
…have felt demotivated that their viewpoints were not valued, and the
conclusion only initially specified what the CEO wanted. It is similar to the disadvantage discussed in scenario 2, where Open Space Technology is of no use when seniors have made up their minds already about the decisions (Rogers, 2010, p. 103).
If they invest time and costs to conduct an Open Space Technology conference, just like the CEO of this scenario, the people who join the meeting to give their input should be valued. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time, as is seen when no implementation from the employees side is observed when they get back to work.
As the topics discussed would be related to the people of the organization, when people are not involved, which is not indicated in this scenario through the conclusion of the conference, the worth of the conference is low. With shared vision and responsibility, people appear more committed and willing to apply the outcomes to their daily routines at work. The companys future depends on the outcomes that should be carefully thought about by keeping in mind the best interests of all employees, or at least the majority.
Another possibility exists that if the CEO decides to call for another Open Space conference in the future, the employees might not participate as they would perceive that their contributions were not appreciated before, and the same would happen again. The intent of Open Space Technology is conflict resolution and setting the companys strategic direction instead of making it more complicated for the firm.
References
Leith, M. (1996). Organizational change and large…
