Problem/Issue Identification
The initiative proposed by Sally Parker’s consulting firm in collaboration with the Cuyahoga River Valley Organization (CRVO) is too complex for conducting immediately. Therefore, additional preparation concerning specific aspects of the matter is needed. By now, the participants managed to successfully formulate their policies, engaged individuals and enterprises in restoring the Cuyahoga Valley, and started developing measures applicable to the identified economic, social, and environmental issues (Cummings & Worley, 2015). Meanwhile, initiating a change happened to be more complicated than designing the measures, potentially helping perform it. Therefore, it can be assumed that the developed stages lack precision and, consequently, support from residents and entities, which, in turn, could attract more people from other states. From this perspective, the major overriding issue is the inability of initiators of the project to implement it without addressing the mentioned problems. The sub-issues include the perceived ambiguity of goals reflected by participants and the absence of distinguishing characteristics of the region justifying the initiative’s feasibility. They are complemented by the lack of mechanisms coordinating the actions of involved citizens and companies.
Analysis/Evaluation
The design features of the CVRO characterizing it entails action and thought leadership, collaboration of managers and employees at all levels, and the divisional structure. In other words, it incorporates a variety of individuals and organizations working to achieve the same objective while following the set direction (Cummings & Worley, 2015). In this case, the stakeholders include CRVO as the region’s representative interested in its inclusion in the authorities’ decisions and the Triad consisting of actors from Summit and Cuyahoga Counties striving for the Valley’s development. In addition, network partners are advancing their objectives through collaboration, expanding their capacity, and the regional community benefitting from the transformation in an economic, social, and environmental sense. Their challenges are presented by the lack of coordination, threats stem from the absence of shared vision, and opportunities include the increase in profits. At present, the CRVO’s actions were limited to designing the general direction and discussing the principal issues. Nevertheless, concrete solutions were not found, and further work does not seem possible without creating measures to direct all the affected areas.
The CRVO’s responsibilities include providing efficient actions for improving the economic situation and creating legal frameworks for sustainable development. The former addresses all stakeholders’ needs in this area and the latter is legitimizing the efforts. Their extent is defined by receiving profits by all participants and ensuring further growth in this direction. In this situation, the obstacles are the decline in the economy and unsustainable practices, whereas facilitators include sufficient natural resources and trade centers.
Recommendations
From Sally’s perspective, the initiated process of forming the CRVO should start with establishing common goals, attracting partners, and discussing the situation in their representatives’ presence. In turn, the protocol should be based on identifying the issues and subsequently addressing them through trial and error. This approach happened to be less efficient than expected, and these hopes are contrasted by fears related to the possibility of failure in the absence of precision. Hence, the company should change the course of action by focusing primarily on residents rather than outside partners. Since there is no clear shared vision supported by the former because they do not understand the benefits, there is no chance to attract the required number of enterprises to make a change. The CRVO can continue acting the way it did, but this decision will lead to its incapability to perform operations due to the need in people to do the work. This solution can damage the reputation and lead to the inability to create an image of an important organization rather than one of the many environmental entities and, therefore, should be avoided.
Reference
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2015). Organization development and change (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.