Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Shweta Nair
Roll No 29
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Q1. WHAT IS OD AND CHARACTERISTICS OF OD
Organisation development deals with the gamut of “ people problems” and work system
problems” in organisations : poor morale, low productivity, poor quality, interpersonal
conflict, intergroup conflict, unclear or inappropriate goals, inappropriate leadership styles,
poor team performance, inappropriate organisation structure, poorly designed tasks,
inadequate response to environmental demands, poor customers relations, inadequate
alignment among the organisation’s strategy, structure , culture, and processes and the like,
In short, where individuals teams, and organisations are not realizing their potential, OD can
improve the situation.
At the core of OD is the concept of organization, defined as two or more people working
together toward one or more shared goal(s). Development in this context is the notion that an
organization may become more effective over time at achieving its goals.
OD is a long range effort to improve organization's problem solving and renewal processes,
particularly through more effective and collaborative management of organizational culture,
often with the assistance of a change agent or catalyst and the use of the theory and
technology of applied behavioral science. Although behavioral science has provided the basic
foundation for the study and practice of organizational development, new and emerging
fields of study have made their presence known. Experts in systems thinking, leadership
studies, organizational leadership, and organizational learning (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 doing leadership, a
transformative or effectiveness process as opposed to management, a more incremental or
efficiency based change methodology.
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scientific study and inquiry. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on sociology,
psychology, and theories of motivation, learning, and personality.
OD programs are identifiable flows of interrelated events moving over time toward the goals
of organisational improvement and individual development
CHARACTERISTICS OF OD
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Q2. EARLY STATEMENTS OF OD VALUES AND ASSUMPTIONS
Warren Bennis proposed that Od practitioners (change agents) share a set of normative goals
based on their humanistic / democratic philosophy. He listed these normative goals as
follows :
Implications for dealing with individuals : Two basic assumptions about individuals in
organisations pervade (pass through) organisational development.
First assumption is that most individuals have drives toward personal growth and
development if provided an environment that is both supportive and challenging. Most
people want to develop their potential.
The second assumption is that most people desire to make, and are capable of making, a
greater contribution to attaining organisational goals than most organisational environment
permit. A tremendous amount of constructive energy can be tapped if organisations realize
and act on these assumptions.
The implication of these two assumptions are straightforward: Ask, listen, support, challenge,
encourage risk taking, permit failure, remove obstacles and barriers, give autonomy, give
responsibility, set high standards and reward success.
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Q4. IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGNING AND RUNNING ORGANISATIONS
A key assumption in od is that the needs and aspirations of human beings are the reason for
organised effort in society.
This notion suggests it is good to have a developmental outlook and seek opportunities in
which people can experience personal and professional growth. The belief that people are
important tends to result in their being important.
The belief that people can grow and develop in terms of personal and organisational
competency tends to produce that results. By implication, an optimistic, developmental set of
assumptions about people is likely to reap rewards beneficial to both the organisation and its
members.
Finally, it is possible to create organisations that on the one hand are human, developmental
and empowering, and on the other hand are high performing in terms of productivity, quality
of output, and profitability.
Evidence from this assumption comes from numerous examples where “ putting people first”
paid off handsomely in profits and performance. The implication is that people are an
organisation’s most important resource, they are the source of productivity and profits and
should be treated with care.
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Q5. IMPLICATION DEALING WITH GROUP
Several assumptions related to the importance of work teams and the collaborative
management of team culture. First, one of the most psychologically relevant reference group
for most people is the work group, including peers and boss. What occurs in work groups, at
both the formal and informal levels, greatly influences feelings of satisfaction and
competence.
Second, most people wish to b e accepted and to interact cooperatively with at least one
small reference group, and usually with more than one group\, such as a work group, the
family, a church or club group, and so on.
Thirdly, most people are capable of making greater contributions to a group’s effectiveness
and development.
Invest the time in group development, invest training time and money to
increase group member’s skills, invest energy and intelligence in creating a
positive climate.
Leaders should adopt a team leadership style not a one – on – one leadership.
To do this leader should give important work to teams, not individuals.
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Q6.KURT LEWIN'S FREEZE PHASES
In the early 20th century, psychologist Kurt Lewin identified three stages of change that are
still the basis of many approaches today.
Unfreeze
A basic tendency of people is to seek a context in which they have relative safety and feel a
sense of control. In establishing themselves, they attach their sense of identity to their
environment. This creates a comfortable stasis from which any alternatives, even those which
may offer significant benefit, will cause discomfort.
Talking about the future thus is seldom enough to move them from this 'frozen' state and
significant effort may be required to 'unfreeze' them and get them moving. This usually
requires Push methods to get them moving, after which Pull methods can be used to keep
them going.
The term 'change ready' is often used to describe people who are unfrozen and ready to take
the next step. Some people come ready for change whilst others take a long time to let go of
their comfortable current realities.
Transition
A key part of Lewin's model is the notion that change, even at the psychological level, is a
journey rather than a simple step. This journey may not be that simple and the person may
need to go through several stages of misunderstanding before they get to the other side.
A classic trap in change is for the leaders to spend months on their own personal journeys
and then expect everyone else to cross the chasm in a single bound.
Transitioning thus requires time. Leadership is often important and when whole
organizations change, the one-eyed person may be king. Some form of coaching, counseling
or other psychological support will often be very helpful also.
Although transition may be hard for the individual, often the hardest part is to start. Even
when a person is unfrozen and ready for change, that first step can be very scary.
Transition can also be a pleasant trap and, as Robert Louis Stephenson said, 'It is better to
travel hopefully than arrive.' People become comfortable in temporary situations where they
are not accountable for the hazards of normal work and where talking about change may be
substituted for real action.
Refreeze
At the other end of the journey, the final goal is to 'refreeze', putting down roots again and
establishing the new place of stability.
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In practice, refreezing may be a slow process as transitions seldom stop cleanly, but go more
in fits and starts with a long tail of bits and pieces. There are good and bad things about this.
In modern organizations, this stage is often rather tentative as the next change may well be
around the next corner. What is often encouraged, then, is more of a state of 'slushiness'
where freezing is never really achieved (theoretically making the next unfreezing easier). The
danger with this that many organizations have found is that people fall into a state of change
shock, where they work at a low level of efficiency and effectiveness as they await the next
change. 'It's not worth it' is a common phrase when asked to improve what they do.
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Q7.RONALD LIPPITT, JEANNE WATSON, BRUCE WESTLEY
They expanded the three stage into a seven – stage model representing the consulting
process. Their seven stages are as follows :
Phase 1 :
Developing a need for change. This phase corresponds to Lewin’s unfreezing phase.
Phase 2 :
Establishing a change relationship. In this phase a client system in need of help and a change
agent from outside the system establish a working relationship.
Phase 3 :
Clarifying or diagnosing the client system’s problem.
Phase 4 :
Examining alternative routes and goals, establishing goals and intentions of action
Phase 5 :
Transforming intentions into actual change efforts. Phases 3, 4 , 5 correspond to Lewin’s
moving phase.
Phase 6 :
Generalizing and stabilizing change. This phase corresponds to Lewin’s refreezing phase
Phase 7 :
Achieving a terminal relationship, that is, terminating the client consultant relationship.
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Q8.RALPH KILMANN – ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE MODEL
Culture track – trust communication, information sharing, and willingness to change among
members.
The management skill track provides all management personnel with new ways of coping
with complex problems and hidden assumptions.
The team building track infuses the new culture and updated management skills into each
work unit.
The strategy structure track develops either a completely new or a revised strategic plan
for the firm and then aligns divisions, departments, work groups, jobs, and all resources with
the new strategic direction.
The reward system track establishes a performance based rewards system that sustains all
improvements
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Q9.THE BURKE LITWIN MODEL OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
This model shows how to create first order and second order change (which author calls
transactional and transformational change)
In the first order change, some features of organisation change but the fundamental nature of
organisation remains the same.
First order change goes by many different labels : transactional, evolutionary, adaptive,
incremental, or continuous change.
Second order change goes by many different labels : transformational, revolutionary, radical,
or discontinous change.
Burke and Litwin distinguish between transformational factors (yellow boxes) and
transactional factors (green boxes).
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Q10.THE ACTION RESEARCH MODEL
1 a preliminary diagnosis
2. Data gathering from the client group
3. Data feedback to the client group
4. Exploration of the data by the client group
5. Action planning by the client group
6. Action taking by the client group
7. Evaluation and assessment of the results of the actions by the client group
Action research is an interactive inquiry process that balances problem solving actions
implemented in a collaborative context with data-driven collaborative analysis or research to
understand underlying causes enabling future predictions about personal and organizational
change (Reason & Bradbury, 2001). After six decades of action research development, many
methodologies have evolved that adjust the balance to focus more on the actions taken or
more on the research that results from the reflective understanding of the actions. This
tension exists between
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1. those who are more driven by the researcher’s agenda to those more driven by
participants;
2. those who are motivated primarily by instrumental goal attainment to those motivated
primarily by the aim of personal, organizational, or societal transformation; and
3. 1st-, to 2nd-, to 3rd-person research, that is, my research on my own action, aimed
primarily at personal change; our research on our group (family/team), aimed
primarily at improving the group; and ‘scholarly’ research aimed primarily at
theoretical generalization and/or large scale change.
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Q 11. TEAM INTERVENTIONS
A work group is a number of persons, usually reporting to a common superior and having
some face to face interaction, who have some degree of interdependence in carrying out tasks
for the purpose of achieving organisational goals.
A team is a form of group, but has some characteristics in greater degree than ordinary
groups, including a higher commitment to common goal and a higher degree of
interdependency and interaction.
Organizations are deploying paid ombudsmen to help staffers get along and
stifle office conflicts As conflicts often arise in work teams, timely
interventions to diffuse tensions and strengthen members’ interpersonal
commitment should be introduced.
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OD process should result in the development of a comprehensive and sustainable in-house
leadership training program that would foster teamwork. The training programs should
enable employees to learn how to handle different types of personalities.
Towards the completion phase of team building intervention, team members should be
capable of avoiding reciprocal rudeness and maintenance of unconditional politeness,
escaping the trap of cliques ,prevention of polarization (cause of division of opinion) of
members into opposing factions, perpetrating (responsible) the value of teams, overcoming
the phenomenon of groupthink which occurs out of excessive demand for unanimity,
understanding the power of group synergy and social-facilitation in raising and social-
facilitation in raising an organization’s productivity are qualities of the members of winning
teams.
Team building interventions are typically directed toward four main area :
Diagnosis
Task Accomplishments
Team Relationships
Team and organisation processes
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Q 12. THIRD PARTY PEACE MAKING INTERVENTIONS
Walton has presented a statement of theory and practice for third-party peace making
interventions that is important in its own right and important for its role in organization
development. WALTON’S METHOD has a lot in common with group interventions but it is
directed more towards, interpersonal conflict.
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It is also important to know the source of the conflict.
Sources:
Substantive issues, which is conflict related to practices, scarce resources, and differing
conceptions of roles and responsibilities.
Emotional issues, involve feelings between the parties, such as anger, hurt, fear, resentment,
etc.
The latter require restructuring perceptions and working through negative feelings.
Walton has outlined the ingredients of a productive confrontation( the process of addressing
conflict), they are:
1. Mutual positive motivation, which refers to the willingness on both parties t resolve
the conflict.
2. Balance of power. There ought not be any power differentials between the parties
involved in a confrontation.
3. Synchronization of confrontation efforts. The two parties must address the conflict
simultaneously.
4. Differentiation and integration of different phases of the intervention must be well
paced. The intervention involves working through negative feelings and ambivalent
positive feeling. The intervention must allow sufficient time for this process to take
place.
5. Conditions that promote openness should be created. This could be done through
setting appropriate norms and creating a structure that encourages openness.
6. Reliable communicative signals. This statement refers to using language that is
understood by the parties involved in the confrontation.
7. Optimum tension in the situation. This means that the stress experienced by both
parties ought to be sufficient to motivate them but not too excessive.
People have different feelings and perceptions therefore it is important to separate people
from feelings.
Interest. Looking at party interests provide a vehicle for resolving conflict rather sticking to
inflexible positions that entrench the conflict.
Options ought to be generated in order to come up with best option for resolving conflict.
Criteria for evaluating the success of the intervention ought to be clear and objective.
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Q 13. FUTURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Organization Development (OD) is a unique organizational improvement strategy. The sets
of structured/planned activities adopted by groups or individuals in an organization as a part
of the organization development program, are known as OD techniques or OD interventions.
While change programs may involve either external or internal consultants, OD interventions
mostly involve external consultants. Some OD interventions include sensitivity training,
survey feedback, process consultation, team interventions and intergroup interventions, third
party peace making interventions, and structural interventions.
The most widely used structural interventions are parallel learning structures, self-managed
teams, Management by Objectives (MBO), Quality Circles, Total Quality Management
(TQM), Quality of work life (QWL) projects, large-scale systems change, organizational
transformation, and process reengineering.
The research and practice in the field of OD has led to the emergence of new concepts and
interventions. Therefore, OD is a continuously growing field. The factors that add to the
strength of OD include soundness of its processes, the emphasis of OD interventions on
democratic processes and on bringing about a simultaneous change in people as well as
technology. Though OD seems to have a promising future, there are certain factors that have
the potential to make the future of OD uncertain. These include nature of organizational
leadership and the values of top management, knowledge of management about OD, the
importance given by management to training employees in OD skills, interdisciplinary nature
of OD, dissemination of OD techniques, integration of techniques in the field of OD with
those in other fields and the recording and maintenance of the history of OD. The changes in
global economy, technology and nature of workforce have significant implications for the
future of OD. In the future, OD will become a part of organizational operations and OD skills
will be acquired by employees at every level in the organization.
OD processes will use advanced technology and the duration of OD interventions will be
reduced. OD will focus on learning and innovation and its interdisciplinary nature will
increase. As OD practitioners have to work with diverse client organizations and cross-
cultural teams, they will need to develop the required competence. Prior to solving the value
dilemmas of modern organizations, OD practitioners will be required to resolve the dilemma
within themselves regarding the focus of OD interventions.
The Future of OD
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Q 14. ETHICAL ISSUES IN OD
Many people are suspicious of organizational consultants, and for good reason. Many change
efforts fall into three categories:
• The fad or fly-by-night initiative, which takes up a lot of time and, often, energy,
sometimes engaging the enthusiasm of a number of people, only to disappear when
managers become interested in the next new thing. These pick up the reputation of
being great for consulting firms, but a waste of time for everyone else. They may be
well-intentioned efforts by well-trained HR groups who do not have the power or
resources to get the results they need; they result of a close relationship between a
consultant and an executive; the outcome of an executive with a short attention span
and an interest in increasing performance; or ineffective processes of a large
consulting firm.
o A subgroup of this is the initiative which really does produce good results -
but whose outcome is not well publicized, so that employees think nothing has
happened.
• The false front, where a change effort purporting to help everyone turns into a
traditional time and motion study or an excuse to eliminate jobs or speed up the line
(whether the line is real or figurative).
• The less common, but still damaging, false front, where employees' reactions to an
initiative are used against them - perhaps by supervisors or unscrupulous managers,
without the knowledge of well-meaning people in HR.
There is a long history of management consultants being used to eliminate or demean jobs.
Frederick Winslow Taylor, whose name has been attached to Taylorism, was famous for
being able to extract more performance by "scientifically" determining the best work
processes. For example, he would change the size of a coal mover's shovel, provide frequent
rest breaks, train the mover in the best way to shovel coal (based on experimentation), and set
up a pay-for-performance system. Unfortunately, Taylor's system - which, while it robbed the
coal mover of some control over their own work, did at least make their job easier and less
physically damaging - was abused by many managers and consultants to follow. Pay-for-
performance systems were constantly adjusted so that the faster people moved, the less they
made per unit - Taylor, to be fair, fought this sort of thing. The frequent rest breaks somehow
didn't often make it into practice, but taking away the individual worker's ability to make
even the simplest decisions did.
For decades, managers, sometimes in the name of scientific management, used every
possible means to take away individual decision-making, pushing it upwards through the
organization. Even in the heyday of job enrichment and empowerment, many companies
were actively, and to their own detriment, pushing power upwards instead of downwards.
Some of these stories are outlined in Brave New Workplace, a good book for those wishing to
hear the less-told, non-management side of the story.
Organizational development should be beyond reproach. Based on the idea of working with
organizational culture to bring out the best in people, the goals and ethics of organizational
development are certainly laudable from a human perspective. It's hard to argue with the
financial results, either. We have yet to hear of a true "OD" intervention being abused,
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though of course components of OD - the various tools used by OD practitioners - can easily
be subverted or ineffective in the wrong hands.
Generally speaking, the ethical consultant or manager can do many things to make the lives
of employees and managers better, and not just in financial terms.
1. quality of life -- people being satisfied with their whole life experience;
2. health, human potential, empowerment, growth and excellence -- people being
healthy, aware of the fullness of their potential, recognizing their power to bring that
potential into being, growing into it, living it, and, generally, doing the best they can
with it, individually and collectively;
3. freedom and responsibility -- people being free and responsible in choosing how they
will live their lives;
4. justice -- people living lives whose results are fair and right for everyone;
5. dignity, integrity, worth and fundamental rights of individuals, organizations,
communities, societies, and other human systems;
6. all-win attitudes and cooperation -- people caring about one another and about
working together to achieve results that work for everyone, individually and
collectively;
7. authenticity and openness in relationship;
8. effectiveness, efficiency and alignment -- people achieving the maximum of desired
results, at minimum cost, in ways that coordinate their individual energies and
purposes with those of the system-as-a-whole, the subsystems of which they are parts,
and the larger system of which their system is a part;
9. holistic, systemic view and stakeholder orientation -- understanding human behavior
from the perspective of whole system(s) that influence and are influenced by that
behavior; recognizing the interests that different people have in the system's results
and valuing those interests fairly and justly;
10. wide participation in system affairs, confrontation of issues leading to effective
problem solving, and democratic decision making.
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Q 15. DIAGNOSTIC AND INTERVENTIONS IN OD
"It is distinguished from human resource development in that HRD focuses on the personal
growth of individuals within organizations, while OD focuses on developing the structures,
systems, and processes within the organization to improve organizational effectiveness."
OD programs usually share several basic characteristics. For instance, they are considered
long-term efforts of at least one to three years in most cases. In addition, OD stresses
collaborative management, whereby managers and employees at different levels of the
hierarchy cooperate to solve problems. OD also recognizes that every organization is unique
and that the same solutions cannot necessarily be applied at different companies—this
assumption is reflected in an OD focus on research and feedback. Another common trait of
OD programs is an emphasis on the value of teamwork and small groups. In fact, most OD
systems use small teams—or even individuals—as a vehicle to implement broad
organizational changes.
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Implementing Od Programs
OD efforts basically entail two groups of activities: "action research" and "interventions."
Action research is a process of systematically collecting data on a specific organization,
feeding it back for action planning, and evaluating results by collecting and reflecting on
more data. Data gathering techniques include everything from surveys and questionnaires to
interviews, collages, drawings, and tests. The data is often evaluated and interpreted using
advanced statistical analysis techniques.
Action research can be thought of as the diagnostic component of the OD process. But it
also encompasses the intervention component, whereby the change agent uses action
plans to intervene in the organization and make changes, as discussed below. In a
continuous process, the results of actions are measured and evaluated and new action plans
are devised to effect new changes. Thus, the intervention process can be considered a facet of
action research.
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Q 16. PARTICIPATION & EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment and Participation It is interesting how the word communication can change
life at home and at work. When everyone is aware of what is going on around him or her,
they can function better. It is important for employees to understand the business in its
entirety. That includes the finances of the job. All of the readings in this chapter had
something to offer. I feel taking a bit from each will provide a work place of splendor.
Finances include a variety of things: From hiring a new employee to purchasing a new tool to
make the job easier. It is those decisions we make which can make difference of saving,
spending and making money. It is these decisions that can make or break a company. The old
school tells us not to share finances with anyone else in the company but those directly on
top. The new school is saying that this philosophy is all wrong. If one want an employee to
do the best he or she can do, and feel important, give them the company information. Let all
the employees know what role they play. Allow them to make decisions that will make their
job easier. The Lightening of Empowerment suggests managers help their employees take
ownership of their jobs. This requires trust, listening to the workers, and giving feedback.
The novel concept here is to treat people like humans. Like any relationship, one needs these
qualities to survive. If one gives positive reinforcements people tend to respect them.
Employers hire people everyday with the hopes and trust they will do their job. But when
people do not understand the role they really play in the company, they may not give their
full effort. Hence, we have Saps, people who lack the main ingredients of relationships
discussed earlier. We must let the employees know we trust them to make good positive
decisions. Give them the empowerment by letting them know they are valued, and
commending them on jobs well done. Open Book Management suggests we share our
finances with the other employees no matter what their status, and give them a stake in the
company. After all, this is a good suggestion, why work if one can't reap the benefits of their
work? It also suggests that many employees are business illiterate, and if we want them to
understand business we need to teach it to them. In conclusion, all of the readings I have
done so far make management more then just problem solvers. They have become part of the
problem. To solve their own problems managers need to be teachers, coaches, and a wealth
of knowledge to be shared. Businesses need to be a team, and to this they need to share every
aspect of the team. When the business succeeds all should have a share in the profit, and
when it fails all are responsible.
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