Capstone Project on "Input Diagnosis"

Quoted Instructions for "Input Diagnosis" Assignment:

I reviewed your report regarding Organizational Diagnosis and thought you did a nice job. I presented your recommendation to HP and Palm and had several discussions with them. They finally decided they want to use the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model to analyze the overall congruence in the company - they like the Input and Output analysis that this model provides.

First, the execs are interested in the Inputs, including the Strategy. They are interested in getting an objective opinion of what their critical inputs are and how they align with their strategy. So I suggest that you brush up more on the Congruence model, particularly for this assignment on inputs.

For the analysis, I suggest that you start with strategy, since you have already done some work on this aspect in your first report. Review Palm*****'s strategy and then determine which one of Porter*****'s competitive strategies fits with this strategy. Then review the company*****'s inputs and determine one or two specific critical inputs from each input category: environment, resources, and history.

Ultimately, I want you to determine how aligned the critical inputs are with the strategy. Is there high congruence (alignment), some congruence, or little to no congruence? I expect you to support your claim with a good, logical argument using the information you have collected.

Case Expectations: In order to make this case, you first need to review the strategy and then classify it as one of Porter*****'s competitive strategies. Then identify the Key Input factors in the first three categories. Explain why these are the critical input factors. Then determine how congruent the three input factors are with the strategy.

1. First discuss the organization*****'s strategy and classify it according to Porter*****'s three generic competitive strategies.

2. Then identify the most critical inputs in each of the first three categories and justify WHY they are critical. Also explain what effect the inputs from one category have on inputs from the other categories. How well does the strategy fit with the environmental, resource and historical inputs you identified?

3. Make a Case for your propostion as to how the Key Inputs support (are congruent with) the Strategy. Specifically make a claim: *****"The inputs at Palm, Inc., consisting of Organizational Environment factors, Internal Resource factors, and Historical Tradition factors are, [highly, partially, or minimally] congruent with the company*****s strategy.*****"

4. Support your analysis with objective evidence. Sources of information for the entire project may include interviews, organizational documents and reports, articles in newspapers and trade publications. Be sure to cite your sources and provide a list of references.

BACKGROUND

Read:

Nadler, D.A. & Tushman, M.L. (1980) A model for diagnosing organizational behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 9 (2), 35-51.

For Case 3, you should focus on the Inputs aspect of this model. Read pages 35 to the top of 43. You can stop at the Outputs section.

***** Nadler is the founder and CEO of Mercer Delta Consulting Group. An internationally recognized expert in organizational change, Nadler has written seven books and numerous articles for practicing managers. Michael Tushman is a Full Professor at the Harvard Business School. He has written or edited eight books and is widely published in academic and practitioner journals.

According to the authors, *****"Our congruence model of organizational behavior is based on how well componenets fit together - that is the congruence among components; the effectiveness of this model is based on the quality of these *****'fits*****' or congruence.*****" (p.39).

From the reading you will see that there are four input categories:

Environment (factors external to the organization)

Resources (factors internal to the organization)

Organizational history (Persistent Traditiona)

Strategy (goals, objectives and strategic initiatives)

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