Riverbend City: Communication and Organizational Effectiveness. /0x4*
Email transcript
EOC Team
From: Megan Brock, Governor’s Assistant
To: Makalay Yilla
Hello! My name is Megan Brock, and I’m an assistant to Governor Nixon. As you’ve probably heard, the governor has assigned me to co-lead your Emergency Operations Team. The governor thinks you’ve been doing an excellent job, so please don’t think this is about your work. Rather, the governor feels the situation requires more direct state involvement, especially in light of negative publicity.
For starters, the governor immediately wants water shipped into Brown Trout Bay. I know that this will be expensive, and that this was not your team’s original plan. I’m hoping you’ll be able to work with me to get your team on board with this idea.
Additionally, I’m hoping to work with the team to think outside of the box and come up with some innovative ideas for addressing this crisis. I’d like to hold some brainstorming meetings with the team right away. The governor chose me to work with your team in part because innovation is very important to me, and he is hoping I can help facilitate innovation with the group.
Thank you!
–Megan
Email transcript
Governor’s Assistant to Join EOC Team
From: Mayor Brian Nicollet
To: Makalay Yilla
As you know, Governor Nixon is concerned about the negative publicity surrounding the water distribution effort in the city. I want you to know that in my opinion, this negative publicity is unfounded. Under your direction, the Emergency Operations team has done a great job distributing water to Brown Trout Bay residents as quickly as possible. People who do not currently have access to safe water have been given instructions to boil their water. However, the media has somehow translated this into an inaccurate narrative about how residents have been forced to drink unsafe water.
Because of this negative publicity, the governor is taking two steps. First, he is mandating that large water shipments be brought into Brown Trout Bay. Second, he is sending us someone from his office, who is going to co-lead the team with you. Your new co-leader’s name is Megan Brock. I don’t know much about her, but she’s going to be sending you an email shortly.
I know that you’re working with a challenging group of people on your team—and you’ve been doing a great job with them. However, I am certain they’re not all going to be happy with these changes that have been mandated by the governor. You’re going to need to employ your change management skills to help your team get on board. To do so, I suggest you follow Kotter’s Change Model—which I believe you’re familiar with?
Best of luck! I know you’re up for this organizational challenge.
–Brian
Instructions:
Innovation and change within organizations often requires a deft application of communication principles. In this assessment, you will create a video response to a crisis depicted in the Riverbend City: Communicating and Leading for Change and Innovation scenario.
Preparation
• View Riverbend City: Communicating and Leading for Change and Innovation.
• This assessment requires you to use Kaltura, a Capella-supported recording tool. You will also need to have access to a webcam and microphone for recording your video. For more information, see Using Kaltura.
Scenario
Based on the communications that you have received from your team depicted in the Riverbend City: Communicating and Leading for Change and Innovation scenario, it is clear that your team is resisting the changes being proposed. Your examination of the communication surrounding your team members’ feelings about the changes have left you concerned. Of particular concern have been the communications of Matthew Chu, who has sent group emails with disrespectful comments and memes about the governor. You have resolved to reset the team members’ attitudes so they clearly understand your approach to the changes and how communications among them need to reflect it.
After analyzing the situation, your plan is to briefly introduce items for your team to consider before the meeting via a posted 4–5 minute video. Your goals for this video are to:
• Communicate your decision on how you plan to address the governor’s actions and plans.
• Explain three critical communication issues and challenges faced by the team, including communication issues to date.
• Describe an action or policy that you will introduce to improve communications and assure people are working with a unified purpose.
• Define your expectations for ethical discourse in team communications
