OD concentrated on how things are done as well as what they do. It was a form of
applied behavioural science that was concerned with system-wide change. The organization
was considered as a total system and the emphasis was on the interrelationships,
interactions and interdependencies of different aspects of how systems operate
as they transform inputs and outputs and use feedback mechanisms for self-regulation.
OD practitioners talked about ‘the client system’ – meaning that they were
dealing with the total organizational system.
OD as originally conceived was based upon the following assumptions and values:
● Most individuals are driven by the need for personal growth and development as long as their environment is both supportive and challenging.
● The work team, especially at the informal level, has great significance for feelings of satisfaction and the dynamics of such teams have a powerful effect on the behaviour of their members.
● OD programmes aimed to improve the quality of working life of all members of the organization.
● Organizations can be more effective if they learn to diagnose their own strengths and weaknesses.
● But managers often do not know what is wrong and need special help in diagnosing problems, although the outside ‘process consultant’ ensures that decision making remains in the hands of the client.
The three main features of OD programmes were:
● They were managed, or at least strongly supported, from the top but often made use of third parties or ‘change agents’ to diagnose problems and to manage change by various kinds of planned activity or ‘intervention’.
● The plans for organization development were based upon a systematic analysis and diagnosis of the circumstances of the organization and the changes and problems affecting it.
● They used behavioural science knowledge and aimed to improve the way the organization copes in times of change through such processes as interaction, communications, participation, planning and conflict.
The activities that may be incorporated in a traditional OD programme are summarized below.
● Action research. This is an approach developed by Lewin (1947) which takes the form of systematically collecting data from people about process issues and feeds it back in order to identify problems and their likely causes so that action can be taken cooperatively by the people involved to deal with the problem. The essential elements of action research are data collection, diagnosis, feedback, action planning, action and evaluation.
● Survey feedback. This is a variety of action research in which data are systematically collected about the system and then fed back to groups to analyse and interpret as the basis for preparing action plans. The techniques of survey feedback include the use of attitude surveys and workshops to feed back results and discuss implications.
● Interventions. The term ‘intervention’ in OD refers to core structured activities involving clients and consultants. The activities can take the form of action research, survey feedback or any of those mentioned below.
● Process consultation. As described by Schein (1969), this involves helping clients to generate and analyse information that they can understand and, following a thorough diagnosis, act upon. The information will relate to organizational processes such as inter-group relations, interpersonal relations and communications. The job of the process consultant was defined by Schein as being to ‘help the organization to solve its own problems by making it aware of organizational processes, of the consequences of these processes, and of the mechanisms by which they can be changed’.
● Team-building interventions as discussed later in this chapter. These deal with permanent work teams or those set up to deal with projects or to solve particular problems. Interventions are directed towards the analysis of the effectiveness of team processes such as problem solving, decision making and interpersonal relationships, a diagnosis and discussion of the issues and joint consideration of the actions required to improve effectiveness.
● Inter-group conflict interventions. As developed by Blake et al (1964), these aim to improve inter-group relations by getting groups to share their perceptions of one another and to analyse what they have learned about themselves and the other group. The groups involved meet each other to share what they have learnt, to agree on the issues to be resolved and the actions required.
● Personal interventions. These include sensitivity training laboratories (T-groups), transactional analysis and, more recently, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Another approach is behaviour modelling, which is based on Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory. This states that for people to engage successfully in a behaviour they 1) must perceive a link between the behaviour and certain outcomes, 2) must desire those outcomes (this is termed ‘positive valence’), and 3) must believe they can do it (termed ‘self-efficacy’). Behaviour-modelling training involves getting a group to identify the problem and develop and practise the skills required by looking at DVDs showing what skills can be applied, role playing, practising the use of skills on the job and discussing how well they have been applied.
OD as originally conceived was based upon the following assumptions and values:
● Most individuals are driven by the need for personal growth and development as long as their environment is both supportive and challenging.
● The work team, especially at the informal level, has great significance for feelings of satisfaction and the dynamics of such teams have a powerful effect on the behaviour of their members.
● OD programmes aimed to improve the quality of working life of all members of the organization.
● Organizations can be more effective if they learn to diagnose their own strengths and weaknesses.
● But managers often do not know what is wrong and need special help in diagnosing problems, although the outside ‘process consultant’ ensures that decision making remains in the hands of the client.
The three main features of OD programmes were:
● They were managed, or at least strongly supported, from the top but often made use of third parties or ‘change agents’ to diagnose problems and to manage change by various kinds of planned activity or ‘intervention’.
● The plans for organization development were based upon a systematic analysis and diagnosis of the circumstances of the organization and the changes and problems affecting it.
● They used behavioural science knowledge and aimed to improve the way the organization copes in times of change through such processes as interaction, communications, participation, planning and conflict.
The activities that may be incorporated in a traditional OD programme are summarized below.
● Action research. This is an approach developed by Lewin (1947) which takes the form of systematically collecting data from people about process issues and feeds it back in order to identify problems and their likely causes so that action can be taken cooperatively by the people involved to deal with the problem. The essential elements of action research are data collection, diagnosis, feedback, action planning, action and evaluation.
● Survey feedback. This is a variety of action research in which data are systematically collected about the system and then fed back to groups to analyse and interpret as the basis for preparing action plans. The techniques of survey feedback include the use of attitude surveys and workshops to feed back results and discuss implications.
● Interventions. The term ‘intervention’ in OD refers to core structured activities involving clients and consultants. The activities can take the form of action research, survey feedback or any of those mentioned below.
● Process consultation. As described by Schein (1969), this involves helping clients to generate and analyse information that they can understand and, following a thorough diagnosis, act upon. The information will relate to organizational processes such as inter-group relations, interpersonal relations and communications. The job of the process consultant was defined by Schein as being to ‘help the organization to solve its own problems by making it aware of organizational processes, of the consequences of these processes, and of the mechanisms by which they can be changed’.
● Team-building interventions as discussed later in this chapter. These deal with permanent work teams or those set up to deal with projects or to solve particular problems. Interventions are directed towards the analysis of the effectiveness of team processes such as problem solving, decision making and interpersonal relationships, a diagnosis and discussion of the issues and joint consideration of the actions required to improve effectiveness.
● Inter-group conflict interventions. As developed by Blake et al (1964), these aim to improve inter-group relations by getting groups to share their perceptions of one another and to analyse what they have learned about themselves and the other group. The groups involved meet each other to share what they have learnt, to agree on the issues to be resolved and the actions required.
● Personal interventions. These include sensitivity training laboratories (T-groups), transactional analysis and, more recently, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Another approach is behaviour modelling, which is based on Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory. This states that for people to engage successfully in a behaviour they 1) must perceive a link between the behaviour and certain outcomes, 2) must desire those outcomes (this is termed ‘positive valence’), and 3) must believe they can do it (termed ‘self-efficacy’). Behaviour-modelling training involves getting a group to identify the problem and develop and practise the skills required by looking at DVDs showing what skills can be applied, role playing, practising the use of skills on the job and discussing how well they have been applied.
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