Organization

Development
INTRODUCTION
 What is OD?
 It is a systematic method for gathering data about how
organizations function as social systems and an analysis of
the meaning of those data.
 The OD practitioners job is to search for causes and
consequences of organizational functioning.
 Process: Diagnosis/Discovery, Intervention/Implementation,
Evaluation
 Purpose of OD
To design interventions to close the gaps
between what is and what ought to be. So, it is
the fit between individuals and organization;
organizational and environment; among
organization’s strategy, structure and processes.
 Important Components
OD must be supported by top management to improve
an organization’s visioning (picture of desired future),
empowerment, learning process (interactive listening
and self-examining process), and problem-solving
(diagnose situation, solve problems, make decisions,
& take actions) through collaborative management
(participation in creating and managing a culture),
emphasizing interactive work teams (organization’s
building blocks).
 2 Main Goals
Improve individuals, teams, and organization
functioning
Give members the skills and knowledge to
continuously improve
 Where do the demands for
change come from?

Outside the organization: government,

customers, competitors, market, society.
Within the organization: strategies,
profitability, diversity, new personnel,
products/services
 What does OD focus on?
Culture: values, assumptions, beliefs, norms
Processes: how things get done; method for arriving
at results
Structure: overall design of the organization; how
individual work tasks are grouped
The system is the target of change, individuals are
the instruments of change
 OD is not…
Pair of hands/Expert
Doctor prescribing
IT IS A CONSULTATIVE PROCESS that
values…
Humanism
Optimism
Democracy
 ASSUMPTIONS OF OD
1.Assumption about people as individuals.

2. Assumptions about people in groups and about leadership

3. Assumptions about people in organizational systems

 1.PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALS
 Most individuals have drive towards personal growth and
development
 Most people are capable of making higher level of
contribution to organizational goals
 2. ABOUT PEOPLE IN GROUPS
AND ABOUT LEADERSHIP
 The most psychologically relevant reference group for most
people is the work group
 Most people wish to be accepted with at least one small
reference group
 Group members must assist each other with effective
leadership and member behavior
 Suppressed feelings and attitudes adversely affect problem
solving, personal growth and job satisfaction.
 lower in most Level of interpersonal trust, support and
cooperation is much lower in most groups and organizations
than is either desirable or necessary.
 Solutions to most attitudinal and motivational problems in
organizations are transactional.
3. ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT PEOPLE IN
ORGANIZATIONALSYSTEMS
a. The interplay of dynamics of work team has a powerful
effect on the attitudes and behaviors of people in both
groups

b. Win-lose conflict strategies are not optional in the long run

to the solution of most organizational problems
 ASSUMPTIONS RELATING TO THE COMPLEXITIES AND
DIFFICULTIES IN MAKING MAJOR SHIFTS IN CULTURE

 It takes time and patience, and the key movers in OD efforts

need to have a relatively long-range time perspective.
 Improved performance from OD efforts need to be sustained
- It can be done by bringing appropriate changes in the
appraisal, compensation, training, staffing, task and
communication subsystems – in short , in the total human
resource system.
 MODEL OF OD – ACTION
RESEARCH
 The basic model underlying most OD activities is the action
research model.
 It is data based, problem solving model that replicates the
steps involved in the scientific method of enquiry.
 The process involved in the action research are: data
collection, feedback of the data to the client, and action
planning based on data.
 action research is both an approach to problem solving and a
problem solving process.
 The action research model focuses on planned changes as a cyclical
process involving collaboration between organizational members and
OD practitioners.

 It plays heavy emphasis on data gathering and diagnosis prior to action

planning and implementation, as well as careful evaluation of results
after the action is taken.

 Action research is aimed both at helping a specific organization increase

its effectiveness and at developing new knowledge that can be applied in
other settings
 PHASES OF ACTION RESEARCH MODEL
1. Problem identification
2. Consultation with a behavioral science expert.
3. Data gathering and preliminary diagnosis
4. Feedback to the key client or group
5. Joint diagnosis of problem
6. Action
7. Data gathering after action.
 FEATURES OF ACTION RESEARCH
1. Problem focus
2. Action oriented
3. Cyclical process
4. Collaborative
5. Experimental
6. Learning and capability building to tackle future problems
 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACTION
RESEARCH AND NATURE OF OD
They both are very similar :

1. They both are variants of applied behavioral science,

2. They both are action oriented.
3. They both are data based
4. They both call for collaboration between insider and outsider
5. They both are problem-solving
ASSIGNMENT
 Meet Client
 Nearby School
 Head of School
 Questions to Ask Client
 Organization’s structure.
 Vision, mission, and objectives
 Roles and Responsibilities of Principal and Head of School
 What’s going well? What’s not going well?
 Who is perceived as the leader?
 What are some successes and failures that people talk about?
Why?
 Questions to Ask Client
 Do the people feel pressured? Are people complaining about
any psychological or physiological strains? Are people
noticing any behavioral changes in others’ behaviors?
 How are people’s performance evaluated?
 How are people selected or terminated?
 Are these procedures perceived as fair?
 Are resources allocated equitably?
 Have people learned about time management, but still required
to drop everything to clean up a mess?
 Questions to Ask Client
 Are people being “micromanaged?
 How often do people meet and how productive are the meetings?
 Does the school work to resolve problems (i.e., reactive) or does it
take preventative steps (i.e., proactive) to care for them?
 How aligned are the school’s goals with the goals of the people
working for the company and the community it serves?
 Is there transparency? How much information is shared with
employees and community that would motivate them to feel
personally accountable for the school’s well-being?
 Are any other consultants working with the company?