Chris Peterson at DSS Consulting
Presentation of the Facts Surrounding the Case
The case examines a dispute between Meg Cooke, DSS’s COO and Chris Peterson, newly appointed Southwest Region’s team leader. Cooke appointed Peterson a leadership role for one of the newly structured cross-functional teams designated to create a new integrated budget and planning system. The cross functional teams were tasked with building relationships with existing school districts in their regions and provide them a full range of DSS services and to develop new consulting offerings in response to the district’s needs. (Case 2010) Theses goals were created to facilitate a transition to servicing larger districts rather than the smaller districts, which
Her methods when dealing with Peterson and her team lead to confusion. Her managerial control and direction were minimal, due the delegation of direction to Peterson, which allowed her to act with maximum freedom. Peterson was allowed to develop a specific product for a small district regardless of the new DSS strategy to refocus its resources on acquiring larger school districts. Cooke needs to focus on redirecting Peterson and her team to achieving the newly desired mission the organization has set in place. That includes providing a direction and strategy which will integrate the individual and the organization ( Thirlwall, 2012). Peterson displayed her ability to effectively act independently. If Cooke would have provided more control pertaining to the direction Peterson and her group were heading the negative outcome could have been avoided.
Evaluation of Alternative Courses of Action
Better communication needs to be created between mid and upper management. Establishing better communication can provide several benefits for DSS. The first, which would be a necessity for any future DSS strategy to be successful would be team building. Team building can transition an organizations culture from cooperation to collaboration. By establishing team environment employees will feel they are a part of something. The feeling of being involved in something increases the effort employees will place in projects and designated task. Better communication also creates a culture