ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
DEFINITIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Organization Development is an effort:
1. planned,
2. organization-wide, and
3. managed from top, to
4. increase organization effectiveness and health through
5. planned interventions in organization’s “processes”,
using behavioral-science knowledge…Beckhard, 1969.
DEFINITIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Organization Development is a process of planned change
– change of an organization’s culture from one which avoids
an examination of social processes (especially decision
making, planning and communication) to one which
institutionalizes and legitimizes this
examination.…Burke&Hornstein,1972
Organization Development is a systematic application of
behavioral science knowledge to the planned development
and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures,
and processes for improving an organization’s
effectiveness…Cummings & Worley, 1993
Organization development is a planned process of change
in an organization’s culture through the utilization of
behavioral science technologies, research, and
theory…Burke, 1994
Organization development refers to a long- range of effort
to improve an organization’s problem-solving capabilities
and its as they arability to cope with the help of external or
internal or change agents, e sometimes called.…French
Growth and Relevance of Organizational Development
GLOBALIZATION
– Changing the markets and environments in which
organizations operate as well as the way they function.
– New governments, new leadership, new
markets, and new countries are emerging and creating a
new global economy with both opportunities and threats.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
– redefining the traditional business model by
changing how work is performed, how knowledge is used,
and how the cost of doing business is calculated.
– lower costs and increase the value and quality
of goods and services; downsizing, delayering, and
restructuring of firms; changing how knowledge is used –
information that is widely shared reduces the concentration
of power at the top of the organization.
MANAGERIAL INNOVATION
– responded to the globalization and information
technology trends and has accelerated their impact on
organizations.
– New organizational forms like networks, strategic
alliances, and virtual corporations, provide organizations
with new ways of thinking about how to manufacture goods
and deliver services.
Short History of Organization Development
A brief history of OD will help to clarify the evolution
of the term as well as some of the problems and confusion
that have surrounded it. As currently practiced, OD
emerged from five major backgrounds or stems.
The first was the growth of the National Training
Laboratories (NTL) and the development of training groups,
otherwise known as sensitivity training or T-groups.
The second stem of OD was the classic work on action
research conducted by social scientists interested in
applying research to managing change. An important
feature of action research was a technique known as
survey feedback.
Kurt Lewin, a prolific theorist, researcher, and practitioner
in group dynamics and social change, was instrumental in
the development of T-groups, survey feedback, and action
research. His work led to the creation of OD and still serves
as a major source of its concepts and methods.
The third stem reflects a normative view of OD. Rensis
Likert’s participative management framework and Blake
and Mouton’s Grid® OD suggest a “one best way” to design
and operate organizations.
The fourth background is the approach focusing on
productivity and the quality of work life.
The fifth stem of OD, and the most recent influence on
current practice, involves strategic change and organization
transformation.
Laboratory Training Background
This stem of OD pioneered laboratory training, or the T-
group—a small, unstructured group in which participants
learn from their own interactions and evolving group
processes about such issues as interpersonal relations,
personal growth, leadership, and group dynamics.
Evolution in Organization Development
Current practice in organization development is strongly
influenced by these five backgrounds as well as by the
trends shaping change in organizations. The laboratory
training, action research and survey feedback, normative,
and QWL roots of OD are evident in the strong value focus
that underlies its practice.
The more recent influence of the strategic change
background has greatly improved the relevance and rigor
of OD practice.
They have added financial and economic indicators of
effectiveness to OD’s traditional measures of work
satisfaction and personal growth. All of the backgrounds
support the transfer of knowledge and skill to the client
system and the building of capacity to better manage
change in the future.
Today, the field is being influenced by the globalization
and information technology trends described earlier. OD is
being carried out in many more countries and in many
more organizations operating on a worldwide basis.
This is generating a whole new set of interventions as
well as adaptations to traditional OD practice. In addition,
OD must adapt its methods to the technologies being used
in organizations.
As information technology continues to influence
organization environments, strategies, and structures, OD
will need to manage change processes in cyberspace as
well as face-to-face.
The diversity of this evolving discipline has led to
tremendous growth in the number of professional OD
practitioners, in the kinds of organizations involved with
OD, and in the range of countries within which OD is
practiced.
THEORIES OF PLANNED CHANGE
Lewin’s Change Model
One of the earliest models of planned change
was provided by Kurt Lewin. Lewin’s model provides
a general framework for understanding organizational
change.
Kurt Lewin suggests that efforts to bring about
planned change in an organization should approach
change as a multistage process.
A. Unfreezing
This step usually involves reducing those forces
maintaining the organization’s behavior at its present level.
Unfreezing is sometimes accomplished through the process
of “psychological disconfirmation.
B. Moving
This step shifts the behavior of the organization,
department, or individual to a new level. It involves
intervening in the system to develop new behaviors,
values, and attitudes through changes in organization
structures and processes
C. Refreezing
This step stabilizes the organization at a new state of
equilibrium. It is frequently accomplished through the use
of supporting mechanisms that reinforce the new
organizational state, such as organizational culture,
rewards, and structures.
Action Research Model
Is traditionally aimed both at helping specific
organizations implement planned change and at
developing more general knowledge that can be applied to
other settings.
It places heavy emphasis on data gathering and diagnosis
prior to action planning and implementation, as well as
careful evaluation of results after the action, is taken.
A. Problem Identification – This stage usually begins when
an executive, senses that the organization has one or more
problems that might be solved with the help of an OD
practitioner.
B. Consultation with a Behavioral Science Expert – During
the initial contact, the OD practitioner and the client
carefully assess each other.
C. Data Gathering and Preliminary Diagnosis – This step is
usually completed by the OD practitioner, often in
conjunction with organization members. It involves
gathering appropriate information and analyzing it to
determine the underlying causes of organizational
problems.
D. Feedback to a Key Client or Group – Because action
research is a collaborative activity, the diagnostic data
are fed back to the client, usually in a group or work team
meeting.
E. Joint Diagnosis of the Problem – At this point, members
discuss the feedback and explore with the OD practitioner
whether they want to work on identified problems.
F. Joint Action Planning – Next, the OD practitioner and the
client members jointly agree on further actions to be taken.
At this stage, the specific action to be taken depends on the
culture, technology, and environment of the organization;
the diagnosis of the problem; and the time and expense of
the intervention.
G. Action – This stage involves the actual change from one
organizational state to another. It may include installing
new methods and procedures, reorganizing structures
and work designs, and reinforcing new behaviors.
H. Data Gathering After Action – Because action research
is a cyclical process, data must also be gathered after the
action has been taken to measure and determine the
effects of the action and to feed the results back to the
organization. This, in turn, may lead to re-diagnosis and
new action.
Positive Model
The positive model focuses on what the organization is
doing right. It helps members understand their
organization when it is working at its best and builds off
those capabilities to achieve even better results.
5 Stages of Positive Model
Initiate the Inquiry
This first phase determines the subject of change. It
emphasizes member involvement to identify the
organizational issue they have the most energy to address.
Inquire into Best Practices
This phase involves gathering information about the “best
of what is” in the organization.
Discover the Themes
In this third phase, members examine the stories, both
large and small, to identify a set of themes representing
the common dimensions of people’s experiences.
Envision a Preferred Future
Members then examine the identified themes, challenge
the status quo, and describe a compelling future.
Design and Deliver Ways to Create the Future
The final phase involves the design and delivery of ways to
create the future. It describes the activities and creates the
plans necessary to bring about the vision.
General Model of Planned Change
Entering and Contracting
The first set of activities in planned change concerns
entering and contracting. Those events help managers
decide whether they want to engage further in a planned
change program and to commit resources to such a
process.
Diagnosis
In this stage of planned change, the client system is
carefully
studied. It can focus on understanding organizational
problems, including their causes and consequences, or on
collecting stories about the organization’s positive
attributes.
Planning and Implementing Change
In this stage, organization members and practitioners
jointly plan and implement OD interventions. They design
interventions to achieve the organization’s vision or goals
and make action plans to implement them.
Evaluating and Institutionalizing Change
The final stage in planned change involves evaluating the
effects of the intervention and managing the
institutionalization of successful change programs so they
persist. Feedback to organization members about the
intervention’s results provides information about whether
the changes should be continued, modified, or suspended.
Different Types of Planned Change
Organizational Design: Classical organizational designs
focus on carefully defining job responsibilities and on
creating appropriates divisions of labor and lines of
performance.
Decentralization: One approach to decentralization involves
creating smaller self-contained organizational units that are
meant to increase the motivation and performance of unit collaboration; to create an open, problem-solving climate;
members and to focus their attention on high priority and to increase the self-control of organization members.
activities. More recently, they have extended those values to include
Modified work flow: Modification of the work flow and a concern for improving organizational effectiveness and
careful grouping of specialties may also lead to an performance. They have shown an increasing desire to
improvement in productivity and morale. optimize both human benefits and production objectivesIn
Approaches to Technological change: Changing an addition to value issues within organizations, OD
organization’s technology involves altering its equipment practitioners are dealing more and more with value conflicts
engineering processes, research techniques, or production with powerful outside groups. Organizations are open
methods. systems and exist within increasingly turbulent
Approaches to changing people: Both the technical and the environments.
structural approaches try to improve organizational Those external groups often have different and competing
performance by changing the work situation. values for judging the organization’s effectiveness.
Conceptualization of Planned Change Practitioners must have not only social skills but also
Critic of Planned Change political skills, they must understand the distribution of
Planned change, according to Porras and Robertson should power, conflicts of interest, and value dilemmas inherent
be guided by information about: in managing external relationships, and be able to manage
➢ Organizational features that can be changed their own role and values with respect to those dynamics.
➢ Intended outcomes from making those changes Interventions promoting collaboration and system
➢ Casual mechanisms by which those outcomes are maintenance may be ineffective in a larger arena,
achieved especially when there are power and dominance
➢ Contingencies upon which successful change depends. relationships among organizations and competition for
Practice of Planned Change scarce resources. Under those conditions, they may need
➢ Limited consulting skills and focus more power-oriented interventions, such as bargaining
➢ Quick fixes vs. development approaches coalition forming, and pressure tactics.
THE ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTITIONER Ethical issues in OD are concerned with how
Who is the OD Practitioner? practitioners perform their helping relationship with
The may be internal or external consultants who offer organization members. Inherent in any helping
professional services to organizations, including their top relationship is the potential for misconduct and client
managers, functional department heads, and staff groups. abuse. OD practitioners can let personal values stand in the
They may be those specializing in fields related to way of good practice or use the power inherent in their
Organizational Development, such as reward systems, professional role to abuse organization members.
organization design, total quality, information The Organization Development Practitioner
technology, and business strategy. Professional Ethics
The increasing number of managers and administrators ➢ Ethical Guidelines
who have gained competence in Organization ➢ Ethical Dilemmas
Development and who apply it to their own work areas. o Misrepresentation
Intrapersonal Skills o Misuse of data
➢ Personal Centering o Value and Goal Conflict
➢ Entrepreneurial Skill o Technical Ineptness
➢ Active Learning Skill
➢ Personal Stress
➢ Management
➢ Conceptual and Analytical Ability
➢ Integrity
Interpersonal Skills
➢ Listening
➢ Giving &Receiving Feedback
➢ Establishing Trust & Rapport
Organizational Diagnosis
Designing and Executing an Intervention
General Consultation Skills
The Professional OD Practitioner
➢ Position
➢ Marginality
➢ Use of Knowledge and Experience
The Organization Development Practitioner
Professional Values
Traditionally, OD practitioners have promoted a set of
values under a humanistic framework including a
concern for inquiry and science, democracy, and being
helpful. They have sought to build trust and