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Intergroup Interventions Total Organizational Systems Organizational Survey Weslie L. Villejo

Intergroup Interventions

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Intergroup Interventions. Organizational Planning and Development PPT

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Page 1: Intergroup Interventions

Intergroup Interventions

Total Organizational Systems

Organizational Survey

Weslie L. Villejo

Page 2: Intergroup Interventions

CHANGING RELATIONSHIPS

• In order to improve competitiveness, increase productivity, and reduce costs, managers are concentrating their efforts on shared responsibilities among work teams.

• One key area in the improvement of organization effectiveness involves the relation between operating groups or departments.

• Complex organizations tend to create situations of team interdependence, where the performance of one group is contingent upon another group.

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COLLABORATION AND CONFLICT

• Teamwork implies that all the members are contributing to an overall objective even if doing so means subordinating their personal prominence.

• The climate of collaboration and the interface between work groups often determine an organization’s effectiveness.

• This competition and conflict originate with differences in objectives, values, efforts, and interests between groups.

• Interdependence is the mutual dependence between groups. Often, however, interdependencies introduce conflict into the organization system.

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• Intergroup competition is an important aspect of the organization. Relations between groups often lead to conflicts or dysfunctional behavior affecting operating efficiency.

• As a result, one objective of OD is to increase cooperation among organization subsystems. These intergroup interventions have been described as “the deliberate interaction of two or more complex social units which are attempting to define or redefine the terms of their interdependence.”

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INTERGROUP OPERATING PROBLEMS

• The potential for conflict depends on how incompatible the goals are, the extent to which required resources are scarce and shared, and the degree of interdependence of task activities.

• Figure 11.1 shows that that there will be more conflict between groups when their tasks are interdependent.

• The chance of goal conflict is somewhat low between groups that have their own resources and perform entirely different tasks directed toward completely separate goals.

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• Intergroup relationships are complex, so OD practitioners need to recognize the conditions that lead to the emergence of problems or conflicts.

• The symptoms of these conflicts include complaints, gripes, verbal battles, inefficiency, and possibly sabotaging the other group in some way.

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Suboptimization

• When the goals of operating divisions are interdependent, optimization by one group may result in decreased goal attainment for other groups and the organization.

• Suboptimization occurs when a group optimizes its own sub goals but loses sight of the larger goals of the organization as a whole.

• The objectives of OD interventions are aimed at decreasing suboptimization by increasing collaboration or integration between interdependent groups.

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Intergroup Competition

• A second condition causing intergroup problems involves groups with conflicting purposes or objectives.

• The condition known as intergroup competition emerges when a group desires or pursues one goal while directly opposing the values of another group.

• The subsystems of an organization all have their own special functions or areas, and they jealously guard them against intrusion as almost a territorial right.

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Perceived Power Imbalance Between Groups

• The problem emerges where there is a perceived imbalance between units or when some previously established relationship is altered.

• When one group is overpowering, and its views and objectives are consistently favored, its relations with the other group are likely to deteriorate.

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Role Conflict, Role Ambiguity

• Role conflict also exists when an individual belongs to or identifies with two or more groups whose goals or values are in conflict.

• This is more typical in a matrix or project form of organization, where an individual may belong to several work groups and report to several bosses.

• Staff groups, such as personnel or accounting, often encounter vague or unclear situations where their functions tend to interfere or conflict with line operations.

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Personality Conflict

• A final source of intergroup problems arises from interpersonal differences between members, usually the managers.

• Such conflicts may result from conflicting functions, objectives, career aspirations, or personalities.

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COOPERATION VERSUS COMPETITION

• Competition is normally thought of in positive terms, especially in a market-driven economic system. Some managers rationalize that the introduction of competition into their organizations helps make operations “lean and mean.”

• Although groups competing with one another are more highly oriented toward accomplishing the task than noncompetitive groups, there is no evidence that intergroup competition results in greater productivity than cooperation.

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MANAGING CONFLICT

• Organizational conflict need not be reduced or eliminated, but it must be managed to enhance individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.

• The authors concluded in a research project that a high degree of competitive conflict can be very damaging, whereas a cooperative approach to conflict that encourages people to argue freely about the best way to attain goals is more likely to lead to constructive effects.

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Intergroup Techniques

• Awareness of the problem of conflict in organizations is increasing. The influx of women and minorities into the workforce has resulted in new situations that cannot be managed by old structures.

• Dealing with conflicts openly provides a way to manage tensions creatively, whereas unresolved conflict usually erodes the effectiveness of an organization.

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• The OD strategies for dealing with intergroup conflicts that inhibit cooperation have several goals. OD intergroup techniques seek to identify areas of commonality and meta goals—the superordinate organization goals.

• To reduce conflict between groups, the OD practitioner examines group-to-group working relationships, applying joint problem-solving efforts that confront intergroup issues. The OD techniques for dealing with intergroup problems include third-party consultation, the organization mirror, and intergroup team building.

Intergroup Techniques

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Third-Party Consultation

• Intervention by a third party is one method of increasing communication and initiating intergroup problem-solving.

• The third party is usually an outside practitioner, but sometimes may be a superior, a peer, or a representative from another unit.

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• Confrontation

• Ensuring Mutual Motivation

• Achieving a Balance in Situational Power

• Coordinating Confrontation Efforts

• Developing Openness in Communication

• Maintaining an Appropriate Level of Tension

Third-Party Consultation features

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Organization Mirror

• The organization mirror is a technique designed to give work units feedback on how other elements or customers of the organization view them. This intervention is designed to improve relationships between teams and increase effectiveness.

• The organization mirror provides a means for a work team to improve its operating relations with other groups. It allows the team to obtain feedback on what it is doing, identify key problems, and search for specific ways to improve its operating efficiency.

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Intergroup Team Building

• The key members of conflicting groups meet to work on issues or interface. “An interface is any point at which contact between groups is essential to achieving a result.

• Role-playing is a frequently used to foster cross-group understanding. As in all confrontations, the practitioner must intervene to open communications, balance power, and shift from hostile to problem-solving confrontation.

• Members are brought together to reduce misunderstanding, open communication, and develop mechanisms for collaboration.

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Intergroup Interventions

• The OD practitioner deals with intergroup problems by seeking interventions that emphasize improved communication and relations between operating units. These interventions stress the involvement of the individual and the members of the group in the relationship between what they do and what others are doing. The practitioner uses strategies that identify areas of commonality, increase communication, and emphasize meta goals. The major objectives of intergroup interventions include a better way of working together, increased recognition of interdependence, less competition, and more collaboration.

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Total Organizational System Intervention

• Transformational change can occur in response to or in anticipation of major changes in the organization’s environment or technology.

• In addition, these changes often are associated with significant revision of the firm’s business strategy, which, in turn, may require modifying internal structures and processes as well as its corporate culture to support the new direction.

• Such fundamental change entails a new paradigm for organizing and managing organizations. It involves qualitatively different ways of perceiving, thinking, and behaving in organizations.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE

• Change Is Aimed at Competitive Advantage• Uniqueness• Value• Difficult to Imitate

• Change Is Systemic and Revolutionary

• Change Demands a New Organizing Paradigm

• Change Is Driven by Senior Executives and Line Management

• Change Involves Significant Learning

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INTEGRATED STRATEGIC CHANGE

• Integrated strategic change (ISC) extends traditional OD processes into the content oriented discipline of strategic management. It is a deliberate, coordinated process that leads gradually or radically to systemic realignments between the environment and a firm’s strategic orientation, and that results in improvement in performance and effectiveness.

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1. Performing the strategic analysis. The ISC process begins with a diagnosis of the organization’s readiness for change and its current strategy and organization design (S1/O1). The most important indicator of readiness is senior management’s willingness and ability to carry out strategic change.

2. Exercising strategic choice. Once the existing strategic orientation is understood, a new one must be designed. For example, the strategic analysis might reveal misfits among the organization’s environment, strategic orientation, and performance. These misfits can be used as inputs for crafting the future strategy and organization design.

INTEGRATED STRATEGIC CHANGE PROCESS

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3. Designing the strategic change plan. The strategic change plan is a comprehensive agenda for moving the organization from its current strategy and organization design to the desired future strategic orientation. It represents the process or “how” of strategic change.

4. Implementing the plan. The final step in the ISC process is the actual implementation of the strategic change plan. This draws heavily on knowledge of motivation, group dynamics, and change processes. It deals continuously with such issues as alignment, adaptability, teamwork, and organizational and personal learning. 5

INTEGRATED STRATEGIC CHANGE PROCESS

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ORGANIZATION DESIGN

• Organization design configures the organization’s structure, work design, human resources practices, and management and information systems to guide members’ behaviors in a strategic direction. This intervention typically occurs in response to a major change in the organization’s strategy that requires fundamentally new ways for the organization to function and members to behave.

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Conceptual Framework

• A key notion in organization design is “fit,” “congruence,” or “alignment” among the organizational elements.

Design components

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Design components

• Strategy determines how the organization will use its resources to gain competitive advantage.

• Structure has to do with how the organization divides tasks, assigns them to departments, and coordinates across them.

• Work design specifies how tasks are performed and assigned to jobs or groups.

• Human resources practices involve selecting people and training, developing, and rewarding them.

• Management and information systems have to do with how employees are led and the nature and kinds of information they are provided to guide their work.

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Organization design: Application Stages

• Organization design can be applied to the whole organization or to a major subpart such as a large department or stand-alone unit. It can start from a clean slate in a new organization or reconfigure an existing organization design.

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Application Stages

1. Clarifying the design focus. This preliminary stage involves assessing the organization to create the overall framework for design.

2. Designing the organization. This key step in organization design involves configuring the design components to support the organization’s strategy and objectives.

3. Implementing the design. The final step involves making the new design happen by putting into place the new structures, practices, and systems.

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CULTURE CHANGE

• The topic of organization culture is becoming a very important one to companies, and the number of culture change interventions has grown accordingly.

• A well-conceived and well-managed organization culture, closely linked to an effective business strategy, can mean the difference between success and failure in today’s demanding environments.

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Levels of Corporate Culture

• Artifacts. Artifacts are the highest level of cultural manifestation. They are the visible symbols of the deeper levels of culture, such as norms, values, and basic assumptions.

• Norms. Just below the surface of cultural awareness are norms guiding how members should behave in particular situations.

• Values. The next-deeper level of awareness includes values about what ought to be in organizations.

• Basic assumptions. At the deepest level of cultural awareness are the taken-for-granted assumptions about how organizational problems should be solved.

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Diagnosing Organization Culture

• Culture change interventions generally start by diagnosing the organization’s existing culture to assess its fit with current or proposed business strategies. This requires uncovering and understanding the shared assumptions, values, norms, and artifacts that characterize an organization’s culture.

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The Behavioral Approach

• This method of diagnosis emphasizes the surface level of organization culture—the pattern of behaviors that produce business results. It is among the more practical approaches to culture diagnosis because it assesses key work behaviors that can be observed.

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The Competing Values Approach

• This perspective assesses an organization’s culture in terms of how it resolves a set of value dilemmas. The approach suggests that an organization’s culture can be understood in terms of two important “value pairs”; each pair consists of contradictory values placed at opposite ends of a continuum.

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The Deep Assumptions Approach

• This final diagnostic approach emphasizes the deepest levels of organization culture— the generally unexamined, but tacit and shared assumptions that guide member behavior and that often have a powerful impact on organization effectiveness.

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Application Stages

1. Formulate a Clear Strategic Vision. Effective cultural change should start from a clear vision of the firm’s new strategy and of the shared values and behaviors needed to make it work. This vision provides the purpose and direction for cultural change.

2. Display Top-Management Commitment. Cultural change must be managed from the top of the organization. Senior executives and administrators have to be strongly committed to the new values and need to create constant pressures for change.

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3. Model Culture Change at the Highest Levels. Senior executives must communicate the new culture through their own actions. Their behaviors need to symbolize the kinds of values and behaviors being sought.

4. Modify the Organization to Support Organizational Change. Cultural change generally requires supporting modifications in organization structure, human resources systems, information and control systems, and management styles.

Application Stages

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5. Select and Socialize Newcomers and Terminate Deviants. One of the most effective methods for changing corporate culture is to change organizational membership.

6. Develop Ethical and Legal Sensitivity. Cultural change can raise significant tensions between organization and individual interests, resulting in ethical and legal problems for practitioners.

Application Stages

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Thank you.