Organization Development and Change

10th Edition Cummings Solutions

Manual
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 Chapter 10
Interpersonal and Group Process Approaches

Learning Objectives

• Understand the diagnostic issues associated with interpersonal relations and group dynamics
interventions.
• Illustrate the principles of the process consultation intervention.
• Describe the process of third-party conflict resolution.
• Discuss and evaluate the core organization development (OD) intervention of team building.

Chapter Outline and Lecture Notes

This chapter discusses change programs related to interpersonal relations and group dynamics.

10-1 Diagnostic Issues in Interpersonal and Group Process Interventions

When group process promotes effective interactions, groups are likely to perform tasks
successfully. Group process includes communications, the functional roles of group
members, group problem solving and decision making, group norms, and the use of
leadership and authority.

10-2 Process Consultation

Process consultation (PC) is a general framework for carrying out helping relationships.
It is defined as the “creation of a relationship that permits the client to perceive,
understand, and act on the process events that occur in his or her internal and external
environment in order to improve the situation as defined by the client. There are 10
principles to guide the process consultant’s actions.
• Always try to be helpful.
• Always stay in touch with current reality.
• Access your ignorance.
• Everything you do is an intervention.
• The client owns the problem and the solution.
• Go with the flow.
• Timing is crucial.
• Be constructively opportunistic with the confrontive interventions.
• Everything is information; errors will always occur and are the prime source for
learning.
• When in doubt, share the problem.

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 10-2a Basic Process Interventions

A variety of interventions may be used.

1. Individual Interventions
Individual interventions are designed primarily to help people be more
effective in their communication with others. A useful model called Johari
Window has been developed by Luft and is illustrated in Figure 10.1.
Generally though, effective feedback can be achieved when the following
guidelines are followed.
• Giver and receiver have goal consensus.
• Giver emphasizes appreciation.
• Giver is concrete and specific.
• Both have constructive motives.
• Giver should not withhold negative feedback if it is relevant.
• Giver should own his or her observations, feelings, and judgments.
• Feedback should be timed when giver and receiver are ready.

2. Group Interventions
Group interventions are aimed at the process, content, or structure of the
group. Process interventions sensitize the group to its own internal processes
and generate interest in analyzing them. Content interventions help the group
determine what it works on and may include comments, questions, or
observations about group membership, agenda setting, review procedures, and
more. Structural interventions help the group examine the stable and recurring
methods it uses to accomplish tasks and deal with external issues.

Application 10.1: Process Consultation at Christian Caring Homes, Inc.

This application presents an example of process consultation with the top management
team of Christian Caring Homes. Ask students to identify differences between process
consultation and facilitation.

10-2b Results of Process Consultation

There are many problems with assessing the results of process consultation.

10-3 Third Party Interventions

Third-party interventions focus on conflicts arising between two or more people within
the same organization. Conflict is inherent in groups and can arise from a variety of
sources including differences in personality, task orientation, goal interdependence, and
perceptions among group members, as well as competition for scarce resources. Third-
party interventions help the parties interact with each other directly, recognize the
personal choices each party is making, and facilitate their diagnosis of the conflict and its
resolution.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 10-3a An Episodic Model of Conflict

Interpersonal conflict often occurs in iterative, cyclical stages known as

“episodes.” An episodic model is shown in Figure 10.2. The episodic model
identifies four strategies for conflict resolution. Approach 1 is to prevent the
ignition of conflict by arriving at a clear understanding of the triggering factors
and thereafter avoiding or blunting them when the symptoms occur. Approach 2
is to set limits on the form of the conflict. Approach 3 is to help the parties cope
differently with the consequences of the conflict. Approach 4 is an attempt to
eliminate or resolve the basic issues causing the conflict.

10-3b Facilitating the Conflict Resolution Process

There are several ingredients that can help third-party consultants achieve
productive dialogue between the disputants so that they examine their differences
and change their perceptions and behaviors: mutual motivation, equality of power,
open and clear communication, and others.

Application 10.2: Conflict Management at Ross & Sherwin

This application describes a third-party intervention at a law firm. The OD consultant was
brought in by another to help rescue a struggling strategic planning process. The OD
consultant initially used structural interventions to simply help the partners get work done
but eventually had to utilize more interpersonal process interventions to address the
personality conflicts.

10-4 Team Building

Team building refers to a broad range of planned activities that help groups improve the
way they accomplish tasks, help members enhance their interpersonal and problem-
solving skills, and increase team performance. A checklist for identifying whether a
team-building program is needed and whether the organization is ready to start such a
program is provided in Table 10.1.

10-4a Team-Building Activities

A team is a group of interdependent people who share a common purpose, have

common work methods, and hold each other accountable. Several factors can
affect the outcomes of any specific team-building activity including the length of
time allocated to the activity, the team’s willingness to look at its processes, the
length of time the team has been working together, the cultural background of the
team members, and the team’s permanence.

Hackman has proposed that effective teams produce outputs that satisfy external
stakeholders, improve team functioning, and have members that are learning. As a
result, team-building interventions can be categorized according to their purpose
and focus as shown in Table 10.2. Team building activities can be oriented toward

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 (1) individual behavior, (2) group behavior, or (3) the group’s integration with its
organizational context. They can also be classified according to whether their
purpose is diagnostic or improvement.

10-4b Interventions Relevant to Individual Behavior

Includes coaching, 360-degree feedback, and conflict assistance.

10-4c Interventions Relevant to the Group’s Behavior

Includes role clarification, improving goal clarity and member commitment,

modifying or clarifying the decision-making or problem-solving process,
changing norms, increasing risk taking and trust, and improving communication.

10-4d Interventions Affecting the Group’s Integration with the Rest of the Organization

Includes strategic planning and stakeholder mapping.

Application 10.3: Aligning Senior Teams at Vaycot Products

This application presents an example of a team-building meeting involving a top-
management team. Ask students to consider these questions:
• Do you agree with the decision to make the workshop focus on task-orientation?
• Could an external consultant have gotten similar results?
• What were the benefits and risks associated with working with directors prior to
engaging the executive committee?

10-4e The Manager’s Role in Team Building

The manager will work closely with the OD consultant.

10-4f The Results of Team Building

The feedback on team building is inconsistent but mostly positive.

Summary

In this chapter, we presented human process interventions aimed at interpersonal relations

and group dynamics. Process consultation is used not only as a way of helping groups
become effective but also as a means whereby groups learn to diagnose and solve their
own problems and continue to develop their competence and maturity. The basic
difference between process consultation and third-party intervention is that the latter
focuses on interpersonal dysfunctions in social relationships between two or more
individuals within the same organization and is targeted toward resolving direct conflict
between those individuals. Team building is directed toward improving group
effectiveness and the ways in which members of teams work together.

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.