Organization Development Strategy

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Organization Development

Organization development (OD) is defined by Cummins and Worley (2005) as the ‘system ide

appli!ation and transfer of behavioural s!ien!e "noledge to the planned development# improved

and refinement of the strategies# stru!tures and pro!esses that lead to organisational

effe!tiveness$% &ren!h and 'ell (0) produ!ed the folloing more detailed definition*

+ planned systemati! pro!ess in hi!h applied behavioural s!ien!e prin!iples and pra!ti!es are

introdu!ed into an ongoing organization toards the goals of effe!ting organizational

improvement#greater organizational !ompeten!e#and improvement or# to put it another ay #total

systems !hange% ,he orientation is on a!tion-a!hieveing desired results as a result of planned

a!tivities%

Organization development aims to help people or" more effe!tively together# improve

organizational pro!esses su!h as the formulation and implementation of strategy and fa!ilitate

transformation of other organization and the management of !hange% +s e.peressed by 'eer (/0)# OD operates a system ide pro!ess of data !olle!tion# diagnosis# a!tion planning#

intervention and evaluation$%

OD is based on behavioural s!ien!e !on!epts# but during the /0sand 0s the fo!us shifted to

a number of other approa!hes%sme of these# su!h as organization transformation# are not entirely

dissimilar to OD%Others su!h as team building# !hange management and !ulture !hange or

management are built on some of the bai! ideas developed by riters on organizational

development and OD pra!tioners% et other approa!hes su!h as high performan!e or" systems#

total 1uality management# business pro!ess re-engineering and perfoman!e management ould

be des!ribed as holisti! pro!esses that attempt to improve overrall organization efffe!tivenessfrom a parti!ular perspe!tive% ore re!ently as noted by !ummins and Worley (2005)# the

pra!ti!e of OD has gone ‘far beyond its humanisti! origins by in!orporating !on!epts from

organization strategy that !omplement the early emphasis on so!ial pro!essor$

OD Strategies

OD strategies !on!entrate on ho things are done as ell as hat is done%,hey are !on!erned

ith the system ide !hange and are developed as programmes ith the folloing features*

• ,hey are managed#or at least strongly supported#from the top but may ma"e use of third

parties or ‘!hange agenets$ to diagnose problems na dto manage !hange by various "indsof planned a!tivity or ‘intervention$

• ,he plans for organizational development are based upon a sytsemati! analysis and

diagnosis of the strategies and !ir!umstan!es of the organization and the !hanges and

problems affe!ting it%



• ,hey use behavioural s!ien!e "noledge and aim to improve the ay the organization

!opes in times of !hange through su!h pro!esses as intera!tion# !ommuni!ations#

parti!ipation# and planning and !onfli!t management%

• ,hey fo!us on ays of ensuring that business and 34 strategies are implemented and

!hange is managed effe!tively%

Activities incorporated in the OD strategy

,he a!tivities that may be in!orporated in an OD strategy are summarised as belo*

Action research

,his is an approa!h developed by ein (5) that ta"es the form of systemati!ally !olle!ting

data from people about pro!ess issue and feeding the data ba!" in order to identify problems and

their li"ey !auses%,his provides the basis for an a!tion plan to deal ith the problems that !an be

implemented !ooperatively by the people involved%,he essential elements of a!tion reaesr!h are

data !olle!tion# diagnosis# feedba!"# a!tion planning# a!tion and evaluation%

Survey feedback

,his is a variety of a!tion resear!h in hi!h data are systemati!ally !olle!tedd about the system

and then fed ba!" to groups to analyse and interpret as the basis for preparing a!tion plans% ,he

te!hni1ues of survey feedba!" in!lude the use of attitude surveys and or"shops to feed ba!"

results and dis!uss impli!ations%

Interventions

,he term ‘interventions$ in OD refers to !ore stru!tured a!tivities involving !lients and

!onsultants% ,he a!tivities !an ta"e the form of a!tion resear!h# survey feedba!" or any of those

mentioned belo% +rgyris (60) summed up the three primary tas"s of the OD pra!titioner or

interventionist as being to*

% 7enerate and help !lients to generate valid information that they !an understand about their

problems8

2% Create opportunities for !lients to sear!h effe!tively for solutions to their problems# to ma"e

free !hoi!es8

9% Create !onditions for internal !ommitment to their !hoi!es and opportunities for the !ontinual

monitoring of the a!tion ta"en%

Process consultation

+s des!ribed be :!hein(;) this involves helping !lients to generate and analyse information

that tey !an understand and # folloing a thorough diagnosis#a!t upon%,he information ill relate



to organizational pro!esses su!h as inter-group relations# interpersonal relations and

!ommuni!ations%,he <ob of the pro!ess !onsultant as defined by :!hein as being to ‘help the

organization to solve its on problems by ma"ing it aare of organizational pro!esses#of the

!onse1uen!es of these pro!esses# and of the me!hanisms by hi!h they !an be !hanged%

Group dynamics

7roup dynami!s (a term !oined by ein# =6) are the pro!esses that ta"e pla!e in groups that

determine ho they a!t and rea!t in different !ir!umstan!es% ,eamm building interventions !an

deal ith permanent or" teams or those set up to deal ith pro<e!ts or to solve parti!ular

problems interventions are dire!ted toards the analysis of the effe!tiveness of team pro!esses

su!h as problem solving#de!ision ma"ing and interpersonal relationships# a diagnosis and

dis!ussion of the issues#and <oint !onsideration of the a!tions re1uired to improve effe!tiveness%

Inter-group conflict interventions

+s developed by 'la"e# :hepart and outon (;=) these aim to improve inter-group relations

by getting groups to share their per!eption of one another and to analyse hat they have learnt

about themselves and the other group% ,he groups involved meet ea!h other to share hat they

have learnt and to agree on the issues to be resolved and the a!tions re1uired%

Personal Interventions

,hese in!lude sensitivity training labaratories (,-groups)# transa!tional analysis and# more

re!ently# neuro-linguisti! programming (>?)% +nother approa!h is behaviour modelling# hi!h

is based on 'andura$s (66) so!ial learning theory% ,his states that for people to engage

su!!essfully in behaviour they*

• ust per!eive a lin" beteen the behaviour and !ertain out!omes#

• ust desire those out!omes (termed ‘positive @alen!e$)%

• ust believe they !an do it (termed ‘self effi!an!y$)% 'ehavioural modelling training

involves getting a group to identify the problem and develop and pra!ti!e the s"ills

re1uired by loo"ing at videos or D@Ds shoing hat s"ills !an be applied# role

playing #pra!ti!ing the use of s"ills on the <ob and dis!ussing ho ell the have been

applied%

Intergrated strategic change

Antergarated strategi! !hange ethodology is a highly parti!ipative pro!ess !on!eived by

Worley et al (;)% ,he aim is to fa!ilitate the implementation of strategi! plans% ,he steps

re1uired are*



• :trategi! analysis# a revie of the organization$s strategi! orientation (its strategi!

intentions ithin its !ompetitive environment) and a diagnosis of the organization$s

readines for !hange8

• Developing strategi! !apability- the ability to implement the strategi! plan 1ui!"ly and

effe!tively8

• Antergrating individuals and groups throught the organization into the pro!ess of analysis#

planning and implementation to maintatin the firm$s strategi! fo!us# dire!ting attention

and resour!es to the organizations "ey !ompeten!e improving !ordination and

intergration ithin the organization and !reatiing higher levels of shared onership and

!ommitment%

• Creating the strategy#gaining !ommitment and support for it and planning its

implementation8

• Amplementing the strategi! !hange plan# draing on "noledge of motivation#group

dynami!s and !hange pro!esses#dealing ith issues su!h as alighnment#adaptability# team

or"and organizational and individual learning8• +llo!ating resour!es# providing feedba!" and solving problems as they arise%

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Organization Development Strategy