The Change Agent's Role in the Intervention

The Change Agent's Role in the Intervention

Reference: Organization Development: The Process of Leading Organizational Change  By Donald L. Anderson

CHANGE AGENTis 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.

power behind effective change managementare those within our organization who help facilitate strategic transformation “game-changing” change

Roles that change agents take on in an interventions:

Facilitative – helping a client or group attain its desired outcomes by clarifying alternatives, processes and decisions

Gatekeeping – acting as a boundary-spanner between groups or between a supervisor and a team, negotiating between them and giving objective feedback

Diagnotic – pointing out what has been seen, heard, or learned to enhance group or individual awareness

Architectural – designing situations, events, and conversations so that awareness, learning, and change can occur

Mobilizing – advocating for a particular approach or perspective

Ethical Issues with Interventions:Misinterpretation of the Interventions – change agents maybe tempted to misrepresent the time, cost, or difficulty of an intervention to please a client, or to overpromise that a given intervention will achieve certain outcomes. Challenged to limit the cost of an intervention to what the client can afford.

Misrepresentation of the Consultant’s Skill Level – change agents may also be tempted, consciously or unconsciously, to propose and carry out interventions that are familiar and comfortable to them instead of proposing an intervention that is appropriately match to the data.

Collusion With the Client – when a change agent agrees to implement in intervention even in the absence of data to support its use.

Coercion and Manipulation of the Client or Organizational Members – Participants in an intervention may not be told about its purpose, or the intervention may not be structured for genuine choice to participate

Overview of Intervention TechniquesThree target audience broad categories in intervention: Individuals Stand-alone groups and teams, or multiple groups and teams

Whole organizations and multiple organizations

Individual Change and Reactions to ChangeIndividuals go through stages:

Endings – all transitions begin with endings, or the recognition and liberation of the past. Change can require letting go of past process, beliefs, and ways of working.

The Neutral Zone – time when “neither the old nor the new ways work properly”

New Beginnings – Beginnings may occur with stops and starts as people transition to new ways, perhaps experiencing personal setbacks, frustration, or failure as they attempt to change but find it difficult. New beginning may itself become as familiar and comfortable as the old way

Assumption of individual interventions that are designed to help organizational members through various stages of change process:

“if people are to positively embrace the change, it is important to create safe opportunities for people to come to terms with the change and adjust”

Individual Instruments and assessments:

Diagnostic instruments and assessments provide individual feedback to participants in any number of areas such as conflict style,leadership style, work preference, learning style, work aptitudes, and more.

Referred to colloquially as ”test”, no right or wrong answers

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Most common instrument used in organization development engagements.

Extroversion (E) or Introversion (I) – The E-I preference reflects how people gain energy. Extraverts are energized by time spent with other people, whereas introverts gain energy from time spent alone

Sensing (S) or Intuition (N) – The second preference pair refers to how people collect information. A person preferring sensation trusts facts, data, and personal experience, and values realistic and practical ideas.

Thinking (T) or Feeling (F) – The T-F preference reflects how individuals make decisions. Thinking types tend to make decisions based on logic, general principles or criteria, policy, and analysis, whereas feeling types tend to make decisions based on subjective and interpersonal considerations, values, harmony, and effects on people.

Judging (J) or Perceiving (P) – The final pair indicates a preference for whether people like things closed, settled, and completed (J) or prefer to keep options open and flexible (P). J types plan ahead to get work done well in advance deadlines, whereas P types prefer the flexibility of emergent ideas.

Thank you for listening!

- Jessan A. Polido -