1-2 pargraphs response to 2 Colleagues Assignment

Assignment: Creating Systems Diagrams – Opportunity Consultants Inc.

9/16/2020

Summary

Utilizing the 5 Whys tool, I created a systems diagram to analyze why OCI was in danger of disbanding. Darden’s reputation within the community is starting to suffer as a result of the poor performance of the student Opportunity Consultants Inc. (OCI) group (Landel & Reynolds, 2007). Given that Darden students are in the program for only 2 years, the leaders of OCI need to create a plan for resiliency with the naturally high turnover rate. Looking at the systems diagram it becomes clear that poor project outcomes and students having a bad experience participating with OCI are in a negative reinforcing feedback loop (Meadows, 2008). Poor project outcomes reduce student morale (Landel & Reynolds, 2007). Low student morale contributes to poor project outcomes (Landel & Reynolds, 2007). By going deeper into the causes (with the 5 whys), we can see that with limited student availability for scheduling and limited training, OCI’s capacity is lower than the group’s ideal project performance.

Recommendations

To encourage greater student commitment to OCI projects, Darden can involve faculty to provide continuity and resiliency within OCI systems. With faculty guidance and training, students can avoid making beginner mistakes as they “reinvent the wheel” every year. Students can gain valuable consulting experience. To improve project performance, OCI can limit student membership to a level where quality projects and the ideal number of student participants is in equilibrium. Limiting the number of students that can participate can have the effect of motivating students as it becomes an honor to be chosen to contribute. Motivation could increase further if students could earn credit. To improve project quality, OCI can shift the dynamic of client acquisition to putting out a request for proposals. A request for proposal would better define the type of projects OCI wants to attract instead of leaving the requests open-ended and initiated by potential clients. This would also reduce the disconnect between client expectations and OCI’s resources and capacity.