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The Daedalus Foundation is a nonprofit organization that reaches out to at-risk teenagers and offers programs to

help them succeed in school. The Foundation’s Executive Director, Tanya Morgan, often feels torn between doing everything she can to save kids who have been fighting drug and alcohol additions abusive family environments, and other major challenges, and ensuring the financial viability of Daedalus by focusing on fund-raising and expanding relationships with donors. Tanya, herself, is a recovering drug addict who came from a wealthy family in Gross Pointe. She found herself at rock bottom as a teenager after her parents kicked her out of the house, and she spiraled deeper into her addiction on the streets of Detroit. She knows that, without a helping handing from a program like Daedalus, she’d either be dead or in prison.

Despite her passion, in team meetings, Tanya often seems scattered and is too frequently interrupted by phone calls and people knocking on her door. She is a true servant to her cause and gives everything she must everyone, all day. Occasionally, her service can become a problem, though, because she cannot dedicate the kind of focus our attention necessary to plan fund-raising events, execute disciplinary interventions with some of the struggling your people, or even carry out necessary interviews for interns, volunteers, and potential hires.

Joe, Tanya’s head of operations, is a former gang member whom Daedalus helped by getting him back into school. He, too, is dedicated to the cause on a deeply personal level but doubts that Tanya is the right person to lead the organization. He thinks she is too soft, preferring the “tough love” model of the Executive Director who led the Foundation during Joe’s youth. He doesn’t think that Tanya really understands the needs of the students since she grew up in a very wealthy environment on “The Points.” As a result, Joe and Tanya are often short with each other and dismissive of the other’s ideas in meetings.

Stacie, who leads donor relations, has only been with Daedalus for six months. She is just over two years out of college but is passionate about the cause. She often feels that the conflict between Tanya and Joe is unproductive but can’t bring herself to address it. She often feels too young, too new, and too unfamiliar with the lives of the young people Daedalus serves to have the right to speak up. Still, she is convinced that she could get more money behind the cause if her team could work together more productively.

Devon is the Director of Programming and has been there since the beginning. He has instant rapport with the kids and does not lack credibility on any front. Devon is a driver, doling out tough love and holding the kids accountable to their commitments. To him, Daedalus will never reach its full potential if Tanya doesn’t get her act together and start delivering results. He doesn’t think that program participants are turning around their lives quickly enough; therefore, he no longer feels that Daedalus is making a meaningful enough impact. His distaste is obvious, as he spends meetings alternating between reclining in his seat with his arms crossed and pounding the table with a big, life-worn fist. He’s given his life to this cause and believes that if only everyone else were as committed as he, it would be a different organization.

Will is the student intern. He often comes late to meetings and occasionally can’t be found around the office. While he feels sorry for the kids that Daedalus serves, he feels he can’t really relate to them because they “comes from such different places,” as he says. Given that he has so many other commitments at college, he is unable to fully engage the tasks that he’s been assigned. He always gets the job done, but with much room for improvement. A handsome and charismatic young man, he is often able to escape much of the wrath of his colleagues with wit and charm, — but that is wearing thin.

You are the leader of a group of student consultants brought in to advise the Daedalus Foundation on how to manage and improve its performance. Using organizational behavior concepts and perspectives, how would you assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Daedalus leadership team, what dysfunctions can you diagnose in the organization, and what action plan would you recommend improving the term’s performance.

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