MacGregor Downs Country Club

Organizational Case Study

Andy Betz

PRT 506—Organizational Case Study—MacGregor Downs Country Club

Introduction:

Below is a brief overview of why I have chosen MacGregor Downs Country Club to

review its organizational structure for my project. I started working at MacGregor Downs CC in

1998 in the capacity of First Assistant Golf Professional, where I assisted in the day to day golf

operation. After 4 years of service, I was promoted to Head Golf Professional, where I was

directly responsible for the daily golf operation which included: managing the golf shop,

running golf tournaments, staffing, providing golf instruction to the membership, serving on

various committees and many other duties that were required. During my tenure from 1998-

2007, the club had 4 different General Managers, all with different leadership styles and

decision making principles. Continuity at MacGregor Downs CC during my tenure was very

limited which has lead to some issues/situations recently that has put the facility in some

difficult predicaments.

Organizational Context:

MacGregor Downs CC is a member-owned private country club located in Cary, NC that

contains over 45 years of history, heritage and tradition with all of the modern day country club

amenities. The membership includes approximately 375 Full Golfing Memberships and a total

of 650 memberships which include: Young Adult, Corporate, Non-Resident, Tennis and Social

Memberships. Resting alongside the shores of Lake MacGregor, within the tranquil setting of

the well–established MacGregor Downs neighborhood, the club offers 18 holes of

championship golf, 2 putting greens and well manicured short game practice area. The club

also offers premier tennis facilities, private dining and a year round social calendar for the

entire family to take advantage of across the clubs facilities. MacGregor Downs falls under the

Simple Hierarchy Model according to Bolman and Deal, Exhibit 5.3 where the Board of Directors

at the facility and the General Manager are on the top of the organizational chart, with the next

layer being the department heads followed by the operating core (Bolman and Deal, p. 105).

Appendix 1 is the Organizational Chart for the golf operation at MacGregor Downs CC. Each of

the other departments across the club has a very similar look. On the same line at the Director

of Golf, the other departments across the club include: Club Controller, Golf Course

Superintendent, Head Tennis Professional and the Food and Beverage Manager. Each of the

above department heads has an operating core beneath them to achieve all necessary goals

and objectives for the success of the facility.

The Goals and Objectives of Management at MacGregor Downs Country Club state that

MDCC is committed to creating a comfortable environment for both its staff and for each of its

members. The club’s core values assure that it is the club of choice for the residents of Cary as

well as the surrounding communities. The first value listed on the management’s core value

page is that of maintaining the course to the highest level possible. This goal outdoes every

other club in the area. MacGregor Downs’ management team also strives to offer unmatched

professional and personal service to every member of the club. The club actualizes this

commitment to its membership by ensuring that all club facilities are comfortable and intimate

and are well maintained by the club’s maintenance staff. To assure that club members are

pleased with the experience they have at the facility, management promises to provide

outstanding service across the board, including the dining services they provide on the

premises.

The Philosophy of the Management Teams reveals that MDCC has a core philosophy

that guides all of its work. This philosophy is one to commitment to keeping each member

happy. They realize that it is members that keep their club going and therefore, they see their

members as the first responsibility of each and every staff member. The club wants their

membership to leave happy each and every time they come to the club and they want

members to look forward to the next time they will visit. This focus on a quality experience for

each of their members is, in part, realized through the strict rules the club enforces around

membership. It is a “by-invitation” only club. Only members and their invited guests are able

to use the club’s facilities. MacGregor Downs also requires that staff recognize each member

by name while they are on the club’s premises. MacGregor Downs sees this personal attention

to their members as the most important part of the club’s success. By creating an environment

where their members’ every whim is answered, they create an environment where members

feel pampered and relaxed and one which members are eager to return to.

Perceived Problems and Problem Analysis:

While investigating some of the issues that the membership of MacGregor Downs CC has

been facing in recent times, there are a couple of items that I feel are in need of some

attention. The first issue deals with the termination of the Director of Golf of 26 years. The

Director of Golf was the figurehead of the facility for his entire tenure at the club. A decision

was made by the Board of Directors and the new General Manager of approximately 9 months.

The Board of Directors is comprised of members who have taken a special interest in the

Club, and is willing to help lead MDCC. These members are unpaid volunteers acting solely on

the behalf of the general interest of all Club members. The Board meets monthly with the

General Manager to discuss the financial and operational conditions of the Club. Each year the

Club membership elects four new Board members to a 3-year term. The membership may also

re-elect a Board member currently serving the final year of his or her term. The Board is led by

three key members: President, Ex-Officio and the Treasurer who comprise the Executive

Committee.

The decision made to terminate the Director of Golf was made by a very select few and did

not have the shared opinions of the majority of the membership. What Bolman and Deal states

under, “The Curse of Cluelessness”, to me certainly plays a key role in with issue. Feinberg and

Tarrant, label it the “self-destructive intelligence syndrome”, and they also argue that smart

people act stupid because of personality flaws—things like pride, arrogance, and unconscious

desires to fail (Fienberg and Tarrant, 1995). This vote has created a divide in the current

membership: the younger membership looking for change and the “Old Guard” membership

that is looking to keep things status quo, as they have been over the past 45 years of the clubs

existence. I certainly feel that this issue can be looked at concerning both the Political and

Structural Frame, which will be discussed later on in this discussion.

A little background on the situation started in March of this year, after being on the job for

just 5½ months, the General Manager (GM) apparently believed that Director of Golf (DOG) was

doing an inadequate job of running the Golf Department and put him on a "90 Day

Performance Plan" which involved areas in which he expected the DOG’s department to

change. During the month of June, the GM gave DOG three reviews using an involved scoring

system. For the first review, he scored a 66%, the second a 66%, and the third, he scored an

81%. Shortly thereafter, despite having shown improvement and an eagerness to continue to

improve, the DOG was fired by a 9 - 2 vote of the Board. In its July 2 letter to the membership,

the Board referred to this as: "an extended process designed to provide for careful

consideration of employment decisions by the Club while providing an employee opportunity to

address shortcomings."

The following is a partial but representative list of performance issues that were cited as DOG's "shortcomings", which led to the DOG’s dismissal for “failing to provide the members the ultimate golf experience”:

On several occasions, the GM went into the bag room and inspected members' bags. Three times, he found a few clubs that hadn't been thoroughly cleaned.

On Father's Day, when the course was extremely busy, DOG's staff failed to move the tee markers on the range late in the afternoon to minimize damage to turf.

Also on Father's Day, at 3pm, the GM found that there was no towel on one of the tees on the range.

Also on Father's Day, the GM found that the scorecard box on the first tee was low on pencils and tees at 3pm.

Also on Father's Day, the GM found the chalk distance markers on the range were missing late in the afternoon (it turned out that a child had erased them).

On another day, the GM found that the chalk on the distance markers was missing. It was due to a drizzle that had occurred after the distance markers had been put out.

The GM found some mud on the tire of a golf cart that had just been washed.

The GM found a sand bottle on a cart that was only partially filled.

The GM found a sand bottle on a cart that had sand on the outside of it.

The GM gave the DOG an infraction for the cart staff failing to pick up a member at 7:20 am in the parking lot when he arrived for his 7:30 am round of golf. The cart staff at that time was busy setting up the driving range, pulling bags and push carts that are in storage.

On occasion, the GM would give the DOG's staff quizzes. For example:

He gave the DOG infractions when a cart staff employee and an intern could not name the Club Treasurer.

He gave an infraction when a cart staff employee did not know what event was scheduled to happen on June 30.

With the club in a difficult time with a membership divided, each member should be

willing to be open to any changes that will bring the membership back together. Some ideas to

ponder when thinking about how this decision was made:

1. Member Involvement

2. Communication by the Board

3. Transparency in Board decisions.

A return to these three principles is necessary to the Club's future success and that will lead to

restoring the members' faith in leadership. Lack of membership input, poor communication,

and a lack of transparency have led to the following recent club issues.

The second issue is looking into the handling of certain Human Resource issues, which

the above example could also prove this point. A valuable and trusted employee hired by the

original owner of MDCC as one of the Club's first employees. The employee promised the

owner, just before his death, that he would take care of his golf course and he did so and

worked for MacGregor Downs for 47 years. This past year his hours were cut to three days a

week when some other workers were working six days a week. The employee retired in March

of this year due to health concerns. Many members of MDCC have a high regard and had a

longtime relationship with the now former employee. MDCC has always had a tradition of

providing a retirement party for long time employees. A 47-year employee's retirement

deserves an announcement in the Bagpiper, the clubs monthly newsletter , and a retirement

party so the members can wish him well, and an appropriate retirement gift. Some of the club

members asked the employee how he was treated when he left and to be blunt, but to quote

him exactly he said, "I have seen employees of 2 or 3 years get a flag when they left. When I left

they didn't say good bye, kiss my butt or nothing". This scenario certainly does not reflect the

type of employer/employee relationship that is either nurturing or rewarding. MDCC has been

well known as a great place to work because of the team atmosphere among co-workers and

quality of the membership. But when you have an employee that gave his soul to the facility

treated the way he was when he retired, how will they treat a new employee that really does

not understand the Heritage, History and Tradition of the facility which is what MacGregor

Downs Country Club was built upon over its 45 years of existence (Appendix 2, MDCC Timeline).

Solutions and Prognosis:

MacGregor Downs CC has gone through some very interesting and difficult times in the

past, but the facility and membership have never been in the current disarray that it finds itself

at the present time. The Four Frames approach was not even considered in any of the major

decisions that have been made over the past couple of months at the club. If even one may

have been considered, some to the issues that have come about could have been avoided. In

this section I will make some possible suggestions for MacGregor Downs CC based on the

Structural, Human Resources, Political and Symbolic Frames.

Structural Suggestions:

The Structural Frame certainly needs to be addressed in the decisions that have been in

the recent times at MDCC. The current leadership of the Club, the Board of Directors and the

recently hired General Manager has created an absolute divide in the current membership due

to some hasty decisions that have been made, especially the termination of the DOG. An article

based on Ethical Leadership states that organizations should ponder the following topics before

any major decisions that can affect the majority:

Identify “trigger”situations—Certain situations seem to attract ethical dilemmas, such

as: hiring, promoting and firing of current employees.

Prepare in advance—Put yourself in imaginary situations can help work through

undecided feelings and it can also help if and when the situation becomes real.

Listen to your “inner voice”—One’s conscience often reveals is something isn’t right,

even if this is just a feeling of uneasiness with something. If a situation is

uncomfortable, or goes against the core values or beliefs, then one needs to stop and

think things through rationally.

Re-evaluate you decision before you act—Before one makes a difficult decision, make

sure it is one that one you can live with and stick by in the long run. Would one be

proud of the decision? If not, reconsider the decision. (Ethical Leadership, 2012)

Structurally, was the hire of the new General Manager the correct decision for the

membership and employees of MDCC. Was the GM hired to make necessary changes? Assess

all departments across the club? Was the hire for financial reasons? Whose made the final

decisions? (GM or the Board or a combined effort) Is the new GM behind all of the recent

issues at the Club? These are the questions that need to be looked into in depth to figure out

why MDCC is in the position where it stands currently.

Human Resources Suggestions:

The Human Resources Frame at MacGregor Downs CC has been somewhat ignored

when one looks back at the two main issues that have occurred in the recent months.

MacGregor Downs CC was always a great place to work, whether on worked in the golf

operation, food and beverage, grounds or within any other department on the property. There

has always been a deep tradition to hire quality employees where they would be appreciated

for the time effort that as given to the membership in all facets of employment. In speaking to

both current and past employees, compensation was not the driving force for why people

worked at MDCC, it was the opportunities and the sense of community that allowed individuals

to work at the Club for a tenure of 47 years or 26 years as discussed for the 2 employees that

left for different reasons in the past couple of months. According to Collins, the number one

resource for a social sector organization is having enough of the right people willing to commit

themselves to mission. The right people can often attract money, but money by itself can never

attract the right people. Money is a commodity; talent is not. Time and talent can often

compensate for lack of money, but money cannot ever compensate for the lack of the right

people (Collins, p. 16 & 17). Another thought that come to mind from Collins that fits into this

situation, is to start focusing on the first Who principle—do whatever you can to get the right

people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people into the right seats

(Collins, p. 14). Both of the above citations from Collins play a very important role at MDCC.

Employees do not come to MacGregor Downs to become wealthy. They come to work at

MacGregor Downs because of what it stands for, or what it stood for in the past. How many

workplaces can one walk into where the surroundings are picturesque and the vast majority of

the customers are there to enjoy their leisure time in a relaxing environment with smiles on

their faces? As far as having the right people on the bus, MDCC has had a reputation of having

employees in different departments, with long tenures with the Club: former DOG, 26 years,

current Tennis Professional, 25+years, Grounds Crew Member, 47 years. This tradition has not

been assessed in recent times by the leadership of the Club. MDCC has thrived since its

inception due to the longevity and continuity it has displayed over its 45 years of existence and

it has been thrown away with a couple of major decisions that were made. Rely on what has

made the facility successful all of these years. If it was time for a change in the golf operation, it

certainly could have been handled in a much different way other than looking for ways to push

the DOG out of his position. Communication with the DOG that the Club was considering going

a different direction would have been much more understandable. One thought is that the

leaders of the Club could have proposed to the DOG that at the end of the 2012 season, that he

would be relieved of his duties to go a different direction. At the end of the season, a big event

could have been created to celebrate the contributions of 2 individuals to MDCC (the DOG and

the Grounds Crew Employee), that gave a tremendous amount of time and effort to serve the

membership. If something like this could have happened, the Club could have continued their

traditions with a little different direction, but the divide in the membership would have never

occurred.

Political Suggestions:

Politics definitely play a role in the country club setting. Most members are affluent

members of society that either, run their own businesses or are large stakeholders in major

corporations where they are involved in decision making on a large scale. Bolman and Deal

state that the Political Frame views organizations as rolling arenas hosting ongoing contest of

individual and group interests. Of the five propositions stated by Bolman and Deal, three can

be related to some issues found at MDCC:

Organizations are coalitions of assorted individuals and interest groups.

Coalition members have enduring differences in values, beliefs, information, interests,

and perceptions of reality.

Goals and decisions emerge for bargaining and negotiation among competing

stakeholders jockeying for their own interests (Bolman and Deal, pp. 194-195)

Each of the above statements can be related back to why and how certain decisions were

made by the current Board and General Manager. As mentioned above, country club members

come from various different backgrounds and have many different thoughts patterns relating to

what is right and wrong. If the following could be instituted across the entire membership as

referred to earlier, MDCC could be restored to the tradition it has followed in the past.

1. Member Involvement

2. Communication by the Board

3. Transparency in Board decisions

Once again, proper communication will lead to ALL members being on the same page

when decisions that are made by a select few to represent the majority.

Symbolic Suggestions:

The culture at MacGregor Downs Country Club, since its inception was “if it is not

broken, don’t fix it”, which Schein, 1992 says that culture is, “a pattern of shared basic

assumptions that a group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and

integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to

new members as the correct way to perceived, think and feel in relation to those problems.”

Deal and Kennedy, 1982 portray culture as, “the way we do things around here.” As mentioned

above MacGregor Downs was founded in 1968 and there have only been 3 Director’s of Golf

over the 45 year period, which falls back to the notion of if everyone is happy then why make

changes that would or could upset the majority of the membership.

I certainly feel that the culture at MacGregor Downs was created by its founders and it

was passed down to the membership over time, until the recent shift in power that has

occurred at the club. A shared language binds a group together and is a visible sign of

membership. It also sets a group apart and reinforces unique values and beliefs (Bolman and

Deal, p. 284). Everything was status quo until a new General Manager was brought in to make

some changes that could rock the boat across the entire membership. The new and younger

membership had ideas that were different then the founders and the membership before

them, but a push was put into place to make a change in the culture of the club and it

happened with one vote by the current Board of Directors to fire the Director of Golf that

served the facility for over 25 years. Once the vote was made and the termination was

announced to the membership, a complete divide happened across the club. The “old guard”

was not in favor of this decision and made their opinions very apparent, by expressing their

feelings in a very open forum. While on the other side was the younger membership felt that

this was the first step in breaking down some old values and starting with a fresh slate to make

the club more current with today’s trends.

In the private, not for profit, country club sector, leaders certainly shape organizational

culture. Currently the culture that was formed since the Club’s inception is currently lost.

Some ideas to restore the culture of the club could be to re-assess the current Board and also

look back at some to decisions and tactics that were utilized by the General Manager. Is the

GM part of the rich culture at MDCC? At this point, probably not, but he will have to prove it to

the “old guard” membership that he wants to be embraced in the culture at the club.

Prospecting the Future:

What does the future hold for MacGregor Downs Country Club? That is a great

question, and at the current time is very much up in the air. Within the past month, there was

a meeting called to bring the entire membership together to discuss what has transpired over

the past few months and to discuss the following issues: the recent termination of the Director

of Golf, re-assessing the current Board Members and the hiring and actions of the current

General Manager. This meeting was called to bring the membership back together as one unit

and to attempt to dissolve the division between the young membership and the “old guard”

membership. The results of the meeting and the direction on the Club are still to be

determined. The culture of the Club is one that needs to be restored before any other major

decisions are made that will affect the membership as a whole. As mentioned earlier, Heritage,

History and Tradition are the main attributes that can guide the membership of MacGregor

Downs Country Club back to a peaceful and relaxing facility where all members have the same

mission and goals.

References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Collins, J. (2005). Good to great and the social sectors: A monograph to accompany good toGreat: Jim Collins.

Ethical Leadership (2012). Leadership Training from MindTools.com. Retrieved fromhttp://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_58.htm.

Feinberg, M., and Tarrant, J. J. Why Smart People Do Dumb Things. New York: Simon &Schuster, 1995.

MacGregor Downs Country Club Website: www.macgregordowns.org

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

MacGregor Downs Country Club Timeline

http://www.macgregordowns.org/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?NS=PUBLIC&DN=HISTORY