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Organization Development Overview
By: Dr. Marge Yanker
What is OD?
Organizational Development is an
applied behavioral science that is focused on the organization as a
system.
A Comparison of OD with other
interventions:
Activity - Training - Education -
OD
Focus - Job Skills - Person
- Organization
OD is an applied behavioral science that is, among
other issues, concerned with:
- The health of the organization.
- Organizational effectiveness.
- The organization’s capacity to solve
problems.
- The organization’s ability to adapt, change,
or of self-renewal.
- The organization’s ability to create a high
quality of life for its employees.
What are the assumptions
of OD?
OD assumptions include:
- People react to how they are treated. (Better
treatment results in better productivity.)
- Work must meet the individual’s needs and the
organization’s needs.
- Most people are motivated by challenging and
meaningful work; not controls, threats and punishment.
- Basic building blocks of the organization are
groups—therefore the units of change are groups.
- Organizations suppress feelings, but this also
suppresses commitment.
- Groups that learn to work using open and
constructive feedback become better able to be productive.
- People work best in supportive and trusting
environments.
- Change is best implemented when people are part
of the change process.
The basic value of OD theory and
practice is that of choice.
Learning is seen as an integral part of choice.
Therefore, OD utilizes various strategies to intervene into the ongoing
activities of the organization in order to facilitate learning and to
help the organization (groups within it, as well as individuals who make
up the groups) to be able to make better choices about alternative ways
to proceed more effectively. Because choice is a fundamental value, OD
works with the organization to find out how the organization wishes to
proceed. OD is not prescriptive in its purest form. (Organizations in
crisis often demand a more prescriptive approach and this is always a
difficult decision for the OD practitioner to weigh.)
What are the steps involved in OD?
The steps involved in OD are:
(The names often vary but the process is standard.)
- Needs Identification
- Diagnosis
- Design
- Implementation
- Evaluation
What are some of the tools used in
OD diagnostic work?
The effective solution of organizational problems
is dependent on a thorough diagnosis. To collect data for an
organizational scan, needs assessment or some form of data collection,
the following may be used alone or in combination.
Interviews:
One-on-one meetings where the interviewer follows a structure schedule
of questions or an conducts an unstructured dialogue on pre-determined
"talking points". The advantage is that the intimate setting
of an interview can usually establish trust early and the session can
delve deeply into the subject matter. The disadvantage is that it is
only one person’s judgment that can be flawed and/or very narrow.
Focus Groups:
Small groups of people are selected and the facilitator asks questions,
again either structured or more free flowing. The groups are usually
from 8-12 individuals in size and have been selected on the basis of
whatever characteristic is being investigated. (e.g. middle managers,
frequent customers, accounts of a certain dollar size, etc.) The
advantage of focus groups is that the individuals can be spurred on to
think more fully about an answer by hearing the answers of others—the
individual group members build on each other. The disadvantage is that a
few people may dominate either by swaying the others or preventing
others from contributing. Again the sample of people is small, but more
people can be "touched" quickly than in the interview process.
Questionnaire:
A set of questions is prepared. They may be closed questions (answered
by one answer) or more open for comments. The closed question approach
allows for easy scoring but does not allow much depth to answers. The
open question allows for more individual response but is very difficult
to score and tabulate. In either case the strength of the questionnaire
is that many more respondents can be assembled than in either the
interview or the focus group. The disadvantage is that the answers can
only be surface responses and are not enhanced by the non-verbal
interaction of the face-to-face meetings in the above two.
Multi-rater instrument:
The purpose of a multi-rater system of feedback, often known as a ‘360’
assessment, is that it allows a number of people to offer feedback to an
individual. For example, your boss, your reports, your peers and
yourself may rate you on your job related behaviors. Their rating is, of
course, based on their perception of their experience with you as a
manager/leader/team member. At first both the ‘rater’ and ‘ratee’
may be uncomfortable because we have not been asked to give or receive
this type of feedback before. Often people are reluctant or too polite
to tell each other about performance issues. However, most people want
to improve their performance and are usually open to constructive ways
in which they may do so. The multi-rater system has proved to be an
important tool in helping people see themselves as others do. The
feedback will usually be used for development purposes only and is
collected and shared with the individual being rated in a confidential
manner.
Why does an organization need to
hire an OD consultant?
In all instances, you
must have a skilled person doing the above approaches and using other OD
tools. They may sound simple but a skilled interviewer, facilitator and
developer of instruments is required and this is often a very difficult
competency to find internal to the organization. Finally, the analysis
(determining the gap from where the organization is to where the
organization wants to go) must also be in the hands of someone who is
experienced in this work. If the organization is to change, the analysis
and recommended interventions to bring about organizational change, must
be in the hands of a skilled expert. The consultant must also use
appropriate and excellent communication techniques to help the
organization understand and operate on the data collected. This is
therefore, the work of an organizational development consultant.
What are some possible
recommendations an OD consultant may make?
Once the organizational need is determined, the
gap established, then the OD practitioner is ready to design the
appropriate interventions. These include a variety of methods and
programs. One or more of the following, among others, may be considered.
- Teambuilding
- Strategic Planning
- Intergroup Problem Solving
- Confrontation Meeting
- Future Search
- Goal Setting
- Alignment of various systems (i.e. performance
management, human resources, communication, leadership, etc.)
- Third Party Facilitation
- Peer Teaching
- Coaching
- Training
- Consulting Pairs
- Curriculum Development
What are some of the factors for
OD success?
Keys to the success of OD are:
- Systematic Processes to identify problems,
generating solutions, and implementing those solutions.
- Employee Participation.
- Timeliness.
- Top Management Involvement.
- Organization must be ready for
change.
What are common stumbling blocks
faced in carrying out successful OD work ?
The strategies of OD to intervene in the ongoing
activities of the organization and to facilitate the processes for
improved effectiveness are often hampered by the following issues, among
others:
- Trust within the organization (between
individual, among groups, up and down the hierarchy, etc.)
- Methods of dealing with problems and/or
conflict (open sweeping under the run, smoothing over,
confrontation, etc.)
- Decision-Making processes (how and by whom,
empowered employees, top down, etc.)
- "Ownership" of organizational goals
(all, top only, one group, etc.)
- Communication Patterns (open, candid, feedback,
etc.)
- Relationships (interdependent, independent,
competitive, cooperative)
- Leadership/Followship (complementary, styles,
etc.)
To learn about Dr. Marge Yanker and
how she can assist with your Organizational Development initiatives email
us.
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