Project Plan

for the Tucson Jewish Community Center

Management 310 - Dr. Allison Gabriel
Team #4: Kevin Buchmiller (kevinbuchmiller@email.arizona.edu), Alex Ayers
(alexanderayers@email.arizona.edu), Sara Rosenberg (sararosenberg@email.arizona.edu) , Drew
Tonda (dmt5@email.arizona.edu), Michael Leparulo (mleparulo@email.arizona.edu)
September 25, 2017
Overview
The Jewish Community Center of Tucson (or JCC) focuses its efforts on applying Jewish values
and culture to society as a whole. They are a nonprofit organization that brings a sense of
community to Tucson, even to those who are not of the Jewish faith. The JCC struggles with its
own organizational behavior issues due to it being a large nonprofit organization. A primary
issue is the disconnect between the employees that work at the JCC full-time and the Maccabi
games volunteers. The result of this lack of communication and coordination creates confusion
among departments, which leads to a sense of uselessness by smaller department employees.
These feelings could potentially be magnified through our research if the JCC should decide to
host the JCC Maccabi Games in 2020.

The Maccabi Games are exclusive to Jewish teens aged 13-16. Each year, different JCC
communities in various cities host a summer games. They are comparable to a smaller scaled
version of the Olympics in that there are only roughly 900 athletes, but the sports being played
come in a wide variety. There are team events such as basketball, baseball, soccer, and the like
along with individual sports such as table tennis, golf, and swimming. Every Maccabi Games has
two nights of social activity, and during the week of the games contestants and volunteers take
one full Day of Service to give back to the community. As such, the communication within
each JCC has to be at an all time high. Given the current situation at the Tucson JCC, it appears
that this is not the case and the situation may worsen if not addressed before potentially hosting
the games. Todd Rockoff, CEO of the JCC in Tucson, mentioned that when Tucson hosted the
Maccabi games in 2000, that many of the workers at the JCC felt left out and unimportant during
the games. We hope to help solve and avoid this problem in the future to insure that it does not
hinder the Tucson JCC or 2020 Maccabi Games.

Problems
One of the potential problem or area of concern is the Tucson JCCs employees feeling of
disconnect regarding communication between departments and jobs during the Maccabi Games.
Many employees could experience increased symptoms of withdrawal towards the Tucson JCC
for a perceived neglect and feeling of unimportance when compared to the Maccabi Games and
the sheer number of outside people needed to help make the games a success. The second issue
we are going to explore is the employees view of the Maccabi games in regards to their
happiness. We want to assess if they are worried or enthusiastic about the JCC wanting to host
the Maccabi games and how this affects their happiness. This emotional effect could result in
changing a good employee to a neglectful employee, and/or lower an employees morale and
commitment.

SMART Goals
The potential issue of employee withdrawal over the course of the Maccabi Games is definitely
specific, relevant, and attainable enough to assess at the end of the semester. This issue was
identified as a potential problem by the Tucson JCCs CEO, Todd Rockoff. Through surveys and
behavioral observations, enough information will be available to evaluate success at the end of
the project. We are going to attempt to survey and observe at least five employees after our
meetings at the Tucson JCC. The surveys would be our way of obtaining measurable data, and
having multiple surveys over time would provide us with an accurate and wholesome picture of
the Maccabi Games and its potential impact on employees. Our final deliverable will be a
comprehensive Employee Withdrawal Report completed and submitted by November 20th,
2017.

Plan for Collecting Data

Our team will be directly speaking with the JCC board of directors and employees by attending
stakeholder meetings and via email through our project manager. We will be speaking about
OB/MGMT-related issues during the JCC Staff Focus Group stakeholder meeting. In this
meeting we will discuss the potential employee withdrawal that was an issue during the last
games that were held in Tucson during 2000. According to Todd Rockoff the Tucson JCC
received numerous reports of employees feeling neglected or ignored during the games in 2000.
Due to our team being on the consulting track in Eller, we already have a plethora of information
on organizational behavior and all the contacts listed above are supplied to us directly.

Questions:
We will be asking employees questions related to their job satisfaction and performance in
preparation for the Maccabi games. These questions help us determine if the stress of the
Maccabi games has any effect on the job satisfaction and performance. As a group we want to
understand the emotional and physical effects that the Maccabi games have on employee
performance to then look how to solve them for the future.

Survey Example:
To keep employee information confidential all answers will be kept classified.

1. Rate your current job satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10. (10 being the most satisfied)
2. Do you agree or disagree with the statement I am important to the company I work for?
3. Rate your job satisfaction during the 2000 Maccabi Games on a scale of one to 10. (If this
does not apply to you put NA.)
a. If yes, then did you feel neglected as an employee during the week of the Maccabi
games in 2000?
b. Do you feel your role within the company was as important during the Maccabi
games in 2000?
4. Throughout an average workday do you participate in any of the following activities?
Check all that apply:
a. Long Breaks
 b. Moonlighting (ex. Working on something outside of work, while at work)
c. Cyberloafing (ex. Non-work related internet activities such as Facebook)
d. Work Related Confrontations with other employees or members
Outside Research:
Outside research for our project will come from our attendance of four stakeholder meetings with
the JCC board of directors and employees. During these meetings team members will be able to
distribute surveys and ask questions pertaining to the issue of employee engagement during the
Maccabi games. These meetings will allow us to see the perspective of the board of directors and
the JCC staff. Having information from all levels employment at the JCC will help us better find
a solution for the issue. If we need to conduct more employee research we are able to contact our
team project manager for further employee information.
Stakeholder Meetings include:
Community Volunteer Focus Group at the JCC 10/17 at 5pm
Community Leadership Focus Group at the JCC 10/17 at 6pm
JCC Board Focus Group at the JCC 10/20 at 10:30am
JCC Staff Focus Group at the JCC 10/20 at 11:30 am

Work Breakdown Structure/Chart

Dates Tasks Team Member

Responsible

9/25 - - City Parks and Recreation Meeting 9/26 at 9am Meeting (Kevin and
9/29 (Helps us determine venues and safety) Michael)
- After meeting brainstorm with group to
determine possible problems with venues and
safety All

10/2 - - Plan on creating ways to conduct primary All

10/6 research with employees at the Tucson J

10/9 - - Conduct primary research through Project All

10/13 Manager
- Create Behavioral surveys for employees at the
Tucson JCC
10/16 - - Community Volunteer Focus Group at the J Meeting at 5pm
10/20 10/17 at 5pm (Discuss how we are going to (Drew Tonda, Alex
acquire volunteers) Ayers, Sara
- Community Leadership Focus Group at the J Rosenberg)
10/17 at 6pm (Discuss how the event will be run
logistically) Meeting at 6pm (Alex
- JCC Board Focus Group at the J 10/20 at Ayers, Sara
10:30am (Brainstorming potential issues and Rosenberg)
other necessary information with the feasibility
assessment) Meeting at 10:30am
- JCC Staff Focus Group at the J 10/20 at 11:30 (Kevin Buchmiller)
am (Discuss potential issues and how employees
are going to be involved with the event) Meeting at 11:30am
- Conduct Surveys and Interviews after meetings (Drew Tonda)

10/23 - - Analyze surveys and determine if behavioral All

10/27 issues exist
- Compile and Organize all information from the
meeting the previous week
- Then analyze and relate to our research area

10/30 - - Determine solutions for problems found after All

11/2 analyzing the surveys and conducting behavioral
analysis
- Finish meetings with employees and gathering
surveys for final analysis

11/6 - Develop final assessment and draw final All

11/10 conclusions from all the data collected

11/13 - - Prepare and Review for Presentation and Turn in All

11/17 Final Report
- Start team member evaluations

11/20 - TEAM REPORT DUE All

- TEAM PRESENTATIONS DUE
- TEAM MEMBER EVALUATIONS DUE