Organisational Development Assignment

Guide to Structuring the Report

The assignment requires you do 3 key things. First, identify some key reason(s) for the high turnover at the organisation. Second discuss how the problem relates to turnover. Third, provide some recommendation for how the organisation might address this issue. There is no set way you should structure your plan, but you can use headings and subheadings if you like. While this is not a traditional essay, be sure to include theoretical arguments, supporting evidence (e.g., research) and critical analysis. Below is a suggestion for how you could structure you assignment.

Section 1 – Introduction and problem identification

In this section you can highlight the issue of turnover and what might be a cause of it. You can use the data provided to help you here, or focus on the description of the organisation provided. For example, you could say that one of the key reasons for high turnover is that job meaning is low, especially in the intelligence products department (as shown by the low mean of 1.50). Obviously, there are other causes of turnover but this might be your focus. You might focus on one issue or multiple. Given the relatively short length, do not try to address too many issues at once. For example, you could say that the high turnover is caused by lack of meaning, competence, impact, self-determination, justice, team cohesion and LMX. However, you will not be able to discuss each of these issues and provide recommendations in the word limit. As such, I would recommend focusing on one or two issues in detail. In this section you should try to justify why you have chosen to focus on a particular aspects (e.g., meaning) and be clear if you are focusing on one department (e.g., intelligence products) or both departments – and why.

Section 2 - Link to turnover

Here you could provide a theoretical discussion regarding the link between your problem and turnover. So, if you have chosen to focus on job meaning, for example, you should discuss the reasons why this will lead to increased turnover. Here you should provide some theory and research to support your arguments. You can also use the correlations provided if you like. For example, the data provided in the assignment shows that job meaning has a negative correlation of -.20 with turnover intentions. This suggests that increasing meaning should reduce turnover intentions. You should also try to provide some critical evaluation of the theory/research here. So, for example, you might say that empowerment theory, which incorporates meaningfulness as a dimension doesn’t focus on individual differences in motivation. So for some people having a meaningful job may be less important that, for example, having high pay.

Section 3 - Recommendations

Here you should provide some recommendations to the company based on your previous arguments. So, for example, if you have argued that job meaning is a key reason for turnover then how might you address this in the organisation? Try to provide clear recommendations and think about the process of implementing this. For example, think about timescale, how you will determine success, who will be involved etc. You can use examples from other organisations, research and your own experience to support this section. Also try to think critically, for example, what might be a challenge and how feasible is your suggestion?

Section 4 – Conclusion/summary

Provide a conclusion of your assignment

PLEASE NOTE – This is a suggested structure and you do not need to follow it. Your headings could be very different and you may wish to include subheading etc.

In terms of the length of the different sections, most emphasis should be place on the theoretical link between your problem and turnover and the recommendations. As a rough guide, I would suggest leaving at least 800 words for the recommendations.