Robert F. Kennedy School is an experimental school that faces a large number of organizational problems that in just two years led to student violence, poor performance, and a teacher walk (Gabarro, 1974, p. 1). Additionally, there is very weak communication between the staff which leads to interpersonal conflicts between department heads, housemasters and teachers. David King, who is the new school principal, has no time for complex organization development and has to apply specific interest and some classical designs of OD in order to swiftly resolve majority of the problems. It seems that the “house system” concept was too innovative and the fact that students were drawn from the poorest areas of Great Ridge makes the situation even more complicated (Gabarro, 1974, p.2). Division into 4 houses made communication between different organizational units very complicated. There is no trust between the staff and David King saw it when he talked to some employees in person and later to everyone at the meeting. He should focus on the leadership development initiatives that will bring together the faculty members. Interaction and mutual understanding could be enhanced by means of classical survey-data-feedback and constructive confrontation (Schmuck et al, 2012, p.69). David King has already spent two weeks on gathering information about the school, but he and housemasters have to design a universal survey that later will be used for aligning practices of 4 houses. Constructive confrontation may help to discuss existing problems and work out possible solutions together in a team. Finally, special-interest OD with focus on managing interpersonal conflict should be of the top priority. King should carry out a “clearing-the-air” event for the entire staff in order to work out the “new behavior” that will help to resolve some of the problems that different groups of staff find especially pressing (Schmuck et al, 2012, p.81). Complex OD should not be considered by David King, because it is time-consuming and does not bring immediate results.
References
Schmuck, Richard A., Bell, Shareen E., Bell, Warren E. (2012). The Handbook of
Organization Development in Schools and Colleges: Building Regenerative Capacity.
Fifth Edition. Exchange Pointe International
Gabarro, J. (1974). Robert F. Kennedy High School. Harvard Business School. HBS Case
Services.