CS Business Integration Plan: Diagnosis and Intervention Plan
The purpose of this project is to give your team an opportunity to put all your learnings in this class into ‘theory to practice’ mode and application. In essence, your team will act as consultants to a firm internal to your team (i.e. a firm where a group member is employed and is facing a CS dilemma). Following all of the concepts, theories, and overarching themes learned and discussed in this class, your team is asked to conduct an organizational diagnosis of the chosen firm.
The focus of the diagnosis should be to determine where the organization lies on the sustainability continuum described by Benn et al (2019), Ideally, we want to conduct this analysis on firms experiencing: rejection, non-responsiveness, compliance, and some level of efficiency, BUT NOT strategic proactivity, or sustaining stages – as they have already reached their CS ultimum. The team should gather evidence to support their diagnosis, including company reports, interviews with management, and descriptions of the company as described in the business press. The firm your team chooses can be external to the group, or internal if one of the group members is employed there.
The second part of the assignment is to design an intervention to take the organization to the next level (e.g., from compliance to efficiency, or beyond). How would you guide the organization through the change process? (draw here both from Benn et al., 2019; and Spector 2013) Teams should identify which models of change or transformation would best help the organization’s overall movement toward sustainability, and then use this plan to create a roadmap for change. This roadmap should be a visual depiction of the plan that you can share with the people who will be involved in making the change happen.
Teams should analyze the forces that may contribute to the organization’s evolutionary (incremental) and/or revolutionary (transformational) path of change, as well as the forces that may work against the change (e.g., what are the barriers? Where do you expect resistance to change?). Your diagnosis and change intervention should include recommendations for making the change “stick.”
Instructions: Recommended Project Outline
(Adapted from ADM 4317, Daina Mazutis, University of Ottowa)
Cover Page with Title of Project, Authors’ Names and Contact Info for every group member.
Executive Summary/or Abstract (1 page max): Provide a brief, succinct statement of the issue, the methods of your data collection, and your key findings, conclusions, and recommendations. A good executive summary provides a clear synopsis of your recommendations and includes a very brief statement on methodology used to justify your conclusions. The executive summary condenses the entire report into a mini version for those who will not read the full report. Hint: Write this last. Develop and share an overarching question, or set of 3 questions, which your team will then answer in the Conclusion (keep the audience intrigued…). Examples of overarching questions can include:
What motivated the firm to implement sustainability strategies and programs?
How do firms in this industry and sector accomplish this?
What were the reported barriers to integration? What drove the integration?
Are SDGs currently being addressed? Are they prioritized based on local needs?
Are Planetary Boundaries (PBs) being addressed in their sustainability reports?
Table of Contents
Overview of Target Organization (1-2 pages): What is the nature of the business or service provided by the organization? What is its history and mission? Are SDGs being integrated/addressed by this firm/organization? Are the SDGs prioritized based on local needs? Are SDGs being reported in their CSR/Sustainability communications? More specifically: does the firm/organization have a diversity and inclusion program in place? Is gender equity being addressed? What is the female manager count? How many women have a seat on the corporate board? What is the ethical climate like among management? Are ethics polices mentioned in their CSR reports? Please be very specific about these.
Organizational Diagnosis and Analysis (4-6 pages): Provide data to document your analysis of where your organization is in terms of Benn et al.’s sustainability phases. Describe data obtained from company CSR/CS/Sustainability reports, interviews with management or other key stakeholders, and descriptions of the organization as described in the press. Include any survey or checklists that you use to assess the level of sustainability progress. Use appendices if it makes sense. Include an analysis of the results of your diagnosis. Model your project write-up after a good consulting report, that is, one that would include graphs, charts, visuals, statistics, etc. that allow the reader to grasp the key findings quickly. Try to find ways to summarize the significant findings from your data analysis (e.g., interviews, surveys) in a compelling way.
CS Integration: Recommendation(s) and Organizational Change Plan (4-6 pages): Based on your analysis, what course of action does your group recommend that the organization take? What and who will need to change? What is your recommended implementation plan (timing, targets, tactics)? Is this a major change from the current ways of working? Are you recommending incremental changes or transformational changes? These will be your CS applications from Benn et al (2019). What recommendations do you offer to raise its gender equality, ethics and inclusive programs? Who (female) do you recommend to be on their corporate board? What type of ethical climate do you suggest the firm follow? What ethics agenda do you recommend?
You will need to also draw from Spector’s (2013) theories of organizational change and ‘theory to practice’ narratives to support your actual change in business model for the firm. How would you guide the organization through the change process? Which model of change or transformation would best help the organization’s (or sub-unit’s) movement toward sustainability?
Be sure to use this plan to create a roadmap for change. This roadmap should include a visual depiction of the plan that you can share with the people who will be involved in making the change happen. Include a discussion of the forces that may contribute to the organization’s evolutionary (incremental) and/or revolutionary (transformational) path of change, as well as the forces that may work against the change (e.g., What are the barriers? Where do you expect resistance to change? How do youplan to deal with it?). Be sure to include recommendations for making the change “stick.”
Conclusion and Next Steps (1-2 pages): Answer your overarching question (s) from your executive summary/abstract. Also, what do you foresee as the next steps the organization will need to make to move this project forward in the short term? What about the long term? What will be the major challenges and opportunities moving forward? What are the managerial implications for integrating/not going forward with your proposal? Specifically to the SDGs, which should be of concern to the firm/organization and why?
References: APA preferred. Note: I have provided a general outline. Feel free to adapt it to fit your needs. The actual number of sections and the specific headings (and sub-headings) of your paper will depend on the specifics of your project.
