Organisational Development

By Anand Venugopal
It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change.
- Clarence Darrow
Why organisations need to change ?
Nature of the workforce.
Attitude.
Cultural Diversity.
Ageing Population.
Increased Professionalism and specialisations, etc
Technology.
More Automation,
Influences on TQM Processes and Reengineering
Programs.
Economic environment.
Why organisations need to change ?
(cont’d)
Competition.
Globalization,
M&A,
Growth of specialty retailers/promoters, etc.
e-Commerce
Social trends.
Increased importance of CSR.
Increased spending and higher lifestyle, etc.
Political Environment.
Managing Planned Change
Change: Make things different.
Planned Change: Change activities that are
intentional and goal oriented.

Goals of Planned Change:

Improving the ability of the organization to adapt to
changes in its environment.
Changing the behaviour of individuals and groups in the
organization.
Classification of Planned Change

Planned Change

1st Order Change 2nd Order Change

Classification of Planned Change
(cont’d)
1st order change: Linear and continuous.
No fundamental shifts in the assumptions that the
organisational members hold about the world they
operate or how the organisation can improve its
functioning.
2nd order change: Change that is multidimensional,
multilevel, discontinuous and radical.
Involves the reframing the assumptions about the
organisation and the environment in which they operate.
Resistance to change

One of the most well documented findings from the

studies of individual and organisational behaviour is
that the members and the organisation resist change.

Individual Resistance.
Organisational Resistance.
Individual Resistance to Change
Organisational Resistance to change
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Education and Communication.
Participation.
Facilitation and Support.
Negotiation.
Manipulation and Cooptation.
Coercion.
Change Management Approaches

There are several approaches to managing change. The

major models are ;
Lewin’s three step model.
Beer Model.
Shaw Model.
Action Research.
Stream Analysis.
Lewin’s Three Step Model
Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in the
organisation should follow three steps;
Lewin’s Three Step Model (cont’d)
The first stage – “Unfreezing” involves creating a level
of dissatisfaction with the status quo, which creates
conditions for change to be implemented
The second stage – “Movement” requires organising
and mobilising the resources required to bring about
the change.
The third stage – “Refreezing” involves embedding the
new ways of working into the organisation.
Beer’s Model
Beer and colleagues advocate a model that recognises
that change is more complex and therefore requires a
more complex, albeit still uniform set of responses to
ensure its effectiveness. They prescribe a six-step
process to achieve effective change. They concentrate
on 'task alignment', whereby employees' roles,
responsibilities and relationships are seen as key to
bring about situations that enforce changed ways of
thinking, attitudes and behaving. Their stages are:
Beer’s Model - Stages
Mobilise commitment to change through joint
diagnosis.
Develop a shared vision of how to organise.
Foster consensus, competence and commitment to
shared vision.
Spread the word about the change.
Institutionalise the change through formal policies.
Monitor and adjust as needed.
Shaw’s Model
This model looks at change in a different form. Change is seen
as both complex and also evolutionary. The starting point for
their (and a number of other more recent models) model is
that the environment of an organisation is not in
equilibrium. As such the change mechanisms within
organisations tend to be 'messy' and to a certain extent
operate in reverse to the way outlined by Lewin. It is not
appropriate to consider the status quo as an appropriate
starting point, given that organisations are not static entities.
Rather the forces for change are already inherent in the
system and emerge as the system adapts to its environment.
Shaw’s Model (cont’d)
Such different models will have implications on the way
organisations and their leaders view change, the way
they manage change and the effectiveness of any
change initiative.
Action Research
Action Research is a change process based on the
systematic collection of data and then selection of a
change action based on what the analyzed data
indicate.
The process consist of five steps;

Diagnosis Analysis Feedback Action Evaluation

Stream Analysis
Stream analysis is a method useful in planning
behavioural, structural, and technical changes.
Begins by identifying behavioural, technological, and
structural interventions that organization can
implement as part of the OD program.
Helps the organization to diagnose and plan
interventions over a period of time.
Provides a graphical portrayal of the changes and
allows for progress in implementing specific changes
to plotted.
Organisation Diagnosis

The process presented to understand the organization or

a department, group, public agency, non-profit
organizations and initiatives.
Organisation Diagnosis - Models
According to Marvin Weisbord, there are six models,
and they are ;
 Purpose.
 Structure.
 Relationship.
 Rewards/Appreciation.
 Leadership.
 Helpful mechanism.
Organisational Development

A collection of planned change interventions, built on

humanistic - democratic values, that seeks to improve
organisational effectiveness and employee well-being.
Organisational Development
Organizational Development is considered to be a
response to the change in the external/internal
environment or micro/macro environment.

OD is a meticulously planned strategical approach

intended to modify the beliefs, values, structure of an
organization so that the organization can adapt to the
changes and also bring benefits to its employees and
stakeholders.
Organisational Development
A long-term effort, led and supported by top
management, to improve an organization's visioning,
empowerment, learning, and problem-solving
processes, through an ongoing, collaborative
management of organization’s culture – with special
emphasis on the culture of intact work teams and
other team configurations – utilizing the consultant –
facilitator role and the theory and technology of
applied behavioural science, including action
research.
Organisation Development - Values
Respect for People: Individuals should be treated with
dignity and respect.
Trust and Support: The effective and healthy
organisation is characterised by trust, authenticity,
transparency and a supportive climate.
Power Equalization: De-emphasize hierarchical
authority and control.
Confrontation: Problems should be confronted.
Participation: Effective participation from most
number of members of the organisation.
Organisation Development
The generally approved process to Organizational
development is

Gather Data

Defining Issues

A suitable course of action

OD Techniques / Intervention
Sensitivity Training: Training group that seek to
change behaviour through unstructured group
interaction.
Survey Feedback: The use of questionnaires to identify
discrepancies among member perceptions, discussion
follows and remedies are suggested.
Process Consultation: Consultant gives a client
insights into what is going on around the client, within
the client and between the client and other people;
identifies process that need improvement.
OD Techniques / Intervention (cont’d)

Team Building: High interaction among the team

members to increase trust and openness.
Intergroup Development: OD efforts to change the
attitudes, stereotypes and perceptions that group have
of each other.
What does OD do?
OD establishes methods to improve;
 Quality of work-life,
 Morale of employees/management/both,
 Efficiency,
 Approaches zero-defect,
 Productivity,
 Profitability of the organization.
What does OD do? (cont’d)
Some of the activities facilitated during OD are;
Team building/ re-alignment Conflict resolution

Goal Setting Interpersonal communication

Group facilitations HRM

Strategic Planning Workforce diversity management

Leadership development Organizational restructuring

Management development Technical training

Career management Etc…

Influences of OD
OD influences almost all the levels of employees.
 Director Board, CXO, VP, AVP – Changes in corporate
strategies, mission and vision, leadership
developments, technological changes, organizational
restructuring.
 Middle managers – Confined to the specific areas or
functions to build a broader perspective and more
effective leadership.
 Junior Managers/Supervisors – To improve operations
and employee involvement.
Influences of OD (cont’d)
Line workers/Base employees – Job redesign, team
building, improved ergonomics and improved
performance.

The bottom line, is that OD influences all the

stakeholders of the organisation.
Categorisation of OD activities

Organisational
Development

Organisational Employee/Individual
Effectiveness Effectiveness
Organizational Effectiveness
Conflict Management. Project Management.

Executive Development. Self directed teams.

Goal Setting. Socio-cultural-technical system design.

Group facilitation. Strategic Planning.

Managing resistance to change. Team building.

Organizational restructuring. Total Quality Management.

Employee/Individual Effectiveness
Career counselling. Customer service training.

Creative problem solving. Developmental education.

Interpersonal Communication skills. HRM.

Labour relations. Leadership development.

Management development. Outplacement.

Sales & technical training. Stress & time management.

Training evaluation. Workforce diversity.

OD Interventions

Interventions are principle learning process, introduced

by an agent or the organization, in the “action” stage of
the organizational development to measure the
organizational health or necessary changes in its
structure.
OD Interventions
According to Richard Beckhard, there are mainly six
assumptions on OD intervention.
Groups, not individuals.
Relevant change goals is the reduction of
inappropriate competition among the departments,
and increase in a collaborative condition.
Decision making is located at the information source.
Organizations/sub-units manage their affairs against
goals, Controls are interim measurement.
OD Interventions (cont’d)
Healthy organisational goals are to develop open
communication, mutual trust and confidence across
the level & departments.
People support what they help create.
Selecting an OD intervention

In selecting a specific OD techniques, organisations

consider a number of factors. Some of them are;
The potential results of the techniques.
The potential implementation of the technique
including the costs versus benefit.
The potential acceptance of the technique.
Thank you…