Organzation development

Lecture Notes of Dr. V.C.Binghay 1

Dr. Virgel C. BinghaySchool of Labor & Industrial Relations, University of the Philippines, Diliman


Dr. Virgel C. Binghay

Associate Professor & Director, Center for Industry Productivity & Competitiveness, U.P. School of Labor & Industrial Relations

Tel. #: 661-1488

Mobile Phone: 0917-8487428

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.virgelcbinghay.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.virgelcbinghay.com/


Topic Outline• Nature of OD• Definition of OD• Contractual Relationship• Change Agent• Sponsoring Organization• Applied Behavioral Science• OD Process• Systems Context• Improved Organizational

Performance


• Organizational Self-Renewal• Understanding Organizations• Modern Development in OD• Action Research• OD Interventions• Types of Organizational Change• Reactions to Change• Resistance to Change• Methods of Addressing Resistance

to Change• Process of Planned Change• Workshop• Recap & Integration


Nature of Organization Development

Is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase organization’s effectiveness & viability

A response to change

A complex organizational strategy to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, & structure of organization


A change process designed to bring about a particular kind of end result

Can involve interventions in the organizations processes


Uses behavioral science as well as organizational reflection, system improvement, planning, and self analysis


Definition of OD

OD is a contractual relationship between a change agent & a sponsoring organization entered into for the purpose of using applied behavioral science and/or other organizational change perspectives in a systems context to improve organizational performance & the capacity of the organization to improve itself.


OD is aimed at:• Enhancing congruence among

organization structure, process, strategy, people, & culture

• Developing new & creative organizational solutions

• Developing the organization’s self-renewing capacity


Emergence of OD

• The need for organizational reforms

• The focus on cultural change

• The increase in social awareness


Reasons for Undergoing OD

• Competition

• Survival

• Improved Performance


OD Values

• Respect for People

• Trust & Support

• Power Equalization

• Confrontation

• Participation


Contractual Relationship

Neither the sponsoring organization nor the change agent can be sure at the outset of the exact nature of the problem/s to be dealt with or how long the change agent’s help will be needed, it is essential that some tentative agreement on these matters be reached.


Sponsoring organization needs to know change agent’s:

preliminary plan

commitments & responsibility for the program

fees


Change agent must assure himself/herself that the organization’s particularly the top executives’ commitment to change is strong enough to support the kind of self-analysis and personal involvement requisite to success of the program.


Change Agent

In OD, change agent is not a technical expert in such functional areas as accounting, production or finance

Is a behavioral scientist who knows how to get people in an organization involved in solving their own problems


Strength is a comprehensive knowledge of human behavior, supported by a number of intervention techniques

Can be either internal or external to the organization


Change Agent

• External Change Agent

• Internal Change Agent

• External-Internal Change Agent Team


Sponsoring OrganizationThe initiative for OD programs comes from an organization that has a problem.

This means that top management is aware that a problem exists and has decided to seek help in finding a solution to his/her problems.


Applied Behavioral Science

Using theory and methods drawn from such behavioral sciences (industrial relations, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, administrative theory, organizational behavior), the change agent’s main function is to help the organization define and solve its own problems.

Method used – “Action Research”


OD PROCESS

1. Preliminary Diagnosis

2. Collecting Data

3. Feedback of the Data to the Client

4. Data Exploration by the Client Group

5. Action Planning based on the Data

6. Taking Action


Systems Context

OD deals with a total system – the organization as a whole, including its relevant environment – or with a subsystem or systems – departments or work groups – in the total system


Parts of system (like individuals, cliques, structures, norms, values, and products) are not considered in isolation

Principle of interdependency

OD interventions focus on total culture and cultural processes of organizations


Improved Organizational PerformanceImprove organization’s capacity to

handle its internal and external functioning and relationships such as:

Improved interpersonal & 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

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 people – that people in a supportive environment are capable of achieving higher

levels of and accomplishment.


Essential to OD & effectiveness is the

scientific method – inquiry,

a rigorous search

for causes, experimental testing of hypotheses, and review of

results


Organizational Self-Renewal

The ultimate aim of OD is to “work themselves out of a job” by leaving the client organization with a set of tools, behaviors, attitudes, and an action plan with which to monitor its own state of health and to take corrective steps toward its own renewal and development.


Understanding OrganizationsWeisbord’s six-box model for

understanding organization:1. Purposes2. Structure3. Relationship4. Rewards5. Leadership6. Helpful Mechanism


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


Structure: How do we divide up the work? The question is whether there is an adequate fit between the purpose and the internal structure.


Relationship: Between individual, between units or department that perform different tasks, and between the people and requirements of their job.


Rewards: The change agent should diagnose the similarities between what the organization formally reward or punished for doing.


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


Helpful Mechanism: organization must attend to order to survive – like: planning, control, budgeting, information, and other systems that help organization member accomplish.


Modern Development

Reinventing OD to manage change in modern organizations

Emotion-based standpoint – how emotional trauma can negatively affect performance


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.


OD practitioners must acknowledge the existence of 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.


Action Research

OD as organization improvement through action research

If people are active in decisions affecting them, they are more likely to adopt new ways.


Rational social management 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.


Process of change involves three steps:

1. Unfreezing

2. Changing

3. Refreezing


Unfreezing: Faced with dilemma or discomfort, the individual or group becomes aware of the 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.


OD Interventions

“Interventions” are central learning processes in the “action” stage of ODThey are structured activities used individually or in combination by the members of the 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 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 a lunch 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.


SIX ASSUMPTIONS OF HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONS

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 more collaborative condition.


3) Decision making in a healthy organization is located where 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 for 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 change.


CATEGORIES OF INTERVENTIONS:

Interventions range from those designed to improve the effectiveness of individuals through those designed to deal with teams and groups, inter-group 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).


Interventions may also be 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.


A CHALLENGE OF CHANGE AGENT:

“To help create in a client system a climate for learning and change.”


Some of the things that will help Change Agents:

1. A real need in the client system to change

2. Genuine support from management

3. Setting a personal example: listening, supporting behavior


4. A sound background in behavioral sciences

5. A working knowledge of systems theory

6. A belief in people as rational, self-educating being fully capable of learning better ways to do things


Effective intervention depends on: • The extent to which it fits the needs

of the organization;

• The degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended outcomes; and

• The extent to which it transfers change management competence to organization members


Few Examples of Interventions

TrainingTeam BuildingCoachingCounselingMentoringLarge Group InterventionsPerformance ManagementDownsizing/RightsizingSuccessionLeadership Development


Job Evaluation

Role Analysis

Socio-Tech

Structural

Management Development

Rewards Management

Group Dynamics

Competency-based Selection

Labor-Management Councils

Grievance Handling


Types of Organizational Change

Strategic Changes

Technological Changes

Structural Changes

Changing the Attitudes & Behaviors of People


Reactions to Organizational Change

Enthusiasts

Followers

Objectors

Underground


Top 2 Reasons for Employee Resistance

1. A lack of awareness about the change

2. Comfort with the ways things are and fear of the unknown


Top 10 Reasons Employees Resist Change1. Individual’s personal predisposition to

change2. Surprise & fear of the unknown3. Climate of mistrust4. Fear of failure5. Loss of status &/or job security6. Peer pressure7. Disruption of cultural traditions &/or

group relationships8. Personality conflicts9. Lack of tack &/or poor timing10.Not seeing the benefits


Methods of Overcoming Resistance to Change

Education

Participation

Negotiation

Cooptation


Process of Planned Change

Assess external environment

Specify objectives to be achieved

Assess current organization and its history


Articulate & communicate a vision for the future

Design a strategic plan

Implement targeted change efforts

Evaluate, revise, and refocus


Strategies to Change

• Structural Strategy

• Technological Strategy

• Behavioral Strategy


Structural Strategy

- An attempt to change organization’s design by modifying the lines of authority, span of control, & agreement of work functons


Technological Strategy

- The use of new technologies to bring an organization up to the state of the art machinery, methods, automation, & job design


Behavioral Strategy

- Focuses on human resources; it aims to increase the morale, motivation, & commitment of members to improve organization performance.


Business

Organzation development