Organization Development

Project On“Organizational Development”

Submitted ToProf. Afreen Sayyed

(Human Resource Management)

Submitted By:Division “B”

Hasan Abbas 03Mayor Arote 07Aniket Nimonkar 36

Jayesh Prabhu 43Atul Rane 46Amey Rangnekar 47Vikas Shinde 64Neha Zunjarrao 68

Anjuman-I-Islam'S

Allana Institute Of Management Studies

Mumbai University

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Table of contents:

Overview 3 History 4 Core Values 5 Change agent 5 Sponsoring organization 5 Applied behavioural science 6 Improved organizational performance 6 Understanding organizations 6 Modern development 7 Action research 8 Criteria For Effective Interventions 12 Overview Of OD Interventions 14 Human Process Interventions 16 Appendix 20

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Organization development

Organization development (OD) is a deliberately planned effort to increase an organization's relevance and viability. Vasudevan has referred to OD as, future readiness to meet change, thus a systemic learning and development strategy intended to change the basics of beliefs, attitudes and relevance of values, and structure of the current organization to better absorb disruptive technologies, shrinking or exploding market opportunities and ensuing challenges and chaos. OD is the framework for a change process designed to lead to desirable positive impact to all stakeholders and the environment. OD can design interventions with application of several multidisciplinary methods and research besides traditional OD approaches.

Overview

The purpose of OD is to address perennial evolving needs of successful organizations- a concerted collaboration of internal and external experts in the field to discover the process an organization can use to become more stakeholders effective.

OD is a life-long, built-in mechanism to improve immunity of organization's health to renew itself inclusive principles, often with the assistance of a change agent or catalyst and the use of enabling appropriate theories and techniques from applied behavioral sciences, anthropology, sociology, and phenomenology. Although behavioral science has provided the basic foundation for the study and practice of OD, new and emerging fields of study have made their presence felt. Experts in systems thinking and organizational learning, mind maps, body mind synchronicity, structure of intuition in decision making, and coaching (to name a few) whose perspective is not steeped in just the behavioral sciences, but a much more multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach have emerged as OD catalysts. These emergent expert perspectives see the organization as the holistic interplay of a number of systems that impact the process and outputs of the entire organization. More importantly, the term change agent or catalyst is synonymous with the notion of a leader who is engaged in leadership - a transformative or effectiveness process - as opposed to management, a more incremental or efficiency based change methodology.

Organization development is an ongoing, systematic process of implementing effective organizational change. Organization development is known as both a field of applied behavioral science focused on understanding and managing organizational change and as a field of scientific study and inquiry. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on sociology, psychology, and theories of motivation, learning, and personality. Organization development is a growing field that is responsive to many new approaches including Positive Adult Development.

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History

Kurt Lewin (1898–1947) is widely recognized as the founding father of OD, although he died before the concept became current in the mid-1950s. From Lewin came the ideas of group dynamics and action research which underpin the basic OD process as well as providing its collaborative consultant/client ethos. Institutionally, Lewin founded the "Research Center for Group Dynamics" (RCGD) at MIT, which moved to Michigan after his death. RCGD colleagues were among those who founded the National Training Laboratories (NTL), from which the T-groups and group-based OD emerged.

Douglas McGregor and Richard Beckhard while "consulting together at General Mills in the 1950's, the two coined the term organizational development (OD) to describe an innovative bottoms-up change effort that fit no traditional consulting categories" (Weisbord, 1987, p. 112)

The failure of off-site laboratory training to live up to its early promise was one of the important forces stimulating the development of OD. Laboratory training is learning from a person's "here and now" experience as a member of an ongoing training group. Such groups usually meet without a specific agenda. Their purpose is for the members to learn about themselves from their spontaneous "here and now" responses to an ambiguous hypothetical situation. Problems of leadership, structure, status, communication, and self-serving behavior typically arise in such a group. The members have an opportunity to learn something about themselves and to practice such skills as listening, observing others, and functioning as effective group members.

As formerly practiced (and occasionally still practiced for special purposes), laboratory training was conducted in "stranger groups," or groups composed of individuals from different organizations, situations, and backgrounds. A major difficulty developed, however, in transferring knowledge gained from these "stranger labs" to the actual situation "back home". This required a transfer between two different cultures, the relatively safe and protected environment of the T-group (or training group) and the give-and-take of the organizational environment with its traditional values. This led the early pioneers in this type of learning to begin to apply it to "family groups" — that is, groups located within an organization. From this shift in the locale of the training site and the realization that culture was an important factor in influencing group members (along with some other developments in the behavioral sciences) emerged the concept of organization development.

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Core Values

Underlying Organizational Development are humanistic values. Margulies and Raia (1972) articulated the humanistic values of OD as follows:

1. Providing opportunities for people to function as human beings rather than as resources in the productive process.

2. Providing opportunities for each organization member, as well as for the organization itself, to develop to his full potential.

3. Seeking to increase the effectiveness of the organization in terms of all of its goals.4. Attempting to create an environment in which it is possible to find exciting and

challenging work.5. Providing opportunities for people in organizations to influence the way in which they

relate to work, the organization, and the environment.6. Treating each human being as a person with a complex set of needs, all of which are

important in his work and in his life.

Change agent

A change agent in the sense used here is not a technical expert skilled in such functional areas as accounting, production, or finance. The change agent is a behavioral scientist who knows how to get people in an organization involved in solving their own problems. A change agent's main strength is a comprehensive knowledge of human behavior, supported by a number of intervention techniques (to be discussed later). The change agent can be either external or internal to the organization. An internal change agent is usually a staff person who has expertise in the behavioral sciences and in the intervention technology of OD. Beckhard reports several cases in which line people have been trained in OD and have returned to their organizations to engage in successful change assignments. In the natural evolution of change mechanisms in organizations, this would seem to approach the ideal arrangement. Qualified change agents can be found on some university faculties, or they may be private consultants associated with such organizations as the National Training Laboratories Institute for Applied Behavioral Science (Washington, D.C.) University Associates (San Diego, California), the Human Systems Intervention graduate program in the Department of Applied Human Sciences (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada), Navitus (Pvt) Ltd (Pakistan), and similar organizations.

The change agent may be a staff or line member of the organization who is schooled in OD theory and technique. In such a case, the "contractual relationship" is an in-house agreement that should probably be explicit with respect to all of the conditions involved except the fee.

Sponsoring organization

The initiative for OD programs comes from an organization that has a problem. This means that top management or someone authorized by top management is aware that a problem exists and has decided to seek help in solving it. There is a direct analogy here to the practice of psychotherapy: The client or patient must actively seek help in finding a solution to his problems. This indicates a willingness on the part of the client organization to accept help and assures the organization that management is actively concerned.

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Applied behavioral science

One of the outstanding characteristics of OD that distinguishes it from most other improvement programs is that it is based on a "helping relationship." Some believe that the change agent is not a physician to the organization's ills; that s/he does not examine the "patient," make a diagnosis, and write a prescription. Nor does she try to teach organizational members a new inventory of knowledge which they then transfer to the job situation. Using theory and methods drawn from such behavioral sciences as industrial/organizational psychology, industrial sociology, communication, cultural anthropology, administrative theory, organizational behaviour, economics, and political science, the change agent's main function is to help the organization define and solve its own problems. The basic method used is known as action research. This approach, which is described in detail later, consists of a preliminary diagnosis, collecting data, feedback of the data to the client, data exploration by the client group, action planning based on the data, and taking action.

Improved organizational performance

The objective of OD is to improve the organization's capacity to handle its internal and external functioning and relationships. This would include such things as improved interpersonal and group processes, more effective communication, enhanced ability to cope with organizational problems of all kinds, more effective decision processes, more appropriate leadership style, improved skill in dealing with destructive conflict, and higher levels of trust and cooperation among organizational members. These objectives stem from a value system based on an optimistic view of the nature of man — that man in a supportive environment is capable of achieving higher levels of development and accomplishment. Essential to organization development and effectiveness is the scientific method — inquiry, a rigorous search for causes, experimental testing of hypotheses, and review of results.

Understanding organizations

Weisberg presents a six-box model for understanding organization:

1. Purposes: The organization members are clear about the organization’s mission and purpose and goal agreements, whether people support the organization’ purpose.

2. Structure: How is the organization’s work divided up? The question is whether there is an adequate fit between the purpose and the internal structure.

3. Relationship: Between individuals, between units or departments that perform different tasks, and between the people and requirements of their jobs.

4. Rewards: The consultant should diagnose the similarities between what the organization formally rewarded or punished members for.

5. Leadership: Is to watch for blips among the other boxes and maintain balance among them.

6. Helpful mechanism: Is a helpful organization that must attend to in order to survive which as planning, control, budgeting, and other information systems that help organization member accomplished.

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Modern development

In recent years, serious questioning has emerged about the relevance of OD to managing change in modern organizations. The need for "reinventing" the field has become a topic that even some of its "founding fathers" are discussing critically.

With this call for reinvention and change, scholars have begun to examine organizational development from an emotion-based standpoint. For example, deKlerk (2007) writes about how emotional trauma can negatively affect performance. Due to downsizing, outsourcing, mergers, restructuring, continual changes, invasions of privacy, harassment, and abuses of power, many employees experience the emotions of aggression, anxiety, apprehension, cynicism, and fear, which can lead to performance decreases. deKlerk (2007) suggests that in order to heal the trauma and increase performance, O.D. practitioners must acknowledge the existence of the trauma, provide a safe place for employees to discuss their feelings, symbolize the trauma and put it into perspective, and then allow for and deal with the emotional responses. One method of achieving this is by having employees draw pictures of what they feel about the situation, and then having them explain their drawings with each other. Drawing pictures is beneficial because it allows employees to express emotions they normally would not be able to put into words. Also, drawings often prompt active participation in the activity, as everyone is required to draw a picture and then discuss its meaning.

The use of new technologies combined with globalization has also shifted the field of organization development. Roland Sullivan (2005) defined Organization Development with participants at the 1st Organization Development Conference for Asia in Dubai-2005 as "Organization Development is a transformative leap to a desired vision where strategies and systems align, in the light of local culture with an innovative and authentic leadership style using the support of high tech tools.

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Action research

Wendell L French and Cecil Bell defined organization development (OD) at one point as "organization improvement through action research" If one idea can be said to summarize OD's underlying philosophy, it would be action research as it was conceptualized by Kurt Lewin and later elaborated and expanded on by other behavioral scientists. Concerned with social change and, more particularly, with effective, permanent social change, Lewin believed that the motivation to change was strongly related to action: If people are active in decisions affecting them, they are more likely to adopt new ways. "Rational social management", he said, "proceeds in a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of action".

Figure 1: Systems Model of Action-Research Process

Lewin's description of the process of change involves three steps:

"Unfreezing": Faced with a dilemma or disconfirmation, the individual or group becomes aware of a need to change.

"Changing": The situation is diagnosed and new models of behavior are explored and tested.

"Refreezing": Application of new behavior is evaluated, and if reinforcing, adopted.

Figure 1 summarizes the steps and processes involved in planned change through action research. Action research is depicted as a cyclical process of change. The cycle begins with a series of planning actions initiated by the client and the change agent working together. The principal elements of this stage include a preliminary diagnosis, data gathering, feedback of results, and joint action planning. In the language of systems theory, this is the input phase, in which the client system becomes aware of problems as yet unidentified, realizes it may need outside help to effect changes, and shares with the consultant the process of problem diagnosis.

The second stage of action research is the action, or transformation, phase. This stage includes actions relating to learning processes (perhaps in the form of role analysis) and to planning and executing behavioral changes in the client organization. As shown in Figure 1,

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feedback at this stage would move via Feedback Loop A and would have the effect of altering previous planning to bring the learning activities of the client system into better alignment with change objectives. Included in this stage is action-planning activity carried out jointly by the consultant and members of the client system. Following the workshop or learning sessions, these action steps are carried out on the job as part of the transformation stage.

The third stage of action research is the output, or results, phase. This stage includes actual changes in behaviour (if any) resulting from corrective action steps taken following the second stage. Data are again gathered from the client system so that progress can be determined and necessary adjustments in learning activities can be made. Minor adjustments of this nature can be made in learning activities via Feedback Loop B (see Figure 1). Major adjustments and re-evaluations would return the OD project to the first, or planning, stage for basic changes in the program. The action-research model shown in Figure 1 closely follows Lewin's repetitive cycle of planning, action, and measuring results. It also illustrates other aspects of Lewin's general model of change. As indicated in the diagram, the planning stage is a period of unfreezing, or problem awareness. The action stage is a period of changing, that is, trying out new forms of behavior in an effort to understand and cope with the system's problems. (There is inevitable overlap between the stages, since the boundaries are not clear-cut and cannot be in a continuous process). The results stage is a period of refreezing, in which new behaviors are tried out on the job and, if successful and reinforcing, become a part of the system's repertoire of problem-solving behavior.

Action research is problem centered, client centered, and action oriented. It involves the client system in a diagnostic, active-learning, problem-finding, and problem-solving process. Data are not simply returned in the form of a written report but instead are fed back in open joint sessions, and the client and the change agent collaborate in identifying and ranking specific problems, in devising methods for finding their real causes, and in developing plans for coping with them realistically and practically. Scientific method in the form of data gathering, forming hypotheses, testing hypotheses, and measuring results, although not pursued as rigorously as in the laboratory, is nevertheless an integral part of the process. Action research also sets in motion a long-range, cyclical, self-correcting mechanism for maintaining and enhancing the effectiveness of the client's system by leaving the system with practical and useful tools for self-analysis and self-renewal.

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OD Interventions

"Interventions" are principal learning processes in the "action" stage of organization development. Interventions are structured activities used individually or in combination by the members of a client system to improve their social or task performance. They may be introduced by a change agent as part of an improvement program, or they may be used by the client following a program to check on the state of the organization's health, or to effect necessary changes in its own behavior. "Structured activities" mean such diverse procedures as experiential exercises, questionnaires, attitude surveys, interviews, relevant group discussions, and even lunchtime meetings between the change agent and a member of the client organization. Every action that influences an organization's improvement program in a change agent-client system relationship can be said to be an intervention.

There are many possible intervention strategies from which to choose. Several assumptions about the nature and functioning of organizations are made in the choice of a particular strategy. Beckhard lists six such assumptions:

1. The basic building blocks of an organization are groups (teams). Therefore, the basic units of change are groups, not individuals.

2. An always relevant change goal is the reduction of inappropriate competition between parts of the organization and the development of a more collaborative condition.

3. Decision making in a healthy organization is located where the information sources are, rather than in a particular role or level of hierarchy.

4. Organizations, subunits of organizations, and individuals continuously manage their affairs against goals. Controls are interim measurements, not the basis of managerial strategy.

5. One goal of a healthy organization is to develop generally open communication, mutual trust, and confidence between and across levels.

6. People support what they help create. People affected by a change must be allowed active participation and a sense of ownership in the planning and conduct of the change.

Interventions range from those designed to improve the effectiveness of individuals through those designed to deal with teams and groups, intergroup relations, and the total organization. There are interventions that focus on task issues (what people do), and those that focus on process issues (how people go about doing it). Finally, interventions may be roughly classified according to which change mechanism they tend to emphasize: for example, feedback, awareness of changing cultural norms, interaction and communication, conflict, and education through either new knowledge or skill practice.

One of the most difficult tasks confronting the change agent is to help create in the client system a safe climate for learning and change. In a favorable climate, human learning builds on itself and continues indefinitely during man's lifetime. Out of new behavior, new dilemmas and problems emerge as the spiral continues upward to new levels. In an unfavorable climate, in contrast, learning is far less certain, and in an atmosphere of psychological threat, it often stops altogether. Unfreezing old ways can be inhibited in organizations because the climate makes employees feel that it is inappropriate to reveal true feelings, even though such revelations could be constructive. In an inhibited atmosphere, therefore, necessary feedback is not available. Also, trying out new ways may be viewed as

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risky because it violates established norms. Such an organization may also be constrained because of the law of systems: If one part changes, other parts will become involved. Hence, it is easier to maintain the status quo. Hierarchical authority, specialization, span of control, and other characteristics of formal systems also discourage experimentation

The change agent must address himself to all of these hazards and obstacles. Some of the things which will help him are:

1. A real need in the client system to change2. Genuine support from management3. Setting a personal example: listening, supporting behavior4. A sound background in the behavioral sciences5. A working knowledge of systems theory6. A belief in man as a rational, self-educating being fully capable of learning better

ways to do things

A few examples of interventions include team building, coaching, Large Group Interventions, mentoring, performance appraisal, downsizing, TQM, and leadership development.

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What is an OD Intervention?

The term Intervention refers to a set of sequenced, planned actions or events intended to help an organization to increase its effectiveness. Interventions purposely disrupt the status quo; they are deliberate attempts to change an organization or sub-unit toward adifferent and more effective state.

Criteria for Effective Interventions

In OD three major criteria define the effectiveness of an intervention:

1. The Extent to which it (the Intervention) fits the needs of the organization.

This criterion concerns the extent to which the intervention is relevant to the organizationand its members. Effective interventions are based on valid information about theOrganization’s functioning; they provide organization members with opportunities toMake free and informed choices; and they gain members’ internal commitment to thosechoices.

Valid information is the result of an accurate diagnosis of the organization’s functioning.It must reflect fairly what organization members perceive and feel about their primaryconcerns and issues. Free and informed choice suggests that members are activelyinvolved in making decisions about changes that will affect them. It also means thatinterventions will not be imposed on them. Internal commitment means that organizationmembers accept ownership of the intervention and take responsibility for implementingit. If interventions are to result in meaningful changes, management, staff, and otherrelevant members must be committed to carrying them out.

2. The degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended outcomes

Because interventions are intended to produce specific results, they must be based onvalid knowledge that those outcomes actually can be produced. Otherwise, there is noscientific basis for designing an effective OD intervention. Unlike other exact sciences(like medicine or engineering) knowledge of the effect of OD interventions is in arudimentary stage of development. Moreover, few attempts have been made to examinethe comparative effects of different OD techniques. All of these factors make it difficultto know whether one method is more effective than another.

despite these difficulties, attempts are being made to evaluate different OD interventionmethods, so that we can gain the ability to predict outcomes of various interventions andthus be able to use the most appropriate interventions for specific problems.

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3. The extent to which the OD intervention transfers change-managementcompetence to organization members.

OD interventions can be said to be effective, only if they make the organization memberscompetent to initiate, implement and monitor change on their own. The values underlyingOD suggest that organization members should be better able to carry out planned changeactivities on their own, following the intervention. They should gain knowledge and skillin managing change from active participation in designing and implementing theintervention. Competence in change management is essential in today’s environment,where technological, social, economic, and political changes are rapid and persistent.

Factors That Impact the Success of OD Interventions

I. Factors relating to Change Situation: These relate to the environment of theorganization and include the physical and human environment.

1.Readiness for Change: Intervention success depends heavily on the organizationbeing ready for planned change. Indicators for readiness for change includesensitivity to pressures for change (higher sensitivity means greater readiness tochange); dissatisfaction with the status quo; availability of resources to supportchange; and, commitment of significant management time.

2.Capability to Change: Managing planned change requires particular knowledgeand skills including the ability to motivate change, to lead change, to developpolitical support, to manage transition, and to sustain momentum. If organizationmembers do not have these capabilities, then a preliminary training interventionmay be needed to prepare the members for the major change.

3. Cultural Context: The national culture within which an organization isembedded can exert a powerful influence on members’ reactions to change, and sointervention design must account for the cultural values and assumptions held byorganization members. This makes it important for OD interventions to beadapted to different cultures.

4.Capabilities of the Change Agent (OD Consultant): The success of Ointerventions depend to a great extent on the expertise, experience and talents ofthe consultant. No consultant should undertake to implement interventions thatare beyond their level of competence or their area of expertise. The ethicalguidelines under which OD practitioners operate require full disclosure of theapplicability of their knowledge and expertise to the client’s situation.

II. Factors Related to the Target of Change: These relate to the specific targets atwhich OD interventions are targeted. The targets of change can be different issues of theorganization and at different levels.

A. Organizational Issues

1. Strategic Issues: Strategic issues refer to major decisions of organizations suchas what products or services to offer, which markets to serve, mergers,acquisitions, expansions, etc. OD Interventions aimed at these strategic issues are

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called strategic interventions and are among the most recent OD interventions andinclude, integrated strategic change, mergers and acquisitions, trans-organizational development, organizational learning, etc.

2. Technology and Structure Issues: These refer to issues relating to howorganizations divide their work amongst departments and how they coordinatebetween departments. They also must make decisions about how to deliverproducts or services and how to link people to tasks. OD interventions aimed atthese issues are called techno-structural interventions and include OD activitiesrelating to organizational design, employee involvement and work design.

3. Human Resource Issues: These issues are concerned with attracting competentpeople to the organization, setting goals for them, appraising and rewarding theirperformance, and ensuring that they develop their careers and manage stress. Otechniques aimed at these issues are called human resource managementinterventions.

4. Human Process Issues: These issues have to do with social processes occurringamong organization members, such as communication, decision-making,leadership, and group dynamics. OD methods focusing on these kinds of issuesare called human process interventions; included among them are some of themost common OD techniques, such as conflict resolution and team building.

B. Organizational Levels

OD interventions are aimed at different levels of the organization: individual, group,organization and trans-organization (for example different offices of the organizationaround the globe; or between organization and its suppliers, customers, etc.)

OD interventions are usually aimed at specific levels, and must address cross-level effectsand perhaps integrate interventions affecting different levels to achieve overall success.

OVERVIEW OF OD INTERVENTIONS

The diagram in the following page summarizes the more popular OD interventionsclassified under different categories. The X mark indicates the target/s at which theinterventions are aimed.

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Types of Interventions and Organizational Levels

INTERVENTIONSPrimary Organizational Level (s) Affected

INDIVIDUAL GROUP ORGANIZATION

Human ProcessT – Groups X XProcess Consultation X XThird Party Intervention X XTeam Building X XOrganizationConfrontation Meeting

X X

Intergroup Relations X XLarge-groupinterventions

X

Grid Organizationevelopment

X X

Techno Structural Structural Design X

ownsizing XReengineering X XParallel Structures X XHigh-involvementOrganizations

X X X

Total QualityManagement

X X

Work Design X X

HR ManagementGoal Setting X XPerformance Appraisal X XReward Systems X X XCareerPlanning/Development

X

Managing Work Forceiversity

X X

Employee Wellness X

StrategicIntegrated StrategicChange

X

Trans-organizationevelopment

X

Mergers & AcquisitionsIntegration

X

Culture Change XSelf-DesigningOrganizations

X X

Organization Learningand KnowledgeManagement

X X

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Human Process Interventions

A. The following interventions deal with interpersonal relationships and groupdynamics.

1. T Groups: This traditional change method provides members with experientiallearning about group dynamics, leadership, and interpersonal relations. The basicT Group brings ten to fifteen strangers together with a professional trainer toexamine the social dynamics that emerge from their interactions. Members gainfeedback about the impact of their own behaviors on each other and learn aboutgroup dynamics.

2. Process Consultation: This intervention focuses on interpersonal relations andsocial dynamics occurring in work groups. Typically, a process consultant helpsgroup members diagnose group functioning and devise appropriate solutions toprocess problems, such as dysfunctional conflict., poor communications, andineffective norms. The aim is to help members gain the skills and understandingnecessary to identify and solve problems themselves.

3. Third Party Interventions: This change method is a form of process consultationaimed at dysfunctional interpersonal relations in organizations. Interpersonalconflict may derive from substantive issues, such as disputes over work methods,or from interpersonal issues, such as miscommunication. The third partyintervener helps people resolve conflicts through such methods as problemsolving, bargaining, and conciliation.

4. Team Building: This intervention helps work groups become more effective inaccomplishing tasks. Like process consultation, team building helps membersdiagnose group processes and devise solutions to problems. It goes beyond groupprocesses, however, to include examination of the group’s task, member roles,and strategies for performing tasks. The consultant also may function as aresource person offering expertise related to the group’s tasks.

B. The following Interventions deal with human processes that are more systemwide than individualistic or small-group oriented.

1. Organization Confrontation Meeting: This change method mobilizesorganization members to identify problems, set action targets, and begin workingon problems. It is usually applied when organizations are experiencing stress andwhen management needs to organize resources for immediate problem solving.The intervention generally includes various groupings of employees in identifyingand solving problems.

2. Intergroup Relations: These interventions are designed to improve interactionsamong different groups or departments in organizations. The microcosm groupintervention involves a small group of people whose backgrounds closely matchthe organizational problems being addressed. This group addresses the problemand develops means to solve it. The Intergroup conflict model typically involves aconsultant helping two groups understand the causes of their conflict and chooseappropriate solutions.

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3. Large-group Interventions: These interventions involve getting abroad varietyof stakeholders into a large meeting to clarify important values, to develop newways of working, to articulate a new vision for the organization, or to solvepressing organizational problems. Such meetings are powerful tools for creatingawareness of organizational problems and opportunities and for specifying valueddirections for future action.

4. Grid Organization Development: This normative intervention specifies aparticular way to manage an organization. It is packaged OD program thatincludes standardized instruments for measuring organizational practices andspecific procedures for helping organizations to achieve the prescribed approach.

Techno-Structural Interventions

These interventions deal with an organization’s technology (for examples its taskmethods and job design) and structure (for example, division of labor and hierarchy).These methods are becoming popular in OD because of the growing problems relating toproductivity and organizational effectiveness.

These interventions are rooted in the disciplines of engineering, sociology, andpsychology and in the applied fields of socio-technical systems and organization design.Cconsultants place emphasis both on productivity and human fulfillment.

1. Structural Design: This change process concerns the organization’s division oflabor – how to specialize task performances. Interventions aimed at structuraldesign include moving from more traditional ways of dividing the organization’soverall work (such as functional, self-contained-unit, and matrix structures) tomore integrative and flexible forms (such as process-based and network-basedstructures). Diagnostic guidelines exist to determine which structure is appropriatefor particular organizational environments, technologies, and conditions.

2. Downsizing: This intervention reduces costs and bureaucracy by decreasing thesize of the organization through personnel layoffs, organization redesign, andoutsourcing. Each of these downsizing methods must be planned with a clearunderstanding of the organization’s strategy.

3. Re-engineering: This recent intervention radically redesigns the organization’score work processes to create tighter linkage and coordination among the differenttasks. This workflow integration results in faster, more responsive taskperformance. Reengineering is often accomplished with a new informationtechnology that permits employees to control and coordinate work processes moreeffectively. Reengineering often fails if it ignores basic principles and processes ofOD.

The next three interventions: Parallel Structures, High-involvement organizations andTotal Quality Management (TQM), fall under the broad category of interventions calledEmployee Involvement (EI) interventions. These interventions are aimed at improvingemployee well-being and organizational effectiveness.

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4. Parallel Structures: This intervention involves members in resolving ill-defined,complex problems and build adaptability into bureaucratic organizations. Alsoknown as “collateral structures”, “Dualistic structures” or “shadow structures”,parallel structures operate in conjunction with the formal organization. Theyprovide members with an alternative setting in which to address problems and topropose innovative solutions free from the formal organization structure andculture. For example, members may attend periodic off-site meetings to exploreways to improve quality in their work area or they may be temporarily assigned toa special project of facility to devise new products or solutions to organizationalproblems. Parallel structures facilitate problem solving and change by providingtime and resources for members to think, talk, and act in completely new ways.Cconsequently, norms and procedures for working in parallel structures are entirelydifferent from those of the formal organization.

5. High-involvement Organizations (HIO’s): These interventions are aimed atcreating organizations with high involvement of employees. They createorganizational conditions that support high levels of employee participation. Whatmakes HIO’s unique is the comprehensive nature of their design process. Unlikeparallel structures that do not alter the formal organization, in HIOs almost allorganization features are designed jointly by management and workers to promotehigh levels of involvement and performance, including structure, work design,information and control systems, physical layout, personnel policies, and rewardsystems. Some of the features of HIOs are:

a. Employees have considerable influence over decisionsb. Members receive extensive training in problem-solving techniques, plant

operation, and organizational policies.c. Information is shared widely within the organization and employees have

easy access to operational and issue-oriented information.d. Rewards are tied closely to unit performance.

6. Total Quality Management: TQM is the most recent and, along with high-involvement organizations, the most comprehensive approach to employeeinvolvement. Also known as “continuous process improvement” and “continuousquality”, TQM grew out of a manufacturing emphasis on quality control andrepresents a long-term effort to orient all of an organization’s activities around theconcept of quality. Quality is achieved when organizational processes reliablyproduce products and services that meet or exceed customer expectations.Although it is possible to implement TQM without employee involvement,member participation in the change process increases the likelihood that it willbecome part of the organization’s culture. Today, continuous quality improvementis essential for global competitiveness.

7. Work design: This refers to OD interventions aimed at creating jobs, and workgroups that generate high levels of employee fulfilment and productivity. Thistechno-structural intervention can be part of a larger employee involvementapplication, or it can be an independent change program. Work design has beenresearched and applied extensively in organizations. Recently, organizations havetended to combine work design with formal structure and supporting changes in

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goal setting, reward systems, work environment, and other performancemanagement practices.There are three approaches to work design. The Engineering approach focuses onefficiency and simplification, and results in traditional job and work groupdesigns. Telephone operators and data-entry positions are examples of this jobdesign. A second approach is work enrichment and rests on motivational theoriesand attempts to enrich the work experience. Job enrichment involves designingjobs with high levels of meaning, discretion, and knowledge of results. A well-researched model focusing on job attributes has helped clear up methodologicalproblems with this important intervention. The third approach is socio-technicalapproach and seeks to optimize both social and technical aspects of work systems.This method has led to a popular form of work design called “self managedteams” which are composed of multi-skilled members performing interrelatedtasks. Members are given the knowledge, information, and power necessary tocontrol their own task behaviors with relatively little external control.

Human Resource Management Interventions

1. Goal Setting: This change program involves setting clear and challenging goals.It attempts to improve organization effectiveness by establishing a better fitbetween personal and organizational objectives. Managers and subordinatesperiodically meet to plan work, review accomplishments, and solve problems inachieving goals.

2. Performance Appraisal: This intervention is a systematic process of jointlyassessing work-related achievements, strengths and weaknesses, It is the primaryhuman resources management intervention for providing performance feed-backto individuals and work groups. Performance appraisal represents an importantlink between goal setting and reward systems.

3. Reward Systems: This intervention involves the design of organizational rewardsto improve employee satisfaction and performance. It includes innovativeapproaches to pay, promotions, and fringe benefits.

4. Career Planning and development: This intervention helps people chooseorganizations and career paths and attain career objectives. It generally focuses onmanagers and professional staff and is seen as a way of improving the quality oftheir work life.

5. Managing workforce diversity: This change program makes human resourcespractices more responsive to a variety of individual needs. Important trends, suchas the increasing number of women, ethnic minorities, and physically andmentally challenged people in the workforce, require a more flexible set ofpolicies and practices.

6.Employee Wellness: These interventions include employee assistance programs(EAPs) and stress management. EAPs are counseling programs that helpemployees deal with substance abuse and mental health, marital, and financialproblems that often are associated with poor work performance. Stressmanagement programs help workers cope with the negative consequences ofstress at work. They help managers reduce specific sources of stress, such as role

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conflict and ambiguity, and provide methods for reducing such stress symptomsas hypertension and anxiety.

Strategic Interventions

These interventions link the internal functioning of the organization to the largerenvironment and transform the organization to keep pace with changing conditions.These interventions are amongst the newest additions to OD interventions. They areimplemented organization-wide and bring about a fit between business strategy, structure,culture and the larger environment.

1. Integrated Strategic Change: This comprehensive OD intervention describeshow planned change can make a value-added contribution to strategicmanagement. It argues that business strategies and organizational systems must bechanged together in response to external and internal disruptions. A strategicchange plan helps members manage the transition between a current strategy andorganization design and the desired future strategic orientation.

2Trans organization development: This intervention helps organizations to enterinto alliances, partnerships and joint ventures to perform tasks or solve problemsthat are too complex for single organizations to resolve. It helps organizationsrecognize the need for partnerships and develop appropriate structures forimplementing them.

3. Merger and Acquisition Integration: This intervention describes how Opractitioners can assist two or more organizations to form a new entity.Addressing key strategic leadership and cultural issues prior to the legal andfinancial transaction helps to smooth operational integration.

4. Culture Change: This intervention helps organizations to develop cultures(behaviors, values, beliefs and norms) appropriate to their strategies andenvironments. It focuses on developing a strong organization culture to keeporganization members pulling in the same direction.

5.Self-designing organizations: This change program helps organizations gain thecapacity to alter themselves fundamentally. It is a highly participative process,involving multiple stakeholders in setting strategic directions and designing andimplementing appropriate structures and processes. Organizations learn how todesign and implement their own strategic changes.

6. Organization learning and knowledge management: This interventiondescribes two interrelated change processes: organization learning (OL), whichseeks to enhance an organization’s capability to acquire and develop newknowledge; and knowledge management (KM), which focuses on how thatknowledge can be organized and used to improve organization performance.These interventions move the organization beyond solving existing problems so as to become capable of continuous improvement

Appendix

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_development 2. http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Management_Science_II/

Pdf/6_3.pdf3. http://www.iiod.in/ 4. http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/114925/eum/docs/eum/tanzania/

MODULEIIORGANIZATIONALDEVELOPMENTKINUTHIA.pdf5. http://www.consultpivotal.com/lewin%27s.htm

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