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MGT 423-C1. Action Research Strategy Plan. Social Sciences Essay

Essay Instructions:

This assignment is the Signature Assignment at the Emphasized Level of Quantitative Reasoning.
For this assignment, first carefully review the required background materials. Make sure you are highly familiar with the main steps involved in action research and organizational development discussed in the readings. When you are finished reviewing the background materials, take a close look at the scenario in the Case Assignment below.
Assignment Expectations:
- Answer the assignment questions directly.
- Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.
- Make sure to use reliable and credible sources as your references. Articles published in established newspapers or business journals/magazines are preferred. If you use articles from the Internet, make sure they are from credible sources.
Required Reading;
For a good overview of the foundational concepts of organizational development, read the following introductory book chapter. Pay special attention to the seven steps of action research, which will be a major emphasis for the Case Assignment:
Lurey, J. & Griffin, M. (2013). Section 2: Chapter 4: Action research: The anchor of OD practice. In Vogelsang, J. (ed). Handbook for Strategic HR: Best Practices in Organization Development from the OD Network. Saranac Lake, NY, USA: AMACOM Books, pp. 46-52. [EBSCO eBook Business Collection.
This chapter has more detail about the main steps of action research such as entry, contracting, etc. Note the names of the steps are a little different than the previous book chapter such as “action planning” instead of “planning change” or “research” instead of “data gathering and diagnosis”. But it is the same basic step-by-step approach:
Haneberg, L. (2005). Chapter 3: The action research approach to change. Organization Development Basics. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training & Development. [EBSCO eBook Business Collection]
Finally, review this more detailed chapter. Pay special attention to the section on action research as applied to organizational development which starts on page 20:
McLean, G. N. (2006). Chapter 1: What is organization development? Organization Development: Principles, Processes, Performance. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. [EBSCO eBook Business Collection.’
Assignment:
Action research is the process of inquiry that is used to assist an individual or organization in solving a problem or improving a situation. For each scenario below, think about the reasons why things did not work out well for the company and more specifically, think about action research in terms of developing a plan for action.
Your task for this assignment is to explain what steps the organization should take by reviewing the standard action research and organizational development steps covered in the background materials. Try to assess which key step is missing in the scenario below.
Then write a 4- to 5-page paper using three scholarly sources from the required and optional readings list addressing the following for the scenario below:
The Perils of XYZ Widget Company
Sales have gone down at the XYZ Widget Company and nobody in the organization, including the CEO, seems to know why. They decide to hire you, an organizational development consultant, to do some action research. You and the CEO spend a lot of time discussing how to proceed and create a contract. The contract specifies that you will limit the scope to finding factors that led to the decrease in sales, come up with a plan of action within one month, and answer the following questions using the background data from the scenario below.
Scenario:
XYZ Widget Company has lost 20% of its market share over the past two years resulting in a sales loss of 1.5 million in 2017 and 2 million in 2018 for a total of $3.5 million. Each widget costs the consumer $29.99 to purchase, and the average customer will purchase three widgets annually. Each XYZ widget is produced for $8 dollars and is of higher quality than the competition.
One competitor (Jim’s Widgets) in the widget industry with a similar product has increased market share by 12% due to a lower production cost of $4 per unit and price to the consumer of $9.99.
The CEO of XYZ Widget Company is reluctant to lower prices and has had to eliminate commissions and bonuses of sales employees who exceed goals. In addition, seven of the 21-member sales team were laid off for non-performance of sales goals.
Develop an Action Research Strategy Plan covering the following Action Research Phases in a report to the CEO.
Data gathering and Diagnosis
Feedback
Planning Change
Intervention
Evaluation
What are the reasons behind the decrease in sales?
What actions or strategy (data/sales/changes) should be taken to turn sales around and regain market share?
What strategy should be taken to increase employee morale?
How long should this strategy take to complete?

Essay Sample Content Preview:

ACTION RESEARCH STRATEGY PLAN
Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Action Research Strategy Plan
Organizational development ensures the organization is efficient for good performance. The good organizational plan ensures teamwork among employees, good communication, and highly motivated individuals in the organization. Organizational development (OD) existed long ago and has been in practice up to date. Today's OD strategy has been modified and sophisticated to ensure the excellent result from the organization. The action research plan has been integrated with OD to ensure maximum utilization of the developmental values. XYZ widget company has been faced with a challenge of incurring a 20% in the last report. This discussion focuses on the action research strategy plan that can be incorporated to minimize the losses and increase profits on the other hand.
The process of action research can begin by reviewing the financial report thoroughly to determine the company's key strengths and weaknesses. There are different things to look at during the financial report assessment, such as; the key revenue earners of the company and the main assists in determining the strength of the company. XYZ widget company is likely to thrive market share since it currently dominates the market with 64% (Haneberg, 2005). Developmental values have majorly focused on the product strategy to ensure high-quality widgets to win the market. Even though XYZ has a good product plan, it is currently facing stiff competition from Jim's widgets, which have come up with new features that are unique and user friendly (McLean, 2006). Data collection from the company was by use of a questionnaire that will be intended to cover various factors that might be affecting the company. Factors such as employee motivation, allowances, and duration of work were all covered, which were basically questions for the workers. Questions for staff, especially on the human resource on how they recruit the employees, were also key in determining the competitiveness of the recruits taken. Essential qualifications determine the competitiveness of the workers in their normal duties and responsibilities. The data collection process was done without interfering with the company's normal schedule, and the work went on as usual. Data collection was intense and involved 70% of the total capacity of the company (Haneberg, 2005). The specific area of interest was to see how the employees and staff are motivated on the ground. The company's recruitment process is generally good but has recently has reduced the strictness since some of the workers were found to have low grades in key areas such as information technology, which is very key for the company. Technology subjects, especially the STEM, should be of high grades to be considered for the qualifications during the company's recruitment. High qualifications and training during recruitment ensure there is innovativeness in the company.
The key feedback from the action research was that creativeness and innovation were the major reasons behind the 20% loss incurred by the company. The company clearly dominated the market earlier in the days since it was able to make high-quality products that initially had less competition. The curr...
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