Learning Organizations &

Organizational
Transformation
Sharon Glazer, Ph.D.
 Preparing for Next Week &
Yavneh
 WS graduates to speak on WS
 Prep for Sim. 9.1
 Discuss written presentation of Yavneh results
 Effective Teams
Informal atmosphere
Clear purpose; tasks understood and accepted
Task-relevant discussions; good listening
Participation: free expression of ideas & feelings
Open communication
Civilized disagreement/conflict around ideas
Self-assessing
Consensus decision-making
Shared leadership
Clear roles and work assignments
 Team Building Activities
Activities related to one or more individuals
Activities oriented to the group’s operations and
behaviors
Task accomplishments
Team relationships
Organization processes
Activities affecting the group’s relationship with
the rest of the organization
 Types of Teams
Groups reporting to the same manager
Groups involving people with common goals
Temporary groups formed to accomplish a
specific, one-time task
Groups consisting of people whose work roles
are interdependent
Groups with no formal links but whose collective
purpose requires coordination
All teams are groups, not all groups are teams.
 Types of Team Building
Family group diagnostic meeting
A set of activities designed to understand the
current structure, process, and effectiveness
of the team
Family group team-building meeting
A set of activities designed to address and
improve a specific aspect of team functioning
 Groupthink
Exercise
 Roles
Role Analysis Technique
Role Negotiation

(Go to Word Example)

Comprehensive OD
Interventions
 Large Group Interventions
Future Search Conference (Weisbord)
Open-Space Meeting (Owen)
Open System Planning (Beckhard)
Confrontation Meeting (Beckhard)
Real-Time Strategic Change (Jacobs)
The Conference Model (Axelrod)
 Future Search Conferences
4-6 committee members plan
~50-60 reps of whole system/~10 groups
(Environmental Appreciation)
Changes; Probable future
**System Analysis: Self, company, society
History (patterns and meaning)
Present (ext. & int. factors shaping future)
Future
*Integration of system and environment
Constraints
Strategies & action plans
 Large-Group Meeting
Assumptions
• Organization members’ perceptions play a major role in
environmental relations.
• Organization members must share a common view of the
environment to permit coordinated action toward it.
• Organization members’ perceptions must accurately reflect
the condition of the environment if organizational responses
are to be effective.
• Organizations cannot only adapt to their environment but
also proactively create it.
 Large-Group Method Application
Stages
Preparing for the large-group meeting
Identify compelling meeting theme
Select appropriate stakeholders to participate
Develop relevant tasks to address meeting theme
Conducting the meeting
Open Space Methods
Open Systems Methods
Following up on the meeting outcomes
 Open Space Methods
Set the conditions for self-organizing
Announce the theme of the session
Establish norms for the meetings
Volunteers create the agenda
Coordinate activity through information
postings
 Open Systems Methods
• Map the current environment facing the org.
• Assess org’s responses to environ. expectations.
• Identify the core mission of the organization.
• Create a realistic future scenario of environmental expectations
and organization responses.
• Create an ideal future scenario of environmental expectations
and organization responses.
• Compare the present with the ideal future & prepare an action
plan for reducing discrepancy.
 Confrontation Meeting
1-day meeting
cross-section of management; high cohesion and trust
Step 1: Climate setting – Goals, ground rules
Step 2: Data gathering – heterogeneous group of 6-8
people (bosses and subordinates separate)
Step 3: Information sharing
Step 4: Prioritizing & Action Planning (regroup by
functional team)
Step 5: Follow-up by top management
Step 6: Progress Review
 Grid OD- A Normative Model
Organization-level approach that advocates a “one best
way” to develop organizations
Built on research exploring organization effectiveness
Cornerstone of the model is a belief that the best
managerial style emphasizes both a ‘concern for
people’ and a ‘concern for task/production’
5-10 years to implement
Improved performance; reduced costs; managers rated
more highly
 Grid OD program
Prephase 1: select managers who will become instructors
Phase 1: Grid Seminar to all managers of the org; self-
awareness (mgrl style, p-s, comm. skills)
Phase 2: Teamwork development: analyze team culture
Phase 3: Intergroup development: analysis of ideal
intergroup relationships and share
Phase 4: Developing Ideal strategic corporate model:
Defining excellence at the top
Phase 5: Implementing Ideal Strategic model
Phase 6: Systematic Critique: Measure results
 Real Time Strategic Change
3-day large-group event
New strategic direction
Leadership team developed draft strategy
Leadership team receives feedback
Key ingredients:
Identify/clarify important issues
Agree on purpose of change effort
Who needs to be involved
Influence over strategy development
Info. needed to do quality work
Processes for supporting real-time strat. changes
 Stream Analysis
Based on Porras & Robertson model:
Social factors
Technology
Physical setting
Organizing arrangements
Actions are OD interventions directed at solving core
problems
Changes in the above lead to beh. changes & org.
improvements
 Survey Feedback
Step 1: Top mgmt involved in planning
Step 2: data collected from all members
Step 3: Data fed back to top execs and then down
through the hierarchy (“interlocking chain of
conferences”)
Step 4: recipients of feedback (a) interpret results,
(b) plan constructive changes (c) plan how to
introduce results to next lower level
 Effective Feedback Session
Accept data as valid
Accept responsibility for problems identified
Commit to solving problems
Cultural Analysis
Artifacts

Values

Assump-
tions
 Corporate Culture
Strategy-Culture Fit (strategic alignment)
Strategy: actions to achieve major objectives
Culture: provides shared values, norms; answers
“why things are done the way they are.”
 Learning Organizations
Reduce organizational layers
Involve all employees in continuous self-directed
learning
Create knowledge for action
Constant readiness for change (some org. change,
without considering why)
Continuous planning (up-down; bottom-up)
Improvised Implementation (experiment)
Action Learning
 Third-Wave Organizations
Flexible
Creative
Innovative
 Organization Transformation
Abrupt, drastic change to total structure
Directive not participative