Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Kirkland
workshops that the committee should have
delivered in the past year. She finds herself
heading up the committee, and experiences
resentment from Jane Pruitt, the lead business
teacher. Terry is working with a committee with
4 3/2017
low motivation because of lack of performance
incentives. She has no support and involvement
from the school administrators, and is expected
to produce workshops that are relevant to
student, and business community needs.
However, lack of leadership commitment to the
project, poor team work, and other dynamics
results in students having little interest in the
project, and to Terry wondering, if she had lost
some of her credibility as an instructional
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Table of Contents
Contents
Table of Contents........................................................................................................ 2
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................... 4
Introduction /Background................................................................................................... 5
Introduction................................................................................................................ 5
Background................................................................................................................. 5
Population/audience affected in the case study......................................................................5
Target Audience for workplace readiness workshops:.....................................................................6
What needs to be Known.................................................................................................................6
II. Profiles and Problems Experienced in the Case Study.......................................................6
Challenges and Issues.................................................................................................... 8
Identifying the Performance Gap.......................................................................................... 9
III. Methods................................................................................................................... 9
Method to Confirm Gap........................................................................................... 9
Brainstorming Activity....................................................................................................................9
Environmental and Organizational Scans......................................................................................10
Gap Analysis..................................................................................................................................11
Data Collected........................................................................................................... 12
Data Analysis............................................................................................................ 13
IV. Key Findings from Analysis and Implications...................................................................15
Cause Analysis...............................................................................................................................20
Causes Impacting Performance.....................................................................................................21
Conducting the Cause Analysis.....................................................................................................21
V. Proposed Solutions and Other Recommendations...............................................................23
Supporting Evidence for Proposed Solutions......................................................................24
VI. Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 28
Appendices.................................................................................................................. 29
Appendix A. Needs Assessment Readiness Checklists..........................................................29
PREASSESSMENT......................................................................................................................29
SCOPING......................................................................................................................................30
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Appendix B: Organizational Analysis Survey-Performance Support Tool...................................31
Organizational Analysis (Focus group of internal and external stakeholders)..............................31
Appendix C: Environmental Analysis- Performance Support Tool-What is happening? Internal and
External Stakeholder Interviews and Surveys.....................................................................32
Organizational Environment Survey................................................................................ 32
Internal and External Stakeholder Interviews and Surveys.....................................................34
School Climate Survey (Administration and Teachers)................................................................34
School Climate Survey (Students).................................................................................................37
On course for the Future: Pathways after High School Student Survey........................................39
School board survey......................................................................................................................39
School Board Survey.....................................................................................................................39
Raw Data Results...........................................................................................................................40
Stakeholder Interviews: Excerpts from Business Community Responses:...................................40
Table 1 Demographic data for students hometown and school town in the county.....................41
Table 2 On Course for the Future: Pathways After High School...................................................41
Table 3. School Climate Survey Analysis......................................................................................42
Table 4. School Climate Survey analysis (Students).....................................................................43
References:.................................................................................................................. 47
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Executive Summary
This report provides an analysis of the needs assessment process and reviews the case:
The Trials of Terry Kirkland. Terry, an instructional designer, is hired to design a series of
conducting a needs analysis, and presents numerous problems and performance challenges that
hindered operational and strategic planning for the development, and design of a successful
Organizational, Environmental, Gap, and Cause Analyses were done to inform on what,
why, and how the emerging issues in the case influenced performance. An investigation of the
identified causes from conducting a Cause analysis revealed that multiple factors in the
environment including lack of leadership, lack of feedback, failure to include students in the
encountered.
instructional interventions are offered to resolve the root causes of the flaws in the workplace
readiness project, in the organizational environment. It is proposed that interventions and other
recommendations be blended and phased in over a 5 year period to target the corporate culture of
the school board, and school administration to effect changes in the current non- performance
culture of the committee members, the autocratic culture of the school board and the laissez-
Introduction
The Trials of Terry Kirkland describes a case study setting at Dundee High School. Terry
Kirkland, instructional designer was hired one week earlier by Dr. Jim Cranston, Assistant
Superintendent for Instruction and Vocational Services. She is introduced to the Workplace
Reading Project Committee (committee) by Mavis Barrett, the assistant principal, in the absence
of Dr. Cranston, who called earlier to say that he was unable to attend the meeting.
Background
The committee was recently told that an outside instructional designer was being brought
in to design a workshop project that had been in committee for a year and had never gotten off
the ground. The school board recently received a small grant and decided to engage Terry to get
the project up and running to design workshop series that would serve as a pilot project for later
implementation in the three high schools in Dundee County. Her task was to develop workshops
to introduce teenagers to workplace readiness skills desired by future employers. Though Terrys
credentials on paper were impressive she lacked working experience with teachers and with
students. Terry meets with the committee on an early November afternoon to attend her first
meeting, and encounters the challenges which portend her impending trials.
the discussions set the tone for the resulting problems experienced. He failed to communicate to
the committee, the projects importance, and of its support by the school board. In addition,
committed leadership presence from the school administration at the initial meeting might have
ensured a better working relationship between the newly hired Terry and the committee.
According to Kaufman, Brown, Watkins and Leigh (2003) Prior to beginning a needs
assessment, it is useful to conduct a quick audit to ensure that the necessary leadership is "on
The Assistant Principal, Mavis Barrett, who introduced Terry to the committee seemed
more attentive to her beeper, and was at its constant beck and call. The principal is not mentioned
till the presentation, and did not appear to show any commitment to the success of the project
from the start. The lack of leadership and stakeholder presence at the first meeting put Terry at a
disadvantage with the committee team. Jane Pruitt, did not see the need for hiring an
instructional designer, she remarked Look Terry, didnt they tell you we decided on the content
for our school to job workshop last year? Dwight Harris said it sounds like a bunch of jargon,
while Len Gold was prepared to give Terry a listening ear, Suzanne Fuentes was of the opinion
that there was no time for a needs assessment because they were already starting late. They
failed to realize that performing a needs assessment could guide decision making and justify the
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decisions made about the content of the workshops. The committee was relying on past
successes of already knowing what worked, which was no guarantee of the future success
The Workplace Committee seemed to have a performance problem, and felt threatened by
Terrys engagement to take the project forward. Terry had constraints on the time period in which
to schedule the workshop, and it seems that the rushed schedule negatively impacted the
projects completion and performance. Terry seemed to have little or no authority with the
committee, or with working effectively with a team of experienced teachers. No team building
appeared to have taken place, and communication between Terry and the committee seemed
inadequate. They were unprepared for a needs assessment. Had a Preassessment been done by
the school board, it would have been discovered the development of the project plan, project
time line, individual and team roles and responsibilities were not clarified and that the problem
with the status quo was not clearly understood. Kaufman, Oakley-Browne, Watkins, & Leigh,
Lack of audience engagement and committee buy-in for the initial preparations of the
workshop led to the student needs not being well researched, articulated, and catered for. The
student audience for the workshop was not properly investigated to identify their needs to guide
the data collection process. According to Morrison, Ross, Kalman and Kemp (2011, p.33)if the
designer fails to identify the problem properly, then the intervention may address only the
symptomsthe needs assessment sets priorities for selecting an intervention, and provides
the guest speaker Mr. Lawrence Tuthills experience in interacting with students compromised
the projects success. The project had been committee driven because the committee thought they
knew what content was best for the students as evidenced by Janes remarks, I know exactly
how to do it. The teachers may have thought that Terry, being an outsider was inexperienced for
the job. Terry, for her part neglected to perform a comprehensive audience and context analysis
of the schools culture and of the wider student audience. Had she done this she may have
investigated the ability of the featured speaker, Mr. Tuthill to deliver an engaging lecture to
students about how to get along on the job. Jane being unable to produce the expected
representative sample and willing facilitator for the formative evaluation was detrimental to the
needs assessment process for selecting an indicative sample of the student body to obtain
Terry thought her first instructional design for a school would work because she took the
results of the formative evaluation results from Lens History class as proof that students
benefited from the concepts presented, this class was not typical of the student body. She
wondered if the workshop content had failed to address the needs of college bound students, who
according to a bored workshop participant needed to know how to do well on the SATs and
write the best essay on the admission form. Not this junk! that was presented. After the bell rang
and the conference room emptied of students who did not wait to be dismissed following the
canned speech read from index cards delivered by Larry Tuthill, Terry wondered about the loss
of her credibility on the mid-March afternoon of the workshop on which the workshops was
performanceneeds assessment tends to focus on the past and present, while performance
analysis also looks to the future. An audit conducted prior to beginning the needs assessment
revealed that the leadership and all team members had not agreed on the purpose of the
Oakley-Browne, Watkins, & Leigh Please see Appendix A. Scoping. There was no common
An organizational analysis according to Van Tiem, Moseley and Dessinger (2012, p.133),
looks into the heart of the organization, its vision, mission, values, goals, strategies and critical
issues. Dundee High Schools culture, people and process will benefit from the alignment of
organizational elements in the performance analysis process. Vision, mission, values, goals and
strategies will be examined from an operational, strategic and tactical needs perspective. This
will be done to improve strategic thinking for prioritizing performance gaps, and gaining
consensus from all of the stakeholders and the society in which the organization lives.
Performance Gap Stated: Inaccurate identification of the gaps between the skills needed by the
overall student body led to inefficiencies in inclusion of key stakeholders; resulting in ineffective
analysis of the environment, incomplete needs assessment, and a negative gap in the results.
III. Methods
workshop done. This may have resulted from inadequate knowledge and skills.
2. The committee did not include students in the planning activities for the workshop
conflicts being improperly resolved. This adversely affected the norming, and
mandates from downtown, and not consulting or notifying the committee members
beforehand helped to create hostility from the committee members towards Terry.
5. Lack of performance incentives and motivation for the project by committee
Terry. They were unfamiliar with the process of instructional design for aiding the
learning process. They had not thought of getting the views and buy-in of external
stakeholders prior to Terrys suggestion. No review was evident of why they did not
could be improved.
affected in the case study above are all partners who will contribute valuable perspectives in
achieving useful ideas for making decisions in the operational needs assessment.
Gap Analysis
Gap analysis examines the current performance culture and compares it to the desired or
optimal performance situation in order to identify and define the existing performance gaps or
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needs. Several issues contributing to the gaps were identified in the case study in the
Actual performance: No delivery of the first readiness skills workshop by the committee
Optimal performance: Produce a complete needs analysis that identifies contextual issues to
examine the organizational, socio-cultural and external environment to create engaging and
Gaps identified in the organization ranged from critical to high, and are prioritized in Tool 1
below.
Tool 1
Performance Support Tool -Sample Priority Matrix Gaps identified in the organization
no ownership
Inadequate workshop relevance x
Inefficient communication
unclearly defined needs for the x
collected using a systems approach. There will be a pilot test of the tools for gathering
information to glean various perspectives. The tools will give insight on the issues affecting the
committees performance, and affecting the organization internally and externally. The tools and
techniques used will aid in prioritizing needs to help us to better understand the disparity
between the current and the desired results. This will help to determine who exactly is affected
Target Audience: Performers and decision makers internally and externally were
surveyed to glean strategic, tactical and operational needs perspectives. Goals, objectives,
policies, procedures, short and long term decisions that affected the implementation and success
of the workplace readiness workshops were also reviewed. Simple random sampling was used
for selecting a sample size of 90 students, and 30 administrators and teachers. The business
community and the school board will be interviewed and surveyed to gain their various
perspectives.
Data collection method: Permission was granted to collect data from a review of the
case study documents (Scans Report, Gantt Chart, Calendar of Events, interview notes etc.)
various performance and survey tools were created to gather data from the following sources:
The Needs Assessment Readiness Checklists in Appendix A will help to determine the
overall scope and plan of the pre-assessment to get justifiable information for decision making.
In this stage (assessment stage), techniques and tools will be used to collect data to get different
perspectives on the performance issues. In the post assessment stage the data collected will
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present opportunities for making recommendations and implementing a plan to make corrective
The sample survey questions for the organizational analysis (Mission, vision, goals and strategies
The sample survey questions for the internal environmental analysis (What is happening) and the
internal and external stakeholder interviews and surveys are outlined in:
Data Analysis
Quantitative analysis will be used to gather and interpret the data recording the responses
of stakeholder performers and decision makers, inside and outside the organization. The analysis
of the data for the various surveys will be done by categorizing and labeling the responses.
Excel will be used to analyze the responses from questions on the various surveys and tools to
produce the analyzed data in descriptive texts, charts, graphs, and tables.
Demographics
Figure 1 illustrates the demographic data location of students home and school towns in Dundee
County
Fig. 1
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0 10 20 30
The student sample will be drawn from students attending all three high schools in the
county from four hometowns. This will allow us to gain a broader perspective on what path
students in the different areas are intending to take after leaving high school. Fig 1 above shows
that 33% of students live in Dundee City where the community college is located, but 45% of
students currently attend high school there. The implications are that students who plan to attend
college may be more likely to seek part time work in this town
In Fig 2. The On Course for the Future Pathways after High school survey responses
from the population will indicate that the sample population consists of 39 males and 51 females,
representing a population sample of 90 students. 10% of females and 7% of the males surveyed
indicated a preference for part time work after high school while attending college. After leaving
school, 12% of females and 10% of males intend to seek full time employment while 16% of
females and 11% males surveyed intend to pursue vocational training. In addition, 10% of
females and 8% of males will apply to college, and 8% of both male and female students intend
The demographics data that will be collected on the students can be used by the school
board to define how to plan and implement goals and objectives for the workplace readiness
workshops in the three high schools. Data could be shared with other organizations such as the
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college board to define policies that guides a strategic working relationship to better serve the
short and long term planning needs of the society of Dundee County (Watkins, Meier, Visser,
2012, p.39-40).
Men Women
Analyses of question responses from the Organizational analysis tool will indicate that
the mission, vision, values are not strongly aligned with the goals and objectives. There
are minimal checks and balances in place to examine how critical issues and strategies
impact organizational performance both internally and externally. This may be a result of
inadequate communication with stakeholders inside and outside the organization, and are
presented below.
Fig 3
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Organizational Analysis
Critical issues and strategies not stated
Inadequate communication
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Analysis of question responses from the Environmental Analysis Performance tool will
shed some light on what is happening to guide operational decisions for critical
individual and team results, and shows the realities of what actual performance is taking
Environmental Analysis
Unfamiliarity with NA process
Communication culture
Performance problem
Skills, knowledge, expectations
Strategic societal links
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Analysis of question responses from the Priority Matrix examining performance gap
issues indicated that all of the issues ranged on a scale from critical to high, negatively
Analysis of question responses from Probing for Environmental Drivers and Causes
under incentives will show that root causes in the environment for monetary, non-
monetary and career development opportunities for the committee were highly existent.
The implication of this was no motivation to work on the project, resulting in the hiring
of Terry Kirkland to take over the project. Results are presented in Fig. 6 below.
Fig. 6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Analysis of question responses from the Demographics student survey will indicate that
there was a need to cater for part time employees who would also attend college and for
full time job seekers in the workplace, students intending to pursue vocational careers,
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and students who intend to apply to and attend college in the community and elsewhere.
Results from the survey will inform the needs assessment, and guide strategic decision
planning in the county. The information could also be shared with other organizations to
aid with assessing planning for emerging job opportunities and prospects in the society.
Please see On Course for the Future Survey Table in Raw Data Results.
Analysis of question responses from the School Climate (students) survey will indicate
student opinions on a Likert scale. The results show that the student body had not been
informed or involved in the planning for the workshop among many other issues
identified. This resulted in the committee putting a lot of effort and energy into a project
that was not centered on student need or readiness. The project also did not receive much
support from the students, school board and school administration. This may have sealed
the resulting outcome. Please see School Climate Survey Table in Raw Data Results
Analysis of questions from the administration and teacher school climate survey will
indicate different opinions from a Likert scale survey. Most teachers and administrators
felt that students were encouraged to become involved in extracurricular activities, but
had an overloaded school calendar that did not allow room for much more involvement.
commitments existed, among many other issues identified. The school administration was
aware that the committee members were not performing on the committee but did not
appear to hold the teachers to high expectations. The committee seemed to lack the
motivation to work on the common goal of producing a workshop that met the needs of
all students. This may be the result from their not being fully involved in decision making
and problem solving in the organization. Tasks and responsibilities for the formal
evaluation were taken lightly, and there was no set project plan that was adhered to. This
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contributed to the design of an unfocused and irrelevant product, and an undesirable
outcome for the summative evaluation. Please see Table 3. School Climate Survey
vision as to what impact the workshops were expected to have on the business
community in general. Indications are that the board seems has no long term plans in its
budget and seemed very indifferent about the success of the project. The board did not
articulate if it would become more involved to help add value to training needs in the
community by developing closer partnerships with other stakeholders. The school board
did not indicate how the series of workshop offered would differ from other sources of
job and career guidance in the community, and had no clear tactical policies in place to
support strategic direction to guide operational decisions. Please see Table 4. School
skills are desired in the community. As partners in the external environment, the
businesses would like the schools to produce workers with the skills they have outlined to
meet their employment needs. However, the business community could become a partner
with the school board and school administration to foster an internship programme for the
students, and to solicit funding. An ongoing mentorship relationship with the students
getting ready to leave high school in all areas of the county would give students hands on
experience to acquire the desired skills the businesses are seeking in high school leavers.
Cause Analysis
Rossett, cited in Van Tiem, Moseley and Dessinger (2012, p. 164) identified four kinds of
drivers, causes, barriers, or obstacles that impact success or failure: lack of knowledge and information;
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flawed incentives; flawed environment, tools and processes; and lack of motivation. Drivers are
Environmental drivers and causes were probed by looking back at events in the case. As
noted by (Rooney & Heuvel, 2004, p.45), performance and possible causes of performance
problems to identify what, how and why something happened were assessed. Witkin (1995,
p.243), states cause analysis can look backward to discover precipitating factors of the need,
factors perpetuating the need, previous or present barriers to solutions, previous attempts at
solutions that have failed and why, and even previous solutions that did what they were supposed
to, yet the need still exists. Further investigation into the origin of the factors that influenced
performance revealed numerous sources of issues affecting performance that were rooted in the
environment, or in individuals.
Though a needs assessment was previously done, the solutions presented did not mitigate
the difficulties experienced in the case. Symptoms of the performance problems were addressed;
hence the need existed for conducting a root cause analysis. According to Van Tiem et al. (2012,
p. 166) root cause analysis is done to: 1. Identify the driver or cause of the performance gap, 2.
Classify the driver, 3.Prioritize the driver, 4. Generate as many causes as possible by looking at
the problem in several ways, 5. Verify causes and examples with clients.
performance gaps. The tools sought to explore why the performance gaps existed, how they
impacted the mission of providing relevant workplace readiness workshops, and what
consequences resulted from the failure to include all stakeholders in the planning process for the
workshops. Causes identified in the organizational environment, and in individuals both at the
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school board, school administrative and school committee levels, in addition to the exclusion of
key stakeholders in the project contributed to the challenges experienced, and are outlined in the
BEM tool below and the table: Identifying, Classifying Generating Causes and Examples of the Drivers
environment
Environmental Relevant and frequent Tools and materials of work Financial incentives
feedback about the adequacy to match the human factors Non-monetary incentives
expected of performance
adequate performance
individual
Identifying, Classifying, Prioritizing and Generating Causes and Examples of the Drivers.
Casual Factor 1 (Root Cause 1) Paths through Root Cause Map Recommendation: Strategic
Planning/ Leadership
Development
Description: No clear definition of Communicate policy making
Lack of leadership school/community needs for strategies for implementation of
Central office did not provide a creating the vision and mission of mission and vision to all
vision of how workshop pilot project the workshop activities stakeholders
would be implemented into other School Board commitment and
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high schools and mission leadership by holding a kickoff
expectations for how it would impact meeting
the school and community Provide clear and relevant
guidelines to the committee
Casual Factor 2 (Root Cause 4) Paths through Root Cause Map Recommendation: Appreciative
Inquiry
Description: Principal was evidently not present School Administration commitment
Lack of responsibility, ownership and when initial meeting with Terry and to the project
support for the workshop readiness the committee took place. Support the project by
project Assistant Principal seemed demonstrating that it holds a high
uninterested in attending to chairing priority in the schools activities and
the meeting, and was constantly is not just squeezed into the school
distracted by her beeper. calendar as an aside
Casual Factor 3 (Root Cause 3) Paths through Root Cause Map Recommendation: Inclusion
Strategies /Communication
Networks
Lack of timely communication and Dr. Cranstons absence to explain Provide performance descriptions
commitment. Terrys part on the team made the and timely communication to the
Decisions made downtown by the workshop seem unimportant to schoolboard
central office committee members and school Involve the school board and other
administration. stakeholders in the decision making
Committee only recently informed process
that an outside person was hired
Casual Factor 4 Paths through Root Cause Map Recommendation: Coaching
/Feedback
Description: No discussion with the committee Provide relevant and frequent
Lack of buy-in from committee about the problems being feedback to performers by
members and missed deadlines experienced communicating expectations
Inadequate performance incentives Provide financial incentives, non-
for committee members resulting in monetary incentives and
low motivation. opportunities for career
Lack of knowledge and information development
was a factor in the committees
performance
Casual Factor 5 Paths through Root Cause Map Recommendation: Team Strategies
Description: Terrys credentials do not indicate Recruit the right people. Hire an
Lack of team player experience she had worked in a school, or led a instructional designer with the tools
team of experienced teachers and human factors to match the
before. requirements for leading a team of
experienced teachers
Casual Factor 6 (Root Cause 2) Paths through Root Cause Map Recommendation: Environmental
Scanning
Description: Representative sample of target Selection of sample target
Failure to perform a contextual population and other stakeholders to population and other stakeholders to
analysis of the organization and examine organizational climate was examine organizational climate to
environment, leading to an not included in the design. properly inform the workshop
incomplete needs assessment design
According to Biech (2008), cited in Van Tiem et al. (2012, p.195), an intervention is another
name for a solution or set of solutions, usually a combination of tools and techniques that clearly
and directly relate to solving a performance gap or implementing an organizational change. Van
Tiem et al. (2012, p. 195) notes, Intervention selection is the process of identifying and
recommendations detailed below are intended to resolve the performance problems being
Evaluate the what, how and why of the systemic problems experienced in the March
project and involve all stakeholders in the preparatory activities to get buy in from the
performers.
Hire an expert instructional designer with experience in project planning and experience
in the skills of the students, what skills are required by different employers, and the needs
priorities.
Feedback - Inform committee of how their non- performance was perceived by the school
administration and board, and get their feedback on how operational planning for the formative
Coaching - Provide positive and negative feedback to improve performance, and to facilitate
communication and guidance to activities that could help the committee members fulfill their
jobs efficiently and effectively. (eg: to get a representative sample of the target audience)
Implement and align the goals of the organization to employee performance on the committee
and monitor the operations to avoid scheduling conflicts that hinder desired performance.
provide them with the resources to take the workplace readiness workshop to the implementation
phase into the other high schools, after the instructional designers leave.
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Compensation and Benefits Increased remuneration packages linked to a key performance
School administration and board would benefit from organizational growth interventions
Leadership Development Create a vision for the organization by aligning people with
and tactical results from individuals, teams, and partnerships with business owners, and other
interventions for school administration and board personnel. This is to introduce interpersonal,
administrative, conceptual, and decision making skills to the changing needs of the
organizations role in forming operational, strategic, and tactical partnerships within the
community. This will enable value driven implementation of the organizations vision for long
Systems) -Facilitate better communication with the school board, and between organizations in
the society to coordinate efforts and responsive collaboration with all stakeholders in Dundee
County.
Virtual Teams, and Decision Making) Facilitate needed changes in the organization to remove
the hierarchy structure of orders coming from Downtown. This will encourage collaborative
problem solving between performers and decision makers and empower stakeholder teams to
Facilitate the development of a project plan for the workshop readiness workshops that outlines
time management, scope management and budget constraints over a 5 year period. The plan
should take into account the existing economic, political and social climate to forecast how the
Facilitate planning for the future growth by learning from the past mistakes to communicate,
grow, and share in contributing to creating positive organizational vision, mission and values.
Financial Systems Interventions (Financial Forecasting, Cash Flow Analysis and Forecasting)
Plan for future funding needs by implementing medium to long term financial planning that
prepares the organization for adapting to future economic trends in procuring sources of funding,
in order to avoid the last minute funding and hurried nature of the workshop activities.
The action plan proposed will begin with an after action review and evaluation of the
March workshop to gain insight on what happened, why it happened, and how to address the
factors negatively impacting the success of the project was conducted and revealed that the
absence of key stakeholders, a project plan, student involvement, and motivation by committee
members in the previous needs assessment were hindrances to success in the orienting context. A
tight schedule and a packed school calendar, mitigated against the students having time to really
plan for and concentrate on the workshop training activities; resulting in inadequate
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identification of the skills required by all the students. The new needs assessment that was
conducted examined the school culture, socio- cultural and economic factors in the community,
and perceptions of all stakeholders to discover how best to cater to the societal needs. The
committee staff is to be increased, and students from the target audience, business community
members, school board, and school administration members were invited to become active
committee members. This will include all groups in some level of decision making for the future
leadership skills to assist Terry. Just-In-Time and On-The-Job instructional design principles
offered to the teachers, in addition to supervisory and leadership training for school
administration and school board staff will be considered. When the pilot project ends, it is
expected that the committee can continue with the project implementation into the other Dundee
County high schools, and the school board will allocate or seek funding to continue the project.
A contextual and needs analysis that is designed and developed to benefit and respond to
the emerging needs of students, schools, and the socio-economic needs of the community, will
provide the school administration and board with insights, into what services will be best tailored
to the needs of all students in the county. The learning material that will be presented in
subsequent workshop sessions will provide relevance to real life needs and skills required by
students. The instructional material will be tailored to students intending to pursue further
education, embark on a career path right after high school, or taking other pathways for the
future.
The comprehensive needs assessment will benefit from including perceptions from all
stakeholders to reliably inform on how the training instruction for the workplace readiness
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workshops will be purposefully developed. In addition, a documented project plan that details
responsibilities, milestones and timelines to manage the budget and effectiveness of the project
will be included. The workshops will be planned in advance, and will cater to a range of
VI. Conclusion
The plethora of proposed organizational solutions resulted from an in- depth review of
the causes identified from analyzing target audiences in the case study. The proposed
organizational interventions are intended to be phased in over a 5 year period, and are designed
to incorporate the solution suggestions resulting from findings in the surveys, performance
support tools, and questionnaire responses. From the analysis short and medium term strategies
will be implemented that are intended to facilitate change efforts that are long term,
evolutionary and progressive...and are targeted to individuals, the committee workgroup and to
the school administration and board organizations. Van Tiem et al. (2012)
A contextual and needs analysis that is designed and developed to benefit and respond to
the emerging needs of students, schools, and the socio-economic needs of the community, will
provide the school administration and board with insights, into what services will be best tailored
to the needs of all students in the county. The learning material that will be presented in
subsequent workshop sessions will provide relevance to real life needs and skills required by
students. The instructional material will be tailored to students intending to pursue further
education, embark on a career path right after high school, or taking other pathways for the
future.
EDID 6507 MINI CASE STUDY Assignments 1&2
29
In addition, it is intended that the interventions proposed at the environmental and
individual levels, if instituted will have positive impacts on how information is communicated
and shared within, and between related organizations and the society. Strategic planning will
provide clear goals and objectives that presents direction for pro-action through an ongoing scan
Appendices
PREASSESSMENT
o Top leadership has provided their sponsorship of the needs assessment.
o Top leadership can be expected to sustain their sponsorship over the course of the needs
assessment.
o Leadership clearly understands the problem with the "status quo."
o The assessment team will include internal clients (employees and associates within the
organization.)
o The assessment team will include executives, leaders, and managers within the
organization.
o The assessment team will include external clients (such as vendors and customers, as
SCOPING
o Leadership and all team members agree that the purpose of the assessment is to identify,
rate) is available or will be collected. Data regarding the current and desired results that
assessment.
o Soft data (stakeholder perceptions that are not independently verifiable) will be
Do the vision/mission/values make sense in terms of internal strengths and weaknesses? Yes
No Yes No Yes No
Do the vision/mission/values make sense in terms of external threats and opportunities? Yes
No Yes No Yes No
Goals/strategies
Yes No Yes No
Yes No Yes No
Does each goal/strategy make sense in terms of internal strengths and weaknesses?
Yes No Yes No
Does each goal/strategy make sense in terms of external threats and opportunities?
Yes No Yes No
Critical issues
Is (Are) the critical issue (s) clearly articulated? How so? Yes No
Is (Are) the critical issue(s) aligned with the vision, mission, values, goals and strategies of the
organization? Yes No
There had been no prior consultation with external stakeholders by the committee.
Workplace Environment
workshop off the ground was done by Jane Pruitt, lead teacher in the business
department.
3. Does the performer have the information required to achieve optimal performance?
Jane has good knowledge of the business courses she taught, but did not take into
Work Level
Worker Level
community, and for attaining goals and objectives of continuing higher education.
12. How are corporate social initiatives linked to the organizations mission?
The business community expects the school to adequately prepare and supply workers.
Taken from: Fundamentals of Performance Improvement (2012, p.151-4). Adapted from D.G.
Student demographics
On Course for the Future: Pathways After High School Student Survey
Not at all
A little bit
Somewhat
Quite a bit
A tremendous amount
10. I was aware of and invited to become involved in preassessment and preparation
activities for the workshop
Not at all
A little bit
Somewhat
Quite a bit
A tremendous amount
11. Participation in group activities gets me ready for the world of work and would give me
guidance to achieve my educational and employment goals.
Not at all
A little bit
Somewhat
Quite a bit
A tremendous amount
EDID 6507 MINI CASE STUDY Assignments 1&2
38
On course for the Future: Pathways after High School Student Survey
5. Do you intend to pursue full time employment after leaving high school?
1= Yes 2=No 3= Not sure
1. Will the funding for the workplace readiness programme be ongoing from the sponsor?
1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
2. Will the board seek alternate funding for the project if not ongoing by the sponsor?
1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
3. Does the board plan to allocate more staff to the committee after getting the pilot study
results? 1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
4. Will the school board become actively involved in adding value to the workshop training
activities? 1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
EDID 6507 MINI CASE STUDY Assignments 1&2
39
5. Does the school board have a long term vision for the workplace readiness programme?
1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
6. Will the school board form partnerships with other organizations to collaborate on
employment needs? 1=Yes 2=No 3=N/sure
7. Will the board allocate funds in its annual budget for the project?
1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
8. Does the board communicate effectively with school administration?
1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
9. Does the board follow through with its commitments?
1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
10. Does the school board respect school administration and teachers?
11. Will the school board foster an internship programme with external partners in the society?
1=Yes 2=No 3=Not sure
12. Will the workshop series differ from current services offered in the community for career
guidance?
Table 1 Demographic data for students hometown and school town in the county
Town No. of % Town No. of %
students students
(hometown) (school town)
Dundeeville 25 28% Dundeeville 30 33%
Dundeecity 30 33% Dundeecity 40 45%
Dundeeview 25 28% Dundeeview 20 22%
Dundeeflats 10 11% Dundeeflats
Totals 39 44 25 63 10 25 4 12 51 56 35 68 12 24 4 8%
% % % % % % %
EDID 6507 MINI CASE STUDY Assignments 1&2
41
Tool 2
Performance Support Tool 8.1- Probing for Environmental Support Drivers or Causes
References:
Kinzie, M. B., Hrabe, M. E., & Larsen, V. A. (1998). An instructional design case event:
Kaufman, R., Oakley-Browne, H., Watkins, R., & Leigh, D. (2003). Strategic planning for
success: Aligning people, performance, and payoffs. John Wiley &Sons. Retrieved
Morrison, G.R., Ross, S.M. and Kemp. J.E. (2011). Designing effective instruction. Wiley.
6th Edition
EDID 6507 MINI CASE STUDY Assignments 1&2
46
Rooney, J. J., & Heuvel, L. N. (2004). Root Cause Analysis for Beginners. Quality
Watkins, R., Meiers, M. W., &Visser, Y. (2012). A guide to assessing needs: Essential tools for
http://www.ryanrwatkins.com/guidebook.html
Van Tiem, D., Moseley, J. L., & Dessinger, J. C. (2012). Fundamentals of performance
improvement: Optimizing results through people, process, and organizations. John Wiley &
Sons.
Excerpts and ideas for questions were taken from the following websites:
http://www.joangarry.com/10-good-questions-board-members-should-ask/
http://www.state.nj.us/education/students/safety/behavior/njscs/NJSCS_Staff_Q2.pdf