LESSON 11

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PHILOSOPHIES AND UNDERLYING

ASSUMPTIONS

Module Title: Managing and Leading Change

What is Organizational Development?

• It is the application of social science techniques to

plan change in organizational settings for the

purpose of enhancing organizational effectiveness

and the development of individuals.

Underlying Values

• Concept of people

• Concern for science

• Democratic principles

• The helping relationship

Potential Conflicts with OD

• Conflict with profit making

• Conflict with managerial prerogatives

Organizational Level Diagnosis

Inputs General Environment Industry Structure

Transformation Strategy Design Factors Culture

Outputs Performance Productivity Satisfaction

Group Level Diagnosis

Inputs Organization Design Factors Culture Strategy

Transformation Group Design Factors

Outputs Team Effectiveness Productivity, Satisfaction

Individual Level Diagnosis

Inputs Group Design Factors Personal Characteristics

Transformation Job Design Factors

Outputs Individual Effectiveness Productivity, Satisfaction

After Diagnosis

• Feeding back the information

• Choosing interventions

• Managing change

• Institutionalizing change

Team Building

• Improved group

processes

• Communication

• Goal clarification

• Role clarification

• Task orientation

Survey Feedback

• Small meetings to

feedback survey results

• Meetings used to

formulate change

• Managers conduct

meetings to indicate

commitment

Employee Involvement

• Quality of worklife

• Quality circles

• Total quality management

Re-Engineering

• Job redesign

• Teamwork

• Work performed by most

appropriate person

• Advanced information

technologies used

OD Effectiveness

• More impact on organizational than individual

outcomes

• Works better for white collars than blue collars

• Works better if multiple techniques are used

• Technological change shows more positive

outcomes

Measurement Problems

• Difficult to isolate cause of outcomes since

OD efforts often involve multiple changes

• May be the result of Hawthorne effects

• Change may be due to maturation or

passage of time and not intervention

Ethical Issues

• The role of the OD practitioner

• Who’s values

Backwards & Forwards

• Summing up: We looked at OD values and how the process operates. We explored major approaches and the difficulties inherent in evaluating interventions

• Looking ahead: We conclude the semester by looking at organizational behavior in a global context