You are on page 1of 2

OD INTERVENTION - CASE STUDY OF A PSU IN INDIA

French & Bell have defined OD to be the applied behavioural science discipline dedicated to
improving organizations and the people in them through the use of theory and practice of planned
change.
They have said that Basically OD is a process for teaching people how to solve problems, take
advantage of opportunities, and learn how to do that better and better over time. OD focuses on issues
related to human side of the organizations by finding ways to increase the effectiveness of
individuals, teams and the organizations, human and social processes.
Driven by these basics of OD, a leading Public Sector Undertaking of India, (having an employees
strength of approx 33,000) embarked upon the Organization Development program in the year 1985
with the help of an eminent consultant
It started off with the Action Research Model (French & Bell), involving
Data Collection
Analysis of the data ( with the help of a consultant )
Action Planning on the basis of analysis of the data
Subsequent steps taken were as below :

A company-wide climate survey was conducted to obtain the data which could throw up the
areas/actions for OD interventions. - Data, thus obtained, was used to make an action plan.

The action plan, termed as HRD framework, was presented to the Board of Director.

After approval of the action plan by Board of Directors, Change Agents were earmarked, one for
each location/division. Selection of the change agents was done, keeping the recommendation of the
consultant in mind, that, since OD was a peoples program, the change agents should necessarily be
line managers who have demonstrated to possess good people skills.

The change agents were given extensive training on behavioural skills ( most of which are
termed as soft skills in present day parlance )

The change agents were made responsible for implementation of HRD framework. They were
placed administratively under Chief of HR at each location, the underlying concept being that once
the HRD framework had been implemented and institutionalized, the Chief of HR would be its
custodian for its assimilation with the regular HR practices and policies.
1

The OD action plan (HRD Framework) & its implementation


Role Analysis has been a rather more acceptable strategy in India. RA has been described as one of
the team building techniques and has been adequately explained by French & Bell. The two authors
have also acknowledged the work of Prof Ishwar Dayal of India, with regard to RA.
In simple words, Role Analysis (RA) implies analyzing the role of a person/position in the
organization. Job description is something akin to RA, the subtle difference being that RA deals with
total role of a person ( including competencies ) whereas JD is a mere description of the job ( may not
clearly focus on competencies).
The enclosed HRD Framework shows the different derivatives (sub systems) of Role Analysis along
with their linkages, pursued by the organization under discussion.
It will be prudent here to mention that many of these RA derivatives (sub-systems) were already in
vogue in the organization, but not so effectively linked as they became after the OD interventions.
As on today, RA and all its sub-systems have been institutionalized and the organization is now
preparing for next phase of OD Interventions.

You might also like