Week 2 Application Assignment - Megan Irish

    While completing my undergraduate degree at Indiana University, I worked for some time at the theater on campus. To this day, It has been one of my favorite working experiences. This week, I spoke to my previous boss regarding organizational development styles that are employed at this venue. After our conversation, it was clear to me that the IU Auditorium employs an organizational design that is build for change. There were many aspects from our conversation that related directly to the reading “Designing Organizations that are Built to Change” by Christopher G. Worley and Edward E. Lawler III.

    Managing talent is the first important step in organizational design that is build for change according to Worley and Lawler. They claim that instead of outlining job descriptions and telling people what they should be good at, these companies encourage their employees to determine their own strengths (Worley & Lawler III, 2006). “At the Auditorium, students volunteer for at least a semester before they are able to submit an application for employment with us. This gives them the opportunity to explore the different roles performed and interact with the current staff. We feel that this allows the individual to decide what area he/she would most enjoy working and what area he/she has the skills set to excel” (J. Larkin, personal communication, February 4, 2012).  This mimics Worley and Lawler’s thoughts on managing talent.

    “The Auditorium also offers many perks for employment. Not only is it competitive pay for campus employment, employees get to attend shows from time to time to experience/test the customer service offered to all patrons.” (Larkin, 2012) These rewards exemplify the rewards system that Worley and Lawler claim an organization built for change should use. Speaking from the experience of actually working at this venue, there were many other rewards for hard work. Thank you dinners were held regularly. Being employed there, there was also a sense of ownership for the employee (jobs at the Auditorium were very hard to come by, if hired, one had a sense of pride that could be seen at each event.

    The leaders at the Auditorium also fell into Worley and Lawler’s theory. “The leaders at the Auditorium have always been those who started at the bottom and worked their way up. Everyone starts as a staff member, they learn from that experience. On any given show night, we have multiple house managers who work with the rest of the staff to run the event. No house manager would ever go against the rest of the team.” (Larkin, 2012)  This shared sense of knowledge and power goes along with ideas from this week’s reading. “There are also times that we shift the responsibility. We allow any employee to step into the role of house manager.” (Larkin, 2012)  Allowing the shift in responsibilities really allows for more knowledge to be shared. If someone has new ideas, he/she is more likely to share them if he/she feels the ideas will be heard and considered.

    While reading this article by Worley and Lawler, my time employed at the Auditorium immediately popped back into my head. While working there, I never considered the organizational design that was in play, but looking back, this style fits perfectly.  I thank my former boss for taking the time to add his thoughts on this comparison between this style of design and the Auditorium.

References:

Worley, C. G. & Lawler III, E.E. (2006) Designing Organizations That are Built to Change. MIT Sloan Management Review. 48(1): 19-23. Retrieved on February 4, 2012 from USC Libraries.