Building the Cuyahoga River Valley Organizations

MBA 563: Organizational Assessment and Intervention Case Study #2: Building the Cuyahoga River Valley Organization Edie Druktenis March 28, 2013 This case focuses on the development of the Cuyahoga River Valley Organization (CRVO) which is charged with caring out the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative (CVI). The initiation of this organization began with an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2000.The article discussed the history, natural beauty, and industry in the Cuyahoga Valley located in northeastern Ohio. The valley is rich in natural resources and allows for access to land and water transportation networks that helped it to be positioned as a center for many of America’s early industries such as Quaker Oats, B. F. Goodrich, and Firestone. Much of this industry that was located in the valley generated toxic waste leaving the Cuyahoga River like a dump.The area is on the mend after the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 but it struggles economically due to the loss of j obs and the movement of the middle class away from the urban areas of the valley to the suburbs. Because of the value of the natural resources and remaining industry in the Cuyahoga River Valley area, an idea was started by the Cuyahoga Valley County Planning Commission after reading to article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer to create an initiative involving many regional resources to transform and regenerate the valley.This effort is called the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative (CVI). Paul Alsenas, Cuyahoga County Ohio Planning Commission Director, engaged Sally Parker, founder and principle of Currere, a company specializing in organizational strategy and development. Parker’s objective was to engage community leaders, organizations, and industries in discussions to help determine the type of organization needed to take on the CVI. Parker’s first move was to engage members of the community in dialogue to find out the best way to design the CVI.Through multiple interviews, a design team was established that ultimately determined the appropriate structure of the new organization would consist of a networked system of people and organizations. Since the essential element of the system was coordination, the valley would be comprised of four different networks of organizational capacity working together to in partnership to effect change (Cummings & Worley, 2009, pg. 734). To administer these partnerships, the Cuyahoga River Valley Organization (CRVO) was created.The CRVO would be the administrative oversight for the work of the triad (consisting of government, business, and foundation representatives), the Network Partners (consisting of organizations and individuals committed to enable the work of the valleys transformation), and the valley projects (chosen and awarded to address the most pressing needs of the valley). Parker’s next task was to form a new entity that would become the CRVO. In reviewing the case and information from other class sour ces, I believe I would have handled the creation of the CRVO in much the same way the CVI was formed.I would have suggested that the first step would be to create a shared vision because this is considered one of the key elements in most leadership frameworks. After a vision was established, it will be important to establish the core ideology of the organization as this would be the basis for the organizations basic beliefs. Then it would be important to construct a future for the organization that could be envisioned those employed by or associated within the CRVO. The envisioned future would consist of establishing expected outcomes and a desired future state.Another important initiative at the onset of establishing the CRVO would be to develop political support. This had already been done with the CVI but to establish the CRVO and the entities it was to administer, Parker needs to gain support from key stakeholders and influencers. She needed to identify who she thought could be the best influencers and assess their change agent power then engage them on the â€Å"sale† of the CRVO entity to outside organizations and future stakeholders.Establishing a process to move from the current state of the organization, in this case, nonexistent, to a newly formed structure would require the management of a transition. To do this a road map for the establishment of the new organization would be created citing the specific activities and events that had to occur. After the establishment of the road map, planning a method for commitment to the organization’s development would be done. Once the commitment is established, structures to manage the change would need to be created.This would involve looking for people who have the power to mobilize resources and promote change and of course, people who were willing to stay the course during the rough times that often occur when change is happening. Staying the course would require the CRVO to provide a system to support the change agents and influencers in the CVI community helping them to develop new competencies and skills to generate support for the mission and reinforce behaviors required to maintain the vision and mission of the CVI.Decision making during and after the establishment of the CRVO would have to be more open and engaging than in most traditional organizations. Since the CRVO is being established to assist with a vision of a much larger community effort, decisions can’t be made without the buy in and acceptance of the main stakeholders. The main office of the CRVO could be established and the function of this office could be managed much like any other office, more bureaucratic.However, the decisions that would be made that would impact the triad, network partners, and valley projects would require decision making efforts that were more exploratory and required the acceptance of trial and error outcomes. The CRVO would implement decisions made by the stakeholders that focused on the implementation of initiatives, projects and other interests of member organizations. Because there are so many stakeholders and entities involved in the mission of the CVI, the CRVO would likely work best with an organizational structure that resembled a vertical market network.These networks are typically composed of many organizations linked to a focal organization that coordinates the movement of the activities of all involved. In the case of the CRVO, it is being established to do just that, coordinate the activities of the triad, network partners, and projects. The advantage of network based forms of organizations include flexible and dynamic response to dynamic environments, allows for focusing of resources on the customer and market needs, permits rapid expansion, and can produce synergistic results (Cummings & Worley, 2009, pg. 31). Given the large number of entities involved in the CVI that the CRVO will be providing administrative oversight of, it is cr itical that the organizational form of the CRVO be flexible and this is easier to do in a networked environment. Since the organization will consist of groups of individuals who will come together to discuss issues and come to resolutions, the human resource processes will need to focus on interpersonal and group interactions. To do this, the most critical areas to focus will be the communication processes.Establishing clear lines of communication from the CRVO to the areas is administers will ensure everyone is on the same page. Since there are so many different entities involved in the CVI, to ensure collaboration and completion of objectives that will likely be short term, self managed teams composed of representatives from member organizations could be established. These teams could come together to focus on specific tasks or projects for which they would be in control of the structure needed to gain the outcome. Very little oversight would be needed by the leadership of the CRV O.That is why I think establishing the use of self managed teams is important. Teams can be established to focus on projects and initiatives decided by stakeholders that do not need to be paid employees. These teams can be volunteers assigned tasks that are given deadlines and objectives by the management of the CRVO but do not need direct supervision and direction. The leadership of the CRVO should consist of a board of directors comprised of members of the community, the triad, and network partners. I believe this is essential to the success of the CRVO.Engagement of the stakeholders is critical to success so having representatives from each of the organizations that would benefit from the establishment of the CRVO is critical. A Chief Operating Officer or Chief Executive Officer should be recruited to oversee the operations of the CRVO. This individual would serve as the main catalyst for ensuring all stakeholder needs are met. It would have to be a charismatic individual who cou ld easily establish relationships with the CVI partners and understood the vision well enough to ensure projects approved were appropriate and that communication to all parties was clear and meaningful.The obstacles to establishment of the CRVO are numerous. Because there are so many entities involved in the CVI, issues relating to power and coordination could arise. Because so many of those involved are from positions of power within companies and local government, conceding that power when performing work associated with the CRVO could pose and issue if the individual is unable to let go. Coordiation among stakeholders could also be an issue as many of the folks are going to already have jobs or other commitments that make getting together to serve on teams difficult.Another area to consider is that member organizations and companies could have policies and laws that conflict thus making collaboration and consensus hard to come to. Last, keeping the autonomy of the CRVO might also be an issue. Again, the number of individual entities related to this organization each with its own agenda could make the establishment of an independent organization with its own objectives hard. While obstacles are always going to exist with any new effort, there will also be facilitators to help move the effort forward. In my opinion, the stakeholders of the CRVO are the biggest facilitators in the effort.All involved in this effort have a vested interest in making it work. By committing to the mission and vision of the CVI and consequently the administrative arm, the CRVO, these stakeholders are stating that they believe in what they are trying to do and will support it. They will be able to use their association with the CRVO to promote and encourage its growth. The design team that helped establish the format for the CVI will also serve as facilitators to the establishment of the CRVO as they were the creators of the original ideas and can promote its virtues to others in th e community. My concerns in conducting this task are numerous.First, there are so many entities involved in the establishment of the CVI. While they all believe in the same outcome, they all will not want to commit to getting there the same way. It would also be a concern that all also have personal, business, or government agendas they want to meet and these agenda items could easily be mixed into their contributions to the CVI creating issues for the overall mission. I would also be very concerned about communication. Again, the involvement of so many entities over such a large area means communication has to be tailored to ensure the message is being heard the same all over.Lack of proper communication can ruin well intended efforts. I would hope that this task would result in an organization that is flexible, proactive, and nimble that can respond quickly to stakeholder needs. I would also want to ensure that the mission of the CRVO is communicated effectively to all involved an d the communities it will impact to ensure buy in of the mission and objectives. WORKS CITED Cummings, T. & Worley, C. (2009). Organization Development and Change. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.