Comprehensive OD

Interventions
Enhancing and Empowering
organization…
Comprehensive OD Interventions
• In this presentation we examine OD interventions that are
comprehensive in terms of the extent to which the total
organization is involved and/or the depth of cultural change
addressed. included are discussion of ,

• Getting the whole system in the room

• Search and future search conferences
• Beckhard’s confrontation meeting
• Strategic management activities
• Stream analysis
• Survey feedback
• Appreciative inquiry
• Grid OD
• Schein’s cultural analysis
Getting the whole system in the
room
• Getting the whole system in the room has a long and
venerable history, including the art and science of
conference planning and running large meeting

Examples of whole system are

• Managers of all of the functional areas in a business

• Representatives of top management, a cross section of
employees from all levels, and supplier and customer
representatives
• All of the librarians in a state or region plus the director
and staff of the state library system
• Directors of all of the social service agencies in
community
 Search conferences and future
search conferences
• Search conference and future search conference are similar but
have slightly different geographical and theoretical foundations.

• Search conference- Great Britain, Australia, Europe

• Future search conference- us

• The basic design of the search conference has following phases

as quoted from emery and purser’s the search conference

• Phase 1 environmental appreciation

• Changes in the world around us

• Desirable and a probable future

Search conferences and future
search conferences

• Phase 2 two system analysis

• History of the system

• Analysis of present system

• Desirable future for the system

• Phase 3 integration of system and environment

• Dealing with constraints

• Strategies and action plans

Search conferences and future
search conferences
• Weisberg's future search conference model consists of
following steps

• 1 consultants meet with voluntary committee of four to six

potential participants. many aspects are planned including
focus, who should attend, date and timings, group tasks
etc.

• 2. 50 to 60 people are invited.

• 3. the conference is not to solve problem, but to generate

awareness, understanding, and mutual supports.

• 4. the conference has 4 to 5 segments and each one

requires that people a) build a data base b) look at it
together c) interpret d) conclusion
Search conferences and future
search conferences
• 5.The first major activity focuses on the past. the group at
each table is asked analyze one theme- self , company,
society

• 6. the second major activity focuses on present factor-both

external and internal- that are shaping the future of the
organization

• 7. the third major activity focuses on the future. New groups

are formed to develop a draft of a proffered future scenario.

• 8.the fourth major activity focuses on next-action step.

Groups are then asked to reflect on what has been
discussed.

• 9.Volunteers agree to document the meeting, communicate

with others, and to carry forward the next steps
Weisbord’s evaluation of such
conference
• Any one who has attended such conference will remembers
it for life time

• Links values and action in real time

• It promotes productive work places by using more of each

person’s reality

• It stimulates creativity and innovative thinking

• It helps in planning and goal setting

BECKHARD’S CONFRONTATION
MEETING

• One day meeting

• Held for scanning the health of the entire organization

• Entire management is involved

• It is a quick, simple, and reliable way in which data can be

generated about an organization
STEPS INVOLVED IN
CONFRONTATION MEETING

• Step 1- CLIMATE SETTING

• Step 2- INFORMATION COLLECTING

• Step 3- INFORMATION SHARING

• Step 4- PRIORITY SETTING & GROUP ACTION PLANNING

• Step 5- IMMEDIATE FOLLOW UP BY TOP TEAM

• Step 6- PROGRESS REVIEW

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
ACTIVITIES
• What is your present strategy?

• What are the opportunities ant threats to that

strategy?

• What are our strengths and weaknesses to meet

those threats and opportunities?

• What kind of future policies must you adopt to

avoid threats and maximize your strengths?
OPEN SYSTEM PLANNING
• Developed by Charles Krone & G.K. Jayaram

• Top management develops a number of scenarios.

• Scenario is a description of the expectations and demands of

environmental domains and internal groups and subgroups,
along with a description of the current responses to those
demands.

• A future scenario is developed.

• These decisions are then analyzed for feasibility and cost.

Designing organizations for high performance
David Hanna

• ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
(OP)

• OUTSIDE-IN APPROACH
ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE
• This is a framework for keeping in perspective 5 key
variables that have an impact on OP

• To understand why the organization results are the way

they are, and ways to Improve them

• Business situation

• Business results

• Business strategy

• Design elements

• culture
OUTSIDE-IN APPROACH

• Begins the redesign process environmental scanning and

incorporates such scanning on a ongoing basis

• Demands and expectations of external stake holders are

critically examined to determine what the organizations core
tasks and processes should be.

• A strong tool for OD practitioners

Survey Feedback

• An important & widely used intervention for organizational

development rests on the process of systematically
collecting data about the system & feeding back data for
individuals & groups at all levels of the organization to
analyze, interpret meanings & design corrective steps.
These activities-- which have two major components, the
use of climate or attitude survey & the use of feedback
workshops – are called Survey Feedback
 Comparison B/w Traditional
Feed back & Survey Feed back
Traditional f/b Survey f/b
Data collected Rank & file Everyone in the
Form: & may be supervisors system or subsystem

Top Mgmt, Dept Everyone who

Data reported to: heads,& perhaps to participated
employees through
newspapers
Top management Everyone in the work
Implication of team with workshops
(may be)
Data are worked starting at the top
on by:
 Contd…..

Design & Obtaining concurrence

Third party administration of on total strategy,
Intervention
questionnaire, Design &
strategy
development of report administration of
questionnaire, design
of workshops,
Action planning Top management Team at all levels
Done by:

Probable extent of Low high

Change &
improvement:
Steps to be followed if survey is
to be optimally useful:

• Step 1: Organization member at the top of the hierarchy

are involved in the planning

• Step 2: Data are collected from all organization members

• Step 3: Data are fed back to the top executive team &
down through the hierarchy in functional teams. This is
referred to as an “ interlocking chain of conferences”
• Step 4: Each superior presides at a meeting with his/her
subordinates in which the data are discussed & in which
•
– Subordinates are asked to help interpret the data.
– Plans are made for making constructive changes.
– Plans are made for the introduction of the data at the
next lower level.

• Step 5: Most f/b meetings include a consultant who has

helped prepare the superior for the meeting & who serves
as a resource person
Case:
• The data gathered from 8000 employee throughout the
company in 1948

• Comparable data were gathered two years later from 8

accounting departments involving 800 employees & 78
supervisors

• Out of these 4 departments carried f/b activities 2

departments served as control units & 2 departments were
eliminated

• Two years later another survey was done & researcher

found that “most significant positive changes occurred in
employee attitude & perception in the 4 experimental
departments than the two control departments
Contd…..

• The particular significant changes occurred

– The kind of work they do

– Their supervisor

– Their progress in the company

– Their group’s ability to get job done

Dynamics of Survey Feed
Back

• The Survey Feed Back is essentially a procedure for giving

objective data about system’s functioning to the system
members so that they can change or improve selected items
of the system
• For organizational improvement/change to happen three
things must happen

– Work group must accept the data as valid

– Work group must accept the responsibility for the part it

plays in the problem identified

– Work group must commit itself to solve problem

Inferences

• Survey Feed Back is most effective strategy when

compared with interpersonal process consultation, task
process consultation, laboratory training

• Survey Feed Back is most cost effective means of

implementing comprehensive programs that makes it most
desirable change technique
 Grid organization development
• A thoroughgoing and systematic organization development
program, designed by Robert R and Jane S mouton, is grid
organization development

• The program utilizes many instruments enabling individuals

and groups to assess their strengths and weaknesses; it
focuses on skills, knowledge and processes necessary for
effectiveness at individual, group, inter group, and total-
organization levels

• Basic to the grid OD program are the concepts and methods of

managerial grid

• It is a two dimensional schematic for examination and

improving managerial practices of individual managers

• One is concern for people and another is concern for

production

• Most effective managers are those who score high on both

dimensions- a 9,9 position
Phases in grid OD program
• Pre phase 1: before an organization begins a grid
organization development program selected key managers
attend grid seminar.

• In this they develop team action skills

• Learn problem solving and critiquing skills

• Work at improved communication skills

• After grid seminar they go on to advanced grid courses

• They also attend instructor development seminar

• At this point the company decides to implement a grid

organization development program, it might conduct pilot
test for volunteer managers and if the result is ‘go’ then
phase 1 begins
Phases in grid OD program
• Phase 1. the managerial grid: attention is given to assessing
an individual’s managerial styles; problem solving critiquing
and communication skills are practiced

• In this phase, managers learn to become 9,9 managers

• Phase 2. Team work development the goal is perfecting

team work in the organization through analysis of team
culture, traditions, and the like and developing skills in
planning, setting objectives and problem solving

• Feed back is also provided each individual managers

• Phase 3. Inter group development: the goal of this phase is

to move groups from their in effective often win-lose actual
ways of relating between groups towards an ideal model of
inter group relations
Phases in grid OD program
• Phase 4. developing an ideal strategic corporate model: in
this phase the focus shifts to corporate strategic planning,
with goal being to learn the concepts and the skills of
corporate logic necessary to achieve corporate excellence

• Phase 5. implementing the ideal strategic model :the

organization seeks to implement the model of corporate
excellence developed in phase 4. for this the organization
must re organize

• Phase 6. systematic critique: in this phase result of grid OD

program, from pre phase 1 to post phase 5, are measured
Schein’s Cultural Analysis

• A particularly deep and difficult interventions is Edgar

Schein’s cultural analysis. This intervention is complex and
it is not for all consultants and also not for all organizations.

• “ If someone says we want to do a cultural analysis.. I spend

quite a bit of time probing why, what for, and where we are
going with it…some times it will in fact lead to a workshop
dealing with culture, but that same set of questions may
lead to some other form of consultation or counseling”
- Edgar Schein
The Flow of Schein’s Cultural
Analysis
• Bring the groups of managers/employees to discuss the
culture concept and probe their own assumptions.

• Conduct a brain-storming session with them on what they

see as the artifact of their organization

• Various artifacts such as architecture, office layout, the

perquisites, and status symbols may be identified.

• Help the group to find the underlying assumptions for the

artifacies listed in the first stage.
Contd..
• Make the group understand which assumptions are inline
and which are out-of-line.

• Break the group into smaller ones and assign the task of
further identifying assumptions and classifying them into a)
assumptions which are in-line with out goals b) those
cultural assumptions which hinders from reaching our goals

• This self diagnosis is then reported back to the total group

and analyzed with the help of outside consultant to
determine what steps may be appropriate.

• In this discussion it is crucial that the consultant help the

group to focus on the helpful parts of the culture, and help
the group to recognize what the consequences are of
saying that they want to change those parts of the culture
that they may view as non-helpful.
Trans-Organizational development

• When consultants get the whole system in the room and

that system is conceptualized as involving several
organizations, can begin to sense some of the complexities
of trans-organizational developments

• TD is seen to be an important form of organizational

change process for TS

• TS are comprised of business alliances, consortia, or

network alliances formed for such purposes as
coordinating services to the public, conducting joint
research and development, exchanging technology or
gaining access to world market
Phases in typical TD practices

• Phase1: Potential member organizations are identified

• Phase2: Member organizations are convened

• Phase3: The TS is organized

Concluding Comments

• Comprehensive OD interventions are very much alive and

visible in contemporary OD practices

• Comprehensive OD interventions improves creative and

innovative thinking

• It develops interpersonal relationship

• Helps in developing team building and goal setting