Organizational Development

Organizational development (commonly referred to as OD) is a practical and systematic approach to

launching and diffusing change in Organisations. It is an attempt to improve the overall
Organizational efficiency. It is basically a long range programme, not a one shot deal, attempting to
change the behavioural attitudes and performance of the total Organisation.

Organisational development is an organisational improvement strategy. In the late 1950s and early
1960s, it emerged out of insight from group dynamics and from the theory and practice of planned
change. Today, the field offers an integrated framework capable of solving most of the operant
problem confronting the human side of organisations.
OD is a field of practice aimed at analysing the functioning of an organisation, facilitating change
and, through its process-consulting capabilities, bringing disparate elements of the organisation into
alignment, generally around planned change. OD is characterised by facilitation and communication
practices.
OD frequently employs surveys in its professional work. Its aim is the smooth, coordinated, and
aligned functioning of the organisation. OD deals with the overall health of the organisation. It comes
into play when the organisation is not functioning properly or will have to alter its way of operating.

OD emphasises organisational effectiveness and is called upon when a major change affecting the
entire organisation is anticipated or occurring. It relies on consultant intervention, bringing together
all the affected players and groups, and facilitating communication and decision making.
OD is the field of study and practice that focuses on various aspects of organisational life, including
culture, values, systems, and behaviour. The goal is to increase organisational effectiveness and
maintain optimal organisational health through planned interventions in process or operations.
Generally, OD services are requested when an organisation or one of its major parts requires or
experiences significant change. OD consultants provide planned approaches and structured activities
to work through change to achieve desired improvements.
OD is characterised by a distinct consulting method that focuses on the people, culture, processes, and
structure of the organisation. A primary OD goal is to optimise the entire organisational system by
ensuring all elements are harmonious and congruent. Performance suffers when organisational
structure, strategy, culture, and processes are misaligned.

Organisational development is now about the people and organisational function and how to get them
to function better. The field is based on knowledge from behavioural science disciplines such as
psychology, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, system theory, organisational behaviour,
organisational theory and management. OD practitioners are consultant trained in the theory and
practice of organisational development, with knowledge from the underlying behavioural science.
OD programs are long termed, planned sustained efforts. Such efforts begin when a leader identifies
undesirable situation and seek to change it. The leader contacts an OD professional and together they
explore whether organisational development suits the task at hand.
If the answer is yes, they enlist other in the organisation to help design and implement the change
program. The participants develop an overall game plan or strategy that includes a series of activities,
each intended to achieve an outcome that moves the organisation towards its goal.
The two major goals of OD program are:
1. To improve the functioning of individuals, teams, and the total organisation, and
2. To teach organisational members how to continuously improve their own functioning.
Organisational development deals with the gimlet of “people problem’ and ‘work system problems’ in
organisations like-poor morale, low productivity, poor quality, interpersonal conflicts, and intergroup
conflict, in clear or inappropriate goals, inappropriate leadership styles, poor team performance, in
appropriate organisational structure, poor relation, inadequate alignment among the organisation’s
strategy, structure culture, process, and the like, in short, where individuals, teams, and organisation
are not realising their potential, OD can improve the situation.
Organisation Development (OD) has emerged to help the planned change for organisational
effectiveness. Thus, it is said that the organisation development is the modem approach to
management of change and human resource development. Organisation Development (OD)
concentrates on people dimensions like norms, values, attitudes, relationships, organisational climate,
etc.

Organizational Development – Meaning and Concept

Organization development (OD) is the study of successful organizational change and performance.
OD emerged from human relations studies in the 1930s, during which psychologists realized that
organizational structures and processes influence worker behaviour and motivation.

More recently, work on OD has expanded to focus on aligning organizations with their rapidly
changing and complex environments through organizational learning, knowledge management and
transformation of organizational norms and values. Key concepts of OD theory include –
organizational climate, organizational culture and organizational strategies.

Modern Concept of OD:

In recent years, serious issue has emerged about the relevance of OD to managing change in modern
organizations. The need for “reinventing” the field has become a topic that even some of its “founding
fathers” are discussing critically.

The, scholars have begun to examine organization development from an emotion-based standpoint.
DeKlerk has considered how emotional trauma can negatively affect performance. Due to
downsizing, outsourcing, mergers, restructuring, continual changes, invasions of privacy, harassment,
and abuses of power, many employees experience the emotions of aggression, anxiety, apprehension,
cynicism, and fear, which can lead to performance decreases.

Accordingly, he suggested that in order to heal the trauma and increase performance, O.D.
practitioners must acknowledge the existence of the trauma, provide a safe place for employees to
discuss their feelings, symbolize the trauma and put it into perspective, and then allow for and deal
with the emotional responses.

Organizational Development – Definition

Organisational development (commonly referred to as OD) is a practical and systematic approach to
launching and diffusing change in Organisations. It is an attempt to improve the overall
Organisational efficiency. It is basically a long range programme, not a one shot deal, attempting to
change the behavioural attitudes and performance of the total Organisation.

It is not a one-time training and development programme but is an on-going and cycling process. It is
a “complex educational strategy which aims to bring about a better fit between the human beings who
work in and expect things from Organisations and the busy, unrelenting environment with its
insistence on adapting to changing times.”

OD is inconsistently defined and is used as a convenient label for a variety of activities. In some
Organisations OD is an old wine put in a new bottle, a new buzzword attached to old activities-
Organisation planning, personnel or management development. In other Organisations OD is
employed as a comprehensive strategy for Organisation improvement. In fact, the field of OD is so
rapidly changing that in a few years the label OD may be applied to a somewhat different set of
activities.

Organizational development is a technique used for bringing change in the entire aspect of the
organization, rather than focusing attention on the individuals. So that change is readily absorbed.
Some of the definitions given by experts are explained below:
“Organisational Development is an effort planned, organisation-wide, and managed from the top, to
increase organisational effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organisation’s
‘processes’, using behavioural science knowledge.” – Beckhard
According to Schmuck and Miles, “organisation development is a planned and sustained effort to
apply behavioural science for system improvement, using reflexive, self-analysis methods”.
According to Warren Bennis, organisational development (OD) is a complex strategy intended to
change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organisations so that they can better adapt to new
technologies, markets, and challenges.

Warner Burke emphasizes that OD is not just, “anything done to better an organisation”; it is a
particular kind of change process designed to bring about a particular kind of end-result OD involves
organisational reflection, system improvement, planning, and self-analysis.
The term “Organisational Development” is often used interchangeably with organisational
effectiveness, especially when used as the name of a department or a part of the Human Resources
function within an organisation.
“Organisational Development is the attempt to influence the members of an organisation to expand
their candidness with each other about their views of the organisation and their experience in it, and to
take greater responsibility for their own actions as organisational members. The assumption behind
OD is that when people pursue both of these objectives simultaneously, they are likely to discover
new ways of working together that they experience as more effective for achieving their own and their
shared (organisational) goals. And when this does not happen, such activity helps them to understand
why and to make meaningful choices about what to do in the light of this understanding.” Neilsen
“Organisational development is a system-wide application of behavioural science knowledge to the
planned development and reinforcement of organisational strategies, structures, and processes for
improving an organisation’s effectiveness.” Cummings and Worley.
“Organisational development is a set of behavioural science based theories, values, strategies, and
techniques, aimed at the planned change of the organisational work setting for the purpose of
enhancing individual development and improving organisational performance through the alteration
of organisational members’ on the job behaviour”. Porras and Robertson.
“Organisational Development is a body of knowledge and practice that enhances organisational
performance and individual development, viewing the organisation as a complex system of systems
that exist within a larger system, each of which has its own attributes and degrees of alignment OD
interventions in these systems are inclusive methodologies and approaches to strategic planning,
organisational design, leadership development, change management, performance management,
coaching, diversity, and work/life balance.” Matt Minahan.
Organisational Development – Collaborating with organisational leaders and their groups to create
systemic change on behalf of root cause problem-solving towards improving productivity and
employee satisfaction through strengthening the human processes through which they get their work
done. Michael Broom.
Burke has defined, “organisation development is a planned process of change in an organisational
culture through the utilization of behavioural science, technologies, research and theories”.
Alderfer CP defined, “organisational development is a process used to enhance both the effectiveness
of an organisation and the well-being of its members through planned interventions”. Notice three
keys points here. First, OD enhances the effectiveness of the organisation. Effectiveness in this
context is defined as achieving organisational goal and objectives. Second, OD enhances the well-
being of organisational members.
Well-being refers to the perceived overall satisfaction each organisational member feels towards his
or her job and work environment. Generally speaking, having challenging and meaningful work leads
to high work satisfaction and if rewarded by the organisation to higher satisfaction with rewards as
well Thus OD is intended to enhance both personal and work satisfaction.
Third, OD is used to enhance the effectiveness of organisation and individual well-being through
planed interventions. Planned interventions refers to sets of structured activities in which selected
organisational units, targets groups or individuals engage with a task or sequence of tasks where the
task goals are related directly or indirectly to organisational improvement.
Thus, planned interventions or interventions strategies are the primary means through which
organisational improvement and changes take place.
Organisational development is not simple approach. It is a planned and system process of
organisational change. The changes are to be management to improve effectiveness of systems,
individual and organisation as a whole.

Organizational Development – Top 7 Characteristics

1. Long Range Effort:
OD is not designed to solve short term, temporary or isolated problems. It is a long term approach
meant to elevate the Organisation to a higher level of functioning by improving the performance and
satisfaction of Organisation members. OD programmes generally cover a period of three to five years.

2. Broad-Based:
OD is used broadly to describe a variety of change programmes. It essentially deals with a big picture-
an Organisation. It is a sophisticated attempt to bring about a comprehensive change in the entire
Organisation. In other words, it is concerned not only with changes in Organisational design but also
with changes in Organisational philosophies, skills of individuals and groups.

3. Dynamic Process:
OD includes the effort to guide and direct change as well as to cope with or adapt to impose change.
OD recognizes the fact that the goals of the Organisation change and hence the methods of attaining
them should also- change. OD is thus a dynamic process involving a considerable investment of time
and currencies. It is not merely a one-shot deal; it is rather, an ongoing, interactive and cycling
process.
4. Systems View:
OD utilizes systems thinking. It is based on open, adaptive systems concept. It recognizes that
Organisation structure and managerial performance are mutually interdependent. The Organisation is
treated as an interrelated whole and no part of the Organisation can be changed without affecting
other parts.

5. Research-Based:
Most of the OD interventions are research-based. Change agents do not just introspect the employees
and introduce changes rather; they conduct surveys, collect data, evaluate and then take decisions. OD
programmes are generally conducted by a special task force and involve the utilization of outside
behavioural consultant’s faculties.

6. Goal Felting and Planning:

Since OD is concerned with the entire Organisation, the change agent defines the goals of the group
and will see to it that together they all work to achieve them. Beck hard contends that healthy-
Organisations tend to have goal setting at all levels.

7. Normative Re-Educative Strategy:

OD is based on the principle that “norms form the basis for behaviour and change is a re-educative
process of replacing old by new ones”. For instance, some, OD programmes signify major departures
from bureaucratic structure of an Organisation and call for changes in managerial leadership styles.

OD is based on well-established principles regarding the individual and group behaviours in the
Organisation and hence ‘it is relatively easy for the OD practitioners to launch and diffuse the
required changes by educating them.

OD does not include:

1. Management development – OD is a broader concept and includes management development as its
subsystem. Management development is concerned with training and other processes aimed at
improving manager’s knowledge, skills and job performance. The primary objective of OD is to
change the total system. Management development, however, attempts to change individuals so as to
achieve a better fit with the system.

2. Exclusively concerned with people – It is also concerned with the development of Organisational
competence, increasing Organisational efficiency and effectiveness.

3. A no-fail formula – OD is not concerned with no-fail formulae for attaining perfection. Rather, it
provides room for helpful tactics for moving the Organisation in the right direction to enhance the
effectiveness of its members.
4. Aimed at simply making Organisations more productive and efficient – It also strives to make work
places satisfying and pleasant.

5. A gimmick or fad – It is solidly based upon the theory and research of a number of disciplines.

6. Not a separate discipline – It draws heavily from other disciplines such as psychology, sociology
and anthropology.

Organizational Development – Objectives

Organisation development efforts broadly aim at improving the organisational effectiveness and job
satisfaction of the employees. These aims can be attained by humanising the organisations and
encouraging the personal growth of individual employees.
Specifically, the OD Objectives are:
(1) To increase openness of communication among people.
(2) To increase commitment, self-direction and self-control.
(3) To encourage the people who are at the helm of affairs or close to the point of actual action to
make the decisions regarding their issues through collaborative effort.
(4) To involve the members in the process of analysis and implementation.
(5) To encourage confrontation regarding organisational problems’ with a view to arriving at effective
decisions.
(6) To enhance personal enthusiasm and satisfaction levels.
(7) To increase the level of trust and support among employees.
(8) To develop strategic solutions to problems with higher frequency.
(9) To increase the level of individual and group responsibility in planning and execution.

Organizational Development – Process (With 7 Steps)

The OD process is complicated and it takes long time to complete the process. It takes minimum of
one year and sometimes continues indefinitely. There are different approaches to OD process but the
typical process consists of seven steps, viz., initial diagnosis, data collection, data feedback and
confrontation, action planning and problem solving, team building, intergroup development and
evaluation and follow-up.
(1) Initial Diagnosis:
If executives recognise that there are inadequacies within organisation which can be corrected by OD
activities, it is necessary to find out the professional and competent people within the organisation to
plan and execute OD activities.
If competent people are not available within the organisation the services of the outside consultants to
help in diagnosing the problem and developing OD activities are to be taken. The consultants adopt
various methods including interviews, questionnaires, direct observation, analysis of documents and
reports for diagnosing the problem.
(2) Data Collection:
Survey method is used to collect the data and information for determining organisational climate and
identifying the behavioural problems.
(3) Data Feedback and Confrontation:
Data collected are analysed and reviewed by various work groups formed from this purpose in order
to mediate in the areas of disagreement or confrontation of ideas or opinions and to establish
priorities.
(4) Selection and Design of Interventions:
The interventions are the planned activities that are introduced into the system to accomplish desired
changes and improvements. At this stage the suitable interventions are to be selected and designed.
(5) Implementation of Intervention:
The selected intervention should be implemented. Intervention may take the form of workshops,
feedback of data to the participants, group discussions, written exercises, on-the-job activities,
redesign of control system, etc. Interventions are to be implemented steadily as the process is not a
“one-shot, quick cure” for organisational malady. But it achieves real and lasting change in the
attitudes and behaviour of employees.
(6) Action Planning and Problem Solving:
Groups prepare recommendations and specific action planning to solve the specific and identified
problems by using data collected.
(7) Team Building:
The consultants encourage the employees throughout the process to form into groups and teams by
explaining the advantages of the teams in the OD process, by arranging joint meetings with the
managers, subordinates, etc.
(8) Intergroup Development:
The consultants encourage the intergroup meetings, interaction etc., after the formation of
groups/teams.
(9) Evaluation and Follow-Up:
The organisation evaluates the OD programmes, find out their utility, and develop the programmes
further for correcting the deviations and/or improved results. The consultants help the organisation in
this respect.
All the steps in the OD processes should be followed by the organisation in order to derive full range
of OD benefits.
Organizational Development – Principles
The principle of organisation development is that, the ideal way to achieve change in organisations is
to alter each person’s entire formal or informal role set to support the change. It is more difficult to
change an individual alone because he is placed into role conflict as his peers, superiors and sub-
ordinates to retain the same role expectations of him. In such circumstances it would be worthwhile to
revise the entire role set to support the change.
Organisational development is an intervention strategy that uses group processes to focus on the
whole culture of an organisation in order to bring about a planned change. It makes heavy uses of
laboratory training approaches such as role playing, gaming and sensitivity training.
It is important from the point of view of society, customers and workers, themselves because overall
costs are reduced that may be a result of reduction of wastage of human efforts and machine etc. In
addition to that quality of the product improves and more effective organizational climate is
developed.
It is a long range effort to improve an organisation’s problem-solving and renewal processes,
particularly through a more effective and collaborative management culture—with special emphasis
on culture of formal work teams—with the assistance of a change agent, or catalyst, and the use of the
theory and technology of applied behavioural science including action research.

Organizational Development – 3 Main Causes Responsible for its Origin and Growth
There are three main causes which are responsible for the origin and growth of organizational
development:
(1) Reward structure on the job.
(2) Fast speed of change.
(3) Desire for more experimental learning processes.
(1) Reward Structure on the Job:
The first primary cause of organizational development is the fact that reward structure on the job did
not adequately reinforce training; hence training momentum in the transition from a classroom to a
work situation is excessively lost.
The environment in the organisation does not support the training and therefore many well designed
training and development programmes failed. So it is better to change the entire organisation so that it
will support the training that is provided. This is exactly organizational development tries to do.
(2) Fast Speed of Change:
The second reason is the fast speed of change itself. It needs organisation to be more effective so that
it may survive and prosper. The organizational development attempts to develop the culture of the
whole organisation so that it may respond to change more uniformly and capably. It develops free
communication among workers. It improves the problem solving ability by improving group
dynamics or force. Thus, it reaches into all aspects of organizational culture in order to make it more
humanly responsive.
(3) Desire for More Experimental Learning Process:
A third reason for the organisation of organizational development is the desire for more experimental
learning processes in employees training. It means that the people learn during training period by
human problems they face on the job. As soon as they experience the problems relating to human
behaviour, they discuss and analyse them with their superiors or colleagues and learn something from
this experience.
This type of behavioural approach is much better than the traditional approaches of lectures and
discussions. It is training on the job about human behaviour and the person concerned learns from
experience on the job. Thus, the programme emphasis work on real problems in real situations and the
experience helps to make confirm or refresh their new learning.

Organizational Development – Top 11 OD Intervention Techniques

Organisation development intervention techniques are the methods created by OD professionals and
others. Single organisation or consultant cannot use all the interventions. They use these interventions
depending upon the need or requirement. The most important interventions are- Survey feedback,
process consultation, sensitivity training, the managerial grid, goal setting and planning, team building
and management by objectives.
Technique # 1. Survey Feedback:
This intervention provides data and information to the managers. Attitudes of employees about wage
level, and structure, hours of work, working conditions and relations are collected and the results are
supplied to top executive teams. These teams analyse the data, find out the problems, evaluate the
results and develop the means to correct the problems identified. The teams are formed with the
employees at all levels in the organisation hierarchy, i.e., from rank and file to the top level.
Technique # 2. Process Consultation:
Under this method, the process consultant meets the members of department in work teams, observes
their interactions, problem identification skills, problem solving procedures, etc. He feeds back the
team with the information collected through observation, coaches and counsels individuals and groups
in moulding their behaviour.
Technique # 3. Goal Setting and Planning:
Each division in an organisation or branch/zonal office sets the goals or formulates the plans relating
to profitability, markets share, human resources productivity, etc. These goals are sent to the top
management, which in turn sends them back to the divisions/zones/ branches after modifications. A
set of organisation-wide goals thus emerge thereafter.
Technique # 4. Managerial Grid:
Industrial psychologists Blake and Mouton developed the managerial grid on the basis of the Ohio
State Study. The managerial grid identifies a range of management behaviour based on the different
ways that how production/service-oriented and employee-oriented slates interact with each other.
Different styles of leadership. The style 1-1 is impoverished management — low concern for both
people and production.
This Style is also called laissez faire management. Style 1-9 management is country club-management
— high concern for employees, but low concern for production. Style 9-1 management is task or
authoritarian-oriented high concern for production and low concern for employees. Style 5-5 is
middle of the road management — an intermediate amount of concern for both production and
employees.
Style 9-9 management is team- oriented management — a high concern for both production and
employees. Blake and Mouton strongly argue that the 9-9 management style is most effective type of
leadership style. Hence, it is felt that the management may adopt 9-9 style, for effective goal
attainment.
Managerial grid is also called as instrumental laboratory training as it is a structured version of
laboratory training. It consists of individual and group exercises with a view to developing awareness
of individual managerial style, interpersonal competence and group effectiveness.
Thus, grid training is directly related to the leadership styles. The managerial grid focuses on the
observations of behaviour in exercises specifically related to work. Participants in this training are
encouraged and helped to appraise their own managerial style.