Organizational Development Within the Recorded Music Industry

Completed on April 4, 2007, Cummings and Worley's “General Model of Planned Change” was applied to the Recorded Music Industry

Entering and Contracting
Purpose/Mission:
Although no formal purpose or mission statement was retrieved from the organization’s official web-site or through the use of alternate sources, the prevailing culture of Sony BMG Music Entertainment is perceived to be of information sharing. Press Release language articulates that ‘this global recorded music joint venture’ includes local artists, international superstars, and a catalog of historical recordings.

Size:
With offices in international regions, the record company includes artists such as Beyonce′, Christina Aguilera, and Jennifer Lopez.

Positioning:
Classified as a diversified investment of the entertainment industry, this is the number two record company in the world.[1] A joint venture of Sony Corporation of America (founded in May, 1946) and Bertelsmann (founded in 1835), their UK’s 2006 and 2005 total album market share was 17.7% and 20.7%, respectively.[2] With 25.3% of 2006’s U.S. digital tracks market share[3], they received 109 Grammy ™ nominations and thirty-six awards.

Diagnosis

• Although perceived as a ‘Best Practice’ by industry insiders, the recording industry’s operation of exploitation is an ineffective system. This process needs to be restructured because its current format is a major barrier to organizational effectiveness.
• Organizational and key industry players’ commitment to change this behavior is perceived as low because revenue is and will continue to be severely impacted.
• Prevailing culture’s historical doctrines impedes role definitions and job descriptions, thus creating a conflict of interest. This is causing a lack of creativity and innovation.
• Ongoing litigation includes attacks on cultural diversity which lead to group conflict (“employees vs. employers”) and ineffective teamwork.

Planning and Implementing Change
The steps of the implementation plan include over one-dozen interventions. The rationale behind the choice of this prescription is to minimize and eliminate the key driving issues as identified in the diagnosis. Once structured communication events have taken place, organizational team members will be in prime position for optimized operations which will result in an improving overall effectiveness. Events[4] of the following nature are strongly suggested:

1. Studies of structural causes of Leadership Development biases and Developmental Education
2. Identifying "key communicators
3. Conducting and Open Space Meeting led by External Consulting Positions. Group Facilitated foci should include Whole System Changes (with a special emphasis on Systems Theory) and Goal Setting.
4. Strategic Planning and Creative Problem Solving through In-visioning
5. Management/leadership training on Interpersonal Communication, Sociotechnical System Design, Diversity
6. Experimentation with alternative arrangements (ex. Learning Organization
7. Intergroup Problem Solving
8. Setting up measurement systems
9. Identifying "fireable offenses"
10. Team Building
11. Applying criteria to goals
12. Establishing inter-unit task forces led by Internal Consulting Positions on Knowledge Management and Career Development
13. "Walk-the-talk" assessment
14. Survey-feedback led by External Consulting Positions

By presenting content and information in these tested forms, conflict management, negotiation, and resolution can be deployed to assist those who may be overcome with resistance to change.

Evaluation
There is a high likelihood that the proposed interventions will be rejected by the industry leaders, thus resulting in a retardation of enacting the desired changes. The preceding recommended procedures face a high degree of difficulty in gaining support of key individuals in the organizations because a significant amount of their revenue is generated by the practice of exploitation. This population will also function as the main resistors of change. A suggestion to overcome their resistance is to build ally-relationships amongst independent labels and recording artists while monitoring signs of this pattern being repeated.
If marketed as an industrial or competitive organizational corporate experimental learning program, evaluations on the effectiveness of this prescription can be an informational data asset for participants. Post data mining, qualitative research from this project can be applied to market research and potentially product certification. Further programming evaluation can be quantified by conducting a Return on Investment computation and analysis. By tracking enrollment, completion, scores, feedback, and surveys, this activity just may exemplify the total benefits out-producing the total costs.

References

1. John E. Jones Organizational Universe Systems. (n.d.). Retrieved May 5, 2007 from http://www.improve.org/odbasics.html
2. Sony BMG Fact Sheet. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2007 from http://www.hoovers.com/sony-bmg/--ID__135429--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
3. Universal Music Group Merrill Lynch Media and Entertainment Conference. (September, 2006). Retrieved April 4, 2007 from http://www.vivendi.com/ir/download/pdf/UMG_MLConf_120906.pdf

[1] http://www.hoovers.com/sony-bmg/--ID__135429--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
[2] http://www.vivendi.com/ir/download/pdf/UMG_MLConf_120906.pdf Page 13
[3] http://www.vivendi.com/ir/download/pdf/UMG_MLConf_120906.pdf Page 21
[4] John E. Jones Organizational Universe Systems (http://www.improve.org/odbasics.html)

*** For additional research, including an analysis of current operations, please contact me at moniball77@yahoo.com.***

Leveraging Diversity to Appeal to an Expanding and Diversifying Customer Base for Long-Term Performance in General Parts Inc.’s Industry

"Leveraging Diversity to Appeal to an Expanding and Diversifying Customer Base for Long-Term Performance in General Parts Inc.’s Industry: A Comprehensive Training Curriculum for Leaders and Teammates."


Abstract
The strategic-leverage of a diversity initiative for General Parts Inc. (GPI), the parent company of Carquest and Worldpac, was studied. A multi-activity intervention based on this program was also designed using the following resources: Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction; The Society for Human Resource Management; Langdon, Whiteside, and McKenna’s “Intervention Resource Guide”; Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr.’s “Building on the Promise of Diversity; Diversity Executive Magazine; and automotive industry diversity authority Monica Emerson.

Introduction
As charged, a lesson plan to address a diversity issue as a training solution was designed by using a case study, feedback, texts, resources, and a template.

Case Study Description
General Parts Inc. (GPI), parent company of Carquest and Worldpac, wanted to become a “global brand of excellence”. Nine steps were created to journey the initiative.

Concerns
Although ideal, certain Diversity Journey Steps (DJS) as co-identified with Global Lead Management Consulting gave cause for concern.

Discussion
What was learned from feedback
Questions arose including who the diversity initiative was aimed at/to. Suggestions included: cross-cultural training, bottom-line focus on cause of training and the desired solution

What was learned from published text, “Building on the Promise of Diversity”
When crafting Strategic Diversity Management ™, it is important to apply the following roadmap: use multiple activities to help sustain diversity intervention progress.

Interventions
Training interventions considered in the design
Complementary interventions included: Customer Feedback, Just-In-Time Training, Performance Analysis, and Results-Based Management.
Description of intervention deployed in the design
Action Learning was adopted to fully sustain Strategic Diversity Management ™.

Lesson Plan
Title: “Leveraging Diversity: A training curriculum for leaders & teammates.” Date: December 7, 2008 Instructional Designer: Monique Burey-Ballard
PLEASE CONTACT VIA EMAIL (moniball77@yahoo.com) FOR A COPY

REFERENCES
*Alden, J. (1999). Results-Based Management. In D. Langdon, K. Whiteside, & M. McKenna
(Eds.), Intervention Resource Guide: 50 Performance Improvement Tools (pp. 330-336). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer.

*Brethower, D.M. (1999). Performance Analysis. In D. Langdon, K. Whiteside, & M. McKenna
(Eds.), Intervention Resource Guide: 50 Performance Improvement Tools (pp. 280-286). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer.

*Burey-Ballard, M. (2008, November 24). Monica Emerson, Diversity Consultant. [Creation date: Monday, November 24, 2008 1:33:52 PM CST]. Retrieved December 07, 2008, from Discussion Board Message posted to http://blackboard.roosevelt.edu/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_120993_1&conf_id=29803&forum_id=46896&nav=discussion_board_entry&thread_id=1445690&message_id=1445690

*DiBenedetto, J.E. (2008). Case Study: Shifting Diversity Into Overdrive. Diversity Executive,
1(2), 60-62. Retrieved from November 24, 2008, from http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mediatec/de_200811/

*Gardenswartz, L. & Rowe, A. (1999). Workplace Diversity: A Product of the SHRM ®
Diversity Initiative. Retrieved December 7, 2008, from http://www.shrm.org/diversity/buskit699.pdf

*Marquardt, M.J. (1999). Action Learning. In D. Langdon, K. Whiteside, & M. McKenna (Eds.),
Intervention Resource Guide: 50 Performance Improvement Tools (pp. 52-58). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer.

*Phillips, B. (Interviewer) & Emerson, M. (Interviewee). (2004, January 12). Keeping the Dream Alive: Tips from the High-flying Icons of Diversity [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from Black Engineer on November 22, 2008, from http://www.blackengineer.com/artman/publish/printer_183.shtml

*Razvi, M. (2008). Assignment 6[Diversity by Design Lesson Plan] Template. Retrieved
September 17, 2008, from http://blackboard.roosevelt.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_120993_1

*Rothwell, W. (1999). On-The-Job Training (OJT). In D. Langdon, K. Whiteside, & M.
McKenna (Eds.), Intervention Resource Guide: 50 Performance Improvement Tools (pp. 243-250). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer.

*Thomas, R. R. (2006). Building on the Promise of Diversity: How We Can Move to the Next
Level in Our Workplaces, Our Communities, and Our Society. New York: AMACOM.

*Zemke, R. (1999). Customer Feedback. In D. Langdon, K. Whiteside, & M. McKenna (Eds.),
Intervention Resource Guide: 50 Performance Improvement Tools (pp. 131-141). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer.