Bowling Green State University

Analysis of Delta Sigma Pis Organizational Change

Team Power Rangers

Members: Casey Back, Simon Chen, Karen Cliften, Kassandra Dellapenna, Tyler Dunn, Alan
Eschweiler, Courtney Hendrix, Molly Verhoff
Management 4650
Dr. Deborah ONeil
Delta Sigma Pis Organizational Change
Delta Sigma Pi is a professional fraternity organized to foster the study of business and
universities to encourage scholarship, social activity, and the association of students for their
mutual advancement. By using methods of research and practice to promote closer affiliation
between the commercial world and students of commerce, the organization helps further a higher
standard of commercial ethics and culture in both the civil and commercial welfare of the
community. The initiative we are studying is how the fraternity successfully integrated the
pledges into the membership body of the organization. We are gauging this study on the pledges
involvement in Delta Sigma Pi as they were encouraged to facilitate professional, community
service, and brotherhood events from the start of their pledge process.
The change is occurring due to members joining and leaving our organization for various
reasons, mainly due to graduating members along with incoming classes of pledges. We have

interviewed 36 individual members in the chapter, in order to have a better understanding of their
thoughts and feelings. The supporters and champions of the change were the pledge class
members who are new to the organization. The pledge group is excited to be joining this new
organization, and they will have a great impact on the behavior of the entire group as they move
into leadership positions. The older members showed, through the survey, that they are resistant
to the change due to the importance they place on tradition and values. The older
members want to invite new members into the organization; however, they do not welcome the
change that occurs when new members join and go through the 10-week period of being a
pledge.
When we set out to analyze the ways that Delta Sigma Pi worked as an organization we
wanted to specifically see how the organization changes and develops over time as members are
initiated into and graduate out of the organization. Delta Sigma Pi (DSP) is an interesting group
to study due to the fact that a large amount of students that are admitted into the
organization each Fall and Spring semester. We selected this organization due to the fact that we
are business students and involved in the College of Business. Our group had the opportunity to
have a unique perspective on the organization since some of our group members were involved
in the organization.
Our group sat down and collectively discussed what our goals and objectives were before
we contacted any individuals within Delta Sigma Pi. We agreed that our main objective is to
gather a deeper understanding of the cultural change that occurs when new pledge members are
initiated. Delta Sigma Pi does recruitment twice during the year, once during the Fall Semester
and another during the spring semester. There are multiple phases of the recruitment process. At

the beginning of the semester, DSP holds recruitment events and advertises the organization and
its benefits. After the recruitment events are done, the prospective recruits sign up for individual
interviews with organization members. The chapter then holds a discussion on the qualifications
of each prospect and selects the most qualified candidates. Qualified candidates are students who
demonstrate leadership potential and skills, are active in the Bowling Green community, and who
the interviewers believe will be a good cultural fit with the organization. Chosen candidates are
then extended a bid; if they accept, the pledging process begins. These candidates are now
officially referred to as pledges. The pledges endure an eight to ten week pledging
semester where they learn about the history of Delta Sigma Pi as a whole, the history of our
individual chapter, which is named Theta Pi, and get to know brothers on a casual basis. Once
they have successfully completed all the requirements of pledging, they are initiated into the
fraternity and are welcomed by brothers.
The following semester directly after initiation is called their "shiny" semester. There is
nothing significant about this semester that is different than any other active member but it is the
first semester pledges get to experience sacred Delta Sigma Pi rituals and traditions. They will
experience first-hand how everything they learned from their pledging semester is applied to the
organization.
In order to receive inside feedback from fraternity members, we sent out multiple surveys
with questions in regards to the culture of Delta Sigma Pi. We had a survey that went out to all
the members and current pledges of Delta Sigma Pi. One survey had a variation of 5 questions.
This survey included questions about when the brother became a member, how they feel the
organization has changed throughout their time within the organization, their likes and dislikes of

the organization, and why they joined Delta Sigma Pi. We had 36 out of 67 (54%) members
respond to our survey and received a variety of feedback.
In order to gain a better insight into the organization, we surveyed organization members
and people outside of the organization such as the majority of the members in our group. The
people outside of the organization were made aware or previously had known about DSP. The
non-organization member survey included questions like How did you come to know Delta
Sigma Pi?; What do you think the benefit of joining the organization is?; Why aren't you a
member of Delta Sigma Pi?; among a few other questions on the survey. By gathering
information from non-organizational members, we are able to understand a new different
perspective (both positive and negative) of the organization. We wanted to compare answers of
non-members and members in order to gain a better understanding of the different opinions of
Delta Sigma Pi.
We received multiple types of feedback. After receiving the responses, we went through
and evaluated the differences between the new members and people who have been actively
involved for many semesters. While analyzing the data, we found several similarities in the
survey responses between the more tenured members and the pledge members. 50% of the
survey responses stated that their main reason for joining Delta Sigma Pi was to increase
professional growth. Only 33% of survey participants made the decision to join Delta Sigma Pi
for brotherhood purposes, 16.67% joined to have an impact on the community through outreach.
We believe that because 50% of the responses respondents number one priority was professional
growth, which is proofthat proves that a common purpose exists among the group members. This

reflects positively on the organization as it shows that the members are participating for many of
the same reasons.
Another common response that we received from the questionnaire is that Delta Sigma Pi
has changed its long-standing traditions such as secret rituals that are preformed perfomed? at the
beginning of chapter. Older members feel as though the fraternity should bring back these rituals
and traditions to uphold the practices of the long standing fraternity. These responses came from
members who joined from 2012 - 2013 and have been involved in the chapter for a longer period
of time and witnessed more of the traditions and rituals in practice of the past. The older brothers
felt strongly in regards to this culture change and did not view the change positively. The newer
members do not see this as big of a concern because they were not a part of the chapter while
these traditions and rituals were being practiced. This among other responses shows that there are
different opinions based on their personal experiences.
Members who are interested in holding executive positions in the fraternity is at an alltime low according to one survey that stated "The chapter isn't the chapter of leaders that it was
last semester and maybe that is because we lost a lot of leaders in the seniors but this is getting
ridiculous". We believe that this is a good example of how organizational change of new
members joining and creating new ideas is not always immediately accepted by the members of
the organization.
Not only has the leadership changed within the fraternity, but also so have the members.
There are a lot of new members, and they bring new expectations. This semester we are in the
processes of initiating 18 new members which is standard based on pledge class sizes in the past
four years. The new members are joining the fraternity to create a network of professionals, gain
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great new friends, and to have other added bonuses of joining such as assistance when it comes
to academics. The new members are a very vibrant addition to the fraternity, and the
pledges have been very positive and enthusiastic throughout the semester. While watching the
new members be immersed into the organization, the pledges have really taken the time to get to
know all the fraternity members.
This semester, DSP had 40 influential leaders graduate which resulted in the loss of great
members. Due to this change, the organizations new executive team did not have the high
volumes of attendance at the events and chapter meetings. The executive members who were
elected into their roles were getting discouraged when they didnt have as many brothers attend
their events; however, the executive members did not take into account the amount of active
brothers this semester versus last semester.
The pledges, or better known as new members, have managed to get very involved
already. They have put on several different events and invited all brothers to attend. One of
the events that they put on was a community service event. At this event, brothers were able to
come and participate in making cards for soldiers, and this allowed the new members to better
get to know the fraternity members. Throughout this processes, they were in contact with current
brothers asking for advice and direction. This shows that the new members are going to be very
assertive, and take leadership positions early on.
The direction of the fraternity has changed slightly this semester. The new young and
motivated individuals are taking leadership roles within our committees, and they have shown a
desire to be active members. In past semesters and during the beginning of this semester, DSP
was having issues with attendance and brothers not being as involved as in previous semesters.
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The new pledge class has far exceeded the expectations and is not being shy about getting
involved. We believe that this is due to the newly revised recruitment process. Since the pledges
are being highly involved, this has also helped the morale of the chapter.
The survey that we presented to the brothers and pledges told us a lot about the
organizational change of adding new members. Although there are many different changes going
on throughout the chapter, such as graduating seniors, inactive brothers, new members, and a
new executive board, there has been a lot of positive outcomes. Overall, the chapter has had a
very positive morale and the new members are adjusting very quickly to our organization. One
thing to note is the brothers who are struggling with some of the changes are the brothers who
have been involved in the organization the longest. Change in direction is very hard for some
people to accept, and it is making them have a negative mindset on the organizational change.
To analyze the change in our organization, Delta Sigma Pi, we used Lewins Three Step
Model. When we looked at the process of accepting potential pledges, we felt as though the steps
Unfreeze, Move, Refreeze accurately depicted the process of bringing in new members. The fact
that the organization also relates to the Machine and Organism metaphors, further reinforced our
decision to implement Lewins Three Steps. Delta Sigma Pi functions like a machine because of
its rigid structure of roles and duties. For example, the role of Vice President of Finance has the
responsibility of collecting dues and creating and designing the budget. There are many other
roles such as this one that performs specific functions within the organization.
When we looked at the Unfreeze step of the model, we felt this most appropriately
matched up with the start of the Delta Sigma Pi opening up the organization. This begins by
readying the organization for the change by having members conduct interviews with potential
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pledges. During this process, the members who participate in interviews need to manage the
expectations of potential pledges and even remind them of the purpose and direction of the
organization moving forward. At the same time, the organization has certain expectations of new
members that need to be met in order to make the change stick. Once the qualified candidates
accept their bids, the organization accepts the new members and the Move (change) phase has
been completed. By focusing on increasing the driving forces of the change (benefits for the
members) and decreasing the resisting forces (increased responsibility and time commitment),
Delta Sigma Pi can increase the chances that the change is successful as it progresses to the
Refreeze step.
This step involves making the change permanent and happens after new members have
had the opportunity to obtain an executive position. Then new policy policies and structures are
set, and this new standard must be envisioned by the organization so they can picture the goal
they want to achieve. Communication is very important when in the Refreezing stage this
change. The organization will have a natural inclination to revert back to its original state, so
making sure everyone is on the same page will inhibit the urge. Finally if the desired state is not
reached immediately, for example, an elected executive cannot perform his or her duties,
additional steps can be defined in order move toward the desired state.
Given our analysis of Delta Sigma Pi's organizational change we feel as though they
were overall successful with the new recruiting process. We found thatDelta SigmaPi was
successful with the implementation of thenew recruiting process mainly because this
semester they establisheda set list of thequalities and characteristicsthat the potential members
should exhibit. In previous semesters Delta Sigma Pi did not have an established list of questions

to ask the interviewees and our group felt as though this impacted the quality of Delta Sigma Pis
recruiting process.Having said this, Delta Sigma Pi decided to only ask questions relating to the
characteristics and qualities. Establishing questions related to these qualities and characteristics
was more beneficial for Delta Sigma Pi compared to their previous interview questions because
it created consensus among the inter interview panels. Forming desired qualities and
characteristics was beneficial because this allowed the interview panels to pick higher quality
candidates compared to the previous semesters because they selected candidates that would fit
with the organizations skill set expectations. Overall, we felt as though Delta Sigma Pi was
successful with the implementation of the new recruiting process because unlike previous
semesters the new members are more involved, taking leadership roles earlier, and are of a
overall higher quality.
Thereare factors thatcouldhelp facilitate/hinder thesuccess of the initiative.Some
factors that couldhelp facilitatethe successof the initiativeincludeparticipation,acceptance,
andrealization for the need to change. To elaborate, current members need to be on the same
page. If half of the members conducted the recruitment process differently, the overall outcome
may not be the desired outcome (more qualified pledges, etc.). We also found that if members
did not realize a change was needed, then the change initiative was more difficult to achieve. In
order to avoid this particular factor, current Delta Sigma Pi leadership members needed to be
convinced/educated. Overall, the factors we found could help or hurt the success of the
initiative.
One primary lesson that we learned about organization development and change is the
complexity of implementing change within real life situations. It is sometimes easier to notice

the change within a larger organization than a small one; but through this project we were able
to see a change that we are all familiar with. Having different viewpoints (inside viewpoints
verses outside viewpoints) we were able to have a deeper understanding of the situation at hand,
and we were able to come up with a better implementation process. Because of the external
viewpoints, we were able to step back and look at the whole recruiting process and change some
of our old behaviors. While doing this analysis, our external group members were able to act as a
facilitator. They had nonbiased viewpoints and had good suggestions on improvements that Delta
Sigma Pi took into consideration. Thismade it easier to understand and analyzethe
changewithin our organization, and the importance of implementing changeina
respectfulmanner.We were able to applyLewins3 step model to our change by determining
what neededto bechanged (unfreeze), creatingthemethodforchange (move), and how to ensure
the changewill besuccessful (refreeze). In order to do this we had to communicate with
members both inside and outside of the organization to receive feedback and possible
improvements. Using the data that we had collected (through interviews and surveys) we were
able to create our own version ofLewinsmodel that could successfully improve the
organization.
Another lesson learned about organization development and change from this project,is
the effect an individual can have on an organization. Its It is sometimes hard tobelieve that one
person can be greatly influential, but when studying DSP, we found this to be a prominent issue.
A primary problem within DSP was low attendance rate to events. In one interview someone said
she was not attending a meeting because her friend was not attending. This type of attitude had a
snowball effect. One member wasntgoing,so neither was her friend, or that girls friend, etc.
Low attendance at meetingscannot be solely attributed to this one person, however because
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enough people demonstrate the same behavior, few people attended events. Through
this situation we learned that an individuals attitudecanbe contagious. By changing the
disposition of these few people, we could change the disposition of the group entirely.
One of the primary lessons we learned about working as a member of a project team on
this project is the importance of clear communication. Having such a large group, all with
different personal schedules, we had often communication through text messaging and e-mail,
rather than face to face. Our group conversed well as a team in class, and during group meetings.
We did however have an issue of communicating meeting times with one another, and ensuring
that we all had received the correct time and place. Over time we corrected this issue by double
and triple checking with one another about our team plans.
Another lesson we learned about working as a member of this team is how getting along
and becoming comfortable with one another can help with not just working collaboratively, but
also with the morale of the team. Although each of us were slightly reserved in the beginning,
after getting to know each other, it became easier to communicate freely and share ideas, which
helped complete our tasks. We were soon able to joke and laugh with one another, which kept us
all in a good mood, and made meeting and doing work seem less troublesome and more fun.
Weavoided any possible tension between members (which often occurs in groups) as well as
negative vibes all together. Being able to be friends with who we were working with greatly
helped our team succeed.

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