Assignment:

The Consultant’s Quiet Reflection

You are a leadership and organizational development consultant. You utilize your expertise with various entities during your consulting career. You have just been assigned to go to work providing input and support for a company called Highpoint Industries. Highpoint Industries is a manufacturing company that manufactures, sells, markets, and delivers, high quality, portable basketball rims and backboard sets. Highpoint has been known for their high levels of quality and have been around for approximately twenty years and have been known for their high levels of quality. They have been able to capture a unique space in the market in that their rims and backboards are uniquely affordable yet still of high quality. Many of the customers at this point have come as a result of word of mouth.

With that said, there is a bit of trouble in paradise. The greatest concerns appear to be coming from inside. There are approximately 100 employees with this company. Almost half of those employees are involved in the manufacturing side while the other half focuses on marketing and sales. While the manufacturing side appears to be in good shape, the fifty or so employees in charge of running the company appear to be struggling as of late. The CEO has brought you in to discuss some of the challenges.

Darleen Simpson is the President of Highpoint Industries. She has called you in because she recognizes at this point from a systems standpoint the organizational culture simply isn’t what it used to be. You have only had several meetings with her, but you have taken copious notes and you have been very clear about some of the issues and challenges she has brought to your attention. Of greatest concern at this point appears to be somewhat of a disconnect between pursuit of results and the ethical treatment of others. Most notably, you are recalling a story that Darleen shared with you wherein several high-level executives sought to significantly reduce the manufacturing staff team by outsourcing major portions of the business. While there may have been some short-term advantages to this approach, Darleen was a bit dubious about the decision. Although she still hadn’t decided yet about the opportunity, she was worried in such a small but productive company the significant reduction of staff on that side of the business might lead to some disconnect in terms of owning the entire process. She also worried that by firing that many employees, the community might suffer and overall goodwill that Highpoint had developed might somewhat be hindered. But what she hadn’t decided was whether that challenge was representative enough of an issue to keep her from taking action. Between that decision point and the fact that overall, the management, marketing, and sales side of the company just didn’t seem to be as productive as they should be, Darleen recognizes that she needs your help.

Please write a scholarly essay, playing the role of business consultant. In this reflective essay we would like you to prepare to work with Darleen on these important and somewhat elusive challenges. Your work should come in the form of a formal APA paper. Please consider the below questions in writing your work.

· Component 1: How important is the pursuit of results in a modern organization?

· Component 2: What role does finding an ethical balance (or ethical imperative) have in modern business today?

· Component 3: How should organizations work today to be sustainable for tomorrow? What cultural considerations do they need to keep in mind?

Please ensure in executing this assignment that you make specific references to the readings provided as well as the utilization of at least five outside references which can be used to support your ideas presented. The use of outside sources is important because even though the materials provided for this course are excellent, as a graduate student you are expected to be able to consult a variety of sources regarding a given topic and synthesize that scholarly input into a thoughtful set of recommendations, conclusions, etc.

The essay should be 2000- words and should include at least five (5) citations. The sections should be clearly marked with headings so that your instructor knows which points you are addressing. Follow the guidelines for APA writing style. The title page and references page do not count towards the minimum word amount for this assignment