A SHORT HISTORY OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

OD emerged from five major backgrounds or stems:

Laboratory Training Background

This stem of OD pioneered laboratory training, or the T-group—a small, unstruc- tured group in
which participants learn from their own interactions and evolving group processes about such
issues as interpersonal relations, personal growth, lead- ership, and group dynamics.
Action Research and Survey Feedback Background
Kurt Lewin also was involved in the second movement that led to OD’s emergence as a practical
field of social science. This second background refers to the processes of action research and
survey feedback. The action research contribution began in the 1940s with studies conducted
by social scientists John Collier, Kurt Lewin, and William Whyte. They discovered that research
needed to be closely linked to action if organization members were to use it to manage change.
A collaborative effort was initiated between organization members and social scientists to
collect research data about an organiza- tion’s functioning, to analyze it for causes of problems,
and to devise and implement solutions. After implementation, further data were collected to
assess the results, and the cycle of data collection and action often continued. The results of
action research were twofold: Members of organizations were able to use research on
themselves to guide action and change, and social scientists were able to study that process to
derive new knowledge that could be used elsewhere.
Normative Background
The intellectual and practical advances from the laboratory training stem and the action
research/survey-feedback stem were followed closely by the belief that a human rela- tions
approach represented a “one best way” to manage organizations. This normative belief was
exemplified in research that associated Likert’s Participative Management (System 4, as
outlined below) style and Blake and Mouton’s Grid OD program with organizational
effectiveness.23
Likert’s Participative Management Program characterized organizations as having one of four
types of management systems:24
• Exploitive authoritative systems (System 1) exhibit an autocratic, top-down approach to
leadership. Employee motivation is based on punishment and occa- sional rewards.
• Benevolent authoritative systems (System 2) are similar to System 1, except that
management is more paternalistic. Employees are allowed a little more inter- action,
communication, and decision making but within boundaries defined by management.
• Consultative systems (System 3) increase employee interaction, communication, and decision
making. Although employees are consulted about problems and deci- sions, management still
makes the final decisions.
• Participative group systems (System 4) are almost the opposite of System 1. Designed around
group methods of decision making and supervision, this system fos- ters high degrees of
member involvement and participation. Work groups are highly involved in setting goals,
making decisions, improving methods, and appraising results.
Productivity and Quality-of-Work-Life Background
The contribution of the productivity and quality-of-work-life (QWL) background to OD can be
described in two phases. The first phase is described by the original projects devel- oped in
Europe in the 1950s and their emergence in the United States during the 1960s. These QWL
programs generally involved joint participation by unions and management in the design of
work and resulted in work designs giving employees high levels of discretion, task variety, and
feedback about results. eople defined QWL in terms of specific techniques and approaches
used for improving work.32 It was viewed as synonymous with methods such as job
enrichment, self-managed teams, and labor–management committees
Strategic Change Background
The strategic change background is a recent influence on OD’s evolution. As organ- izations and
their technological, political, and social environments have become more complex and more
uncertain, the scale and intricacies of organizational change have increased. Strategic change
involves improving the alignment among an organization’s envi- ronment, strategy, and
organization design.36 Strategic change interventions include efforts to improve both the
organization’s relationship to its environment and the fit between its technical, political, and
cultural systems.

THEORIES OF PLANNED CHANGE

Conceptions of planned change have tended to focus on how change can be implemented in
organizations. Called “theories of changing,” these frameworks describe the activities that must
take place to initiate and carry out successful organizational change. In this section, we describe
and compare three theories of changing: Lewin’s change model, the action research model,
and the positive model.

Lewin’s Change Model

A particular set of behaviors at any moment in time is the result of two groups of forces: those
striving to maintain the status quo and those pushing for change. When both sets of forces are
about equal, current behaviors are maintained in what Lewin termed a state of “quasi-
stationary equilibrium.” To change that state, one can increase those forces pushing for change,
decrease those forces maintaining the current state, or apply some combination of both. Lewin
viewed this change process as consisting of the following three steps:
1. Unfreezing. This step usually involves reducing those forces maintaining the organization’s
behavior at its present level. Unfreezing is sometimes accomplished through a process of
“psychological disconfirmation.” By introducing information that shows discrepancies between
behaviors desired by organization members and those behaviors currently exhibited, members
can be motivated to engage in change activities.
2. Moving. This step shifts the behavior of the organization, department, or individ- ual to a
new level. It involves intervening in the system to develop new behaviors, values, and attitudes
through changes in organizational structures and processes.
3. Refreezing. This step stabilizes the organization at a new state of equilibrium. It is frequently
accomplished through the use of supporting mechanisms that rein- force the new
organizational state, such as organizational culture, rewards, and structures.

Action Research Model

There are eight main steps.
1. Problem Identification. This stage usually begins when an executive in the organization or
someone with power and influence senses that the organization has one or more problems that
might be solved with the help of an OD practitioner.
2. Consultation with a Behavioral Science Expert. During the initial contact, the OD practitioner
and the client carefully assess each other. The practitioner has his or her own normative,
developmental theory or frame of reference and must be conscious of those assumptions and
values.
3. Data Gathering and Preliminary Diagnosis. This step is usually completed by the OD
practitioner, often in conjunction with organization members. It involves gathering appropriate
information and analyzing it to determine the underlying causes of organizational problems.
4. Feedback to a Key Client or Group. Because action research is a collaborative activity, the
diagnostic data are fed back to the client, usually in a group or work- team meeting.
5. Joint Diagnosis of the Problem. At this point, members discuss the feedback
and explore with the OD practitioner whether they want to work on identified problems.
6. Joint Action Planning. Next, the OD practitioner and the client members jointly agree on
further actions to be taken. This is the beginning of the moving process (described in Lewin’s
change model), as the organization decides how best to reach a different quasi-stationary
equilibrium. At this stage, the specific action to be taken depends on the culture, technology,
and environment of the organization; the diagnosis of the problem; and the time and expense
of the intervention.
7. Action. This stage involves the actual change from one organizational state to another. It may
include installing new methods and procedures, reorganizing structures and work designs, and
reinforcing new behaviors.
8. Data Gathering After Action. Because action research is a cyclical process, data must also be
gathered after the action has been taken to measure and determine the effects of the action
and to feed the results back to the organization. This, in turn, may lead to rediagnosis and new
action.

The Positive Model

The positive model focuses on what the organization is doing right. It helps members
understand their organization when it is working at its best and builds off those capabilities to
achieve even better results.
Drawing heavily on AI, the positive model of planned change involves five phases:
1. Initiate the Inquiry. This first phase determines the subject of change. It emphasizes member
involvement to identify the organizational issue they have the most energy to address. For
example, members can choose to look for successful male–female collaboration (as opposed to
sexual discrimination), instances of cus- tomer satisfaction (as opposed to customer
dissatisfaction), particularly effective work teams, or product development processes that
brought new ideas to market especially fast.
2. Inquire into Best Practices. This phase involves gathering information about the “best of
what is” in the organization. If the topic is organizational innovation, then members help to
develop an interview protocol that collects stories of new ideas that were developed and
implemented in the organization.
3. Discover the Themes. In this third phase, members examine the stories, both large and
small, to identify a set of themes representing the common dimensions of people’s
experiences. For example, the stories of innovation may contain themes about how managers
gave people the freedom to explore a new idea, the sup- port organization members received
from their coworkers, or how the exposure to customers sparked creative thinking.
4. Envision a Preferred Future. Members then examine the identified themes, chal- lenge the
status quo, and describe a compelling future. Based on the organization’s successful past,
members collectively visualize the organization’s future and develop “possibility
propositions”—statements that bridge the organization’s cur- rent best practices with ideal
possibilities for future organizing
5. Design and Deliver Ways to Create the Future. It describes the activities and cre- ates the
plans necessary to bring about the vision. It proceeds to action and assess- ment phases similar
to those of action research described previously. Members make changes, assess the results,
make necessary adjustments, and so on as they move the organization toward the vision and
sustain “what will be”.

John Kotter, leadership and change management professor at Harvard Business School,
introduced his ground-breaking 8-Step Change Model in his 1995 book, “Leading Change”.
Built on the work of Kurt Lewin, the model sets out the 8 key steps of the changes process,
arguing that neglecting any of the steps can be enough for the whole initiative to fail.

Step One: Create Urgency The idea of a change being necessary for the success of the
organisation can be very powerful. If you can create an environment where individuals are
aware of an existing problem and can see a possible solution it is likely support for the change
will rise.
Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition It will be very hard to lead the whole change process on
your own, and therefore it is important to build a coalition to help you direct others. The
coalition you build should be made up of a range of skills, a range of experience and people
who come from different areas of the business, to maximise its effectiveness
Step Three: Create a Vision for Change creating a vision that is easy to understand and
encapsulates the overall aim is a useful way of generating support from the whole organisation.
Step Four: Communicate the Vision Creating the vision is not enough to generate support for
it, it then needs to be communicated throughout the organisation. This is an excellent
opportunity to utilise the coalition you have built up, as between them they are likely to have
networks in every area of the business
Step Five: Remove Obstacles Whether its individuals, traditions, legislations or physical
obstacles, it is likely there will be a few barriers blocking your change’s path. Identify these as
early as possible and rely on available resources to break them down, without disrupting any
other areas of the business.
Step Six: Create Short-Term Wins, it is important to demonstrate the advantages of the new
process by creating some short-term wins. Shorter term targets are also useful tools for
motivation and direction.
Step Seven: Build on the Change it is important to sustain and cement the change for long after
it has been accomplished. Keep setting goals and analysing what could be done better for
continued improvement.
Step Eight: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture Simply changing the habits and processes
of employees is not always enough to instil a culture change across the organisation. The
changes should become part of the core of your organisation to have a lasting effect. Keeping
senior stakeholders on board, encouraging new employees to adopt the changes and
celebrating individuals who adopt the change will all help to promote the change to the core of
your organisation.