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Organization Development
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Objectives:
Understand the importance & use of Organization
Development as an approach.
Understand the operational goals of OD
Understand the conditions for the success of OD
Understand the phases of OD
Understand the guidelines of OD and also OD
interventions.
Understand the requirements for devlopment of
Internal OD facilities
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Structure:
7.1 Introduction
7.2 The operational goals of OD
7.3 Conditions for success of OD
7.4 Phases of OD
7.5 Guidelines for OD
7.6 OD interventions
7.7 Development of internal OD facilitators
7.8 Summary
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7.1 Introduction
• “OD is a planned effort initiated by process
specialists to help organizations develop its
diagnostic skills, coping capabilities, linkage
strategies ( in the form of temporary and
permanent systems) and a culture of
mutuality” – Udai Pareek
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Planned effort – requires great deal of thinking and conscious action
steps.
Initiated by process specialists – experts who are knowledgeable in
behavioral sciences & have skills of applying the knowledge into action.
Diagnostic Skills – collecting of data and analyzing it towards issue
identification.
Coping capabilities – facilitating the employees to develop capabilities
to cope with issues and changes.
Linkage Strategies – making meaningful connections and thus
integrating the individual goals and organizational goals, through
collaborations.
Culture of mutuality – imbibing values and practices like openness,
confrontation, trust, authenticity, proactivity, autonomy, collaboration
and experimentation (OCTAPACE) to build a uniform culture.
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7.2 The operational Goals of OD
• The OD approach to change can be
threatening to the organization as a
system.
• One needs to understand the organization
in relation to the environment as well as
the internal dynamics of the organization.
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The dimensions that need to be considered are:
The person – the central identity of the organizational change,
starting point, needs to be made aware and accept the change
process and its rationale. Alienation to be converted into Integration.
The inter person- developing interpersonal skills leading to
interpersonal competence
The teams – temporary or permanent, by developing teams, OD
tries to establish continuous improvement mechanisms.
The inter teams – managing interactions between groups and
teams, OD addresses issues on conflicts – functional &
dysfunctional.
The organization – as a stable entity, the organization is facilitated
by the OD process as a whole in its goal-setting process & develop
internal to continue with the change process.
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7.3 Conditions for the Success of OD
1. Commitment from top management- they need to drive
and accept change by “walking the talk”.
2. Strong linkpins- roles that connect various levels and parts
of the organization. Points of effective communication.
• Willingness and resources in a department- acceptance of
change, however ‘painful’ it may appear, developing newer
behaviors.
• Involvement of an external consultant- brings in objective,
unbiased, confrontational, risk taking skills of intervention.
• Strong internal resources- people with convictions and
dependability, and other resources which are the strength
of the organization
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7.4 Phases of Organization Development
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Entry, Diagnosis, Interventions & Culture Building are the four phases
of an OD progamme:
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Entry – introduction of OD consultant to the organization
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Diagnosis – gauging the symptoms
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Interventions – the act of driving and conducting OD initiatives.
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Culture Building – co-creating a set of behaviors, attitudes, habits
etc. which are accepting and absorbing changes with a
meaningfulness and maturity. Creating an Identity.
We are discussing the first three stages in the following slides
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Phase I
Entry into the Organization – rapport between external
consultant and the organization, establishment of trust
and transparency.
Obtaining preliminary Information – broad mapping of
what needs to be done.
Interviewing key persons – sensing the issues through
one-to-one communication.
Getting a glimpse of the process – observing the dynamics
of the organization and understanding more or less what
needs to be done as an OD intervention.
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5. Making a presentation on the OD approach – explaining
the details of what the OD consultant is proposing to do
and expectations.
6. Problem identification – after the preliminary presentation,
real issues are seen and the core problem/issue is
identified.
7. The Interview – one-to-one interaction with members of
the organization at a multilevel understanding.
8. Data collection – gathering and compilation of quantitative
and qualitative information to take action.
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Phase II
Diagnosis – the data/information collection of the
core issue/s. Arriving at root cause/s
Strategic Planning – time bound planning (short
term, medium term , long term) of OD
intervention activities, alternatives.
Phase III
Specific Intervention – the core function of OD,
action steps driven to facilitate the employee on
the path towards the change.
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7.5 Some guidelines for Organization Development
• Choose receptive points of entry – start from
departments which are willing for changes.
• Focus on the linkpins – influencers need to be
taken into confidence
• Work with forces supportive of change – those
willing and finding meaningfulness of change.
• Work with autonomous parts – those units that
whose activities are independent, whose
interactions are not linked with others.
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Use internal resources and develop them – identify those
who are willing to be a part of the continuum of change
Achieve minimum critical concentration – creating a critical
(influencing) mass of people who are change-oriented.
Multiple entry points – not just one department, focusing
on several interrelated issues.
Work on felt needs – issues which may not be clearly
articulated, but strongly felt.
Use proactive behavior – responding to the challenges
creatively and progressively.
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7.6 OD Interventions
• OD intervention starts off with the
understanding of the culture of the
organization.
• A conservative culture may not willingly
accept a radical OD intervention making
the process ineffective
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There are three factors that determine the culture:
1. Ambiguity Tolerance – organizations by their very
design seek and are comfortable with clarity and
specificity of information. Ambiguity makes people
uncomfortable. Accepting ambiguity and going
along with the process is the hallmark of high
caliber OD intervention.
2. Risk-Taking capacity – OCTAPACE culture
3. Openness – whether the organization has a
climate of support and trust.
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Other indicators in the choice of OD intervention
methods:
The background of the OD consultant – each consultant
has choice of intervention from the many options
available. So he/she would work that ‘favorite’
intervention process. At the same time, consultants need
to try out other types of interventions to gain versatility.
Initial problem identification – choice of intervention will
depend on the problems/issues identified, depending on
which the intervention could be structured or
unstructured. The sequencing of the stages and planning
form the basis of strategic planning.
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A large number of interventions have been
designed. We discuss two of them below:
1. OD cube: Schmuck & Miles proposed a
9*6*8 cube, comprising the following
dimensions:
a) Diagnosed problem (9)
b) Focus of attention (6)
c) Mode of interventions (8)
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Diagnosed problem (9)
Goals/Plans, communication,
culture/climate, leadership, authority,
problem-solving, decision-making,
conflict/cooperation, role definition, and
‘other’.
These nine aspects constitutes ‘what
needs to be addressed’
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b) Focus of attention (6) – Person, role,
dyad/triad, team/group, interteam, whole
organization
• OD needs to be clear about who is the
target being addressed, since every target is
unique in its dynamics.
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c) Mode of interventions (8) –Training
(education, process consultation), coaching,
confrontation, data feedback, problemsolving, plan-making, OD task-force
establishment, techno-structural activity
• Constitutes the methodology and the
approach of the intervention.
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2. Consulcube: A comprehensive 5*4*5 system
proposed by Blake & Mouton, it covers large
number of interventions at all levels. The
following three dimensions are used in
Consulcube:
a) Consulting approach – acceptant, catalytic,
conformation, prescription, theories and
principles.
b) Focal issues – power/authority, morale/cohesion,
norms, & goals/objectives.
c) Units of change – individual, group, intergroup,
organization, & larger social system.
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Intervention Families: French & Bell suggested 13 families or types of
interventions in terms of activities:
Diagnostic
Team building
Intergroup
Survey feedback
Education & Training
Techno-structural change
Process consultation
Grid OD
Third-party peacemaking
Coaching/counseling
Life & Career Planning
Planning & Goal setting
Strategic Management
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Four Quadrants – French & Bell suggested
classification of interventions in four
quadrants:
1. Individual – Task Issues
2. Individual –Process Issues
3. Group – Task Issues
4. Group – Process Issues
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7.7 Development of Internal OD facilitators
• OD starts off with an external consultant, who eventually
undertakes self-liquidation – withdraws from the process
once the organization absorbs and internalizes the OD
initiatives as an on-stream process.
• The development of internal resources for stabilizing
changes and continue with the OD processes on an
ongoing basis is extremely important.
• Some aspects that need to be considered are:
a) Support of the community
b) Linkages with consultants
c) Stabilization of the Role
d) Professional Development
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Some aspects that need to be considered are:
Support of the community –role of the internal OD
facilitator needs to be supported by all concerned with the
change.
Linkages with consultants – the internal OD facilitator
needs to be in touch with consultants from outside.
Stabilization of the Role – acceptance of the role followed
by sharing of failures and successes of the role, leads to
maturity and stability
Professional Development – internal facilitators need to
keep in touch with latest practices in OD. Hence they need
to attend advanced programs, become a member of
professional organizations.
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Professional challenges of internal OD facilitator:
He is under constant stress to convey changes
and go beyond the resistance to change.
The role is seen as ‘marginal’ – unimportant by
many, unless driven form the top management
and legitimized.
They need to be provided facilities to help them
with their OD processes, so that they don’t get
demotivated.
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7.8 Summary
• OD is a planned process-oriented effort at self renewal of the
organization.
• Its operational goals concern all HR units, individuals, roles, teams,
interteams, and the whole organization.
• OD can succeed when there is : commitment from the top, strong
linkpins, commitment of dept., external consultant rerource, strong
internal resources.
• There are phases covering entry, diagnosis, interventions, culture
building in OD.
• Several OD interventions have been developed and classified
accordingly.
• Internal resource building is especially important to make OD a self
renewal process.