Diagnostic Model

HRM587

Diagnostic Model

The mold tha I choose is Weisbord's Six-Box Model. Weisbord (1976) proposes six broad categories in his model of organizational life, including purposes, structures, relationships, leadership, rewards, and helpful mechanisms. The purposes of an organization are the organization's mission and goals. Weisbord refers to structure as the way in which the organization is organized; this may be by function - where specialists work together - or by product, program, or project - where multi-skilled teams work together. The ways in which people and units interact is termed relationships. Also included in the box of relationships is the way in which people interact with technology in their work. Rewards are the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards people associate with their work. The leadership box refers to typical leadership tasks, including the balance between the other boxes. Finally, the helping mechanisms are the planning, controlling, budgeting, and information systems that serve to meet organizational goals. The external environment is also depicted in Weisbord's model, although it is not represented as a "box" Weisbord identifies as inputs the money, people, ideas, and machinery which are used to fulfill the organization's mission. The outputs are products and services

Weisbord's model focuses on internal issues within an organization primarily by posing "diagnostic questions" which have to do with the fit between "what is" and "what should be." The questions he poses are not predicted by the model; rather, they appear to be based on his OD practice. These questions serve to convolute the model because they do not flow from the logic of the model. Moreover, Weisbord omits many interconnections between the boxes of the model. Finally, Weisbord only tangentially addresses the impact of the external environment in the model.

HP is one of the world's largest Information Technology companies. This company got its start when Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, in 1939 developed an audio oscillator in their garage in Palo Alto, California. It is said that Walt Disney bought several of these oscillators for the movie, Fantasia. From its humble beginnings, HP's operations have grown and become massive, aligning itself into seven segments: Services (HP Enterprise Services), Enterprise Storage and Servers (ESS), HP Software, the Personal Systems Group (PSG), the Imaging and Printing Group (IPG), HP Financial Services (HPFS), and Corporate Investments. HP Enterprise Services, ESS and HP Software are reported collectively as a broader HP Enterprise Business. ("About HP," August 2012, p. 4)

Successful organizations thrive when they have a vision. Looking on HP's website, they share that from their inception they have always had a vision. In fact, quoting one of the statements made on the HP website, "HP's Corporate Objectives have guided the company in the conduct of its business since 1957, when first written by co-founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. ("HP's Corporate Objectives," 2012) So how did a company which was built on innovation that revolutionized the industry become a company which just took over smaller companies? Let's look at the past couple of years. April 2010, HP completed its acquisition of 3Com Corporation; then in July 2010, HP acquired Palm, Inc. You would think that a company which had so much money that it could acquire all of these companies in 2010, would be strong; yet in November 2011, Hewlett Packard reported that its income fell 12 cents per share. When money is lost, shareholders consider it a failure. The failure is because of leadership. From the year 2000, when Carly Fiorina was CEO until 2010 when Mark Hurd was ousted as CEO, HP changed leadership three times. Yet, leadership sets the tone, the pace, the direction of the company. It provides consistent rationale that brings everyone together running for the same mark, behind the same mission. Historically, HP had a top-down, hierarchical type of management. I am reminded of how our text describes this type of leadership. "It is up to managers to drive the machine in specific directions, people are told what their roles will be and departments and business units are allocated resources (inputs) so that the machine can perform efficiently and produce the necessary products or services