Diagnosis and Feedback at Adhikar

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Diagnosis and Feedback at Adhikar

Case Analysis Form – Ivey

It appears that Adhikar was a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) founded and headed by the same person for a very long period. All the main leadership functions have been performed by Rajan Mishra, the establisher of the organization. Later, the investigation performed by the Organizational Development (OD) Practitioner showed that Rajan Mishra had no intention or willingness to delegate the decision-making and problem-solving responsibilities to his followers. This policy resulted in the absence of a strong leader when Mishra got appointed for a governmental post.

Other issues that Adhikar faced was a lack of clear mission and vision, which would get all team members together and make them work toward a common strategic goal. In addition, interviews conducted by the OD practitioner showed that there was no clear organizational structure since Mishra held the positon of Managing Trustee, and both local coordinators of different geographical units and coordinators of different programs had to report directly to Rajan Mishra. Moreover, there was a lack of cooperation and understanding between old and new coordinators. In addition, an even more frustrating detail was uncovered; it turned out that new coordinators received higher salaries than those who have been working at Adhikar for a long time. Such practice was deemed discriminatory and created tension and discontent within the team.

These managerial and policymaking issues turned out to be the main factors influencing the productivity of the organization. Therefore, the company would need to address these issues to initiate the process of change and improvement.

1. Lack of proper leadership in Adhikar

This is the most serious problem that Adhikar faces for the moment. A good leader would be able to smooth over the contradictions, resolve the conflicts, and effectively deal with issues at hand in order to build a better work environment within the organization. At the moment, there is no other formal leader at Adhikar, and, therefore, Rajan Mishra will be the main decision maker in the process of improvement. However, for it to be successful he will have to find a way to delegate his power to other people within the organization. The absence of efficient leadership will negatively affect the organization’s profitability, quality of service, work-related and innovation processes.

2. Lack of clear vision and mission

A good leader should also be responsible for determining the strategic mission and vision of an organization so that all employees would work together to achieve one common goal. A clear vision will potentially help the company boost its performance rates, and it is the leader’s responsibility to unite all the employees with one common vision or goal.

3. Lack of cooperation between coordinators

Cooperation between the coordinators has also been negatively affected by the lack of proper leadership. The actions of Mishra aimed at encouraging all coordinators to work as one single team had a completely opposite result since there was little trust between old and new coordinators. It is commonly known that the leader of the organization or its top managers should be responsible for organizing various team-building activities that would help to establish a friendlier and less competitive environment. If this problem is not solved by the leader, the performance rates of Adhikar will significantly decrease.

4. Issues related to rewards

When coordinators perform similar functions and fulfill the same amount of tasks, they expect to receive the same financial rewards for their work. It appeared that new coordinators received higher wages than the ones who have been working at the company for a long time. Mishra, as Adhikar’s leader, could be blamed for introducing such a discriminatory practice that would negatively impact the performance of old coordinators, although they have deeper knowledge and understanding of the NGO’s operation. A leader would also be responsible for addressing this issue and coming up with a clear and reasonable payment policy.

5. Lack of clarity regarding organizational structure

There was a structural confusion within Adhikar as coordinators of specific units and coordinators of different geographical locations had to directly report to the same person. This procedure created an overlap in responsibilities of regional and program units. Also, this could potentially create confusion regarding hierarchy and functionality within the company. It is evident that such problems negatively impact quality and cost-efficiency since different people fulfill the same tasks. It can be assumed that the core of this problem was the leader’s inability to introduce a clear and a more effective organizational structure. 

The root cause of all immediate issues was lack of effective leadership within the NGO. It turned out to have a considerable impact on all other issues existing in Adhikar. Such an improper leadership style has negatively impacted all operations, cost-efficiency, quality of services, implementation of innovations, and overall organization’s performance rates.

Although all employees view Rajan Mishra as a charismatic and dynamic leader, he was not able to avoid and/or address issues existing within the organization. Basing on the trait theory of leadership, a good and effective leader would need to have specific traits and qualities that would enable him/her to drive organization’s success. However, the example of this case study clearly shows that personal qualities of the leader did not help him overcome the challenges and cope with the problems existing in Adhikar.

It seems that Mishra decided to become a laissez-faire leader who did not interfere with the daily course of action and allowed coordinators to make their own decisions. But at the same time, Mishra was an autocratic leader as he did not delegate much power to his subordinates, and thus he himself was responsible for performing various functions in Adhikar. This strategy turned into a failure when he got assigned to a governmental post and tried to distance himself from being the organization’s leader. All of the aforementioned facts prove that the lack of proper leadership and weak policies aimed at dealing with challenges are the core causes of all the managerial and functionality issues existing within the organization.

Analysis of Case Data

Describe alternatives to resolve root cause/basic issues.

Alternative Assessment

Note: You are not required to use 4 criteria or identify 5 alternatives; alter the table as required for your analysis.

Increasing wages of old coordinators and introducing teambuilding activities are good options that can be chosen to increase the company’s performance, but Adhikar will have to spend extra funds on organizing activities and increasing wages of old coordinators. Removing the geographical division sounds as a good option as it will help Adhikar to increase overall productivity and growth rate. However, the best alternative is to appoint Pia Mishra to the chief position since she will most probably energetically participate in various activities and introduce positive changes to the organizational structure. This decision will lead to the increase of willingness to cooperate and improve mutual understanding between the coordinators since Pia Mishra used to be a coordinator herself, and therefore she knows how everything works in Adhikar.