This document provides an overview of organizational development and interventions. It defines organizational development as a deliberately planned effort to increase an organization's relevance and viability. The key aspects covered include:
- The meaning, definitions, objectives, assumptions, values and process of organizational development.
- Common organizational development interventions like team building, coaching, large group interventions and leadership development.
- The assumptions underlying organizational interventions, which include viewing groups as the basic building blocks and aiming to reduce inappropriate competition between parts of an organization.
- The effectiveness of organizational development in providing opportunities for employees and organizations to reach their full potential and treating people with dignity and respect.
2. ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT(OD)
CONTENTS:
O R G A N I Z AT I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T.
MEANING AND DEFINITIONS OF OD.
OBJECTIVES OF OD.
A S S U M P T I O N S A N D VA L U E S O F O D .
PROCESS OF OD.
EFFECTIVENESS OF OD.
3. INTRODUCTION TO OD:
The term organizational development was coined by Richard
Beckhard in the mid-1950s.Organizational development is an acronym of two
words i.e., organization and development.
Organization: A social unit of people that is structured and managed to meet
a need or to pursue collective goals.
Development:
The systematic use of scientific and technical knowledge to
meet specific objectives or requirements.
ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT:
Organization development (OD) is a deliberately planned effort to increase an
organization's relevance and viability.
Organizational development is the framework for change, and often times a
manager helps to lead this change.
4. MEANING OF OD:
Organization development is known as both a field of applied
behavioral science focused on understanding and managing organizational
change and as a field of scientific study and inquiry.
OD is a systemic learning and development strategy intended to change
the basics of beliefs, attitudes, and relevance of values and structure of the current
organization to better absorb disruptive technologies, market opportunities, and
ensuing challenges and chaos.
DEFINITIONS OF OD:
According to Middlemist and Hitt define “organizational development is a
systematic means for planned change that involves the entire organization and is
intended to increase organizational effectiveness.”
Cummings and Huse define OD “A system wide application of behavioral
science knowledge to the planned development and reinforcement of
organizational strategies, structure, and processes for improving an organization’s
effectiveness.”
5.
Bennis. W define “Organizational development is a response to change, a
complex educational strategy intended to change beliefs, attitudes, values, and
structures of organizations so that they can better adapt to new
technologies, markets, and challenges, and the dizzying rate of change itself.“
Cummings and Worley define “"Organization development is a systemwide application of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development
and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures, and processes for
improving an organization's effectiveness."
6. OBJECTIVES OF OD:
According to somil aseeja, the objective of od is:
To increase the level of inter-personal trust among employees.
To increase employee's level of satisfaction and commitment.
To confront problems instead of neglecting them.
To effectively manage conflict.
To increase cooperation among the employees.
To increase the organization problem solving.
To put in place process that will help improve the ongoing operation of the
organization on a continuous basis.
7. ASSUMPTIONS AND VALUES OF OD:
ASSUMTIONS
VALUES
Individuals:
Individuals:
People want to grow and mature .
Employees have much to offer (e.g.
OD
creativity and energy) that is not
being used at work .
Most
employees
desire
the
opportunity to contribute (they
desire,
seek
and
appreciate
empowerment).
aims to overcome obstacles to
the natural human tendency to
grow, enabling employees to
contribute more to the organization.
OD
stresses
open
communication, Treating employees
with genuine dignity and respect is
emphasized.
Groups:
Groups:
Groups
Hiding
and teams are critical to
organizational success and individual
need satisfaction.
Groups have powerful influences
on individual behaviour .
The complex roles to be played in
groups require skill development.
feelings or not being
accepted by the group diminishes
individual willingness to solve
problems constructively
Acceptance,
collaboration and
involvement lead to expressions of
feelings and perceptions.
8. Organization:
Organization:
Excessive
controls, policies and
rules are detrimental Conflict can be
functional if properly channeled
Individual and organizational goals
can be compatible .
The
In most organizations, the level of
The group links the top and bottom
interpersonal support, trust and
cooperation is lower than desirable
and necessary
of the organization
way
groups
are
linked,
influences
their
Effectiveness, change should start at
the top and gradually be introduced
through the rest of the organization.
9. PROCESS OF OD:
Organization Development (OD) is a planned approach to improve employee
and organizational effectiveness by conscious interventions in those processes and
structures that have an immediate bearing on the human aspect of the organization.
A normal OD process can be phased in following manner:
.
Problem Identification
Data Collection
Diagnosis
Planning and Implementation
Evaluation and Feedback
10. Problem identification:
The first step in OD process involves understanding and identification of
the existing and potential problems in the organization. The awareness of the
problem includes knowledge of the possible organizational problems of
growth, human satisfaction, the usage of human resource and organizational
effectiveness.
Data Collection:
Having understood the exact problem in this phase, the relevant data is
collected through personal interviews, observations and questionnaires.
Diagnosis:
OD efforts begin with diagnosis of the current situation. Usually, it is not
limited to a single problem. Rather a number of factors like
attitudes, assumption, available resources and management practice are taken
into account in this phase. There are four steps in organizational diagnosis:
Structural analysis:
Determines how the different parts of the organization are functioning
in terms of laid down goals.
11. Process analysis:
Process implies the manner in which events take place in a sequence. It
refers to pattern of decision making, communication, group dynamics and
conflict management patterns within organization to help in the process of
attainment of organizational goals.
Function analysis:
This
includes
strategic
variables,
performance
variables, results, achievements and final outcomes.
Domain analysis:
Domain refers to the area of the organization for organizational
diagnosis.
Planning and implementation:
After diagnosing the problem, the next phase of OD, with the OD
interventions, involves the planning and implementation part of the change
process.
Evaluation and feedback:
Any OD activity is incomplete without proper feedback. Feedback is a
process of relaying evaluations to the client group by means of specific report
or interaction
12. EFFECTIVENESS OF OD:
Humanistic values underlie OD. Margulies and Raia articulated the
humanistic values of OD as follows:
Providing opportunities for people to function as human beings rather than as
resources in the productive process.
Providing opportunities for each organization member, as well as for the
organization itself, to develop to his full potential.
Seeking to increase the effectiveness of the organization in terms of all of its
goals.
Attempting to create an environment in which it is possible to find exciting and
challenging work.
Providing opportunities for people in organizations to influence the way in
which they relate to work, the organization, and the environment.
Treating each human being as a person with a complex set of needs, all of
which are important in his or her work and life.
14. INTRODUCTION TO OI:
They may be introduced by a change agent as part of an improvement
program, or they may be used by the client following a program to check on
the state of the organization's health, or to effect necessary changes in its own
behavior. "Structured activities" mean such diverse procedures as experiential
exercises, questionnaires, attitude surveys, interviews, relevant group
discussions, and even lunchtime meetings between the change agent and a
member of the client organization.
Every action that influences an organization's improvement program in a
change agent-client system relationship can be said to be an intervention.
There are many possible intervention strategies from which to choose.
15. MEANING OF OI:
"Interventions" are principal learning processes in the "action" stage of
organization development. Interventions are structured activities used
individually or in combination by the members of a client system to improve
their social or task performance.
Interventions range from those designed to improve the effectiveness of
individuals through those designed to deal with teams and groups, intergroup
relations, and the total organization.
There are interventions that focus on task issues (what people do), and
those that focus on process issues (how people go about doing it).
Finally, interventions may be roughly classified according to which change
mechanism they tend to emphasize: for example, feedback, awareness of
changing cultural norms, interaction and communication, conflict, and
education through either new knowledge or skill practice.
16. ASSUMPTIONS OF OI:
Several assumptions about the nature and functioning of organizations
are made in the choice of a particular strategy. Beckhard lists six such
assumptions:
The basic building blocks of an organization are groups (teams). Therefore, the
basic units of change are groups, not individuals.
An always relevant change goal is the reduction of inappropriate competition
between parts of the organization and the development of a more collaborative
condition.
Decision making in a healthy organization is located where the information
sources are, rather than in a particular role or level of hierarchy.
Organizations, subunits of organizations, and individuals continuously manage
their affairs against goals. Controls are interim measurements, not the basis of
managerial strategy.
One goal of a healthy organization is to develop generally open
communication, mutual trust, and confidence between and across levels.
People support what they help create. People affected by a change must be
allowed active participation and a sense of ownership in the planning and
conduct of the change
17. FACTORS THAT HELP CHANGE AGENT:
Some of the things which will help him are:
A real need in the client system to change.
Genuine support from management.
Setting a personal example: listening, supporting behavior.
A sound background in the behavioral sciences.
A working knowledge of systems theory.
A belief in man as a rational, self-educating being fully capable of learning
better ways to do things.
18. EXAMPLES OF INTERVENTIONS:
A few examples of interventions include
Team Building.
Coaching.
Large Group Interventions.
Mentoring.
Performance Appraisal.
Downsizing.
TQM And
Leadership Development.