Elective HRM 2: Organizational Change and Development

1. Organizational Change: planned organizational change, Change agents, Dynamics of resistance to

change, Planned change. Quality work life.

2. Organization Development: history of Organization, Development – Values – Assumptions – Beliefs in

organization development.

3. Theory and Management of Organization Development: foundations of organization development –

Managing the organization development process – Action research and organization development.

4. Organization Development Intervention: team intervention – Inter-group and third party peacemaking
intervention – Comprehensive intervention – Structural interventions – Training experiences.

5. Key Considerations and Issues: issues in consultant – Client relationships – System ramifications –
Power, politics and organization development – Research in organization development

1. Planned organizational change

STRUCTURE
1.1 Introduction
1.2 History
1.3 The Importance of Change
1.4 Types of Change
1.5 Forces of Change
1.6 Organisational Change: Some Determining Factors
1.7 Planned organizational change
1.8 Change agents
1.9 Dynamics of Resistance to change
1.10 Quality work life
1.11 Emergence of OD

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Change is one of the most critical aspects of effective management. Change is the coping process of
moving from the present state to a desired state that individuals, groups and organizations undertake in
response to dynamic internal and external factors that alter current realities.

Fortune magazine first published its list of America’s top 500 companies in 1956. Sadly, fewer than 30
companies from the top 100 on the original list remain today. The other 70 plus have disappeared
through dissolution, merger, or downsizing. Survival, even for the most successful companies, cannot be
taken for granted. In many sectors of the economy, organizations must have the capacity to adapt
quickly in order to survive. Often the speed and complexity of change severely test the capabilities of
managers and employees to adapt quickly and effectively. When organizations fail to change, the cost of
failure may be quite high. Increasingly, organizations that emphasis bureaucratic or mechanistic systems
are ineffective. Organizations with rigid hierarchies, high degree of functional specialization, narrow and
limited job descriptions, inflexible rules and procedures, and impersonal management can’t respond
adequately to demands for change. Organizations need designs that are flexible and adaptive. They also
need systems that both require and allow greater commitment and use of talent on the part of
employees and managers.
Why is change important to managers and organizations? Simply stated, organizations that do not
bring about timely change in appropriate ways are unlikely to survive. One reason that the rate of change
is accelerating is that knowledge and technology feed on themselves, constantly creating innovations at
exponential rates. Few business leaders would have envisioned in the mid-1990s, the revolutionary
impact the Internet and World Wide Web would have on business practices in the early twenty-five
century.

The change means the alteration of status quo or making things different. It may
refer to any alteration which occurs in the overall work environment of an organization.
When an organizational system is disturbed by some internal or external force, the change may occur.
The change is modification of the structure or process of a system, that may be good or even bad. It
disturbs the existing equilibrium or status quo in an organization. The change in any part of the
organization may affect the whole of the organization, or various other parts of organization in varying
degrees of speed and significance. It may affect people, structure, technology, and other elements of an
organization. It may be reactive or proactive in nature. When change takes place due to external forces,
it is called reactive change. However, proactive change is initiated by the management on its own to
enhancethe organizational effectiveness. The change is one of the most critical aspects of effective
management. It is the coping process of moving from the present state to a desired state that
individuals, groups and organizations undertake in response to various internal and external factors that
alter current realities.

Survival of even the most successful organizations cannot be taken for granted. In some sectors of the
economy, organizations must have the capability to adapt quickly in order to survive. When
organizations fail to change, the cost of failure may be quite high. All organizations exist in a changing
environment and are themselves constantly changing. Increasingly, the organizations that emphasize
bureaucratic or mechanistic systems are ineffective. The organizations with rigid hierarchies, high degree
of functional specialization, narrow and limited job descriptions, inflexible rules and procedures, and
impersonal management can’t respond adequately to the demands for change. The organizations need
designs that are flexible and adaptive. They also need systems that require both, and allow greater
commitment and use of talent on the part of employees and managers. The organizations that do not
bring about timely change in appropriate ways are unlikely to survive. One reason that the rate of change
is accelerating is that knowledge and technology feed on themselves, constantly making innovations at
exponential rates.

Organizational change is the process by which organizations move from their present state to some
desired future state to increase their effectiveness. The goal of planned organizational change is to find
new or improved ways of using resources and capabilities in order to increase an organization’s ability to
create value and improve returns to its stakeholders. An organization in decline may need to restructure
its resources to improve its fit with the environment. IBM and General Motors, for example, experienced
falling demand for their products in the 1990s and have been searching for new ways to use their
resources to improve their performance and attract customers back. On the other hand, even a thriving
organization may need to change the way it uses its resources so that it can develop new products or
find new markets for its existing products. Wal-Mart, Google, Reliance, Tata group, Godrej like
companies have been moving aggressively to expand their scale of operations and open new avenues to
take advantage of the popularity of their products. In the last decade, over half of all Fortune 500
companies have undergone major organizational changes to allow them to increase their ability to create
value.

Change may be regarded as one of the few constants of recorded history. Often society’s “winners”, both
historical and contemporary, can be characterized by the common ability to effectively manager and
exploit change situations. Individuals, societies, nations and enterprises who have at some time been at
the forefront of commercial and/ or technological expansion have achieved domination, or at least
‘competitive’ advantage, by being innovative in thought and/or action. They have been both enterprising
and entrepreneurial. It is said that management and change are synonymous; it is impossible to
undertake a journey, for in many respects that is what change is, without first addressing the purpose of
the trip, the route you wish to travel and with whom. Managing change is about handling the
complexities of travel. It is about evaluating, planning and implementing operational, tactical and
strategic ‘journeys’ – about always ensuring that the journey is worthwhile and the destination is
relevant. The Industrial Revolution, which developed in Europe between 1750 and 1880, accelerated the
rate of change to an extent never previously thought possible. Other economies followed and the rate of
change has never declined; indeed, many would claim it has now accelerated out of control. The spear
and sword gave way to the gun; the scribe to the printing press; manpower to the steam engine of James
Watt; the horse and cart to the combustion engine; the typewriter to the word processor;
and so the list goes on.

The Importance of Change

One can try to predict the future. However, predictions produce at best a blurred picture of what might
be, not a blueprint of future events or circumstances. The effective and progressive management of
change can assist in shaping a future which may better serve the enterprise’s survival prospects. Change
will not disappear or dissipate. Technology, civilizations and creative thought will maintain their ever
accelerating drive onwards. Managers, and the enterprises they serve, be they public or private, service
or manufacturing will continue to be judged upon their ability to effectively and efficiently manage
change. Unfortunately for the managers of the early twenty-first century, their ability to handle complex
change situations will be judged over ever decreasing time scales. The pace of change has increased
dramatically; mankind wandered the planet on foot for centuries before the invention of the wheel and
its subsequent “technological convergence” with the ox and horse. In one ‘short’ century a man has
walked on the moon; satellites orbit the earth; the combustion engine has dominated transport and
some would say society; robots are a reality and state of the art manufacturing facilities resemble scenes
from science fiction; your neighbour or competitor, technologically speaking, could be on the other side
of the planet; and bio-technology is the science of the future. The world may not be spinning faster but
mankind certainly is! Businesses and managers are now faced with highly dynamic and ever more
complex operating environments.
Technologies and products, alongwith the industries they support and serve, are converging. Is
the media company in broadcasting, or telecommunications, or data processing, or indeed all of them? Is
the supermarket chain in general retail, or is it a provider of financial services? Is the television merely a
receiving device for broadcast messages or is it part of an integrated multi-media communications
package? Is the airline a provider of transport or the seller of wines, spirits and fancy goods, or the agent
for car hire and accommodation?

As industries and products converge, along with the markets they serve, there is a growing realization
that a holistic approach to the marketing of goods and services is required, thus simplifying the
purchasing decision. Strategic alliances, designed to maximize the ‘added value’ throughout a supply
chain, while seeking to minimize costs of supply, are fast becoming the competitive weapon of the
future. Control and exploitation of the supply chain make good commercial sense in fiercely competitive
global markets. The packaging of what were once discrete products (or services) into what are effectively
‘consumer solutions’ will continue for the foreseeable future. Car producers no longer simply
manufacture vehicles, they now distribute them through sophisticated dealer networks offering
attractive servicing arrangements, and provide a range of financing options, many of which are linked
to a variety of insurance packages.

Utility enterprises now offer far more than their original core service. Scottish power have acquired
utilities in other countries and have recently moved into water, gas and telecommunications, to become
a ‘unified’ utilities company offering ‘one-stop shopping’ to domestic and commercial customers. How
can we manage change in such a fast moving environment without losing control of the organization and
existing core competencies?
There are no easy answers and certainly no blueprints detailing best practice. Designing, evaluating and
implementing successful change strategies largely depend upon the quality of the management team, in
particular the team’s ability to design organizations in such a way as to facilitate the change process in a
responsive and progressive manner.

The Imperative of Change

Any organization that ignores change does so at its own peril. One might suggest that for many the peril
would come sooner rather than later. To survive and prosper, the organizations must adopt strategies
that realistically reflect their ability to manage multiple future scenarios. Drucker, for example, argued
that: Increasingly, a winning strategy will require information about events and conditions outside the
institution. Only with this information can a business prepare for new changes and challenges arising
from sudden shifts in the world economy and in the nature and content of knowledge itself. If we take an
external perspective for a moment, the average modern organization has to come to terms with a
number of issues, which will create a need for internal change. Six major external changes that
organizations are currently addressing or will have to come to terms with in the new millennium are:

1. A large global marketplace made smaller by enhanced technologies and competition from abroad.
The liberalization of Eastern European states, the creation of a simple European currency, e-trading,
the establishment of new trading blocs such as the ‘tiger’ economies of the Far East, and reductions
in transportation, information and communication costs, mean that the world is a different place
from what it was. How does an organization plan to respond to such competitive pressures?
2. A Worldwide recognition of the environment as an influencing variable and government attempts to
draw back from environmental calamity. There are legal, cultural and socio-economic implications in
realizing that resource use and allocation have finite limits and that global solutions to ozone depletion,
toxic waste dumping, raw material depletion, and other environmental concerns will force change on
organizations, sooner rather than later. How does an individual organization respond
to the bigger picture?
3. Health consciousness as a permanent trend amongst all age groups throughout the world. The
growing awareness and concern with the content of food and beverage products has created a
movement away from synthetic towards natural products. Concerns have been expressed about
salmonella in eggs and poultry, listeria in chilled foods, BSE or ‘mad cow disease’ and CJD in humans,
genetically engineered foodstuffs, and the cloning of animals. How does an individual organization deal
with the demands of a more health-conscious population?
4. Changes in lifestyle trends are affecting the way in which people view work, purchases, leisure time
and society. A more morally questioning, affluent, educated and involved population is challenging the
way in which we will do business and socialize. How will people and their organization live their lives?
5. The changing workplace creates a need for non-traditional employees. Many organizations have
downsized too far and created management and labour skill shortages as a result. In order to make up
the shortfall, organizations are currently resorting to a core/periphery workforce, teleworking, multi-
skilled workers and outsourcing. A greater proportion of the population who have not been traditional
employees (e.g., women with school aged children) will need to be attracted into the labour force. Equal
opportunity in pay and non-pecuniary rewards will be issues in the future. How will an individual
organization cope with these pressures?

6. The knowledge asset of the company, its people, is becoming increasingly crucial
to its competitive well being. Technological and communication advances are leading to reduced entry
costs across world markets. This enables organizations to become multinational without leaving their
own borders. However, marketing via the internet, communication via e-mail and other technology
applications are all still reliant on the way you organize your human resources. Your only sustainable
competitive weapon is your people. How do you intend managing them in the next millennium? The
same way as you did in the last?

What is important, however, is recognition that change occurs continuously, has numerous causes, and
needs to be addressed all the time. The planned change is not impossible, but it is often difficult. The key
point is that change is an ongoing process, and it is incorrect to think that a visionary end state can be
reached in a highly programmed way

Stimulating Forces
What makes an organization to think about change? There are a number of specific, even obvious factors
which will necessitate movement from the status quo. The most obvious of these relate to changes in
the external environment which trigger reaction. An example of this in the last couple of years is the
move by car manufacturers and petroleum organizations towards the provision of more environmentally
friendly forms of ‘produce’.

However, to attribute change entirely to the environment would be a denial of extreme magnitude. This
would imply that organizations were merely ‘bobbing about’ on a turbulent sea of change, unable to
influence or exercise direction. The changes within an organization take place in response both to
business and economic events and to processes of management perception, choice and action.
Managers in this sense see events taking place that, to them, signal the need for change. They also
perceive the internal context of change as it relates to structure, culture, systems of power and control,
which gives them further clues about whether it is worth trying to introduce change. But what causes
change? What factors need to be considered when we look for the causal effects which run from A to B
in an organization?
The change may occur in response to the:
➢➢ Changes in technology used
➢➢ Changes in customer expectations or tastes
➢➢ Changes as a result of competition
➢➢ Changes as a result of government legislation
➢➢ Changes as a result of alterations in the economy at home or abroad
➢➢ Changes in communication media
➢➢ Changes in society’s value systems
➢➢ Changes in the supply chain
➢➢ Changes in the distribution chain
Internal changes can be seen as responses or reactions to the outside world which are regarded as
external triggers. There are also a large number of factors which lead to what are termed internal
triggers for change. Organization redesigns to fit a new productline or new marketing strategy are typical
examples, as are changes in job responsibilities to fit new organizational structures. The final cause of
change in organizations is where the organization tries to be ahead of change by being proactive. For
example, where the organization tries to anticipate problems in the marketplace or negate the impact of
worldwide recession on its own business, proactive change is taking place.

1.2 The Evolution: of Organization Development

(Historical Development)

Organization development has ‘involved over the past 40 years from the application of behavioral
science knowledge and techniques to solving organizational problems. What has become OD stand in the
late 1940s at MIT and is deeply rooted in the pioneering work of applied social scientists. such as Kurt
Lewin, and also strongly influenced by the work of psychologists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham
Maslow. The term organization Development is widely attributed to Roben Blake and Jare Mouton (the
originators of the Managerial Grid) aI:ki
Herren Shepard (a leading OD pioneer); however, Richard Beckhard (an OD consultant) claims tis
distinction as well. Regardless of who first coined the term, it emerged about 1957 and is generally
conceded to have evolved from two basic sources: the application of laboratory methods by National
Training Laboratories (NTL) and the survey research methods ignited by the Survey Research Center.
Both methods were pioneered by Kurt Lewin in about 1945.

Laboratory- Training Methods

In the late I 940s and early 1950s laboratory-training methods were developed and applied by a group of
behavioral scientists at Bethel, Maine. Douglas McGregor (Theory X and Theory Y with Richard BecKhard,
began applying laboratory-training methods to industry, at General Iills in 1956 and at Union Carbide in
1957. At union Carbide, McGregor and John Paul Jones (an internal consultant) formed the first internal
OD consulting group About the; same time. Herbert Shepard and Robert Blake were initiating a series of
applied behavioral Science interventions at Esso, using mainly laboratory-training technique to improve
work team processes. These early railing sessions provided the basis for what Blake and Mouton later
developed as an instrumented training system they called the Managerial Grid. The success of these
programs led to a dissemination of such efforts to her corporations.

Survey Research Feedback

Out the same time, a group at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan began to apply
to Organizations the action research model of Kurt Lewin. Rensis Likert and Floyd
Mann administered an organization-wide survey to Detroit Edison Co” involving the systematic feedback
of data to participating departments. They used what is termed an “interlocking series of conferences,.”
feeding data back to the’ top management group and then down to work_ teams throughout the
organization. Since that time, many organizations have used the survey feedback approach. General
Motors, for example, has reported success in applying Likert’s survey feedback approach to
organizational improvement. In summary, the major sources of current OD practice were the pioneering
work at NT L. (laboratory-training, techniques) and
the Survey Research Center (survey feedback methods). This brief look at the past is important because
OD is a new and still developing field, and you as a future OD practitioner may build
upon these earlier foundations in pioneering other new approaches.

Early Statements of OD Values and

Assumptions
Values have always been an integral part of the OD package. We examine three early statements
regarding OD values that had a significant . impact on the field. The Bennis and Beckhard quotations
come their books in the Addison-Wesley Six-Pack. Tannenbaum and’ presented their ideas in an article
appearing in Industrial Management Review. Writing in 1969, Warren Bennis proposed that OD
practitioner’ (change agents) share a set of normative goals based on their h istic/ democratic
philosophy.
He listed these normative goals ,-lows:
1. Improvement in interpersonal competence.
2. A shift in values so that human factors and feelings come considered legitimate
3. Development of increased understanding between and working groups in order to reduce tensions.
4. Development of more effective “team management,” that capacity for functional groups to work more
competently.
5. Development of better methods of conflict resolution. Ra: the usual bureaucratic, methods Which rely
mainly on suppression, . mise, and unprincipled power, more rational and open methods of coniution are
sought.
6. Development of organic rather than mechanical systems. _ strong reaction against the idea of
organizations as mechanisms wagers “work on,” like pushing buttons.

Bennis clarified some of the salient differences between mechanical systems and organic systems. For
example, mechanical systems rely on “authority-obedience relationships” while
organic systems rely on “mutual confidence and trust.” Mechanical systems insist on “strict division of
labor and hierarchical supervision” while organic systems foster “multigroup membership and
responsibility.” Mechanical systems encourage “centralized decision making” while organic systems
encour-age “wide sharing of responsibility and control. Another major player in the field was Richard
Beckhard. In his 1969 book he described “several assumptions about the

1.3 THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE

Change will not disappear or dissipate. Technology, an ever expanding list of applications and the
spontaneous combustion of creative thoughts will maintain their ever-accelerating drive onwards.
Managers, and the enterprises they serve, be the public or private, service or manufacturing, will
continue to be judged by their ability to effectively and efficiently manage change. Unfortunately for the
managers of the early twenty-first century, their ability to handle complex change situations will be
judged over ever decreasing time scales. The pace of change has increased dramatically; mankind
wandered the plant on foot or in horseback for centuries before the invention of the wheel and its
subsequent ‘technological convergence’ with the ox and horse. In other ‘short’ century man has flown a
heavier-than-air aeroplane, piloted spacecraft, and walked on the moon. Satellites orbit the earth, the
internal combustion engine has dominated transport and some would say society moves; robots are a
reality and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities resemble scenes from science fiction movies; your
neighbour or competitor, technologically speaking, could be on the other side of the planet; and bio-
technology is the science of the future. Businesses and managers are now faced with highly dynamic and
ever more complex operating environments. Technologies and products along with the industries they
support and serve are converging. Is the media company in broadcasting, telecommunication, publishing
or data processing– on indeed all of them? Is the supermaker chain in general retail, or is it a provider of
financial services? Is the television set merely a receiving device for broadcasting messages or is it part of
an integrated multimedia communication package? Is the airline a provider of transport or the seller of
wines, spirit and fancy goods, or an agent of car hire and accommodation? As industries and products
converge, along with the markets they serve, there is a growing realization that a holistic approach to the
marketing of goods and services is required, thus simplifying the purchasing decisions. Strategic
challenges, designed to maximize the ‘added value’ throughout a supply chain, while seeking to minimize
costs of supply, are fast becoming the competitive weapons of the future. Control and exploitation of the
supply chain make good commercial sense in a fiercely competitive global market. The packaging of what
were once discrete products (or services) into what are effectively ‘consumer solutions’ will continue for
the foreseeable future.
Producers no longer simply manufacture vehicles, they now distribute them through
sophisticated dealer networks offering attractive servicing arrangements, and provide a range of
financing options, many of which are linked to a variety of insurance packages. Utility enterprises now
offer far more than their original core service. This, combined with the general ability to replicate both
‘hard’ and ‘soft’ innovations within ever diminishing time scales, places and creative and effective
management of change well towards the top of the core competencies required by any public or private
enterprises.

How can we manage change in such a fast moving environment, without losing control of the
organization and existing core competencies?
There are, as one would expect, no easy answers and certainly no blueprints detailing the best practices.
Designing, evaluating and implementing successful change strategies largely depend upon the quality of
the management team, in particular the team’s ability to design the organization in such a way as to
facilitate the change process in a responsive and progressive manner.

1.4 TYPES OF CHANGE

To change is to move from the present to the future, from a known state to a relatively unknown state.
To be able to adapt to or deal with the impact of change forces, organizations may plan for, experience
or undergo change. The possible types of change do not suggest a watertight compartmentalization in
view of the complexity and dynamics of the change process.

(i) Happened Change: This type of change is rather unpredictable and takes place naturally due to
external factors. It is profound and traumatic for it is out of direct control and produces a future state
that is largely unknown. This type of change occurs when an organization reaches a plateau in its lifecycle
and falls prey unwisely to demand from the environment. For example, currency devaluation, over which
it has no control, adversely affects the business of a company that has to import its raw materials. Some
political and social changes are also unpredictable, as was the case in India during Indira Gandhi’s years
of Emergency.

(ii) Reactive Change: Changes that are clearly in response to an event or a series of events are termed
reactive changes. Generally, most companies are engaged in reactive, often incremental change. These
changes are attempted when the demand for a company’s products/services registers an increase or
decrease, or a problem/crisis occurs or develops. Technological changes, for example, force the
organization to invest in modern technologies. The incorporation of the latest technology could be in
reaction to the increased demand for the product. Incremental changes, made in response to external
forces and limited to a subsystem or a part of the subsystem, are adaptive in nature. Recreation is also a
reactive change, but it involves the organization in its entirety, and occurs when the organization is
undergoing severe crises.

(iii) Anticipatory Change: Change carries out in expectation of an event or a series of events is called
anticipatory change. Pepsi recently announced that it would invest $750 million over the next five years
for its operations in Mexico. Pepsi, which began its operations in Mexico in 1938, had a 31% market
share of Mexican cola sales and plans to improve this figure. Organisations, in terms of their anticipation,
may tune in or reorient themselves to future demands. Tuning-in would involve making incremental
changes (dealing with a subsystem or a part of the system) in anticipation of external events.
Reorientation is moving from ‘here’ to ‘there’ in anticipation of a changing environment. It involves
changing the organization from the existing state towards a desired future state, and managing the
transition process.

(iv) Planned Change: Planned change or developmental change is undertaken to improve upon the
current way(s) of operating. It is a calculated change, initiated to achieve a certain desirable
output/performance and to make the organization more responsive to internal and external demands.
Enhancing employees’ communication skills and technical expertise, building teams, restructuring the
organization, introducing new technologies, introducing new products and services, challenging the
incentive system, improving employee welfare measures, and the like fall into this category. This type of
change, where the future state is being consciously chosen, is not as threatening. However, it does
require system/subsystem level (techno-social) support to survive.

(v) Incremental Change: Change directed at the micro level and focused on units/subunits/components
within an organization are termed as incremental changes. Changes are brought in gradually and are
usually adaptive in nature. It is assumed that those small changes will set in process the large change and
lead the system slowly in a healthier direction. It also provides the organization an opportunity to learn
from its own experience. A failed incremental change will cause less damage to the total system than an
unsuccessful large-scale change. The benefits that employees all over the world enjoy today could be
cited as an example of incremental change. It has been a long journey indeed from the days of Taylor’s
Scientific Management when the role of the worker was perceived to be that of a mere cog in the wheel,
to the various perks and facilities employees currently enjoy. These changes have evolved over a long
period of time and have not happened overnight.

(vi) Operational Change: This is necessitated when an organization needs to improve the quality of its
products or services due to external competition, customers’ changing requirements and demands, or
internal organizational dynamics. Improvement of production and service capabilities could center on
quantity, quality, timeliness, cost savings and other such factors. The organisation’s goals remaining the
same intended change forces organizations to consider how to improve existing operations in order to
perform better. Operational changes include bringing in new technology, re-engineering the work
processes, quality management, better distribution and delivery of products and enhancing
interdepartmental coordination.

(vii) Strategic Change: Change that is addressed to the organization as a whole or to most of the
organisation’s components including strategy may be called strategic change. An example could be a
change in the organisation’s management style. Toyota has recently taken steps to change its overall
corporate management philosophy in an attempt to create an organization which is less hierarchical, is
leaner, flexible, decentralized, and which allows itself a considerable degree of autonomy. This move by
Toyota will affect the entire organization and will influence its performance.

(viii) Directional Change: A change in direction may become imperative for an organization due to severe
competition or regularly shifts in government policy and control (for example, on pricing, import/export
restriction, etc.). Directional change is also critical when the organization is developing a new strategy or
is incapable of executing effectively its current strategy. R & D activities, competitive analysis,
information management and adequate management control system could facilitate the question of
‘quo vadis’ or where the organization is headed.

(ix) Fundamental Change: This entails a redefinition of the current purpose or mission of the
organization. It may be necessitated by drastic changes in the business environment, the failure of the
current corporate leadership, problems with employee morale, or a sharp fall in turnover.

(x) Total Change: For total change, the organization is constrained to develop a new vision, and a strong
link between its strategy, employees and business performance. The organization has to achieve a
turnaround or perish. Total change is necessary to extricate the organization from the rot that has set in
due long-term failure of business, employee-organisation value incongruence, estrangement of
operators from the reality of the business environment, and concentration of power in the hands of a
few people who could be furthering their personal interests at the cost of the organization. A new
vision and drastic surgery could be the only way out for the organization. The dramatic debacle of Arthur
Anderson is a case in point.

1.5 FORCES OF CHANGE

Organizations are systems that exist in the context of an external environment, an interdependent
relationship, and interact with its in order to survive and grow. Any factor in the environment that
interferes with the organisation’s ability to attract the human, financial and material resources it needs,
or to produce and market its services/products becomes a force of change. Internal to itself, a number
of forces operate in the organization that could facilitate or hinder its functions, processes and actions.

An organization is thus subject to two sets of forces: those of the external political, social, economic and
competitive environment and those internal to the organization.

A. Forces of Change Stemming From External Environment

1. Political Forces
The transition of the East-European nations to democracy and a market economy, the opening up of the
economy of South-East Asia, the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union, the unification of Germany, the
Gulf War, the Iraq war are some examples of the political upheavals that have had widespread
repercussion around the world, bringing a plethora of changes in their wake.

2. Economic Forces
The uncertainty about future trends in the economy is a major cause of change. For example, fluctuating
interest rates, declining productivity, uncertainties arising from inflation or deflation, low capital
investments, the fluctuating prices of oil (petrol), recession, and the lowering of consumer confidence
have a marked impact on different economies, and therefore, an organization. The national financial
systems of countries are so interrelated that a change in one produces a ripple effect on the others- for
example, the economic crisis in Thailand affecting markets across South-East Asia. Changes in the capital
markets arise out of change in the accessibility of many of the banking systems of different economies.

3. Technological Forces
The world is presently characterized by dramatic technological shifts. Technological advancements,
particularly in communication and computer technology, have revolutionized the workplace and have
helped to create a whole new range of products/services. For example, a super- communication system
is one the anvil in which about 20 Japanese companies will join a Motorola Inc. led project to set up a
satellite cellular telephone system that can be used from anywhere on earth, an idea that services the
defunct Iridium global telephony venture.

The companies include Sony Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Kyocera Corporation and long distance
telephone carriers whose interests include Sony and Kyocera. They plan to form a fifteen billion Yen (US
$ 132 million) joint venture to coordinate the investment and policy in the US chip and Telecom
Company’s ‘Iridium’ projects. Iridium facilitates worldwide voice paging, fax and data services. Advances
in technology have contributed to the development of economies. A case in point is Singapore, which,
with almost no natural resources, has created a powerful economic advantage by exploiting the use of
information technology in its overall planning. It is poised to become the world’s first fully networked
society– one in which all homes, schools, businesses and government agencies will be electronically
interconnected.

4. Government Forces
Governmental interventions in the form of regulation also lead to change. A few examples for
government regulated change are:

Deregulation: This is lessening of governmental rules and increasing decentralization of economic

interventions at the level of the state. What previously used to be essentially government sector services
and industries are now being handed over to private companies for operation maintenance.

Foreign Exchange: Foreign exchange affects international trade transactions. In these transactions,
payments are often made in terms of a country’s own currency, in US dollars, or the currency of a third
country. The exchange rate variations determine the currency payments. Prediction of exchange rate
movements depends upon a number of factors such as a country’s balance of payments, interest rates,
and supply and demand, making it often difficult to forecast. Constraints of foreign exchange prompt
many governments to impose restrictions on the import of selected items along with measures to
deregulate their economies to attract foreign exchange for investment purposes. Some of the examples
of success are India and China.

Anti-trust Laws: Most governments follows anti-trust in one form or the other to restrict unfair trading
practices. In India, the government has restricted the unfair movements of business houses by enacting
the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) in 1971.

Suspension Agreements: These are the agreements between governments to waive anti-dumping duties.
The recent suspension agreement reached between the United States and Japan stipulates that
Tokyo must keep price and volume records of all chip shipments to the United States.

Protectionism: While most countries profess free trade, the reality is often otherwise. Intense
competition has forced governments to put into place measures that protect some of their threatened
industries and business firms. Unites States, for example, has tried to protect its motorcycle industry
from Japanese competition, while Japan (its local markets), Canada (lumber industry) and Mexico
(cement and oil industries) have all tried to shield domestic enterprise from foreign competition. Trade
barriers to protect local industries many take various forms, such as tariffs or import duties, quantity
quotas, anti-dumping laws and government subsidies.

5. Increased Global Competition In order to survive and grow, companies are increasingly making their
presence felt globally. The case of the global automobile industry highlights this concept. Japanese
automakers Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi have continuously been relocating their manufacturing and
assembling operations to South-East Asia where the cost of labour is much cheaper compared to that in
Japan. They have also established their plants all over Europe and America to get past import restrictions
and in the process have been able to retain a competitive edge in catering to the world automobile
market.

6. Changing Customer Needs and Preferences

Customer needs and preferences are always changing. Organisations are forced to adapt and constantly
innovate their product offerings to meet these changing needs. For example, Sony Corporation, Japan,
known throughout the world for its technological innovations in tune with changing customer
preferences, has developed a 2.5” hard disk drive for a laptop computer that could hold as much as 1.5
billion bytes of data costs less than the current disk drive holding 80 mega bytes.

B. Internal Forces for Change

A variety of forces inside an organization also cause changes that relate to system dynamics, inadequacy
of existing administrative process, individual/group expectations, technology, structures, profitability
issues and resources constraints.

1. System Dynamics
An organization is made up of subsystems similar to that of the sub-personalities in the human brain. The
sub-personalities in the brain are in constant interaction with each other creating changes in human
behaviour. Similarly, subsystems within an organization are in creating changes in human behaviour.
Similarly, subsystems within an organization are in constant and dynamic interaction. The factors that
influence the alignment and relationships among the various subsystems in the context of an
organization are, for example technology, internal politics, dominant groups/cliques, and the formal and
informal relationships within.

2. Inadequacy of Administrative Processes

An organization functions through a set of procedures, rules and regulations. With changing times and
the revision of organizational goals and objectives, some of the existing rules, procedures and regulations
could be at variance with the demands of reality. To continue with such functionally autonomous
processes can lead to organizational ineffectiveness. Realisation of their inadequacy is a force that
induces change.

3. Individual/Group Speculations
The organization as an entity is a confluence of people, each one raring to satisfy his/her needs and
aspirations. In an anthropological context, man is a social animal whose needs and desires keep
changing. This creates differing expectations among individuals and groups as to the needs they intend
satisfying in the organizational context. Positive factors such as one’s ambitions, need to achieve,
capabilities, career growth, and negative aspects such as one’s fears, insecurities, and frustrations
operate as complex inter-individual and inter-group processes inducing change in an organisation’s
functioning and performance (which may or may not be to the organisation’s best interests).
4. Structure Focused Change
It’s a change that alters any of the basic components of an organisation’s structures or overall designs.
Organisations make structural changes to reduce costs and increase profitability. Structural change can
take the form of downsizing, decentralization, job-redesign, etc. For example, IBM, the global computer
conglomerate has been trying to downsize. While many people were asked to leave, IBM is now very
selective about hiring new personnel. In the process of downsizing, IBM has also changed the firm’s
strategy and operational procedures.

5. Technological Changes
Changes that impact the actual process of transforming input into outputs are referred to as
technological changes. Examples include the change in equipment, work process, work sequence,
information processing systems, and degree of automation. Using new technology influences the
subsystems in the organization.

For example, the technological advancement in computers has revolutionized the design, development
and manufacture (e.g. CAD/CAM, robotics) of products. The electronic point of sales system for instance,
that permits improved stock control by instantaneously updating records and assessing the actual effects
of price change, has improved the sales and marketing of goods.

6. Persons Focused Change

This is the change concerned with human resources planning and with enhancing employee competence
and performance. Redefining organsational strategy and goods; structural change in terms of expansion,
contracting technological inputs– all these have implications for human resources management. For
example, introduction of new technologies result in person focused change such as: replacement (when
an employee cannot be trained further), replacement (to where an employee’s current skills are best
suited), and employee training and development. It may also lead to laying down new recruitment and
selection policies in tune with changing technologies and their requirements. The availability or non-
availability of employees with the required skills also influences an organisation’s plan for expansion, of
venturing into new products/services and of profitability.

7. Profitability Issues
A significant change form that has obliged a number of organizations to restructure (downsize, resize)
and re-engineer themselves related to profitability issues such of loss of revenues, market share, and low
productivity.

8. Resource Constraints
Resources refer to money, material, machinery, personnel, information and technology. Depletion,
inadequacy or non-availability of these can be a powerful change force for any organization.

1.6 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE: SOME DETERMINING FACTORS

A few decades ago, advances in machine technology made farming so highly efficient that fewer hands
were needed to plant and reap the harvest. The displaced labourer fled to nearby cities, seeking jobs in
newly opened factories, opportunities created by some of the same technologies that sent them from
the farm. The economy shifted from agrarian to manufacturing, and the Industrial Revolution was
underway. With it came drastic shifts in where people lived, how they worked, how they spent their
leisure time, how much money they made and how they spent. Today’s business analysts claim that we
are currently experiencing another industrial revolution– one driven by a new wave of economic and
Technological Forces. Interestingly, the forces for organisational change are not isolated to any one area,
they are global in nature. To illustrate this point, we can cite the case of a survey that was conducted of
12,000 managers in twenty-five different countries. When asked to identify the changes they have
experienced in the past two years, respondents reported that major restructurings, mergers,
acquisitions, divestitures and acquisitions, reduction in employment, and international expansion had
occurred in their countries. Although some form of change was more common in some countries than
others, organizations in all countries were actively involved in each of these change efforts– especially
major restructuring. Clearly, the evidence suggests that organizational change is occurring throughout
the world.
In recent years, just about all companies, large and small, have made adjustments in the ways
they operate, some more pronounced than others. They have radically altered the way they function,
their culture, the technology they use, their structure, and the nature of their relations with the
employees. With many companies making such drastic changes, the message is clear: either adapt to
changing conditions or shut your doors.
Obviously, ever-changing conditions pose a formidable challenge to organizations, which must
learn to be flexible and adapt to them. However, not all organizational changes are planned and quite
intentional. The large variety of determinants of organizational change– forces dictating change– can be
organized into 4 major categories. These categories are created by combining two key distinctions: (1)
whether the organizational change is planned or unplanned by the organization, and (2) whether it
derives from factors internal or external to the organization. The taxonomy that results from combining
these two dimensions, as shown in Table 1.1, are planned internal change, planned external
change, unplanned internal change and unplanned external change.

TABLE 1.1: SOME DETERMINING FACTORS OF CHANGE

Planned unplanned
Internal Planned internal change Unplanned internal change
external Planned external change Unplanned external change

A. Planned Internal Change

A great deal of organizational change comes from the strategic decision to alter the way one does
business or the very nature of the business itself. Three examples of planned internal organizational
change can be identified– changes in products or services, changes in administrative systems and change
in organizational size and structure.

1. Change in Products or Services: A planned decision to change the company’s line of service
necessitates organizational change. A company which has established itself successfully in cosmetic
products, decides to diversify into healthcare products, too. This decision to give a new direction to the
business, to add a new, specialized service, will require a fair amount of organizational change. Some
new equipment and supplies will be needed, new personnel will have to be secured. In short, the
planned decision to change the company’s line of service necessitates organizational change.

2. Changes in Administration System: Although an organization may be formed to change its policies,
reward structure, goals, and management style in response to outside competition, governmental
regulation and economic changes, it is also quite common for change in administrative systems to be
strategically planned in advance. Such change may stem from a desire to improve efficiency, to change
the company’s image, or to gain a political power advantage within the organization.
3. Typically, the pressure to bring about changes in the administration of an organization (e.g. to
coordinate activities, set goals and priorities) comes from upper management– that is from the top
down. In contrast, pressure to change the central work of the organization (i.e., the production of goods
and services) comes from the technical side of the organization; from the bottom upward. This is the
idea behind the dual-core model of organization. Many, organizations, especially medium-sized ones,
may be characterized by potential conflicts between the administrative and technical core– each factor
wishing to change the organization according to its own vested interests. Which side usually wins?
Research suggests that the answer depends upon the design of the organization in question.
Organisations that are mechanistic as opposed to organic in their approach (i.e., ones that are highly
formal and centralized) tend to be more successful in introducing administrative change. The high degree
of control wielded by the administrative core paves the way for introducing administrative changes.

4. Changes in Organisational Size and Structure: Just as organizations change their products, services, or
administrative systems to stay competitive, so too do they alter the size and basic configurations of their
organizational chart- that is, they restructure. In many cases, this has meant reducing the number of
employees needed to operate effectively– a process known as downsizing.

B. Planned External Change

In addition to planning changes in the ways organizations are run, it is often possible to plan which
change variables originating outside the organization will be incorporated into it. Introduction of new
technology and advances in information processing and communication fall into this category. Both of
these advances typically originate outside the organization and are introduced into it in some planned
fashion.

1. Introduction of New Technologies: From Slide Rules to Computers: Advances in technology have
produced changes in the way organizations operate. Senior scientists and engineers, for example, can
probably tell you how their work was drastically altered in the mid- 1970s, when their ubiquitous plastic
slide-rules gave way to powerful pocket calculators. Things changed again only a decade later, when
calculators were supplanted by powerful desk microcomputers, which have revolutionized the way
documents are prepared, transmitted and filed in an office. For example, over a decade ago, Siemens
(Germany) created the world’s first paperless office. Manufacturing plants have also seen a great deal of
growth recently in the use of computer-automate technology and robotics, for instance, in the
automobile industry, where a significant part of design and manufacture is automated and ITdependent.
Each of these examples represents an instance in which technology has altered the way people do their
jobs.

2. The use of computer technology has been touted as one of the major revolutions occurring in the
business world today. During the earliest years in which computes were used in the workplace, they
failed to fulfill the promise of increased productivity that was used to usher them in. The hardware and
software technology was not only too primitive, but also the users were too unprepared. Today,
however, this has finally changed. According to William Wheeler, a consultant at Coopers and Lybrand,
“For the first time, the computer is an enabler of productivity improvement rather than a cause of lack of
productivity”.
3. Advances in Information Processing and Communication: Although we now easily take for granted
everyday events such as television transmission and long-distance telephone calls, these things were
merely exotic dreams not too many years ago. Of course, with today’s sophisticated satellite
transmission systems, fibre-optic cables crisscrossing the planet, fax machines, mobile telephones,
teleconferencing facilities and the like, it is easier than ever for businesses to communicate with each
other and with their clients. One main point is that as such communication systems improve,
opportunities for organizational growth and improvement follow.

C. Unplanned Internal Changes

Not all the forces for change are the results of strategic planning. Indeed organizations often are
responsive to changes that are unplanned especially those derived from factors internal to the
organization. Two such forces are changes in the demographic composition of the workforce
and performance gaps.

1. Changing Employee Demographic: It is easy to see, even within our lifetimes, how the composition of
the workforce has changed. The percentage of women in the workforce is greater than ever before.
More and more women with professional qualifications are joining the organization at the junior and the
middle management levels. In addition to these, the workforce is getting older. Many of the old retired
employees from government and public sector are joining the private sector thereby changing the
employee demographics. With the opening up of the economy and globalisation, the workforce is also
continually becoming more diverse.

2. To people concerned with the long-term operation of organisations: These are not simply curious
sociological trends, but shifting conditions will force organizations to change. Questions regarding the
number of people who will be working, what skills and attitudes they will bring to the job and what new
influences they will bring to the workplace are of key interest to human resource managers.

3. Performance Gaps: If you have ever heard the phrase, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” you already have
a good ides of one of the potent sources of Unplanned Internal Changes in organizations– performance
gaps. A product line that isn’t moving, a vanishing profit margin, a level of sales that is not upto
corporate expectations– these are examples of gaps between real and expected levels of organizational
performance. Few things force change more than sudden unexpected information about poor
performance. Organisations usually stay with a winning course of action and change in response to
failure; in other words, they follow a win-stay/lose-change rule. Indeed, several studies have shown that
a performance gap is one of the key factors providing an impetus for organizational innovations. Those
organizations that are best prepared to mobilize change in response to unexpected downturns are
expected to be the ones that succeed.

D. Unplanned External Changes

One of the greatest challenges faced by an organization is its ability to respond to changes from outside,
something over which it has little or no control. As the environment changes, organizations must follow
the suit. Research has shown that organizations that can best adapt to changing conditions tend to
survive. Two of the most important unplanned external factors are governmental regulation and
economic competition.

1. Government Regulation: One of the most commonly witnessed unplanned organisational changes
results from government regulation. With the opening up of the economy and various laws passed
by the government about delicensing, full or partial convertibility of the currency, etc., the ways in which
organizations need to operate change swiftly. These activities greatly influence the way business is to be
conducted in organizations. With more foreign players in the competitive market, Indian industries have
to find ways and mechanism to safely and profitably run their businesses.

2. Economic Competition in the Global Arena: It happens every day, someone builds a better mousetrap–
or at least a cheaper one. As a result, companies must often fight to maintain their share of market,
advertise more effectively, and produce products more inexpensively. This kind of economic competition
not only forces organizations to change, but also demands that they change effectively if they are to
survive. On some occasions, competition can become so fierce that the parties involved would actually
be more effective if they buried the harchet and joined forces. It was this ‘If you can’t beam ‘em, joint
‘em’ reasoning that was responsible for the announced alliance between arch rivals IBM and Apple
Computer in the summer of 1991, an alliance dubbed “the deal of the decade” by one financial analyst.
Although competition has always been crucial to organizational success, today competition comes from
around the globe. As it has become increasingly less expensive to transport materials throughout the
world, the industrialized nations have found themselves competing with each other for shares of the
international marketplace. Extensive globalisation presents a formidable challenge to all organizations
wishing to compete in the world economy. The primary challenge is to meet the ever-present need for
change, to be innovative.

1.7 Planned organizational change: is normally targeted at improving effectiveness at one or more of
four different levels: human resources, functional resources, technological capabilities, and
organizational capabilities.

A. Human Resources
Human resources are an organization’s most important asset. Ultimately, an organization’s distinctive
competencies lie in the skills and abilities of its employees. Because these skills and abilities give an
organization a competitive advantage, organizations must continually monitor their structures to find the
most effective way of motivating and organizing human resources to acquire and use their skills. Typical
kinds of change efforts directed at human resources include:
(i) New investment in training and development activities so that employees acquire new skills and
abilities;
(ii) Socializing employees into the organizational culture so that they learn the newroutines on which
organizational performance depends;
(iii) Changing organizational norms and values to motivate a multi-cultural and diverse work force;
(iv) Ongoing examination of the way in which promotion and reward systems operate in a diverse work
force; and
(v) Changing the composition of the top-management team to improve organizational learning and
decision making.

B. Functional Resources
Each organizational function needs to develop procedures that allow it to manage the particular
environment it faces. As the environment changes, organizations often transfer resources to the
functions where the most value can be created. Critical functions grow in importance, while those whose
usefulness is declining shrink. An organization can improve the value that its functions create by
changing its structure, culture, and technology. The change from a functional to a product team
structure, for example, may speed the new product development process. Alterations in functional
structure can help provide a setting in which people are motivated to perform. The change from
traditional mass production to a manufacturing operation based on self-managed work teams often
allows companies to increase product quality and productivity if employees can share in the gains from
the new work system.

C. Technological Capabilities
Technological capabilities give an organization an enormous capacity to change itself in order to exploit
market opportunities. The ability to develop a constant stream of new products or to modify existing
products so that they continue to attract customers is one of an organization’s core competencies.
Similarly, the ability to improve the way goods and services are produced in order to increase their
quality and reliability is a crucial organizational capability. At the organizational level, an organization has
to provide the context that allows it to translate its technological competencies into value for its
stakeholders. This task often involves the redesign of organizational activities. IBM, for example, has
recently moved to change its organizational structure to better capitalize on its strengths in providing IT
consulting. Previously, it was unable to translate its technical capabilities into commercial opportunities
because its structure was not focused on consulting, but on making and selling computer hardware and
software rather than providing advice.

D. organizational Capabilities
Through the design of organizational structure and culture an organization can harness its human and
functional resources to take advantage of technological opportunities. Organizational change often
involves changing the relationship between people and functions increase their ability to create value.
Changes in structure and culture take place at all levels of the organization and include changing the
routines an individual uses to greet customers, changing work group relationships, improving integration
between divisions, and changing corporate culture by changing the top-management team. These four
levels at which change can take place are obviously interdependent, it is often impossible to change one
without changing another. Suppose an organization invests resources and recruits a team of scientists
who are experts in a new technology – for example, biotechnology. If successful, this human resource
change will lead to the emergence of a new functional resource and a new technological capability. Top
management will be forced to re-evaluate its organizational structure and the way it integrates and
coordinates its other functions, to ensure that they support its new functional resources. Effectively
utilizing the new resources may require a move to a product team structure. It may even require
downsizing and the elimination of functions that are no longer central to the organization’s mission.

1.8 Change Agents

Organizations and their managers must recognize that change, in itself, is not necessarily a problem. The
problem often lies in an inability to effectively manage change: not only can the adopted process be
wrong, but also the conceptual framework may lack vision and understanding. Why is this the case?
Possibly, and many practicing managers would concur, the problem may be traced to the managers’
growing inability to approximately develop and reinforce their role and purpose within complex, dynamic
and challenging organizations. Change is now a way of life; organizations, and more importantly their
managers, must recognize the need to adopt strategic approaches when facing transformation
situations.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s organizations, both national and international, strived to
develop sustainable advantage in both volatile and competitive operating environments. Those that have
survived, and/or developed, have often found that the creative and market driven management of their
human resources can produce the much needed competitive ‘cushion’. This is not surprising: people
manage change, and well-managed people manage change more effectively. Managing change is a multi-
disciplinary activity. Those responsible, whatever their designation, must possess or have access to a
wide range of skills, resources, support and knowledge. For example:
➢➢ Communication skills are essential and must be applied for managing teams.
➢➢ Maintaining motivation and providing leadership to all concerned is necessary.
➢➢ The ability to facilitate and orchestrate group and individual activities is crucial.
➢➢ Negotiation and influencing skills are invaluable.
➢➢ It is essential that both planning and control procedures are employed.
➢➢ The ability to manage on all planes, upward, downward and within the peer group, must be
acquired.
➢➢ Knowledge of, and the facility to influence, the rationale for change is essential. There are many
terms that have been used to denote those responsible for the effective implementation of change: for
example, change agents, problem owners, facilitators, project managers or masters of change. The focal
point of a change needs not to be an individual; a work group could quite easily be designated as a
special task force responsible for managing the change. However, generally within, or above, any work
group there is still someone who ultimately is accountable and responsible.

What are the essential attributes of a change agent/master and are there any guidelines for them?
The need to encourage participation and involvement in the management of the change by those who
are to be affected has been suggested. The aim is to stimulate interest and commitment and minimize
fears, thus reducing opposition. It may also be necessary to provide facilitating and support services.
These could assist in promoting an individual’s awareness for the need for change, while counseling and
therapy could be offered to help overcome fears. Management must engage in a process of negotiation,
striving towards agreement. This is essential where those opposing have the power, and influence, to
resist and ultimately block the change. If consensus fails then one has little alternative but to move on to
explicit and implicit coercion. Somewhere in between the two extremes, the management may attempt
to manipulate events in an effort to sidestep sources of resistance. For example, they may play
interested parties off against each other or create galvanizing crisis to divert attention. The techniques
need not be employed in isolation. They may be most effective when utilized in combination. The core
tasks facing a change agent or project manager are to reduce the uncertainty associated with the change
situation and then encourage positive action.

Some of the steps to assist are:

1. identify and manage stakeholders (Gains visible commitment).
2. Work on objectives (Clear, concise and understandable)
3. Set a full agenda (Take a hostile view and highlight potential
difficulties)
4. Build appropriate control systems (Communication is a two-way process, feedback
is required).
5. Plan the process of change (Pay attention to: establishing roles – clarity of purpose; build a team – do
not leave it to choice; nurture coalitions of support – fight apathy and resistance; communicate
relentlessly – manage the process; recognize power – make the best use of supporting power bases;
handing over –ensure that the change is maintained).
The change agents exist throughout the organization (but are crucial at the top) and
constitute in effect a latent force. They have ability to:
➢➢ Question the past and challenge old assumptions and beliefs
➢➢ Leap from operational and process issues to the strategic picture
➢➢ Think creativity and avoid becoming bogged down in the ‘how-to’
➢➢ Manipulate and exploit triggers for change
Further, some of the traits of change agents as business athletes are:
1. Able to work independently without the power and sanction of the management
hierarchy.
2. Effective collaborators, able to compete in the ways that enhance rather than destroy
cooperation.
3. Able to develop high trust relations with high ethical standards.
4. Possess self-confidence tempered with humility.
5. Respectful of the process of change as well as the substance.
6. Able to work across business functions and units – ‘multi-faceted and multidexterous’.
7. Willing to take rewards on results and gain satisfaction from success.

Lewin’s Force-Field Theory of Change

A wide variety of forces make organizations resistant to change, and a wide variety of
forces push organizations toward change. Researcher Kurt Lewin developed a theory about
organizational change. According to his force-field theory, these two sets of forces are always
in opposition in an organization. When the forces are evenly balanced, the organization is
in a state of inertia and does not change. To get an organization to change, the managers
must find a way to increase the forces for change, reduce resistance to change, or do both
simultaneously. Any of these strategies will overcome inertia and cause an organization to
change.
An organization at performance level X is in balance (Figure). Forces for change and
resistance to change are equal. Management, however, decides that the organization should strive to
achieve performance level Y. To get to level Y, the managers must increase the
forces for change (the increase is represented by the lengthening of the up arrows), reduce
resistance to change (the reduction is represented by the shortening of the down arrows),
or do both. If they pursue any of the three strategies successfully, the organization will
change and reach performance level Y. Kurt Lewin, whose Force-Field theory argues that organizations
are balanced between forces for change and resistance to change, has a related perspective on how
managers can bring change to their organization (Figure). In Lewin’s view, implementing change is a
three-step process:
(1) Unfreezing the organization from its present state,
(2) Making the change, or movement, and
(3) Refreezing the organization in the new, desired state so that its members do not revert to their
previous work attitudes and role behaviours.
Lewin warns that resistance to change will quickly cause an organization and its members to revert to
their old ways of doing things unless the organization actively takes steps to refreeze the organization
with the changes in place. It is not enough to make some changes in task and role relationships and
expect the changes to be successful and to endure. To get an organization to remain in its new state,
managers must actively manage the change process.

Unfreeze, Change, Freeze

This three stage theory of change is commonly referred to as Unfreeze, Change,
Freeze (or Refreeze). It is possible to take these stages to quite complicated levels but I
don't believe this is necessary to be able to work with the theory. But be aware that the
theory has been criticised for being too simplistic.

A lot has changed since the theory was originally presented in 1947, but the Kurt Lewin
model is still extremely relevant. Many other more modern change models are actually
based on the Kurt Lewin model. I'm going to head down a middle road and give you just
enough information to make you dangerous...and perhaps a little more to whet your
appetite!

So, three stages. Unfreezing, Change, Freezing. Let's look at each of these.

Stage 1: Unfreezing
The Unfreezing stage is probably one of the more important stages to understand in the
world of change we live in today. This stage is about getting ready to change. It involves
getting to a point of understanding that change is necessary, and getting ready to move
away from our current comfort zone.
This first stage is about preparing ourselves, or others, before the change (and ideally
creating a situation in which we want the change).

The more we feel that change is necessary, the more urgent it is, the more motivated we
are to make the change. Right? Yes, of course! If you understand procrastination (like I do!)
then you'd recognise that the closer the deadline, the more likely you are to snap into action
and actually get the job started!

With the deadline comes some sort of reward or punishment linked to the job. If there's no
deadline, then the urge to change is lower than the need to change. There's much lower
motivation to make a change and get on with it.

Unfreezing and getting motivated for the change is all about weighing up the 'pro's' and
'con's' and deciding if the 'pro's' outnumber the 'con's' before you take any action. This is
the basis of what Kurt Lewin called the Force Field Analysis.

Force Field Analysis is a fancy way of saying that there are lots of different factors (forces)
for and against making change that we need to be aware of (analysis). If the
factors for change outweigh the factorsagainst change we'll make the change. If not, then
there's low motivation to change - and if we feel pushed to change we're likely to get
grumpy and dig in our heels.

This first 'Unfreezing' stage involves moving ourselves, or a department, or an entire

business towards motivation for change. The Kurt Lewin Force Field Analysis is a useful way
to understand this process and there are plenty of ideas of how this can be done.

Stage 2: Change - or Transition

Kurt Lewin was aware that change is not an event, but rather a process. He called that
process a transition. Transition is the inner movement or journey we make in reaction to a
change. This second stage occurs as we make the changes that are needed.

People are 'unfrozen' and moving towards a new way of being.

That said this stage is often the hardest as people are unsure or even fearful. Imagine
bungey jumping or parachuting. You may have convinced yourself that there is a great
benefit for you to make the jump, but now you find yourself on the edge looking down.
Scary stuff! But when you do it you may learn a lot about yourself.

This is not an easy time as people are learning about the changes and need to be given time
to understand and work with them. Support is really important here and can be in the form
of training, coaching, and expecting mistakes as part of the process.

Using role models and allowing people to develop their own solutions also help to make the
changes. It's also really useful to keep communicating a clear picture of the desired change
and the benefits to people so they don't lose sight of where they are heading.

Stage 3: Freezing (or Refreezing)

Kurt Lewin refers to this stage as freezing although a lot of people refer to it as 'refreezing'.
As the name suggests this stage is about establishing stability once the changes have been
made. The changes are accepted and become the new norm. People form new relationships
and become comfortable with their routines. This can take time.

It's often at this point that people laugh and tell me that practically there is never time for
this 'freezing' stage. And it's just this that's drawn criticism to the Kurt Lewin model.

What does Kurt Lewin mean by 'Freeze'?

In todays world of change the next new change could happen in weeks or less. There is just no time to
settle into comfortable routines. This rigidity of freezing does not fit with modern thinking about change
being a continuous, sometimes chaotic process in which great flexibility is demanded.
So popular thought has moved away from the concept of freezing. Instead, we should think about this
final stage as being more flexible, something like a milkshake or soft serv icecream, in the current
favourite flavour, rather than a rigid frozen block. This way 'Unfreezing' for the next change might be
easier.
Given today's pace of change this is a reasonable criticism. But it might help to get in touch with what
Kurt Lewin was actually saying. In 1947 he wrote:
A change towards a higher level of group performance is frequently short-lived, after a "shot in the
arm", group life soon returns to the previous level. This indicates that it does not suffice to define the
objective of planned change in group performance as the reaching of a different level. Permanency of
the new level, or permanency for a desired period, should be included in the objective.
Kurt Lewin, "Frontiers of Group Dynamics", Human Relations, Volume 1, pp. 5-41 (I added the emphasis)
Lewin's concern is about reinforcing the change and ensuring that the desired change is accepted and
maintained into the future. Without this people tend to go back to doing what they are used to doing.
This is probably what Kurt Lewin meant by freezing - supporting the desired change to make sure it
continues and is not lost.
Modern models of change, such as the ADKAR® model, are more explicit about this step and
include Reinforcement as one of their phases. I've also read this final step of freezing referred to as
the lock-in effect. Establishing stability only happens when the new changes are locked-in.
Thinking about change as a journey might make you think that a journey has a beginning , middle, and an
end. While this is useful when thinking about the process of change the reality is that this journey
doesn't have an end. Lots of rest stops maybe! Some opportunities for settling down for a while. But no
end. So be careful about thinking that a change process has a definite end, as the Lewin change
management model might seem to suggest.

1.9 Resistance to change: Organizational culture and structure change is inevitable due to the constant
change in technology, customer and markets, social and political pressures, as well as demographic
characteristics. Resistance to change is an emotional and behavioral response by the affected employees
to actual or imagined threats to an established work routine. Organizations must manage change and
subsequent resistance to survive.
Fear of Failure
Intimidating structural and cultural changes on the worker can cause them to doubt their capabilities.
This kind of self- doubt wears out self-confidence and undermines personal growth and development.
The employees may oppose such changes without considering the potential benefits of the proposed
changes, as a result. Low output might be realized before the employees finally adapt and learn to live
with the changes.
Loss of Status
Structural and cultural changes that threaten to alter powerful positions or eliminate jobs generally
trigger strong resistance. Corporate restructuring and reorganization may involve elimination of
managerial jobs. Middle managers will resist restructuring and any other program that reduces their
authority and the status they already enjoy in the organization.

Non-Reinforcing Reward System

Individuals resist when they do not foresee positive rewards for changing their work routines. Employees
expect a positive improvement in their work in order to readily accept change. An employee is unlikely to
support a change that is perceived as longer work hours and increased pressure to perform.
Incongruent Group Dynamics
Groups develop and enforce conformity to a set of norms that guide the members' behavior. However,
conformity to existing group norms may discourage employees from accepting organizational change.
Group norms that conflict with the desired changes need modification, while the structural and cultural
norms that work to improve the organization need promotion.
Breaking Routines
People are creatures of habit and find it hard to abandon behavioral routines that the organization
considers no longer appropriate. They like comfort zones by continuing routine role patterns. People
hence resist structural and cultural changes that force them out of comfort zones and require investing
more time and energy learning new role patterns.

What Causes Resistance to Change in an Organization?

It is difficult for organizations to avoid change, as new ideas promote growth for them and their
members. Change occurs for many reasons such as new staff roles; increases or decreases in funding;
acquisition of new technology; new missions, vision or goals; and to reach new members or clients.
Changes can create new opportunities, but are often met with criticism from resistant individuals within
the group.
Poor Communication
Changes within an organization start with key decision makers. It is up to them to pass along the details
to team members and ensure all questions and complaints are handled before changes go into effect.
Unfortunately, as news of a change spreads through the hierarchy, details are sometimes skewed and
members end up receiving inaccurate, second-hand information. Poor communication can therefore
cause resistance to change.
Self-Interest
Ego often interferes with the ability to adapt to change. Some want to maintain the status quo to better
advance their own personal agendas; others have different motivations. In the end, employees acting in
their own self-interest, instead of the organization's greater good, will resist change.

Feeling Excluded
Organizations often solicit advance input to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to voice their ideas
and opinions. If, however, employees hear of a sudden change, and they had no input, they will feel
excluded from the decision making process and perhaps offended.
Lack of Trust
Trust plays a big role in running a successful organization. When organization members feel they cannot
trust each other or key decision makers, it becomes difficult for them to accept organizational changes.
They may ascribe the changes to some negative underlying reason or even assume they will eventually
lose their jobs.
Skills/Training Dearth
When change requires mastering new skills, resistance is likely, particularly when it comes to new
technology. Organizations can prevent this through offering education and training.

How to Overcome Resistance to Change in an Organization

In business, the one thing you can be assured of is change. As the economy ebbs and flows, so must the
strategies employed by business. If your organization experiences change it may also need to implement
new business strategies, which can create resistance among employees. While every organization is
different, there are some common best practices that can help to overcome resistance to new business
strategies.
Step 1
Create a way to communicate with employees about new initiatives and their progress. Instruct key
management to provide employees with regular updates at team meetings.
Step 2
Market the new business strategy to each group. Explain the new plan in terms (a common language)
that help each group understand how the new strategy will make their own jobs better or easier.
Everyone in the organization must understand the goal of the new business strategy.
Step 3
Invite a team member from each functional group to participate in meetings or provide seminars for
each group to market the strategy.
Step 4
Select a group of change agents from key positions to help manage planning and implementation. Find
one person from each group who is vocal. Try to select those in nonmanagement positions as well.
Step 5
Develop key deliverables for each department, organization and person involved in the new business
strategy. A deliverable is a final report or the output from implementing the new business strategy. Each
group head must tailor the deliverable to the goals of the group. For example, one deliverable can be to
increase sales by 5 percent. Another can be lower costs by 5 percent.
Step 6
Tie successful implementation to compensation. Create at least four key milestones and goals to
measure success throughout the year. Report on performance regularly and publicly reward those
people or groups that meet goals.

Negative Effects of Resistance to Change to an Organization

Change is an inevitable part of business; however, for some it is an easier process to deal with than it is
for others. In fact, some employees put up resistance to the process, which can have some negative
effects for the company in question. These effects can be widespread and may affect the morale of the
staff if they are not addressed in a timely manner. Understanding the negative effects of resistance to
change in your organization is the first step.
Lower Morale
When staffers resist a change taking place at work, they may feel less optimistic and hopeful about their
professional future with the company. This is particularly so if there is a lack of communication regarding
the change. Among other negative effects of resistance to change, lowered morale can spread
throughout the entire staff, which can in turn cause issues with both recruiting and retention.
Lessened Efficiency
When employees spend time focusing on resisting the changes taking place in the workplace, they
become less focused on doing the daily tasks associated with their jobs. This leads to a reduced level of
efficiency and output among staff, which can affect the company's bottom line. In fact, a reduced level of
efficiency may fly directly in the face of the reason for the changes in the first place, as changes are often
made to become a more effective and productive company.
Disruptive Work Environment
Another negative effect to resistance among staff to changes may be a more disruptive work
environment. Employees resisting changes may cause commotions with outbursts regarding the changes
or a combative attitude with management staff. They may spread that same negativity among other staff
members, encouraging them to act in a similar manner, which can, in turn, end up causing greater unrest
among staffers.
Additional Considerations
There are numerous ways that you can mitigate the negative effects of resistance to change among your
staff. From holding all-staff discussions in which everyone can air their grievances regarding the changes
to providing extra training and resources to help staff adapt, taking the steps to make employees feel
more comfortable with changes may go a long way toward creating more beneficial effects from the
change than negative ones.

Techniques for Implementing Change in an Organization

As an organization grows and evolves, it will experience change. Implementing change can be a challenge
if improper techniques are used. Developing efficient ways to introduce and implement change can ease
the stress your staff feels when change is introduced, and it can also help your vendors, customers and
business partners adjust to any changes in the way you do business.
Ownership
When your employees are on board with organizational change, they can then make the internal
transition smoother and help clients and vendors adjust as well. A technique that can get employees
personally involved in change is to encourage them to look at the business as though they were running
it. Virgin International CEO Richard Branson, writing on the Entrepreneur website, says that having
employees think like entrepreneurs by letting each employee know how their impact on implementing
change can improve profitability makes change a personal responsibility.
Map it Out
If you leave too much to the staff's imagination when it comes to change, that can create misinformation
and make change management difficult. In the Kotter 8-Step Change Model, as outlined on the Mind
Tools website, it is recommended that employees be given the details of what the change is and how it
will affect the company. Trying to make drastic changes without informing employees of the nature of
the changes can create confusion. Tell employees exactly what is going on and create understanding
from the beginning.
Go in Stages
Change should be implemented in stages. Create the sense of urgency that gathers support for change.
Then develop a solution that should be rolled out on a trial basis. Do not go live with the change
immediately. Have a small group of employees try the change first to work out any errors and make any
changes. Then slowly integrate the change into your organization. This gives employees a chance to
become familiar with the changes being made and adjust to them gradually.
Get Everyone Involved
For change to take hold, the entire management and executive teams need to get involved and create
enthusiasm among the staff. Even if a manager or executive is not directly involved in the change, her
support for the new plan can help the staff feel more at ease. When the management team shows
unified support for an initiative, it is easier for employees to accept.

What Are Positive Impacts of Change in Business?

Although change may be an inevitable part of doing business, it is not always embraced with open arms
by employees, managers or business owners. Workers may be hesitant to leave the familiarity of their
comfort zone or fear that they won't be able to adapt to the change. While the short-term effects of
change can sometimes be painful, it can have a positive impact on a business' success in the long run.
Staying Current
Change can help a business stay current with industry trends, which can make it more attractive to
potential customers as well as help maintain current customers. For example, if a competitor develops
and markets a successful new product, a business can ensure that it doesn't fall behind by developing
and marketing a similar product of its own.
New Opportunities
The ability to embrace change can help employees in a business by creating new opportunities. A worker
who enthusiastically applies herself to learning the new office computer system can also train others
who are more hesitant. By assuming this leadership role, the employee may position herself as someone
who is capable of assuming additional responsibilities, making her a possible candidate for future
promotion.
Encouraging Innovation
Businesses that are adept at handling or even embracing change can foster an environment that
encourages innovation. Employees who feel that their ideas will be considered by a manager or business
owner may be more willing to think creatively, which can help a business grow. One good product or
marketing idea can make a big difference in the success of a small business.
Increased Efficiency
Change can increase the efficiency of work processes, which can make for more satisfied customers as
well as employees. A new delivery process can increase the speed in which a customer receives
merchandise. Switching to a computerized payroll process may mean that a salesperson is paid his
commissions sooner. A new piece of machinery can aid a worker in speeding up a portion of the
production process in a factory.
Improved Attitudes
A philosophical or personnel change in an organization can have a positive effect on employee attitudes
and morale. A change in human resources philosophy that allows for a more relaxed work environment,
such as implementing a casual dress code, may be welcomed by employees. When a close-minded
manager is replaced with one who is open to new ideas, employees may feel that they have more input
regarding their job functions.

1.10 Quality of Work Life

The term Quality of Work Life aims at changing the entire organisational climate by humanising work,
individualising organisations and changing the structural and managerial systems. It takes into
consideration the socio-psychological needs of the employees. It seeks to create such a culture of work
commitment in the organisations which will ensure higher productivity and greater job satisfaction for
the employees.
Quality of work life refers to the favourableness or unfourableness of the job environment of an
organisation for its employees. It is generic term which covers a person’s feelings about every dimension
of his work e.g. economic incentives and rewards, job security, working conditions, organisational and
interpersonal relationships etc. The term QWL has different meanings for different people. A few
important definitions of QWL are as follows:

According to Harrison
“QWL is the degree to which work in an organisation contributes to material and psychological well-
being of its members.”
According to D.S.Cohan
“QWL is a process of joint decision making, collaborations and building mutual respect between
management and employees.”

According to the American Society of Training and Development “QWL is a process of work organisation
which enables its members at all levels to participate actively and effectively in shaping the
organisations’ environment, methods and outcomes. It is a value based process which is aimed towards
meeting the twin goals of enhanced effectiveness of the Organisation and improved quality of life at
work for the employees”.

QWL influences the productivity of the employees. Researchers have proved that good QWL leads to
psychologically and physically healthier employees with positive feelings.

To summarize, QWL is the degree to which employees of an Organisation are able to satisfy their
personal needs through experience in the Organisation. It main aim is to create a work environment
where employees work in cooperation with each other and contribute to organizational objectives.

Scope of QWL
Quality of work life is a multi-dimensional aspect. The workers expect the following needs to be fulfilled
by the organisations:
1. Compensation: The reward for work should be above a minimum standard for life and should also be
equitable. There should be a just and equitable balance between the effort and the reward.

2. Health and Safety: The working environment should be free from all hazards detrimental to the health
and safety of the employees. The main elements of a good physical environment for work should be
reasonable hours of work, cleanliness, pollution free atmosphere, risk free work etc.

3.Job Security: The organisation should offer security of employment. Employees should not have to
work under a constant concern for their future stability of work and income.

4. Job Design: The design of jobs should be such which is capable of meeting the needs of the
organisation for production and the individual for satisfying and interesting work. Quality of work life can
be improved if the job allows sufficient autonomy and control, provides timely feedback on performance
and uses a wide range of skills.

5. Social Integration: The workers should be able to feel a sense of identity with the organisation and
develop a feeling of self-esteem. This includes the elimination of discrimination and individualism, whilst
encouraging teams and social groups to form.

6. Social Relevance of Work: Work should not only be a source of material and psychological
satisfaction, but also a means of social welfare. An organisation that has greater concern for social causes
can improve the quality of work life.

7. Scope for Better Career Opportunities: The management should provide facilities to the employees
for improving their skills both academic and otherwise. The management should always think of utilizing
human resources for expansion and development of the organisations.

Principles of QWL
According to N.Q.Herrick and M.Maccoby there are four basic principles, which will humanize work and
improve the QWL:
1. The Principle of Security: Quality of work cannot be improved until employees are relieved of the
anxiety, fear and loss of future employment. The working conditions must be safe and fear of
economic want should be eliminated. Job security and safety against occupational hazards is an
essential precondition of humanization of work.

2. The Principle of Equity: There should be a direct and positive relation between effort and reward. All
types of discrimination between people doing similar work and with same level of performance must
be eliminated. Equity also requires sharing the profits of the organisation.

3. The Principle of individualism: Employees differ in terms of their attitudes, skills, potentials etc.
Therefore, every individual should be provided the opportunities for development of his personality
and potential. Humanisation of work requires that employees are able to decide their own pace of
activities and design of work operations.

4. The Principle of Democracy: This means greater authority and responsibility to employees.
Meaningful participation in decision making process improves the quality of work life.

Techniques for Improving QWL

The quality of work life movement is of recent origin and has a long way to go. Individual as well as
organised efforts are required to improve the quality of work life for millions of workers in the
country. Some of the techniques used to improve the QWL are as given below:

1. Flexible Work Schedules: There should be flexibility in the work schedules of the employees.
Alternative work schedules for the employees can be flexi time, staggered hours, compressed work
week etc. Flexi time is a system of flexible working hours, staggered hours schedule means that
different groups of employees begin and end work a different intervals. Compressed work week
involves longer hours of work per day for fewer days per week.

2. Job Redesign: Job redesigning or job enrichment improves the quality of the jobs. It attempts to
provide a person with exciting, interesting, stimulating and challenging work. It helps to satisfy the
higher level needs of the employees.

3. Opportunity for Development: Career development is very important for ambitious and
achievement oriented employees. If the employees are provided with opportunities for their
advancement and growth, they will be highly motivated and their commitmentto the organisation
will increase.

4. Autonomous Work Groups: Autonomous work groups are also called self managed work teams. In
such groups the employees are given freedom of decision making. They are themselves responsible
for planning, organising and controlling the activities of their groups. The groups are also responsible
for their success or failures.
5. Employee’s Participation in Management: People in the organisation should be allowed to
participate in the management decisions affecting their lives. Quality circles, Management by
objectives, suggestion system and other forms of employee’s participation in management help to
improve the QWL.

6. Job Security: Employees want stability of employment. Adequate job security provided to the
employees will improve the QWL to a large extent.

7. Equitable Justice: The principle of equitable administrative justice should be applied in disciplinary
actions, grievance procedures, promotions, transfers, work assignments etc. Partiality and biasness
at any stage can discourage the workers and affect the QWL.
 UNIT 2
Organization Development: history of Organization, Development – Values – Assumptions – Beliefs
in organization development.

2.1 Definition

Organization development is an effort (1) planned, (2) organization wide, and (3) managed from the top,
to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the
organization’s “processes,” using behavioral-science knowledge

– Richard Beckhand
Organization development (OD) is a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to
change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organizations so that they can better adapt to new
technologies, markets and challenges, and the dizzying
rate of change itself.
– Warren H. Benmis
Organization renewal is the process of initiating, creating and confronting needed changes so as to make
it possible for organizations to become or remain viable, to adapt to new conditions, to solve problems,
to learn from experiences, and to move toward greater organizational maturity.

OD can be defined as a planned and sustained effort to apply behavioral science for system
improvement, using reflexive, self-analytic methods. –Richard schmuch & Milles Organization
development is a process of planned change – change of and organization’s culture from one which
avoids and examination of social processes (especially decision making, planning, and communication) to
one which institutionalizes and legitimizes these examinations. –Warner Burke et al

In the behavioral science, organization development is a long-range effort to improve an organization’s

problem-solving and renewal processes, particularly through a more effective and collaborative
management of organization culture-with special emphasis on the culture of formal work teams-with the
assistance a change agent, or catalyst, and the use of the theory and technology of applied behavioral
science including action research. – Wendell L.french & cecil H. Bell.

Organization development (OD) is a prescription for a process of planned change in organizations in

which the key prescriptive elements relate to

(1) The nature of the effort or program (it is a long-range, planned, system wide process
(2) The nature of the change activities (they utilize behavioral science interventions of an educational,
reflexive, self-examining, learn-to-do it-yourself nature);
(3) The targets of the change activities (they are directed toward the human and social processes of
organizations, specifically individuals’ beliefs, attitudes, and values, the culture and processes of work
groups-viewed as basic building blocks of the organization
(4) Desired outcomes of the change activities (the goals are needed changes in the target of the
interventions that cause the organization to be better able to adapt, cope, solve its problems, and renew
itself). Organization development thus represents a unique strategy for system change, a strategy largely
based in the theory and research of the behavioural sciences, and a strategy having a substantial
rescriptive character. There are eight characteristics of organization development interventions from
more traditional interventions:
1. An emphasis, although not exclusively so, on group and organizational processes in contrast to
substantive content.
2. An emphasis on the work team as the key unit for learning more effective modes of organizational
behavior.
3. An emphasis on the collaborative management of work-team culture.
4. An emphasis on the management of the culture of the total system.
5. Attention to the management of system ramifications.
6. The use of the action research model.
7. The use of a behavioral scientist-change agent sometimes referred to as a “catalyst” or “facilitator.”
8. A view of the change effort as an ongoing process.

Another characteristic, number9, a primary emphasis on human and social relationships, does not
necessarily differentiate OD from other change efforts, but it is nevertheless an important feature.

Emerging Concept: Organization Transformation (OT)

Over the years the practice of OD has evolved and matured, clarifying its values, theories, methods, and
interventions, as well as adding new values, theories, and so forth. These paradigm-shifting changes ere
referred to as “organization transformation” or “Organizational Transformation.” Some authors believe
OT is an extension of OD; others believe OT represents a new discipline in its own right. It is too early to
categorize organization transformation; for now, we see it as an extension of OD. Some forces leading
to the emergence of OT can be identified. Organization transformations can occur in response to or in
anticipation of major changes in the organization’s environment or technology. In addition, these
changes are often associated with significant alterations in the firm’s business strategy, which, in turn,
may require modifying corporate culture as well as internal structures and processes to support the new
direction. Such fundamental change entails a new paradigm for organizing and managing organizations.
It involves qualitatively different ways of perceiving, thinking, and behaving in organizations

History of Organization Development

Systematic organization development activities have a recent history and, to use the analogy of a
mangrove tree, have at least four important trunk stems. One trunk stem consists of innovations in
applying laboratory training insights to complex organizations. A second major stem is survey research
and feedback methodology. Both stems are intertwined with a third, the emergence of action research.
The fourth stem is-the emergence of the (Tavistock) socio-technical and socio-clinical approaches. The
key actors in these stems interact with each other and are influenced by experiences and concepts from
many fields.

The Laboratory Training Stem

Laboratory training, essentially unstructured small-group situations in which participants learn from their
own actions. It began to develop about 1946 from various experiments in using discussion groups to
achieve changes in behavior in back-home situations. In particular, an Inter-Group Relations workshop
held at the State Teachers College in New Britain, Connecticut, in the summer of 1946 influenced the
emergence of laboratory training. This workshop was sponsored by the Connecticut Interracial
Commission and the Research Center for Group Dynamics, then at MIT.

Survey Research and Feedback

Survey research and feedback, a specialized form of action research constitutes the second major step in
the history of organization development. It revolves around the techniques and approach developed
over a period of years by staff members at the Survey Research Center (SRC) of University of Michigan.
The results of this experimental study lend support to the idea that an intensive, group discussion
procedure for utilizing the results of an employee questionnaire survey can be an effective tool for
introducing positive change in a business organization. It deals with the system of human relationships as
a whole (superior and subordinate can change together) and it deals with each manager, supervisor, and
employee in the context of his own job, his own problems, and his own work relationships.

Action Research Stem

Participant action research, is used with the most frequency in OD. The laboratory training stem in the
history of OD has a heavy component of action research; the survey feedback stem is the history of a
specialized form of action research; and Tavistock projects have had a strong action research thrust,
William F.Whyte and Edith L.Hamilton used action research in their work with Chicago’s Tremont Hotel in
1945 publication; Kurt Lewin and his students conducted numerous action research projects in the mid-
1940s and early 1950s. the work of these and other scholars and practitioners in inventing and utilizing
action research was basic in the evolution of OD.

Socio-technical and Socio-clinical Stem

A fourth stem in the history of OD is the evolution of socio-clinical and sociotechnical approaches to
helping groups and organizations. The clinic was founded in 1920 as an outpatient facility to provide
psychotherapy and insights from the treatment of battle neurosis in World War I. A group focus emerged
early in the work of Tavistock in the context of family therapy in which the child and the parent received
treatment simultaneously. The action research mode also emerged at Tavistock in attempts to give
practical help to families, organizations, and communities.

Second-Generation OD
Practitioners and researchers are giving consider able attention to emerging concepts, interventions, and
areas of application that might be called second-generation OD. Each, to some extent, overlaps with
some or all of the others. Second generation OD, in particular, has focus on organizational
transformation.

Increasingly, OD professionals distinguish between the more modest, or evolutionary, efforts toward
organization improvement and those that are massive and, in a sense, revolutionary. Smith, and
Wilemon differentiate “incremental” change strategies and “fundamental” change strategies.
Organizational transformation is seen as requiring more demands on top leadership, more visioning,
more experimenting, more time, and the simultaneous management of many additional variables.
Managed teams and cross-functional teams get started. In addition, as self-managed teams have
assumed many functions previously performed by management, supervisors and middle managers have
used team-building approaches within their own ranks to help re-conceptualize their own roles.

Nature of Organization Development

The nature of OD is based on the foundations of OD and can beunderstood by analyzing its components :
Foundations of OD
OD is an ongoing and interactive process It is a form of applied behavioral science and a normative re
educative strategy of change OD views organizations from a systems perspective It is experience based
emphasizes goal setting and planning and its activities focus on intact work teams to bring about
organization development The OD process can be explained under the following heads
OD is an ongoing interactive process

The OD interventions in an organization are sequenced according to the strategy of the organization OD
is a continuous process and is dynamic in nature It is not a one time process and continues to take place
in the organization The OD process concentrates not only on what is done in an organization but also on
how it is done An OD program tries to improve the effectiveness of organizational processes by achieving
two objectives The first objective is to rectify problems through designing appropriate solutions The
second objective is for the organization to develop internal capabilities to handle any problems that may
arise in the future rather than rely on a consultant
OD is a form of applied behavioral science
An OD program applies various principles of behavioral science such as sociology social psychology social
anthropology psychiatry and other disciplines An OD practitioner generally uses known theories and
principles of human behavior to diagnose problems and find solutions He she makes use of knowledge
from the fields of group dynamics personality theory social psychology and organization theory
OD as a normative re educative strategy of change
Three strategies for organizational change given by R Chin and K Benne are the empirical rational
strategy normative re educative strategy and the power coercive strategy The OD process mainly follows
the normative re educative strategy The implications of the OD process based on the normative re
educative strategy are
The client suggests the improvements and changes desired in the organization
Designing of interventions required for the client s organization is done by the combined efforts of the
OD practitioner and the client
Solutions for problems are usually found by the change agent through the application of the principles
and practices of behavioral science after understanding the attitudes values relationships and general
practices in the organization
OD views organizations from a systems perspective
According to the interpretation of French and Bell the systems approach concentrates on the dynamics
of phenomena and views which are interrelated and interdependent When organizations are viewed
from a systems perspective there can be several consequences of applying the knowledge from
behavioral science to OD These are
To understand OD from a systems perspective the issues events and phenomena in organizations are to
be understood in relation to other phenomena as they do not occur in isolation
The systems approach to OD tries to project a realistic view by analyzing the possible causes for the
event rather than by trying to find only a single cause
To clearly understand the events in the organization Kurt Lewin suggested the field theory According to it
the field of forces existing at the time of an event was relevant for the analysis of the happening
A part of the system cannot be changed in isolation as the components of organization are interrelated
OD aims to bring about a change in the organization as a whole and not parts of it An improvement in
the functioning of an organization is facilitated only by a change in the entire system
OD is a data based approach to planned change
The OD process is different from other data based change activities in the organization OD gives
importance to the value of data more than other activities Some kinds of data like data related to human
and social processes in the organization are more useful for OD programs The management develops
action plans based on the data collected from various sources Sometimes contradictory data is obtained
about an issue in the organization and this helps to improve action plans as different viewpoints can be
considered OD programs consider data on a functional and dysfunctional basis rather than by classifying
data as good or bad Data obtained in OD programs is used as an aid to solving the problems instead of
enforcing certain desirable behaviors in an organization The decisions made in OD programs are based
on empirical facts similar to the scientific methods
OD is experience based
OD practitioners gain an understanding of the dynamics of the organization better through experience
They question employees about their experience in a particular situation so as to enhance their learning
skills
OD emphasizes goal setting and planning
OD interventions lay stress on the individuals of an organization by improving their planning abilities and
setting goals for their career and life Management by Objectives MBO is practiced in OD programs to
involve employees in the process of setting goals
OD focuses on intact work teams
OD programs are developed based on the belief that organizational goals are achieved by the work
teams in the organization It is also believed that to improve organizational functioning there is a need to
change the culture relationships and processes of groups
Intact work teams have a specific task to perform and they have superiors and subordinates as members
These teams can accomplish more work than individuals working in groups who are not formally related
to each other The norms and values of work teams guide the behavior of the members of the team
Individuals in work teams can improve their performance by comparing themselves with and utilizing
others Information about the goals and decisions of an organization are communicated to all individuals
in the team The needs of individuals for recognition status and self respect are fulfilled by work teams
However when there is no proper execution of OD activities in the organization work teams can hamper
the performance of individuals in a team as people tend to equate themselves with the performance of
their work team This can be avoided by taking the help of OD practitioners for team building in
organizations

Characteristics of OD:
1. OD is a planned strategy to bring about Organizational change: OD programmes are planned,
not accidental-they represent a deliberate entry of either an OD consultant or OD activities into
the client system.
2. OD always involves a collaborative Approach to change: In OD the consultant seeks and
maintains a collaborative relationship of relative equality with the organization members.
3. OD programmes unclude an emphasis on ways to improve and enhance performance: OD
programmes and efforts are designed to produce organizational effectiveness and health, better
system functioning, greater ability to achieve objectives and so forth. The basic aims of OD are:
a) Enhancing congruence between organizational structure, processes,strategy people and
culture.
b) Developing new and creative organization’s solutions; and
c) Developing the organization’s self-renewing capacity
4. OD relies on a set of humanistic values about people and organizations: OD is a normative
process grounded in value-laden assumptions of what constitutes ideal individual organizational
growth. ‘Development’ for the OD practitioner means the movement of individuals and
organizations in certain directions consistent with democratic and humanistic values and ideals
such as autonomy, self actualization and democracy. OD also aims at gaining more effective
organization by opening up new opportunities for increased use of human potential.
5. OD represents a systems approach: Although OD practitioners may focus on one or the other
aspect or unit of an organization, there is an implicit recognition of the systemic nature of the
organization. As social system, an organization consists of different subsystems such as task,
structural, technological and human interlinked by various processes. The organization as a
whole also interacts with the external environment including the larger society and its smaller
constituents.

Assumptions of Organization Development

The assumptions of Organizations Development are as below:
(i) Assumption About People as individuals
OD efforts make two basic assumptions about people as individuals:
(a) Most individuals have drive towards personal growth and development : In an
environment that is supportive and challenging most people want to become
most of what they are capable of becoming.
(b) Most people are capable of making higher level of contribution to organizational
goals: A tremendous amount of constructive energy can be tapped if organizations
recognize this, for eg: by asking for and acting on suggestions to solve problems.
(ii) Assumption About People in Groups and About Leadership
(a) The most psychologically relevant reference group for most people is the work
group: It basically implies that what goes on in the work team, especially at the
informal level, has great significance for feelings of satisfaction and competence.
(b) Most people wish to be accepted with at least one small reference group: This
helps them greatly increase their effectiveness and of helping their reference
group to solve problems.
(c) Group members must assist each other with effective leadership and member
behavior: For a group to optimize its effectiveness, the formal leader cannot
 perform all the leadership and maintenance functions in all circumstances at all
times and therefore assistance in leadership is required.
(d) Suppressed feelings and attitudes adversely affect problem solving, personal
growth and job satisfaction: The culture in most groups and organizations trends
to suppress the expression of feelings and attitudes that people have about each
other and their behaviors – both positive and negative- and about where their
organizations are heading. If feelings are allowed to be expressed, it tends to open
up many avenues for improved goal setting, leadership, communication, conflict
resolutions, problem solving between groups, collaboration and morale.
(e) Level of interpersonal trust, support, and cooperation is much lower in most
groups and organizations than is either desirable or necessary: Typically, a number
of forces contribute to such situations , including an absence of viewing feelings as
important data, lack of group problem solving skills, and leadership styles that
reinforce dysfunctional competition.
(f) Solutions to most attitudinal and motivational problems in organizations are
transactional: such problems have the greatest chance of constructive solution if
all the parties in the system or subsystems alter their mutual relationship.
(iii) Assumptions about people in organizational systems:
A number of assumptions about people in systems also underlie OD efforts. Some of these are:
a) The interplay of dynamics of work team has a powerful effect on the attitudes
and behaviours of people in both groups: In particular, conditions of trust,
support, openness and teamwork tend to influence the style of managers lower
down in the hierarchy and rub off on to their subordinates.
b) Win-lose conflict strategies are not optional in the long run to the solution of most
organizational problems: Most organizations problems can better be approached
in terms of “how can we all win?”
And finally there are at least two assumptions made that relate to the complexities and difficulties
involved in helping make major shifts in the culture of the organization.
Assumptions And Values Underlying OD
Dealing with individuals
• Most individuals want to develop their potential and have drives towards personal growth and
development if provided with supportive and challenging environment Most people desire to make,
and are capable of making, a higher level of contribution to achieving organizational goals than is
normally permitted.
Implication for managers
• Ask, listen, support, challenge, encourage risk-taking, permit failure, remove obstacles and
barriers, give autonomy and responsibility, set high standards, reward success.
Assumptions And Values Underlying OD (Contd.)
Dealing with groups
• One of the most relevant reference group for individuals is the work group, including peers and
boss.
• Most people desire to be accepted, and interact with one or more small reference groups.
• Most people are capable of making greater contributions to the groups’ effectiveness and
development Management Science-II

There are underlying assumptions or values which should be the basis of OD approach. These
underlying assumption or values are for the success of the efforts of OD and there are number of such
values. They are as follows:-
1. OD movement believes in the assumptions of theory Y of McGregor and emphasizes supportive and
creative opportunities for growth. It further emphasizes on providing personal responsibility and self
control to the employees rather than using controls and punishment. It believes in making an
individual more independent and autonomous.
2. A new appointed employee needs confirmation and support of other organisational members. It is
important that when the new employee is appointed then he has to be taken into confidence and
invited to work place for discussion on his personal and work-related issues in the private meetings.
3. The organisations are benefited by the differences in background, personality and view points of
employees. It is important to accept the contrasts and conflicts of individuals as reality.
4. Full range of expression of feelings result in enhancing high motivation, commitment and creative
ability among employees in the organisation.
5. Positive factors like honesty and directness allow people to put their energies together into the real
problems and improve effectiveness.
6. The executives in the organisation should create and develop cooperation among employees for
effectiveness and should abstain from wasting human and other resources.

7. The closeness among people can be enhanced by giving attention to process activities at the time of
assigning activities and also at the later stages.
8. The containment or suppressing the conflicts has long run effect on employee morale. It is
important to identify the root cause of the problem and then working out it with a satisfactory
solution rather than suppressing the conflict.
9. The commitment of people can be ensured through their participation all the way through the
progress of OD.
10. Every individual objective is his personal growth and it should be directly related with the
organisational growth.
The efforts should be directed to implant these underlying values or assumptions as they form the
basis of OD culture in an organisation.

Values is OD:
The context in which OD values were enunciated was qualitatively different from the existing business
scenario. The value framework has to keep pace with the changing priorities of organizations. A survey
conducted amongst the OD practitioners in early 90’s indicated that many of these values articulated in
the formative phase of OD were still valid. The top five values identified by the practioners are:
1. Increasing effectiveness and efficiency
2. Creating openness in communication
3. Empowering employees to act
4. Enhancing productivity
5. Promoting organizational participation
In today’s context, however, the five most important values which should guide the OD efforts are:
1. Empowering employees to act
2. Creating openness in communication
3. Facilitating ownership of process and outcome
4. Promoting a culture of collaboration
5. Encouraging inquiry and continuous learning.

Elements & Components of OD:

Organizational Development has strong roots in action research in which organization members
identify, diagnose, choose appropriate intervention and evaluate the outcomes and their
consequences. The target of change is the total system or identifiable subsystems. Involvement and
support of top management is considered critical to effective e implementation of OD interventions.
The basic elements of OD are mentioned in brief as follows:

I. OD as a planned change effort

(a) Organization: the total organization or its subunits and not the individual is the target of
change.
(b) Data collection: the sources and methods of data collection on current status with a view
to highlighting the problem areas are identified and organization members get involved in
operationalizing the same.
(c) Diagnosis: Organization members participate in examining the problem from multiple
perspectives with a view to identifying the root causes.
(d) Improvement plans and goals. Based on the insights gained from the above change, goals
are set and plans for improvement are formulated.
(e) Resource mobilization: resources needed for implementation of the plan are mobilized,
resources could be in terms of people, material, finances, information and the like.
(f) Strategic interventions: in terms of team building intergroup collaboration, alignment of
organization with environment, envisioning, strategizing, among other are designed.
(g) Action orientation: specific plans of action are formulated to bring about improvement in
work teams, cross functional teams, individual roles, organization processes, systems or
structures.
(h) Long term implementation effort: for sustainable improvement quick-fix solutions are
avoided and sufficient time is given for internalization of change process.
(i) Continuous evaluation: organization and its various subunits monitor, review and
evaluate the change effort and its impact on a continuous basis.
(j) Change agents: facilitation from external change agent or OD consultant is needed in the
initial stages of OD effort. The OD consultant provides assistance in developing a cadre of
internal change agents who provide facilitation and maintain the momentum throughout
the organization. The external consultant dissolves relationship with the organization, as
and when his/her role is taken over by internal change agents.

II. Total system involvement: Organization as a total system

(a) Organization wide or a major autonomous part as the change target.

(b) All major subsystems:

 Human( personnel, cultural)

 Technical ( workflow, job design)
 Managerial(structure,policy,procedure, systems)

III . Top Management Involvement:

Top Management involvement is essential as OD efforts are directed towards the total system change
that will have far reaching consequences for the organizations and its members consequently the OD
effort cannot be initiated without the long term commitment of the top management. The degree of
involvement may however differ from one organization to another. OD consultant needs to take into
account the following conditions to intiate OD efforts.

Befinning of OD efforts at the top is highly desirable but not essential.

Optimum level will be to obtain top management’s understanding, commitment and management of
OD effort.

Minimal accepted option will be to get the initial permission from top level for OD effort to start in
some target subsystem.

Support of top management, at least over the long run, is required to initiate OD effort.

Top management takes the initiative, for organizational development process; when it believes that
there are deficiencies in the overall functioning of the organization. This initiative comprises of the
following components:
 Diagnosis
 Intervention
 Evaluation

Diagnosing the current situation, enables to identify and gather data, to solve organizational problems.
Change agents collect the data, through various sources (questionnaires, interviews, observation,
documents etc.). Data collected, is diagnosed by the top level management.
Intervention is an attempt to correct the organizational deficiency. Once the situation is diagnosed,
interventions are designed and implemented with the help of change agents. Organizational
development intervention techniques are given below:
 Process consultation: It enables the group members to gain skills, and resolve group dynamics
(if any). Change agents observe groups, provide the feedback regarding dysfunction in the areas
of decision making etc. and communicate the same to top management.
 Team building: It enables to set organizational goals, examine the organization's environment,
and analyze the performance.
 Third party intervention: Conflicts arise due to sub-optimal interpersonal relations, or work
issues that can be solved by arbitration, or third party involvement.
 Survey feedback: Feedback collected by change agents are tabulated for easy identification,
and understanding of the issues.
 Technostructural activities: It enables the organizational members, to improve work
technology and organization structure.
 Skill development: Skill development can take place through management training. Managers at
all levels, can be trained to improve their skills, in the areas of delegation, problem-solving,
conflict resolution etc.
The common feature in the above interventions is, that they not only solve the current problems, but
enable individuals and groups to acquire the required skills necessary to solve future problems.
The following are the objectives of organization development.
 To enhance the employees' abilities, to align with organizational goals
 To encourage problem-solving approach, rather than problem-avoiding approach, while solving
organizational problems
 Strengthening interpersonal trust, cooperation, communication and support
 Increasing the individual responsibility for planning
 To supplement a formal authority with authority based on personal knowledge and skill
Encourage the human tendency to adapt to changes

Manager development implies the progress, an employee makes in learning. This

progress mainly occurs due to training inputs. The common approaches for
managerial training are, on-the-job training and internal and external training.

On-the-job training

On-the-job training places the employees in an actual work situation, and gives an
impression that they are immediately productive. It is the process of learning by
doing. This approach is suitable for those jobs that are difficult to be simulated, or
can be learnt quickly, by watching and doing.

Some important on-the-job training techniques are given below:

 Planned progression: It is a step-by-step process, enabling the

performance of tasks at each level.

 Job rotation: It implies a broadening of the knowledge of the managers,

and turning them from specialists into generalists. In addition to increasing
the manager's experience, and allowing the manager to absorb new
information, it can reduce boredom and stimulate the development of new
ideas.

For instance, bank employees are trained to do different roles such

as cashier, accountant, forex manager, locker incharge etc.

 Creation of assistant-to positions: Assistant-to positions are created, to

allow trainees to work with experienced managers, and are well guided for
meeting the requirements of the task.

 Temporary promotions: When the managerial positions fall vacant due to

illness, vacation etc. for a certain period, acting managers are appointed in
such vacancies. Decisions made by the acting managers are, some times,
accepted and implemented by the organization. In certain organizations
however, these mangers merely act as a 'figure head', and are not
involved in the process of decision making. Such activities have minimal
 benefits to the organization.

 Committees and junior board: Middle and lower level trainees are given
an opportunity to interact with experienced or top level managers, by
attending committee and board meetings. Trainees become acquainted with
a variety of issues concerning the organization as a whole. Some
organizations motivate their employees to submit proposals, and reports to
the committee, and to demonstrate their analytical and conceptual skills.

 Coaching: Coaching implies, that the manager takes the initiative, for
guiding the other managers.

For instance, a track coach, observes, analyzes and attempts to

improve the performance of athletes. Similarly, coaches in
organizations train/guide their subordinates or managers. The
effective coach, whether on the track or in the corporate hierarchy,
gives guidance through direction, advice, criticism and suggestions,
in an attempt to aid the growth of the employee.

Internal and external training

The following are some of the internal and external training programs, conducted
by the organization:

 Sensitivity training: Popular during the 1950's, sensitivity or T-group

training influences the participants through unstructured group
interactions. Small group of people come together, to spend some time, for
therapy, and for educational purposes.

 Conference programs: Organizations conduct conference programs

(internal conference), to make employees aware of the organization's
history, policy and goals, and its relationship with the stakeholders.

 University management programs: Training workshops are conducted by

universities and educational institutions, aimed at supervisors, middle and
top executives. Some programs are customized to fit the employees' needs.

For instance, NIIT conducts computer training programs for their

employees. Similarly, Learn2.com provides online learning and
training, for middle and top level executives. These programs are
customized according to the organizational needs.

 Readings: Employees can update their knowledge and skills, by reading

management books, and journals. Many software professionals regularly
read computer magazines like PC quest, Computers Today etc. Similarly,
management and business executives read Economist, Harvard Business
Review etc. to update their knowledge.

 Business simulation, experimental exercise and expert systems:

 Training and development conducted through simulation and experimental
exercise, can improve individual behaviors, improve decision-making
abilities and negotiation skills. Similarly expert systems such as artificial
intelligence, (considered as a substitute for brain functioning) are used for
decision making. For instance, decisions at IBM and Texas Instruments for
bids and capital investments are made with the support of artificial
intelligence.

Organizational Conflict

One problem that is often encountered in Organizational Development, is the

conflict between individuals or departments. These conflicts arise due to the
following reasons.

Task interdependence: Interdependence can be sequential or reciprocal. In

sequential interdependence, one individual or work unit is heavily dependent on
the other.

For instance, In restaurants, waiters are dependent on cooks (than

cashiers), to furnish good meals in time.

In reciprocal interdependence, individuals or work units are mutually

interdependent.

For instance, purchase agents want engineers to provide detailed

specifications, so that they can negotiate lower costs from suppliers.
Similarly, when engineers require specific tools, they can put
forward their requirements, to purchase agents.

Scarce resources: Limited resources such as office space, equipment, human

resources, contribute to conflict.

For instance, if two groups, require the same facilities; each may
feel that their needs are more important than the other, and may not
be willing to make a compromise.

Goal incompatibility: Organization members frequently pursue goals, that are

different from one another.

For instance, sales personnel may find it easier to battle

competition, by promising quick deliveries. But, production
department may find, that small production run on short notice, is
impossible.

Communication barriers: Breakdowns in communication, due to distortions or

lack of communication, often lead to conflicts.

Managing Conflict

Conflict can be managed in different ways. Most of the conflict resolution

techniques either focus on interpersonal relationships or structural changes. The
following are five conflict-handling techniques

Avoidance: There may be several situations wherein even the best managers
sometimes find themselves in the midst of destructive conflict. Avoidance of the
situation that causes the conflict is useful.

Problem solving: When parties to the conflict take the time to identify and
correct the source of their conflict, they are engaging in problem solving. In this
approach differences are openly confronted and the issues are analyzed as
objectively as possible.

Compromise: A traditional way of coping with conflict. Compromise situations are

approached with a win-lose attitude. Successful compromises require skillful
negotiations.

Forcing: It is thrusting one's views on others. This takes place when the time is
important. Forcing does not resolve personal conflict and may foster resentment,
mistrust and resistance.

Smoothing: This technique involves laying emphasis on the area of agreement

and common goals, and de-emphasizing disagreements.

Besides these techniques, making structural changes is another way of coping with
conflict.
UNIT 3
3. Theory and Management of Organization Development: foundations of organization development –
Managing the organization development process – Action research and organization development.

The foundations of OD and its components

Foundations of OD
OD is an ongoing and interactive process. It is a form of applied behavioral science, and a normative re-
educative strategy of change. OD views organizations from a systems perspective. It is experience-based,
emphasizes goal-setting and planning, and its activities focus on intact work teams to bring about
organization development. The OD process can be explained under the following heads:
OD is an ongoing, interactive process
The OD interventions in an organization are sequenced according to the strategy of the organization. OD
is a continuous process and is dynamic in nature. It is not a one-time process and continues to take place
in the organization. The OD process concentrates not only on what is done in an organization but also on
how it is done. An OD program tries to improve the effectiveness of organizational processes by
achieving two objectives. The first objective is to rectify problems through designing appropriate
solutions. The second objective is for the organization to develop internal capabilities to handle any
problems that may arise in the future rather than rely on a consultant.
OD is a form of applied behavioral science
An OD program applies various principles of behavioral science such as sociology, social psychology,
social anthropology, psychiatry, and other disciplines. An OD practitioner generally uses known theories
and principles of human behavior to diagnose problems and find solutions. He/she makes use of
knowledge from the fields of group dynamics, personality theory, social psychology, and organization
theory.
OD as a normative – re-educative strategy of change
Three strategies for organizational change given by R. Chin and K. Benne are the empirical-rational
strategy, normative-re-educative strategy, and the power–coercive strategy. The OD process mainly
follows the normative-re-educative strategy. The implications of the OD process based on the normative-
re-educative strategy are:
• The client suggests the improvements and changes desired in the organization.
• Designing of interventions required for the client’s organization is done by the combined efforts
of the OD practitioner and the client.
• Solutions for problems are usually found by the change agent through the application of the
principles and practices of behavioral science after understanding the attitudes, values, relationships,
and general practices in the organization.
OD views organizations from a systems perspective
According to the interpretation of French and Bell, the systems approach concentrates on the dynamics
of phenomena and views which are interrelated and interdependent. When organizations are viewed
from a systems perspective, there can be several consequences of applying the knowledge from
behavioral science to OD. These are:
To understand OD from a systems perspective, the issues, events, and phenomena in organizations are
to be understood in relation to other phenomena as they do not occur in isolation.
i. The systems approach to OD tries to project a realistic view by analyzing the possible causes for
the event rather than by trying to find only a single cause.
ii. To clearly understand the events in the organization, Kurt Lewin suggested the field theory.
According to it, the field of forces existing at the time of an event was relevant for the analysis of the
happening.
iii. A part of the system cannot be changed in isolation as the components of organization are
interrelated.
iv. OD aims to bring about a change in the organization as a whole and not parts of it. An
improvement in the functioning of an organization is facilitated only by a change in the entire system.
OD is a data-based approach to planned change
The OD process is different from other data-based change activities in the organization. OD gives
importance to the value of data more than other activities. Some kinds of data like data related to
human and social processes in the organization are more useful for OD programs. The management
develops action plans based on the data collected from various sources. Sometimes, contradictory data
is obtained about an issue in the organization and this helps to improve action plans as different
viewpoints can be considered. OD programs consider data on a functional and dysfunctional basis rather
than by classifying data as good or bad. Data obtained in OD programs is used as an aid to solving the
problems instead of enforcing certain desirable behaviors in an organization. The decisions made in OD
programs are based on empirical facts similar to the scientific methods.
OD is experience-based
OD practitioners gain an understanding of the dynamics of the organization better through experience.
They question employees about their experience in a particular situation so as to enhance their learning
skills.
OD emphasizes goal setting and planning
OD interventions lay stress on the individuals of an organization by improving their planning abilities and
setting goals for their career and life. Management by Objectives (MBO) is practiced in OD programs to
involve employees in the process of setting goals.
OD focuses on intact work teams
OD programs are developed based on the belief that organizational goals are achieved by the work
teams in the organization. It is also believed that to improve organizational functioning, there is a need
to change the culture, relationships, and processes of groups.
Intact work teams have a specific task to perform and they have superiors and subordinates as members.
These teams can accomplish more work than individuals working in groups who are not formally related
to each other. The norms and values of work teams guide the behavior of the members of the team.
Individuals in work teams can improve their performance by comparing themselves with and utilizing
others. Information about the goals and decisions of an organization are communicated to all individuals
in the team. The needs of individuals for recognition, status, and self-respect are fulfilled by work teams.
However, when there is no proper execution of OD activities in the organization, work teams can hamper
the performance of individuals in a team as people tend to equate themselves with the performance of
their work team. This can be avoided by taking the help of OD practitioners for team building in
organizations.
The OD Process
The OD process is carried out in steps. The organizational system is first analyzed and the problem areas
identified. A solution is then found to the problem. Later, action plans are developed to correct the
problems and the process is repeated by developing alternative action plans if they fail. The OD process
can be successful when there is support from both the management and the employees of the
organization.
Components of the OD process
The basic components of OD process are the diagnostic, action, and process-maintenance components.

The diagnostic component: Diagnostic activities help in clearly understanding the state of things in an
organization. The OD consultant collects the data related to the organization (client system) by involving
the client’s organization. The diagnostic component of the OD process concentrates on the total system,
subsystem, and processes in the client organization.

The action or intervention component: This component aims at correcting the defective processes
identified during diagnosis. The action component tries to implement OD programs by recognizing the
changes aimed for and the important concerns for the organization, identifying the departments,
facilitators, time, and energy of the organization for the OD process. The OD consultant works on the
interventions required for the OD process accordingly. The learning and action aspects of OD
interventions are used by the traditional and learning models of OD respectively. In the traditional
model, individuals learn about the work before actually doing it. In the learning model, the individual first
performs the task and then tries to improvise and work better after analyzing the work. However, in
formal work teams, the processes of learning and action take place simultaneously with the help of a
change agent. The action component directs the actions in an organization toward the achievement of
the goals and objectives of the organization.

The process-maintenance component: This component of the OD process manages the conflicts which
arise in the process. It also focuses on improving the processes in the organization, guiding employees to
achieve goals by encouraging their participation, identifying the abilities of employees, getting feedback
about the OD process, testing the relevance of the OD interventions, and ensuring that they do not
deviate from the set goals.
The Organization Development Process

The OD process begins when an organization recognizes that a problem exists which impacts the mission
or health of the organization and change is desired. It can also begin when leadership has a vision of a
better way and wants to improve the organization. An organization does not always have to be in trouble
to implement organization development activities.
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Once the decision is made to change the situation, the next step is to assess the situation to fully
understand it. This assessment can be conducted in many ways including documentation review,
organizational sensing, focus groups, interviewing, or surveying. The assessment could be conducted by
outside experts or by members of the organization.
After the situation is assessed, defined, and understood, the next step is to plan an intervention. The
type of change desired would determine the nature of the intervention. Interventions could include
training and development, team interventions such as team building for management or employees or
the establishment of change teams, structural interventions, or individual interventions.
Once the intervention is planned, it is implemented.
During and after the implementation of the intervention, relevant data is gathered. The data gathered
would be determined by the change goals. For example, if the intervention were training and
development for individual employees or for work groups, data to be gathered would measure changes
in knowledge and competencies.
This data is used to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. It is reported to the organization’s
decision-makers. The decision-makers determine if the intervention met its goals. If the intervention met
its goals, the process can end, which is depicted by the raising of the development bar. If it did not, the
decision is made whether to continue the cycle and to plan and carry out another intervention or to end
it.

Action Research Model of Organizational Development

The O.D. process can be conveniently presented in the form of action research model. O.D. emphasizes
the process solving and trains the participants to identify and solve problems that are important to them.
For this purpose, various steps of O.D.-problem identification and diagnosis, planning for change,
interventions for change and evaluation of change are undertaken on continuous and cyclical basis. This
cyclical process of using research to guide action, which generates new data as the basis for new actions,
is known as action research. French and Bell have defined action research as follows :

"Action research is the process of systematically collecting research data about an ongoing system
relating to some objective, goal, or need of that system; feeding these data back into the system; taking
actions by altering selected variables within the system based on the data and on hypothesis; and
evaluating the results of actions of actions by collecting more data".
Various activities involved in action research are presented in Fig. 10.1.
Techniques of Organizational Development or Organizational Development Interventions
According to French and Bell, "Organizational development interventions are sets of structured activities
in which selected organizational units (target groups or individuals) engage with a task or a sequence of
tasks where the task goals are related directly or indirectly to organizational improvement. Interventions
constitute the action thrust of organization development, they make things happen and are what is
happening".
Several techniques have been included under the O.D. programme. The most popular among them are as
explained below :
1. Sensitivity Training
Sensitivity training is also known as T-groups (T for training). This technique is based on the assumption
that a manager's behaviour is not how he thinks, he behaves but how others view his behaviour. The
basic objective of sensitivity training is to change the behaviour of the people through unstructured
group interactions. With this training a person understands how his behaviour affects others and his
reaction to the behaviour of others. T-groups have the following characteristic features :
C) Members (10 to 15 individuals) are brought together in a free and open environment, away for work
places.
(ii) No formal agenda is provided for the meeting.
(iii) The participants discuss themselves freely aided by a facilitator. The role of facilitator is to c attention
from time to time to the ongoing process within the group.
The procedure tends to develop introspection and self-examination, individual personality a
(iv) group interaction, processes and relationship become the focus of discussion. The role of facilitator is
to create an opportunity for the members to express their ideas, beliefs and attitude
In short, the basic objectives of the T-groups are to provide the participants with increased awareness of
their own behaviour and how others perceive them, greater sensitivity to the behaviour or others and
increased understanding of group process.
Benefits of T-groups
Sensitivity training represents a valuable psychological experience and a highly effective approach for
improving of interpersonal relationships. It offers the following benefits :
C) People who are more open to feedback, learn more about themselves in several of the sessions and
acquire increased self-awareness.
(ii) It develop insights into how the participants react to others and how others react to them.
(iii) It helps to understand group process and inter-personal group relations and how to many people
through means other than power.
(iv) It helps to assess one's values and goals as a result of the analysis of direct experiences. These
sessions have helped aggressive individuals to become friendly, timid persons to become
(v) more assertive and outwardly brusque managers to change their behaviors to exhibit mo empathy.
Two studies one by Argyris and another by Sikes found support for the effectiveness of laboratory
training in improving social sensitivity and effectiveness behaviour in groups.
Limitations of T-Groups
Critics point out that all the above positive effects are felt only during the training period. Aw
(i) from the course, the individual find themselves with the same traits which they possessed befor
participating in the sensitivity sessions.
(ii) The contribution of sensitivity training to individual and group performance is also questioned.
(iii) All the benefits accrued from the experiences are so short lived so as to make the experience waste
of time and money.
(iv) It forces many individuals to undergo a personality-humiliating and anxiety provoke experience from
which they might not recover.
(v) It strips some people of defenses which they badly need and provides them with nothing replace
these defenses.
(vi) It encourages behavioural modes that are acceptable in the laboratory but unacceptable in mo
organizational settings.
(vii) It encourages and coerces individuals to reveal aspects about themselves that constitute invasion of
privacy, thus harboring later resentment in participants.
To sum up, sensitivity training has both strong and weak points. It is essential for the management to
take adequate steps to remove the deficiencies of sensitivity training. If used with care, it can be of great
value in overcoming resistance and introducing change in the organization.
1. Grid Training and Development
Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid is one of the most important approaches to the concept of O.D. The
managerial grid, also known as the grid training aims at attaining much more than the development and
growth of the individual managers. It is a technique which integrates individual, team and organizational
development. This model depicts two prevailing concerns found in all organizations-concern for
productivity and concern for people. Some managers are high in concern for productivity but low in
concern for people. Managerial Grid, helps the managers in evaluating their concern for people and
productivity. It also stresses the importance of team-management leadership styles.
In grid O.D., the consultant uses questionnaires to determine the existing styles of managers, help them
to re-examine their own styles and work towards maximum effectiveness. A grid O.D. programme has
the following six stages :
Training : In the first stage, the managers learn about grid concepts and how they are applied,
(i) week long seminars. They assess their own managerial styles and work on improving such ask as team
development, group problem solving and communication. After appropriate instruction these key
managers will work to implement the grid programme throughout the organization.
Team Development : This is an extension of first stage. Members of the same department
(ii) brought together to discuss how they are going to attain a 9, 9 position on the grid. In this start what
was learned in the training stage is applied to the actual organizational situation. Intergroup
Development : Whereas the first two stages are aimed at managerial development this phase marks the
beginning of overall organizational development. There is a shift from mi
(iii) level of individual and group development to a macro level of group to group organization
development. The main focus is on improving co-ordination and co-operation among w groups.
Intergroup tensions are dealt with openly and joint problem solving procedures adopted.
Organizational Goal Setting : In the manner of management by objectives, in this stage,
(iv) participate contribute to and agree upon the important goals of the organization. A sense
commitment and self-control is instilled in the participants as the managers and subordinate work
together throughout the organization.
Goal Attainment : In the stage, the participants attempt to accomplish the goals which they
(v) in the fourth stage. Each subunit examines how their activities should be carried out in order achieve
excellence and they proceed to take whatever corrective actions are necessary.
Stabilization : In this stage, all the efforts from stage (i) to stage (v) are evaluated and critic
(vi) analysis is made. The analysis will bring about the shortcomings that may be there. In this various
programmes may be redesigned.
2. Process Consultation
According to Egdar Schein, "Process consultation includes a set of activities on the part of consultant
which helps the client to perceive, understand and act upon process events which occur, in the client's
environment".
Process consultation assumes that an organization's effectiveness depends upon how well its people
relate to one another. Being not a member of the organization, the external consultant is in a better
position to suggest remedies to the problems being faced by the organization by adequately diagnosing
the same on the basis of better understanding of the external environmental factors affecting the
organization. Major concern areas of process consultation are :
♦ Intergroup processes
♦ Group problem solving and decision making
♦ Communication
♦ Group norms and growth
♦ Functional roles of group members
♦ Leadership and authority.
The assumptions underlying the process consultation model are :
(i) Manager often need special diagnostic help in knowing what is wrong with the organization. Most
managers have constant desire to increase organizational effectiveness, but they need h
(ii) in deciding how to achieve it.
(...) Managers can be effective if they learn to diagnose their own strengths and weaknesses with
exhaustive and time consuming study of the organization.
The outside consultant cannot learn enough about the culture of the organization, to suggest ne
(iv) reliable courses of action. He should, therefore, work jointly with the members of organizations.
The client must learn to see the problem for himself, understand the problem and suggest
(v) remedy. The consultant should provide new and challenging alternatives for the client consider.
However, the decision making authority on these alternatives about organization changes remain with
the client.
It is essential that the process consultant is an expert in diagnosing and establishing effect
(vi) helping relationships with the client. Effective process consultation involves passing those ski to the
client.
The various stages, suggested by Schein in the process consultation technique are explained as follows :
C) Initiate Contract : This is where the client contracts the consultant with a problem that can be solved
by normal organizational procedures or resources.
Define the Relationship : In this step, the consultant and the client enter into both a for (ii) contract,
spelling out services, time and fees and a psychological contract. The latter explains t expectations of
results on both the clients and consultant's sides. (...)
Select a Setting and a Method : This stage involves an understanding of how and where consultant will
do the job that needs to be done.
Gather data and Make a Diagnosis : Through a survey, using questionnaires, observations a (iv)
interviews, the consultant makes a preliminary diagnosis. This data gathering occur simultaneously with
the entire consultative process. ( )
Intervene : Agenda setting, feedback, coaching and/or structural interventions can be made
the process consultation approach. ( .)
Reduce Involvement and Terminate : The consultant disengages from the client organization by mutual
agreement but leaves the door open for future involvement.
This technique helps a lot in solving intergroup and interpersonal problems faced by the organization.
Though help is taken from the external consultant, that help is indirect. Generally, the organizations help
themselves.
The biggest drawback of this method is that the participant's involvement in the process is not that sharp
and important and moreover a span of 2-3 years is required which needs lot of commitment and cost.
3. Team Development
Team development is a process diagnosing and improving the effectiveness of a work group with
particular attention to work procedures and interpersonal relationships within it, especially the role of
the leader in relation to other group members. A team building programme deals with new problems on
an ongoing basis. It is an effective technique by which members of a group diagnose how they work
together and plan changes that will improve their effectiveness. The work group problems may be of two
types :
(i) Task Related Conflicts : The task related conflicts can be streamlined by changing the ways things are
done, by redirecting the resources to be utilized and by re-examining the work processes.
(ii) Personality Conflicts : The interpersonal relationships within the team can be improved by creating
an environment which is open and trustworthy. In this atmosphere, members can freely communicate
their feelings and thoughts, leadership evolves on the basis of respect and functional excellence and
where conflicts are resolved on the basis of mutual understanding. As a technique of O.D., team building
requires the help of a skilled consultant to increase the effectiveness of the group's tasks and
maintenance roles. Feedback is another important component of team building which is provided by the
consultant during or after the meeting to increase, the effectiveness of both the groups as well as the
members.
There are three approaches to team development :
(i) The consultant will interview members of the team individually to know their feelings, attitudes and
perceptions of team effectiveness. After that, the consultant will arrange a meeting of group away from
the organization and provide them feedback data which will be discussed in detail. The set of priorities
will be worked out and action plan will be formulated for resolving the problem.
(ii) In this approach, each team member will discuss with another member his perceived roles and also
team feeling, so as to make more meaningful and productive contribution. This exercise will help in
removing most of misunderstandings existing between team members and also ensure that each team
member accepts his role as well as the role of other team members.
(iii) The consultant will regularly attend the team meeting. He will observe how the team is
accomplishing the group tasks and maintaining roles. Thus, he will concentrate on the process than the
contents. After that he will suggest the steps to improve the effectiveness of the working of the groups.
Team building is both a time consuming and exhausting intervention technique, but very useful if
managed skillfully.
4. Survey Feedback
Survey feedback is one of the most popular and widely used intervention techniques in the field of O.D.
This approach was first developed at the institute of Social Research of University of Michigan. The main
aim of this technique is to get teams in the organization to devise better processes for handling the
issues facing them. Survey Feedback involves two basic activities :
(i) Collecting data about the organization through the use of surveys of questionnaires.
(ii) Conducting feedback meeting and workshops in which the data are presented to organizational
members.
Using standardized questionnaires data are collected from organizational members about individual
attitudes, organizational climate and the general health of the enterprise. The questionnaires are
distributed to all the members of the organization, completed and returned to the change agent for
tallying and analysis. These data are then fed back to the top management and other participating
groups down through the hierarchy. During the final step of the process, organizational leaders conduct
group meetings with the change agent, help in when the questionnaire results are discussed, problems
are identified and corrective strategies are developed.
Survey feedback is useful in the following situations :
(i) It helps in bringing about changes in attitudes and perceptions of participants.
(ii) When used along with team building, the impact of survey feedback is more positive.
(iii) It is most effective in improving teams whose members already possess a high degree of conceptual
skill and are dealing with long term issues. This approach is less useful with teams which are concerned
essentially with day to day activities and short term results.
5. Third Party Peace Making
Third party peace making as the name suggests, focuses on the interventions by a third party to resolve
the conflicting situations. It is aimed at the analysis of involved processes, diagnose the conflict's causes
and with the assistance of a third party consultant resolves the conflict effectively. Richard Walton
suggests that in third party peace making, the fundamental concept is that the consultant will make the
two disagreeing parties to confront or to face up to the fact that a conflict does exist and it is impairing
the effectiveness of both. The consultant will use the right intervention techniques for facilitating the
significant issues involved in the conflict to surface. These techniques may be :
(i) Wisely choosing the place.
(ii) Selecting the proper environment.
(iii) Using effective intervention strategies.
(iv) Setting an appropriate agenda for the meeting.
(v) Helping the parties in conflict to own up to their problems and find solutions.
Where the issues involved in the conflict are of a substantive nature, the peace maker will concentrate
on the parties engaging in problem solving through rational bargaining behaviors. On the other hand, if
the conflict is emotional in nature, the consultant might have to work hard at restructuring the
perceptions and facilitate understanding between the parties involved.
6. Role Playing
Role playing technique is used for human relations and leadership training. Its objective is very narrow
i.e., to increase the trainee's skill in dealing with others. It can be used in human relations training and
sales training because both these involve dealing with other. The steps involved in this method are as
explained below :
(i) A conflict situation is artificially created and two or more trainers are assigned different roles to play.
No dialogue is given before hand.
(ii) The role players are provided with either a written or oral description of the situation and the role
they are to play.
(iii) After being given sufficient time to plan their action, they must act their parts spontaneously before
the class.
Advantages : Role playing has a number of advantages such as :
(i) It provides an opportunity for developing human relations understanding and skills and to put into
practice the knowledge they have acquired from textbooks, lectures, discussions etc.
(ii) It is learning by doing. The interview may be recorded to provide the trainees a chance to listen to
their performance and note their strengths and weaknesses.
(iii) The knowledge of results is immediate because the trainees as well as the observers analyze the
behaviour of the role players.
7. Structural Techniques
The O.D. techniques discussed till now are behaviorist in nature. In addition to these, there are structural
approaches also as a part of the O.D. programme. These approaches may include the following :
(i) Change in the organization's formal structure
(ii) Job redesigning
(iii) Job enlargement
(iv) Job enrichment
(v) Management by objectives
(vi) Training and career development
(vii) Modifications of the organizational culture.
Depending upon the circumstances, the organizations can use any of the above mentioned O.D.
techniques for enhancing the opportunities for growth and development of individuals, groups and the
organizational system itself. Organizations should also subscribe to certain values so as to make O.D.
effective.

UNIT 4
4. Organization Development Intervention: team intervention – Inter-group and third party peacemaking
intervention – Comprehensive intervention – Structural interventions – Training experiences.

Introduction
An intervention is a deliberate process by which change is introduced into peoples’ thoughts, feelings
and behaviors. The overall objective of any intervention is to confront individuals, teams or units of
people in a non-threatening way and allow them to see their self-destructive behavior and how it affects
themselves and colleagues. It might involve several people who have prepared themselves to talk to the
target group that has been engaging in some sort of self-destructive behavior. In a clear and respectful
way, they inform the persons of factual information regarding their behavior and how it may have
affected them. The immediate objective of an intervention is for the target to listen and to accept help.
Organization Development (OD) intervention would be a combination of the ways a manager can
influence the productivity of his/her team by understanding how managerial style impacts organizational
climate and more importantly how to create an environment of high performance.

Most OD interventions are plans or programs comprised of specific activities designed to effect change in
some facet of an organization. Numerous interventions have been developed over the years to address
different problems or create various results. However, they all are geared toward the goal of improving
the entire organization through change. In general, organizations that wish to achieve a high degree of
organizational change will employ a full range of interventions, including those designed to transform
individual and group behavior and attitudes. Entities attempting smaller changes will stop short of those
goals, applying interventions targeted primarily toward operating policies, management
structures, worker skills, and personnel policies. OD interventions can be categorized in a number of
ways, including function, the type of group for which they are intended, or the industry to which they
apply. W.L. French identified major families of interventions based on the type of activities that they
included, such as activity groups included teambuilding, survey feedback, structural change, and career-
planning.

4.1 Organization development intervention

Organization Development Interventions

OD interventions could be carried out at individual, interpersonal, group, inter-group and
organizational levels. Examples of interventions on the individual level are: coaching and counseling,
management consultation, training and development, role playing, transactional analysis, life and
career planning activities. On the person-to-person, dyad/triad level the interventions include shuttle
diplomacy, mediation and process consultation. At the group level OD interventions involve team-
building, leadership training, communication training and other educative efforts, survey feedback,
problem solving consultation. At the intergroup level, organizations use interventions such as shuttle
diplomacy and mediation and team-building. At the organizational level the interventions might
include combinations of the above, as well as strategic planning, problem analysis, interviews and
 questionnaires, confrontation meetings and making recommendations for structural or procedural
changes (French & Bell, 1984).
INTERVENE

“To intervene is to enter into an ongoing system of relationships, to come between or among
persons, groups, or objects for the purpose of helping them.” Chris Argyris
(July 16, 1923 – November 16, 2013)

INTERVENTION

Interventions are sets of structured activities in which selected organizational units engage in a series
of tasks which will lead to organizational improvement.
The intervention is the procedure the OD consultant uses, after diagnosing an organizational
situation and providing feedback to management, to address an organization problem or positive
future.

CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS

1. The Extent to Which it (the Intervention) fits the needs of the organization.
2. The degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended outcomes.
3. The extent to which the OD intervention transfers change-management competence to
organization members.

Factors that Impact the Success of OD Interventions

1.Factors relating to Change Situation

These relate to the environment of the organization and include the physical and human
environment.
A. Readiness for Change
B. Capability to Change
C. Cultural Context
D. Capabilities of the Change Agent

2. Factors Related to the Target of Change

These relate to the specific targets at which OD interventions are targeted. The targets of
change can be different issues of the organization and at different levels.
A. Organizational Issues
 Strategic Issues
 Technology and Structure Issues
 Human Resource Issues
 Human Process Issues

B. Organizational Levels
OD interventions are aimed at different levels of the organization: individual, group,
organization and trans-organization
4.2 Team Intervention

The purpose of this team is to help employees/members of the team that are struggling in some
way. This usually refers to performance but can include emotional / behavioral / social concerns
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEAMS
1. Cross-Functional Teams
Comprised of individuals with functional home base but they meet regularly to solve ongoing challenges
requiring input from a number of functional areas
2. Effective Teams
Effective teams are relaxed, comfortable and informal.
3. High Performance Teams
Have strong personal commitment to each other commitment to other’s growth and success.

Effective Team

An effective team has certain characteristics that allow the team members to function more efficiently
and productively.
An effective team develops ways to share leadership roles and ways to share accountability for their
work products, shifting the emphasis from the individual to several individuals within the team. A team
also develops a specific team purpose and concrete work products that the members produce together.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEAM INTERVENTION

TEAM BUILDING

These activities focus on task issues such as the way things are done, the skills and resources needed to
accomplish tasks, the quality of relationship among the team members or between members and the
leader, and how well the team gets its job done.
Interventions focus on:
1. Formal Groups
2. Special Groups

4 MAIN AREAS OF TEAM INTERVENTION

1. Diagnosis
2. Task Accomplishments
3. Team Relationships
4. Team and Organization Processes

THE FORMAL GROUP DIAGNOSTIC MEETING

Its purpose is to conduct a general critique of the performance of the group and to uncover and identify
problems on which they will work on.

“Where we are going” and “how we are going.”

After sharing the data throughout the group, next steps are: discussing the issues, grouping the issues in
terms of themes, and getting a preliminary look at the next action steps.
PROCESS CONSULTATION INTERVENTIONS
Primary emphasis is on processes such as communications, leader and member roles in groups, problem
solving and decision making, group norms and group growth, leadership and authority, and intergroup
cooperation and competition. It places greater emphasis on diagnosing and understanding process
events.

STEPS IN TEAM INTERVENTION

Step 1 - Identify At-Risk Population:
• It must be determined which members are “at-risk”. The lowest 10% in each level will be the
target group.
• Identify them by considering Previous year’s review or with various assessment technique.
Step 2 - Initial Intervention Team Meeting:
- Review data with all personnel in attendance
- Brainstorm interventions (interventions must be research-validated). Other interventions may
have been agreed upon during the initial Intervention Team meeting.

Step 3 - Interventions Begin

Step 4 - Second Intervention Team Meeting
Step 5 - Request for Further Testing

Characteristics of effective teams

 Clear purpose
 Informality
 Listening
 Civilized disagreement
 Consensus decision making
 Open communications.
 Clear roles & work assignments.
 Shared leadership

High performance teams have the same characteristics but to a higher degree
 Extra sense of commitment
 High performance with a deeper sense of purpose
 More ambitious performance goals
 More complete approaches
 Fuller mutual accountability
 Interchangeable as well as complementary skills
 Strong personal commitment to each other.

Team building interventions

Team building interventions are directed towards four major areas
 Diagnosis
 Task accomplishments
 Team relationships
 Team & organisation processes
 Team building activities

Formal groups special groups

(intact work teams) (start –up teams, special,Project teams , functional teams, parallel learning teams)

Formal groups:
A. Diagnostic meeting
B. Team building focused on
 Task accomplishment including problem solving, decision – making, role clarification, goal
setting, etc.
 Building & maintaining effective inter-personal relationships and peer relationships.
 Understanding & managing group processes & culture
 Role analysis technique for role clarification & definition
 Role negotiation techniques.

Formal groups diagnostic meeting:

The purpose of meeting is to identify problem and not solving problems
Several ways:
i. A total group discussion involving every one making individual contributions.
ii. Sub-grouping for more intense discussions & then sub-groups reporting back to total group.
iii. Pairing of two individuals each who discuss their ideas and each pair reporting back to the total
group.

When data is shared throughout the group, issues are grouped into themes. The next would be action
steps – calling a team building meeting & assigning different persons as task groups to work on the
problems.
Diagnostic meetings for newly constituted groups resulting from mergers/acquisitions are to be held
more frequently to stay ahead of the problems
Role analysis technique (RAT)
The role analysis technique intervention is designed to clarify role expectations and obligations of team
members to improve team effectiveness.
- Division of labour to discharge functions
- role clarity not understood.
- Determination of role requirements of team members consisting of joint building leading to more
mutually satisfactory and productive behaviour.
- Role incumbents in conjunction with team members define role requirements. The role defined is focal
role

In a new organization, desirable to conduct role analysis for each of major roles.
1. Analysis of focal role initiated by focal role individual, discussions with entire team, behaviours
added or deleted until group and role incumbent satisfied.
 2. Examination of focal role incumbent’s expectations of others.
3. Other’s expectations and desired behaviours of focal role
In conclusion, the focal role person assumes responsibility & makes a written summary of role profile,
which is briefly reviewed at next meeting before another focal role is analyzed.
- Collaborative role analysis and definition by the entire work group not only clarifies who is to do
what but ensures commitment to the role once it has been clarified.
- Example of a meeting of board, president and senior management team” if board or president
were operating in an optimally effective way, what would they or he be doing”
Attempts at consensus in team building sessions.
- Helps to clarify role expectations and obligations & leads to shifts in network of activities.

A Role Negotiation Technique

- When the causes of team ineffectiveness are based on people’s behaviours that they are
unwilling to change because it would mean a loss of power or influence to the individual, a
technique developed by Roger Harrison called “ role negotiation” can often be used to great
advantage.
The technique is basically an imposed structure for parties in which each party agrees in writing to
change certain behaviours in return for changes in behaviour by the other. Behaviour relate to the job
(quid pro quo) “most people prefer a fair – negotiated settlement to unresolved conflict”.

Steps
1. Contract setting
2. Issue diagnosis
3. Influence trade (negotiation)
4. Follow up meeting.
1. Contract setting
 Consultant sets climate & ground rules
 It is to change work behaviours & not feelings with “quid pro-quo”
 Session consists of individuals negotiate with each other to arrive at Written contract” of what
behaviours each one will change.

2. Issue diagnosis
Each person fills out an “issue diagnosis form’ for every other person in the group stating what other
should do “more/ less/ unchanged”. These messages are exchanged.
3. Influence trade (negotiation period)
Each person must give something to get something. This step once demonstrated by two individuals
with rest of the group watching, the group breaks into negotiating pairs. All agreements are written with
each Party having a copy.

4. Follow – up meeting
It is best to have a follow – up meeting to determine whether the contracts have been honoured and to
assess the effects of the contracts on effectiveness.
Role negotiation technique is an effective way of bringing about positive improvement in a situation
where power and influence issues are working to maintain an unsatisfactory status quo. This
intervention leads to improved team functioning with individuals changing their work behaviours
TEAM INTERVENTIONS

1. Clarify Direction
2. Inspiring Performance
3. Building Relationships and Trust
4. Conflict Management
5. Relating to the External World

Example of Airtel

Team interventions usually focus on the following:

• Clarify Direction: often facilitate teams, to clarify their visions and goals, and their understanding
of the business environment, market and competitor forces within their operation.
• Inspiring Performance: This involves clarifying individual and team roles, their
interdependencies and communication between them.
• Building Relationships and Trust: use techniques such as sharing information, giving and
receiving feedback, as well as practical behavior frameworks such as MBTI, Enneagram, DISC
Transactional Analysis and Learning Styles, to help colleagues understand each other better.
• Conflict Management: help clarify the rules of engagement and, if necessary, use conflict
management techniques to help protagonists stand back and take a fresh look at how they are
behaving and working together, and explore options for change.
• Relating to the External World: identify the key external stakeholders of the team, how
communication occurs between them and individual team members, and facilitate changes
which simplify and enhance effectiveness.

4.3.Inter-group and third party peacemaking intervention

• The focus of this is on improving intergroup relations.
Inter – group and third party peace – making interventions
When there is tension, conflict or competition among groups:-
- Each group sees other as “ enemy”
- Each group describes others in negatives
- Interaction & communication decreases
- Feed back & data input cut off
- Communication is distorted & inaccurate
- Each group prizes itself positively and denigrates others & their products
- Other groups can do nothing right & we can do no wrong.
There is considerable inter group conflict in organizations and known patterns of behaviour of
groups in conflict

How to resolve conflict?

 “Common enemy”
 Increased interaction & communication
 Finding a superordinate goal
 Rotating the members of the group & instituting some forms of training
Inter – group team building interventions
 Increase communications & inter-actions between work related groups

 Reduce amount of dysfunctional competition

 Replace a parochial independent point of view with best efforts of both groups.
 Activities developed by Blake, Shepard & Mounton – six steps.
i. Discussions by group leaders (or whole group) with consultant - willingness & take steps
to improve is established.
ii. Two groups meet separately & draw up two lists
A. What the other group is like?
B. What the other group thinks about them?
iii. Two groups meet and read out lists. No discussions & only clarification on any point
contained in list.
iv. Two groups return to separate meeting places. Differences may not be as great as
imagined. They make a list of priority issues to be resolved.
v. Two groups share their lists and together make one list of problems & issues that should
be resolved. Generate action steps – “ who will do what when”
vi. Follow - up to determine whether action steps have in – fact occurred. This ensures
momentum is not lost.

Slightly modified version of above procedure presented by Fordyce & Weil in this procedure,
three lists drawn by each group.
1. A “positive feed back” list containing things the group values and likes about the other
group.
2. A ”bug” list containing things the group does not like about the other group.
3. An “empathy” list containing a prediction of what the other group is saying in its list.

Third – party peace making interventions

R.E. Walton – third party interventions into conflict situations have the potential to control
(contain) the conflict or resolve it.
Basic feature
- Two principals must be willing to confront the fact that conflict exists and it has
consequences for effectiveness of two parties.
- Third party must be able to diagnose conflict situations (conflict is a cyclic process – find
source of conflict)
Diagnostic model of inter personal conflict has four basic elements.
A. Conflict issues
B. Precipitating circumstances
C. Conflict relevant acts of principals
D. Consequences of the conflict

Substantive (policies, practice, etc.)

Issues
Emotional (negative feelings between parties)

Third party will intervene directly or indirectly in facilitating dialogue between principals.
Direct interventions
- Interviewing principals before the confrontation meeting
- Helping to set agenda.
- Attending to pace of the dialogue
- Refereeing the interaction
More subtle interventions
- Setting the meeting on neutral turf.
- Setting time boundaries on the interventions etc.
- Third party intervention requires a highly skilled professional who understands the
dynamics of conflict.
 4.4 COMPREHENSIVE OD INTERVENTIONS

• Comprehensive interventions are those in which the total organization is involved and
depth of the cultural change Is addressed.
• Phrases like “getting the whole system in the room” are appearing in greater OD
practice.
• Beckhard’s confrontation meeting and Strategic management activities involving top
management, in the case of smaller organizations ,the entire management group like
survey feedback is an important and widely used interventions for OD.

Whole system can be described as-

• Managers of all of the functional areas in a business.

• Representatives of top management, a cross section of employees from all levels, and
supplier and customer representatives.
• Directors of all of the social service agencies in a community.

BECKHARD’S CONFRONTATION MEETING

• The confrontation meeting is developed by Richard Beckhard, is a one day meeting of

the entire management of an organization, in which they take a reading of their own
organizational health.
• In a series of activities, the mgt group generates information about its major problems,
analyzes the underlying causes, develops action plans to correct the problems, and sets
a schedule foe completed remedial work.
• This intervention is an important one in OD. It is quick, simple, and reliable way in which
to generate data about an organization and to set the action plans.

The steps involved in confrontation meeting are as follows:

1. Climate setting (45-60 min). The top manager introduces the session by stating his or
her goals for the meeting, citing the necessity for free and open discussion of issues and
problems, and making it clear that individuals will not be punished for what they say.
2. Information collecting (1 hour). Small groups of 7-8 members are formed on the basis of
heterogeneity of composition that is maximum mixture of people from different
functional areas and working situations compose each team. The only rule is that bosses
and subordinates cannot be put together on the same team.
3. Information sharing (1 hour). Reporters from each small group reports the group’s
complete findings to the total group, which are placed on newsprint on the walls. The
total list of items is characterized usually by the meeting leader, into few major
categories that may be based on type of problems (e.g.. Communication problems), type
of relationships (e.g.. Troubles with top management), or type of area (e.g. problems
with the accounting deptt.)
4. Priority setting & Goal Action Planning (1 hour and 15 min.). This step typically follows
a break during which time the items from the lists are duplicated for distribution to
everyone. In a 15 min general session, the meeting leader goes to the list of items. The
groups are asked to do three tasks. First they are to identify the problems they think
should be the priority issues for top mgt. Second to find the solutions to the problems.
Third, they are to determine how they will communicate the results of the
confrontation meeting to their subordinates . This activity completes the confrontation
meeting for all the managers except for the top mgt. group.
5. Immediate follow up by top team (1 to 3 hours). The top mgt team meets the rest of
the participants have left to plan the first follow-up actions steps and to determine what
actions should be taken on the basis of what they have learned during the day. These
follow up action plans are communicated to the rest of the mgt group within several
days.
6. Progress Review (2 hours). A follow up meeting with the total mgt group is held 4-6
weeks later to the report progress and to review the actions resulting from the
confrontation meeting.
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

The concept is described by Schendel and Hofers It is defined as the development and
implementation of the organization’s grand design or overall strategy for relating to its current
and future environmental demands.

6 MAJOR TASKS OF STRATEGIC MGT ACTIVITIES

1. Goal Formulation- Defining Mission & purpose

2. Environmental analysis- SWOT Analysis
3. Strategy formulation
4. Strategy evaluation
5. Strategy implementation
6. Strategic control

STREAM ANALYSIS

• Developed by Jerry Porras is a valuable model for thinking about change and for
managing change.Displaying the problems of an organization, examining the
interconnections between the problems, identifying core problems and graphically
tracking the corrective actions taken to solve the problems

STEPS OF STREAM ANALYSIS

1. Categorizing the important features of organizational work setting in to four streams.

a. Organizational arrangements
b. Social factors
c. Technology
d. Physical Setting

2.Diagnosing the problems and barriers to effectiveness

3. Classifying the problems into four streams
4.Identifying the core problems by noting the interconnections between the problems.

SURVEY FEEDBACK
It’s a process of systematically collecting data about the system and feeding back the
data for individuals and groups at all levels of the organization to analyze, interpret
meanings and design corrective action steps.
 COMPONENTS OF SURVEY FEEDBACK ACTIVITIES

1. Climate or attitude survey

2. Feedback workshop

GRID ORGANIZATONAL DEVELOPMENT

• It’s a six phase program lasting about three to five years, an organization can move
systematically from the stage of examining managerial behavior and style to the
development and implementation of an ideal strategic corporate model.
• It enables individuals and groups to assess their own strengths and weaknesses.

PHASES IN GRID ORGANIZATONAL DEVELOPMENT

Phase 1: The Managerial Grid

Phase 2: Teamwork Development
Phase 3: Intergroup Development
Phase 4: Developing an Ideal Strategic Corporate Model
Phase 5: Implementing the Ideal Strategic Model
Phase 6: Systematic Critique

Phase 1: The Managerial Grid- Grid seminar is conducted by the company manager. Attention is
given to assessing an individual’s managerial styles; problem solving; and communication skills
etc.
Phase 2: Teamwork Development- The goal is perfecting teamwork in the organization through
analysis of team culture, traditions etc.. Feedback given to each manager about their individual
team behavior .
Phase 3: Intergroup Development- The goal is to move groups from their ineffective ways
towards an ideal model. The phase includes building operational plans for moving the two
groups.
• Phase 4: developing an ideal strategic corporate model- the focus shifts to corporate
planning. Top management design an ideal strategic corporate model that would define
what the corporation would be like.
• Phase 5: Implementing the Ideal Strategic Model- the organization implement the
model developed in phase 4. Each component appoints a planning team whose job is to
examine every phase of the component’s operation . After the planning and assessment
steps are completed, conversion of the organization to the ideal condition is
implemented.
• Phase 6: Systematic Critique- Systematic critiquing, measuring, and evaluating lead to
knowledge of what progress has been made, what barriers still exist and must be
overcome.
4.5 STRUCTURAL INTERVENTION

Structural Interventions
May be called as techno structural interventions

This class of interventions include changes in how the overall work of an organisation is divided
into units, who reports to whom, methods of control, the arrangement of equipment and
people, work flow arrangements and changes in communications and authority.

1.Sociotechnical System: is largely associated with experiments attempted to create better fit
among the technology, structure and social interactions of a particular production unit.

Premises of Sociotechnical System

(1) Effective work system must jointly optimize the relationship between their social and
technical parts.
(2) Such system must effectively manage the boundary separating and relating them to
the environment.

This system tend to feature the formation of autonomous work group, the grouping of core
tasks so that a team has major unit of total work to be accomplished, the training of group
members in multiple skills, delegation to the work group of many aspects of how the work gets
done, and the availability of great deal of information and feedback to work groups for self-
regulation of productivity and quality.

2.Self managed teams

What is a self-managed team?
A self-managed team has total responsibility for its defined remit.
That remit might be a specific project. A self-managed team thrives on interacting skill sets, on
shared motivation and shared leadership.
The team is autonomous and its members are responsible to no one but each other. The team’s
accountability is based on team’s result and not on the performance of its members. Individual
performance is an internal team issue.
A self-managed team is not just a group of people working together but also a genuine
collaboration. It is measured by its results, not the performance of its individual member.
Self-managed teams:
 Are more independent than other types of team.
 Help to flatten organizational structure.
 Eliminate intermediate levels of responsibility and removes the requirement for middle
management.
 Favour natural leaders.

Self –managed teams:

 Should set their targets.
  Should be fully empowered.
 Must monitor performance and maintain quality.
 Should be able to request assistance from outside the team but never have it imposed.
 Must maintain contact with the organization.

3.Work redesign

(Richard Hackman & Greg Oldham)

OD approach to work redesign based on a theoretical model of what job characteristics lead to
the psychological states that produce what they call "higher internal work motivation."

According Hackman and Oldham organisation analyses jobs using the five core job
characteristics - i.e. skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback from
the job.

Skill variety Related to experienced

Task identity meaningfulness of the work
Task significance

Job autonomy - Related to experienced

responsibility for the outcome
of the work

Feedback - related to psychological state

of knowledge of the result of the
work activities.

The outcome of these job characteristics is:

High work motivation
High satisfaction
High work effectiveness.

4.Quality of work life (QWL)

An attempt to restructure multiple dimensions of the organisation and to institute a

mechanism, which introduces and sustains changes over time.

QWL Features
- Voluntary involvement on the part of employees
- Union agreement with process and participation.
- Assurance of no loss of job
- Training for team problem solving
- Use of quality circles
- Participation in forecasting, work planning
- Regular plant and team meetings.
- Encouragement for skill development.
- Job rotations.

These features include union involvement - a focus on work teams, problem solving session by
the work teams in which the agenda may include productivity, quality and safety problems,
autonomy in planning work the availability of skill training and increased responsiveness to
employees by supervision.

Training experiences:

 T-group

A T-group or training group (sometimes alsoreferred to as sensitivity-training group,

humanrelations training group or encounter group) is aform of group psychotherapy
where participantsthemselves (typically, between eight and 15 people)learn about
themselves (and about small groupprocesses in general) through their interaction
witheach other.They use feedback, problem solving, and role playto gain insights into
themselves, others, and groups.

A T-group meeting does not have an explicit agenda, structure, or express goal.

Under the guidance of a facilitator, the participants are encouraged to share

emotional reactions (such as, for example, anger, fear, warmth, or envy) that arise in
response to their fellow participants actions and statements.

The emphasis is on sharing emotions, as opposed to judgments or conclusions.

In this way, T-group participants can learn how their words and actions trigger
emotional responses in the people they communicate with.

Many varieties of T-groups have existed, from the initial T-groups that focused on
small group dynamics, to those that aim more explicitly to develop self-understanding
and interpersonal communication.

Industry also widely used T-groups, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, and in many
ways these were predecessors of current team building and corporate culture
initiatives.

Objectives of T-Group
The T-Group is intended to provide you the opportunity to:

Increase your understanding of group development and dynamics.

Gaining a better understanding of the underlying social processes at work within a

group (looking under the tip of the iceberg)

Increase your skill in facilitating group effectiveness.

Increase interpersonal skills

Experiment with changes in your behaviour

Increase your awareness of your own feelings in the moment; and offer you the
opportunity to accept responsibility for your feelings.

Increase your understanding of the impact of your behaviour on others.

Increase your sensitivity to others feelings.

Increase your ability to give and receive feedback.

Increase your ability to learn from your own and a groups experience.

Increase your ability to manage and utilize conflict

Method of T-Group

one way of describing what may happen for a participant is

Unfreezing habitual responses to situations: this is facilitated by the participants own

desire to explore new ways of behaving and the trainer staying non directive silent and
providing little structure or task agenda

Self generated and chosen change by the participant: Experiment with new behaviors

Reinforce new behavior by positive feedback, participants own assessment of whether

what is happening is closer to what she/he intents, supportive environment, trust

Sources of change in group

Self-observation - participants give more attention to their own intentions, feelings,

etc.
 Feedback - participants receive information on the impact they have on others
Insight - participants expand self-knowledge

Self-disclosure - participants exposes more of themselves to others

Universality - participants experience that others share their difficulties, concerns or

hopes

Group Cohesion - participants experience trust, acceptance & understanding)

Hope - participant see others learn, achieve their goals, improve, and cope more
effectively

Vicarious Learning - participants pick up skills and attitudes from others

Catharsis - participants experience a sense of release or breakthrough

Role of a trainer:

To help the group and individuals analyze and learn from what is happening in the
group. The trainer may draw attention to events and behavior in the group and invite
the group to look at its experience. At times the trainer may offer tentative
interpretations.

To offer theory, a model or research that seems related to what the group is looking
at.

To encourage the group to follow norms that tend to serve the learning process, e.g.,
focusing on "here & now" rather than the "then & there".

To offer training and coaching in skills that tend to help the learning process, e.g.,
feedback skills, EIAG, etc. To not offer structure or an agenda.

To remain silent, allowing the group to experience its anxiety about acceptance,
influence, etc.

To be willing to disclose oneself, to be open with the group. On occasion being

willing to offer feedback and challenge a participant

To avoid becoming too directive, clinical, or personally involved.

 Behaviour modeling

Social learning theory, which provides the foundation for behaviour modeling, asserts
that most behaviours are learned by observation and modeling.

The poem ‗Children Learn What They Live‘ is based on behaviour modeling in the
home.

Factors influencing behaviour modeling

. Model characteristics

Observer characteristics

Behavior/task characteristics

Method of presentation of the model

 Life & career planning

 Career anchors

 Life goals exercise

5. Key Considerations and Issues: issues in consultant – Client relationships – System
ramifications – Power, politics and organization development – Research in organization
development

OD PROCESS
Client Selection
Entry
Contracting
Formation of ideal model
Diagnosis
Design alternative
Goal selection
Planning
Intervention
Monitor/Evaluate
Stabilize

Individual Focus Interpersonal/Group/Intergroup

Goal-Setting Role Analysis
T-Groups Role Negotiations
Life Planning Confrontation
Sensitivity Training Team Building
Stress Management Conflict Resolution
Job Design Mirroring
Types of Change Strategies
Empirical-Rational: rational determination that change is in one’s own interest
Normative-Reeducative: educating on values in order to change attitudes and establish new
norms
Power-Coercive: compliance to the desires of the powerful
The OD Practitioner
Internal and External Consultants
Professionals from other disciplines who apply OD practices (e.g., TQM managers, IT/IS
managers,
compensation and benefits managers)
Managers and Administrators who apply OD from their line or staff positions (e.g., project
managers,
product managers)
Competencies of an OD Practitioner
Intrapersonal skills
o Self-Awareness
Interpersonal skills
o Ability to work with others and groups
o Authenticity (Block ch. 3)
General consultation skills
o Ability to get skills and knowledge used
Organization development theory
o Knowledge of change processes

Role Demands on OD Practitioners

Position
o Internal vs. External
Marginality
o Ability to straddle boundaries
Emotional demands
o Emotional intelligence: How we work with clients.
Use of knowledge and experience
o Attend to all phases of the business
o Focus on how we are working with clients
CHANGE CONSULTANTS’ STYLES
Stabilizer: forced upon practitioner
Cheerleader: employee motivation/morale; non-confrontational; maintaining harmony
Analyzer: efficiency; rationality; confrontational; authoritative; expert; clients’ properly
diagnosed
problem; individual satisfaction not as important
Persuader: effectiveness and morale; low risk; avoids confrontation with forces; “good
enough;” satisfy
different forces; weak change intervention
Pathfinder: effectiveness, satisfaction, participation, collaboration; confrontation/conflict =
means to an end
Professional Ethics/Ethical Dilemmas
Misrepresentation of skills
o Professional/technical ineptness
Misuse of data
o To punish, layoffs
o Breaching confidentiality
Collusion & Coercion
o Nonparticipation is acceptable
Promising Unrealistic Outcomes
Values and Goals Conflict

THE ENTERING PROCESS

Clarifying the Organizational Issue
o Presenting Problem
o Symptoms
o Digging Deeper
Determining the Relevant Client
o Working power and authority
o Multiple clients—multiple contracts
Selecting a Consultant
Why clients want OD intervention?
To help make management decisions
To increase collaborative decision-making
Legitimizing informal systems
Become responsive to valid data
Legitimize conflict; “disagreeing in harmony”
Examine leadership and management practices
Emotional Demands of Entry
Client Issues

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Exposed and vulnerable

o Inadequate; mixed motivation
o Fear of losing control
o Concerns about exposure

OD Practitioner Issues
o Empathy
o Worthiness and competency
o Dependency
o Over-identification

Getting Stuck on Wants and Offers

When people mean They express it by saying

I don’t like it I don’t understand it.
I don’t understand a word you are saying. Let’s get more data.
Do as I say, dammit. I’ll get back to you.
Let me talk it over with my staff
I wouldn’t let your group even get close to
Nothing
my
Why don’t you think it over and get back to
organization. me?
We want to talk to some others about
alternative approaches and we’ll let you know

Getting Stuck and Recognizing It

Listen to words used
Alternate explanations
 Gut feeling
Nonverbals
Ask: how do you feel about what we are discussing?
Recognize the impasse and adjourn for further thought/terminate.
Change offer/wants (within proper scope)
I think we are stuck.
How can we reach an agreement?
Elements of an Effective Written Contract
Problem Statement
Stakeholders for intervention/Point of Contact
o Inclusions/Exclusions of people; triangular/rectangular contract
Practitioner Role
Ground Rules/Confidentiality
Psychological contract/Trust/Clear Mutual Expectations
o Anticipated Outcomes/Deliverables/Schedule
o Publishing cases/results
Time and Resources
o Compensation/fees
o Access to client, managers, members, information
Contract modifications/Mutual Consent
Who’s the client?