FOUR MAJOR TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS

HUMAN PROCESS focused on people within organizations and the processes through
INTERVENTION which they accomplish organizational goals
Human process interventions related to interpersonal relationships and group dynamics
Process consultation This intervention focuses on interpersonal relations and social
dynamics occurring in work groups. The aim is to help members gain
the skills and understanding necessary to identify and solve
interpersonal and group problems themselves.
Third-party intervention A form of process consultation aimed at dysfunctional interpersonal
relations in organizations. The third-party intervener helps people
resolve conflicts through such methods as problem solving,
bargaining, and conciliation.
Team building This intervention helps work groups become more effective in
accomplishing tasks. Like process consultation, team building helps
members diagnose group processes and devise solutions to
problems. The OD practitioner also may function as a resource
person offering expertise related to the group’s task.
Human process interventions that are more system-wide; typically focus on the total organization or
an entire department, as well as on relations between groups.
Organization confrontation It is usually applied when organizations are experiencing stress and
meeting when management needs to organize resources for immediate
problem solving. The intervention generally includes various
groupings of employees in identifying and solving problems.
Intergroup relations These interventions are designed to improve interactions among
different groups or departments in organizations. This group
addresses the problems and develops means to solve them. The
intergroup conflict model typically involves an OD practitioner
helping two groups understand the causes of their conflict and
choosing appropriate solutions.
Large group interventions These interventions involve getting a broad variety of stakeholders
into a large meeting to clarify important values, to develop new
ways of working, to articulate a new vision for the organization, or to
solve pressing organizational problems.
TECHNOSTRUCTURAL Interventions focusing on an organization’s technology (e.g., task
INTERVENTION methods and job design) and structure (e.g., division of labor and
hierarchy). Practitioners generally stress both productivity and
human fulfillment and expect that organization effectiveness will
result from appropriate work designs and organization structures.
Technostructural interventions concerned with restructuring organizations
Structural design This change process concerns the organization’s division of labor—
how tasks are subdivided into work units and how those units are
coordinated for task completion.
Downsizing This intervention reduces costs and bureaucracy by decreasing the
size of the organization through personnel layoffs, organization
redesign, and outsourcing. Each of these downsizing methods must
be planned with a clear understanding of the organization’s strategy.
 FOUR MAJOR TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS
Reengineering This intervention radically redesigns the organization’s core work
processes to create tighter linkage and coordination among the
different tasks. This workflow integration results in faster, more
responsive task performance. Reengineering is often accomplished
with new information technology that permits employees to control
and coordinate work processes more effectively.
Technostructural interventions concerned with methods for involving employees in decision making.
Parallel structures This intervention involves organization members in resolving ill-
defined, complex problems.
Total quality management This intervention involves organization members in continuously
improving quality as part of normal work operations. It includes
extensive training in total quality management knowledge and skills
and the constant application of that expertise to improve quality at
work.
High-involvement Changes in structure, work design, information and control systems,
organizations and human resource practices jointly support member involvement
in relevant decision making throughout the firm.
Technostructural interventions for designing work for individual jobs and interactive groups.
Job enrichment This intervention creates jobs that employees are likely to experience
as meaningful with high levels of autonomy and feedback from
performing the work. Job enrichment results in high job satisfaction
and performance quality, especially for those individuals who have
needs for growth and learning at work.
Self-managed work teams This intervention designs work for teams performing highly
interrelated tasks that require real-time decision making. Self-
managed work teams are typically responsible for a complete product
or service and members are able to make decisions and control their
own task behaviors without a lot of external controls.
HUMAN RESOURCE Interventions used to select, reward, develop, and support people in
MANAGEMENT organizations. Practitioners in this area typically focus on the people
INTERVENTION in organizations, believing that organizational effectiveness results
from improved practices for integrating employees into
organizations.
Human resource management interventions concerned on performance management.
Goal setting This change program involves setting clear and challenging goals. It
attempts to improve organization effectiveness by establishing a
better fit between personal and organizational objectives. Managers
and subordinates periodically meet to plan work, review
accomplishments, and solve problems in achieving goals.
Performance appraisal This intervention is a systematic process of jointly assessing work-
related achievements, strengths, and weaknesses. It is the primary
human resources management intervention for providing
performance feedback to individuals and work groups.
Reward systems This intervention involves the design of organizational rewards to
improve employee satisfaction and performance. It includes
innovative approaches to pay, promotions, and fringe benefits.
 FOUR MAJOR TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS
Human resource management interventions focused on change methods for managing, developing,
and retaining organizational talent.
Coaching and mentoring This intervention helps executives and employees to clarify their
goals, deal with potential stumbling blocks, and improve their
performance. It often involves a one-on-one relationship between the
OD practitioner and the client and focuses on personal learning that
gets transferred into organizational results and more effective
leadership skills.
Management and leadership The focus of these interventions is on building the competencies
development needed to lead the organization in the future and includes traditional
classroom lectures as well as simulations, action learning, and case
studies.
Career planning and This intervention helps people choose organizations and career paths
development and attain career objectives. It generally focuses on managers and
professional staff and is seen as a way to increase the retention of
valuable employees and to improve the quality of work life.
Human resource management interventions for supporting organization members
Managing workforce diversity This change program makes human resources practices more
responsive to a variety of individual needs. Important trends, such as
the increasing number of women, ethnic minorities, and physically
and mentally challenged people in the workforce, require a more
flexible set of policies and practices.
Employee stress and wellness These interventions include employee assistance programs (EAPs)
and stress management. EAPs are counseling programs that help
employees deal with substance abuse and mental health, marital,
and financial problems that often are associated with poor work
performance. Stress-management programs help employees cope
with the negative consequences of stress at work. They help people
reduce specific sources of stress, such as role conflict and ambiguity,
and provide methods for reducing such stress symptoms as
hypertension and anxiety.
STRATEGIC CHANGE Interventions that link the internal functioning of the organization to
INTERVENTION the larger environment and transform the organization to keep pace
with changing conditions.
Strategic Change interventions that transform the way the organization relates to its environment or
operates internally
Organization design Organization design interventions address the different elements that
comprise the “architecture” of the organization, including structure,
work design, human resources practices, and management processes.
Integrated strategic change It argues that business strategies and organizational systems must be
changed together in response to external and internal disruptions. A
strategic change plan helps members manage the transition between
a current strategy and organization design and the desired future
strategy and design.
Culture change This intervention helps an organization develop a culture (behaviors,
values, beliefs, and norms) appropriate to its strategy and competitive
 FOUR MAJOR TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS
environment. It focuses on developing a strong organization culture
to keep organization members pulling in the same direction.
Strategic Change interventions designed to support continuous organizational change
Dynamic strategy making Helps organizations build a strategic system that can adapt
continually to changing conditions. It involves both the content (the
“what”) of strategy formulation and the process (the “how” and
“who”) of strategy implementation.
Self-designing organizations Helps organizations gain the capacity to alter themselves
fundamentally. It is a highly participative process involving multiple
stakeholders in setting strategic directions and designing and
implementing appropriate structures and systems. Organizations
learn how to design and implement their own strategic changes.
Learning organizations Involves increasing the organization’s capability to acquire and
develop new knowledge, including how that knowledge can be
organized and used to improve organization performance. These
changes enable organizations to move beyond solving existing
problems to learn how to improve themselves continuously.
Built-to-change organizations Challenges the traditional assumption that stability is the key to
organizational success. Built-to-change organizations, on the other
hand, assume that the source of effectiveness is the ability to change
continuously.
Strategic Change interventions that shape how organizations collaborate with each other.
Mergers and acquisitions Describes how OD practitioners can assist two or more organizations
to form a new entity
Alliances Helps two organizations pursue common goals through the sharing of
resources, including intellectual property, people, capital, technology,
capabilities, or physical assets
Networks Helps to develop relationships among three or more organizations to
perform tasks or solve problems that are too complex for single
organizations to resolve. It helps organizations recognize the need for
partnerships and develop appropriate structures for implementing
them