UNIT 1 DEFINITION AND INTRODUCTION

TO ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Organisational Development
1.3 Definitions of Organisational Development
1.3.1 Old Definition of Organisation Development
1.3.2 New Definition of Organisation Development

1.4 Goals of Organisational Development

1.5 Importance of Organisation Development
1.6 Organisational Development and Organisational Change
1.7 Organisational Culture
1.8 Let Us Sum Up
1.9 Unit End Questions
1.10 Suggested Readings

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Organisation is a framework in which the human resources function and thus has
a major influence on it. Organisational development can also be termed as the
modern approach to management of change for human resources development.
The development of an organisation thus is a key issue for the overall development
of the human resource and to enhance the goal achievement and profitability of an
organisation.
Organisational development can be described as a long range effort to improve
organisation’s problem solving and renewal processes, particularly through more
effective and collaborative management of organisational culture, often with the
assistance of a change agent or catalyst and the use of the theory and technology
of applied behavioural science. We thus need to focus on this very significant issue
in order to not only understand the concept of organisational development, but
also learn its significance in an organisational setup.
In the present unit you will be able to understand the concept of organisation and
then focus on the meaning and importance of organisational development. The unit
will also cover goals of organisational development. It will distinguish between
organisational development and organisational change and will highlight the concept
of organisational culture that is an important factor in the organisational development.

5
Introduction
1.1 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
 Explain the meaning of organisational development;
 Discuss goals of organisational development;
 Distinguish between organisational development and organisational culture;
and
 Describe organisation culture.

1.2 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOMENT

Let us now try to understand the meaning of organisational development by first
clarifying the concept of an organisation. Organisation is the core concept of
organisational development. Organisation can be defined as two or more people
working together toward one or more shared goal(s). Weisbord presents a six-
step model for understanding organisations:
1) Purposes: The organisation members are clear about the organisation’s mission
and purpose and goal agreements, whether people support the organisation’
purpose.
2) Structure: How do we divide up the work? The question is whether there
is an adequate fit between the purpose and the internal structure.
3) Relationship: Between individual, between units or department that perform
different tasks, and between the people and requirements of their job.
4) Rewards: The consultant should diagnose the similarities between what the
organisation formally reward or punished for doing.
5) Leadership: Is to watch for blips among the other boxes and maintain
balance among them
6) Helpful mechanism: Is a helpful organisation that must attend to in order to
survive which as planning, control, budgeting, and other information systems
that help organisation member accomplish.
Development in this context is the notion that an organisation may become more
effective over time at achieving its goals.
Organisational Development can be described as the systematic process to change
the culture, system and behaviour of organisation. It is process that helps in solving
organisational problems and achieving organisational objectives. It works as
important mechanism that helps in impressing the organisation and its employee
through planned and established system. It concentrates on people dimensions like
norms, values, attitudes, relationships, organisational culture etc. The strategies of
organisational development focus on enhancement of organisation effectiveness
and solving organisational problems. It includes structural and technological changes
and focuses on working relationships of employees with the organisation.
Warran Bennis has referred to organisational development as a response to change,
a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values,
and structure of organisation so that they can better adapt to new technologies,
6
marketing and challenges, and the dizzying rate of change itself. Organisational Definition and Introduction
to Organisational
development is neither “anything done to better an organisation” nor is it “the Development
training function of the organisation”; it is a particular kind of change process
designed to bring about a particular kind of end result. Organisational development
can involve interventions in the organisation’s “processes,” using behavioural science
knowledge as well as organisational reflection, system improvement, planning, and
self-analysis.
Organisation Development (OD) is the process of improving organisations. The
process is carefully planned and implemented to benefit the organisation, its
employees and its stakeholders. The client organisation may be an entire company,
public agency, non profit organisation, volunteer group or a smaller part of a larger
organisation.
The change process supports improvement of the organisation or group as a
whole. The client and consultant work together to gather data, define issues and
determine a suitable course of action. The organisation is assessed to create an
understanding of the current situation and to identify opportunities for change that
will meet business objectives.
OD differs from traditional consulting because client involvement is encouraged
throughout the entire process. The ways in which people communicate and work
together are addressed concurrently with technical or procedural issues that need
resolution.
Organisational development (OD) can play a vital part in harnessing the collective
talent of an organisation, bringing about change and improving performance. It
involves taking planned steps to create an environment that will enable the staff
to understand and deliver thr organisation’s objectives.
These steps include developing appropriate skills, behaviours and attitudes, culture
and a style of leadership that will enable the organisation to achieve optimum
performance.
A clear sense of direction, strong leadership and a focus on people management
issues including the management of performance and the promotion of learning,
development, creativity and innovation are essential.
For organisational development to deliver significant performance improvement,
there is a need to develop staff with the right skills to help champion OD
throughout the organisation and encourage wide participation and ownership of
the continuous improvement process among staff and other stakeholders.
The term organisational development is often used interchangeably with organisational
effectiveness, especially when used as the name of a department within an
organisation. An organisation is the machinery of management and this machinery
system is operated and maintained by the personnel of the organisation. An
organisation must adapt itself to the changes taking place in its environment or
else, it will not remain effective enough to achieve the corporation’s goal of
profitability. Organisational development is a shared approach of its members and
it values a participative- democratic style of working. It is an ongoing interactive
process and it focuses on intact work teams.

7
Introduction
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe organisational development.
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2) What are the main functions of OD?
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3) Describe the six step model of understanding organisation developed by
Weisboard.
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4) Explain the concept of organisational development as described as Warran
Bennis.
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1.3 DEFINITIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOMENT
We will now focus on some more definitions of organisational development. The
definitions of organisational development can be classified in to two categories, the
old definition and new definition.

1.3.1 Old Definition of Organisational Development

The nature and needs of organisations are changing dramatically. Correspondingly,
the profession of organisational development has been changing to meet the changing
needs of organisations. Therefore, it may be most useful to consider several
definitions of organisational development.
For many years, the following definition was perhaps the standard definition for
organisational development. The following definition was developed in 1969 at a
time when an organisation was considered to be much like a stable machine
8 comprised of interlocking parts.
“Organisational development is an effort planned, organisation-wide, and managed Definition and Introduction
to Organisational
from the top, to increase organisation effectiveness and health through planned Development
interventions in the organisation’s ‘processes,’ using behavioural-science knowledge”
(Beckhard, 1969).

1.3.2 New Definitions of Organisational Development

“Organisational development is the attempt to influence the members of an
organisation to expand their candidness with each other about their views of the
organisation and their experience in it, and to take greater responsibility for their
own actions as organisation members. The assumption behind this phenomena is
that when people pursue both of these objectives simultaneously, they are likely
to discover new ways of working together that they experience as more effective
for achieving their own and their shared organisational goals and that when this
does not happen, such activity helps them to understand why and to make meaningful
choices about what to do in light of this understanding.” (Neilsen, 1984)
Experts might agree that the following definitions of organisational development
represent the major focus and thrust of many of today’s organisational development
practitioners:
“Organisational development is a system-wide application of behavioural science
knowledge to the planned development and reinforcement of organisational
strategies, structures, and processes for improving an organisation’s
effectiveness.”(Cummings and Worley) “Organisational development is a body of
knowledge and practice that enhances organisational performance and individual
development, viewing the organisation as a complex system of systems that exist
within a larger system, each of which has its own attributes and degrees of alignment.
Organisational development interventions in these systems are inclusive
methodologies and approaches to strategic planning, organisation design, leadership
development, change management, performance management, coaching, diversity,
and work/life balance.” (Matt Minahan, MM & Associates, Silver Spring, Maryland).
“Cummings and Worley (2002) defined organisational development as “a system
wide application of behavioural science knowledge to the planned development,
improvement, and reinforcement of the strategies, structures and processes that
lead to organisation effectiveness”. This definition emphasises several features that
differentiate organisational development from other approaches to organisational
change and improvement, such as management consulting, technological innovation,
operations management, and training and development.
We have already discussed about the old and new definitions of organisational
development. Now we will discuss five important factors that need to be highlighted
while defining organisational development. These factors are as follows:
i) It is planned change effort: An organisational development programme
involves a systematic diagnosis of the organisation, the development of a
strategic plan for improvement, and the mobilisation of resources to carry out
the effort.
ii) It involves the total system: It is related to the change system of the
organisation such as a culture change and the changes in the rewards system.
There may be tactical efforts which work with subparts of the organisation
but the system to be change is total, relatively autonomous organisation.
9
Introduction iii) It is managed from the top: The top management of the system has a
personal investment in the program and its outcomes. They actively participate
in the management of the effort.
iv) It is designed to increased organisation effectiveness and health: The
total organisation, the significant subparts, and individuals, manage their work
against goals and plans for achievement of these goals. Miles et al. (1966)
define the healthy organisation in three board areas- those concerned with
task accomplishment, those concerned with internal integration, and those
involving mutual adaptation of the organisation and its environment.
v) Organisational development achieves its goals through planned
interventions using behaviour science knowledge: A strategy is developed
of intervening or moving into the existing organisation and helping its present
ways of work, norms, and values, and look at alternative ways of working,
or relating, or rewarding. The interventions used draw on the knowledge and
technology of the behavioural sciences about such processes as individual
motivation power, communications, perception, culture norms, problem- solving,
goal setting, interpersonal relationships, intergroup relationships and conflict
management.
Self Assessment Exercises
1) Discuss any two definitions of organisational development.
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2) Describe factors that need to be highlighted while defining organisational
development.
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3) How does OD achieve its goals?
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1.4 GOALS OF ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
Organisational development has various goals, they are discussed as follows:
i) Create an open and problem solving atmosphere in the organisation:
10 An open and problem solving atmosphere in an organisation will not only
 facilitate the overall functioning in the organisation but will also promote Definition and Introduction
to Organisational
employee satisfaction and motivation. Development

ii) The authority should be associated with their role, status, knowledge
and competence: This goal will help develop a positive relationship between
superiors and subordinates, thus creating a conducive environment in the
organisation.
iii) Decision making and sources of information should be clear: This goal
will help employees have a clear idea about the functioning of the organisation,
about various opportunities for career development and issues and problems
existing in the organisation. This will not only make employees more aware
but will also promote organisational citizenship amongst the employees.
iv) Build trust and values amongst employees throughout the organisation:
This will not only enhance the interpersonal relationship and communication
amongst the employees but will lead to development of a positive organisational
culture.
v) Create healthy competitive atmosphere amongst the employees to
maximize collaborative efforts: Creating and maintaining healthy competition
amongst the employees not only promotes team work but will also enhance
the overall functioning of the organisation.
vi) Develop a reward or promotion system to motivate the personnel and
increase the performance: This is one of the most relevant goals of
organisational development as employee performance is key to organisational
development and in order to promote maximum performance on the part of
the employees, it is important to use varied motivational techniques.
vii) Improve the effectiveness of the organisation: Another important goal of
organisational development is to use varied techniques and promote
organisational effectiveness.
viii) Enhance achievement of the organisational goals: Various techniques
under organisational development can be used to help enhance the achievement
of organisational goals.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss any two goals of organisational development.
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2) Describe the most important goal of organisational development according
to you. Give reason.
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11
Introduction
1.5 IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Profitability, productivity, morale and quality of work life are of concern to most
organisations because they impact achievement of organisation goals. There is an
increasing trend to maximize an organisation’s investment in its employees. Jobs
that previously required physical dexterity now require more mental effort.
Organisations need to “work smarter” and apply creative ideas.
The work force has also changed. Employees expect more from a day’s work
than simply a day’s pay. They want challenge, recognition , a sense of
accomplishment, worthwhile tasks and meaningful relationships with their managers
and co-workers. When these needs are not met, performance declines.
Today’s customers demand continually improving quality, rapid product or service
delivery; fast turn around time on changes, competitive pricing and other features
that are best achieved in complex environments by innovative organisational
practices.
The effective organisation must be able to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to survive and thrive.
Functions of OD Consultants
OD consultants custom tailor established social science theory and methods to
organisations seeking to improve profitability, productivity, morale and/or quality
of work life. Examples of activities which are facilitated by OD consultants are:
1) Team building
2) Goal Setting
3) Group Facilitation
4) Creative Problem solving
5) Strategic Planning
6) Leadership Development
7) Management Development
8) Career Management
9) Conflict Resolution
10) Developmental Education
11) Interpersonal Communication
12) Human Resources Management
13) Managing Workforce Diversity
14) Organisation Restructuring
15) High Involvement Work Teams
16) Socio technical Systems Design
12
17) Technical Training Definition and Introduction
to Organisational
18) Total Quality Management Development

Often described as “change agents,” OD consultants come from varied backgrounds

with experience and training in organisation development, organisation behaviour,
psychology, education, management and/or human resources. Many have advanced
degrees and most have experience in a variety of organisational settings.
There are both internal and external OD consultants. An internal OD consultant is
a full-time employee with a given organisation. External consultants may be self-
employed or on the staff of a consulting firm. “Externals” work with one or more
clients contracting for specific projects.
Organisation Development (OD) consultants provide services to improve
organisation effectiveness and/or individual employee effectiveness. The purposes
are to increase productivity, work satisfaction and profit for the client company.
Organisation Effectiveness
Consultants apply organisation effectiveness strategies such as those shown below
when here are needs for assessment, planning, growth, quality improvement,
teamwork and other organisational changes.
1) Action Research : An assessment and problem solving process aimed at
improved effectiveness for the entire organisation or specific work units. The
consultant helps the client organisation identify the strengths and weaknesses
of organisation and management issues and works with the client in addressing
problem opportunities. (Some form of action research is generally applied as
a foundation for other consulting strategies.)
2) Conflict Management : Bringing conflicts to the surface to discover their
roots, developing a common ground from which to resolve or better manage
conflict. Consultants serve as facilitator in a conflict situation or train employees
to better understand and manage conflict.
3) Executive Development : One-on-one or group developmental consultation
with CEO’s or VP’s to improve their effectiveness.
4) Goal Setting : Defining and applying concrete goals as a road map to help
an organisation get where it wants to go. (Can also be applied to employee
development.)
5) Group Facilitation : Helping people learn to interact more effectively at
meetings and to apply group guidelines that foster open communication,
participation and accomplishment.
6) Managing Resistance to Change : Helping clients identify, understand, and
begin to manage their resistance to planned organisational change.
7) Organisational Restructuring : Changing departmental and/or individual
reporting structures, identifying roles and responsibilities, redesigning job
functions to assure that the way work gets done in the organisation produces
excellence in production and service.
8) Project Management : The general management of specific work, blending
diverse functions and skills, usually for a fixed time and aimed at reaching
defined outcomes. 13
Introduction 9) Self-Directed Work Teams : Developing work groups to be fully responsible
for creating a well defined segment of finished work.
10) Socio technical Systems Design : Designing and managing organisations to
emphasise the relationship between people’s performance, the workplace
environment and the technology used to produce goods and services in order
to effect high level productivity.
11) Strategic Planning : A dynamic process which defines the organisation’s
mission and vision, sets goals and develops action steps to help an organisation
focus its present and future resources toward fulfilling its vision.
12) Teambuilding : Improving how well organisation members help one another
in activities where they must interact.
13) Total Quality Management : Through work process analysis, teambuilding,
defining quality and setting measurable standards, the consultant assists the
organisation in becoming more cost effective, approach zero-defects and be
more market-driven

1.6 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOMENT AND

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
Since now we have a clear idea about the meaning of organisational development.
Let us now distinguish it from organisational change. Organisational change is
equally significant area that needs to be focused on in an organisational set up.
Though both the tersm seem to be similar, they are different to a greater extent.
This distinction will be clear with the help of following points
Organisational development applies to the strategy, structure, and processes of an
entire system, such as an organisation, a single plant of a multiplant firm, or a
department or work group. A change program on the other hand aims at modifying
an organisation’s strategy, for example, it might focus on how the organisation
relates to a wider environment and on how those relationships can be improved.
It might include changes both in the grouping of people to perform tasks (structure)
and in methods of communicating and solving problems (process) to support the
changes in strategy.
Similarly, an organisational development program directed at helping a top-
management team become more effective might focus on interactions and problem-
solving processes within the group. This focus might result in the improved ability
of top management to solve company problems in strategy and structure. This
contrasts with approaches, focusing on one or only a few aspects of a system,
such as training and development, technological innovation, or operations
management. In these approaches, attention is narrowed to individuals within a
system, to improvement of particular products or processes or to development of
production or service delivery functions.
Organisational development is based on behavioural science knowledge and practice,
including micro concepts such as leadership, group dynamics, and work design,
and macro approaches such as strategy, organisation design, and international
relations. These subjects distinguish organisational development from such
applications as management consulting, technological innovation, or operations
management that emphasise the economic, financial, and technical aspects of
14
organisations. These approaches tend to neglect the personal and social Definition and Introduction
to Organisational
characteristics of a system. Development

Organisational development is concerned with managing planned change, but not

in the formal sense typically associated with management consulting or technological
innovation, which tend to be programmatic and expert-driven approaches to change,
rather, organisational development is more an adaptive process for planning and
implementing change than a blueprint for how things should be done. It involves
planning to diagnose and solve organisational problems, but such plans are flexible
and often revised as new information is gathered about the progress of the change
program. If, for example, there was concern about the performance of a set of
international subsidiaries, a reorganisation process might begin with plans to assess
the current relationships between the international divisions and the corporate
headquarters and to redesign them if necessary. These plans would be modified
if the assessment discovered that most of the senior management teams were not
given adequate cross-cultural training prior to their international assignments.
Organisational development involves both the creation and the subsequent
reinforcement of change. It moves beyond the initial efforts to implement a change
program to a longer-term concern for stabilizing and institutionalising new activities
within the organisation. For example, the implementation of self-managed work
teams might focus on ways in which supervisors could give workers more control
over work methods. After workers had more control, attention would shift to
ensuring that supervisors continued to provide that freedom. That assurance might
include rewarding supervisors for managing in a participative style. This attention
to reinforcement is similar to training and development approaches that address
maintenance of new skills or behaviours, but it differs from other change perspectives
that do not address how a change can be institutionalised.
Organisational development is oriented to improving organisational effectiveness.
This involves two major assumptions. First, an effective organisation is able to
solve its own problems and focus its attention and resources on achieving key
goals. Organisational development helps organisation members gain the skills and
knowledge necessary to conduct these activities by involving them in the process.
Second, an effective organisation has both high performances, including financial
returns, quality of work life. The organisation’s performance responds to the needs
of external groups, such as stockholders, customers, suppliers, and government
agencies that provide the organisation with resources and legitimacy. Moreover, it
is able to attract and motivate effective employees, who then perform at high
levels. Other forms of organisation change clearly differ from organisational
development in their focus. Management consulting, for example, is almost solely
concerned with financial performance, whereas training and development addresses
individual effectiveness.
Organisational Change
Organisational change is defined as change that has significant effects on the way
work is performed by the staff of an organisation. Organisational change may be
apparent when there is a gap between how the work area is operating and how
it should be operating to ensure successful future growth.
The organisation places high importance on ensuring that organisational change,
when required, is implemented in a timely and professional manner. A key reference
in the organisational Operational Priorities Plan identifies the operational objective,
15
Introduction viz., to retain the best-quality staff. This objective is one of the goals of an
effective organisational change process.
The organisation considers that where organisational change is implemented
correctly the benefits include:
 employee participation
 a greater understanding of the change
 a better informed decision is made
 trust is maintained throughout the process
 loss of productivity is minimised.
It is imperative that the work area understands that organisational change is about
allowing employees to influence the decision maker through a consultative process.
Significant organisational change occurs, for example, when an organisation changes
its overall strategy for success, adds or removes a major section or practice, and/
or wants to change the very nature by which it operates. It also occurs when an
organisation evolves through various life cycles, just like people must successfully
evolve through life cycles. For organisations to develop, they often must undergo
significant change at various points in their development. That’s why the topic of
organisational change and development has become widespread in communications
about business, organisations, leadership and management.
Leaders and managers continually make efforts to accomplish successful and
significant change. It is inherent in their jobs. Some are very good at this effort
while others continually struggle and fail. That is often the difference between
people who thrive in their roles and those that change from job to job, ultimately
settling into a role where they are frustrated and ineffective. There are many
schools with educational programs about organisations, business, leadership and
management. Unfortunately, there still are not enough schools with programs about
how to analyse organisations, identify critically important priorities to address
(such as systemic problems or exciting visions for change) and then undertake
successful and significant change to address those priorities.
Organisational change is undertaken to improve the performance of the organisation
or a part of the organisation, for example, a process or team. Organisational
performance involves the recurring activities to establish organisational goals, monitor
progress toward the goals, and make adjustments to achieve those goals more
effectively and efficiently. Those recurring activities are much of what leaders and
managers inherently do in their organisations.
Managing change and management are important . Today, teams and organisations
face rapid change like never before. Globalisation has increased the markets and
opportunities for more growth and revenue. However, increasingly diverse markets
have a wide variety of needs and expectations that must be understood if they are
to become strong customers and collaborators. Thus, the ability to manage change,
while continuing to meet the needs of stakeholders, is a very important skill required
by today’s leaders and managers

16
 Definition and Introduction
Self Assessment Questions to Organisational
Development
1) Differentiate organisational development from organisational change.
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2) What is organisational change?
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3) Why is organisational change and change management are important?
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4) State any two ways in which organisational development is different from
organisational development.
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1.7 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Organisation culture is the important factor in any organisational development. A
good culture of the organisation makes the organisation effective and successful.
A good culture is also contribute to implement the effective policy of an organisation.
Organisation culture means the prevailing patterns of activities, interactions norms,
sentiments, feelings, beliefs, attitudes, values, informal systems and products.
Organisational development efforts focuses on both the formal and the informal
system. The initial intervention strategy is usually through the informal system in the
sense that perceptions, attitudes and feelings are usually the first data to be
confronted. Collaborative management of the culture underlies a participative or
a shared kind of management, not of a hierarchically imposed kind, but a group
culture which is accepted both by the subordinates as well as the formal leader.
Work with team includes the subordinates and superior is the key factor of the
organisation culture.
An organisation’s culture determines the organisation behaviour. It is essential that 17
Introduction the organisation’s culture supports behaviour appropriate for its goal attainment
and vice-versa. Efforts to define, measure and change organisational culture have
become more sophisticated. Schein in particular has written extensively about
culture. He has devised intervention to help leaders and employees identify those
cultural assumptions that will assist the organisation in training its goals and those
that hinder goal attainment.
Making such distinctions is done through a joint exploration to identify sequentially
the organisation’s artifacts, such as office layout and status symbols; the values
underlying these artifacts; and the assumptions behind those values. Others have
helped organisations focus on culture through the use of questionnaires aimed at
identifying actual and desired norms. Participants than make agreements about
new norms and hoe to monitor and reinforce the changes.
In the last few years, the term organisational culture has gained popularity as
means of understand human systems. The organisational culture of an organisation,
include the values, that may be stated and unstated values, expectations of the
employees from the superiors, peers and the organisation as a whole, customs and
rituals, stories and myths about the history of the group, communication pattern
amongst the employees, organisational climate and metaphors and symbols, that
may be unconscious but can be found embodied in other cultural elements.
Morgan proposes four essential strengths of the organisational culture approach.
It focuses attention on the human side of organisational life, it makes clear the
importance of creating appropriate systems of shared meaning to help people
work together toward desired outcomes, it requires members—especially leaders—
to acknowledge the impact of their behaviour on the organisation’s culture and it
encourages the view that the perceived relationship between an organisation and
its environment is also affected by the organisation’s basic assumptions.
Organisational culture plays an extremely important role in the process of
organisational development. It is also initially important to assess organisational
culture before initiating the process of organisational development, as organisational
culture will provide the conducive environment necessary for the successful
implementation of organisational development. Thus any organisational development
practitioner should focus on organisational culture in a particular organisation,
assess it, modify or change it if required before the necessary organisational
development intervention is implemented.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss the concept of organisational culture.
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1.8 LET US SUM UP

After reading this unit we can now summarize that the organisational development
is a planned, organisation-wide effort to increase an organisation’s effectiveness
and viability. It is a system-wide application of behavioural science knowledge to
18
the planned development and reinforcement of organisational strategies, structures, Definition and Introduction
to Organisational
and processes for improving an organisation’s effectiveness. Development

In the unit we also discussed about the goals of organisational development that
are of extreme importance in order to understand the relevance of organisational
development. The difference between organisational development and organisational
change was also highlighted in this unit.
We further discussed about the organisational culture, which means the prevailing
patterns of activities, interactions norms, sentiments, feelings, beliefs, attitudes,
values, informal systems and products. An organisation’s culture determines the
organisation behaviour. It is essential that the organisation’s culture supports
behaviours appropriate for its goal attainment and vice-versa. Thus we now have
a clear understanding of the term organisational development and its relevance in
an organisational setup.

1.9 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Explain the meaning of organisational development.
2) Highlight the five important factors in organisational development.
3) Elaborate the goals of organisational development.
4) Differentiate between organisational development and organisational change.
5) Describe how organisational culture is important factor in organisational
development.

1.10 SUGGESTED READINGS

Beckhard (1969) Organisational Development: Strategies and Models, Reading,
MA: Addison-Wesley, p. 9.
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Miner.J.B (1992) Industrial-Organisational Psychology, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
(International Edition)
References
Cummings and Worley (1977) Organisational development and Change, Sixth
Edition, South-Western Publishing, p.2.
Devi, Laxmi (1998) Organisational development, Institute for Sustainable
Development, Lucknow and Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd.
Neilsen (1984) Becoming an OD Practitioner, Englewood Cliffs, CA: Prentice-
Hall, pp. 2-3.
Newstorm, J. W., & Davis, K. (1997). Organisational Behaviour: Human Behaviour
at Work. 9th Ed. New Delhi. Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing Company Limited.
Raja, A. P and Margulies, Newton (1979) Organisational change and development.
In Sehgal, J.L. (1988) Organisational Development. Printwell Publishers,
Jaipur.Spates,
J.L (1993) The sociology of values, Annual Review of Sociology, 9, 27-49. Steven
Kerr (Ed.), Organisational behaviour, pp. 355-378.
19
 UNIT 2 FOUNDATIONS OF
ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Structure
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Nature of Organisational Development
2.3 Characteristics of Organisational Development
2.3.1 Organisational Development as Educational Strategy
2.3.2 Focus on Real Problems
2.3.3 The Organisational Development Practitioners
2.3.4 Focus on Immediate or Existing Problem
2.3.5 Organisational Development is a Dynamic Process
2.3.6 Organisational Development is Action Based
2.3.7 Organisational Development Works on Open and Adaptive System Concepts

2.4 Organisational Development Process

2.4.1 Diagnosis and Problem Identification
2.4.2 Action Plan or Planning Strategy
2.4.3 Evaluation of the Effects of Action
2.4.4 Intervening in the System

2.5 Organisational Development Practitioners

2.6 Values
2.7 Organisational Development and Organisational Effectiveness
2.8 Let Us Sum Up
2.9 Unit End Questions
2.10 Suggested Readings

2.0 INTRODUCTION
As you know in the recent years, organisational developmenthas developed as
one of the most significant developments in the field of organisational behaviour.
Organisational development began to evolve as a distinct field of study in the
1940s when behavioural scientists in the US and Britain made efforts to resolve
problems facing modern organisations. Organisational development has been defined
in different ways by different behavioural scientists and applies the knowledge and
practice of behavioural science to improve the effectiveness of organisations.
In the earlier unit we studied about the meaning and concept of organisational
development. We also highlighted the goals of organisational development, how it
is different from organisational change and further focused on organisational culture.
In this unit we will discuss about the foundations of organisational development.
While discussing about foundations of organisational development, we will focus
20 on nature and characteristics of organisational development. We will also explain
the concept of diagnosing organisations, process involved in organisational Foundations of
Organisational
development and the role of organisational development practitioner. We will further Development
discuss organisational effectiveness.

2.1 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
 Discuss the nature of organisational development;
 Explain the characteristics of organisational development;
 Describe the process involved in organisational development;
 Analyse the role of organisational development practitioners;
 Explain the relevance of values in an organisational set up; and
 Discuss organisational effectiveness

2.2 NATURE OF ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
The nature of organisational development can be described with the help of the
following:
1) Organisational development as-an ongoing interactive and continues
process: The ongoing process nature of organisational development implies
that it is not to be regarded as a one-shot solution to organisational problems,
but more as a growing toward greater effectiveness through a series of
intervention activities over a time period. Managing and directing the change
of an organisation’s culture and process does not happen overnight, rather (a
more realistic time estimate) it may take several years.
Understanding about organisational development is greatly facilitated by viewing
it as an ongoing interactive process. A process is an identifiable flow of
interrelated events moving over time toward some goal or end. The interrelated
event consists of interventions in the client system as also responses to these
interventions. It also includes the dynamic, moving and changing things, in
which people can learn the new skills or revised the old ones.
Organisational development is a continuous process in the sense that, in
organisational development how things are done is as much important as what
is done. In order to solve problems and to create future problem solving
capabilities we need organisational development or the self-renewing and
culture managing capabilities among the organisational personnel.
2) Organisational development as a form of applied behavioural science:
An organisational development program applies the scientific and practice
principles from several behavioural sciences, social psychology, social
anthropology, sociology, psychiatry, economic and political science. It can be
define as the application of behaviour science knowledge, practices and skills
on ongoing systems in collaboration with system members. Organisational
development is both a result of applied behavioural science as well as a form
of behavioural science.
21
Introduction 3) Organisational development as normative re-educative change: It is a
process for improvement organisational effectiveness; it implies that things will
be done in a different style which requires usually changing its processes and
culture. These types of organisational changes are desired by the people who
will be affected, which open up alternatives for action rather than closing off
alternatives for the same. Organisational development has three types of
strategies for the organisation change i.e. empirical- rational strategy; normative
strategy; and power-coercive strategy. Normative strategy is more popular in
organisation settings and it can be cover other two types of strategies. This
strategy is based on the assumption that norms form the basis for behaviour
and change comes through a reeducation process in which outmoded norms
are supplanted by new ones. Changes in normative orientations involve changes
in attitudes, values, skills and significant relationships, not just changes in
knowledge, information or intellectual rationales for action and practice. For
example if we want to introduce the Wikipedia system in our organisation first
of all we have to introduce and train to our employees and also to re-educate
them about changing their existing norms and beliefs about computers that
their application will not result in retrenchment of personnel or loss of jobs
in the country.
4) Organisational development includes the incorporating a systems
approach to organisations: The term ‘system’ may refer either an entire
organisation or a sub-system such as an academic department or the group
of teachers. The focus is always on improving both the ability of a system to
cope and the relationships of the system with subsystems and with the
environment. It is always noted that the systems approach is one for the
foundations of an organisational development; a significant step was taken
toward the invention of organisational development. Systems approach
emphasises organisation phenomena and dynamics in their interaction. This
is approach is useful to understanding of organisation.
Blake and Mouton (1976) address that organisational development is the
development of overall system, not only of the one part of a system. It also
indicates the progress of total organisation. The objective of organisational
development is to liberate all of the individuals within it, so that they will be
free, participative, and contributive to problem solving, in order to achieve
corporate purposes of profitability, this objective cannot be reached until the
constraints that operate within the corporation’s culture have been studied
and deliberately rejected.
5) Organisational development is based on an action research (data based)
model of planned changed: The action based or data based research
model is a significant facet in organisational development. Generally the nature
of data based change activities in organisation setting are different from others
data based or action based programmes. They can be different in the following
way:
In the organisational development functioning, the value of data is more
important, organisation personnel learn how to collect and save the data and
they should have known the utilisation of data for problem solving in
organisations.
In organisational developmentprogrammes data about the organisation’s human
22 and social processes would be used more than the data about processes like
 data in technical production, financial and marketing areas of the organisation Foundations of
Organisational
system. Development

In organisational development settings data collected is meant to be used by

the personnel who collected the data, where as data is traditionally collected
for the information of top management only. The purpose of the data collection
is to make the improvement in organisation and make a plan for the future
growth. This data based information also gives the spring board for the
building of action plans.
Some are discrepancy data and some are contradictory. This type of data
can be perceive as a suggestion rather than nuisances. They indicate directions
in which the organisational developmentprogramme should proceed as also
the differences which exist in the perceptions, motivations, attitudes etc; of
the organisation personnel.
In organisational development system we must also measure the functionality
and disfunctionality about the facts. For example how does an authority style
help in solving problems and how much is it dysfunctional for the occurrence
of the other results. That why in organisational developmentwe see a shift
from describing data to be used in organisational development for problem
solving rather than as a tool for enforcement of certain behaviours and to that
end a climate, or cultural pattern gets introduced in the organisation.
The strong data is a scientific way to collect the information. The decisions
are made largely on the basis of empirical facts rather than on the basis of
power, position, tradition, persuasion and precedent.
Data is an outcome of the needs and problems of the system members. This
data itself will ultimately supply answers to the central needs of the organisation
members.
6) Organisational development goes as an experience based learning mode
that emphasises goal setting and objectives: The process of organisational
development is based on experience and it emphasises that people learn
about organisational dynamics by living with their experiences and skills.
In this system the personnel learn to make decisions by making decisions and
then evaluating the same so that they may learn how to make adequate
decisions in future. They can also learn to manage conflicts after experiencing
the ill effects of conflicts and contra productive behaviours. Organisational
development interventions tend to focus on real behaviour of individuals and
groups, for solving real world problems and also tend to derive generalisations
about organisations dynamics inductively from experience.
The persons to be involved in the organisation functioning first of all they
should be involved themselves in an activity and then reflect on that experience
to learn and to derive generalisations about the phenomena. In order that
they may learn and improve the learning activity is essential, it also refers to
an inquiry attitude which the individuals take into all their experiences.
Therefore, experience based learning also becomes an important foundation
of organisational development.
7) Organisational development concentrates on intact work teams as the
primary instruments for organisation’s improvement: These different
23
Introduction aspects of organisational development serve as foundations, characteristics,
distinguishing features or theoretical and practice underpinnings upon which
the process has been built and this foundation has played a significant
contribution in shaping the practice of organisational development.
Now a days the organisational development is shifting its own area of attention
from one person to intact work teams which is a move towards viewing organisations
from a systems approach that had brought organisational development into limelight.
The above different aspects of organisational development serve as the foundation
upon which the process is built, and the foundation has played a significant role
in shaping the practice of organisational development.
Self Assessment Questions
State whether the statements are True (T) or False (F).
1) Organisational development as a continuous and interactive process ( ).
2) Organisational development defines as an application of behaviour science
( ).
3) Organisational development has two types of strategies for the organisation
change i.e empirical rational strategy and normative strategy
( ).
4) System approach emphasises organisation phenomena and dynamics in their
interaction
( ).
5) Strong data is a scientific way to collect the information about organisation
( ).

2.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
We have so far discussed about the definition, goals and nature of organisational
development. It is also important at this point to understand certain characteristics
of organisational development as these characteristics reflect the relevance of the
role and contributions of organisational development to overall enhancement of
productivity in the organisation, increased profitability, and effective performance
and higher satisfaction amongst the employees. The characteristics of organisational
development are discussed as follows:

2.3.1 Organisational Development as Educational Strategy

Organisational Development is an educational strategy that attempts to bring about
a planned change: Under organisational development varied strategies are utilised
and a systematic procedure is followed in order to bring about the change. This
ensures better implementation, minimizes errors and the expected outcome is
positive.

2.3.2 Focus on Real Problems

24 Organisational Development relates to real organisational problems instead of
hypothetical cases: Since an elaborate process is involved in organisational Foundations of
Organisational
development with a focus on diagnosis of what actually is going wrong in the Development
organisation, it can be said that the organisational development focuses on real
problems of organisations rather than hypothetical cases.
Organisational Development uses sensitivity training methods and lay emphasis on
the significance of experiment based training: This characteristic is relevant in order
to ensure effective learning of skills and behaviours amongst the employees at
various hierarchical levels. Thus the use of sensitivity training and experiment
based training is promoted under organisational development. Training and
development is one of the important aspects under organisational development
intervention.
The organisational development practitioners are often external consultants outside
of the organisation: The change agents involved in the implementation of
organisational development intervention may or may not be from within the
organisation. Most often organisational development practitioners are external
consultants.
An external consultant has better perception of the problems and constraints in the
organisational structure and process and his/her perception is not biased. Further
an employee has to play a role of change agent, he/she may be burdened with his/
her own work activity, which may suffer as a result of the dual role played by the
employees. Also his/ her perception may be biased.
However, a collaborative relationship is required between the organisational
development practitioners and internal organisation executives establish a
collaborative that involves mutual trust, influence and jointly determined goals.
This will ensure smooth implementation of the organisational development
intervention as the employees within the organisation have a feeling of involvement.

2.3.3 The Organisational Development Practitioners

The organisational development practitioners are humanists and seek to establish
a social and altruistic philosophy within an organisation: The humanistic approach
believes that each individual is unique and has potentiality for growth. Also the
goals that the organisational development practitioner seeks to achieve through
organisational development tend to reflect humanistic approach and aims for better
conflict resolution, increased understanding and more considerable leadership. This
approach on the behalf of the organisational development practitioner promotes
better organisational climate within the organisation and provides better scope and
conducive environment for the employees to develop their potentialities. It also
enhances job involvement, participation and enhances overall satisfaction amongst
the employees of that particular organisation.
The required changes in the organisation are usually the result of some immediate
problems but it is a long term approach covering three to five years: Organisational
development is an elaborate process consisting of various components. One of the
most significant components of the organisational development process is diagnosis
of problems.

2.3.4 Focus on Immediate or Existing Problem

Organisational development to a greater extent may focus on the immediate or
existing problems in an organisation. But the overall approach towards dealing
25
Introduction with these problems is lengthy and complex. This is in order to ensure effective
dealing with the problem and to ensure that such a problem does not arise in
future.
The intervention strategies under organisational development are such that they
deal with the values, attitudes and beliefs of the employees. Identifying the values,
attitudes and beliefs of the employees and modifying and changing them is a
challenging job, which is a time consuming activity.
It is used to describe variety of change programmes and intends to change the
organisational philosophies, attitudes and skills of people: Organisational
development employees varied intervention strategies that mainly focus on the
attitudes, values and beliefs of the employees. This helps the organisational
development professional to understand the root cause of certain problems and
issues in an organisational setup. Dealing with these attitudes, values and beliefs
leads to effective management of the problems or issues.

2.3.5 Organisational Development is a Dynamic Process

It is a dynamic process that involves considerable investment of money and time:
As discussed in the earlier points, organisational development is a time consuming
and lengthy process which also requires a considerable financial investment. This
is as a result of the basic approach of organisational development which emphasises
the diagnosis of the problem or issues in the organisation and its effective management
with a goal that the problem or the issue should not repeat. Also the organisational
development process may require involvement and contribution of the employees
from varied organisational levels. Even the participation and encouragement on the
part of the management is crucial here.
Organisational development may bring about major change in the structures and
processes in an organisation, thus the process will consume a great amount of time
and money.

2.3.6 Organisational Development is Action Based

It is research based activity and aims at conducting surveys, collection of data and
evaluation of the situation: The organisational development process involves varied
steps as discussed above. It is planned activity which is action based. It is also
a process which focuses on determining the pressing problems and issues in an
organisation. Thus various data collection methods are used in order to understand
the problem that is taking place in the organisation. This data is then suitably
analysed and the situation is evaluated in order to design a suitable intervention
strategy. The whole research based activity ensures that the intervention strategy
developed will lead to effective management of the problems and will lead to
positive outcome.

2.3.7 Organisational Development Works on Open and

Adaptive System Concepts
It works on open and adaptive system concepts and believes that organisational
design and managerial performance are mutually interdependent: The success of
organisational development greatly depends on the role played by the managers
or leaders in the organisation.
Further since organisational design and managerial performance are interrelated, it
26
is extremely important for organisational development practitioners to interact with Foundations of
Organisational
managers in the organisation and take their help and support for successful Development
implementation of the organisational development interventions.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss the characteristics of organisational development.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Why do we say that organisational development is action based?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Why do we say the organisational development focuses on immediate and
existing problems?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

2.4 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

At this point it is important to focus on the essential steps involved in the process
of organisational development. This topic will be dealt in detail in the Block 3 of
this course. According to French and Bell the basic components in organisational
process are:

2.4.1 Diagnosis and Problem Identification

It is the component which represents a continous collection of data about the total
system, units and subunits.It is regarding system process culture and other targets
of interests.Through diagnosis comes the identification of problem and strength,
opportunities and problem areas.It begins with the organisational activities.Diagnosis
helps in identifying concerns and issues and explore the scope of future coarse of
action.This involves a number of techniques concerned establishing priorities and
translating them into aims and objectives.
From the chart it is clearly visualise that from the diagnosis comes identification
opportunities and then action plan or planning strategy is developed in step (2) to
correct problems.

27
Introduction 2.4.2 Action Plan or Planning Strategy
Once problems are diagnosed organisational development experts start planning
the various courses of action. Attempts are to transform diagnosis into proper
plan involving the overall goals for change, determination of the basic approach for
attaining these goals and the sequence of detailed scheme for implementing the
approach. It is relatively simple matter to identify changes after they have occurred
and is considerably difficult to influence the direction thrust of changes when they
are under way. Thus it is proved that planning and implementation both are inter
dependent. The way in which changes is planned has an impact on the way in
which it is carried out.
With the continuation of steps through planning strategy these action plans are
organisational development interventions specifically tailored to address issues at
individual, group, intergroup and organisational levels. Passing from this next step
comes fact finding concerning the results of the actions taken.

2.4.3 Evaluation of the Effects of Action

This step relates to evaluation of the results of organisational programmes so that
suitable actions may be followed. Since this is a long process there is an urgent
requirement for careful monitoring to get precise feedback regarding what is going
on as soon as an organisational development programme starts. Systematic
appraisal of change efforts and pre and post training behavioural pattern are quite
effective. If the actions have desired effects then the problems get solved and the
organisation members move on to new different problems and opportunities.
Sometimes some problems remain unsolved and the members have to initiate new
action plans and intervention in step four to resolve the issue.

2.4.4 Intervening in the System

In the system refers to the planned programme activities during the course of an
organisational programme.These planned activities bring certain changes in the
system which is the basic objective of organisational development.Some new
methods may be introduced in the system like education and laboratory training,
processs consultation, team development which will intervene and will possibly
attempt to solve the issues.Sometimes when problems remain unresolved after
initial attack then steps 3 and 4 entail redefining and reconceptualising the problems
areas.Steps 5, 6 and 7 and so on may require for some problems and opportunities
but any further steps are just iterations of the basic sequence of diagnosis-action-
evaluation action.
Self Assessment Questions
1) How process effects organisational development?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) State the similarity between diagnosis and problem identification.
.....................................................................................................................
28
 Foundations of
..................................................................................................................... Organisational
Development
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) How process can be evaluated to see the organisational development?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

2.5 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

PRACTITIONERS
The organisational development practitioner plays a crucial role in the overall
process of organisational development. The term refers to at least three sets of
people. The most obvious group of organisational development practitioners are
those people specialising in organisational development as a profession. They may
be internal or external consultants who offer professional services to organisation
clients, including top managers, functional department heads, and staff groups.
Organisational development professionals traditionally have shared a common set
of humanistic values promoting open communications, employee involvement and
personal growth and development. They tend to have common training, skills, and
experience in the social processes of organisations (for example, group dynamics,
decision making, and communications).
1) In recent years, organisational development professional have expanded those
traditional values and skill sets to include more concern for organisational
effectiveness, competitiveness, and bottom-line results, and greater attention
to the technical, structural, and strategic parts of organisations. That expansion,
mainly in response to the highly competitive demands facing modern
organisations, has resulted in a more diverse set of organisational development
professionals geared to helping organisations cope with those pressures.
2) The term organisational development practitioner applies to people specialising
in the fields related to organisational development, such as reward systems,
organisation design, total quality, information technology, and business strategy.
These content-oriented fields increasingly are becoming integrated with
organisational development’s process orientation, particularly as organisational
development projects have become more comprehensive, involving multiple
features and varying parts of organisations. The integrated strategic change
intervention for example, is the result of marrying organisational development
with business strategy.
A growing number of professionals in these related fields are gaining experience
and competence in organisational development, mainly through working with
organisational development professionals on large scale projects and through
attending organisational developmenttraining sessions. For example, most of
the large accounting firms have diversified into management consulting and
change management. In most cases, professionals in these related fields do not
29
Introduction subscribe fully to traditional organisational development values, nor do they
have extensive organisational development training and experience.
Rather, they have formal training and experience in their respective specialties,
such as industrial relations, management consulting, information systems, health
care, and work design. They are organisational development practitioners in
the sense that they apply their special competence within an organisational
development – like process, typically by engaging organisational development
professionals and managers to design and implement change programs. They
also practice organisational development when they apply their organisational
development competence to their own specialties, thus spreading an
organisational development perspective into such areas as compensation
practices, work design, labor relations, and planning and strategy.
3) The term organisational development practitioner applies to the increasing
number of managers and administrators who have gained competence in
organisational development and who apply it to their own work areas. Studies
and recent articles argue that organisational development applied by managers
rather than organisational development professionals is growing rapidly. They
suggest that the faster pace of change affecting organisations today is highlighting
the centrality of the manager in managing change. Consequently, organisational
development must become a general management skill.
Along those lines, Kanter studied a growing number of firms, such as General
Electric, Hewlett-Packard, and 3M, where managers and employees have become
“change masters”.They gained the expertise to introduce change and innovation
into the organisation.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Who are the organisational development practitioners?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) What is the role of organisational development practitioners?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

2.6 VALUES
Values are the explicit or implicit conceptions of the desirable held by an individual
or a group. They influence selections from available modes, means, and ends of
action. Whereas values are generalised conceptions, attitudes are operations of
several beliefs around specific object or situations.
Values uphold standards, while attitudes reflect multiple, often changing opinions
30
(Spates, 1983). Values concern what should be; they are the normative standards
by which human beings are influenced in their choices among alternative courses Foundations of
Organisational
of action. Development

Values are the engine of success. These values include mutual trust and confidence,
honesty and open communication, sensitivity and to the feeling and emotions of
others, shared goals, and a commitment to addressing and resolving conflict
(Buchanan and Huczynski, 1997, p.489).
There are organisations who value these human attributes above all other quick fix
benefits. Stephen Robbins (1986, p.461) expresses these human values more
concisely as follows:
 The individual should be treated with respect and dignity.
 The organisation climate should be characterised by trust, openness and
support.
 Hierarchical authority and control are not regarded as effective mechanisms.
 Problems and conflicts should be confronted, and not disguised or avoided.
 People affected by change should be involved in its implementation.
The value is the key point of organisational development and it plays a significant
role to maintain the performance of an organisation. These values are effective in
the following ways:
i) Utilisation of total available resources;
ii) Development of human potential;
iii) Organisational effectiveness and health;
iv) Exciting and challenging work;
v) Opportunity to influence work environment and
vi) Appreciation for unique and complex needs of individuals.
The values can also improve performance and productivity of an organisation. The
possibility exists that the values of organisational development, if implemented, can
be most useful in yielding increased job satisfaction for those people whose needs
the values meet. The values of organisational development, in and of themselves,
do not represent solutions to an organisation’s ills.
Humanistic values is also important for organisation. According to Raja and
Margulies (1979) humanistic values provide opportunities for people to function
as human beings rather than as resources, opportunities for each member, the
organisation, to develop to full potential, increase the effectiveness of the organisation
in terms of all its goals, not only profit and treat each human being as a person
with a complex set of needs.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Elucidate the values that are important for organisational development.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................... 31
Introduction
2) Explain how values and organisational development are related.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Discuss the ways in which the values are effective.
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

2.7 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND

ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
We now have an understanding of how the organisational development contributes
to a greater extent to the overall effectiveness of an organisation. US funder
organisation Grantmakers for Effective Organisation (GEO, 2007) describes an
effective organisation as one which “is able to fulfill its mission through a blend of
sound management, strong governance, and a persistent rededication to achieving
results”.
The Alliance for Nonprofit Management (again, a US organisation) describes
organisational effectiveness as “the capacity of an organisation to sustain the people,
strategies, learning, infrastructure and resources it needs to continue to achieve its
mission”.
Barbara Kibbe (2007) has summarized the most important factors which contribute
to the effectiveness of organisation. One of the factors of an effective organisation
is relevant programmes that are regularly reviewed to ensure that service delivery
is consistent with known best practices and related to evolving needs and context.
Policies and processes, which are efficient, cost effective, aligned with mission and
goals, and focused on clear, measurable outcomes are also very important in order
to make an organisation effective. Further, adequate assets and resources are
required to accomplish organisational and programmatic objectives, including
physical and human resources as well as financial assets.
Stability through multiple funding streams, a high level of earned income, and/or
adequate cash reserves or endowment is also necessary. Last but not the least
skilled leaders are one of the most important aspects of an effective organisation
and also for the overall performance and success of the organisation. The skilled
leaders will provide continuous learning in terms of their personal and professional
growth, as well as the management of their organisations.
These factors that lead to organisational effectiveness can be achieved with the
help of organisational development process.

32
 Foundations of
Self Assessment Questions Organisational
Development
1) What is organisational effectiveness?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) What are the important factors that contribute to organisational effectiveness.
.....................................................................................................................
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2.8 LET US SUM UP

To sum up, organisational development can be described as an ongoing, systematic
process to implement effective change in an organisation. Organisational
development is known as both a field of applied behavioural science focused on
understanding and managing organisational change and as a field of scientific study
and inquiry. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on sociology, psychology,
and theories of motivation, learning, and personality. Its main goal is to facilitate
effective functioning and growth in an organisation.
Organisational development is a particular kind of change process designed to
bring about a particular kind of end results. It attempts to make organisations
(viewed as social-technical systems) better able to attain their short and long-term
objectives. This is achieved by teaching the organisation members to manage their
organisation processes, structures, and culture more effectively. A basic belief of
organisational development theories and practitioner is that for effective, lasting
change to take place, the system members must grow in the competence to master
their own fates. Organisational development is a contractual relationship between
an organisational development practitioner and a sponsoring organisation entered
into for the purpose of using applied behavioural science and or other organisational
change perspectives in a systems context to improve organisational performance
and the capacity of the organisation to improve itself.
In this unit we discussed about the nature and characteristics of organisational
development, which are very important to understand so as to further clarify the
concept of organisational development. We also discussed the process involved in
organisational development. The role played by organisational development
practitioner was also discussed in the unit. We then highlighted the relevance of
values and focused on the organisational effectiveness.

2.9 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Explain organisational development as an interactive and continuous process.
2) Discuss the characteristics of organisational development
33
Introduction 3) Describe the process involved in the organisational development.
4) Discuss the role of an organisational development practitioner.
5) Write a note on values.
6) Discuss about organisational effectiveness.

2.10 SUGGESTED READINGS

Blake, R.P., and J.S. Mouton. (1976) Consultation, Reading MA: Addison-
Wesley.
Devi, Laxmi (1998) Organisation Development, Institute for Sustainable
Development, Lucknow and Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi .
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., &Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Newstorm, J. W., & Davis, K. (1997). Organisational Behaviour: Human
Behaviour at Work. 9th Ed. New Delhi. Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing Company
Limited.

34
UNIT 3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF
ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Structure
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Objectives
3.2 A Brief History of Organisational Development
3.2.1 Early Development
3.2.2 Modern Development

3.3 Organisational Development Worldwide

3.3.1 Definition of Worldwide Organisations
3.3.2 Worldwide Strategic Orientation
3.3.3 Global Orientation
3.3.4 Multinational Orientation

3.4 Let Us Sum Up

3.5 Unit End Questions
3.6 Suggested Readings

3.0 INTRODUCTION
Organisational development may be described as a methodology or technique
used to effect change in an organisation or section of an organisation with a view
of improving the organisation’s effectiveness. It is a planned process of change
and applies behavioural science knowledge. It aims at the change of organisation
culture, reinforcement of organisation strategies, structures and processes for
improving organisation’s effectiveness and health. It applies to an entire system of
an organisation, department or group as opposed to an aspect of a system.
It is a long range effort to improve organisation’s problem solving and renewal
processes, particularly through more effective and collaborative management of
organisational culture, often with the assistance of a change agent or catalyst and
the use of the theory and technology of applied behavioural science. Although
behavioural science has provided the basic foundation for the study and practice
of organisational development, new and emerging fields of study have made their
presence known. Experts in systems thinking, leadership studies, organisational
leadership, and organisational learning (to name a few) whose perspective is not
steeped in just the behavioural sciences, but a much more multi-disciplinary and
inter-disciplinary approach have emerged as organisational development catalysts.
These emergent expert perspectives see the organisation as the holistic interplay
of a number of systems that impact the process and outputs of the entire
organisation. More importantly, the term change agent or catalyst is synonymous
with the notion of a leader who is engaged in doing leadership, a transformative
or effectiveness process as opposed to management, a more incremental or
efficiency based change methodology.
The main target of organisational development is a long term institutionalisation of 35
Introduction new activities such as operation of self managed or autonomous work teams and
other problem solving capabilities. It encompasses strategy, structure and process
changes and can be termed as a process managed from the top by the management.
In the previous units we discussed in detail about the concept of organisational
development, its nature, goals, characteristic and process. In this unit we will
mainly focus on the brief history of organisational development and will also discuss
the organisational development worldwide.

3.1 OBJECTIVES
On completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define organisational development;
 Explain the history and process of organisational development;
 Describe organisational development worldwide;
 Delineate the characteristics of organisational development;
 Elucidate the process of organisational development;
 Explain organisational development practitioners;
 Analyse the values that are related to organisational development; and
 Describe organisational development and organisational effectiveness.

3.2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
Organisational development is an effort, planned organisation wide and managed
from the top to increase organisation effectiveness and health through planned
interventions in the organisations process using behavioural science knowledge.
Kurt Lewin the founder father of organisational development introduced the group
dynamics and action research, which comes as underpin of organisational
development process. At the core it can be said that in organisational development
two or more people working together. It is a long range effort to improve
organisations problem solving and renewal process through more effective
collaboration with the assistance of a change agent or catalyst and the use of the
theory and technology of applied behavioural science. The emergent experts in the
field of organisational development see the organisation in holistic approach. This
holistic interplay of number of systems impacts the process and output of the
entire organisation.
Organisational development attempts to systematic and practical approach to
launching and diffusing change in organisation. This ongoing and cyclic process of
organisational development consists of wide range of strategies for any organisational
improvement. Warren Bennis has referred to organisational development as a
response to change a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs,
attitudes, values and structure of organisation so that they can better adapt to new
technologies marketing, challenges and the rate of change. Thus it can be analysed
with a view that organisational development targets new change in the organisation
for its betterment. This brings challenges to lead towards bright future. Burke
36
described organisational development as a planned process of change is an Conceptual Framework of
Organisational Development
organisation’s culture through the utilisation of behavioural science technology,
research and theory. This definition attempts to show the development in terms of
utilising new behavioural changes with the learning modern technology and new
research views. French and Bell describe organisational development in a more
comprehensive manner as a long term effort to improve an organisations problem
solving and renewal process, particularly through a more effective and collaborative
management of organisation culture.
Organisational development is a contractual relationship between a change agent
and a sponsoring organisation entered into for the purpose of using applied
behavioural science and or the organisational change perspectives in a systems
context to improve organisational performance and the capacity of the organisation
to improve. Thus organisation development is an ongoing systematic long term
process to make an effective change in an organisation. The success of organisational
development depends on the implementation of internal and external measures.
Internal measures entails a paradigm shift in terms of reorienting all levels of
personnel toward development goals the creation of a development office a high
level of transparency collaboration, flexibility and creative thinking. In the external
measures the process requires the implementation of highly integrated public relations,
fundraising and advocacy plans. This integration of the internal and external measures
comes as a core of an institution for its development.
Organisational development aims at achieving the goal, mission and vision in a
most effective and efficient manner. Fundamentally, organisational development is
the implementation of a process of planned change for the purpose of organisational
improvement (as opposed to a focus solely on performance).It is rooted in the
social and behavioural sciences and draws its influences from a wide variety of
content areas, including social psychology, group dynamics, industrial/organisational
(I/O) psychology, participative management theory, organisational behaviour,
sociology, and even psychotherapy. This diverse background has been cited as
both strength and a weakness of OD. Its strength lies in the breadth and diversity
that such openness affords.
We will now focus on the brief history of organisational development. The history
of organisational development will help to clarify the evolution of the term as well
as some of the problems and confusion that have surrounded it. As currently
practiced, organisational development emerged from five major backgrounds or
stems, as shown in Figure 1.1.The first was the growth of the National Training
Laboratories (NTL) and the development of training groups, otherwise known as
sensitivity training or T-groups. The second stem of organisational development
was the classic work on action research conducted by social scientists interested
in applying research to managing change. An important feature of action research
was a technique known as survey feedback. Kurt Lewin, a prolific theorist,
researcher, and practitioner in group dynamics and social change, was instrumental
in the development of T-groups, survey feedback, and action research. His work
led to the creation of organisational development and still serves as a major source
of its concepts and methods.

37
Introduction

Laboratory Training

CURRENT OD PRACTICE
Action Research/Survey Feedback

Participative Management

1950 Quality of Work Life 1960

1970 1980 1990
2000 Strategic Change

Fig. 1.1: The Five Stems of Organisational Development Practice

Courtesy: Cummings and Worley, Organisation Development and Change (2004),

Chapter 1, page 6.

The third stem reflects the work of Rensis Likert and represents the application
of participative management to organisation structure and design. The fourth
background is the approach focusing on productivity and the quality of work life.
The fifth stem of organisational development, and the most recent influence on
current practice, involves strategic change and organisation transformation.

3.2.1 Early Development

Kurt Lewin played a key role in the evolution of organisation development as it
is known today. As early as World War II, Lewin experimented with a collaborative
change process (involving himself as consultant and a client group) based on a
three-step process of planning, taking action, and measuring results. This was the
forerunner of action research, an important element of organisational development,
which will be discussed later. Lewin then participated in the beginnings of laboratory
training, or T-groups, and, after his death in 1947, his close associates helped to
develop survey-research methods at the University of Michigan. These procedures
became important parts of organisational development as developments in this
field continued at the National Training Laboratories and in growing numbers of
universities and private consulting firms across the country.
Douglas McGregor and Richard Beckhard while “consulting together at General
Mills in The failure of off-site laboratory training to live up to its early promise was
one of the important forces stimulating the development of organisational
development. Laboratory training is learning from a person’s “here and now”
experience as a member of an ongoing training group. Such groups usually meet
without a specific agenda. Their purpose is for the members to learn about
themselves from their spontaneous “here and now” responses to an ambiguous
hypothetical situation. Problems of leadership, structure, status, communication,
and self-serving behaviour typically arise in such a group. The members have an
opportunity to learn something about themselves and to practice such skills as
listening, observing others, and functioning as effective group members.
As formerly practiced (and occasionally still practiced for special purposes),
38 laboratory training was conducted in “stranger groups,” or groups composed of
individuals from different organisations, situations, and backgrounds. A major Conceptual Framework of
Organisational Development
difficulty developed, however, in transferring knowledge gained from these “stranger
labs” to the actual situation “back home”. This required a transfer between two
different cultures, the relatively safe and protected environment of the T-group (or
training group) and the give-and-take of the organisational environment with its
traditional values. This led the early pioneers in this type of learning to begin to
apply it to “family groups” — that is, groups located within an organisation. From
this shift in the locale of the training site and the realisation that culture was an
important factor in influencing group members (along with some other developments
in the behavioural sciences) emerged the concept of organisation development.
The Cambridge Clinic found itself having difficulty with its internal working
relationships. The medical director, concerned with the effect these problems could
have on patient care, contacted an organisational consultant at a local university
and asked him for help. A preliminary discussion among the director, the clinic
administrator, and the consultant seemed to point to problems in leadership, conflict
resolution, and decision processes. The consultant suggested that data be gathered
so that a working diagnosis could be made. The clinic officials agreed, and tentative
working arrangements were concluded.
The consultant held a series of interviews involving all members of the clinic staff,
the medical director, and the administrator. Then the consultant “thematized”, or
summarized, the interview data to identify specific problem areas. At the beginning
of a workshop about a week later, the consultant fed back to the clinic staff the
data he had collected. The staff arranged the problems in the following priorities
Role conflicts between certain members of the medical staff were creating tensions
that interfered with the necessity for cooperation in handling patients. The leadership
style of the medical director resulted in his putting off decisions on important
operating matters. This led to confusion and sometimes to inaction on the part of
the medical and administrative staffs. Communication between the administrative,
medical, and outreach (social worker) staffs on mutual problems tended to be
avoided. Open conflicts over policies and procedures were thus held in check, but
suppressed feelings clearly had a negative influence on interpersonal and intergroup
behaviour.
Through the use of role analysis and other techniques suggested by the consultant,
the clinic staff and the medical director were able to explore the role conflict and
leadership problems and to devise effective ways of coping with them. Exercises
designed to improve communication skills and a workshop session on dealing with
conflict led to progress in developing more openness and trust throughout the
clinic. An important result of this first workshop was the creation of an action plan
that set forth specific steps to be applied to clinic problems by clinic personnel
during the ensuing period. The consultant agreed to monitor these efforts and to
assist in any way he could. Additional discussions and team development sessions
were held with the director and the medical and administrative staffs.
A second workshop attended by the entire clinic staff took place about two
months after the first. At the second workshop, the clinic staff continued to work
together on the problems of dealing with conflict and interpersonal communication.
During the last half-day of the meeting, the staff developed a revised action plan
covering improvement activities to be undertaken in the following weeks and
months to improve the working relationships of the clinic.
39
Introduction A notable additional benefit of this organisational development program was that
the clinic staff learned new ways of monitoring the clinic’s performance as an
organisation and of coping with some of its other problems. Six months later, when
the consultant did a follow-up check on the organisation, the staff confirmed that
interpersonal problems were now under better control and that some of the
techniques learned at the two workshops associated with the organisational
development programs were still being used.
Organisational Development is a system-wide application and transfer of behavioural
science knowledge to the planned development, improvement, and reinforcement
of the strategies, structure, and process that lead to organisation effectiveness.
(Abdul Basit - nust - seecs)

3.2.2 Modern Development

In recent years, serious questioning has emerged about the relevance of
organisational development to managing change in modern organisations. The need
for “reinventing” the field has become a topic that even some of its “founding
fathers” are discussing critically.
With this call for reinvention and change, scholars have begun to examine
organisational development from an emotion-based standpoint. For example,
deKlerk (2007) writes about how emotional trauma can negatively affect
performance. Due to downsizing, outsourcing, mergers, restructuring, continual
changes, invasions of privacy, harassment, and abuses of power, many employees
experience the emotions of aggression, anxiety, apprehension, cynicism, and fear,
which can lead to performance decreases. deKlerk (2007) suggests that in order
to heal the trauma and increase performance, organisational development
practitioners must acknowledge the existence of the trauma, provide a safe place
for employees to discuss their feelings, symbolize the trauma and put it into
perspective, and then allow for and deal with the emotional responses. One method
of achieving this is by having employees draw pictures of what they feel about the
situation, and then having them explain their drawings with each other. Drawing
pictures is beneficial because it allows employees to express emotions they normally
would not be able to put into words. Also, drawings often prompt active
participation in the activity, as everyone is required to draw a picture and then
discuss its meaning.
The use of new technologies combined with globalization has also shifted the field
of organisation development. Roland Sullivan (2005) defined Organisation
Development with participants at the 1st Organisation Development Conference
for Asia in Dubai-2005 as “Organisation Development is a transformative leap to
a desired vision where strategies and systems align, in the light of local culture with
an innovative and authentic leadership style using the support of high tech tools”.
Organisational development is the thing helping in building good culture in the
organisation.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe the role played by Lewin in organisational development.
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40 .....................................................................................................................
 Conceptual Framework of
2) Discuss early development in organisational development. Organisational Development

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.....................................................................................................................
3) Describe modern development in organisational development.
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.....................................................................................................................

3.3 ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT

WORLDWIDE
The Worldwide helps organisations to leverage their human potential. The worldwide
organisation development is a leader in the field of organisational development,
growth and success, providing a world-class repository of knowledge and expertise
on the topic of organisational development and reflecting the issues or challenges
faced by organisations of all types and sizes globally.
Organisation development world wide collects information, performs research,
writes and publishes case studies and organisational success stories for persons
and professionals in the interest of ongoing learning. It also disseminates information,
products, processes and services designed to help organisations of all kinds to
develop and grow.
The organisational development worldwide maintains four key areas as given below.
 Organisational research
 New products/tools/process development
 Organisational services
 Publishing
The Worldwide Organisational Development has four main areas of activity given
above. The Research and Process Development, are input-focused, and relate to
gathering information and feedback. Conversely, Organisational Services and
Publishing are output-focused, offering world-class solutions to members and clients.
Organisational research is conducted across a range of different organisations in
multiple sectors. The focus of research is on setting up medium to long term
studies in organisational development tools, techniques and methods and analysing
the results so that these can be written up and disseminated widely. This includes
the publication of organisational development articles, case studies and research
papers.
The worldwide organisational development seeks to learn with and have a significant
impact upon practicing managers and leaders and those who support them, through 41
Introduction exposure to organisational development tools, methods and processes. It helps
to create organisational development applications – both programs and products
– that are useful and attractive to clients. It shares knowledge through publications
and forums that reach practitioners and academic researchers with similar interests.
It forges developmental associations with like-minded organisations and research
institutions.
An important trend facing many business firms is the emergence of a global
marketplace. Driven by competitive pressures, lowered trade barriers, and advances
in information technologies, the number of companies offering products and services
in multiple countries is increasing rapidly. The organisational growth and complexity
associated with worldwide operations pose challenging managerial problems.
Executives must choose appropriate strategic orientations for operating across
cultures and geographical locations, and under diverse governmental and
environmental requirements. They must be able to adapt corporate policies and
procedures to a range of local conditions. Moreover, the tasks of controlling and
coordinating operations in different nations place heavy demands on information
and control systems and managerial skills and knowledge.
Worldwide organisation development applies to organisations that are operating
across multiple geographic and cultural boundaries. This contrasts with OD in
organisations that operate outside the United States but within a single cultural and
economic context. This section describes the emerging practice of OD in world
wide organisations, a relatively new but important area of planned change.

3.3.1 Definition of Worldwide Organisations

Worldwide organisations can be defined in terms of three key facets.
First, they offer products or services in more than one country and actively manage
substantial direct investments in those countries. Consequently, they must relate to
a variety of demands, such as unique product requirements, tariffs, value-added
taxes, transportation laws, and trade agreements.
Second, worldwide firms must balance product and functional concerns with
geographic issues of distance, time, and culture. American tobacco companies, for
example, face technological, moral, and organisational issues in determining whether
to market cigarettes in less-developed countries, and if they do, they must decide
how to integrate manufacturing and distribution operations on a global scale.
Third, worldwide companies must carry out coordinated activities across cultural
boundaries using a wide variety of personnel. Workers with different cultural
backgrounds must be managed in ways that support the overall goals and image
of the organisation.
The company must therefore adapt its human resources policies and procedures
to fit the culture and accomplish operational objectives. From a managerial
perspective, selecting executives to head foreign operations is an important decision
in worldwide organisations.

3.3.2 Worldwide Strategic Orientations

A key contingency in designing OD interventions in worldwide organisations is
how products, organisational units, and personnel are arranged to form strategic
42
orientations that enable firms to compete in the global marketplace. Worldwide
organisations can offer certain products or services in some countries and not in Conceptual Framework of
Organisational Development
others; they can centralise or decentralise operations; and they can determine how
to work with people from different cultures.
Despite the many possible combinations of characteristics, researchers have found
that worldwide organisations generally implement one of three types of strategic
orientations: global, multinational or transnational. Table below presents these
orientations in terms of the diagnostic framework. Each strategic orientation is
geared to specific market, technological, and organisational requirements. OD
interventions that can help organisations to meet these demands also are included
in the table below.

3.3.3 Global Orientation

This orientation is characterised by a strategy of marketing standardized products
in different countries. It is an appropriate orientation when there is little economic
reason to offer products or services with special features or locally available
options. Manufacturers of office equipment, consumer goods, computers, tires,
and containers, for example, can offer the same basic product in almost any
country.
The goal of efficiency dominates this orientation. Production efficiency is gained
through volume sales and a small number of large manufacturing plants. Managerial
efficiency is achieved by centralising product design, manufacturing, distribution,
and marketing decisions.
Tight coordination is achieved by the close physical proximity of major functional
groups and formal control systems that balance inputs, production, and distribution
with worldwide demand. Many Japanese firms, such as Honda, Sony, NEC, and
Matsushta, used this strategy in the 1970s and early 1980s to grow in the
international economy.
In Europe, Nestle exploits economies of scale in marketing by advertising well-
known brand names around the world. The increased number of microwaves and
two-income families allowed Nestle to push its Nescafe coffee and Lean Cuisine
low-calorie frozen dinners to dominate market-share positions in Europe, North
America, Latin America, and Asia.
Similarly, Korean noodle maker, Nong Shim Company, avoided the 1999 financial
crisis by staying focused on efficiency. Yoo Jong Suk, Nong Shim’s head of
strategy, went against recommendations to diversify and stated, “All we want is
to be globally recognised as a ram yon maker’.
In the global orientation, the organisation tends to be centralised with a global
product structure. Presidents of each major product group report to the CEO and
form the line organisation. Each of these product groups is responsible for worldwide
operations. Information systems in global orientations tend to be quiet formal with
local units reporting sales, costs, and other data directly to the product president.
The predominant human resources policy integrates people into the organisation
through ethnocentric selection and staffing practices. These methods seek to fill
key foreign positions with personnel, or expatriates, from the home country where
the corporation headquarters is located. Managerial jobs at Volvo and Michelin,
for example, are occupied by Swedish and French citizens, respectively.

43
Introduction Ethnocentric policies support the global orientation because expatriate managers
are more likely than host-country nationals to recognise and comply with the need
to centralise decision making and to standardize processes, decisions, and
relationships with the parent company. Although many Japanese automobile
manufacturers have decentralised production, Nissan’s global strategy has been to
retain tight, centralised control of design and manufacturing, ensure that almost all
of its senior foreign managers are Japanese, and have even low-level decisions
emerge from face-to face meetings in Tokyo.
Several organisational development interventions can be used to support the global
strategic orientation, including career planning, role clarification, employee
involvement, conflict management, and senior management team building. Each of
these interventions can help the organisation achieve improved operational efficiency.
For example, role clarification interventions, such as job enrichment, goal setting,
and conflict management, can formalize and standardize organisational activities.
This ensures that each individual knows specific details about how, when, and why
a job needs to be done. As a result, necessary activities are described and
efficient transactions and relationships are created.
Table : Characteristics and Interventions for Worldwide Strategic
Orientations
Table : Characteristics and Interventions for Worldwide Strategic Orientations
Worldwide Strategy Structure Information Human Organisational
Strategic System Resource Development
Orientation Intervention

Global Standardized Centralized, Formal Ethnocentric Career planning Role

Products balanced, and selection clarification
Goals of coordinated Employee
efficiency activities involvement Senior
through volume Global product management team
division building
Conflict management
Multinational Tailored Decentralized Profit Regiocentric Intergroup relations
Products Goals operations; Centers or polycentric Local management
of local centralised selection team building
responsiveness planning Management
through Global development
specialisation Geographic Reward systems
divisions Strategic alliances

Transnational Tailored Decentralized, Subtle,clan- Geocentric Extensive selection

Products worldwide oriented selection and rotation Cultural
Goals of learning coordination controls development
and Global matrix Intergroup relations
responsiveness or Building corporate
through network vision
integration

Courtesy: Cummings and Worley, Organisation Development and Change (2004), Chapter
21, page 567.

Senior management team building can improve the quality of strategic decisions.
Centralised policies make the organisation highly dependent on this group and can
exaggerate decision making errors in addition interpersonal conflict can increase
44
the cost of coordination or cause significant coordination mistakes. Process
interventions at this level can help improve the speed and quality of decision Conceptual Framework of
Organisational Development
making and improve interpersonal relationships.
Career planning can help home-country personnel develop a path to senior
management by including foreign subsidiary experiences and cross-functional
assignments as necessary qualifications for advancement. At the country level
career planning can emphasise that advancement beyond regional operations is
limited for host-country nationals. OD can help here by developing appropriate
career paths within the local organisation or in technical, non managerial areas.
Finally, employee empowerment can support efficiency goals by involving members
in efforts at cost reduction, work standardization, and minimization of coordination
costs.

3.3.4 Multinational Orientation

The multinational orientation emphasises a decentralised, global division structure.
Each region or country is served by a divisional organisation that operates
autonomously and reports to headquarters. This results in highly differentiated and
loosely coordinated corporate structure. Operational decisions, such as product
design, manufacturing, and distribution, are decentralised and tightly integrated at
the local level. For example, laundry soap manufacturers offer product formulas,
packaging, and marketing strategies that conform to the different environmental
regulations, types of washing machines, water hardness, and distribution channels
in each country.
On the other hand, planning activities often are centralised at corporate headquarters
to achieve important efficiencies necessary for worldwide coordination of emerging
technologies and of resource allocation. A profit-center control system allows
local autonomy as long as profitability is maintained. Examples of multinational
corporations include Hoechst and BASF of Germany. IBM and Merck of the
United States, and Honda of Japan. Each of these organisations encourages local
subsidiaries to maximize effectiveness within their geographic region.
People are integrated into multinational firms through polycentric or regiocentric
personnel policies because these firms believe that host country nationals can
understand native cultures most clearly. By filling positions with local citizens who
appoint and develop their own staffs, the organisation aligns the needs of the
market with the ability of its subsidiaries to produce customized products and
services.
The distinction between a polycentric and a regiocentric selection process is one
of focus. In a polycentric selection policy, a subsidiary represents only one country;
in the regiocentric selection policy, a slightly broader perspective is taken and key
positions are filled by regional citizens (that is, people who might be called
Europeans, as opposed to Belgians or Italians).
The decentralised and locally coordinated multinational orientation suggests the
need for a complex set of organisational development interventions. When applied
to a subsidiary operating in a particular country or region, the organisational
development process described above for organisations outside the United States
is relevant. The key is to tailor organisational development to fit the specific
cultural and economic context where the subsidiary is located.
When organisational development is applied across different regions and countries,
interventions must account for differences in cultural and economic conditions that 45
Introduction can affect its success. Appropriate interventions for multinational corporations
include intergroup relations, local management team building, sophisticated
management selection and development practices, and changes to reward systems.
Team building remains an important intervention. Unlike team building in global
orientations, the local management team requires attention in multinational firms.
This presents a challenge for organisational development practitioners because
polycentric selection policies can produce management teams with different cultures
at each subsidiary. Thus, a program developed for one subsidiary may not work
with a different team at another subsidiary, given the different cultures that might
be represented.
Intergroup interventions to improve relations between local subsidiaries and the
parent company are also important for multinational companies. Decentralised
decision making and regiocentric selection can strain corporate-subsidiary relations.
Local management teams, operating in ways appropriate to their cultural context,
may not be understood by corporate managers from another culture. Organisational
development practitioners can help both groups understand these differences by
offering training in cultural diversity and appreciation. They also can smooth parent-
subsidiary relationships by focusing on the profit-center control system or other
criteria as the means for monitoring and measuring subsidiary effectiveness.
Management selection, development, and reward system also require special
attention in multinational firms. Managerial selection for local or regional subsidiaries
requires finding technically and managerially competent people who also possess
the interpersonal competence needed to interface with corporate headquarters.
Because these people may be difficult to find, management development programs
can teach these cross-cultural skills and abilities. Such programs typically involve
language, cultural awareness, and technical training; they also can include managers
and staff from subsidiary and corporate offices to improve communications between
the two areas. Finally, reward systems need to be aligned with the decentralised
structure. Significant proportions of managers’ total compensation could be tied to
local profit performance, thereby aligning reward and control systems.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What is world wide organisation?
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2) Discuss multinational orientation.
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3) What are intergroup interventions?

46 .....................................................................................................................
 Conceptual Framework of
..................................................................................................................... Organisational Development

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4) What is required in management selection for multinational firms?
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3.4 LET US SUM UP

Organisational development is playing a significant role in helping organisations
change themselves, and rebuild their strategies, structure and processes.
Organisational development is helping organisation members go beyond surface
changes to transform the underline assumptions and values governing their
behaviours. Organisational development is also important to those who have no
aspirations to become professional practitioners. All managers and administrators
are responsible for supervising and developing subordinates and for improving
their department’s performance. Finally, organisational development is important
to general managers and other senior executives because organisational development
can help the whole organisation to become more flexible adaptable and effective.
Organisational development can provide the skill and knowledge necessary for
establishing effective interpersonal and helping relationships. It can show personnel
how to work effectively with others in diagnosing complex problems and devising
appropriate solutions.
This unit has covered the information on the characteristics of organisational
development, diagnosing the organisation, designing the effective interventions as
well as stating the requirements of the organisational development practitioners.
Lastly it has also focused on organisational development all over the world.

3.5 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Trace the early and modern developments in organisational development.
2) Describe organisational development worldwide.

3.6 SUGGESTED READINGS

Beckhard, “Organisation Development: Strategies and Models”, Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, 1969, p. 9.
Neilsen, “Becoming an OD Practitioner”, Englewood Cliffs, CA: Prentice-Hall,
1984, pp. 2-3.
Cummings and Worley, “Organization Development and Change”, Sixth Edition,
South-Western Publishing, 1997, p.2.
Buchanan, D. and Huzynnski, A. (1997) Organization Behaviour: An
Introductory Text, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall, London. 47
Introduction References
Smith, A. (1998), Training and Development in Australia. 2nd ed. 261. Sydney:
Butterworths.
Richard Arvid Johnson. Management, systems, and society : an introduction.
Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Pub. Co..
Richard Beckhard (1969). Organisation development: strategies and models.
Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. p. 114. ISBN 0876205406 9780876205402.
OCLC 39328. 
Wendell L French; Cecil Bell. (2006) Organisation development: behavioural
science interventions for organisation improvement. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall. 
Weisbord, Marvin. (1987). Productive Workplace: Organising and managing for
dignity, meaning and community. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Richard Arvid Johnson (1976). Management, systems, and society : an
introduction. Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Pub. Co.. pp. 223–229.
ISBN 0876205406  9780876205402.  OCLC 2299496. 
Bradford, D.L. & Burke, W.W. eds, (2005). Organisation Development. San
Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Bradford, D.L. & Burke, W.W.(eds), 2005, Reinventing Organisation Development.
San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
deKler, M. (2007). Healing emotional trauma in organisations: An O.D. Framework
and case study. Organisational Development Journal, 25(2), 49-56.
Kurt Lewin (1958). Group Decision and Social Change. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston. p. 201.
Richard Arvid Johnson (1976). Management, systems, and society: an
introduction. Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Pub. Co.. pp. 224–226.
ISBN 0876205406  9780876205402.  OCLC 2299496. 
Wendell L French; Cecil Bell (1973). Organisation development: behavioural
science interventions for organisation improvement. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall. chapter 8. ISBN 0136416624 9780136416623 0136416543
9780136416548. OCLC 314258.

48
UNIT 4 FIRST ORDER AND SECOND
ORDER CHANGE IN
ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Objectives
4.2 First Order Change in Organisational Development
4.3 Action Research
4.3.1 Major Theories of Action Research

4.4 Team Building

4.4.1 Team Building Exercises
4.4.2 Communication Exercises
4.4.3 Problem Solving/Decision Making Exercises
4.4.4 Planning Adaptation Exercises
4.4.5 Trust Exercises

4.5 Process Consultation

4.6 The Survey Feedback Process
4.7 Job Design
4.7.1 Human Relations Approach
4.7.2 The Job Characteristic Approach
4.7.3 Socio Technical Systems Approach

4.8 Participative Management

4.8.1 Benefits of Participative Management

4.9 Second Order Change in Organisational Development

4.10 Organisational Development Interventions
4.10.1 Applying Criteria to Goals
4.10.2 Establishing Inter- unit Task Forces
4.10.3 Experimentation with Alternative Arrangements
4.10.4 Identifying Key Communicators
4.10.5 Identifying “Fireable Offences”
4.10.6 Invisioning
4.10.7 Team Building
4.10.8 Inter-group Problem Solving
4.10.9 Management Leadership Training
4.10.10Setting Up Management Systems
4.10.11Total Quality Management

4.11 Let Us Sum Up

4.12 Unit End Questions
4.13 Suggested Readings 49
Introduction
4.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous units we have extensively discussed about the meaning and
significance of organisational development. We also focused on the foundations
and historical development of organisational development. In this unit we will be
highlighting one of the significant aspects of organisational development that is
organisational transformation.
Amir Levy and Uri Merry (1986) give one of the most complete explorations of
this topic in their book, organisational transformation. They define the term as a
multi-dimensional, multi-level, qualitative, discontinuous, radical organisational
change involving a paradigmatic shift. Increasingly, organisational development
professionals distinguish between the more modest or evolutionary, efforts toward
organisation improvement and those that are massive and, in a sense, revolutionary.
For example, Nadler and Tushman refer to “transitions” on the one hand, and
frame bending” on the other. Goodstein and Burke contrast “fine tuning” and
“fundamental, large-scale change in the organisation’s strategy and culture”.
Organisational transformation is seen as requiring more demands on top leadership,
more visioning, more experimenting, more time, and the simultaneous management
of many additional variables.
Hillary utilises a model of First-order Change and Second-order Change, borrowed
from others (Levy, et al), to describe this transformation process. These two
models will now be discussed in detail in this unit, with descriptions of various
techniques that fall under each model, that facilitate organisational transformation.

4.1 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 explain the first and second order change in organisational development;
 describe the elements in first order change; and
 discuss organisational development intervention.

4.2 FIRST ORDER CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
The first order change of organisational development usually refers to socio-technical
aspects in the organisation. According to Hillary, First-order change does not
challenge or contradict the established context of ‘organisation.’ People are not
usually threatened either personally or collectively by this type of change. First-
order change, according to Hillary, happens in the context of “Core Processes”
of an organisation. This is superficial and “does not call into question the existing
culture, mission/purpose, or organisational paradigm.” In education reform language,
“Core processes” referred to the basic operation — the arena of the cafeteria, bus
scheduling, building maintenance, etc. These could be changed without creating a
paradigm shift in the overall structure and function of the local school. Likewise,
First-order change in a church could mean changing the hours for services,
renovating the building, choosing new choir robes, scheduling nursery workers,
etc.
The elements of first order change are:
50
1) Action Research First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
2) Team Building Development

3) Process Consultation
4) The Survey Feedback Process
5) Job Design
6) Participative Management
These elements will be discussed in the following sections.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What is first order change?
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2) Name the elements of first order change.
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4.3 ACTION RESEARCH

Action Research is research on action with the goal of making that action more
effective. Action refers to programs and interventions designed to solve a problem
or improve a condition. The action research model underlying most organisation
development activities is the action research model. In the action research the
three processes are involved i.e. data collection; feedback of the data; and planning
of the action to be taken. Action research involves an approach to problem solving
– a model, problem solving process – a series of activities and events. Action
refers tom programs and interventions designed to solve a problem or improve a
condition. Kurt Lewin believed that research on action programa, especially social
change programs, was imperative if progress was to be made in solving social
problems.
In organisation setting there is a healthy relationship between action research and
organisation development. Action research supplies an approach and a process
for generating and utilising information about the system itself that will provide a
base for the action research. Action research can also be undertaken by larger
organisations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with
the aim of improving their strategies, practices, and knowledge of the environments
within which they practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with
others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its
work practices (Center for Collaborative Action Research). Kurt Lewin, then a
51
Introduction professor at MIT, first coined the term “action research” in about 1944. In his
1946 paper “Action Research and Minority Problems” he described action research
as “a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social
action and research leading to social action” that uses “a spiral of steps, each of
which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result
of the action”.
Action research challenges traditional social science, by moving beyond reflective
knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables to an active moment-to-
moment theorizing, data collecting, and inquiring occurring in the midst of emergent
structure.

4.3.1 Major Theories of Action Research

Chris Argyris Action Science begins with the study of how human beings design
their actions in difficult situations. Human actions are designed to achieve intended
consequences and governed by a set of environment variables. How those governing
variables are treated in designing actions are the key differences between single
loop learning and double loop learning.
When actions are designed to achieve the intended consequences and to suppress
conflict about the governing variables, a single loop learning cycle usually ensues.
On the other hand, when actions are taken, not only to achieve the intended
consequences, but also to openly inquire about conflict and to possibly transform
the governing variables, both single loop and double loop learning cycles usually
ensue. (Argyris applies single loop and double loop learning concepts not only to
personal behaviours but also to organisational behaviours in his models.) This is
different from experimental research in which environmental variables are controlled
and researchers try to find out cause and effected in isolated environment.
Cooperative inquiry, also known as collaborative inquiry was first proposed by
John Heron in 1971 and later expanded with Peter Reason. The major idea of
cooperative inquiry is to “research ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ people.” It emphasises
that all active participants are fully involved in research decisions as co-researchers.
Cooperative inquiry creates a research cycle among four different types of
knowledge: propositional knowing (as in contemporary science), practical knowing
(the knowledge that comes with actually doing what you propose), experiential
knowing (the feedback we get in real time about our interaction with the larger
world) and presentational knowing (the artistic rehearsal process through which
we craft new practices). The research process includes these four stages at each
cycle with deepening experience and knowledge of the initial proposition, or of
new propositions, at every cycle.
Participatory action research has emerged in recent years as a significant
methodology for intervention, development and change within communities and
groups. It is now promoted and implemented by many international development
agencies and university programs, as well as countless local community organisations
around the world. PAR builds on the critical pedagogy put forward by Paulo
Freire as a response to the traditional formal models of education where the
“teacher” stands at the front and “imparts” information to the “students” who are
passive recipients. This was further developed in “adult education” models
throughout Latin America.
The Developmental Action Inquiry is a “way of simultaneously conducting action
52 and inquiry as a disciplined leadership practice that increases the wider effectiveness
of our actions. Such action helps individuals, teams, organisations become more First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
capable of self-transformation and thus more creative, more aware, more just and Development
more sustainable” (Torbert, 2004). Action Inquiry challenges our attention to span
four different territories of experience (at the personal, group, or organisational
scales) in the midst of actions. This practice promotes timeliness, that is learning
with moment to moment intentional awareness among individuals and with regard
to the outside world of nature and human institutions.
It studies the pre constituted internalised and externalised universe in the present,
both as it resonates with and departs from the past, and as it resonates with and
potentiates the future. (Torbert, 2001). Whitehead and McNiff (2006), formulated
living theory of action research. In educational setting they explain that individuals
generate explanations of their educational influences in their own learning, in the
learning of others and in the learning of social formations. They generate the
explanations from experiencing themselves as living contradictions in enquiries of
the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ They use action reflection cycles
of expressing concerns, (saying why you are concerned in relation to values),
imagining possibilities in developing action plans, acting and gathering data, evaluating
the influences of action, modifying concerns, ideas and action in the light of the
evaluations. The explanations include life-affirming, energy-flowing values as
explanatory principles.
Wendell L. French and Cecil Bell define organisation development (OD) at one
point as “organisation improvement through action research”. If one idea can be
said to summarize organisational development’s underlying philosophy, it would be
action research as it was conceptualized by Kurt Lewin and later elaborated and
expanded on by other behavioural scientists. Concerned with social change and,
more particularly, with effective, permanent social change, Lewin believed that the
motivation to change was strongly related to action: If people are active in decisions
affecting them, they are more likely to adopt new ways. “Rational social
management”, he said, “proceeds in a spiral of steps, each of which is composed
of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of action”.
Lewin’s description of the process of change involves three steps:
1) Unfreezing: Faced with a dilemma or disconfirmation, the individual or group
becomes aware of a need to change.
2) Changing: The situation is diagnosed and new models of behaviour are
explored and tested.
3) Refreezing: Application of new behaviour is evaluated, and if reinforcing,
adopted.

53
Introduction

Fig.: Systems Model of Action-Research Process

Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_research

The above figure summarizes the steps and processes involved in planned change
through action research. Action research is depicted as a cyclical process of
change.
The cycle begins with a series of planning actions (the first stage) initiated by the
client and the change agent working together. The principal elements of this stage
include a preliminary diagnosis, data gathering, feedback of results, and joint
action planning.
The second stage of action research is the action, or transformation, phase. This
stage includes actions relating to learning processes (perhaps in the form of role
analysis) and to planning and executing behavioural changes in the client organisation.
As shown in Figure above, feedback at this stage would move via Feedback
Loop A and would have the effect of altering previous planning to bring the
learning activities of the client system into better alignment with change objectives.
Included in this stage is action planning activity carried out jointly by the consultant
and members of the client system. As indicated in the diagram, the planning stage
is a period of unfreezing, or problem awareness.
The action stage is a period of changing that is, trying out new forms of behaviour
in an effort to understand and cope with the system’s problems. (There is inevitable
overlap between the stages, since the boundaries are not clear cut and cannot be
in a continuous process).
The results stage is a period of refreezing, in which new behaviours are tried out
on the job and, if successful and reinforcing, become a part of the system’s
repertoire of problem-solving behaviour.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Define action research.
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54
 First Order and Second Order
2) Discuss any one theory of action research. Change in Organisational
Development
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
3) Discuss Lewin’s description of the process of change.
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4.4 TEAM BUILDING

Team Building refers to a wide range of activities, presented to businesses, schools,
sports teams, religious or nonprofit organisations designed for improving team
performance. Team building is pursued via a variety of practices, and can range
from simple bonding exercises to complex simulations and multi-day team building
retreats designed to develop a team (including group assessment and group-
dynamic games), usually falling somewhere in between. It generally sits within the
theory and practice of organisational development, but can also be applied to
sports teams, school groups, and other contexts.
Teambuilding is an important factor in any environment, its focus is to specialise
in bringing out the best in a team to ensure self development, positive
communication, leadership skills and the ability to work closely together as a team
to solve problems.
A focus on intact work teams and other team configurations has been central to
organisational development since the emergence of the field, but recent years have
seen widening and deepening interest in teams, especially what are called high
performance teams, cross functional teams and self-managed teams. Interest has
intensified particularly in self-managed or self-directed teams.

4.4.1 Team Building Exercises

Team building exercises consist of a variety of tasks designed to develop group
members and their ability to work together effectively. The purpose of team building
exercises is to assist teams in becoming cohesive units of individuals that can
effectively work together to complete tasks.

4.4.2 Communication Exercises

This type of team building exercise is exactly what it sounds like. Communications
exercises are problem solving activities that are geared towards improving
communication skills. The issues teams encounter in these exercises are solved by
communicating effectively with each other. The goal of this exercise is to create
an activity which highlights the importance of good communication in team
performance and/or potential problems with communication.
55
Introduction 4.4.3 Problem Solving/Decision Making Exercises
Problem Solving/Decision making exercises focus specifically on groups working
together to solve difficult problems or make complex decisions. These exercises
are some of the most common as they appear to have the most direct link to what
employers want their teams to be able to do. The goal here is to give team a
problem in which the solution is not easily apparent or requires the team to come
up with a creative solution.

4.4.4 Planning/Adaptability Exercises

These exercises focus on aspects of planning and being adaptable to change.
These are important things for teams to be able to do when they are assigned
complex tasks or decisions. The goal of this exercise is to show the importance
of planning before implementing a solution.

4.4.5 Trust Exercises

A trust exercise involves engaging team members in a way that will induce trust
between them. They are sometimes difficult exercises to implement as there are
varying degrees of trust between individuals and varying degrees of individual
comfort trusting others in general. The goal here is to create trust between team
members
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss the concept of team building
.....................................................................................................................
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2) Explain communication exercises
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3) Describe trust exercises
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4.5 PROCESS CONSULTATION

Process consulting is a late 20th century practice. Classically espoused in the
works of Edgar Schein (especially Process Consultation Revisited), this model
56 is based on consultation as a “helping relationship”. The mutual nature of this
relationship, with the consultant working with and not for the client is a keynote
of the process consultation philosophy.
Process consultation is generally contrasted with expert consultation and is frequently
seen by its advocates as a superior style of management consulting. In practice,
however, almost all management consulting involves a mix of expert and process
models, with the consultant frequently shifting roles to meet the needs of the
situation. Schein himself notes the need for such fluidity in practice.
Process consultation has the powerful advantage of being by its nature specifically
tailored to any particular situation. As new forms of organisations and new
interactions between organisations occur, process consultation will be applied in
different ways to meet new goals. Basically, one can extrapolate the strengths of
this model to 21st century conditions in the following ways:
1) Orientation toward ongoing ability and learning: The focus of process
consultation is on solving the problem. But in a world of constant change and
development, there will always be problems and particular solutions will never
be lasting. In the second generation form of process consultation, there more
be more emphasis on problem solving ability rather than problem solving.
2) More involvement and participation: It is a whole system world; processes
that look at and employ only one part of the organisation are insufficient. The
new generation of process consultants will increasingly work with internal
consultants, teams, and all levels of the organisation.
3) Building up facilitation and consultation skills in the organisation: There
will be development that means it is able to meet new challenges and conditions,
not just those which initiated the consultancy.
4) Wider application of techniques and methods: As everyone becomes
involved in all phases of the organisation and everyone becomes responsible
for the organisation’s development, there will be a need for more people to
know and to use more principles and more practices in more situations. For
example, dialogue, a staple of the process consultation effort, will be used not
simply in special situations or just for team-building purposes but will be a
tool of organisation and not just of the consultant, resulting in dialogic
communication as part of the organisational culture.
5) Links to mission, values and vision: If a 21st century organisation does
not know its mission, if it does not have strong values, or if it does not have
a compelling vision, it will die. The 21st practice of process consultation will
increasingly make use of these variables in analysis, diagnosis, and prescription
for organisational development. The goal of the consultancy will not simply be
to fix a situation but the creation of a better organisation.
Process consulting is a powerful tool which is used to enhance group effectiveness,
shorten meeting times, and address conflict. It helps teams to work together more
effectively, and its effects can last long after the consultant has departed. The
benefits of process consulting are usually:
 Shorter meetings.
 More productive meetings.
 Better decisions.
57
Introduction  Increased feelings of participation or potency.
 Greater satisfaction with the team or meetings.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain any two strengths of process consulting.
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2) Discuss the benefits of process consultation.
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4.6 THE SURVEY FEEDBACK PROCESS

In globally competitive environments, organisations are seeking information about
obstacles to productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Survey feedback is a
tool that can provide this type of honest feedback to help leaders guide and direct
their teams. Obstacles and gaps between the current status quo and the desired
situations may or may not be directly apparent. In either case, it is vital to have
a clear understanding of strategies for diagnosis and prevention of important
organisation problems. If all leaders and members alike are clear about the
organisational development and change, strengths, weakness, strategies can be
designed and implemented to support positive change. Survey feedback provides
a participative approach and enables all members to become actively engaged in
managing the work environment.
Survey Process Steps:
Following are the steps involved in survey process:
 Identify project plan and objectives
 Brief team leaders and employees about the process
 Administer survey
 Conduct interviews and focus groups
 Train leaders on facilitating team discussions
 Analyse the data and construct a report
 Provide feedback to leaders
 Team leaders conduct feedback action planning and meetings
 Leaders present reports on progress and results to Senior Management
58  Follow-up by senior leadership to ensure progress and accountability
 First Order and Second Order
Self Assessment Questions Change in Organisational
Development
1) Mention the steps involved in survey process.
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4.7 JOB DESIGN

Job design in organisational development is the application of sociotechnical systems
principles and techniques to the humanisation of work. The aim of job design is
to improve job satisfaction, through-put, quality and to reduced employee problems,
e.g., grievances, absenteeism. There are various important approaches to job
design, viz.,
Engineering Approach
The most important single element in the Engineering approaches, proposed by
F.W. Taylor et al, was the ‘task idea’. “The work of every workman is fully
planned out by the management at least one day in advance and each man
receives in most cases complete written instructions, describing in detail the task
which he is to accomplish. This task specifies not only what is to be done but
how it is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it.” The principles
offered by scientific management to job design can be summarized thus: work
should be scientifically studied, work should be arranged so that workers can be
efficient, employees should be trained to perform the job and monetary
compensation should be used to reward successful performance of the job.
These principles to job design seem to be quite rational and appealing because
they point towards increased organisational performance. Specialisation and
routinisation over a period of time result in job incumbents becoming experts
rather quickly, leading to higher levels of output. Despite the assumed gains in
efficiency, behavioural scientists have found that some job incumbents dislike
specialised and routine jobs.
1) Problems with engineering approach: After listening to several complaints
from employees about their highly specialised jobs, Walker and Guest indicated
the problems with job specialisation thus:
2) Repetition: Employees performed a few tasks repeatedly. This quickly led
the employees to become very bored with the job. There was no challenge
to the employees to learn anything new or to improve the job.
3) Mechanical pacing: Assembly line workers were made to maintain a certain
regular pace of work. They could not take a break when they needed to,
or simply divert their attention to some other aspect of the job or another
individual.
4) No end product: Employees found that they were not turning out any
identifiable end product; consequently, they had little pride and enthusiasm in
their work.
59
Introduction 5) Little social interaction: Employees complained that because the assembly
line demanded constant attention, there was very little opportunity to interact
on a casual basis with other employees and share their work experiences,
beliefs and sentiments.
6) No input: Employees also complained that they had little chance to choose
the methods by which they performed their jobs, the tools which they used,
or the work procedures.
This, of course, created little interest in the job because there was nothing which
they could improve or change.

4.7.1 Human Relations Approach

The human relations approach recognised the need to design jobs in an interesting
manner. In the past two decades much work has been directed to changing jobs
so that job incumbents can satisfy their needs for growth, recognition and
responsibility. Herzberg’s research popularised the notion of enhancing need
satisfaction through what is called job enrichment. One widely publicised approach
to job enrichment uses what is called job characteristics model and this has been
explained separately in the ensuing section.
According to Herzberg there are two types of factors, viz. (i) motivators like
achievements, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth
and (ii) hygiene factors (which merely maintain the employee on the job and in
the organisation) like working conditions, organisational policies, inter-personnel
relations, pay and job security.
According to Herzberg, the employee is dissatisfied with the job if maintenance
factors to the required degree are not introduced into the job. But, the employee
may not be satisfied even if the required maintenance factors are provided. Herzberg
feels that the employee will be satisfied with his job and he will be more productive
if motivators are introduced into the job content.

4.7.2 The Job Characteristics Approach

The Job Characteristics Theory of Hackman and Oldham states that employees
will work hard when they are rewarded for the work they do and when the work
gives them satisfaction. Hence, they suggest that motivation, satisfaction and
performance should be integrated in the job design. According to this approach,
any job can be described in terms of five core job dimensions which are defined
as follows:
1) Skill variety: The degree to which the job requires that workers use a
variety of different activities, talents and skills in order to successfully complete
the job requirements.
2) Task identity: The degree to which the job allows workers to complete
whole tasks from start to finish, rather than disjointed portions of the job.
3) Task significance: The degree to which the job significantly impacts the
lives of others both within and outside the workplace.
4) Autonomy: The degree to which the job allows workers freedom in planning
and scheduling and the methods used to complete the job.

60
5) Feedback: The degree to which the job itself provides workers with clear, First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
direct and understandable knowledge of their performance. Development

The entire job dimensions impact workers psychologically. The first three
dimensions affect whether or not workers view their job as meaningful. Autonomy
determines the extent of responsibility workers feel. Feedback allows for feelings
of satisfaction for a job well done by providing knowledge of results. Jobs that
are high on motivating potential must be high at least in one of the three factors
that lead to meaningful work and must be high in both autonomy and feedback
and vice versa.
These three critical psychological states lead to the outcome such as
a) high internal work motivation,
b) high growth satisfaction,
c) high quality work performance,
d) high general job satisfaction,
e) high work effectiveness and
f) low absenteeism and turnover.

4.7.3 Socio Technical Systems Approach

The above theories of job design are all concerned with designing individual jobs.
The approach taken by the sociotechnical systems method is the design or work
systems that foster a meshing of the technical and social aspects of jobs. The term
sociotechnical system recognises that organisations have boundaries and that
transactions occur within the system (and its sub-systems) and between the wider
context and dynamics of the environment. It is an extension of sociotechnical
theory which provides a richer descriptive and conceptual language for describing,
analysing and designing organisations. A sociotechnical system, therefore, often
describes a ‘thing’ as an interlinked, systems based mixture of people, technology
and their environment.
Socio technical systems in organisational development is the term for an approach
to complex organisational work design that recognises the interaction between
people and technology in workplaces.
In order to create jobs, which have this supportive relationship, work teams not
individual jobs, must be studied. Jobs in the traditional sense are non-existent and
instead, each worker plays an assigned role in accomplishing the group’s objectives.
Redesigning work through sociotechnical systems methods requires the combined
efforts of employees, supervisors and union representatives in analysing significant
job operations. Jobs are not necessarily designed to be intrinsically motivating;
rather, they are designed so that the work is accomplished. Using the sociotechnical
approach, the following guidelines have been developed for designing jobs:
A job needs to be reasonably demanding for the individual in terms other than
sheer endurance and yet provide some variety (not necessarily novelty).
 Employees need to be able to learn on the job and to go on learning.
 Employees need some minimum area of decision making that they can call
their own. 61
Introduction  Employees need some minimal degree of social support and recognition at
the workplace.
 Employees need to be able to relate what they do and what they produce to
their social life.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Engineering approach to job design.
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
2) Discuss the guidelines developed for designing jobs with regard to the socio
technical approach.
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.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

4.8. PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT

Type of management in which employees at all levels are encouraged to contribute
ideas towards identifying and setting organisational-goals, problem solving, and
other decisions that may directly affect them, also called consultative management.
Participative (or participatory) management, otherwise known as employee
involvement or participative decision making, encourages the involvement of
stakeholders at all levels of an organisation in the analysis of problems, development
of strategies, and implementation of solutions. Employees are invited to share in
the decision-making process of the firm by participating in activities such as setting
goals, determining work schedules, and making suggestions. Other forms of
participative management include increasing the responsibility of employees (job
enrichment); forming self-managed teams, quality circles, or quality-of-work-life
committees; and soliciting survey feedback.
Participative management, however, involves more than allowing employees to
take part in making decisions. It also involves management treating the ideas and
suggestions of employees with consideration and respect. The most extensive form
of participative management is direct employee ownership of a company.
Four processes influence participation. These processes create employee
involvement as they are pushed down to the lowest levels in an organisation. The
farther down these processes move, the higher the level of involvement by
employees. The four processes include:
1) Information sharing: This is concerned with keeping employees informed
about the economic status of the company.

62
2) Training: This involves raising the skill levels of employees and offering First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
development opportunities that allow them to apply new skills to make effective Development
decisions regarding the organisation as a whole.
3) Employee decision making: This can take many forms, from determining
work schedules to deciding on budgets or processes.
4) Rewards: This is generally tied to suggestions and ideas as well as
performance.

4.8.1 Benefits of Participative Management

A participative management style offers various benefits at all levels of the
organisation. By creating a sense of ownership in the company, participative
management instills a sense of pride and motivates employees to increase
productivity in order to achieve their goals. Employees who participate in the
decisions of the company feel like they are a part of a team with a common goal,
and find their sense of self-esteem and creative fulfillment heightened.
Managers who use a participative style find that employees are more receptive to
change than in situations in which they have no voice. Changes are implemented
more effectively when employees have input and make contributions to decisions.
Participation keeps employees informed of upcoming events so they will be aware
of potential changes. The organisation can then place itself in a proactive mode
instead of a reactive one, as managers are able to quickly identify areas of concern
and turn to employees for solutions.
Participation helps employees gain a wider view of the organisation. Through
training, development opportunities, and information sharing, employees can acquire
the conceptual skills needed to become effective managers or top executives. It
also increases the commitment of employees to the organisation and the decisions
they make.
Creativity and innovation are two important benefits of participative management.
In order for participative management to work, several issues must be resolved
and several requirements must be met. First, managers must be willing to relinquish
some control to their workers; managers must feel secure in their position in order
for participation to be successful. Often managers do not realise that employees’
respect for them will increase instead of decrease when they implement a
participative management style.
The success of participative management depends on careful planning and a slow,
phased approach. Changing employees’ ideas about management takes time, as
does any successful attempt at a total cultural change from a democratic or
autocratic style of management to a participative style. Long-term employees may
resist changes, not believing they will last. In order for participation to be effective,
managers must be genuine and honest in implementing the program.
Employees must also be willing to participate and share their ideas. Participative
management does not work with employees who are passive or simply do not
care. Encouragement should be offered in order to accustom employees to the
participative approach. One way to help employees engage in the decision-making
process is by knowing their individual strengths and capitalising on them. By
guiding employees toward areas in which they are knowledgeable, a manager can
help to ensure their success. 63
Introduction Before expecting employees to make valuable contributions, managers should
provide them with the criteria that their input must meet. This will aid in discarding
ideas or suggestions that cannot be implemented, are not feasible, or are too
expensive. Managers should also give employees time to think about ideas or
alternative decisions. Employees often do not do their most creative thinking on
the spot.
Another important element for implementing a successful participative management
style is the visible integration of employees’ suggestions into the final decision or
implementation. Employees need to know that they have made a contribution.
Offering employees a choice in the final decision is important because it increases
their commitment, motivation, and job satisfaction. The key is to build employee
confidence so their ideas and decisions become more creative and sound.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss the four process involved in participation.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Describe any two benefits of participative management.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

4.9 SECOND ORDER CHANGE IN

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Second Order Change is the deeper changes that frustrate leaders and
threaten followers are planned second-order changes. These changes
intentionally challenge widely shared assumptions, disintegrate the context of
‘organisation’ and, in general, reframe the social system. This, in turn, generates
widespread ambiguity, discontinuity, anxiety, frustration, confusion, paramoia,
cynicism and anger as well as temporary dysfunction.
But Hillary’s focus in his article is on Second-order Change, and this is where
“transformation” is happening in the Church. Second-order Change challenges the
existing culture, mission/purpose and organisational paradigm. Hillary stated that:
“Change calls into question the status quo and disrupts the alignment among
organisational attributes.”
The most disruptive changes second order changes call into question the entire
context of organisation. Paradigm change is therefore not only traumatic in and
of itself, but also challenges other attributes and disintegrates the relationship
among all domains. The eventual outcome of such change is a ‘transformed’ or
64 ‘renewed’ organisation.”
Practitioners and researchers are giving considerable attention to emerging concepts, First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
interventions and areas of application that might be called as second generation or Development
second order change in organisational development. The second order change
utilises various organisational development interventions in order to facilitate
organisational transformation. The organisational development interventions will be
discussed in detail in this unit.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe second order change.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

4.10 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

INTERVENTIONS
Organisational development interventions refer to the techniques created by
organisational development professionals, coaches and mentors to help solve the
pressing problems of organisations who seek their services. It is a sequence of
activities, actions and events intended to help an organisations improve its
performance and effectiveness. Intervention design, or action planning, derives
from careful diagnosis and its meant to resolve specific problems and improve
particular areas of organisational functioning identified in the diagnosis.
OD interventions vary from standardised programmes that have been developed
and used in many organisation to relatively unique programmes tailored to specific
organisation or department. Interventions purposely disrupt the status quo; they
are deliberate attempts to change an organisation to ward a different and more
effective state. There are three major criteria that describe effective intervention
in OD:
1) The extent to which it fits the needs of the organisation
2) The degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended out comes
and
3) The extent to which it transfer change-management competence to organisation
members.
The following are the different kinds of organisational development interventions:
 Sensitivity training
 Survey feedback
 development discussion
 Goal setting and planning
 Team building and management objective.
 Managerial grid
65
Introduction  Job enrichment, participative management and quality circles.
 Process consultation intervention
 Inter-group Team-Building Interventions
 Third-Party Peacemaking Interventions
 Structural Interventions
These kinds of intervention can be used in various settings depending on the need
of the organisation. Survey feedback intervention provides data and information to
all the managers. Information related to the attitude, structure, working conditions
will included in the survey. Managers analyse the data pertaining to each and every
employee and takes appropriate action. They try to analyse the problem, evaluate
the result and correct the problem.
On the other hand, along the consultation process, the consultant meets all
departments, work teams, and observes the interaction and skill levels of those
working in those areas. Goal setting and planning goals are important for the
overall strategic plans for the profitability of the organisation. Managerial grid
identifies management behaviour on different ways. It looks into production-oriented
factors as well as the employee-oriented factors and combines them to interact
with each other. It also gives the structural view of the laboratory training. Managerial
grid interventions also relate to the leadership skills.
The growth of any organisation pulls its peoples to change their thinking toward
organisational development interventions. People with planned and changed
interventions can grow in organisations. An intervention forms the front view of
any developed organisation. So it is important to follow and implement creative
interventions. In implementing organisational development interventions, it is
important to apply criteria to goals, experiment with alternative arrangements,
establish inter unit task force, and identify key communicators and fire-able offenses.
Organisational development practitioners may choose the most appropriate
organisational development Intervention, to create planned change. The following
a few of most common organisational development interventions, that most of the
companies practice are:

4.10.1 Applying Criteria to Goals

Here the leadership establishes objective criteria for the outputs of the organisation’s
goal-setting processes. Then they hold people accountable not only for stating
goals against those criteria but also for producing the desired results.
For example, Organisations are implementing the concept of Balanced Scorecard,
X-Matrix etc., to capture the goals of the employees, which in turn is helpful in
their assessment and mid-term correction of their performance.

4.10.2 Establishing Inter-Unit Task Forces

These groups can cross both functional parts of the organisation (the “silos”) as
well as employee levels. They are ideally accountable to one person and are
appropriately rewarded for completing their assigned task effectively. Then they
disband. For example, Organisations have introduced various schemes for rewarding
their employees for their performance, like, introducing the concept of Variable
66
pay in as a part of CTC, Spot Recognition Award, Project bonus, performance First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
bonus etc., Development

4.10.3 Experimentation with Alternative Arrangements

Today organisations are subject to “management by best-seller.” The goal in these
interventions is to create what is being called a “learning organisation,” one that
performs experiments on organisational structure and processes, analyses the results,
and builds on them. For example, Organisations today are targeting at streamlining
the process of Learning and Development and encouraging the culture of Learning
in the organisations.
Targeting achieving mandatory man-days of training for their employees and
Introducing the Competency based practices.

4.10.4 Identifying Key Communicators

This is to carefully determine who seems to be “in the know” within the organisation.
These people often do not know that they are, in fact, key communicators. This
collection of individuals is then fed honest information during critical times, one-
on-one and confidentially. For example, Defining the process of Organisational
Communication policy - Introducing Top – down and Bottom – up Communication
approach - Introducing Employee Forums and Suggestion Box options for employee
interaction - Identifying Critical employees in the organisation and making them the
Brand Ambassadors of their company.

4.10.5 Identifying “Fireable Offenses”

This intervention deepens the understanding of and commitment to the stated
values of the organisation. This facilitates the work of the Top Management to
answer the critical question, “If we’re serious about these values, then what might
an employee do that wouldbe so affrontive to them that he/she would be fired?”
For example, - Publishing and Instilling Values and Beliefs among all employees
Introducing Policies like Whistle Blowing, Sexual Harassment etc.,

4.10.6 Invisioning
This is actually a set of interventions that help to “acculturate” everyone in the
organisation into an agreed-upon vision, mission, purpose, and values. The
interventions might include training, goal setting, organisational survey-feedback,
communications planning, etc.

4.10.7 Team Building

This intervention can take many forms. For example, the most common is interviews
and other pre-work, followed by a one- to three-day offsite session. During the
meeting the group diagnoses its function as a unit and plans improvements in its
operating procedures.

4.10.8 Inter-group Problem Solving

This intervention usually involves working with the two groups separately before
bringing them together. They establish common goals and negotiate changes in
how the groups interface. For example, this is practiced in Product Development
Companies and most of the IT and ITES Companies. – Focused group discussion
are encouraged by the management, for generating better ideasand concepts.
67
Introduction 4.10.9 Management/leadership Training
Many organisational development professionals come from a training background.
They understand that organisations cannot succeed long term without well-trained
leaders. The organisational development contribution there can be to ensure that
the development curriculum emphasises practical, current situations that need
attention within the organisation and to monitor the degree to which training delivery
is sufficiently participative as to promise adequate transfer of learning’s to the job.
For example, most of the organisations today are focusing at Leadership
Management for their employees.

4.10.10 Setting Up Measurement Systems

The total quality movement emphasises that all work is a part of a process and
that measurement is essential for process improvement. The organisational
development professional is equipped with tools and techniques to assist leaders
and others to create measurement methods and systems to monitor key success
indicators. For example, The concepts like Six Sigma, TQM etc. act as
Measurements tools for the process followed in the organisation. Further, second-
generation or second order organisational development, in particular, has a focus
on organisational transformation.

4.10.11 Total Quality Management (TQM)

The past decade has seen a mushrooming of interest in total quality management
worldwide, and then perhaps some decline in application as both successes and
failures have been reported. Applications that have been successful appear to have
some ingredients in common with organisational development efforts.
Ciampa, who acknowledges the pioneering contributions of Joseph Juran,
W.Edwards Deming, and Armand Feigenbaum to the development of TQM,
provides a clear statement on the relationship between TQM and organisational
development. First, his definition: “Total Quality is typically a companywide effort
seeking to install and make permanent a climate where employees continuously
improve their ability to provide on demand products and services that customers
will find of particular value.”
Burke also comments on the contribution organisational development can make to
TQM efforts. Focusing on the organisational development practitioner, he states:
“the quality movement, to be successful, is highly dependent on effective process
and process is the organisational development practitioner’s most important product.”
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss management/ leadership training as an organisational development
intervention.
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.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Define Total Quality Management.
68 .....................................................................................................................
 First Order and Second Order
..................................................................................................................... Change in Organisational
Development
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

4.11 LET US SUM UP

Wendell L. French, Cecil H. Bell and Robert A. (2006), stated that the pace of
technological innovation, company mergers, acquisition, leveraged buyouts,
bankruptcies, success stories, downsizings and changes in law has been intensified.
At the same time thousands of small companies are born every year. Worldwide
rigorous efforts are going on to move from autocratic societies to democratic
institutions and making more globalize. These changes create opportunities for
organisational development applications but also stretch capabilities of leader and
organisational development practitioners to the utmost. In such a context the second
order change in organisational development is evolving.
The organisational development practitioners still depend upon first order techniques
that are highly relevant to adaptive incremental change, such as action research,
a focus on team, team building, the use of facilitator’s process of consultation,
survey feedback inter-group problem solving, socio-technical system approaches
to job design, and participative management. But the present organisational
development field is far reaching beyond the first order changes in the sense that
many applications of organisational development are now multifaceted. Therefor
the second order change in organisational development can be utilised in order
develop interventions and identify different areas of applications and very particularly
focus on organisational transformation.

4.12 UNIT END QUSTIONS

1) Explain with examples the first order change in organisational development.
2) Explain with the second order change in organisational development.
3) What is action research? Explain its relevance in organisational development.
4) Describe the importance of teams and the process of team building.
5) Explain the concepts such as process consultation, survey feedback, and inter
group problem solving in organisational development.
6) What is job design? Explain the socio-technical systems approach to job
design.
7) Highlight the importance of participative management in organisational
development.

4.13 SUGGESTED READINGS

Amir Levy and Uri Merry, Organisational Transformation (New York:Praeger
Publishers, 1986).
Chris Argyris and Donald Schon, Organisational Learning (Reading MA: Addison-
Wesley, 1976).
69
Introduction Chris Argyris, Overcoming Organisational Defensive Routines (Boston:Allyn
and Bacon, 1990).
References
Coleman, P.T. “Implicit Theories of Organisational Power and Priming Effects on
Managerial Power-Sharing Decisions: An Experimental Study.” Journal of Applied
Social Psychology 34, no. 2 (2004): 297–321.
Coye, R.W., and J.A. Belohlav. “An Exploratory Analysis of Employee
Participation.” Group and Organisation Management 20, no. 1 (1995): 4–17.
Edgar H. Schein, Organisational Culture and Leadership (San Francisco:Jossey-
Basss Publishers, 1985).
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Greenfield, W.M. “Decision Making and Employee Engagement.” Employment
Relations Today 31, no. 2 (2004): 13–24.
Kaner, S., and L. Lind. Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-making.
Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 1996.
Keef, L. “Generating Quality Interaction.” Occupational Health & Safety 73,
no. 5 (2004): 30–31.
McCoy, T.J. Creating an Open Book Organisation: Where Employees Think
and Act Like Business Partners. New York: Amacom, 1996.
Robbins, S.P. Essentials of Organisational Behaviour. 8th ed. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2005.
Sumukadas, N., and R. Sawhney. “Workforce Agility through Employee
Involvement.” IIE Transactions 36, no. 10 (2004): 1011–1021.
Vanderburg, D. “The Story of Semco: The Company that Humanized Work.”
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 24, no. 5 (2004): 430–34.
Weiss, W.H. “Improving Employee Performance: Major Supervisory
Responsibility.” Supervision, October 1998, 6–8.
Wendell L. French, Cecil H.Bell, Jr., and Robert A. Zawacki (2006). Organisational
Development and Transformation: Managing Effective Change. Sixth Edition. Tata
McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. New Delhi.

70
UNIT 1 PARTICIPATION AND
EMPOWERMENT
Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Participation
1.2.1 Benefits of Participation
1.2.2 The Process of Participation
1.2.3 Factors Related to Success of Participation
1.2.4 Programmes to Promote Participation
1.3 Empowerment
1.3.1 Benefits of Empowerment
1.3.2 The Process of Empowerment
1.3.3 Determinants of Empowerment
1.3.4 Characteristics of Empowered Organisation
1.3.5 Techniques for Empowerment
1.4 Role of Managers in Participation and Empowerment
1.5 Let Us Sum Up
1.6 Unit End Questions
1.7 Suggested Readings

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Participation and empowerment are two important terms that form foundation of
organisational development. These are two strategies that can be adopted by an
organisation in order to increase motivation, morale and productivity of employees.
They not only lead to individual development of the employees but also results in the
overall development of the organisation. In this unit we will try to understand the
concept of participation and empowerment. We will also discuss the elements and
aspects of these strategies. The benefits of employing these two strategies and process
will also be discussed. Further the relevance of role of manager in implementation of
both these strategies will be focused on. Lastly the programmes and techniques
utilised to promote these strategies will be highlighted.

1.1 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
 Define participation and empowerment;
 Conceptualise participation and empowerment;
 Elucidate the benefits of participation and empowerment;
 Describe the process of participation and empowerment;
 Analyse the role of managers in implementation of participation and empowerment;
 Describe the factors determining participation and empowerment; and
 Elucidate the programmes and techniques to promote participation and
empowerment. 5
Assumption, Beliefs and
Values in Organisational 1.2 PARTICIPATION
Development
Participation is the mental and emotional involvement of persons in group situations
that encourage them to contribute to group goals and share responsibility for them
(Newstrom and Davis, 1993). Managers who adopt participation as a strategy
encourage involvement of their subordinates in problem solving and decision making
process. Though the manager still retains the ultimate responsibility, this strategy
promotes job involvement amongst the employees. Three most important elements
of participation are (i) involvement, (ii) contribution and (iii) responsibility.
i) Involvement: The employee while participating in problem solving or decision
making or achievement of a particular goal should feel involved at both mental
and emotional levels. Thus participation does not merely mean task involvement,
but ego involvement of the employee is also necessary. Participation without ego
involvement of the employee is termed as ‘Pseudoparticipation’. The managers
should thus be careful to ensure that the whole self of the employee is involved
and just not his/her skills in performing the task.
ii) Contribution: Participation encourages people to contribute their skills and
resources to the successful completion of tasks. It provides the employee with
empowerment to be creative and innovative while achieving the goals assigned
to them. Participation does not mean consenting to a particular decision or
problem solving strategy. In consenting, the manager has already come up with
a decision or a strategy and merely seeks approval of the employees. But in
participation the employees are involved and contribute to the whole process of
decision making or problem solving right from the start.
iii) Responsibility: Participation provides an opportunity to the employees to take
responsibilities. This not only enhances self involvement but also increases self
efficacy of the employees. Feeling of responsibility in turn will encourage the
employees to be further involved and contribute to the achievement of the
organisational goal.
Thus the above three elements of participation are interrelated at the same time
extremely important for participation to be effectively implemented in an organisation.
Participation is especially effective when the superiors or managers do not possess
enough information to solve a problem alone to make an important decision. In this
case he/she can benefit from the expertise of the subordinates. It can also be used
when the nature of the problem is unclear or vague. It can be beneficial in situations
where the acceptance of the decision by the subordinates is critical to its effective
implementation and is relevant to them and when subordinates are willing to exercise
their own judgment and express their point of view. However participation is possible
only when there is no urgency involved in decision making and problem solving.

1.2.1 Benefits of Participation

Participation results in number of benefits to the organisation.
i) Acceptance of and commitment towards organisational goals
Participation will ensure the acceptance of and commitment towards organisational
goals as the employee is able to identify and find relevance in his/ her context. The
employee in this case might also be involved in the process of setting an organisational
goal, thus enhancing participation on the part of the employee.
6
ii) Smooth implementation of organisational change Participation and
Empowerment
As the employee is a part of the whole process of bringing about the organisational
change, the smooth implementation of organisational change is possible. The views
and concerns of the employees also get expressed through right channels and his/ her
insecurities are dealt with thus enhancing the implementation.
iii) Improves productivity, morale, self esteem and motivation of employees
Through participation, the employee is also exposed to varied knowledge and expertise.
Further the opportunity to participate in important decisions and problem solving
process enhances the morale, motivation and self esteem of the employee thus
improving his/ her productivity.
iv) Leads to increased job satisfaction and job involvement
Participation boosts job satisfaction and job involvements as the employee has a
feeling of responsibility and contribution to the achievement of organisational goals.
v) Promotes organisational citizenship
Due to high job satisfaction and job involvement combined with an opportunity to
contribute to the organisational processes brings about the feeling of organisational
citizenship in the employee.
vi) It establishes better communication in the organisation
Participation and communication are interrelated in an organisation as better
communication will enhance participation and effective implementation of participation
as a strategy will ensure better and open communication.
vii) Employees experience increased awareness about the organisation’s
finances, goals and operations that allow them to make better suggestions
To ensure effective participation in an organisation, it is extremely important that
relevant information with regard to finances, goals, operations etc is provided to the
employee. This not only ensures effective decisions making and problem solving but
also makes employee more aware.

1.2.2 The Process of Participation

Depending on the situation, whether, it demands problem solving, decision making or
achievement of a particular task the participation programme can be launched. Once
this programme is launched, it is important to ensure that the employees feel involved,
both mentally and emotionally, have adequate scope and freedom to contribute and
feel responsible towards the outcome of the activity. This in turn will ensure higher
output, better quality and creative suggestions, acceptance of change and a conflict
and stress free environment.

1.2.3 Factors Related to Success of Participation

However, success of participation will depend on varied factors.
i) Adequate time should be available before participation is encouraged
As the employees will require sufficient time in order to come up with a suitable
suggestion or strategy. Thus participation cannot be used in emergency situations.

7
Assumption, Beliefs and ii) Consider benefits of participation before hand
Values in Organisational
Development It is also important to consider before hand that the benefits of participation outweigh
the costs involved. Only then participation can be termed as effective.
iii) Ensure employee view participation
Care should be taken to ensure that the employee view the process of participation
positively at the same time find it interesting and significant.
iv) To tap the Trade union attitude towards participation
Even the attitude of trade unions in a particular organisation need to be focused and
worked upon before encouraging participation.
v) Ensure open communication amongst employees
It is extremely important to promote open communication amongst the employees
and between superiors and employees in order to promote participation. As without
such a condition the employees will hesitate or fail to communicate their suggestions
and view points. The employees should not feel threatened to express a particular
view or suggestion.
vi) Orient employees about goal of participation
The employees should be oriented with regard to the goal and area of participation.
So that they do not violate the area of job freedom of any other department or
employee.

1.2.4 Programmes to Promote Participation

Various programmes can be used in order to promote participation amongst
employees. These are discussed below:
Participative and Consultative Management
The organisation and especially the managers involved in promoting participation
should adopt both participative and consultative management.
Participative management means that sufficient strategies, programmes and practices
are employed in order to empower the employees and encourage participation amongst
them.
Consultative management means that the superiors or managers provide adequate
information, support and motivation to their subordinates to come up with suitable
suggestions. Thus before participation is employed it is important that the organisation
creates conducive environment for successful implementation.
Suggestion Programmes
These are formal plans strategised by the organisation to promote expression of
suggestions and view points amongst the employees. Certain awards and prizes are
also given to best suggestions. This does not merely mean making available a suggestion
box at cafeteria or work place. But the organisation should have a concrete plan to
ensure that large number of employees do contribute their suggestions to relevant
issues regarding the organisation.
Quality Circles
8 Quality circles are a group of people who discuss and develop solutions issues that
relate to quality, productivity or costs. These circles meet regularly in order to Participation and
Empowerment
generate suggestions with regard to varied issues. They provide employees with
opportunities to personal development and feeling of achievement.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Various organisations adopt TQM in their organisations in order to involve their
employees in continuous improvement of their operations. Utmost importance is
given to quality of product and services under TQM. As TQM is a formal programme
that requires direct participation of each employee, it might be necessary to provide
the employees with training with regard to the concept and implementation of TQM.
Self Managing Teams
Self Managing Teams or self directed teams can also be used to promote participation
in organisations. In these teams there is no external supervision carried out. The team
members can carry out their activities implement decisions and evaluate results on
their own. This ensures participation of team members and as there is no supervision
the members develop a sense of responsibility towards the functioning of the team
and achievement of the team objective and are empowered in the process.
Survey Feedbacks
In survey feedback data about an organisation or one of its departments is collected
with the help of a questionnaire and feed back is provided. This data is then used
to identify problems in an organisation and develop suitable intervention strategies to
deal with the problem.
Survey feedback enhances participation from employees at various hierarchical levels.
The participation is encouraged amongst employees right from planning stage of
survey feedback to the intervention development stage.
Search Conferences
These are conferences are organised for a duration of two to three days and is
attended by twenty five to thirty employees. Employees for participation in such
conferences are selected based on their potentialities, knowledge and expertise. The
conference constitutes of plenary sessions as well as group discussions.
Search conferences can boost participation amongst the employees as they are
encouraged to take part in such conferences and provide suggestions and possible
solution to the impending problems in the organisation.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain how lack of contribution and responsibility on part of the employee
can affect participation.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Highlight factors that determine the success of participation.
.....................................................................................................................
9
Assumption, Beliefs and .....................................................................................................................
Values in Organisational
Development .....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Explain Total Quality Management and quality circles as programmes to promote
participation.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

1.3 EMPOWERMENT
In order to implement empowerment in an organisation, it is extremely important to
understand what it is. Empowerment can be described as a condition that enables
people to feel competent and in control, energized to take initiatives and persist at
meaningful tasks. It is a part of progressive change witnessed in today’s corporations.
One of the bases of empowerment is its view of power as it considers power to be
something that can be shared by everyone in flatter and more collegial structures
rather than considering power to be something to be held only at higher levels in the
traditional organisational structures. It is thus important to distinguish empowerment
from power.
Though power is one way in which activities and tasks can be enforced and performed
in an organisation; it lies with certain people who act as authorities in exercising it.
Where as in the process of empowerment a conducive environment is created in
order to make people self sufficient and enable to achieve their greatest potentiality
and contribute to the development of the organisation.
Empowerment can be categorised in to two, (i) structured empowerment and (ii)
flexible empowerment. Structured empowerment provides guidelines to the
employees about what exactly needs to be done. These guidelines help the employees
solve problems and make decisions immediately without waste of time. This also
enables managers to retain basic control over the procedure and the situation.
On the other hand flexible empowerment allows employees discretion to take
decision and solve problems directly. A very broad guideline and limitations might be
made available by the management to the employees. Further, suitable training in this
case may also be provided to the employees.
Empowerment can come from within individual, from peers or from superiors. An
individual can empower oneself by initiating personal actions to develop high self
perception and enhance self motivation.
To empower oneself, it is extremely important to put in efforts and be willing to take
on additional responsibilities, employ creative strategies in problem solving and set
higher goals in accordance with one’s potentialities.
Empowerment from colleagues and co workers can have an immense impact on the
work related behaviour and performance of an individual. Respect, acceptance,
10 encouragement, positive criticism and cooperation from colleagues and coworkers
can not only encourages the cohesiveness at the work set up but increases self Participation and
Empowerment
perception at work and enhances achievement of individual and organisational goals.
One of the most important sources of empowerment is that from superiors. The
empowering superior creates a conducive environment to enable empowerment of
the individual. This can be done by providing complex tasks, challenging activities,
sharing information, open communication, delegation of power, and providing concrete
and positive criticism.

1.3.1 Benefits of Empowerment

Organisations have realised the benefits of developing and empowering their employees.
Some of the benefits are listed as follows:
Empowerment brings about positive self perception
Three important concepts under self perception are self concept, self esteem and self
efficacy. Self concept can be defined as how we view ourselves, self esteem is how
we feel about our own worthiness and self efficacy is our perception about our ability
to perform. A positive self perception will encourage an individual to set higher goals
for one self, accept challenging tasks and enhance goal achievement.
Empowerment enhances motivation
Empowered people are better focused and are more committed to their goals. They
are intrinsically motivated as their self perception is high.
Empowerment encourages active problem solving
Empowered individuals are more flexible in behaviour and try alternative paths when
they are blocked and are eager to take new initiatives.
Empowerment alters expectations:
Since empowerment leads to overall development of the employees and their potential,
the organisations can alter their expectations about productivity and performance of
the employee. Thus the employees can be provided with challenging and complex
tasks and organisations can expect them to carry out these tasks with high motivation,
interest and enthusiasm.

1.3.2 The Process of Empowerment

There are two main aspects of process of empowerment, namely, (i) the removal of
conditions of powerlessness and (ii) enhanced job related self efficacy. These lead
to the perception of empowerment amongst the employees.
To remove the conditions of powerlessness in employees it extremely important to
bring about a change in the overall power distribution in the organisation. In this
regard a participative view should be accepted instead of an autocratic view. A
downward flow of power and authority might not be effective in order to bring about
empowerment in an organisation.
Managers play the most important role in empowering employees. Thus, it is important
that the managers cultivate suitable leadership and communication skills and be open
to sharing of power with their subordinates. Along with change in the processes and
structures of the organisations, the leadership style employed in the organisation
should also be focused on, so as to make it more inclusive and democratic, to create
an environment suitable for development of empowerment amongst the employees. 11
Assumption, Beliefs and A reward system that recognises the independent and group contributions of the
Values in Organisational
Development
employees and that which identifies creative and innovative ideas of employees
should be implemented in the organisation. Further the job of the employee should
be modified to make it more interesting, challenging and innovative.
To enhance job related self efficacy four broad aspects can be focused on, that is
job mastery, role models, reinforcement and support. Employees can be empowered
by providing them with an opportunity to develop mastery over their jobs. This can
be done by providing them with suitable training, mentoring, coaching and career
management and development opportunities.
Certain role models can also be provided to these employees. These role models can
be the successful or productive employees of the organisation. Also certain younger
employees can be paired with older and more experienced employees under mentoring
programmes so as to provide the younger employees with guidance and support in
the organisation. These older employees will not only serve as role models but will
also ensure effective adjustment of the younger employee to the new environment of
the organisation.
Reinforcements ranging from praise, verbal feed back to rewards can also be used
in order to motivate an employee to work effectively and develop empowerment. It
is also important to provide employees with psychological, emotional and social
support in order to develop empowerment. This will lead to perception of
empowerment amongst the employees. The employee will become competent to not
only carry out his/her tasks effectively but with innovation and confidence. He/she
will develop high value for himself/ herself. Will find the job more meaningful and will
be able to use his/ her potentialities to the fullest.

1.3.3 Determinants of Empowerment

Various aspects need to be taken in to consideration before implementing
empowerment. It is necessary to thoroughly understand the nature and the current
environment in the organisation before empowerment is introduced. One reason why
successful implementation of empowerment may fail is when the organisational culture
is not conducive to its implementation. The organisational culture thus needs to be
changed and modified before implementation of empowerment.
A culture of continuous learning and support needs to developed in an organisation.
Empowerment requires a culture of trust and collaboration. The concept of
OCTAPACE (Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Authenticity, Pro-action, Autonomy,
Collaboration and Experimentation) has been proposed as the ethos for empowerment
(Pareek, Udai, 2008).
Employees vary in their degree of empowerment. Some seek more responsibility and
others less. Thus while implementing empowerment the individual differences amongst
the employees needs to be taken in to consideration.
In order to promote empowerment amongst employees, it is important to first ensure
that the concept of empowerment is understood by the employees and they have a
positive attitude towards it. Further they might also need help in developing suitable
skills to be empowered. Sense of confidence should be developed amongst the
employees.
Before empowerment is implemented it is extremely important to focus on the present
organisational strategy and goals. After this is considered then this strategy can be
12
safely implemented as, if it does not fit with the organisational strategy then the whole Participation and
Empowerment
process of empowerment will be a futile exercise.
Technological advancement in an organisation can also be one of the determinants
of empowerment in an organisation as it may actually facilitate its implementation and
promotion.

1.3.4 Characteristics of Empowered Organisation

Following characteristics are observed in the empowered organisation:
1) Flat organisational hierarchy for equal distribution of power and opportunity to
participate in problem solving and decision making.
2) Stress on quality of performance rather than quantity.
3) Facilitation and promotion of open communication amongst employees and
management.
4) Employees encouraged and given chance to make personal contribution to the
tasks on hand so as to promote development and empowerment.
5) High employee awareness in terms of individual and organisational goals.
6) An organisational culture that is cooperative and supportive and purposeful
rather than problem and blame oriented.
7) Employees’ satisfaction given utmost importance.
8) The processes of recruitment and selection are focused on, in order to hire
employees who could possible adjust well to the environment in the organisation.
9) Suitable opportunities for training and career development are provided.

1.3.5 Techniques for Empowerment

There are quite a few effective techniques for empowering employees and these are
presented below:
Open Book Management
This technique not only results in empowerment of the employee but also leads to
financial benefits to the organisation. The technique focuses on developing an
understanding about financial aspects about the organisation amongst its employees
so as to help them understand the organisational performance. The employees are
then encouraged to set high performance standards in order to achieve high profitability
thus providing the employee an opportunity to directly contribute to the achievement
of the organisational goal and success. This also leads to effective participation.
Job Rotation, Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment
These three techniques can be effectively used to empower the employees. Job
rotation involves time to time assignment of a completely new task and job activity,
different from the actual work activity carried out by the employee on regular basis.
In job enlargement an employee is given wider variety of duties and tasks to perform
so as to reduce his/ her monotony and make the work activity more interesting.
And under job enrichment, the focus is on the depth of the job. That is, the employee
is given more control, responsibility and discretion over the work activities that he/
she carries out. This ensures complete job involvement on part of the employee. 13
Assumption, Beliefs and Self Managing and Cross Functional Teams
Values in Organisational
Development These two types of team have already been discussed under the unit on team. They
can be used effectively in order to develop empowerment in employees.
Self managing teams provide the employees with an opportunity function at his/ her
own terms and take responsibility for the task performed. Where as, cross functional
teams provides a chance to interact with team members who possess diverse skills
and expertise which provides the employees with opportunity to learn.
Delegation
Empowerment in an employee can also be developed with the help of effective
delegation. However, care needs to be taken to delegate work according to the
potentialities of the employee. A systematic delegation should be applied here where
the complexity of the work assigned to employee increases progressively. The
delegator should also ensure the completion of work by regularly monitoring the
progress, though care needs to be taken to avoid interference so as to provide the
employee with a chance to take responsibility and work with his/ her full potential.
Involvement in Policy Making
Empowerment can also be developed by involving the employees in policy- making
process of the organisation. This will provide the employees with sense of respect
and he/ she will feel valued. This in turn will enhance the self esteem of the employee.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss in detail the determinants of empowerment.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) What are the characteristics of empowered organisation?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) What are the various techniques of empowerment?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
4) Explain open book management and delegation as techniques of empowerment.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
14 .....................................................................................................................
 Participation and
1.4 ROLE OF MANAGERS IN PARTICIPATION AND Empowerment
EMPOWERMENT
Managers play the most important role in the implementation of participation and
empowerment in an organisation. Various issues need to be dealt with when we focus
on the role of managers. Though the benefits of promoting participation and
empowerment amongst employees are quite obvious, their might be some resistance
amongst managers in its application. This can be due to varied reasons discussed as
follows:
Vague understanding of participation/empowerment
Some managers might not be clear about the concept of participation/empowerment,
what it means and how it is to be implemented. This can interfere with the process
on empowerment. Thus it is extremely important that suitable training regarding
participation/empowerment is provided to the managers before it is introduced in the
whole organisation.
Lack of skills
A manager might resist participation/empowerment or may not be able to successfully
implement them due to lack of skills. He/ she may not possess suitable leadership
and communication skills necessary for such implementation. The managers thus
need training and organisational support with regard to this aspect. Further care can
be taken while hiring managers so as to select managers who would be in position
to empower the employees and ensure their effective participation.
Habit
Sometimes it is difficult for managers to promote participation/empowerment just
because during the previous years they have been trained otherwise to delegate and
use authority and power. Thus they may not be able to adjust to the sudden shift
towards participation/ empowerment. In this case, positive attitude towards
participation/ empowerment and its practices should be developed amongst the
managers.
Insecurity
Many times managers may also feel insecurity about implementing participation/
empowerment due to fear of loosing control over the employees. This can also be
dealt with by providing training programmes and workshops so as to make managers
better aware.
Pragmatism
Managers recognise the fact that participation/ empowerment however beneficial,
might not be a solution to all the problems in an organisation and might not be
suitable in certain situations. Thus they might not be completely convinced about the
effectiveness of participation/ empowerment.
In this situation the managers need to be informed that if properly managed,
participation/ empowerment can of great benefit and that an overall culture of
participation/ empowerment will greatly benefit the development of employees and
the organisation as a whole.
It thus becomes a duty of the top level management to train, develop and empower
the managers in an organisation before participation and empowerment is implemented 15
Assumption, Beliefs and at other levels. The managers should be encouraged to play a role of a counselor
Values in Organisational
Development
or a coach who is sensitive to the problems of the employees and is always there
to help and support in any circumstances. He/ she can be developer of talent and
potentiality at the same time creator of goals and challenges. All this is again a
challenging task for a manager as he/ she has to be a leader at the same time when
other roles are being played.
Focus on individual differences
Managers also need to focus on individual differences. Individual differences will
exist in ways each employee can be encouraged to participate or be empowered.
As certain employees seek active participation and some may not. While some
employees can be easily empowered within short duration of time, others may require
extra support and help on behalf of the manager and other superiors. This might also
differ depending on the age, gender, education, position and other demographic and
socio- cultural aspects of the employees. These two strategies should thus be employed
after due consideration of individual differences amongst the employees.
Kouze and Posner have suggested five leadership practices for managers that can
help them in becoming effective managers.
i) Firstly, the managers need to make the tasks assigned to the employees more
challenging and they should be constantly in search of opportunities for such
challenges. Further they should encourage experimenting and risk taking amongst
employees in dealing with tasks at hand.
ii) Secondly, it is important that the manager envisages a shared vision. The
objectives are set in collaboration with the employees and are to be collectively
achieved.
iii) Thirdly, the manager should facilitate active participation amongst the employees
and encourage them to work as a team and be supportive to each other.
iv) Fourthly, the manager should serve as a role model to the employees.
v) Lastly, the manager should recognise individual contributions and reinforce
accomplishments.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain how lack of skills and insecurity can discourage managers from
employing participation and empowerment.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Discuss five leadership practices that can make managers effective.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
16 .....................................................................................................................
 Participation and
1.5 LET US SUM UP Empowerment

Thus we can sum up that participation and empowerment are two significant strategies
in organisational development. The most important outcomes of these strategies are
acceptance of change on behalf of employees and enhanced performance as a result
of goal oriented behaviour. Further they also promote awareness about the organisation,
its structure, process and practices and also increase involvement of the employees
in the goal achievement process of the organisation. Participation and empowerment
also enhance organisational citizenship. The benefits of adoption of these two practices
may not be immediate, though in long term, it will result in a highly positive organisational
culture and well developed human resource.
Participation is not restricted only to management, but is extended to the employees
at all levels in an organisation. To empower is to give power and this is done by
providing an employee with authority to participate, make decisions, and contribute
their ideas. In a way both these terms are interrelated as participation enhances
empowerment and empowerment encourages participation.
However, utmost care needs to be taken before they are implemented in terms of
organisational culture, attitude, managerial role and nature of organisation etc. But if
implemented suitable the benefits of these two strategies can be observed for a long
period of time and will greatly benefit the overall development of the organisation.

1.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Describe participation and empowerment and discuss their.
2) What factors need to be taken in to consideration before implementation of
empowerment?
3) Describe the process of participation and empowerment.
4) Describe the significance of role played by managers in implementation of
Empowerment.
5) Highlight the characteristics of empowered organisation.
6) Explain the programmes that be carried out for implementing participation and
empowerment.

1.7 SUGGESTED READINGS

Clutterbuck, David., & Kernanghan, Susan. (1995). The Power of Empowerment:
Release the Hidden Talents of your Employees. London. Kogan Page Limited.
Coffey, R. R., Cook, C.W., & Hunsaker, P.L. (1997). Management and
Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New Delhi. McGraw- Hill Companies.
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Newstorm, J. W., & Davis, K. (1997). Organisational Behaviour: Human
Behaviour at Work. 9th Ed. New Delhi. Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing Company
Limited.
Pareek, U. (2008). Understanding Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New Delhi.
Oxford University Press. 17
 UNIT 2 TEAM AND TEAMWORK
Structure
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Team
2.2.1 Stages of Team Development
2.2.2 Types of Team
2.2.3 Team Activities
2.2.4 Creating High Performance Team

2.3 Teamwork
2.3.1 Problems Affecting Team Work
2.3.2 Enhancing Team Work

2.4 Team Intervention Strategies

2.5 Let Us Sum Up
2.6 Unit End Questions
2.7 Suggested Readings

2.0 INTRODUCTION
Work is becoming more and more complex day by day with technological advances
and complex structure and processes in organisations. These factors have lead to
varied complex problems. In order to deal effectively with this situation it is extremely
important that teams are employed. Teams can be effectively used to carry out
diverse tasks, solve problem, make decisions and implement them. However immense
care has to be taken in order to build a team and ensure its smooth functioning. A
very large team can make it very difficult for the team, members to coordinate,
communicate and land on a single decision. Various types of teams can be used
depending on the task on hand and the problem faced by the organisation. It is also
extremely important to identify the problems that can occur during the functioning of
the team and suitable intervention are carried out to ensure their smooth functioning.
In this unit we will try to understand concept of team and teamwork. The characteristics
of high performing teams will be also discussed. The unit will also highlight activities
carried out by teams. The problems interfering with effective team work will also be
explained along with ways of promoting effective team work.

2.1 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define team and team work;
 Describe high performing teams;
 Explain activities carried out by teams;
 Elucidate the barriers to effective teamwork; and
18  Analyse the ways of enhancing teamwork.
 Team and Teamwork
2.2 TEAM
Team can be explained as cumulative effort of a number of individuals. It is different
from a group in number of ways. The members of a team are accountable for each
others performance. Teams can be termed as more effective than individuals because
the employee skills are better utilised in teams. Teams are flexible and enhance and
facilitate employee involvement and participation and also lead to increase in motivation
of the employees. A team is more effective in problem solving, decision making and
achievement of organisational goals as compared to an individual. Teams can be used
when many perspectives are needed and acceptance of decision is critical, when the
problem or task in hand is complex and diverse suggestions are required and when
risk involved is high.
Team can be categorised in to two: (i) Family group and (ii) special group. Family
group is a permanent team consisting of a superior and several subordinates whereas
the special group is a temporary team constituted to tackle specific tasks, as for
example ad hoc committees and newly formed groups.
Teams are significant for various reasons. Changes in norms and values of a team
have a direct impact on the behaviours of team members and such changes are long
lasting and immediate. Thus teams can be effectively utilised to positively influence
the behaviours of its team members. Certain tasks that are complex can be
conveniently dealt with, with the help of a team that constitutes individuals with
diverse skills.
The cumulative effort of the team members results in a synergy. Further working as
a team enhances individuals need for social interaction, recognition, and belongingness.
It also serves as a support system while the individuals are facing problems in dealing
with tasks on hand.
A team can be distinguished from a group. A group is two or more people who
regularly interact and influence each other; however, members of a group see
themselves as individual entity and produce individual output. A team is a type of
group with a common objective, whose collective and coordinated efforts result in
a common output. A team may be described as a group but not every group can be
described as a team. The distinction between team and group is presented in the
table below:
Table: Difference between teams and groups
Parameters Teams Groups
Performance Depends on both Depends on work of
individual and collective individual members.
contributions of the team
members
Accountability Individual and mutual Individual
Goals Common goals and Common goals.
commitment to
achievement of goal.

2.2.1 Stages of Team Development

A team goes through various stages of development which can be categorised in to
four main headings namely, (i) forming, (ii) storming, (iii) norming and (iv) performing. 19
Assumption, Beliefs and These stages are discussed below:
Values in Organisational
Development i) Forming: Once the team has been put together, the members may know or
may not know each other. At this stage the members interact and get to know
each other better. A rapport is established amongst the members which is
extremely important for the succeeding stages of team development as well as
for the achievement of the team goal. Once the members get to know each
other better, they discuss about the team tasks and goals.
ii) Storming: As the name suggests this stage is that of discussion and arguments
about the team goal and making plans to achieve it. The team members also
compete at this stage for status, position and control in the team. At this stage
tension between the team members might also be created. It is extremely important
for the leader to coordinate amongst the members and manage the team
members during this stage as it is most crucial for efficient performance of the
team.
iii) Norming: At this stage to some extent, balance prevails after the stage of
storming. Now the team is in position to work together. It is more settled as the
team members are already aware about the roles that they are expected to play
and there is some kind of a consensus with regard to the functioning of the team.
The team is now ready to collectively work towards achievement of the goal.
iv) Performing: Through the earlier three stages, the team develops and the
members also develop positive interpersonal relationship with each other and
are more comfortable working with each other. At this stage the team is ready
to deal with complex challenges and achieve the team goal.
A fifth stage might be added to this depending on whether the team is permanent or
temporary. In case it is temporary then the last stage is Adjourning where the team
members have achieved the team goal and are now no more required to work as
a team and thus the team is adjourned. At this stage the team members might be
involved in winding up activities of the team.

2.2.2 Types of Team

As per the needs of the organisations various types of teams can be employed. Some
of these types include (i) problem solving team (ii) cross functional team (iii) Self
managing team (iv) virtual team. These are discussed in detail below:
i) Problem Solving Teams: As the name suggests the main purpose of this team
is focusing on the problem and coming up with a suitable solution. The members
of this team meet regularly to examine work related problems.
Quality circles can also be formed under this type of team that mainly discuss
and develop solutions to issues that relate to quality, productivity or costs. For
the quality circles to be effective the members and the leader need adequate
training in group dynamics, information gathering and problem solving techniques.
ii) Cross- Functional Teams: The speciality of this type of team is that it consists
of members representing different departments or units in the organisation. For
example this type of team may consist of managers from different departments
in the organisations like finance, human resource, production etc. However, a
problem can occur in these teams due to failure in communication across
functions, referred to as ‘functional silos’. ‘Functional silos’ occurs when the
20 employees from a particular department are well aware about their own work
 activity but are poorly involved in and have weak idea about activities of other Team and Teamwork
departments.
iii) Self Managing Teams: Also called as self directed teams, this is a high
involvement team in which there is no external supervision carried out on the
functioning and activities of the team. The team is empowered to carry out their
activities, implement decisions and evaluate results on their own.
iv) Virtual Teams: Due to technological advancement it is possible for employees
in organisations to work together as a team from different locations. Such teams
are referred to as virtual teams in which the members from different locations
are electronically linked together via networked computers. This type of teams
not only saves time but also expenses of travelling from different places. However
members should be well trained in using computers.

2.2.3 Team Activities

A team may be constituted to carry out a number of activities in an organisation.
These activities include (i) Advising (ii) Innovating (iii) Promoting (iv) Developing (v)
Organising (vi) Producing (viii) Inspecting (ix) Maintaining and (x) Linking are listed
as follows:
i) Advising: A team may be constituted in order to identify and understand a
particular problem or issue in an organisation so as to provide the management
with suitable advice. Advice may also be given with regard to organisational
development, employee well-being, technological advancement etc.
ii) Innovating: One of the activities carried out by teams is innovating that is
brainstorming and engaging in systematic discussion and coming up with
innovative ideas about products, advertising, strategies etc.
iii) Promoting: A team may also be involved in promotional activities. These
promotional activities may be related to launching a new product or a particular
strategy or programme like health, safety, discipline etc. in the organisation.
iv) Developing: A team may be part of developing a new product or strategy. It
may also be involved in developmental activities meant for employees or
organisation as a whole. But mainly it may be involved in planning the
developmental activities and also its implementation and follow-up.
v) Organising: Another activity of a team is organising. A team may be constituted
to organise seminars, conferences, events and other programmes in an
organisation. It may also be involved in organising training and development
programmes. Further, they may also contribute to organising varied human
resource functions like selection, recruitment, performance appraisal etc.
vi) Producing: A team may also be involved in the production activities of the
organisation. The production may be with regard to the existing products or a
newly launched product. In either case a team facilitates the overall functioning
of that particular department by providing help to deal with complex problems
and making the whole process fast and accurate.
vii) Inspecting: A team may also be formed in order to inspect a particular problem,
accident or a strategy. The team members here would be mainly involved in
evaluation and analysis of the task in hand.
viii) Maintaining: A team is also utilised in order to maintain discipline, safety rules 21
Assumption, Beliefs and and strategies in an organisation. They may also be involved in maintaining
Values in Organisational
Development
positive attitude, high morale, high motivation and overall maintenance of
organisational citizenship amongst the employees.
ix) Linking: A team also serves as a link between varied groups in an organisation,
like, management and employees or two or more formal or informal groups of
employees. It mainly functions here to bridge the gap between the two or more
groups and maintain cordial communication and intergroup relationship.
Thus there are varied types of activities that a team can utilise to perform. A single
team may perform one, many or all of the activities depending on the nature of the
organisation, problem faced and the demands of the situation.

2.2.4 Creating High Performing Team

A high performing team in an organisation results in high productivity and swift
achievement of organisational goals. Any organisation should focus on developing
high performing teams in their organisations. Such teams have special characteristics
that enhance their team work. Such teams have strong core values that guide their
behaviour, performance and attitudes towards achievement of team goals. There also
exits amongst team members a shared sense of purpose to achieve the objectives.
Such teams set performance standard for themselves on the basis of which the
performance is regularly evaluated and feedback is taken in to consideration.
Frequently high performing teams comprise of people with diverse skills and engage
highly in lateral and creative thinking. In order to develop high performing teams in
organisations following measures can be adopted.
i) Setting high performance standards: It is important that the management in
an organisation recognises certain teams and set high performing standards or
goals for these teams. It is also important that these standards should be clear
and specific so that they drive the team members towards achieving them. It is
not enough just to set these standards but there also needs to be suitably
communicated to the respective teams.
ii) The first team meeting: The first team meeting here is crucial as during this
meet the rapport needs to be established not only between the management and
team members but also amongst the team members. In this meet the specific
goals and expected performance of the team are to be clearly stated. This meet
should set ground for the team to carry on with the assigned task.
iii) Creating a sense of urgency: Certain time limit for the achievement of goal
needs to set and communicated to the team members in order to create a sense
of urgency and commitment amongst the members. The members should also
be encouraged to be involved in planning and setting smaller goals with time limit
in order to efficiently achieve the final objective assigned to them.
iv) Select members with right skill: In the process of team building, care needs
to be taken to include members with diverse skills. It is also important to select
members with effective communication, interpersonal and leadership skills. This
has to be done keeping in mind the goal set for the team.
v) Establishing clear rules and norms for team behaviour: The team members
should be informed about the limitations of their work activity and expected
team behaviour. This can also be communicated in the first meet so that the
expectations of the team members are clarified before they get in to the working
22
mode.
 Keep the team members aware and informed. For the team to perform at its Team and Teamwork
best it needs to be abreast of all the new information about the development in
the organisation and the goal assigned to them. Technological support in this
case can be provided to the team so as to ensure their exposure to latest
developments.
vi) Ensure that the team meets regularly: This is important not only to ensure
that the team regularly works towards achievement of its objective but also to
develop rapport and a sense of cohesiveness amongst the team members. The
more time they spend together the more they will be able to understand and
work effectively with each other.
vii) Providing training: After the team has been constituted some kind of an
orientation and training programme can be organised for the members in order
to provide them with better idea about the task on hand, facilities available and
expected performance.
viii) Provide support: Ensure that adequate support is available to the team form
the management and the organisation as a whole for them to work effectively.
ix) Give positive feedback: The management should regularly monitor the
performance of the team and provide feedback.
x) Reward high performance: Ensure that high performance by the team is
always rewarded. This encourages the team members to perform better and
even set higher standards of performance the next time they work on a task.
This will also encourage and set example for other teams to enhance their performance.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Differentiate between teams and groups.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Discuss various activities carried out by teams.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) How do we create a high performance team?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
23
Assumption, Beliefs and
Values in Organisational 2.3 TEAM WORK
Development
Team work occurs when the members of a team work together and utilise their
individual skills to achieve a common goal. In this process the team members also
support each other and contribute collectively to the task and achievement of the
goals. The goal assigned to the team has to be clear and specific. If the goal is vague
then it is not possible for the team members to work collectively towards achieving
it. Thus suitable care needs to be taken by the team leader or the management in
an organisation to see to it that the goal is clearly understood by the team members.
For team work to be successful and goals to be achieved, proper planning and
suitable coordination amongst the members is of utmost importance. Each member
should be aware about the task he/ she is supposed to take up.
Suitable planning is to be carried out about the way goal will be achieved and the
steps involved and all the team members should be made aware about the plan.
Smooth and open communication amongst the team members will enhance the team
work and facilitate achievement of team goal.
Each member in the team should be aware about his/her role in the team. Any role
ambiguity will lead to ineffective team work. The role played by the leader is very
important as he/ she is the one who will have complete knowledge about the team
goal and has to accordingly distribute tasks to each member, carry out planning,
coordinate the activities of the team and create conducive environment for the team
members to function.
All the members in the team are interdependent and thus have to collectively carry
out their work. This awareness about interdependence and readiness to be supportive
and cooperative are extremely important for the success of team work.
A team should consist of 4 to 12 members. A larger size will negatively impact the
planning, coordination and communication amongst the team members. Thus the size
of the team should be suitably maintained in order to enhance team work.
A leader also plays an extremely significant role in the team in terms of setting team
goals, planning and coordinating team activities, ensuring active participation of
members and promoting cohesiveness in the team. The leader has to display suitable
leadership skills that will enhance team work.
It is also important for the team leader to know his own strengths and how those
strengths can help the entire group He/ she should share power and information in
order to empower team members and reach goals. They also have the responsibility
to enable members to find answers for themselves asking questions and encouraging
balanced participation. Most important the leader should accept the concept of
continuous on- the- learning.
In order to ensure smooth functioning of team and achievement of its goals the team
leaders should assign the right people to the right task, maintain diversity in the team
in terms of skills and knowledge. They should focus on the interpersonal relationship
and communication among team members and make expectations clear.
The team leaders are also responsible to administer rewards and positive reinforcement
to the team members and play a crucial role in removing road blocks and obstacles
that keep the team from performing.

24 The team leader while dealing with the team members should remember that each
member has something to add to his/ her team. They also need to fix goals that are Team and Teamwork
measurable to keep your team focused. They should always reward merit, but never
let errors go unmarked. They should ensure a degree of independence is essential
in successful team work.
Delegation, openness of conduct and communication and a free exchange should be
encouraged. They should react positively to novel and creative ideas. A team leader
should also understand the strengths, weaknesses of his/ her team members. He/ she
should carry out regular performance evaluation and provide suitable feedback.

2.3.1 Problems Affecting Team Work

The problems affecting teams can be broadly classified in to six categories, namely,
(i) goals, (ii) team members, (iii) norms, (iv) decision making, (v) leadership and (vi)
size. The problems listed below can be categorised under one or more of the above
six broad categories.
i) Changing Composition: Change in compositions of the team like transfers,
changes, additions of members can affect the functioning of the team. As the
team develops through various stages as discussed above, the members develop
a rapport and interpersonal relationship with each other. If the composition of
team changes frequently, new members are added or old members are transferred,
the cohesiveness amongst the team members will be hampered leading to disruption
in functioning of the team and delay in the achievement of team goal.
ii) Interpersonal relationship among members: Problems can occur amongst
team members if they lack suitable positive interpersonal relationship with each
other. Team members in conflict with each other are not only going to negatively
impact the team cohesiveness but will also change the team focus to the conflict
rather than the task.
iii) Communication barriers: Lack of open and smooth communication between
the team members can interfere with the achievement of the team goals.
Communication barriers can also occur due to language and cultural differences
amongst the members.
iv) Social loafing: Social loafing occurs when certain member of a team does not
put in his/her best, thus affecting team activity and team morale at the same time.
The team members might feel that the tasks in a team are not equally divided.
v) Inappropriate leadership style/ ineffective leader: A leader plays an
extremely important role in any team as he/ she is the person who carries out
the planning and coordinates amongst the team members. Thus an ineffective
leader or an inappropriate leadership style will interfere with the effective
performance of the team.
vi) Large size of the team: If the size of the team is very big it would be difficult
for the team members to coordinate and communicate with each other leading
to chaos. Thus depending on the task, a suitable size for the team needs to be
decided which preferably should be below 12.
vii) Role ambiguity: If the team members are not clear about the role they play
in the team, then it would not be possible for them to function effectively.
viii) Lack of trust: It is important that at an early stage of team development the
team members develop rapport and positive interpersonal relationship with each
25
Assumption, Beliefs and other that will promote development of trust. Lack of trust amongst members
Values in Organisational
Development
will avoid them from sharing information and knowledge with each other and
negatively impact their functioning.
ix) Domination by one or more members: The team leader needs to ensure that
each member effectively contributes to the functioning of the team at the same
time each member has an opportunity to express himself/ herself in the team and
contributes to the decision making or problem solving process. Domination by
one or members will lead to lowering of morale and motivation amongst other
team members as they might feel that their suggestion and view points have not
been considered.
x) Lack of motivation: Lack of motivation on part of the team members will
disrupt the performance of the team members. Thus the motivation of the team
members should be boosted by regular feedbacks rewards etc.
xi) Disagreement over team’s purpose and tasks: Arguments and disagreements
amongst team members over the team goals and the direction of functioning can
gravely impair its functioning. This can be minimised by adopting effective strategies
of group discussions by the team leader and members.

2.3.2 Enhancing Team Work

For enhancing team work the following have to be considered:
Size: The size of the team plays an important role in enhancing team work. As
discussed earlier a team should be between 4-12 members. The size may also
depend on the nature of the organisation and the issue on hand or task to be
performed. An optimal team size will enhance team work it enhances coordination,
planning and communication amongst the team members.
Skills: At least three main skills need to be focused on while selecting members for
the team, namely, technical competence, problem solving and interpersonal skills.
Individuals with these skills will be able to function better as team members and will
be in a better position to achieve team objectives and goals.
Behavioural aspects of the team members: The behavioural aspects of team
members is also important in enhancing team work. The team members should be
encouraged to speak respectfully to one another about one another, listen without
interrupting, express opinions, feelings openly, honestly, to make ‘I’ statements and
not ‘You’ statements while taking responsibility, ask for help when needed, offer help
when possible, make commitments seriously and keep them up, support the team
and each other and focus on problem and solutions, not blame and accusations.
Open Communication: To ensure effective performance of the team, open
communication should be ensured. This will reduce disintegration of information and
enhance team functioning.
Goals: The team goals should be specific and clear and these goals should be clearly
communicated to the team members. Further performance standards should also be
set as per the potentialities of the individual members of the team.
Shared leadership: As far as possible shared leadership should be adopted, as it
will give opportunity to each and every member to act as a leader. This will also lead
to increase in morale of employees and lead to their individual growth.
26 Decisions/ solutions based on consensus: A team works collectively towards
decision making and problem solving. It is quite possible that members come up with Team and Teamwork
varied and different solutions. The ultimate decision and solution should be based on
consensus so as to promote the feeling of cohesiveness amongst the team members.
The leader plays a crucial role in ensuring this.
Supportive environment: The organisation and the managers should ensure supportive
environment for the team to function at its optimal level.
Stress management: Any stress amongst team members should be identified and
managed, as stress can interfere with effective functioning of the team. Yoga, meditation,
rational emotive behaviour therapy, relaxation techniques and other techniques can
be used in order to help employees deal with stress. An employee counsellor may
also be appointed by the organisation in order to help employees cope with their
personal and work problems.
Training: Suitable training with regard to both skills and knowledge etc. should be
regularly provided. Training can be related to technical or interpersonal skills or with
regard to a technological advancement in the organisation. Various methods and
modes of training programmes can be utilised.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain the concept of team work.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Discus any two problems affecting team work.
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.....................................................................................................................
3) Highlight any three ways of enhancing team work.
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.....................................................................................................................
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2.4 TEAM INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

As we have seen earlier there are various problems that can clog the activities of the
team and measures need to be taken by the management in order to ensure high
performance amongst team members. In this regard, certain team intervention strategies
can be used by the management or team leaders to enhance the functioning of the
teams or reduce conflict amongst the members. These interventions can be directed
either at family groups or special groups. 27
Assumption, Beliefs and i) Role Analysis Techniques [RAT]: This technique is mainly used to clarify the
Values in Organisational
Development
role obligations of each team member, understanding expectations of team
members. The techniques consists of structured series of meetings, listing specific
duties and responsibilities, listing the expectations from others and learning what
others expect from the individual. A written summary of the whole discussion is
also maintained. The technique is especially useful for newly formed teams and
teams with role ambiguity.
ii) Family Group Diagnostic Meeting: The purpose of this is to identify team’s
problems, but not to solve them. The meeting is normally scheduled away from
the work situation. A lot of preparation needs to be carried out prior to the
meeting in order to understand the nature of the team and goal assigned to them.
Further at the meeting, diagnostic information is shared, problem area identified
and discussed and attempts are made to generate preliminary action plan. This
technique is mainly useful to find out the cause of any problem and to come up
with a preliminary action plan.
iii) Family Group Team Building Meeting: This is mainly used to improve team
effectiveness in order to solve the problem. It may last for 2-3 days. It involves
a series of meetings to ensure that the intended changes take place and remain
stable overtime and can be used with both family and special groups. It is useful
to ensure stability of a group, improve effectiveness and maintain the team
cohesiveness.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss Role Analysis Techniques as a team intervention strategy.
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Explain the concept of Family Group Diagnostic Meeting.
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.....................................................................................................................

2.5 LET US SUM UP

Thus in the above unit we discussed about what is a team and team work. We also
discussed about the activities of a team and the barriers that can affect team
performance. We further highlighted ways of enhancing team work and discussed
team intervention strategies. A team thus is an important tool that can be used by
organisations to carry out varied functions accurately and efficiently. However, care
should be taken while constituting a team and once the team is constituted measure
to ensure its effective functioning also needs to be carried out. If this is taken care
of then a team serves as an effective mode to ensure organisational development.

28
 Team and Teamwork
2.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS
1) Describe team and team work and explain their significance in organisations.
2) Highlight the stages of team development.
3) Discuss various activities performed by a team.
4) Explain various types of teams.
5) Discuss in detail the characteristics of high performing teams.
6) Explain various barriers to effective team work and suggest suitable solutions to
enhance teamwork.

2.7 SUGGESTED READINGS

French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Greenberg, J., & Baron, R, A. ( 2003). Behaviour in Organisations. 8th Ed. Delhi,
Pearson Education, Inc.
Nair, S. R. (2004). Organisational Behaviour: Texts and Cases. Mumbai. Himalaya
Publishing House.
Newstorm, J. W., & Davis, K. (1997). Organisational Behaviour: Human
Behaviour at Work. 9th Ed. New Delhi. Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing Company
Limited.
Shermerhorn, J. R., Hunt, J. G., Osborn, R. N. (2005). Organisational Behaviour.
9th Ed. New Delhi. John Wiley and Sons Inc.

29
 UNIT 3 PARALLEL LEARNING STRUCTURES
Structure
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Organisational Learning
3.2.1 System Thinking
3.2.2 Team Learning
3.2.3 Shared Vision
3.2.4 Mental Models
3.2.5 Personal Mastery
3.2.6 Strategies for Organisational Learning

3.3 Parallel Learning Structures

3.3.1 Shared Area of Interest
3.3.2 Community
3.3.3 Practice
3.3.4 Features of Parallel Learning Structures
3.3.5 Encouraging Development of Parallel Learning Structures

3.4 Let Us Sum Up

3.5 Unit End Questions
3.6 Suggested Readings

3.0 INTRODUCTION
In the present unit, initially we will try to understand the term organisational learning,
which is basic to understanding parallel learning strategies. Further we will discuss the
concept of parallel learning structures and try to understand the significance of these
structures in organisational context. The unit will highlight features of such structures
and also discuss ways of promoting their development in the organisation.

3.1 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define organisational learning;
 Describe characteristic features of organisational learning;
 Explain parallel learning structures;
 Describe the features of parallel learning structures; and
 Analyse the ways of developing parallel learning structures.

3.2 ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING

Learning can take place at individual level, team level or at organisational level.
Though we mainly focus and relate learning to an individual, more and more
organisations are adopting the concept of organisational learning in order to survive
30 in the competitive world.
Organisational learning can be described as the ability of an organisation to develop Parallel Learning
Structures
an understanding and gain insight from experience through experimentation, observation
and analysis and thus make it more efficient and effective in competition to other
organisations.
Organisational learning thus studies models and theories about the way an organisation
learns and adapts. Effective organisational learning entails modifying the procedure
themselves and may be even the assumptions, values, and objectives on which they
were based to not only solve current problems, but to prevent their recurrence in the
future (Coffey et al, 1997).
It not only contributes to resolving organisational issues, but promotes individual
development of knowledge and skills. Organisational learning is also related to
organisational change as it can contribute and is conducive to organisational change.
An organisation in the process of learning may utilise any one of the three learning
styles, viz., (i) single loop learning, (ii) double loop learning and (iii) deuteron
learning.
i) Single loop learning mainly deals with the identification and rectification of errors.
This is the fundamental level of organisational learning where the effectiveness
of rules and policies in the organisation are focused on. One disadvantage of this
style is that, the organisations may focus only on the errors and not on
developmental aspects. This style can be most effective when solving problems
with high level of urgency.
ii) Double loop learning when compared to single loop learning is in-depth. It is
normally used in an organisation when there is a need to focus on norms,
structures and identify the root causes of an error. The use of this learning style
may lead to certain changes that may impact the values, beliefs and strategies
in an organisation.
Double loop learning directly deals with the root cause of the problem thus may
require a long period of time and cannot be utilised for dealing with immediate
problems. Double loop learning is definitely more advantageous to any
organisation compared to single loop learning. However, there is hesitation on
part of the organisations to use it because of its complexity, time consuming
process and also because it involves disclosure of errors and questioning of
values, beliefs and strategies in an organisation.
iii) In deuteron learning, not only there is an in-depth analysis of error and questioning
of values, beliefs and strategies as in double loop learning, but it goes one step
further and also attempts to evaluate and analyse the whole process of learning.
This style thus enhances the learning practice in the organisation.
The above are the three learning styles that might be adopted in an organisation.
However, it is not that only a single style is utilised. A successful organisation will
apply each of these learning styles depending on the demands of the situation.
Organisational learning is based on five core areas, namely, system thinking, team
learning, shared vision, mental models and personal mastery. Of these five areas,
system thinking is the most important. These five core areas also distinguish a learning
organisation from a bureaucratic organisation.

31
Assumption, Beliefs and 3.2.1 System Thinking
Values in Organisational
Development System thinking is like looking at the organisation as a whole and then focusing on
the relationship between its varied parts. It helps in working along with the system
rather than against it. In order to develop system thinking, the employees in an
organisation need to participate actively in the varied activities taking place in the
organisation. System thinking lies at the heart of organisational learning because all
the members of the organisation are able to develop an understanding of the whole
rather than parts of the organisation like structure, processes and behaviour.

3.2.2 Team Learning

Various types of team exist in organisations that are crucial to the overall functioning
of the organisation. Thus it can be said that teams are fundamental units of an
organisation and form basic learning units of an organisation.
Team learning occurs when the team members develop a feeling of cohesiveness and
collectively experience productiveness while working on a particular task. It involves
sharing of knowledge and application of this knowledge in collective thinking
environment. For team learning to take place it is extremely important that the team
members are involved in effective team behaviour and team work. Further, effective
interaction between the team members is extremely important for the team learning
to take place and to overcome the barriers that interferes with learning.

3.2.3 Shared Vision

Shared vision means that all the employees in an organisation have common objectives
and goals, and they are collectively committed to achieving them. Shared vision is
extremely important in an organisation as it sets a performance standard against
which each employee can compare his/ her contribution to the organisational goal.
Shared vision also develops a feeling of cohesiveness amongst employees and may
enhance organisational citizenship. However, in the process of developing a shared
vision, it important to take in to consideration, the mental models existing in that
particular organisation. The employees should also be encouraged to express their
personal vision that can form basis of the shared vision. Care must also be taken to
evaluate the shared vision on regular basis.

3.2.4 Mental Models

Mental models determine our perception about the world and they are formed in
order to help us look at the world in a simple manner. In an organisational set up
mental models guide the way in which employees perceive the organisational structures
and its processes. It is thus extremely important for an organisation to focus and be
aware about the mental models of its employees, as mental models may limit the
perception of the employees and stop them from being creative and innovative and
may compel them to perceive things from a single perspective. Thus the existing
mental model in the organisation needs to be identified and challenged if necessary.
Further, a shared mental model may also be developed in an organisation.

3.2.5 Personal Mastery

Personal mastery occurs when an employee is committed to self and professional
development and involved in enhancement of his/ her learning skills and competencies.
An organisation should encourage development of personal mastery amongst its
employees by providing them with training and development programmes, coaching,
32
mentoring and other facilities. Personal mastery is relevant at all hierarchal levels in Parallel Learning
Structures
an organisation and every employee should be able to develop it in order to enhance
organisation learning.

3.2.6 Strategies for Organisational Learning

Varied strategies are employed to promote organisational learning. They are as follows:
i) Action learning: It is process carried out by a group of people with different
levels of skills and experience to analyse a real problem and develop an action
plan. Learning here takes place by actually working on the problem or carrying
out the problem related work activity. The group also supervises the implementation
of the action plan and may make changes throughout the implementation process.
This strategy is mainly used to deal with complex problems, to identify root
cause of the problem and derive a suitable solution and to develop new strategic
plans and increase developmental opportunities.
ii) Cross-functional teams: It is composed of people with varied levels of skills
and experience who are brought together to accomplish a task.
Cross functional teams help deal with an impending problem in organisations
referred to as ‘functional silos problem’, that occurs when the employees in an
organisation focus only on the matters concerning their department or function
and interact minimally with other departments or units in the organisation. This
leads to effective functioning of a single department but not of the organisation
as a whole as there is no much communication and coordination between the
difference departments and units of the organisation.
With the help of cross functional teams, employees from different departments
or units come together, interact, discuss and share their point of view with
regard to a particular issue or problem. This not only provides with a number
of alternatives for dealing with a single issue but also enhances organisational
learning as the employees with varied skills, knowledge and expertise are involved
in sharing and learning from each other. They may also use action learning as
one of their strategies.
iii) Work-outs: These are meetings of employees representing all levels and functions
of the organisation or unit, except management, to identify ways the organisation
can work together more efficiently and effectively. Work outs can be effectively
used to facilitate organisational change and to ensure active participation of all
employees in change process, to develop creative and practical strategies of
dealing with varied problems in an organisation. It can also be used to redesign
work practices and processes.
iv) Groupware: It is technology used to facilitate a group’s communication, problem-
solving, and decision-making processes. The group members here may come
from different geographical locations. It is extremely useful as it makes
communication effective and fast thus accelerating the problem solving a and
decision making process.
v) Benchmarking: It is a process through which the performance, best practices
and achievements of other organisations are compared with one’s own
organisation. It can be mainly used to identify the areas in an organisation where
improvements can be carried out. It also helps an organisation learn from the
performance and achievements of other organisations.
33
Assumption, Beliefs and vi) Parallel learning structures: Also known as communities of practice, parallel
Values in Organisational
Development
learning structures, promotes innovation and change in large bureaucratic
organisations while retaining the advantages of bureaucratic design. These
structures are also effective in bringing about organisational change.
All the above strategies are similar as they promote organisational learning. They
differ however in their processes and practices.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe the concept of organisational learning.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Explain the any two core areas of organisational learning.
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Discuss action learning and work-outs as strategies of organisational learning.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

3.3 PARALLEL LEARNING STRUCTURES

Parallel Learning Structures may be a form of Knowledge Management. Knowledge
Management involves capturing the organisation’s collective expertise wherever it
resides (in databases, on paper, or in people’s heads) and distributing it to the people
who need it in time. They promote innovation and change in large bureaucratic
organisations while retaining the advantages of bureaucratic design. It is also referred
to as communities of practice.
Though recently coined the practice has been around for since a very long time. It
is widely used in various organisations in order to promote learning and development
because knowledge is viewed as a critical asset that requires suitable management.
Parallel learning strategies focus on people and on the social structures that enable
them to learn with and from each other.
The concept of Parallel Learning Structures was first introduced by Dale and Zand
in 1974 under the label Collateral Organisations. They described it as a supplemental
organisations existing with usual formal organisations, which are mainly useful to deal
with structural problems that the formal organisation is unable to deal with.
These structures are modes of learning how to change the structure and leading the
34 whole change process. It can also be described as a structure or a coordination of
employees that emerges or is created parallel to the formal structure of the organisation, Parallel Learning
Structures
which can be beneficial in promoting organisational learning, encouraging innovation
and creativity and their implementation amongst the employees.
Parallel Learning Structures consists of a steering committee and number of working
groups that study changes that need to be made, make suggestions for improvement
and monitor the change process. The steering committee might also be supported by
idea or action groups.
There are three important elements of parallel learning structures namely, shared area
of interest, community and practice.

3.3.1 Shared Area of Interest

The members of the group involved in parallel learning structure necessarily have a
shared area of interest and the members are committed to this interest. This area
of interest can be a problem, an issue requiring decision making. The group members
have collective competence in dealing with the shared area of interest and they learn
from each other in the process.

3.3.2 Community
The members of the group engage in activities and sharing of knowledge and
information in the process of dealing with shared area of interest. It might not be
necessary for the members to interact on daily basis. An interpersonal relationship
develops between the members and they involve in give and take of ideas and
information. They interact and learn together as one community.

3.3.3 Practice
The group members share information and ideas about the issue or area of interest
and are able to identify certain solutions. They develop a shared gamut of resources,
experiences, stories, tools, and ways of addressing recurring problems that can also
be referred as shared practice. This may take time and sustained interaction.
The parallel learning strategies are a combination of the above three elements. These
structures are valuable to both individuals and organisations. The individual members
greatly benefit from these structures especially when they come across a particular
problem and need some kind of assistance dealing with it. In such a situation they
have an easy assess to expertise and help from other members. Thus they are able
to deal effectively with the problem within a short period of time.
The individuals also benefit from the sharing of knowledge and may develop expertise
in this process. Overall the individuals in parallel learning structures are found to be
highly motivated towards learning and self development. This also has a positive
impact on their performance and productivity in the organisation.
At organisational level, such structures are extremely significant not only because it
leads to individual development of the employees in the organisation, but also because
it leads to overall development of the organisation and achievement of its goals.
Parallel learning structures are useful when the organisation needs the employees to
be creative and innovative in their approach to work, promote the give and take of
knowledge and information amongst the employees in the organisation and to enhance
and utilise the collective expertise of the organisation.
35
Assumption, Beliefs and An organisational culture with continuous learning is created and developed with the
Values in Organisational
Development
help of such structures. The younger and newer employees in the organisation also
benefit through sharing with certain senior employees in the organisation and able to
adjust to the new situation in better manner. The members develop a sense of identity
and become more participative and empowered.
Parallel learning structures can be compared with two other groups commonly found
in organisational set up, namely, interest groups and project teams. Parallel learning
structures are similar at the same time different from these two groups in various
ways.
An interest group is a group of employees taking interest and working on an issue
or a problem and a project team is a team constituted to achieve a particular goal.
The similarities between these three types of groups are that they are face to face
or virtual, in either case there is a continuous and consistent interaction taking place
between the members.
With regard to the differences, the goal of parallel learning structures and interest
groups is knowledge sharing and knowledge creation where as project teams mainly
deal with tasks and projects. Parallel learning structures and interest groups have a
culture of learning, are spontaneous, voluntary, informal and may have short or long
lifespan, where as project teams have a culture of action, are intentional, is formal
in terms of its administration and is constituted for a limited period of time.
The structure of parallel learning structures is homogeneous, on the other hand the
interest groups and project teams have a heterogeneous structure. With regard to
membership, parallel learning structures have core and voluntary members, interest
groups have an open membership, where as project teams have membership as a
result of assignment. The parallel learning structures focus on same topic, problems
and interests and this is the main reason that the structures emerge. Interest groups
focus on mixed topics, different problems but same interest and project teams focus
on deliverables.
Thus it can be noticed that though the three groups do have lots of similarities, they
do differ mainly in terms of their focus.

3.3.4 Features of Parallel Learning Structures

Though parallel learning structures may vary from organisation to organisation, they
do possess certain common features. These features are discussed as follows:
i) Sharing of Knowledge: One of the main features of parallel learning structures
is sharing of knowledge and information amongst the members of its groups.
The knowledge is shared through discussions, interactions and participation.
This kind of sharing helps the members become more aware of the issues in an
organisation and also help them come up with effective solutions.
ii) Spontaneous: Most parallel learning structures emerge spontaneously without
any efforts on behalf of the organisation, as the members get together voluntarily.
It is however beneficial for organisations to promote growth of such structures
for successful sharing of knowledge and effective resolution of certain issues.
iii) Common Objective: Most commonly parallel learning structures emerge as a
result of a group of people with common objective or interest or shared vision
coming together. These people in an informal set up start sharing knowledge
36
with regard to their common concern. These individuals may also have a common
 set of values and beliefs. Though the group members might not work together Parallel Learning
Structures
or meet regularly there is a consistent sharing of knowledge that takes place
between them. The members may also share equal passion and commitment
towards the common issue which enhances the overall functioning of the structure.
The group members may interact with each other either face to face or virtually.
Technological advancement can facilitate development of such structures and
enhance their overall functioning.
iv) Informal nature: As the emergence of these structures is spontaneous, the
groups are informal in nature thus creating a conducive environment for interaction
and give and take of knowledge. These informal networks in an organisation
facilitate faster and better accomplishments of tasks and effective problem solving
and decision making. These informal networks may later be formally incorporated
into the organisational structure.
v) Formal guidance: Though these structures emerge spontaneously and are
informal in natures. The overall functioning of these structures can be enhanced
if they receive formal guidance from the management and the organisation. It is
not only important for the organisation to formalize certain structures that greatly
contribute to the resolution of issues and overall development of the organisation,
but also to provide guidance and direction for the structures and its members
to work.
vi) Size of the structure: The size of different structures will vary depending on
the shared issue. The size can range from few members to more than hundred
members. The size will also determine the activities and practices of structures.
vii) Lifespan: The life span of the structure will again vary depending on the
common objective, activities and practices of the structures. Thus the lifespan
may be short or long. The lifespan will also depend on the trust and support
amongst the members and whether the structure is informal or formalised.
viii) Leader: A leader of a particular structure plays an extremely significant role in
the functioning of the structure. The leader serves as a bridge between the
structure and organisation besides ensuring smooth sharing of knowledge and
focus on the shared objective. The leader may be one of the most respected
and influential members of the structure.

3.3.5 Encouraging Development of Parallel Learning

Structures
The organisations need to be aware and identify the informal interactions that naturally
occur amongst the employees, as it might not be possible for an organisation to
initiate a particular structure. But they can definitely create conducive environment for
such structures to develop and flourish in the organisation.
The organisations should also develop an understanding of what a parallel learning
structure is. They need to understand that these structures are informal and spontaneous
in nature and may exist across department and hierarchies and boundaries in same
organisation.
It is also important that these informal structures are identified by the organisation and
provided with suitable guidance, direction and environment. But it should also be
ensured that there is no interference on behalf of the organisation in the overall
functioning of these structures.
37
Assumption, Beliefs and Organisations need to promote trust, open communication, mutual understanding and
Values in Organisational
Development
support to foster successful development of such communities. An interaction format
may also be developed by the organisation and adequate time should be provided
for social interaction between the employees.
The organisations need to distinguish between sharing of information and sharing of
knowledge. Sharing of information via emails, notices, minutes of meetings and other
modes is not at same level as sharing of knowledge which occurs at a deeper level
where the insights and analysis of any information is shared.
The organisations may also promote technological advancements in order to enhance
development and functioning of parallel learning structures.
The organisation may offer incentives and rewards for the contributions of parallel
learning structures. This will encourage further growth of such structures and emergence
of new ones. The basis of such rewards can be innovation, creativity or spontaneity.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Define and describe parallel learning structures.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
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2) Discuss various elements of parallel learning structures.
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3) Explain any three features of parallel learning structures.
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4) How do you encourage development of parallel learning structures?
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3.4 LET US SUM UP

Parallel learning structures are everywhere, in schools, universities, in sports, at work
etc. They are about people and are of great benefit to its members and the organisation.
38 They can be described as groups of people who share a common interest and
concern. They enhance the sharing of knowledge and information and also provide Parallel Learning
Structures
quick solutions to complex problems. It is thus extremely important for an organisation
to identify the parallel learning structures within its environment as it can contribute
greatly to the overall development of the organisation.. But it is important to focus
on these structures and guide their development without too much of interference on
part of the organisation and management. Their presence in an organisation enhances
organisational learning and change and they also contribute to the knowledge
management process in an organisation.

3.5 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Explain the concept of organisational learning and its core areas.
2) Describe various strategies of organisational learning.
3) Describe parallel learning structures and highlight its features.
4) Discuss how development of parallel learning structures can be encouraged in
an organisation.

3.6 SUGGESTED READINGS

Al-Hawamdeh, Suliman.( 2003). Knowledge Management. Oxford. Chandos
Publishing Limited.
Coffey, R. R., Cook, C.W., & Hunsaker, P.L. (1997). Management and
Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New Delhi. McGraw- Hill Companies.
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.

39
 UNIT 4 A NORMATIVE RE-EDUCATIVE
STRATEGY FOR CHANGE
Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Organisational Change
4.3 Resistance to Change
4.3.1 Resistance as a System Variable

4.4 Strategies to Overcome Resistance to Change

4.4.1 Action Centered Approach
4.4.2 Rational Empirical Approach
4.4.3 Normative Re-educative Approach
4.4.4 The Power Coercive Approach
4.4.5 Common Assumptions of a Power Coercive Approach to Change
4.4.6 Political/Positional Power as a Change Strategy
4.4.7 Economic Power as a Change Strategy
4.4.8 Environment Adaptive Strategy

4.5 A Normative Re- educative Strategy for Change

4.5.1 Assumptions of Normative Re-educative Strategy for Change
4.5.2 Factors to be Considered while Applying Normative Re-Educative Strategy
4.5.3 Implications of Normative Re-educative Strategy
4.5.4 Sub Strategies for Normative Re-educative Strategies

4.6 Let Us Sum Up

4.7 Unit End Questions
4.8 Suggested Readings

4.0 INTRODUCTION
In this unit we will discuss the concept of organisational change and various approaches
to organisational change. It will further highlight normative re-educative strategy as
one of the approaches to change. It will then explain the factors of implementing this
strategy. The applications and implications of this strategy will also be highlighted.
Further sub- strategies for this approach will also be explained.

4.1 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define organisational change;
 Describe the characteristic features of organisation change;
 Explain the various approaches to organisational change;
 Elucidate the normative re educative strategy for change;
40  Analyse the factors before implementing the normative re educative strategy;
 Explain the assumptions and implication for the normative re- educative approach; A Normative Re-educative
Strategy for Change
and
 Analyse the sub strategies for the normative re educative approach.

4.2 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

Changes are constantly taking place in the environment of organisations. Change can
be described as a process of moving from one condition to another. Changes in
organisations can occur as a result of varied external and internal forces. Ecological,
demographic and cultural changes are some of the external forces that can have an
impact on political, economic and technological aspects of change in an organisation.
Changes in policy, structures, technology can be examples of internal changes in an
organisation. In order to survive, develop and prosper in this situation, organisations
must identify and adapt to these forces.
Organisational Change can be described as a complex process that occurs as a
result of interaction between technological, historical, behavioural, social, economic,
demographic and political forces.
Change can be planned or unplanned. A planned change occurs spontaneously,
where as an unplanned change is intentional and planned by the management.
Introduction of new safety devices or technological advancement can be an example
of planned change introduced by an organisation.
High turnover, absenteeism, communication and decision making breakdown can be
examples of unplanned changes.
The timing and manner in which changes are introduced in an organisation have a lot
to do with how successful they are. They can be introduced effectively when factors
that would be conducive to their acceptance and those that provoke employees to
resist them are first identified. Once this is done change could be introduced in
various ways (Sekaran, 2008).
Both people and organisations resist change though it might be in the best of their
interest. Change can have an adverse effect on the motivation, morale and the overall
performance of the employees. It can lead to increase in absenteeism, high errors
and low productivity.
Organisational change can also be categorised as:
i) radical change also called as frame breaking change and
ii) incremental change also called as frame bending change.
Radical change can be explained as a change that leads to major refurbish of an
organisation or its systems. Incremental change on the other hand is a part of the
organisation’s natural development.

4.3 RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Resistance to change is functional when not carried to extremes. In other words, the
energy we put into resisting change also permits us to preserve balance in our lives
by relegating habitual responses to the unconscious. Two key components of resistance
are (i) selective perception and (ii) selective retention.
41
Assumption, Beliefs and These help us organise our understandings of our environment.
Values in Organisational
Development As we grow up, we learn to depend on others’ expertise in various roles that is of
parents, teachers, doctors, sports coaches and so on. Basically, society teaches us
to accept the status quo. This leads to self-distrust in the face of potential change (“I
shouldn’t”) and even to regression (as in reverting to old, familiar practices in new
situations). All of these, of course, are processes to which the coach/consultant
would be as readily subject as the client. Yet resistance is almost always discussed
in the context of client behaviour.
There are theories of resistance in social systems and resistance in individuals.
Attempts to eliminate resistance, therefore, tend to focus on the targets of change.
If team members are resisting their manager’s directives, for example, we might
facilitate group meetings where we communicate the need for change and encourage
group plans to enact the change. In doing this we might use joint diagnosis and
consensus building to reduce feelings of threat, to engage peoples’ interest, to help
them feel the project is at least somewhat their own, and try to make it fit their values
and ideals. We search for the key “defenders” of the status quo and try to enlist their
support for the change effort by taking their concerns seriously as given in the box
below:
What are the threats to their well-being?
What might be dysfunctional about the proposed change that we’ve overlooked?
What have we not yet understood about the sources of their mistrust?
In order to overcome resistance we should observe even subtle differences between
our perceptions and those of our clients. We should appreciate the importance of
understanding clients’ values and sources of identification and of determining where
our values are likely to fit, rather than vice versa. We are less likely to forget that
difficulties in a change effort may stem from our own assumptions about what clients
need.

4.3.1 Resistance as a System Variable

Lewin’s force-field analysis is the most commonly used model to illustrate elements
of change and resistance to change:
According to Lewin’s model, pressing for change tends to threaten stability and thus
increases the power of forces maintaining the system.
Therefore, the most effective way to bring about change is to reduce the forces of
resistance. This implies, however, that resistance exists only on one side of the force
field. The energy to restrain movement toward change and the energy to move
toward change are treated conceptually as arising from different places. As coaches/
consultants, we see ourselves as the “driving forces.” Thus theory guides practice
when we interpret resistance to change as emanating only from clients (“restraining
forces”).
Individuals may resist change due to selective perception, lack of information, fear
and uncertainty, negative attitude, etc. On the other hand, organisations may resist
change to maintain power and structural stability, to avoid risk taking, etc. Therefore
organisations have to systematically plan to bring about changes and be constantly
aware and alert about certain changes that can occur in the external and internal
environment of the organisations.
42
To overcome resistance to change, organisations: A Normative Re-educative
Strategy for Change
1) They can employ various strategies like open communication with the relevant
stake holders like clients, customers, share holders and most importantly
employees.
2) They can also create awareness regarding the purpose and benefits of change.
3) They can provide education with regard to the purpose and benefits of change.
4) They can encourage the employees to participate in the decision making related
to change.
5) They can involve them in the process of change.
6) The organisations can also provide support, training, counseling during the process
of change in order to deal with the anxieties and uncertainties experienced by
the employees.
Managing change in an organisation is a complex activity that requires dealing with
varied problems and challenges in the internal and external environment of the
organisation. As change is inevitable, it is extremely important that the management
and the managers are aware of change and take active role in anticipating, planning,
facilitating and implementing change through effective strategies.
Competencies in managing change are required in order to achieve the organisational
goal. Various approaches to managing change can be utilised by organisations. These
strategies can be selected based on various aspects like
a) the target population or
b) the nature of target population,
c) the type and degree of change and
d) resistance to change displayed or expected,
e) time and expertise available to manage change.

4.4 STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME RESISTANCE TO

CHANGE
Any of the following strategies can be used depending on the demands of the
situation in the organisation.

4.4.1 Action-Centred Approach

This approach is action based and mainly focuses on the problem and possible
solution to the problem. It can be described as a process of systematically collecting
data on a particular organisation. The data collected is then passed on to the
management or the relevant authorities who utilise the data to draw an action plan.
The results of the action plan are then evaluated and more data might accordingly
be collected by repeating the process as necessary. The steps involved in this approach
include:
1) preliminary diagnosis,
2) collection of data,
43
Assumption, Beliefs and 3) feedback about the data,
Values in Organisational
Development 4) development of action plan,
5) implementation of action plan and
6) evaluation and follow up.
This approach is utilised as and when a performance gap is identified.
One especially useful, if perhaps excessively academic, roundup of “General Strategies
for Effecting Changes in Human Systems” is provided by Robert Chin and Kenneth
Benne in their classic textbook The Planning of Change. In their analysis, change
strategies fall into three categories:
1) rational-empirical, 2) normative- re-educative, and 3) power-coercive.

4.4.2 Rational Empirical Approach

The rational-empirical approach assumes that men and women are rational and
practical and will change on their own given the appropriate conditions. These strategies
include:
1) Provide the right information, education or training to allow individuals to change
of their own volition.
2) Ensure that the “right” people are in the right “place” to bring about needed
changes.
3) Invite the perspectives or expertise of outsiders.
4) Engage in research and development.
5) Promote utopian thinking to stimulate creativity and “best-case” scenarios.
6) Clarify the issues and/or reconceptualise the situation in order to bring about
greater overall understanding among members of the group.

4.4.3 Normative Re-educative Approach

This is being dealt with in detail at the end of this unit. However to state briefly, the
second category of strategies, that is the normative-reeducative approach is
predicated on the view that change begins from the bottom up, not the top down.
That is to say, it focuses on changing the individuals that make up a social system.
It is the preferred method of counselors, trainers, and therapists. Two strategies
characteristic of this approach are to:
 Improve the problem-solving capacities of a system by encouraging individuals
to be self-diagnosing.
 Release and foster growth in the persons who make up the system.

4.4.4 The Power-Coercive Approach

This approach to effecting change is the one most commonly associated with political
movements and social activism. In the words of Chin and Benne, “these strategies
are oriented against coercive and nonreciprocal influence, both on moral and on
pragmatic grounds.” Strategies in this category include:
 Using political institutions to achieve change.
44  Shifting the balance of power between social groups, especially ruling elites.
 Weakening or dividing the opposition through moral coercion or strategies of A Normative Re-educative
Strategy for Change
nonviolence.
Another taxonomy of change strategies is offered by Roland Warren, a sociologist
who has devoted much attention to social change at the community level. His list of
community based change strategies include: consensus planning, bargaining, protest
movements, research- demonstrations, social action, non-violence, organisations of
client populations, community development, conflict, elite planning, organisation of
indigenous groups, and civil disobedience. He classifies these under four headings:
1) collaborative strategies, 2) campaign strategies, 3) contest strategies, and 4) a
combination of strategies.
What this literature shows is that there are at bottom two modes of viewing change:
the reactive and the proactive. From one perspective, individuals and groups are the
objects of change. They are at the receiving end, in the sense that change happens
to them. From the other perspective, individuals and groups are the initiators of
change and change follows from human volition. Both perspectives have their validity,
of course, and they are closely interrelated. For instance, when one social group
actively tries to bring about change, there are invariably other groups who feel put
upon and try to resist the change.

4.4.5 Common Assumptions of a Power Coercive Approach

to Change
 Power is legitimate and carries rights with it. That is people should listen to
those who hold power.
 Those with power have the responsibility to give direction to others in the
system. It is not significant that those others do not accept the direction that
they are receiving as appropriate or correct.
 Those who hold power have the right to punish those who do not follow their
directions.
 The best interest of the organisation are served naturally by following the directions
of those who are more senior in the hierarchy , that is, naturally they know what
is best because of their experience.
Elements of power can be found in all approaches to change as explained below.
In the rational empirical approach power is based in the information or knowledge
that is used as a prime mover of change. In this approach, those who possess the
knowledge hold power in the system. Judicious use of information represents a clear
application of power within the systems change driven by knowledge.
In Normative reeducating change, the underlying philosophy of change focuses on
the development of a personal sense of power and the sharing of organisational
power through the active involvement of system members in problem definition and
solution generation.
The power coercive strategy emphasises a different approach and different elements
of the power process. In general, this approach to change emphasises the use of
political and economic sanctions as the principle strategy to bringing about change,
although the use of ‘moral’ power also historically forms a key element of the
strategy. (Benne & Chin, 1985).
45
Assumption, Beliefs and 4.4.6 Political / Positional Power as a Change Strategy
Values in Organisational
Development Political or positional power involves the ability to create policies, directions, laws
and other legal agreements that bring with them legitimate sanctions for non compliance.
Threat of sanction has the impact of increasing the willingness of system members to
follow the directions of those who hold the power and engage in the change that they
mandate. In addition to the economic and other sanctions that tend to be associated
with this approach to change, many individuals are influenced by deeply held cultural
beliefs concerning the legitimacy of senior members of the hierarchy to give direction
to members of the systems for which they hold responsibility. The aura of legitimacy
of the power source is sufficient in these cases to reduce resistance to imposed
change. In such cases, a power coercive way of making decision is accepted as the
nature of the way the system operates.

4.4.7 Economic Power as a Change Strategy

The use of economic sanctions represents a logical extension of political power.
Under a political power scenario in the broader social context, sanctions generally
focus on jail and other personal liberty sanctions. Under the economic power
strategy for change, the rewards (and sanctions) focus on the provision of financial
incentives or withholding the incentives. Organisations can differentially reward
members for their active implementation of new methods of management or new
approaches to dealing with issues.
Specific strategies of power coercive change range from overthrow of political regimes
through non violence, the changing of organisational management through stakeholder
pressure and the power of the annual meeting, the use of public policy and legislation
to force organisational change, and the use of moral persuasion to embarrass
management into appropriate action. Classic example of such a strategy is that of
Gandhi’s efforts to overthrow the British in India. Many different applications of
power strategies to force change is available and all are quite effective in their own
way.
All of the above meta strategies, namely rational-empirical, normative reeducative,
and power coercive represent approaches to bringing about change in human systems.
The power-coercive approach is based on political, economic, and/or moral
sanctions as sources of influence, is widespread in organisations but not particularly
valued by change agents. At the furthest extreme, a coercive approach pays little
attention to the people, their ideas or their needs. Changes are implemented in a
relatively mechanical way
Typical of a coercive approach is the shock and surprise that people encounter as
change is thrust upon them. The usual situation is that people arrive at work one
Monday morning and find that they no longer have a job. They may alternatively be
told that they are going to have to move far away across the country, a tactic
sometimes used to legally reduce the workforce. Another variant is to bankrupt the
company and then re-start as a new company with everyone having to apply again
for their jobs (this has been used to get around Trade Union issues).
Not all coercive approaches are unethical and some are simply born of the need for
urgency. Ethics lie in the values of the people who are planning and implementing the
change, rather than the fact that a coercive approach is being used.
Thus the coerceive approach is one of the approaches that is widely used in
46
organisations but might not be most effective approaches of managing change. This A Normative Re-educative
Strategy for Change
approach mainly follows an authoritative style, in which there is application of power,
sanctions and influence to bring about change. It is based on assumptions that power
is legitimate that individual comply with people who have power. The individual with
power gives direction that is to be followed by others. These individuals with power
have a right to punish those individuals who do not comply with their directions. Thus
in a change situation the employees have to follow the directions given by those with
authority and accept the change without giving a thought to its significance their
context. Though the implementation of this approach is quick, the effect might not be
long lasting and will result in low commitment amongst the employees.
As mentioned earlier briefly, the Empirical rational approach believes that employees
are rational and therefore need to be provided with relevant information about change
and, its benefits to the organisation in general and employees in specific. This approach
promotes open communication and awareness about change in order to persuade the
employees to accept and facilitate change. This approach is based on assumptions
that employees are driven by self interest, if the information with regard to change
and its relevance is appropriately put forth in front of the employees they will understand
it in a better way and support it. However, the information provided should be
accurate. The managers and superiors play an important role in communication of
such information. This approach cannot be termed as the most effective approach.
However, it can lead to moderate commitment by the employee towards change and
the effect might last for some period of time if not permanently.

4.4.8 Environmental Adaptive Strategy

This approach assumes that reaction to change is a natural process as is adaptation
to change. Any change in an organisation will meet with negative attitude and reactions
by employees, which will lead to gradual adaptation to change. Thus the organisation
creates a new environment, once this has been done, the old environment is shut
down. The employees then have to adjust to the new environment as no other option
is made available.
As discussed earlier, the Normative re educative approach is one very effective
approach to deal with change as it focuses on changing the norms, attitudes and
values of individuals which in turn will lead to changes in behaviour and performance
of the employees. This approach will be discussed in detail in this unit.
There is no single strategy that can be used in varied situations. An eclectic approach
is often necessary to deal with each organisational change situation. Various factors
need to be taken in to consideration like the degree of change and resistance, the
population of the organisation, time limit, nature of the organisation etc. before a
particular strategy or strategies are employed. In complex situations, a combination
of all strategies can be employed
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain the concept of organisational change.
.....................................................................................................................
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47
Assumption, Beliefs and
Values in Organisational 2) What are the various approaches to break resistance to organisational change?
Development
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3) Differentiate between and power coercive and empirical rational approach.
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4) What is meant by eclectic method to break resistance to change?
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4.5 A NORMATIVE RE-EDUCATIVE STRATEGY

FOR CHANGE
Normative re-educative strategy is at the core of organisational change. The strategy
was introduced by R. Chin and K. Benne. It is also called as shared power strategy.
The objective of this strategy is to expose employees to new values and norms and
the need to adopt these new values and norms. It is based on rational/ scientific
evidence or emotional appeals. This strategy is implemented by focusing mainly on
system renewal, people in the organisation. Here it is important to employ an
educational strategy with learning through experience as its highlight. The strategy
also promotes dealing with real problems by using a planned strategy.
For this strategy to be successfully implemented the organisation needs to identify a
change agent at the same time ensure involvement of top-level administration. This
strategy is based on the belief that people are social creatures, and cultural norms
are core to their group identity. It not only assumes that individuals are rational but
gives equal importance to the socio- cultural influences in an organisation.
According to this approach change will occur after the employees involved in bringing
about or affected by change are able change their older normative orientations to
commit to new orientations related to the change to be implemented in the organisation.
Change in this approach is not limited to knowledge, information and intellectual
rationales but it also covers attitudes, values, skills and significant relationships.
This strategy mainly focuses on group norms, personal values, and common goals.
This is much effective compared to imposing change through authority and coercion.
By utilising this approach, change becomes part of the organisational culture and thus
receives the support of the social forces and group dynamics in an organisation.
48
Change can thus be successfully implemented when it is in tandem with existing A Normative Re-educative
Strategy for Change
structures, attitudes, values, and norms in an organisation. The approach promotes
collaborative working with the employees to identify problems and facilitate solutions.
Its objective is to improve problem-solving capacities and mechanisms within a
system, and develop new attitudes, values, skills, and norms for interaction amongst
employees. The strategy not only promotes organisational change but also encourages
participation and develops empowerment amongst the employees.
Further team work is also promoted as the manager or the superior needs to work
together with the employees in order to implement this strategy. It also results in
optimal development and application of creativity and experience of the employees
within the organisation.
The three main elements of this strategy are attitudes, beliefs and values. Attitudes
are feeling and beliefs that determine the way in which employees perceive their
environment and behave. It can be described as modes through which employees
express their feelings about the organisation, people in it and its structure, processes
etc. Employee attitudes are extremely important in an organisation as they might be
a reflection of an underlying problem. If not dealt with at right time a negative attitude
towards an organisation or its aspects can lead to development of major problems
in an organisation.
Positive attitude on the other hand will enhance the overall functioning of an
organisation. Attitude plays an extremely important role when it comes to change.
Change leads to development of number of insecurities amongst the employees that
may lead to development of negative attitude towards change. Thus before change
process is initiated, the management needs to identify the presence of any negative
attitude and deal with it. Normative re-educative strategy is once such strategy that
directly focuses on the employee attitude and this can be termed as key to its
successful long tem effects in an organisation.
Beliefs can be described as certainty in the truth of a proposition. They are based
on experience, perception, communication reasoning etc. In an organisational set up
beliefs of an employee are extremely important. The change process may be affected
by the beliefs of employees about the change process. Thus beliefs are to be focused
on before the change process is initiated.
Values can be described as an individual understands of what is wrong and what is
right, good or bad, preferable or not preferable. Values develop early in life and
greatly determine an individuals’ behaviour. They are also extremely difficult to change.
Values of employees are of extreme importance in an organisation as they determine
the motivational level, behaviour and attitudes of an employee. In order to enhance
the process of change in an organisation, the management needs to examine values
of its employees.
Though the strategy is time consuming it is beneficial as it is long lasting and results
in internalised change. Despite of these benefits, managers hesitate in using these
strategies due to fear of loosing control or shifting focus from organisational goals.
Managers do play an important role in implementing this strategy as their willingness
to share power and interpersonal skills in terms of interacting, communicating and
promoting participation is necessary for the implementation of the strategy to be
successful.

49
Assumption, Beliefs and 4.5.1 Assumptions of Normative Re-educative Strategy for
Values in Organisational
Development Change
The employees are involved in the process of change and its implementation.
The strategy focuses and promotes shifts in attitudes, values, norms, and relationships
amongst employees in order to enhance the process and implementation of change.
Management and employees play equally crucial role and mutually contribute to the
change process.
There is no power dominance by the management or any higher authority on the
employees during the overall change process.
In depth analysis of the structure, system and processes of the organisation is carried
out as apart of the change process. This is done not only to enhance implementation
of change in present but also to ensure smooth change process in future.

4.5.2 Factors to be Considered While Applying Normative

Re-educative Strategy
Care needs to be taken and factors to be considered, before this strategy is applied
so as to ensure its successful implementation. This strategy is largely based on
culture. It also takes in to consideration attitudes, values and beliefs of employees in
the organisation. It can be extremely difficult to change culture and the whole process
takes a long period of time. Thus this strategy will not be effective and should not
be selected in situations that demand urgent rectification of problems and issues.
Further organisational culture depends on both formal and informal groups in the
organisation. Thus this strategy will be most applicable only when there is a positive
cordial and harmonious relationship between the formal and informal groups in the
organisation. In case of a conflict situation between formal and informal groups the
strategy might be applied only after the conflict is deal with and harmony is reinstated.
Also it is important to focus and be aware about parallel learning structures in the
organisation as they can be a key to success of this strategy.
Any change process will have both short term and long term goals. Normative
re-educative strategy will fit in well to achieve the long term goals. As this strategy
directly focuses on culture in an organisation and attitudes, values and beliefs of an
organisation the outcome is almost always positive and long lasting. Further, this
strategy is effective when the core issue and problem to be dealt with has its roots
either in culture of the organisation or it has to do with attitudes, values and beliefs
of the employees.
Managers and other superiors also need to be trained and their attitude is to be deal
with before the strategy is implemented. Managers play a crucial role in this case as
they are the ones who directly interact with the employees and thus are to a greater
extend aware about their attitudes, values and beliefs.

4.5.3 Implications of Normative Re-educative Strategy

Employees in the organisation affected by the change process suggest desired change
and improvement rather than the organisational change practitioners or change agent.
The employees are given complete control over the change situation that encourages
them to come up with suitable solutions for smooth implementation of organisational
50 change.
A collaborative approach is employed, where the employees and change agents A Normative Re-educative
Strategy for Change
discuss problems and seek and suggest solutions. The employees are thus encouraged
to employ participative approach and are empowered in the whole process.
Barriers to effective problem solving like negative attitudes, doubts are identified and
openly discussed. Such an open discussion not only highlights the barriers and creates
awareness amongst the employees but also promotes their effective management.
Solutions to problems are based on attitudes, beliefs, values, relationships rather than
technical knowledge and information. This results in long lasting management of
problems.

4.5.4 Sub Strategies for Normative Re-educative Strategies

Some of the sub strategies are given below:
i) Training Programmes on problem solving and decision making organised
for employees in the organisation: In order to enhance the whole process
of normative re-educative strategy, the employees in the organisation are provided
with training programmes on problem solving and decision making.
ii) Participation encouraged amongst the employees: Measures are taken to
encourage participation amongst the employees. Employees are also encouraged
to be innovative and involve in lateral thinking. They are also encouraged to set
up challenging tasks and opportunities for employees. Participation is also
encouraged in the change process.
iii) Gathering and collection of information and data with regard to the
system by the employees: To bring about smooth implementation of change,
it is necessary that employees understand the whole organisational system,
hence the employees are involved in the process of gathering and collecting
information and data so that they not only feel involved in the process of
participation but also become aware about the relevance and benefits of
implementing change in the organisation. Further change related discussions are
also promoted in the organisation.
iv) Vertical slice benchmarking: This involves demonstration of developments
across all units or departments of an organisation. This helps the employees
understand the performance standards and achievements of the organisation and
also make them aware about the need for change.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain the concept of normative re-educative strategy for change.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Highlight assumptions of normative re-educative strategy.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
51
Assumption, Beliefs and
Values in Organisational 4.6 LET US SUM UP
Development
Normative Re-educative Strategy believes that employees are social being and are
strongly influenced by culture and norms prevalent in the organisation. Thus according
to this strategy change can be successfully initiated when culture in organisation is
dealt with and norms are redefined and reinterpreted. While applying this strategy the
manager or the superior plays an extremely important role. Various factors also need
to be taken in to consideration before its application. Though the change process
brought about with the help of this strategy might be slow, the results are definitely
accurate and long lasting.

4.7 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Discuss the concept of organisational change and highlight strategies used by
organisations to promote organisational change.
2) Explain the concept of normative re-educative strategy for change.
3) Discuss implication of normative re-educative strategy.
4) Highlight the sub strategies of normative re-educative strategy.

4.8 SUGGESTED READINGS

Coffey, R. R., Cook, C.W., & Hunsaker, P.L. (1997). Management and
Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New Delhi. McGraw- Hill Companies.
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Newstorm, J. W., & Davis, K. (1997). Organisational Behaviour: Human
Behaviour at Work. 9th Ed. New Delhi. Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing Company
Limited.
Pareek, U. (2008). Understanding Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New Delhi.
Oxford University Press.

52
UNIT 1 COMPONENTS OF
ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT (OD) PROCESS
Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 The Process of Organisational Development
1.3 Initial Diagnosis
1.4 Data Collection
1.5 Data Feedback and Confrontation
1.6 Selection and Design of Interventions
1.7 Implementation of Intervention
1.8 Action Planning and Problem Solving
1.9 Team Building
1.10 Inter-Group Development
1.11 Evaluation and Follow-Up
1.12 Let Us Sum Up
1.13 Unit End Questions
1.14 Suggested Readings and References

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In the Block 1 we have extensively discussed about organisational development.
We described organisational development as a process of improving organisations.
It can be explained as an effort, planned organisation wide and managed from the
top to increase organisational effectiveness and health through planned interventions
in the organisations process using behavioural science knowledge.
An organisation is a part and parcel of society at large and thus it has an external
environment that is outside the organisation and an internal environment. Both
these environment need to be taken in to consideration to promote organisational
development. The success of organisational development thus will depend on the
implementation of internal and external measures.Internal measures entails a
paradigm shift in terms of reorienting all levels of personnel toward development
goals the creation of a development office a high level of transparency collaboration,
flexibility and creative thinking. In the external measures the process requires the
implementation of highly integrated public relations, fundraising and advocacy plans.
This integration of the internal and external measures comes as a core of an
institution for its development.
The intervention strategies of organisational development lead to improved
organisation performance through an improved decision making climate. 5
Analysing and Managing the Organisational development experts work to improve relationship among interacting
OD Process
and interdependent organisational group and gather attitudinal data throughout the
organisation and feel this data back to selected individuals and group. This
information comes as a basis for planning and making needed improvements. The
process of organisational development is long term and requires both commitment
and positive attitude of those involved in it. It is not a one time training and
development programme but is an ongoing and cyclic process.
In the present unit we will focus on the process of organisational development. We
will discuss each stage of organisational development process one by one and try
to understand their relevance.

1.1 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
 discuss about process of organisational development; and
 explain each step involved in the process of organisational development.

1.2 THE PROCESS OF ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
Organisational development can also be described as a process of changing people
and other related aspects of an organisation. Thus it consists of many sub processes
and steps. When the process of any organisational development starts it progresses
through different stages and determines satisfactory progress made for additional
involvement. The organisational development process is based on the action research
model which begins with an identified problem or need for change. The process
proceeds through assessment, planning of an intervention, implementing the
intervention, gathering data to evaluate the intervention, and determining if satisfactory
progress has been made or if there is need for further intervention. The process
is cyclical and ends when the desired developmental result is obtained.
The organisational development process begins when an organisation recognises
that a problem exists which impacts the mission or health of the organisation and
change is desired. It can also begin when leadership has a vision of a better way
and wants to improve the organisation. An organisation does not always have to
be in trouble to implement organisation development activities. The process can
be initiated to bring about overall change in organisational culture or just for
enhancement of processes and structures in an organisation. The process may also
be implemented keeping in mind the long term and aspirational goals of the
organisation.
The process may also be launched when a member of an organisation or unit
contacts an organisational development practitioner about potential help in
addressing an organisational issue. The organisation member may be a manager,
staff specialist, or some other key participant, and the practitioner may be an
organisational development professional from inside or outside of the organisation.
Determining whether the two parties should enter into an organisational development
relationship typically involves clarifying the nature of the organisation’s current
functioning and the issue(s) to be addressed, the relevant client system for that
issue, and the appropriateness of the particular organisational development
6
practitioner. In helping assess these issues, the organisational development
practitioner may need to collect preliminary data about the organisation. Similarly, Components of
Organisational
the organisation may need to gather information about the practitioner’s competence Development (OD)
and experience. This knowledge will help both parties determine whether they Process
should proceed to develop a contract for working together.
Before we go on to discussing the organisational development process we will
focus on two important terms, that of, entering and contracting. Entering and
contracting involve defining in a preliminary manner the organisation’s problems
and opportunities for development and establishing collaborative relationship
between the organisational development practitioner and a group of employees
involved in the organisational development process, about how to work on those
issues. Entering and contracting set the initial parameter for carrying out the
subsequent paces of organisational development: diagnosing the organisation,
planning and implementing changes and evaluating and institutionalising them. They
help to define what issues will be addressed by those activities, which will carry
them out, and they will be accomplished.
Entering and contracting can vary in complexity and formality depending on the
situation. In those cases where the manager of a work group or department serves
as his or her own organisational development practitioner, entering and contracting
typically involve the manager and group members meeting to discuss what issues
to work on and how they will jointly accomplish that. Here, entering and contracting
are relatively simple and informal. They involve all relevant members directly in the
process without a great number of formal procedures. In situations where managers
and administrators are considering the use of professional organisational development
practitioners, either from inside or from outside the organisation, entering and
contracting tend to be more complex and formal. Organisational development
practitioners may need to collect preliminary information to help define the
problematic or development issues. They may need to meet with representatives
of the client organisation rather than with the total membership; they may need to
formalise their respective roles and how the change process will unfold.
The activities of entering an organisational development relationship are a necessary
prelude to developing an organisational development contract. They define the
major focus for contracting, including the relevant parties. Contracting is a natural
extension of the entering process and clarifies how the organisational development
process will proceed. It typically establishes the expectations of the parties, the
time and resources that will be expended, and the ground rules under which the
parties will operate. The goal of contracting is to make a good decision about how
to carry out the organisational development process. It can be relatively informal
and involve only a verbal agreement between the client and organisational
development practitioner. A team leader with organisational development skills, for
example, may voice his or her concerns to members about how the team is
functioning. After some discussion, they might agree to devote one hour of future
meeting time to diagnosing the team with the help of the leader. Here, entering and
contracting are done together informally. In other cases, contracting can be more
protracted and result in a formal document. That typically occurs when organisations
employ outside organisational development practitioners. Government agencies,
for example, generally have procurement regulations that apply to contracting with
outside consultants.
Regardless of the level of formality, all organisational development processes require
some form of explicit contracting that result in either a verbal or a written agreement.
Such contracting clarifies the client’s and the practitioner’s expectations about 7
Analysing and Managing the how the organisational development process will take place. Unless there is mutual
OD Process
understanding and agreement about the process, there is considerable risk that
some once expectations will be unfilled. That can lead to reduced commitment and
support, to misplaced action, or to premature termination of the process. The
contracting step in organisational development generally addresses three key
areas: what each party expects to gain from the organisational development process,
the time and resources that will be devoted to it, and the ground rules for working
together.
The different approaches to OD process but the typical process consists of seven
steps, viz., initial diagnosis, data collection, data feedback and confrontation, action
planning and problem solving, team building, inter group development and evaluation
and follow up.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss the meaning of organisational development relationship.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) How is organisational process cyclical?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Explain developing contract as a part of process of organisational
development.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
4) Explain the concept of entering.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

1.3 INITIAL DIAGNOSIS

Diagnosing organisation is a major aspect of organisational development. When
diagnosis is done well, it clearly points the organisation and the organisational
8
development practitioner toward a set of appropriate activities that will improve Components of
Organisational
organisational effectiveness. Development (OD)
Process
Diagnosis is the process of understanding how the organisation is currently
functioning and provides information necessary to design change interventions. It
generally follows from successful entry and contracting, which sets the stage for
successful diagnosis. They help the organisational development practitioners to
focus on, how to collect and analyse the data to understand them, and how to
work together to develop action steps from the diagnosis.
It is not necessary that initial diagnosis is conducted when the organisation faces
certain problems as the process can be initiated to tackle the problem and improve
the performance of the organisation. In order to do so initially the focus should be
on identifying the parts of the organisation that requires to be changed. Once
choice is made, condition may be further reviewed to understand the problem
better. This review or in other words data collection is the second step in the
process of organisational development and will be discussed later.
Diagnosis provides a systematic understanding of organisations so that appropriate
interventions may be developed for solving problems and enhancing effectiveness.
If executives recognise that there are inadequacies within organisation which can
be corrected by organisational development activities, it is necessary to find out
the professional and competent people within the organisation to plan and execute
organisational development activities.
If competent people are not available within the organisation the services of an
external agency may utilised. The consultants adopt various methods including
interviews, questionnaires, direct observation, analysis of documents and reports,
focused group discussions for diagnosing the problem. The methods can be selected
on the basis of the initial diagnosis and then the organisation can move to the next
stage of data collection.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain the stage of initial diagnosis.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Discuss the relevance of initial diagnosis.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) When do we take the help of external agency?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
9
Analysing and Managing the
OD Process 1.4 DATA COLLECTION
After the initial stage of diagnosis is complete it is necessary to carry out data
collection in order to generate necessary information that will facilitate and enhance
the process of organisational development. This stage may also be termed as need
assessment as the development of intervention strategy will mainly depend on this
stage. Various methods of data collection may used for this purpose. A combination
of methods may also be used as per the purpose of data collection. It can be done
with the help of questionnaires, observations, interview methods etc. Focus group
discussion is another method that can be used in order to collect data from the
employees in an organisation.
The initial diagnosis will give certain idea about the impending problem in the
organisation and depending on that a suitable method of data collection may be
selected and data may be collected. Data can be collected to assess the
organisational culture or climate or to understand any behavioural problems arising
in the organisation. On the whole this particular stage is important so as to have
a concrete proof of the problem or situation occurring in the organisation and to
confirm the results of initial diagnosis. The data collection may be conducted by
the personnel from the organisation or experts from an external agency may also
be hired for the purpose.
However, encouraging participation of employees in this step can be of great help
as it will promote their involvement. Also the goal and objective of data collection
should be made clear in order to inform the employees about the overall purpose
of the process and to ensure their cooperation and deal with any kind of insecurities
in their minds.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain the relevance of data collection.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) How does initial diagnosis help?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Why do we have to encourage employee participation in the data collection
process?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
10
 Components of
1.5 DATA FEEDBACK AND CONFRONTATION Organisational
Development (OD)
During the stage of data feedback and confrontation, data collected is analysed Process
and reviewed by the organisational development practitioners. This is mainly done
to bring in to perspective the view points of various organisational development
practitioners involved in the process and also to better understand the data collected.
The data collected is to be systematically analysed an interpreted so as to have
a concrete idea about the problem and situation in the organisation. The results
obtained are discussed at a length by the practitioners or the experts involved in
the process of organisational development. Again the participation of the employees
at various levels may be of great help in this case. The data thus analysed is now
ready in order to select and design suitable intervention strategy. Thus after the
stage of data collection, feedback is sought from the experts or the organisational
development practitioners and it is confronted or discussed at a length in order to
interpret it correctly. This process is crucial in a way as with inputs from varied
experts and employees the data collected can be meaningfully interpreted in order
to make decisions with regard to the nest step.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain the stage of data feedback.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) What is meant by confrontation here?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................

1.6 SELECTION AND DESIGN OF

INTERVENTIONS
Once the process of diagnosis including the initial diagnosis, data collection and
feedback and confrontation is complete, then based on the interpretation and
discussion, suitable intervention strategy may be selected and applied. During this
stage goals are created on the basis information collected. Decisions with regard
about suitable intervention strategy to be implemented and the way in which it is
implemented is to taken at this stage. The interventions are the planned activities
that are introduced into the system to accomplish desired changes and improvements.
During this stage the suitable interventions are to be selected. In earlier blocks we
discussed in detail about various intervention strategies that can be implemented
in an organisation. We will now focus on some of the strategies.
1) Techno structural approach: As the name suggests this intervention mainly
relates to technology and also task methods and processes. The main goal of
the intervention is to match technology and social structure existing in the 11
Analysing and Managing the organisation. A technological advancement in an organisation is often met with
OD Process
strong resistance from the employees. Technological advancement is necessary
for organisational development as it will lead to less error rate and fast and
improved production. But negative attitude and resistance from the employees
will interfere with the whole process of technological advancement. Thus this
intervention strategy can be used in order to help employees understand the
relevance of the technological advancement and to put to rest their insecurities.
This can be done when an alignment is created between the technological
configuration and the social structure of the organisation.
2) Process consultation: This mainly focuses on the processes in the organisation
and is mainly implemented in order to enhance these processes in order to
make them faster and more effective. The processes may be related to
communication, interpersonal relationship, problem solving, decision making
etc. This intervention strategy has been discussed in detail in the earlier block.
3) Team building: Team work today is one of the most important aspects in
an organisation. Organisations generate varied measures in order to encourage
team work amongst their employees. Team work not only ensures effective
dealing of complex problems faced by the organisations but also leads to
efficiency in complex work activity. However putting a team together is a
challenge and that is what is exactly covered under this intervention of team
building. It mainly focuses on how a team can be created and discusses the
stages of forming, norming, storming, performing and adjourning.
4) Third-party intervention: This is an intervention that is designed in order to
improve inter group relationships through better communication and interaction
between various groups that exist in the organisational setup. It also strives
to reduce conflict, unhealthy competition, promoting interdependence and a
spirit of team work and encouraging cooperation.
5) Survey Feedback: In this intervention a survey is conducted with help of a
questionnaire. Information is collected with regard to the attitudes, perceptions
and feelings of the employees. The data thus collected is then used to provide
a feedback to the organisation so that they have an idea about their employees.
The data thus can be used by the organisation to make the overall functioning
of the organisation more effective and to develop satisfaction and organisational
citizenship amongst their employees.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss third party intervention.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Describe techno structural activities.
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12
.....................................................................................................................
 Components of
3) What is process consultation? Organisational
Development (OD)
..................................................................................................................... Process

.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
4) Explain team building.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

1.7 IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERVENTION

During this stage the selected intervention is finally implemented. Intervention may
take the form of training programmes, workshops, feedback of data to the
employees, group discussions, written exercises, on-the-job activities, etc. Great
care needs to be taken before the intervention is implemented to avoid any sort
of negative impact. A huge amount of effort and financial investment goes in to the
overall organisational development process and at this stage the whole process
should not crumble just because no adequate care is taken at the time of
implementation of an intervention strategy. The organisational development
practitioners should identify before hand any negative attitudes and resistance on
the part of the employees and that should be dealt with before the actual
implementation. A conducive environment should be conducted in the organisation
in order to ensure success and positive effect of the intervention strategy. This will
also ensure real and long lasting change with regard to the problem. More than
one intervention may also be employed at the same to time.

1.8 ACTION PLANNING AND PROBLEM

SOLVING
Based on the data collected and its interpretation the organisational development
practitioners prepare recommendations and specific action plan in order to solve
the specific and identified problem.The present stage of action planning and problem
solving is required in order to ensure effective management of the problem or the
situation faced by the organisation. The process of developing an action plan
involves the identification of certain target variables and determination of techniques
to deal with impending situation or problem. The action plan can be termed as
another intervention strategy. It actually specifies the intervention strategy. As certain
objectives are created that are to be achieved as part of the intervention strategy
implementation process. Also planning is done about the people involved in
implementation, time period required, assignment of responsibilities etc.
With regard to problem solving, the focus is mainly on understanding the nature
of the problem, identifying a suitable solution and then trying to resolve the problem.
Problem solving in an organisational set up does not merely focus on decision
making with regard to suitable solution. It also includes identifying the problem
13
and understanding it in a better way, deciding about the possible solutions and
Analysing and Managing the implementing them. The process of problem solving also includes reviewing the
OD Process
outcomes after implementation of the solutions.
Thus the action planning and problem solving is an important stage that specifically
focus on the problem in a systematic matter, that adds on to the effect of an
intervention strategy.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain the stage of implementation of intervention.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) What is involved action planning and problem solving?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Describe the process of problem solving.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

1.9 TEAM BUILDING

As discussed earlier in this unit and in earlier blocks, team building is a process
of creating teams. Teams have always existed in an organisation. There are formal
teams and there are informal teams. Formal teams are the part of an organisational
structure. For example a particular department is a formal team that has various
employees working together and who are interdependent to get their work activities
successfully completed. An informal team on the other hand may be a group of
employees from various departments that interact and have a common goal. In an
organisational set up teams may be purposely created in order to deal with certain
problems or issues or in order to promote innovations or to make certain decisions.
Organisations have long understood the relevance of teams and how they enhance
the overall production process and lead to increased profits. However if a team
is not effectively put together then it can lead to disastrous outcome. Employees
are to be assigned to teams in a systematic manner after having a complete idea
about their techniques, skills, personalities, behaviour, attitudes, values etc. Thus
the whole process of team building is very crucial. The size of the team and its
composition is also extremely important. This will again depend on the purpose for
which the team is been built. The organisation should focus on a team right from
14
the first stage that of forming to the last stage of adjourning, when the team is Components of
Organisational
dissolved after its purpose is achieved. Development (OD)
Process
Team building as part of organisational development process is essential mainly for
successful implementation of the process. During implementation of any intervention
varied activities or tasks may be required to be performed; teams would help in
effective conduction of these activities and tasks. Further the trust, interdependence
and cohesiveness between the team members will promote efficient implementation
of any strategy. However as mentioned earlier utmost care needs to be taken
while building the teams.

1.10 INTER-GROUP DEVELOPMENT

Besides team building another important stage is that of intergroup development.
There will exist various groups in organisation that can be categorized as formal
and informal. One main objective of the organisational development practitioners
should be to promote positive interaction and smooth communications amongst
these groups. This in turn will again facilitate the implementation of intervention
strategy. Inter- group development can be brought about by conducting meetings
and workshops and constantly encouraging interaction amongst the members of
various groups. This will lead to a positive relation between groups that will in turn
lead to reduced conflict, better team work and overall effective functioning in the
organisation.
The inter- group development will also take care of diversity amongst the employees
in an organisation that results from employees belonging to different races, religion,
culture, region and gender. It will promote acceptance and respect amongst various
group members in the organisation leading to development of a harmonious
environment.

1.11 EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP

This is the last stage of organisational development process, but can be termed as
the most effective stage. During this stage organisational development practitioner
tries to evaluate the whole process and impact of the process. At this stage it is
necessary to evaluate each stage for their effectiveness and take necessary measures
if the intended results are not obtained. Based on the evaluation of the whole
process, follow up in terms of developing or selecting new intervention strategies
or adopting other measure to rectify any shortcomings in process may be required.
These two aspects are extremely important to mainly understand the impact and
the degree of impact of the whole process. Further depending on the result of the
evaluation suitable follow-up can be developed.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe team building.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

15
Analysing and Managing the
OD Process 2) What is meant by inter group development?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) Explain evaluation and follow-up.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

1.12 LET US SUM UP

Organisational development can be defined as the process of working together
with organisations, organisation leaders and organisation groups in bringing
systematic change to the root problems and hence increasing productivity and
employee satisfaction. Mainly organisational development offers three things, what
we do, how we do and the results we get. By understanding these three aspects
we can solve critical aspects of the organisation. It is a complex strategy that
brings changes in every aspect of the entire organisation. It is designed in a way
to produce a end kind of result. Ultimately it can be said that organisational
development is a new field which also includes positive adult development and
plays a major role in business profit.
Managing the organisational development programs is a constant concern and a
continuous activity. Innovations are carried out to solve complex organisational
problems through laboratory training, feedback methodology and action research.
Second generation organisational development efforts revolved around organisational
transformation visioning and virtual organisation. What one should understand is
various objects of organisational development before the beginning is made. In
other words it is the planned change to a company or organisation to enable
growth in an effective way. It includes consulting with the organisation to improve
effectiveness, the client and consultant relation, empowering individuals and team
and developing capable managers.
A lot of planning needs to done before the organisational development process is
implemented. The success of organisational development process mainly depends
on the members of an organisation, that is not only the top management but
employees at hierarchical levels. This process calls for active involvement and
participation of the employees. The attitudes of the employees are of extreme
importance in this case. Any change is normally met by a negative reaction. Thus
the employees should be given an idea about the problem and need for organisational
development intervention. They also should be encouraged to participate in the
overall process which will give them a feeling of involvement and will also reduce
insecurities sin their minds that result from anticipation of any kind of change in an
organisation.
16 To conclude, the process organisational development is extremely important to
bring about a positive change and promote advancement in an organisation. An Components of
Organisational
organisation should adopt it as a part and parcel of its functioning and make it an Development (OD)
ongoing process. Process

1.13 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Discuss the role of initial diagnosis in understanding the problems of the
organisation.
2) Discuss team building and state its relevance in the process of organisational
development.
3) Which is the most important stage in the organisational development according
you? Give reason.
4) Describe the stages of action planning and problem solving.

1.14 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES

Smith, A. (1998), Training and Development in Australia. 2nd ed. 261. Sydney:
Butterworths.
Richard Arvid Johnson. Management, Systems, and Society : An Introduction.
Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Pub. Co.
Richard Beckhard (1969). Organisation development: strategies and models.
Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. p. 114. ISBN  0876205406 9780876205402
OCLC 39328. 
Wendell L French; Cecil Bell. Organisation development: behavioural science
interventions for organisation improvement. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Bradford, D.L. & Burke, W.W. (Editors) (2005). Organisation Development. San
Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Bradford, D.L. & Burke, W.W. (Editors), 2005, Reinventing Organisation
Development. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
deKler, M. (2007). Healing emotional trauma in organisations: An O.D. Framework
and case study. Organisational Development Journal, 25(2), 49-56.
Wendell L French; Cecil Bell (1973).Organisation development: behavioural science
interventions for organisation improvement. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
chapter 8.
Cherrington, David J. Organisational Behaviour: The Management of Individual
and Organisational Performance . Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1994.
Dove, Rick. “The Principles of Change.”Automotive Manufacturing and
Production.March 1997.
Dyer, William G. “Team Building: A Microcosm of the Past, Present, and Future
of O.D.” Academy of Management OD Newsletter.Winter 1989.
Gibson, James L., John M. Ivancevich, and James H. Donnelly Jr. Organisations:
Behaviour, Structure, Processes. 8th ed. Boston: Richard D. Irwin, 1994.
Goodstein, Leonard D., and W. Warner Burke.”Creating Successful Organisation
Change.”Organisational Dynamics.Spring 1991. 17
Analysing and Managing the Ivancevich, John M., and Michael T. Matteson. Organisational Behaviour and
OD Process
Management . Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1990.
Lippitt, Gordon L., Peter Longseth, and Jack Mossop. Implementing Organisational
Change.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985.
Northcraft, Gregory B., and Margaret A. Neale.Organisational Behaviour: A
Management Challenge . Chicago: The Dryden Press, 1990.
Recardo, Ronald J. “Best Practices in Organisations Experiencing Extensive and
Rapid Change.” National Productivity Review.Summer 2000.
Shaffer, Rima. Principles of Organisation Development.American Society for Training
and Development, 2000.
Block, P. (2000). Flawless consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise
Used (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Block, P. (2002). The answer to how is yes. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
Bolman, L. G. and Deal, T. E. (1997).Reframing organisations: Artistry, choice,
and leadership. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bradford, D. L. & Burke, W. W. (Eds.) (2005).Reinventing organisation
development: New approaches to change in organisations.Wiley & Sons.
Bunker, B. B. & Alban, B. T. (1997). Large group interventions: Engaging the
whole system for rapid change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Burke, W. W. (2007). Organisation Change: Theory and practice (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cummings, T. G. & Worley, C. G. (2005). Organisation development & change.
(8th ed.). Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing.
Fordyce, J. & Weil, R. (1979).Managing with people, A manager’s handbook
of organisation development methods (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Francesco, A.M. and B.A. Gold. (1998). International organisational behaviour:
Text, readings, cases, and skills. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Harvey, D. & Brown, D. R. (2005). An experiential approach to organisation
development (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kohn, A. (1999). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive
plans, A’s, praise, and other bribes. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Lippitt, G. L. &Lippitt, R. (1994). The consulting process in action (2nd ed.).
New York: Wiley & Sons.
Mclean, G. N., Rothwell, W. J., & Sullivan, R. S. (eds.). (2005). Practicing
organisation development: A guide for consultants (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons.
Nevis, E. C. (1987). Organisational consulting: A gestalt approach. London:
The Analytic Press.
Perrow, C. (1986). Complex organisations: A critical essay (3rd ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
18
Robinson, D. G. & Robinson, J. C. (1996). Performance consulting: Moving Components of
Organisational
beyond training. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Development (OD)
Process
Rothwell, W. J., Sullivan, R., & McLean, G. N. (Eds.). (1995). Practicing
organisation development: A guide for consultants. San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer.
Schein, E. (1987). Process consultation Volume II: Lessons for managers and
consultants. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Schein, E. (1988). Process consultation Volume I: Its role in organisation
development (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Schein, E. H. (1999). Process consultation revisited: Building the helping
relationship. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Weisbord, M. R. (2004). Productive workplaces revisited: Dignity, meaning,
and community in the 21st century. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

19
 UNIT 2 DIAGNOSING THE SYSTEM,
SUBUNITS AND PROCESS
Structure
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Definition and Concept of Diagnosis
2.3 Phases of Diagnosis
2.3.1 Entry
2.3.2 Data Collection
2.3.3 Feedback

2.4 Organisational Processes to be Diagnosed

2.5 Marvin Weisbord’s ‘Six Boxes Model’
2.6 Let Us Sum Up
2.7 Unit End Questions
2.8 Suggested Readings and References

2.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit we discussed about the organisational development process.
In this unit we are going to specifically highlight one of the most important aspects
in organisational development, that is, diagnosis. Diagnosis is the first step in the
organisational development process and also one of the most crucial steps as the
whole process depends on how this step is carried out and on outcome of this
step. In this unit we will focus on diagnosing the system, sub units and processes
in an organisation. Such a diagnosis will help identify any loopholes and develop
suitable intervention strategies.
Diagnosis in organisational development is a structured work for the growth of the
organisation. Since the development of organisational development, diagnosis has
moved from behavioural to strategic and holistic approach. Organisational
development and diagnostic phase of activities in particular is spreading from the
occupational psychologists toward mainstream business. The analysis of an
organisation’s structure, subsystem and process in order to identify the strengths
and weakness of its structural components and process is basic to development
of plans to improve the organisation.

2.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 Define and discuss the concept of diagnosis;
 Explain the phases of diagnosis;
 Discuss the organisational processes that need to be diagnosed; and

20
 Describe the Marvin Weisbord’s ‘Six Box Model’.
 Diagnosing the System,
2.2 DEFINITION AND CONCEPT OF DIAGNOSIS Subunits and Process

Development in any organisation will depend to a great extend on diagnosis. It is

a planned change by the organisational development practitioners and plays an
active role in gathering data from employees and management for diagnostic purpose.
Diagnosis in an organisation is a way of determining gaps between current and
desired performance and also to understand ways in which the goals of the
organisation can be achieved. Today diagnosis is one of the major aspects of
organisational development rather than a mere technique. The main reason being,
that the whole process of intervention depends on the results obtained after the
process of diagnosis. Diagnosis in an organisation should be carried in a systematic
fashion, with focus on the organisation and its structures. It should then focus on
the changes that are required to be brought in in the organisation.
Diagnosis gives the state of the organisation or one or more of its subsystems and
points out the scope for improvements that made for achieving organisational
effectiveness. Effective diagnosis is require for the rapidly changing environment,
new organisation forms must be developed more for more effective goal setting
and planning process must be learned.
The importance of conducting diagnostic activities prior to change implementation
is recognised in a variety of prescriptive theories of change implementation. The
careful direction of change efforts through the use of diagnostic information is
important because many change efforts fail to produce expected results.
According to Cummins and Worley diagnosis involves the systematic collection of
data to determine the current state of an organisation allowing managers and
consultants to enhance organisational effectiveness. This definition helps clarify that
the diagnostic approach in organisational development is the understanding the
organisation and enhancing its effectiveness.
According to Howard diagnosis involves developing road maps to guide and
direct organisational change. That is, when any diagnosis is carried out in the
organisation it leads towards changes on the overall aspect.
Beckhard states that in rapidly changing environment, forms must be developed,
more effective goal setting and planning processes must be learned and practiced.
Teams of independent people must spend real time improving their methods of
working, decision making and communicating. Competing or conflicting groups
must move towards a collaborative way of work. In order for these changes to
occur and be maintained, a planned and managed change effort is necessary. This
definition clarifies the importance of diagnosis for any good organisation change to
work for one cause in a collaborative manner is necessary for the organisation
development. The diagnosis phase in organisation is often regarded as an overall
organisational development process, but commonly known as consulting process.
The purpose of a diagnosis is to identify problems facing the organisation and to
determine their causes so that management can plan solutions. This is a powerful
conscious raising activity its main usefulness lies in the action that it induces.
In any organisation, effectiveness comes with its performance in the social field by
their employees. It show the strength of the organisation ,the organisation should
be diagnosed in a way of attempting ,gaps between current and desired
performance and goals can be achieved. Diagnosis basically based on behavioural
science theory for introducing in the human system, collecting valid data about 21
Analysing and Managing the human experiences with the said system and feeding that information back to the
OD Process
system for promoting increased understanding of the system by its members. This
diagnostic approach provokes human nature inevitably for change.
Robbins stated that organisational development should increase performance at
organisational and individual level. This statement clarifies that, planned change
through humanistic values aims to improve organisational effectiveness and wellbeing
of the employee. The work in organisational diagnosis require professional to
work within the organisation as a whole, including organisation environment relations,
group inside and outside the organisation and individuals who are being shaped by
the organisation and they are only in turn determine the nature of organisation. The
development is an action programme based on valid information about current
problems and opportunities which effects the goal achievement. The requirement
for diagnostic activities designed to provide an accurate account of things which
are really stems from too needs, first to know the state of things and second is
to know the effects or consequences.
The diagnostic activities emphasised by Beckhard is a diagnosis of the various
subsystem that makeup the total organisation and second are the process like
decision making process, communication patterns and styles, relationship between
interfacing groups, the management of conflict, setting of goals and planning methods.
The major targets or subsystems in an organisation desire common methods of
obtaining the information. Organisational consultant works from both the way
targets to process the organisational development. They provide a means for
protecting themselves from excessive and unproductive demands by clients. Continual
diagnosis is a necessary ingredient of any planned change effort. Action plans are
developed to close the gap, are continuously monitored to measure progress or
movement toward the goal.
Further it can be said that organisational development programme are not only the
results of diagnostic activities but how the information is collected and what is
done with the information are significant aspects of the process. It is collaboration
between organisation practitioner and the organisation members about issues what
target groups are to be diagnosed. How the diagnosis is best accomplished, what
process and dynamics should be analysed, what is to be done with the information,
how the data will be worked with and how the information will be used to aid
action planning. Therefore the diagnostic component and the action component
are intimately related in organisation development.
Diagnosis can be carried out in an organisation for various purposes. Some of the
purposes are discussed as follows:
1) To develop an understanding of functions and processes in the
organisation: This is one of the purposes of diagnosis in an organisation.
Diagnosis can help in developing better understanding about the various process
and functions that are carried out in an organisation. For example the process
of communication may be diagnosed in order to understand it in a better
manner and also to find out any problems with regard to the process. In case
if any problems are identified then suitable measure can be carried out in
order to rectify them.
2) To promote growth and development of the organisation: Diagnosis may
also be carried out with a purpose of promoting growth and development in
the organisation. In this case diagnosis will be required to be carried out of
22
 the structure, system and sub systems in the organisation to identify if any Diagnosing the System,
Subunits and Process
modifications or changes are required in them before the organisation plans
its development strategy.
3) To improve organisational effectiveness and increase productivity:
Diagnosis may further be carried out in order to improve organisational
effectiveness and to increase productivity. This is one of the main goals of any
organisation and in order to achieve it the employees have to perform at their
best at the same time the structure, systems and process in the organisation
should be conducive to promote growth and effectiveness in the organisation.
Thus a diagnosis can be carried out to understand the situation and identify
any possible problems with the organisational structure, process and systems
in order to carry out necessary steps to promote organisational effectiveness
and increase productivity.
4) Enhance problem solving and decision making in organisational set
up: A systematic diagnosis will provide the organisation with relevant information
about various aspects of the organisation, persistent problems and relevant
situation. This information then can be used in order to solve problems
effectively and also to make effective decisions.
5) Develop suitable intervention strategy: As we have discussed that
diagnosis will help understand a particular problem in a better manner and
then suitable intervention strategies may be developed and applied. Some of
the intervention strategies that can be used are discussed in the previous units.
6) Understand the organisational culture: The diagnosis can also be carried
out to understand the culture prevalent in the organisation. We have an idea
that organisational culture is one of the most important aspects of an
organisation as it has an influence on the employee performance, satisfaction
and is thus related to the overall growth and development of the organisation.
It is thus important to understand the organisational culture of an organisation
so as to identify any deviations and take measures to modify or change it.
Further diagnosis in an organisational setup can be carried out from various
perspectives. For example, the diagnosis can be carried out from perspective of
economics that deals with distribution of resources human, monitory and non
monitory. An organisation can be diagnosed from a political perspective that focuses
on the power and politics prevalent in the organisation. Another perspective would
be that of social, that mainly highlights the interaction between the groups and
various members in the organisation that can be important for the overall functioning
of the organisation. Management is another perspective that includes not only the
roles played by the managers in an organisation but also focuses on the strengths
and weakness of an organisation threats faced by it and opportunities available,
goals to achieved, existing policies and so on. The last is the behavioural perspective
which focuses on human process and behaviours through out the organisation. It
is also concerned with values, attitudes and beliefs of the members or employees
in the organisation.
Diagnosis can thus be carried from one or more of the above perspectives. The
decision about which perspective to take will depend on the decision taken by the
management depending on the problem arising in the organisation or depending on
the goals of organisational development.
23
Analysing and Managing the
OD Process Self Assessment Questions
1) What is diagnosis in organisational development?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Explain diagnosis according to Howard.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) What are the diagnostic activities emphasised by Beckhard?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
4) Highlight any two purposes of diagnosis in an organisation.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
5) Discuss various perspectives from which diagnosis in an organisation can be
carried out.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

2.3 PHASES OF DIAGNOSIS

There are three main phases in diagnosis; they are entry, data collection and
feedback. These three are discussed in detail as follows:

2.3.1 Entry
Entry is major primary objectives and is also the time to quickly grasp the nature
of the organisation identifying the appropriate decision and build a trusting
24 relationship. Entry phase determines which unit of the organisation will participate
in the diagnosis and whether researcher and respondent can reach agreement Diagnosing the System,
Subunits and Process
about their respective roles during data collection and feedback. In the entry the
first encounter starts between concerned members of the organisation and consultant
and conclude with the decision that whether they can jointly continue to complete
the diagnosis.
This stage is also a time to collect data as consultant starts learning about the
organisational system through observation and by studying documents. Consultants
can be the members of the organisation who have their own vested interest in their
organisations. Consultants establish some type of liaison system to manage the
relationship between the consultant and those elements of the system where
diagnosis takes place. Depending on the nature of the system the liaison system
may be an individual, a series of individual or a group.
Entry is thus the initial phase of the diagnosis when the preparation to start the
process takes place. The relationship need to developed during this phase and a
conducive environment has to be created in order to facilitate the process of
diagnosis. Also during this phase the consultant or the persons in charge of carrying
out diagnosis need to foresee possible problems and obstacles that they may
come across while carrying out the process. They also have to observe and study
documents in order to develop better understanding of the organisation. The success
of this phase will lead to effective implementation of other phases during the
process of diagnosis.

2.3.2 Data Collection

The next step that follows after the phase of entry is that of data collection. The
entry phase helps the consultant develop better idea about the organisation and he/
she thus has some idea about the impending problems and situation in the
organisation. Data collection can now be carried out in a particular direction
depending on the information collected during the entry phase. Also the entry
phase has paved a way and created a conducive environment for collection of
data.
Data collection can be termed as a systematical way of gathering valid information.
It is the information regarding the nature of the system in the organisation. Data
collection begins with the aim when consultant prepares a methodology for eliciting
information and contacts members of the system to implement the methodology
and it ends when the consultant has analysed the data and is prepared to provide
feedback.
In this process of eliciting the information through data collection from employees,
consultant becomes more specific about kinds of data that will be useful. In the
process of data collection the liaison system assists the consultant in determining
what data to be collected and how to collect it. Effective liaison system helps the
consultant with access to part of the system where data must be collected and aids
the consultant in establishing credibility so that the data obtained will maintain its
validity. Various methods can be used to collect data depending on the nature of
the problem or the situation. Methods data collection like questionnaires, Interviews,
Observation, focused group discussions can be used in order to collect data.
Further records, circulars, appraisal reports and other organisational literature,
hard data of organisations and various units can also be analysed to get an idea
about the organisation and its aspects. Problem identification/problem solving
workshops, seminars, symposia and training programme and recording and
25
Analysing and Managing the examining critical incidents, events can also be carried out in order to collect data
OD Process
or to understand the problems and situations in an organisation in a better manner.
After the data is collected using suitable methods of data collection, the data is
compiled and analysed. The data can be analysed with the help of various tools
of statistics. It is then used to carry out the last phase, that is, feedback.

2.3.3 Feedback
Feedback consists of series of meetings between the consultant and members of
the organisation during which the consultant presents the data analysis and the
parties discuss and interpret the data. Effective feedback design relates the content
of the feedback to the process by which the analysis is delivered. Content of
feedback is the data analysis prepared at the close of the data collection phase.
The process of feedback is the composition of feedback meetings, behaviour of
the organisational system during feedback and the behaviour of the consultant
within and between feedback meetings. The best known feedback design is built
around the “family group” that consists of the supervisors and immediate
subordinates. Conventionally structured organisation can be viewed as a series of
interlinking family groups from top to bottom. The alternative design is called as
“peer group-intergroup model”. In this people first meet in group of peers, which
have no formal hierarchical differences among members, then the next step begins.
This peer group-intergroup depends upon how it has been managed effectively
and the tendencies toward ethnocentrism that exist in all groups.
Thus during the feedback phase, the members of the organisation are given an
idea about the information collected through the process of data collection. This
information can then be used in order to develop suitable intervention strategies
or to carry out various other steps in the process of organisational development.
Charts, graphs and various other modes of presentation can be used in order to
present the feedback to the members of the organisation. It is important that the
feedback is given in a systematic and clear manner in order to facilitate the
understanding of the persistent problem or situation in the organisation. A well
compiled feedback will help the organisation to take suitable measures in order to
implement the intervention strategies.
Thus care needs to be taken at each phase of the diagnosis so that the whole
process is carried out in a systematic manner in order to provide the organisation
with reliable and valid information.
1) What are the phases of diagnosis in organisational development?
2) Discuss the first phase in diagnosis of an organisation.
3) Discuss the phase of feedback.

2.4 ORGANISATIONAL PROCESSES TO BE

DIAGNOSED
1) Communication pattern, styles and flows: This mainly focuses on the
most important aspect in an organisation that is the communication process.
This will mainly highlight issues like who talks to whom how long about what,
who initiates. Is communication directed upward or downward or both are
they filtered why in what way?
26
 The methods used for data collection may be observations, questionnaire, Diagnosing the System,
Subunits and Process
interviews and discussions with groups
2) Goal setting: Goal setting is yet another important function in an organisation.
Setting task objectives and determining criteria to measure accomplishments
of objectives is the main focus with regard to diagnosis here. The questions
that arise in this context are Do they set goals how is done? Who participates
in goal setting? Do they posses the necessary skills.
Questionnaires, interviews and observation can be used for data collection
with regard to collecting information about goal setting.
3) Decision making, problem solving and action planning: It is important
to diagnose the decision making, problem solving and action planning in an
organisation as these functions will directly lead to achievement of goals in an
organisation. Also evaluating alternatives and choosing a plan of action are
integral function for most organisation members. Questions asked in this regard
are who makes decisions? Are they effective? Are all available sources utilised?
With regard to methods of data collection, observation of problem solving
meetings at various organisational levels can be used.
4) Conflict resolution and management: In this regard Conflict interpersonal,
intrapersonal and intergroup frequently exists in organisations are taken in to
consideration. Questions that arise are where does conflict exist? Who are
the involved parties? How is it being managed?
Interviews, third party observations and observation meetings are some of the
methods that can be used in this context.
5) Managing interface relations: Interfaces represent the situations wherein
two or more groups face common overlapping problems. The questions
highlighted here are what is the nature of the relations between two groups?
Are goals clear is responsibility clear?
6) Superior subordinate relations: This mainly focuses on the formal
hierarchical relations in organisations dictate that some people lead and other
follow. This relationship is again important for goal achievement and smooth
functioning of an organisation. The questions that arise here are what are the
extant leadership styles? What problems arise between superiors and
subordinates?
Questionnaires can be used to collect data here.
7) Technological and engineering systems: All organisations rely on multiple
technologies for production and operations for information processing and
thus diagnosing technological and engineering systems is of utmost importance.
Some important questions here are, are the technologies adequate for
satisfactory performance?
Interviews and group discussions focusing on technology are among the best
ways to determine the adequacy.
8) Strategic management and long range planning: Monitoring the
environment, adding and deleting products, predicting future events and making
decisions are some of the functions that fall under this process. Who is
27
Analysing and Managing the responsible for looking range decisions? Do they have adequate tools and
OD Process
support? are some of the questions highlighted in this context.
Interviews of key policy makers’ group discussion and examination of historical
records may be used to collect relevant data.
9) Organisational learning: This diagnosis is mainly concerned with the learning
climate in an organisation. The questions that arise are what are our strengths
problem areas? What observation ideas suggestions are available from all
organisational members?
Interviews, questionnaires, group methods of diagnosis examination of assumptions
and culture can be used to collect information in this regard.

2.5 MARVIN WEISBORD’S ‘SIX BOX MODEL’

Marvin Weisbord’s “Six Box Model” is a diagnostic tool in order to understand
the effectiveness of an organisation. This model also helps understand management
of change in an organisational set up. Weisbord identified six areas in which things
should go right and be internally consistent for an organisation to be successful.
The six box in this model are described as follows:
1) Purpose: When we speak about purpose as one of the boxes we mainly
focus on the objective of the organisation and reason why the said objective
was developed. What is the purpose behind the overall functioning of the
organisation and understanding it is of utmost value under this. Diagnosis of
the purpose or goal will definitely help develop suitable intervention strategy
in order to achieve the goals of the organisation. Further if the purpose is not
suitably derived, the process of goal setting can be repeated.
2) Structure: The work activity in order to achieve the organisational goal
needs to be divided or structured for its smooth achievement. Under this box
the work activity may be categorized in a systematic manner. The structure
is diagnosed for any changes that are required to be made based on the
external environment, changes in technology and so on.
3) Relationship: Interpersonal relationship between employees and between
the employees and management is extremely important and thus under this
box with the help of varied techniques the relationship in the organisation
needs to be enhance. This will lead to reduction in conflict and effective
performance amongst the employees. Diagnosis of relationships and also
communications is extremely relevant as an y problems diagnosed in this area
may be dealt with at the earliest in order to avoid any complications and
obstacles in the organisational processes.
4) Rewards: To work towards change process and towards organisational
development some kind of driving force is required. An appropriate reward
system will serve as a suitable driving force. Diagnosis of reward system is
also important in order to find out whether they are suitable and on par with
the work activity and performance displayed by the employees.
5) Leadership: All the boxes that we discussed are crucial but an effective
leader is required not only to supervise the whole activity but also to maintain
integrity and balance. Diagnosis has to be carried out with regard to the
effectiveness of leadership in an organisation so as to develop suitable
28
 intervention and training programmes in case if the leadership is not found to Diagnosing the System,
Subunits and Process
be effective in an organisation.
6) Helpful mechanism: Various mechanisms, like technological support, help
from experts and other facilities should be available to facilitate the whole
process of managing change. Diagnosis in this area will help the organisation
update their technology and also develop various other facilities.
This model will also be discussed in the context of managing change.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss relationship as one of the boxes in the model suggested by Weisbord.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Discuss the box pertaining to helpful mechanism.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

2.6 LET US SUM UP

The purpose of organisational diagnosis is to establish a widely shared understanding
of a system and based on that understanding to determine whether change is
desirable. Diagnosticians attempt to change an organisation as its necessary to
accomplish the purpose of diagnosis change in one part of the system affects the
other part. Organisational development focuses to improve the organisational
capacity to handle its internal and external functioning and relationships. It should
also include the things like improved interpersonal and group process with effective
communication, enhanced ability to cope with organisational problems of all kinds
etc. It also includes improved skill in dealing with destructive conflict and higher
levels of trust and cooperation among members of the organisation. These all
objectives stem from a value system based on an optimistic view of the nature of
man that man in a supportive environment is capable of achieving higher levels of
development. This all process should be carried out more scientifically by testing
the hypothesis and continual reviewing of results. The diagnostic component and
the action component are intimately related in dual way in development of the
organisation.
This unit highlights that diagnosis is a conceptual and collaborative process involving
both managers and consultant. It aimed at discovering the cause of specific problems
and directed in assessing the departments of the organisation. The organisation is
viewed as open system to coordinate the behaviours of its department. As open
system organisation are hierarchically ordered and composed of groups. It consists
of environmental inputs, a set of design components called a strategic orientation
and a variety of outputs. Diagnosis thus involves understanding each of the parts
and then to assess how the strategic orientation starts with each other.
29
Analysing and Managing the In today’s world of growing competition and globalization, any organisations needs
OD Process
to carry out diagnosis of its structure, systems, sub systems and processes in
order to understand them in a better manner and to further carry out changes and
modifications.
Thus in the present unit we discussed about the concept of the diagnosis in an
organisational set up and further discussed about the purposes and perspective of
diagnosis. We also highlighted the three phases of organisational development
namely, entry, data collection and feedback. Then we explained various
organisational processes that may be required to be diagnosed in order to promote
organisational effectiveness. Lastly we discussed the Marvin Weisbord’s ‘Six Box
Model’ that helps us understand the diagnosis in an organisation in a better manner
with the help of the six boxes namely, purpose, structure, relationship, rewards,
leadership and helpful mechanisms.

2.7 UNIT END QUESTION

1) Discuss in detail the concept of diagnosis and its relevance in an organisational
set up.
2) Explain any two phases of diagnosis in an organisation.
3) Discuss the purposes to carry out diagnosis in an organisational set up.
4) Discuss various organisational processes that need to be diagnosed.
5) Describe the Six Box Model.

2.8 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES

Coffey, R. R., Cook, C.W., & Hunsaker, P.L. (1997). Management and
Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New Delhi. McGraw- Hill Companies.
Levinson, H. (1972). Organisational Diagnosis. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press,
T.G Cummings and C.G .Worley. (1993). Organisational Development and
Change, St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co.
Wendell L French; Cecil Bell. Organisation Development: Behavioural Science
Interventions for Organisation Improvement. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-
Hall.
References
Alderfer, C. P. (1968). Comparison of questionnaire responses with and without
preceding interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1968, 52, 335-340. (a)
Alderfer, C. P. Organisational diagnosis from initial client reactions to a researcher.
Human Organisations, 27, 260-265. (b)
Alderfer, C. P. (1976) Boundary relations and organisational diagnosis. In H.
Meltzer & F. R.Wickert (Eds.), Humanizing organisational behaviour. Springfield,
111.: Charles C Thomas
Alderfer, C. P. (1977.a). Groups and intergroups. In J. R. Hackman & J. L. Suttle
(Eds.), Improving life at work. Santa Monica, Calif.: Goodyear,
30
Alderfer, C. P. (1977.b) Improving organisational communication through long- Diagnosing the System,
Subunits and Process
term intergroup intervention.Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 13, 193-
210.
Alderfer, C. P., & Holbrook, J. (1973). A new design for survey feedback.
Education and Urban Society, 5, 437- 464.
Berg, D. (1977). Failure at entry. In P. Mirvis & D. Berg (Eds.), Failures in
organisation development. New York: Wiley.
Bowers, D. G., & Franklin, J. L. (1972). Survey-guided development: Using
human resources measurement in organisational change. Journal of Contemporary
Business, 7, 43-55.
John P. Kotter, (March- April 1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Fails,
Harvard Business Review, P.61
Harrison, I. M., & Shirom, A. (1999). Organisational Diagnosis and Assessment:
Bridging Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Hart, P. M., Griffin, M. A., Wearing, A. J., & Cooper, C. L. (1996). Manual for
the QPASS Survey. Brisbane: Public Sector Management Commission.
Hornstein, H. A., & Tichy, N. M. (1973). Organisation Diagnosis and Improvement
Strategies. New York, Behavioural Science Associates.
Howard, A. (1994). Diagnostic perspectives in an era of organisational change. In
A. Howard & Associates (Eds.), Diagnosis for Organisational Change: Methods
and Models (pp. 3-17). New York: The Guilford Press.
Karasek, R. (1990). Lower health risk with increased job control among white
collar workers.Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 11(3), 171-185.
Nadler, D. A. (1981). Managing organisational change: An integrative perspective.
The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 17(2), 191-211.
Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1977). A diagnostic model for organisation
behaviour. In J. R. Hackman, E. E. Lawler, & L. W. Porter (Eds.). Perspectives
on Behaviour in Organisations. New York, Academic Press.
Nadler, D. A. (1977). Feedback and organisation development. Reading, Mass.:
Addison-Wesley,
Rice, A. K. Individual, group and intergroup processes. Human Relations, 1969,
22, 562- 584.

31
 UNIT 3 MODELS FOR MANAGING
CHANGE (Including Six Boxes
Organisational Model)
Structure
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Objectives
3.2 The Concept of Change
3.3 Preparation before Implementing Change
3.4 Resistance to Change
3.5 Strategies for Change
3.6 Models of Change
3.6.1 Lewin’s Change Model
3.6.2 Kotter’s Eight Step Plan for Implementation of Change
3.6.3 Marvin Weisberg “Six Box Model”
3.6.4 Greiner’s Model
3.6.5 Cumming and Worley Model
3.6.6 Burke and Litwik Model of Organisation Change
3.6.7 John Fisher Change Model

3.7 Let Us Sum Up

3.8 Unit End Questions
3.9 Suggested Readings and References

3.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous units we discussed a great deal about the organisational development
process. In the present unit we will be highlighting another important aspect of
organisational development that is managing change. Why do we speak about
managing change? And what is the relevance of the topic? These are some of the
questions that may come to your mind.
Change is something that is permanent. As we discussed in one of the earlier
blocks, that organisation is a part of parcel of society at large and thus there are
two environments with regard to an organisation. One is external to the organisation
and the other internal to the organisation. Both these environments can be influenced
by numerous factors and thus will lead to change in various aspects of an
organisation. A change can be planned or unplanned. A planned change is
systematically brought about by the human resource managers or the management.
However an organisation should always be prepared to face the changes that they
have not planned but that can have an impact on the overall functioning of the
organisation. Change and organisational development are greatly related as to
develop meaning to change in a positive direction. In fact the modern approach
to the management of change and the development of human resource is called
organisation development.
32
Thus in the present unit we will discuss this relevant topic and also focus on types Models for
Managing Change
and models of change.

3.1 OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 Discuss the concept of change;
 Discuss the preparations to be made before implementing change;
 Explain resistance to change;
 Highlight strategies for change; and
 Describe the models of change.

3.2 THE CONCEPT OF CHANGE

The term “change” refers to any alteration which occurs in the overall work
environment of an organisation. According to Robbins change means making things
different. Change in an organisation includes adapting to change, controlling change
and effecting change. It can also be described as a shift in the external situation
is situational and happens at a given time in space. Four main areas in an
organisation need special focus when we discuss about change in an organisational
set up, they are as follows:
1) Changing Organisational Structure: With globalization, competition and
technological advancements, it becomes necessary that changes are made in
the structure of the organisation. Thus this one of the most important changes
that can be brought about in an organisation and the one that will call for
planning and a lot of effort and involvement of management and employees
at all levels.
2) Changing Technology: Technology is fast changing and the organisation has
to keep pace of it in order to remain in business and survive strong competition.
Thus new machinery has to be bought or existing machinery has to be updated
in the organisation. This is a major change as, as per the technological
advancements other changes like changes in structure, job positions, training
programmes etc. have also to be made.
3) Changing Work Environment: Work environment is fast changing due to
various reasons, as a result of diversity in the organisation, changing technology,
changes in job market etc. A launching of new product or merger or acquisition
may also call for certain changes in an organisation. Thus the organisation has
to keep track of such changes and develop measure to deal with them.
4) Change with regard to People in the Organisation: Changes also occur
with regard to people in the organisation, due to attitudes, values, beliefs.
Changes can also be as a result of new recruitment, promotions, demotions,
transfers etc. may also take place and they are to be effectively dealt with.
Change can be explained with help of the following points:
1) Change Results from the Pressure of Forces, which are both Inside
and Outside the Organisation: As discussed earlier various factors from
33
Analysing and Managing the within the organisation and external to it may bring about some kind of
OD Process
change in an organisation. The external forces like technology, nature of
work, economic shocks, competitions, social trends and politics necessitate
change in the internal organisation like machinery, equipment, relationships,
leadership and decline in profitability etc. This organisational change is the
alteration of work environment in organisation which implies a equilibrium
between different components of the organisation.
2) The Whole Organisation Tends to be Affected by the Change: In some
way or the other change influences the whole organisation as the sub units or
various departments in an organisation are interrelated and interdependent.
3) Change Takes Place in All Parts of the Organisation but in its Own
Rates of Speed of Significance: Different sections or different departments
of an organisation are influence by change differently and this influence may
vary in its speed and degree.
Usually there are many changes occurring simultaneously in an organisation. An
effective management technique is thus required in order to deal with the changes.
Changes in an organisation depend on various aspects. These are the aspects of
an organisation that facilitate change.
These aspects can be discussed as follows:
1) Genuine and Hard Working Employees: Change will depend on the
commitment of the employees to the functioning of the organisation.
2) The Willingness of the Employee to Develop: The employees should
have an intrinsic motivation to develop and become fully functional. This will
create a positive attitude in them to readily accept change.
3) Effective Leadership: Effective Leaders Will Ensure Effective
Management Of Change In An Organisation: The leaders in an organisation
play most crucial role in implementation of the change as they are the ones
who are in regular touch with employees and have great influence over them.
4) Effective Diagnosis of Need for Change: In order to effectively implement
change effective diagnosis about need for change is also required. In the
previous blocks we have discussed about diagnosis and we now understand
how relevant the topic is. The strategy to be employed for implementation of
change will depend on the diagnosis.
5) Commitment of Leaders in the Organisation to Diagnosis,
Implementation and Evaluation: As we discussed about effective leadership
in the same way the leaders should be committed and participate fully in the
process of diagnosis, implementation and evaluation of change process.
Change agents also play an important role in the whole process of managing
change. They are the ones who anticipate possible need for change and suggest
strategies to manage them. According to Robbins change agents are individuals
who act as catalyst and assume responsibility for change management activities.
Change agents are required in order to ensure smooth implementation of change
process.

34
 Models for
Self Assessment Questions Managing Change

1) Explain changing organisational structure and changing work environment.

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2) Highlight any two aspects that facilitate change.
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3) Discuss the relevance of change agents in the process of change.
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3.3 PREPERATION BEFORE IMPLEMENTING

CHANGE
The following care needs to be taken before implementing change in an organisation:
1) Ensure Effective Participation of the Employees: For the success of any
change process, the effective participation of the employees is of utmost
importance. This will ensure commitment to the change process and lack of
resistance.
2) Plan Effectively: Effective planning is required before the change process
is initiated in order to foresee the possible problems like resistance from the
employees and negative attitudes. Planning needs to be carried out not only
for smooth implementation of change process but also in order to develop
suitable intervention to deal with certain obstacles and problems.
3) Employee’s Interest should be Considered: While bringing out change
the employee’s interest should be foremost as they are the most important
unit of an organisation and the overall development of an organisation depends
on them.
4) Focus on Group Dynamics: In any organisations there are various groups,
both formal and informal. While implementing change the group dynamics in
such groups should be identified.
5) Systematic Implementation of Change: Caution and patience should be
maintained while implementing change. Also it should be implemented in a
systematic fashion in order to avoid any negative outcome. 35
Analysing and Managing the 6) Motivation: The employees and also the management should be motivated
OD Process
in the direction of change in order to ensure its successful implementation.
7) Highlighting the Benefits Of Change: In order to ensure the commitment
and interest of the employees in the change process, the benefits of the
change should be highlighted. This will discourage the employees from resisting
to change and will ensure their cooperation.
8) Training and Developmental Activities: Any change will require the
employees to develop new skills and techniques. Thus training and other
developmental programmes should be organised for the employees. This will
also take care of any insecurity amongst the employee that occurs due to lack
of skills required after implementation of change.
9) Understanding the Purpose of Change, the Risks and Benefits involved
and Communicating the Same to the Employees: An open communication
should be promoted during the change process where the employees have
complete idea about the risks and benefits of the change. Once employees
understand the purpose of the change and its benefits then it would be easier
to ensure their cooperation.
10) Anticipating Possible Reasons for Resistance to Change and Making
Suitable Preparation: During the planning stage, the change agents should
take to consideration the possible reasons for resistance that may arise and
plan suitable interventions for the same.
11) Constantly Focusing on the Process of Change: The change process
should be constantly focused on in order to identify any obstacles and take
suitable measures.
12) Interacting with Leaders/ Supervisors in the Organisation: Leaders and
supervisors play an utmost important role in the change process as they are
the ones who are constantly interacting with the employees. Thus the change
agents should keep in touch with the leaders in the organisation, seek their
cooperation and suitably train them to encourage and support employees
through the change process.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Highlight any two preparations to be made before implementation of change.
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2) Discuss the relevance of leaders in the organisation during the change process.
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36
 Models for
3) Which is the most important aspect during preparation for implementation of Managing Change
change according to you? Give reason.
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3.4 RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Change no matter how dynamic and constant a phenomenon is often received with
resistance from the employees. This is mainly due to the insecurities and lack of
clear idea about the consequences of change. Some of the factors that cause
resistance to change are as follows:
1) Economic Factors: Economic fear may be one of the major factors for
resistance. There is fear amongst the employees that they may loose their
jobs as a result of change in technology and due to lack of skills to work with
the new technology. This insecurity that they may be demoted, or may not be
able to perform their jobs and that they may even loose their jobs as a result
of this can create resistance towards change in minds of the employees.
2) Psychological Factors: Different psychological factors like ego defensiveness,
status quo, lack of trust, low tolerance, unknown fear etc. This makes the
person to defend their ego and resist change. The change is perceived as an
instrument for exposing the weakness of the people. The reason behind is
people don’t want to get disturbed in their existing equilibrium of life and
work, and they tries to avoid it. This shows that people have very low level
of tolerance for change and ambiguity as compared to others. When people
have low degree of confidence then person also fears for unknown and show
resistance to change efforts.
3) Social Factors: People desire to maintain existing social interaction and feel
satisfied. If there is any change, their existing social interactions are also likely
to change which people do not want and therefore resist for change.
4) Group Resistance: Group dynamics like forces in the group who determines
behaviour of its members. An employee may resist change just to maintain the
conformity of the group and not because he/ she really wants to resist change.
Change in an organisation is the vital need for its functioning and going profit in
varied terms.It becomes the responsibility of the change agent or the organisational
development expert to implement the changes and provide interventions so that
weak areas are improved in a phase manner. Resistance may be possible not only
from employees, but even manager may resist changing due to above reasons.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss economic factors as reason for resistance change.
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Analysing and Managing the
OD Process 2) Describe psychological factors that lead to resistance to change.
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3.5 STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE

Strategies for change are discussed as follows:
1) Shaping the Future: This is the first strategy for organisational change. It
creates scenarios for the future of the business. The strengths and weakness
of the organisation are considered with respect to how well or poorly prepared
for implementation of the proposed changes. The responsibility of the
organisational change lies on, how much clear sense the organisation has and
how it leads to set the stage for second level.
2) Selecting Core Competencies: In this, management identifies the strength
and weakness of that organisation. Analysis of opportunities and threat also
complete in preparation for defining the organisation may assume that the
future will mirror the past. Others may have been involved with working in
the framework of the organisation existing mission statement and not given the
freedom to refine and revise the mission.
3) Making Structural Changes: This strategy takes the form of transformational
change. It is radical in nature and involves big picture changes. This stage also
comesas a reengineering for organisational process. This aims at improving
productivity and satisfaction.
4) Changing Work Process: The fourth and final strategy of organisational
change involves incremental changes. It tends to be risk averse and tends to
underestimate how much organisation change is actually require. The levels of
changes can become unsuccessful if the small changes are not supported
throughout the organisation.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain shaping the future as a strategy for change.
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2) Highlight changing work process as a strategy for change.
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38
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 Models for
3.6 MODELS OF CHANGE Managing Change

Managing change may be described as adoption of a new idea or behaviour by

an organisation. Organisations need to continuously adapt to new situations if they
are to survive and prosper. Also constant change keeps organisations agile and is
an indicative of learning organisations.
Change at all times involve and agree support from people within system and
understand the organisation. Managing organisational change is the process of
planning and implementing change in organisation in a way as to minimize employees’
resistance and cost to the organisation, at the same time maximizing the effectiveness
of the change. A systematic approach of dealing with change should focus on both
the perspective of an organisation and on the individual level. Thus change is not
on micro level but on a macro level. It is generally expected from the management
of the organisation to manage change in a systematic and effective manner. The
responsibility of organisation is to develop adaptability to change otherwise it will
either be left behind or be swept away by the forces of change.
Change calls for the organisation and the employees to make new adjustments.
This can give rise to insecurity and anxiety amongst the employees. Change can
reactive or proactive. Proactive change is the change that is planned and a whole
lot of preparation goes in that process to achieve the anticipated outcome. A
reactive change is an automatic or planned response to change occurring in the
environment. In the proactive change, change is not a response to a particular
problem or a situation. But it is initiated in order to further develop the organisation.
With regard to reactive change, it is in response to some kind of problem or
situation that arises in the organisation.
Change management can be described effectively with the help of following models:

3.6.1 Lewin’s Change Model

The process of change was first put forth by Kurt Lewin. He proposed three stage
model of the change process for any organisation development.
1) Unfreezing: To move people from this “frozen” state, to unfreeze them and
to make them “change ready” significant effort is required. This stage mainly
focuses on creating motivation and readiness to change amongst the employees.
The managers as a change agent have to assume the responsibility to break
open the shell of complacency and self righteousness among their subordinates.
Manager has to identify the background factors contributing to resistance.
Subordinates may resist change for economic social or personal reasons. The
interplay among the several factors are responsible for resistance have to be
isolated. Manager need to discuss with his or her subordinates, explain them
the problem and need for change. This is a process of mutual learning between
the manager and the subordinates. Unfreezing basically cleans the slate so
that fresh behavioural pattern, customs, traditions can be imprinted which
becomes a new way of doing things.
2) Movement: A change process that transforms the organisation from the
status quo to a desired end state. Helping the employees to see, feel, judge
things. After unfreezing moving means incorporating change begins. The
employees undergo cognitive restructuring. This is done with the help of
compliance, identification and internalisation. Compliance is achieved by 39
Analysing and Managing the introducing rewards and punishments. Under identification, employees are
OD Process
psychologically impressed upon to select their role model and modify behaviour.
Internalization involves internal changing of individuals thought process in
order to adjust to a new environment.
3) Refreezing: Putting down roots again and establishing the new place of
stability. This relates to integrating the new behaviour into persons personality
and attitude. It also refers to as stabilization. This stage comes when new
behaviour takes a new form of normal way of life. New behaviour replaces
the old on permanent basis.
Simultaneously Lewin also introduced force field analysis for analysis for
implementing change. This analysis identifies what forces required to push the
change what forces are likely to restrain. Lewin perceived change as occurring
due to two forces, those internal to an employee and external forces that are
imposed by the environment. He also categorized external forces in to driving
forces and restraining forces. The equilibrium can be changed by strengthening the
driving forces or by weakening the restraining forces.

3.6.2 Kotter’s Eight Step Plan for Implementation of Change

John P Kotter’s attempted to give his own point of view for change model. Kotter
suggested eight steps which are as follows:
1) Establishing a Sense of Urgency by Creating A Compelling Reason for
why Change is Needed: A Sense of urgency can be created amongst the
employees by informing them about the reasons for requirement to bring
about a change. This will to some extend help the organisation deal with
resistance expressed by the employees.
2) Form a Coalition with Enough Power to Lead the Change: Once the
employees are convinced with regard to the need for change then a strong
coalition can be created that will ensure successful implementation of change.
The coalition can be amongst the employees or it can be between employees
and the management. The informal group leaders may also be involved in this.
3) Create a New Vision to Direct the Change and Strategies for Achieving
the Vision: A goal or an objective has then to be creates and the organisation
as a whole should work towards it.
4) Communicate the Vision Throughout the Organisation: This vision or
goal or an objective once created should be informed to all the employees
in the organisation.
5) Empower Others to Act on the Vision by Removing Barriers to Change
and Encouraging Risk Taking and Creative Problem Solving: Once the
objectives are set and the employees are communicated about it, then suitable
training programmes should be organised in order to help the employees
achieve the goal. Basically the employees should be encouraged and helped
to develop suitable skills in order to achieve the objectives.
6) Plan for Create and Reward Short-Term “Wins” That Move the
Organisation toward the New Vision: The overall vision or objective to
bring about change may further be divided in to smaller goals and achievement
of these goals may be rewarded.
40
7) Consolidate Improvements Reassess Changes, and Make Necessary Models for
Managing Change
Adjustments in the New Programs: The whole process of bringing about
change should be continuously assessed and necessary changes should be
made to the strategy of change process from time to time.
8) Reinforce the Changes by Demonstrating the Relationship Between
New Behaviours and Organisational Success: Change can be encouraged
by highlighting its positive outcomes. So as to ensure the employees that
change is necessary and leads to enhances work activity and environment.

3.6.3 Marvin Weisberg “Six Box Model”

Six box model by Marvin Weisberg is a diagnostic tool of organisational development
that highlights the effectiveness of an organisation. Weisberg identified six areas in
which things should go right and be internally consistent for an organisation to be
successful. The result of diagnosis should proceed towards change process.
This approach outlines the organisational structure and design. It focuses on issues
like planning, incentives and rewards, the role of support function like personnel,
internal competitions among organisational units, standards for remuneration,
partnerships, hierarchical and the delegates of authority, organisational control,
accountability and performance assessment. The six box in this model are described
as follows:
1) Purpose: When we speak about purpose as one of the boxes we mainly
focus on the objective of the organisation and reason why the said objective
was developed. What is the purpose behind the overall functioning of the
organisation and understanding it is of utmost value under this.
2) Structure: The work activity in order to achieve the organisational goal
needs to divided or needs to be structures for its smooth achievement. Under
this box the work activity may be categorized in a systematic manner.
3) Relationship: Interpersonal relationship between employees and between
the employees and management is extremely important and thus under this
box with the help of varied techniques the relationship in the organisation
needs to be enhance. This will lead to reduction in conflict and effective
performance amongst the employees.
4) Rewards: To work towards change process and towards organisational
development some kind of driving force is required. An appropriate reward
system will serve as a suitable driving force.
5) Leadership: All the boxes that we discussed are crucial but an effective
leadership is required not only to supervise the whole activity but also to
maintain integrity and balance.
6) Helpful Mechanism: Various mechanisms, like technological support, help
from experts and other facilities should be available to facilitate the whole
process of managing change.
The above model is basically easy to understand and to visualize. It reflects the
important activities in an organisation and successfully implemented to assist in
changing the organisation. This model offers superficial strategic and financial
analysis. The strategy is assumed to be constant and require a capable leadership
for rebalancing the six boxes.
41
Analysing and Managing the 3.6.4 Greiner’s Model
OD Process
Organisational change also requires management of growth which measures the
organisational development. Greiner has developed a theory of change by
considering growth as a factor for change. He identified different problems in each
stage of evolution. The solution to the problem brings change. At the starting
growth is achieved through creativity of a founder of the organisation but sometimes
it creates a problem of leadership. In order to tie-up with problem of leadership
higher level managerial personnel take charge of the situation.But after a period of
time it is noticed that excessive leadership creates a situation of concentration of
power in organisation and subordinates have to wait for the decision. Thus the
change is necessitated that leads to delegation of authority to subordinates. Geriener
said that each organisation moves through five phases of development as it grows.
Each phase contains a calm period called as evolutionary phase and ends with a
management crisis marked by a substantial amount of internal turmoil. Each evolution
period is characterised by dominant problems and solved so that the growth
continues. The age of an organisation is critical because problems and decisions
are rooted in time. The phases in organisational growth and change are discussed
as follows:
1) Growth through Creativity: This first phase and it emphasises on creativity
in the organisation with regard to the products, marketing and sales strategy
etc. As the organisation grows in size and complexity the need for greater
efficiency cannot be achieved through informal channels of communication.
Thus many managerial problems emerge and the first revolutionary period
begins. These problems can be dealt with adequately by coming up with
creative and innovative solutions.
2) Growth through Direction: When there is a leadership crisis for power to
professional managers, organisation growth is achieved through direction. In
this phase the professional managers and key staff takes most of the
responsibilities for instituting direction and lower level supervisors are treated
as functional specialist than autonomous decision making managers. Thus
directive management technology enables the organisation to grow. Further as
low level supervisors become more knowledgeable, they begin to demand
more autonomy and thus the growth moves toward delegation.
3) Growth through Delegation Stage: Crisis resolution for autonomy is through
powerful top managers relinquishing some of their authority and certain amount
of power equalisation. When any organisation reaches the stage of growth
through delegation, it usually begins to develop a decentralised organisation
structure which heightens motivation of the lower levels. This crisis leads to
the next phase of coordination stage.
4) Growth through Coordination: Coordination is the most effective method
for overcoming crisis of control. This phase needs to have more formal
system for achieving greater coordination with top management as the watch
dog. The new coordination system proves useful for achieving growth.
Procedure takes precedence over problem solving, the organisation becomes
too large and requires to be managed through formal programmes and rigid
systems.
5) Growth through Collaboration: This stage involves more flexible and
behavioural approaches to the problems of managing a large organisation.
42
 Greiner observed that while the coordination stage was managed through Models for
Managing Change
formal systems and procedures, the collaboration stage emphasis greater
spontaneity in management action through teams and skillful confrontation of
interpersonal differences.
This model shows the variety of stages through which organisation is likely to go
during its growth period. The overall potential issues and problems between stages
are highlighted. The major problem is seen as managerial behaviour that needs to
be overcome with help of suitable training programmes and workshops.

3.6.5 Cumming and Worley Model

This model suggested five areas for change that can be discussed as follows:
1) Motivating Change: It is important that the leaders of organisation must
create readiness to change amongst their employees. The motivation is achieved
through sensitizing people about the pressure of change, highlighting advantage
of change, creating pains in the minds of the employee and involving employee’s
right from the beginning of change.
2) Creating a Vision: This is visualizing that how the future will look. Vision
shows the reality. It need to be beneficial to the majority of people in the
organisation and should be attainable. With these desired vision organisation
need to have mission backed up by the values and making available the inputs
require for achieving the essence of change.
3) Developing Political Support: It is suggested that the practitioner assess his
or her own power. Individual need to identify the key players whose support
is require for success of implementing change. Individuals who wedge power
in the organisation need to associate with the change efforts.
4) Managing the Transition: Unfreezing of present state, that the transition to
the new future, attainment of desired goals and refreezing the outcome. This
involves checklist preparation of various activities, sequence of events and
people responsible for various activities. Commitment planning is important
for managing the transition.
5) Sustaining Momentum: It needs to have regular meetings to review progress
of the work done, solving problem, ensuring the resources available and close
interaction with the specialist. To maintain sustainment it is necessary for
highlighting the gains, and reminding the employees to make a change effort
in group.

1.6.6 Burke and Litwik Model of Organisation Change

The model strives to bring in change in the performance of a team or an organisation
by creating a link between performance and internal, external factors. It begins
with outlining a framework, comprising the affecting factors which can be
manipulated for smooth transition of one phase changing process to another. The
12 dimension in this structure, practices and the system of the organisation are
discussed as follows:
1) External Environment: It is the key factors that have an impact on the
organisation must be identified. The direct and indirect impact on the
organisation is clearly established.
2) Mission and Strategy: The mission and strategy of the organisation is defined
by the top management and examined from employees’ point of view. 43
Analysing and Managing the 3) Leadership: The leadership structure in the organisation is carried out which
OD Process
identifies the chief role models.
4) Organisational Culture: It seeks information on the explicit as well as the
rules, regulations, customs and principles implied that influence the
organisational behaviour.
5) Structure: The structure should be function based focusing on the responsibility,
authority; decision making that exists between the people of the organisation.
6) Systems: It includes all types of policies and procedures in regard to both
the people and the operations of the organisation.
7) Management Practices: This entail a study that how well manager can
conform to the organisation strategy and deal with employees and resources.
8) Work unit Climate: It is a collective study of how the employees think, feel
and what they expect. The kind of relationships the employees share with
their team members and other.
9) Tasks and Skills: This involves understanding the job position its demand.
This also includes the kind of skills and knowledge that employees have to
fulfill the responsibility.
10) Individual Values and Needs: This dimension seeks to explore employees
opinion about their work, identify quality factors which result in job enrichment
and better satisfaction.
11) Motivation Level: Identifying the motivational level makes it easier to
determine the willingness to be put in their effort to achieve organisational
goals
12) Individual and Overall Performance: This dimension takes into account
the level of performance on individual and organisational levels in different
key areas like productivity, quality, efficiency etc.

3.6.7 John Fisher Change Model

As per the model stated by John Fisher, an employee operates within a multitude
of environments within an organisation. During the changes we go through the
stages which are more complex. The speed of transition depends on the employees
self perception, locus of control and other past experiences all this combine and
create their anticipation of future events.
According to Fisher transition effectively need to understand for the perception of
past, present and future. The stages move from Anxiety, Happiness, Fear, Threat,
Guilt, Depression, Disillusionment, Hostility and ends with Denial. The overall
changes in the employees passes through all stages and he or she experience the
new way of dealing in the organisation. The organisation in this way also gains and
the development curve emerge.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain in detail Lewin’s change model.
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44
 Models for
..................................................................................................................... Managing Change

.....................................................................................................................
2) Highlight Marvin Weisberg “Six Box Model”.
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3) Discuss the 12 dimensions in Burke & Litwik model of Organisation Change.
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3.7 LET US SUM UP

Thus in the present unit we mainly focused on managing change. We initially
disused about the concept of change as we see it in an organisational set up and
then highlighted the preparation that bare to be made before implementation of
change, resistance expressed by the employees towards change process. We
further discussed the strategies and models for change.
Change is an important part of an organisational process. Any human resource
manager needs to be aware about the need for change in an organisation and also
should be prepared to deal with unplanned change. As discussed during the change
process planning is the mopst important function and at the same time it is important
to encourage the employees to participate and involve in the change process right
from the start.

3.8 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Explain in detail the concept of change.
2) Discuss the preparations that are to be carried out before implementation of
change
3) Highlight the strategies for change.
4) Discuss any two models of change.

3.9 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES

Andriopoulus, Constantine and Patrick Dawson.(2009). Managing Change,
Creativity and Innovation. New Delhi. Sage Publication.
Heller, Robert. (1998). Essential Managers: Managing Change. New York.
D.K Publishing. Inc.

45
Analysing and Managing the Coffey, R. R., Cook, C.W., & Hunsaker, P.L. (1997). Management and
OD Process
Organisational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New Delhi. McGraw- Hill Companies.
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organizational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Newstorm, J. W., & Davis, K. (1997). Organizational Behaviour: Human
Behaviour at Work. 9th Ed.New Delhi. Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing Company
Limited.
Pareek, U. (2008). Understanding Organizational Behaviour, 2nd Ed. New
Delhi. Oxford University Press.
References
Bergman JI. Managing change in the nonprofit sector: lessons from the evolution
of five independent research libraries. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1996.
Curzon SC. Managing change: a how to do it manual for planning, implementing,
and evaluating change in libraries. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers,
1989.
Cherrington, David J. Organisational Behaviour: The Management of Individual
and Organisational Performance . Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1994.
Dove, Rick. “The Principles of Change.”Automotive Manufacturing and
Production. March 1997.
Dyer, William G. “Team Building: A Microcosm of the Past, Present, and Future
of O.D.” Academy of Management OD Newsletter. Winter 1989.
Gibson, James L., John M. Ivancevich, and James H. Donnelly Jr. Organisations:
Behaviour, Structure, Processes. 8th ed. Boston: Richard D. Irwin, 1994.
Goodstein, Leonard D., and W. Warner Burke.”Creating Successful Organisation
Change.”Organisational Dynamics. Spring 1991.
Ivancevich, John M., and Michael T. Matteson. Organisational Behaviour and
Management . Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1990.
Lippitt, Gordon L., Peter Longseth, and Jack Mossop. Implementing
Organisational Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985.
Northcraft, Gregory B., and Margaret A. Neale. Organisational Behaviour: A
Management Challenge . Chicago: The Dryden Press, 1990.
Recardo, Ronald J. “Best Practices in Organisations Experiencing Extensive and
Rapid Change.” National Productivity Review. Summer 2000.
Shaffer, Rima. Principles of Organisation Development. American Society for
Training and Development, 2000.
vonDran GM, Cargill J. eds. Catalysts for change: managing libraries in the 1990s.
New York, NY: Haworth Press, 1993.

46
UNIT 4 PROGRAMME EVALUATION
PROCESS IN ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Definition and Concept of Programme Evaluation
4.3 Types of Evaluation
4.4 Stages in Programme Evaluation
4.5 Models of Programme Evaluation
4.5.1 Donald Kirkpatrick Model
4.5.2 Jack Philip ROI Model
4.5.3 CIPP Model
4.5.4 Kaufman’s Five Levels of Evolution
4.5.5 CIRO Model

4.6 Let Us Sum Up

4.7 Unit End Questions
4.8 Suggested Readings and References

4.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous units we focused on topics like the organisational development
process, diagnosing the system and models of managing change.
Understanding these topics is extremely important in order to successfully carry
our organisational development in an industry or organisation.
In the present unit we will highlight yet another important aspect of organisational
development, that is, programmme evaluation. Programme evaluation is a systematic
method for collecting, analysing, and using information to the gaps in the
programmes. It focuses particularly about the effectiveness and efficiency of a
particular programme.
In both the public and private sectors, stakeholders want to know if the programmes
which are being funded, implemented, voted for are actually having the intended
effect. With the changes all over the world, organisations are facing competition.
It is not only about delivering a quality product for customers but an art of
surviving in the markets and making profits. To exist as a perfect competitor one
has to go in for constant evaluation and introspection of the organisation. In this
kind of situation to survive and develop the organisations have to keep an eye on
their programmes and projects.
In the unit we will further discuss about the concept of programme evaluation, its
significance and methods that can be used while conducting evaluation.

47
Analysing and Managing the
OD Process 4.1 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 Discuss the definition and concept of programme evaluation;
 Explain the types of evaluation;
 Discuss the stages in programme evaluation; and
 Describe the models of programme evaluation.

4.2 DEFINITION AND CONCEPT OF

PROGRAMME EVALUATION
Patton defined programme evaluation as a systematic collection of information
about the activities,characteristics and outcomes of programme to make judgments
about the programme, improve programme effectiveness and or inform decisions
about future programming.
Programme evaluation may also be defined asevaluative inquiry that is an ongoing
process for investigating and understanding critical organisational issues.It is an
approach to learning that is fully integrated with an organisation’s work practices.This
definition specifically highlightsthat programme evaluation is an ongoing investigation
and makes new learning in the organisational setup.
Programme evaluation can also defined as a systematic acquisition and assessment
of information pertaining to a programme to provide useful feedback about the
organisation. This emphasises all works collecting and shifting through data, making
judgments about valid information and of inferences we derive from it.
Generally the goal of the programme evaluation is to provide useful feedback,
which would act as a facilitator in decision making. It is a methodological area that
is closely related. Programme evaluation is broader in sense and encompasses the
most general groups. It goes on continuously rather than on periodic basis and
thus allows progress and effective monitoring at the same time.
Organisation’s programme evaluation measures compare and analyse the coherence
between results and specific objectives, between specific objectives and between
general objects of institutional projects. Programme evaluation is an important
aspect of improving the administration in any organisation. This plays a very
important role in helping the managers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness
in their operations. Programme evaluation in any organisation generates reliable
information which then becomes a valuable experience and is very useful for
planning the future, establishment of priorities and resource allocation. With the
help of programme evaluation, organisations solve their internal conflicts. Conflicts
in any organisation are inevitable but it is the skill of the management as to how
they integrate those conflicts and difference in opinion in an efficient manner. This
helps the evaluation team to learn more about an employee’s motivational level in
the organisation. This approach poses a major facilitator to any organisation for
assessing their internal conflicts or disagreement and helps the organisation to
rebuild. The situation greatly increases the importance of developing ways to help
organisations assess their work, examine what’s working and what is not and learn
how to strengthen the organisations and increase their impact.
48
Programme evaluation is thus an integral part to determine the effectiveness of the Programme Evaluation
Process in Organisational
organisation. It is needed for training interventions with regard to learning, transfer Development
and organisation impact which involves a number of complexity factors.
The programme evaluation process demands clarity of purpose and the answers
to the questions which will yield a guiding framework for the measurement process.
If evaluation lacks clear purpose then it tends to wander aimlessly and results in
findings which are devoid of organisational relevance. Specifically it will be used
to address the appropriateness of the learning objectives and the length of the
course and also assessing the effectiveness of the overall programme in terms of
the performance needs which is design to address. For example in any organisation
which have faced with financial cutbacks or a rigorous budget setting process,
evaluation would be utilised to measure the extent.
Through this process of evaluation the net result could be achieved, but it needs
rigorous planning. This planning will help the organisation to sustain in the market
and also would facilitate to maintain the credibility.
With the help of programme evaluation managers and employees of an organisation
becomes continually aware of their achievements and objectives. External
opportunities and threat and internal strength and weakness represent the basis of
current strategies are continually monitored. Failure to make satisfied result toward
the accomplishment of long term objectives signals a need for corrective actions.
Some of the major strategies used in programme evaluation are as follows:
1) Scientific experimental models: This is the most dominant strategy especially
in social sciences. This prioritizes on the desirability of impartiality, accuracy,
objectivity and the validity of the information generated about a particular
programme. It is scientific in nature and focuses on the objectivity of the
study. This is one systematic approach that can be used in order to evaluate
programmes.
2) Management oriented systems models: This is widely used method for
programme evaluation. It studies the problems related with management group
in terms of controlling, managing and organising the work. In this process
gaps may be present which this system evaluates.
3) Qualitative model: This model emphasises the importance of observation;
the need to retain the phenomenological quality of the programme evaluation.
It values the subjective human interpretation in the programme evaluation
process.
4) Participant oriented models: It emphasises the central importance of the
interacting with participants, specially clients and users of the programme in
order to evaluate the programme.
Thus we understand that programme evaluation plays a significant role in the
overall process of organisational development and is an extremely important tool
in order to achieve organisational goals and objectives.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What is programme evaluation?
.....................................................................................................................
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Analysing and Managing the .....................................................................................................................
OD Process
.....................................................................................................................
2) Highlight the any two strategies that can be used in programme evaluation.
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3) Which strategy would be most effective in programme evaluation according
to you? Give reason.
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4.3 TYPES OF EVALUATION

There are various types of evaluation used in organisations. As stated earlier the
type of evaluation selected will mainly depend on the demands of the problem or
situation in an organisation. Some of the types of evaluation are discussed as
follows:
1) Formative evaluation: It improves the situations which is being evaluated
and helps by examining the delivery of the program and the quality of its
implementation and also by assessing the organisational context. The purpose
of the formative evaluation is to make sure that the programme is well
developed. This uses methods like stakeholders consultation, need assessment,
collaborative group process etc. It facilitates group discussion with stakeholders
interviewing stakeholders about the program implementation and reporting
about the development and determines who needs the program, how much
it is needed and what might work to meet the need.
2) Implementation evaluation: This monitors the fidelity of the program. It
sees how effectively the program is being delivered. Review of past research
literature and experience-It reviews what is already known about the type of
program or intervention being used and using this to improve the outcomes
model for the program. Monitoring and evaluation of data collected-new data
collected their protocols need to be put in a place for further evaluation
otherwise it will have its impact on the outcome.
3) Summative evaluation: In contrast to the former ones, this examines the
effects or outcome of some situation. It describes what happens subsequent
to delivery of the program, assessing the caused outcome and determining the
overall impact of the causal factor. Beyond it the only immediate target
outcomes and estimating the relative costs associated with the situation. This
may be further categorized in to the following:
a) Outcome evaluation: Which investigate the program caused demonstrate
50
effects on specifically targeted outcomes.
 b) Impact evaluation: This is broader in sense and assess the overall Programme Evaluation
Process in Organisational
effects, intended or unintended of the program as a whole. Development

c) Cost effectiveness and cost benefit: It focus on the questions of

efficiency by standardizing outcomes in terms of their costs and values.
d) Secondary analysis: Secondary analysis reexamines the existing data
to address new questions and use new methods which are previously
used.
e) Meta analysis: It integrates the outcome estimates from multiple studies
and arrive at an overall judgment on an evaluation question.
Even though evaluation is a potent and necessary tool considered for measuring
the development phenomena in the organisations. Impact of all evaluation can only
be perceived with the organisational output. There must be a continuous loop that
links organisation to performance gap identification to the final evaluation of the
programme.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain formative evaluation.
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2) Highlight various categories of summative evaluation.
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4.4 STAGES IN PROGRAM EVALUATION

Programme evaluation is carried out at through various stages by using data derived
from the policing plan priorities and objective performance gap identification, job
profiles, capacity building design and existing capacity building programme. Each
of these represents a starting point for evaluation and generates a wealth of data
to guide and structure the measurement process. The process of programme
evaluation involves four basic stages that will be discussed as follows:
1) Needs: When we focus on this stage of programme evaluation, we mainly
discuss about the purpose of programme evaluation including expected impact
and outcome of the programme. During this step it is also important to
identify the focus group or participants or stakeholders in the programme,
financial requirement and the time period required for the programme.
2) Planning: As we have discussed in previous unit, planning is an important
aspect in the overall process of organisational development. In a similar
manner, in programme evaluation also planning is of extreme importance. 51
Analysing and Managing the During this stage it is necessary to determine objectives of the programme,
OD Process
gather relevant information and evaluate the planning to identify any loop
holes.
3) Collection of data: After needs are identified and planning is accordingly
carried out, the nest stage is collection of data. During this stage a suitable
model or method for programme evaluation is selected. Also methods for
data collection are finalized based on the objectives, budget and time period.
4) Finalization of the report: The data collected in the above stage is then
analysed and findings are reported to the competent authority for further
application.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What are the starting points to initiate the programme evaluation process.
.....................................................................................................................
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.....................................................................................................................
2) Discuss the relevance of planning as one of the stages of programme
evaluation.
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3) Highlight collection of data as one of the stages in programme evaluation.
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4.5 MODELS OF PROGRAMME EVALUATION

An important decision that the management has to take during implementation of
the process of evaluation is about which model to choose. The choice of a single
model will mainly depend on the nature of the problem or the situation in an
organisation. However an integrative approach using more than one model may
also be used.
Before implementation of any of these models and before the actual process of
evaluation starts it is important to make suitable preparations and create a conducive
environment in the organisation for successful conductance of the evaluation. The
following points are to be taken in to consideration before and at the time an
evaluation is carried out in an organisation:
52
 Evaluation needs identification and setting of objectives by the organisation Programme Evaluation
Process in Organisational
 Planning, design and preparation of the programmes. Development

 Pre-course identification of people with needs and completion of the preparation

required by the evaluation programme.
 Provision of the agreed evaluative programmes.
 Pre-course briefing meeting.
 Completion of end-of-programme Learning Questionnaire or Key Objectives
Learning Questionnaire.
 Completion of Action Plan.
 Post-course debriefing meeting.
 Review meetings to discuss progress of implementation.
 Final implementation review meeting.
Some of the models of programme evaluation are discussed as follows:

4.5.1 Donald Kirkpatrick Model

This model mainly focuses on programmes that are related to learning and training.
Learning/ training evaluation is a widely researched area. Learning lies at the core
of human resource development and is a key to organisational development. Any
organisation would value an effective training programme as it will update the skills
of their employees and make them more efficient.
The four levels of learning/ training evaluation introduced by Kirkpatrick
are as follow:
1) Reaction: Reaction evaluation is how the employees felt about the training
or learning experience. ‘Happy sheets’, feedback forms. Verbal reaction,
post-training surveys or questionnaires can be used in order to find out about
the reactions of those employees who participated in the training programme.
This is of utmost importance as the reactions will not only provide information
about the effectiveness of the training programme and whether to repeat it,
but it will create an impression on the employees that the organisation is
genuinely concerned with the individual development of the employees. This
will increase the morale of the employees in general.
2) Learning: Learning evaluation is the measurement of the increase in
knowledge. That is the status of knowledge before and the status of knowledge
after the training programme. The reaction evaluation will provide information
about the feeling of the employees towards the training programme. The
learning evaluation on the other hand will provide information about the
effectiveness. This can be done by comparing the skills and knowledge of the
employees before and after the training programme. Interview or observation
can also be used.
3) Behaviour: Behaviour evaluation is the extent of applied learning back on
the job - implementation. This is again very important as, what ever learned
by the employees during the training programme has to be implemented. For
this the training programme should be effective enough to encourage and
53
Analysing and Managing the promote transfer of learning at the same time the environment in the organisation
OD Process
should be conducive to transfer of learning.
4) Results: Results evaluation is the effect of training on the business or
environment. Once the training programme is conducted it should be related
to the outcome in the organisation. Whether it led to increase in production,
reduction in absenteeism, increase in profits and so on.
Thus training programmes in an organisation can be evaluated effectively with the
help of this model.

4.5.2 Jack Philip ROI Model

ROI means Return on Investment. As the name suggests the model focuses on
whether the returns or outcome of a particular programme really match the
investment made in them. This is extremely important as investment without positive
outcomes is a loss to an organisation and thus to be avoided. Thus this model can
help us understand ROI in context of a particular programme.
In the process of ROI analysis begins with deliberate attempts to isolate the
effects of training on the data items. The ROI model requires a variety of data
collection tools ranging from questionnaires and surveys to monitoring on the job
performance. Different strategies have been used to accomplish the ROI calculation.
The ROI formula is the annual net programme benefits divided by programme
costs, and net benefits are the monetary value of the benefits minus the costs of
the programme. It is as follows:
ROI (%) = Benefits – Costs × 100costs.
This model also recognises that there would be intangible benefits that will be
presented along with the ROI calculation organisations. Several common strategies
began to emerge that can be considered best practices for calculating an ROI in
training and development. The process of establishing evaluation targets has two
important advantages.
1) It provides measurable objectives for the training staff to clearly measure
progress for all programs or any segment of the process.
2) Adopting targets focuses more attention on the accountability process,
communicating a strong message tothe training staff about the commitment to
measurement and evaluation.
This model consists of five levels, they are discussed as follows:
1) Reaction and Planned Action: This level is similar to that of the Reaction
level we discussed in Donald Kilpatrick Model. The reaction of the participants
is recorded to understand the effectiveness of the programme. Besides the
reaction the planned action or the way the participants intend to apply whatever
learned by them is also taken in to consideration.
2) Learning: In this level stock is taken of the kind of learning or enhancement
of knowledge occurring due to the programme.
3) Job Applications: This mainly focuses on whether the participants are applying
what they learned while carrying out their job activity.
4) Business Results: This level is mainly concerned with whether the earlier
step that is job application had produced any business results or positive
54
outcomes for an organisation.
5) Return on Investment: At this stage the formula can be applied to find out Programme Evaluation
Process in Organisational
whether the outcome has exceeded the investments in terms of finances and Development
other resources.

4.5.3 CIPP Model (Context, Input, Process and Product)

This model was developed by Stufflebeam et al in 1960s as a result of their
experience of evaluating education projects for the Ohio Public Schools District.
As the title suggests the model focuses on the four aspects of context, input,
process and product. The model can be termed as decision-focused approach to
evaluation. It emphasises the systematic provision of information for management
and operation of a programme. This information in turn can be helpful in making
certain decisions.
This model mainly focuses on linking programme to decision making in order to
ensure effective implementation of a programme. This is mainly done with the help
of four aspects that is, context, input, process and product. These aspects are
discussed in details as follows:
1) Context: In context the main focus is collecting data in order to conduct a
needs assessment to determine goals, priorities and objectives of a particular
programme. A context is created in order to understand the future course of
action. The decision involved here is mainly with regard to planning.
2) Input: This deals with what is required for the programme to be successful,
resources and strategies required for successful management of the programme.
The decision here mainly focuses on the structure.
3) Process: This mainly highlights the actual process of implementation of the
programme. Whether it is been implemented as per the plan and if there are
any obstacle that need to be dealt with. The decision thus focuses on
implementation.
4) Product: This aspect focuses on the outcome and whether the whole process
of programme implementation was successful or not. Based on this decision
can be taken with regard to the future course of action.

4.5.4 Kaufman’s Five Levels of Evaluation

Kaufman, Keller & Watkins (1996) promoted an assessment strategy called the
Organisational Elements Model (OEM) which involves four levels of analysis.
Since the introduction of Kaufman’s four-level OEM model, it has been widely
used for evaluation. Kaufman, et al. (1996), for example, later added levels of
impact that go beyond the traditional four-level, training-focused approach which
they felt did not adequately address substantive issues an organisation faces. Such
modification to the model resulted in the addition of a fifth level, which assesses
how the performance improvement program contributes to the good of society in
general as well as satisfying the client. This model is mainly developed to evaluate
a program from the trainee’s point of view Let us discuss the five levels of analysis:
1) Input and Process: This analysis is based on inputs, and focuses on reductions
of cost. This analysis can be divided in two parts, the first part focuses on
the resources, financial, human resource and so on and the second part
highlights the actual process and the reaction of the participants in the
programme in order to understand the effectiveness of the programme.
55
Analysing and Managing the 2) Acquisition: This analysis focuses on the potentiality of the participants involved
OD Process
in the programme to grasp or acquire.
3) Application: This is in a way related to the previous analysis of acquisition.
In this the actual application of knowledge and skills acquired is focused on.
4) Outputs: This relates to the products or services that are delivered to external
clients.
5) Outcomes: This analysis highlights the value of the outputs (the aggregated
products or services) delivered to external clients and their clients and ultimately
to society.

4.5.5 CIRO Model (Content, Input, Reaction and Outcome)

The CIRO model was developed by Birdet al. The main elements of this model
are Content, Input, Reaction and Outcome. It is very similar to the CIPP model.
The main advantage of the CIRO model is that the objectives (context) and the
training equipment (input) are taken in to consideration during the evaluation. The
main elements of the model are discussed as follows:
1) Context evaluation: This evaluation is concerned with factors such as the
effective identification of training needs and the setting of objectives with
focus on organisation’s culture and climate. The context in which the programme
is to be implemented is given utmost importance.
2) Input evaluation: This evaluation is concerned with the design and
implementation of the training activity.
3) Reaction evaluation: It focuses on collecting and using information about
the quality of trainees’ experiences.
4) Outcome evaluation: It highlights the achievements gained from the activity.
The activities are assessed at three levels: (a) immediate, (b) intermediate,
and (c) ultimate evaluation. The focus is on the end results of the evaluation.
Immediate evaluation attempts to measure changes in knowledge, skill, or
attitude before a participant returns to the job. Intermediate evaluation refers
to the impact of training on job performance and transfer of learning on the
job. And ultimate evaluation attempts to assess the impact of training on
departmental or organisational performance in terms of overall results.
Third Wave Consulting
After ten years of Weisbord six box model the new concept of third wave managing
and consulting was introduced by him, in which Weisbord reconsidered the issues
of diagnosis and intervention. Third wave indicates that the world has progressed
through the agricultural revolution (first wave), industrial revolution(second wave)
and information and technological revolution (third wave).Weisbord did not believe
in problem centered model to help people in achieving the desired organisational
diagnosis, instead he preferred wellness to achieving the desired outcome. The
third wave consultant focuses on assessing the potential for action, getting the
whole system in the room, focusing on the future and structuring tasks that people
can do for themselves. This optimistic goal oriented view helps the organisation in
the evaluation process.

56
 Programme Evaluation
Self Assessment Questions Process in Organisational
Development
1) Describe Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluation?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2) Discuss Kaufman model.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3) What is third wave consulting?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................

4.6 LET US SUM UP

With the help of this unit we discussed the concept of programme evaluation and
also described its relevance in an organisational set up. We discussed about the
type of evaluation, stages of programmes and more importantly the various models
of programme evaluation.
A programme is often taken in an organisation inn order to enhance productivity
or profitability. A huge investment in terms of finance, human resource, time and
efforts is made in order to make a particular programme successful. Thus with this
kind of investment systematic planning, management and evaluation of these
programmes is very important in order to ensure success of the programme and
also in order to make decisions about programmes to be conducted in future. The
organisation thus needs to focus and prioritize programme evaluations in their
setup.

4.7 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Discuss the concept programme evaluation in organisational development.
2) Describe various types of evaluation.
3) Highlight the stages of programme evaluation.
4) Discuss how the Kirkpatrick’s model is more effective for programme
evaluation in organisation development?
5) Highlight Kaufman’s Five Levels of Evaluation.
6) Compare CIRO and CIPP model for evaluation. 57
Analysing and Managing the
OD Process 4.8 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES
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Publication Inc.
Ross, P. H;Lipsey M.W and Freeman Howard. (2004). Evaluation: A Systematic
Approach. New Delhi: Sage Publications Inc.
Royse, David; Theyer, Bruce and Padgett Deborah. (2010). Programme
Evaluation: An Introduction. USA: Wadsworth,Cengage Learning.
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New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Bryson, J. 1995. Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organisations: A guide
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Castells, M. 1996. The rise of the network society, the information age: Economy,
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craft, and science of evaluating capacity building. New directions for program
evaluation.Number 93.Spring 2002.
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1994. The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research
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capacity through guided self-assessment. Oklahoma City, OK: World Neighbors.
Hage, J. and K. Finsterbusch. 1987. Organisational change as a development
strategy. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
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evaluation standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Morgan, P. 1998. Capacity and capacity development: Some strategies. Hull: Programme Evaluation
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development programs: What are we learning? Hull: Canadian International
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Jossey-Bass

62
UNIT 1 DEFINITION, FACTORS TO BE
CONSIDERED, NATURE AND
CLASSIFICATION OF OD
INTERVENTIONS
Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Meaning of Organisational Development
1.2.1 Definition of OD
1.2.2 Characteristics of OD
1.2.3 Process of OD
1.2.4 Role of Consultant in OD
1.2.5 Objectives and Values of OD

1.3 Definition and Concept of OD Interventions

1.3.1 Factors of OD Interventions
1.3.2 Readiness for Change
1.3.3 Capability to Change
1.3.4 Cultural Context
1.3.5 Capabilities of the Change Agent
1.3.6 Contingencies Related to the target of Charge

1.4 Organisational Issues

1.4.1 Rules for Implementation

1.5 Nature and Classification of Organisational Development Interventions

1.5.1 Human Processes
1.5.2 Techno Structural
1.5.3 Human Resource Management
1.5.4 Intervention Based on the Underlying Causal Mechanisms

1.6 Major “Families” of OD Intervention Activities

1.7 Let Us Sum Up
1.8 Unit end Questions
1.9 Suggested Readings

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In this unit we will be dealing with organisational development. We start with Meaning
of organisational development, definition, characteristics and process of OD. We
then discuss the role of a consultant in organisational development. The next section
deals with OSD interventions in which we start with definition and concept of of OD
interventions. Then we discuss the various factors that are associated with OD
interventions. Then the discussion passes on to the readiness for change and OD
interventions. Whether the organisation has the capability to change and what the
cultural contexts in which the OD intervention is to be taken up and how the cultural
factors affect OD interventions. Then we take up the capabilities opf the change 5
OD Interventions agent. Following this we deal with organisational issues, and the the implementation
rules thereof. We then discuss the nature and classification of OD intervention and
deal with human processes, the techno structural factors and the management of
human resources. Finally we discuss the major aspects of the OD intervention activities

1.1 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define and give the meaning of organisational development;
 Describe the characteristics of OD;
 Explain the Process of OD;
 Analyse the role of consultant in OD;
 Elucidate the objectives and values of OD;
 Define and conceptualise OD Interventions;
 Delineate the factors of OD interventions;
 Analyse the readiness for change through OD;
 Discuss the organisational issues;
 Classify the organisational interventions; and
 Elucidate the major families of OD intervention activities.

1.2 MEANING OF ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
Change has become a way of life for most organisations. Pressures from increasing
competition, globalisation, technological developments and other forces have created
an environment that rewards organisations that are capable of identifying trends and
issues and responding quickly to them. The element of HRD that can best enable
organisations to embrace and manage change is organisation development. It is not
entirely clear as to who coined the term “Organisation Development” but in all
probability it was Robert Blake, Herbert Shephard and Jane Mouton. The OD
movement gained tremendous momentum by 70s and is increasingly applied throughout
the globe in the present day. It has now been evolved into accepted field of study
and professional practice. It has been estimated that in USA alone more than 5000
persons refer themselves as OD practitioners. Early OD efforts primarily addressed
first order change that is, making moderate adjustments to the organisation, its people
and its processes. Today the demands of the organisation are so great that the
second order change is required in many instances. The fundamental nature of work
and organisation is changing.
Organisation development most frequently referred to as OD is a systematic and
practical approach to launching and defusing change in organisations. It is not a one
time training or development program but is an ongoing and cycling process. It is a
complex educational strategy which aims to bring about a better fit between human
beings who work in organisations and expect things to take place as they visualise
and the busy, unrelenting environment, with its insistence on adapting to changing
times. OD is employed as “comprehensive strategy for organisation improvement”.

6
1.2.1 Definition of OD Definition, Factors to be
Considered, Nature and
Organisational development is a process that is an identifiable flow of interrelated Classification of OD
Interventions
events moving overtime towards goals of organisational improvement and individual
development. It is a journey and not a destination. Organisational development is an
effort planned, organisation – wide and managed from the top to increase organisation
effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organisation’s processes
using behavioural science knowledge (Beckhard, 1996). Organisational development
is a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the
beliefs, attitudes, values and structure of organisations so that they can better adapt
to new technologies, markets and challenges and the dizzying rate to change itself
(Bennis,1969). OD can be defined as a planned and sustained effort to apply
behavioural science for system improvement, using reflexive, self analytic methods.
(Schmuck and Miles, 1971). The aims of OD are…enhancing congruence between
organisational structure, processes, strategy, people and culture, developing new and
creative organisational solutions and developing the organisations self renewing capacity.
(Beer, 1980). OD is a systematic application of behavioural science knowledge to
the planned development and reinforcement of organisational strategies, structures
and processes for improving organisation’s effectiveness. (Cummings and Worley,
1993). To sum up, Organisational Development is a long-term effort, led and
supported by top management, to improve an organisation’s visioning, empowerment,
learning and problem-solving processes, through an ongoing, collaborative management
of organisation culture – with special emphasis on the culture of intact work teams
and other team configurations- using the consultant- facilitator role and the theory
and technology of applied behavioural science, including action research.
The field of OD is so rapidly changing that in few years the label of OD may be
applied to somewhat different set of activities. Every program is unique as every
organisation has unique problems and opportunities. Organisational development is
both a professional field of social action and an area of scientific inquiry. The practice
of OD covers a wide spectrum of activities with a lot of variations. It emphasises
both macro and micro organisational changes: macro changes are intended to ultimately
improve the effectiveness of the organisation, whereas micro changes are directed at
individuals, small groups and teams. The fundamental difference between organisational
development and other organisation improvement programs is found in the OD
consultant’s role and relationship to clients.

1.2.2 Characteristic of OD
1) Long Range Effort: OD is not designed to solve short term temporary or
isolated problems. It is long term approach meant to elevate the organisation to
a higher level of functioning by improving the performance and satisfaction of
organisation members.
2) Broad Based: OD is used broadly to describe a variety of change programs.
It essentially deals with big picture – The Organisation.
3) Dynamic Process: OD includes the effort to guide and direct change as well
as to cope with or adopt to impose change.
4) System View: OD utilises system thinking. It is based on an open, adaptive
system concept. It recognises organisation structure and management performance
are mutually interdependent. The organisation is treated as an interrelated whole
and no part of the organisation can be changed without affecting other parts.
7
OD Interventions 5) Research Based: Most OD interventions are research based, not just introspect
employees rather collect data, evaluate and take decisions.
6) Goal Setting and Planning: Since OD is concerned with the entire organisation,
the change agents define goals of the group and will see to it that together they
all work to achieve the goal.
7) Normative re-educative strategy: OD is based on the principle that “norms
fond the basis of behaviour and change is re-educative process of replacing old
by new ones”.

1.2.3 Process of OD
1) Plan the changes and the process of change, necessarily, in consultations with
the trained and experienced consultants/behavioural experts by advising the top
management and seek their approval. It is primarily initiated by the top
management.
2) Change the attitudes and habits of individuals, particularly, in the areas of
interpersonal behaviour.
3) Create a team culture in the organisation.
4) Work out appropriate new structures.
5) Solve short term day-to-day and long term problems involving external and
internal change.

1.2.4 Role of a Consultant in Organisational Development

OD consultants establish a collaborative relationship of relative equality with the
organisation members as they together identify and take action on problems and
opportunities. The role of the OD consultant is to structure activities to help organisation
members learn to solve their own problems and learn to do it better over time. They
do not provide solutions to the problems but create learning situations in which
problems are identified and solutions are developed. The aim of leaving the organisation
members better able to solve their own problems is a distinctive feature of organisation
development. As an organisational development consultant, the person is devoted to
developing organisations and the people in them through planned change. This includes
working with individuals, teams and large systems.
The organisational development contultant (OD consultant) can take a variety of
approaches to the role ranging from expert to process consultant. They can operate
from the process consultant model which means that the consultant partners with his
clients to identify problems and create solutions. The point of this approach is to
leave the client system more capable of diagnosing and solving its own problems in
the future. Rather than foster dependency, the consultant’s aim is to foster independence.
By its nature, OD consulting is fresh and unique to each client situation. Many
organisations need outside help to continue or improve their operations. As an
organisational development consultant, the person’s role is to assist the company in
determining what its main problems are, how to cope effectively with them, and how
to manage any resistance to changes.
One of the first roles of an organisational development consultant is to identify,
quantify, and accurately describe problems within the company. This is not as easy
8 as it sounds. The issues often are complex, multifaceted, and intertwined with one
another. Observation and employee questionnaires are two tools consultants often Definition, Factors to be
Considered, Nature and
use to determine areas of trouble. Classification of OD
Interventions
Solving a company’s problems is at the heart of organisational development consulting.
After changes are recommended, consultants advise employers on the best way to
implement them while causing the least amount of disruption to the business’s day-
to-day operations.
One of the greatest challenges faced by organisational development consultants is
helping employees accept any changes that are recommended. Consultants should be
encouraged to make employees part of the change process whenever possible,
valuing the input they provide. Employees are less likely to resist changes that they
helped implement.

1.2.5 Objectives and Values of OD

OD is way of looking at the whole humanistic side of organisational life. OD
emphasises on the human dimension of an organisation consisting of main humanistic
values: 1) Opportunities to people to function like human beings rather than be
treated as mere inputs. 2) Opportunities for individual and the organisation to develop
to their full potential. 3). Increasing the effectiveness of individual and organisation.
4) Creating an organisational environment that generates exciting and challenging
work. Thus it focuses on the following objectives:
1) Improving mutual trust and emotional support among all the employees.
2) Promoting, in a healthy manner, incidences of intra-group and inter-group
confrontations.
3) Creating a culture in which authority is based on knowledge and skills.
4) Encouraging open communication bottom up, top down, sideways and diagonally.
5) Increasing the level of enthusiasm and satisfaction among the employees.
6) Promoting problem solving culture.
7) Improving individual employee participation and group participation to plan and
implement.
8) To find Synergistic solutions to problem with greater frequency.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What is the role of the consultant in Organisation Development Intervention?
a) Team building b) Group Development
c) Structuring activities d) Behaviour modification
2) OD objectives do not focus on which of the following?
a) Promoting problem solving culture b) find synergistic solutions
c) open communication d) Survey feedback
3) The organisation is treated as an interrelated whole and no part of the
organisation can be changed without affecting other parts is ————
a) Sensitivity training b) goal setting
c) Group development d) Systems view
9
OD Interventions
1.3 DEFINITION AND CONCEPT OF OD
INTERVENTIONS
OD interventions are sets of structured activities in which selected organisational units
(target groups or individuals) engage in a task or a sequence of tasks with the goal
of organisational improvement and individual development. Interventions constitute
the action thrust of organisation development. Behind every program is an overall
game plan or intervention strategy. This plan integrates the problems or opportunity
to be addressed, the desired outcomes of the program, and the sequencing and
timing of the various interventions. Intervention strategies are based on diagnosis and
the goals desired by the client system. The number of OD intervention is not small
but they all vary in range and depth into the penetration into the organisational system
and the purpose they serve. Most of the OD interventions are inherited from the
predecessor – the Human Relation Movement. OD intervention is not a management
development, not exclusively concerned with people, not a no fail formula, not aimed
at simply making organisation more productive and efficient, not gimmick or Fad, not
a separate discipline.
The different interventions are needed to serve different purposes in the organisation.
It is difficult to classify OD interventions because of their overlapping and interrelated
nature, for instance French and Bell designated 12 families of intervention. OD
practitioner employs any one or range of these interventions depending on the nature
of the problem. They are:
Diagnostic, Team building, Intergroup Activities, Survey Feedback Method, Education
and Training Programs, Techno Structural Activity, Process consultation, The
Management Grid, Mediation and Negotiation Activities, Coaching and Counseling
and Career planning and goal setting activities..

1.3.1 Factors of OD Interventions

In OD, three major criteria define an effective intervention:
1) the extent to which it fits the needs of the organisation;
2) the degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended outcomes; and
3) the extent to which it transfers change-management competence to organisation
members.
The first criterion concerns the extent to which the intervention is relevant to the
organisation and its members. Effective interventions are based on valid information
about the organisation’s functioning; they provide organisation members with
opportunities to make free and informed choices; and they gain members’ internal
commitment to those choices. Valid information is the result of an accurate diagnosis
of the organisation’s functioning. It must reflect fairly what organisation members
perceive and feel about their primary concerns and issues. Free and informed choice
suggests that members are actively involved in making decisions about the changes
that will affect them.
It means that they can choose not to participate and that interventions will not be
imposed on them. Internal commitment means that organisation members accept
ownership of the intervention and take responsibility for implementing it. If interventions
are to result in meaningful changes, management, staff, and other relevant members
10
must be committed to carrying them out. The second criterion of an effective Definition, Factors to be
Considered, Nature and
intervention involves knowledge of outcomes. Because interventions are intended to Classification of OD
produce specific results, they must be based on valid knowledge that those outcomes Interventions
actually can be produced. Otherwise there is no scientific basis for designing an
effective OD intervention. Unfortunately, and in contrast to other applied disciplines
such as medicine and engineering, knowledge of intervention effects is in a rudimentary
stage of development in OD. Much of the evaluation research lacks sufficient rigor
to make strong causal inferences about the success or failure of change programs.
Moreover, few attempts have been made to examine the comparative effects of
different OD techniques. All of these factors make it difficult to know whether one
method is more effective than another.
Despite these problems, more attempts are being made to assess systematically the
strengths and weaknesses of OD interventions and to compare the impact of different
techniques on organisation effectiveness. The third criterion of an effective intervention
involves the extent to which it enhances the organisation’s capacity to manage change.
The values underlying OD suggest that organisation members should be better able
to carry out planned change activities on their own following an intervention. They
should gain knowledge and skill in managing change from active participation in
designing and implementing the intervention. Competence in change management is
essential in today’s environment, where technological, social, economic, arid political
changes are rapid and persistent. They include the following are situational factors
that must be considered in designing any intervention: the organisation’s readiness for
change, its change capability, its cultural context, and the change agent’s skills and
abilities.

1.3.2 Readiness for Change

Intervention success depends heavily on the organisation being ready for planned
change. Indicators of readiness for change include sensitivity to pressures for change,
dissatisfaction with the status quo, availability of resources to support change, and
commitment of significant management time. When such conditions are present,
interventions can be designed to address the organisational issues uncovered during
diagnosis. When readiness for change is low, however, interventions need to focus
first on increasing the organisation’s willingness to change.

1.3.3 Capability to Change

Managing planned change requires particular knowledge and skills, including the
ability to motivate change, to lead change, to develop political support, to manage
the transition, and to sustain momentum. If organisation members do not have these
capabilities, then a preliminary training intervention may be needed before members
can engage meaningfully in intervention design.

1.3.4 Cultural Context

The national culture within which the organisation is embedded can exert a powerful
influence on members’ reactions to change, so intervention design must account for
the cultural values and assumptions held by organisation members. Interventions may
have to be modified to fit the local culture, particularly when OD practices developed
in one culture are applied to organisations in another culture. For example, a team-
building intervention designed for top managers at an American firm may need to be
modified when applied to the company’s foreign subsidiaries.
11
OD Interventions 1.3.5 Capabilities of the Change Agent
Many failures in OD result when change agents apply interventions beyond their
competence. In designing interventions, OD practitioners should assess their experience
and expertise against the requirements needed to implement the intervention effectively.
When a mismatch is discovered, practitioners can explore whether the intervention
can be modified to fit their talents better, whether another intervention more suited
to their skills can satisfy the organisation’s needs, or whether they should enlist the
assistance of another change agent who can guide the process more effectively. The
ethical guidelines under which OD practitioners operate requires full disclosure of the
applicability of their knowledge and expertise to the client situation. Practitioners are
expected to intervene within their capabilities or to recommend someone more suited
to the client’s needs.

1.3.6 Contingencies Related to the Target of Change

OD interventions seek to change specific features or parts of organisations. These
targets of change are the main focus of interventions, and researchers have identified
two key contingencies related to change targets that can affect intervention success:
the organisational issues that the intervention is intended to resolve and the level of
organisational system at which the intervention is expected to have a primary impact.

1.4 ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES

Organisations need to address certain issues to operate effectively. These issues
along with the OD interventions are intended to resolve them. It shows the following
four interrelated issues that are key targets of OD interventions:
1) Strategic issues: Organisations need to decide what products or services they
will provide and the markets in which they will compete, as well as how to
relate to their environments and how to transform themselves to keep pace with
changing conditions. These strategic issues are among the most critical facing
organisations in today’s changing and highly competitive environments. OD
methods aimed at these issues are called strategic interventions. The methods
are among the most recent additions to OD and include integrated strategic
change, mergers and acquisitions, trans-organisational development, and
organisation learning.
2) Technology and structure issues: Organisations must decide how to divide
work into departments and then how to coordinate among those departments
to support strategic directions. They also must make decisions about how to
deliver products or services and how to link people to tasks. OD methods for
dealing with these structural and technological issues are called techno-structural
interventions and include OD activities relating to organisation design, employee
involvement, and work design.
3) Human resources issues: These issues are concerned with attracting competent
people to the organisation, setting goals for them, appraising and rewarding their
performance, and ensuring that they develop their careers and manage stress.
OD techniques aimed at these issues are called human resources management
interventions.
4) Human process issues: These issues have to do with social processes occurring
among organisation members, such as communication, decision making,
12 leadership, and group dynamics. OD methods focusing on these kinds of issues
 are called human process interventions; included among them are some of the Definition, Factors to be
Considered, Nature and
most common OD techniques, such as conflict resolution and team building. Classification of OD
Interventions
1.4.1 Rules for Implementation
There are rules for managing the implementation process.
1) Maximize diagnostic data: In general, interventions will provide data needed to
make subsequent intervention decisions should come first.
2) Maximize effectiveness: Interventions should be sequenced so that early
intervention enhances the effectiveness of subsequent interventions.
3) Maximize efficiency: Interventions should be sequenced to conserve organisation
resources such as time, energy and money.
4) Maximize speed: Interventions should be sequenced to maximize the speed
which ultimate organisational improvement is attained.
5) Maximize relevance: Interventions that management sees as most relevant to
indicate problems should come first.
6) Minimize Psychological and organisational strain: A sequence of intervention
should be chosen that is least likely to create dysfunctional effects such as and
insecurity, distrust, dashed expectations, psychological damage to people, and
anticipated and unwanted effects on organisational performance.
Self Assessment Questions 2
1) Interventions will provide data needed to make subsequent intervention decisions
should come first to————.
a) Maximize efficiency b) Maximize diagnostic data
c) Maximize relevance d) Maximize speed
2) These ———————— are among the most critical facing organisations in
today’s changing and highly competitive environments.
a) Technology issues b) Cultural issues
c) Human resource issues d) Strategic issues
3) Issues that have to with social processes occurring among organisation members,
such as communication, decision making, leadership, and group dynamics are—
—————-
a) Human process issues b) Technology issues
d) Cultural issues d) Strategic issues

1.5 NATURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF OD

INTERVENTIONS
Different interventions have different dynamics; they do different things because they
are based on different casual mechanisms. It is important to know the underline
casual mechanisms of interventions to ensure the interventions fit the desire outcome.
Interventions do different things; they cause different things to happen. One
13
intervention’s major result may be increasing interaction and communication between
OD Interventions parties. Other interventions’ major results may be increasing feedback, or increasing
accountability. These differential results are often exactly what is needed to produce
change in the particular situations. There are some of the results one can expect from
OD intervention: Feedback, Awareness of changing socio cultural norms or
dysfunctional current norms, increased interaction and communication, Confrontation,
education, participation, increased accountability, increased energy and optimism.
Following are some of the OD interventions given under four major classifications:

1.5.1 Human Processes

T group, process consultation, third party intervention, team building, organisational
confrontation meetings, survey research.

1.5.2 Techno Structural

Formal structural change, differentiation and integration, cooperative union-management
projects, total quality management, kaizen, quality circles, work design.

1.5.3 Human Resource Management

Goal setting, performance appraisal, reward systems, career planning and development,
managing work force diversity, employee wellness.
Strategic: Integrated strategic management, culture change, strategic change, self
designing organisations.

1.5.4 Interventions Based On the Underlying Causal

Mechanisms
Robert Blake and Jane Mouton identified the following types of interventions based
on the underlying causal mechanisms:
1) Discrepancy intervention, which calls attention to a contradiction in action or
that then, leads to exploration.
2) Theory intervention, where behavioural science knowledge and theory are
used as plain present behaviour and assumptions underlying the behaviour.
3) Procedural intervention, which represents a critiquing of how something is, be
done to determine whether the best methods are being used.
4) Relationship intervention, which focuses attention on interpersonal relations
(particularly those where there are strong negative feelings) and surfaces the
exploration and possible resolution.
5) Experimentation intervention, in which two different action plans are tested
for consequences before a final decision on one is made.
6) Dilemma intervention, in which an imposed or emergent dilemma is used to
force examination of the possible choices involved and assumptions underlying
them
7) Perspective intervention, which draws attention away from immediate actions
and demands and allows a look at historical background, context and future
objectives order to assess whether or not the actions are “still on target”.
8) Organisational structure intervention, which calls for examination and
14 evaluation structural causes for organisational ineffectiveness.
9) Cultural intervention, which examines traditions, precedents, and practices- Definition, Factors to be
Considered, Nature and
the of the organisation’s culture- in a direct, a focused approach. Classification of OD
Interventions
1.6 MAJOR “FAMILIES” OF OD INTERVENTION
ACTIVITIES
The inventory of OD interventions is quite extensive. We will explore several
classification schemes here to help you understand how interventions “clump” together
terms of (1) the objectives of the interventions, and (2) the targets of the interventions.
Becoming familiar with how interventions relate to one another is useful for planning
the overall OD strategy. The major “families” of OD intervention activities are:
1) Diagnostic Activities: Fact finding activities designed to ascertain the state of
the system. The status of a problem, the “way things are.” Available methods
range from projective devices such as “build a college that represents your
place in this organisation” to the more traditional data collection methods f
interviews, questionnaires, surveys, meetings, and examining organisational
records.
2) Team Building Activities: Activities designed to enhances the effective operation
of system teams. These activities focus on the 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.
3) Intergroup Activities: Activities designed to improve the effectiveness of
interdependent groups-groups that must work together to produce a common
output.
4) Survey Feedback Activities: Activities that rely on questionnaire surveys to
generate information that is then used to identify problems and opportunities.
5) Education and Training Activities. Activities designed to improve individual’s
skills, abilities and knowledge. Several activities are available and several
approaches possible.
6) Techno structural or Structural Activities: Activities designed to improve the
effectiveness of organisational structures and job designs. The activities may
take the form of (a) experimenting with new organisation structures and evaluating
their effectiveness in terms of specific goals or (b) devising new ways to bring
technical resources to bear on problems.
7) Process Consultation Activities: Activities that “help the client to perceive
understand and act upon process events which occur in the client’s environment.”
These activities perhaps more accurately describe an approach, a consulting
mode in which the client gains insight into the human processes in organisation
and learns skills in diagnosing and managing them.
8) Grid Organisation Development Activities: Activities developed by Robert
Blake and Jou Mouton, which constitute a six phase change model involving the
total organisations internal resources are developed to conduct most of the
programs, which may take from to five years to complete.
9) Third- party Peacemaking Activities: Activities conducted by a skilled
consultant (the third party). Designed to “help two members of an organisation
manage their interpersonal conflict”. 15
OD Interventions 10) Coaching and Counseling Activities: Activities that entail the consultant or
other organisation member working with individual to help (a) define learning
goals, (b) learn how others see their behaviour, and (c) learn new behaviours
to help them better achieve their goals.
11) Life and Career Planning Activities: Activities that enable individuals to focus
on their and career objectives and how to go about achieving them. Structured
activities include producing life and career inventories, discussing goals and
objective and assessing abilities, needed additional training and area of strength
and deficiency.
12) Planning and Goal Setting Activities: that include theory and experience in
planning and goal setting problem-solving models, planning paradigms, ideal
organisations status real organisation “discrepancy” models, and the like.
13) Strategic management Activities: Activities that help key policymakers to
reflect systematically on the organisation’s basic mission and goals and
environmental demands, thrums and opportunity and to engage in long-range
action planning of both a reactive and active nature.
14) Organisational Transformation Activities: Activities that involve large scale
system change activities designed to fundamentally change the nature of the
organisation.
Self Assessment Questions 3
1) Which of these is not labeled as Organisation Development Intervention?
a) Team building b) Group Development
c) Process consultation d) Behaviour modification
2) ——————————is an intervention that helps to motivate people to
contribute towards a future that is desirable.
a) Behaviour modifications b) Visioning
c) Sensitivity Training d) Survey feedback
3) Activities designed to improve the effectiveness of organisational structures
and job designs are————
a) Tecno structural activity b) Team building activity
c) Coaching and counseling activities d) Inter group activity

1.7 LET US SUM UP

Each of these families of intervention includes many activities. They involve both
conceptual material and actual experience with the phenomenon being studied. Some
families are directed toward specific, targets, problems or processes. Another way
to classify OD interventions is by the primary target of the intervention, for example,
individuals, dyads and triads, teams and group, intergroup relations, and the total
organisational.

16
 Definition, Factors to be
1.8 UNIT END QUESTIONS Considered, Nature and
Classification of OD
1) “Organisational development has become imperative in view of dynamics of Interventions
external environmental conditions and internal tensions and strain”. Justify this
statement.
2) What is an OD Intervention? Discuss its concept and nature.
3) Describe the factors to be considered for OD interventions.
4) Discuss the types of interventions based on the underlying causal mechanisms
given by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton.
5) Elucidate the major “families” of OD intervention activities.

1.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

Cummings, T.G. &Worley, C.G., Organisational Development and Change,
Thomson: Singapore.
Desimone, R.L., Werner, J.M. & Harris, D.M., Human Resource Development,
Thomson: Singapore.
Dwivedi,R.S, Human Relations And Organisational Behaviour: A Global
Perspective, Macmillan:ND
French, Wendell L & Bell, Cecill H Jr.: Organisational Development: Behavioural
Science Interventions For Organisational Improvement, Pearson ND (LDA)
Tosi, LH, Mrero, NP & Rizzo, John R: Managing Organisational Behaviour,
Blackwell: Oxford

17
 UNIT 2 SELECTION AND ORGANISING OF
INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES
Structure
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Selection of Organisational Development Intervention Activities
2.2.1 Framework of OD Intervention Activities
2.2.2 Issues to be considered while Selecting OD Intervention Activities
2.2.2.1 Factors that Impact the Success of OD Interventions
2.2.2.2 Assumptions about the Nature and Functioning of Organisations
2.3 Designing of OD Interventions
2.3.1 Designing Interventions
2.3.2 Definition of Effective Interventions
2.3.3 Specific Roles
2.3.4 Steps in Designing the Intervention Strategy
2.4 Organising of OD Intervention Activities
2.5 Let Us Sum Up
2.6 Unit End Questions
2.7 Suggested Readings

2.0 INTRODUCTION
In this unit we are dealing with selection and organising of intervention activities. In
this we first discuss the framework of Organisational Development intervention
actyivites. Selection of organisational development intervention activities requires a
framework of OD interventions which are presented in this section. Following this is
the issues to be considered while selecting OD intervention. The next section deals
with the factors that impact OD interventions and how to design OD interventions
and the steps thereof are discussed in the next section. The next section deals with
organising of OD intervention activities which involves guidelines in selecting the OD
interventions, the work setting itself in which the programme will be introduced an
the rewards system that goes to make the programme a success.

2.1 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define organisational development Interventions;
 Describe its characteristics;
 Explain the Selection of organisational development intervention activities;
 Elucidate the framework for OD intervention activities;
 Describe the different OD interventions;
 Elucidate the steps required to introduce OD interventions;
 Explain how to design OD intervention activities; and
18  Describe the specific roles and steps in designing OD interventions.
 Selection and Organising
2.2 SELECTION OF ORGANISATIONAL of Intervention Activities
DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES
An organisation development intervention is a sequence of activities, actions, and
events intended to help an organisation improve its performance and effectiveness.
Intervention design, or action planning, derives from careful diagnosis and is meant
to resolve specific problems and to improve particular areas of organisational functioning
identified in the diagnosis. OD interventions vary from standardised programs that
have been developed and used in many organisations to relatively unique programs
tailored to a specific organisation or department.
All OD programs have three basic components: diagnosis, action and program
management. The diagnostic component represents a continuous collection of data
about the total system, its subunits, its processes and its culture. The action component
consists of all the activities and interventions designed to improve organisation’s
functioning. The program management component encompasses all activities designed
to ensure success of the program. While diagnosing the state of the system, focusing
on the client’s concerns, strengths, problem areas, unrealised opportunities and
discrepancy between vision of desired future and the current situation will give a
valuable input for the correct selection made regarding the OD intervention activity.
The selection of the OD intervention activity will also be influenced by the approach
that is taken towards these components. It will also be determined by the framework
of OD intervention activities that is used to obtain the diagnostic data.

2.2.1 Framework of OD Intervention Activities

While making a selection of the OD intervention activity two types of frameworks
to classify interventions are identified: process models and content models. This also
helps to choose the intervention which suits the requirements. Process models explain
the intervention process or strategy. These models communicate the “do’s” and
“don’ts” or blueprints of interventions ranging from the early stages of diagnosis of
the need of OD in the workplace, through conducting changes and evaluating the
results. We find them to be potentially useful in helping organisations follow critical
issues as interventions unfold. The process models have a distinctive focus on the
approach or steps taken to institute interventions in the organisation. These process
guides vary on the elements of focus in an intervention but they are all loosely
consistent with models seen in the general management (e.g. decision making, change
management) and health and safety literatures (e.g. risk assessment).
Content models or taxonomies on the other hand are more concerned with the
elements of the job, person or organisation that need to change. These taxonomies
use features that characterise the intervention such as the popular primary, secondary
and tertiary classification of interventions. They are useful for listing any number of
intervention strategies found in organisations (e.g., EAPs, Job design) but are seriously
lacking in their ability to help organisations chose which type of intervention best
deals with identified problems. The content models or taxonomies found in the
literature represent the organisational, job, individual or other content areas in which
changes can be brought. In their simplest form these models are a catalogue of such
human resource techniques or programs (e.g., EAPs, Role Clarification, Job Design,
and Relaxation). They vary on the characteristics by which they categorise the strategies.
In some cases, the classification lends itself to reviewing the major types of interventions
in the literature because of a focus on main differentiating (theoretical) elements of
focus. Parkes and Sparkes (1998) divide interventions into two major types— 19
OD Interventions Socio-technical interventions and psychosocial interventions. In this scheme, the socio-
technical interventions— which are also techno-structural—”are primarily concerned
with changes to objective/structural aspects of the work situation (e.g., staffing levels,
work schedules, company mergers, work patterns, staff meetings) which have
implications for the stress, health and job satisfaction among the personnel concerned”.
They view these interventions as most likely to manipulate objective work conditions
and therefore more readily amenable to systematic study. They might also be seen
as consisting of mostly primary interventions focusing on the objectives.
To better guide research and interventions, we propose an evidence-based framework
as a hybrid model. Evidence-based practices or interventions are quickly gaining
momentum in numerous medical and social fields. Put simply, they prescribe
interventions based on evidence. Such requires a clear explanation and evidence of
the sources of problems (e.g. stressors) and their consequences so as to then propose
and evaluate interventions that are expected to deal with the problem in its entirety.
Within context, the framework communicates the evidence that exist for interventions
relating to the problems. It is an improvement over the content models that simply
list intervention methods with little to no reference to the problems as it intends to
address, and requires that an account of the strength of existing evidence is taken.
If interventions are bunched into a “broad” grouping, the limited research does
suggest success for “Socio-technical” interventions. Interventions of this type center
on objective changes in the work-environment which include elements related to job
design in most instances. So changes in workload and schedules, for instances, seem
to have important effects on well-being and performance. Evidence is mixed for
psychosocial types of interventions. These are “approaches intended to change
employees’ perceptions of the work environment through strategies such as increasing
participation, communication and social support, reducing role ambiguity and conflict,
and enhancing control over work tasks”.

2.2.2 Issues to be Considered while Selecting OD

Intervention Activities
Organisational development interventions refer to the techniques (methods) created
by OD professionals, coaches and mentors to help solve the pressing problems of
organisations who seek their services. A single organisational consultant cannot use
all the interventions available in his arsenal. It is always preferable to use interventions
when the need arises. This therefore calls for an effective understanding of the
organisation, its needs and the problems it is facing so as to make sure that the right
intervention tools solve the right kinds of problems.

2.2.2.1 Factors that Impact the Success of OD Interventions

I) Factors relating to Change Situation
These relate to the environment of the organisation and include the physical and
human environment.
Readiness for Change: Intervention success depends heavily on the organisation
being ready for planned change.
Capability to Change: Managing planned change requires particular knowledge
and skills including the ability to motivate change, to lead change, to develop political
support, to manage transition, and to sustain momentum.

20
Cultural Context: The national culture within which an organisation is embedded
can exert a powerful influence on members’ reactions to change, and so intervention Selection and Organising
of Intervention Activities
design must account for the cultural values and assumptions held by organisation
members.
Capabilities of the Change Agent (OD Consultant): The success of OD
interventions depend to a great extent on the expertise, experience and talents of the
consultant.
II) 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 organisation and at different levels.
A) Organisational Issues
1) Strategic Issues: Strategic issues refer to major decisions of organisations
such as what products or services to offer, which markets to serve, mergers,
acquisitions, expansions, etc.
2) Technology and Structure Issues: These refer to issues relating to how
organisations divide their work amongst departments and how they coordinate
between departments.
3) Human Resource Issues: These issues are concerned with attracting competent
people to the organisation, setting goals for them, appraising and rewarding their
performance, and ensuring that they develop their careers and manage stress.
4) Human Process Issues: These issues have to do with social processes occurring
among organisation members, such as communication, decision-making,
leadership, and group dynamics.
B) Organisational Levels
OD interventions are aimed at different levels of the organisation: individual, group,
organisation and trans-organisation (for example different offices of the organisation
around the globe; or between organisation and its suppliers, customers, etc.) In
addition to facing interrelated issues, organisations function at different levels—
individual, group, organisation and trans-organisation. Thus, organisational levels are
targets of change in OD.
For example, some techno-structural interventions affect mainly individuals and groups
(for example, work design), whereas others impact primarily the total organisation
(for example, structural design). Many OD interventions also have a secondary
impact on the other levels. For example, structural design affects mainly the organisation
level but can have an indirect effect on groups and individuals because it sets the
broad parameters for designing work groups and individual jobs.
Again, practitioners need to think systemically. They must design interventions to
apply to specific organisational levels, address the possibility of cross-level effects,
and perhaps integrate interventions affecting different levels to achieve overall success.
For example, an intervention to create self-managed work teams may need to be
linked to organisation-level changes in measurement and reward systems to promote
team-based work.
2.2.2.2 Assumptions about the Nature and Functioning of Organisations
There are many possible intervention strategies from which to choose. Several
assumptions about the nature and functioning of organisations are made in the choice
of a particular strategy. Beckhard lists six such assumptions: 21
OD Interventions 1) The basic building blocks of an organisation are groups (teams). Therefore, the
basic units of change are groups, not individuals.
2) An always relevant change goal is the reduction of inappropriate competition
between parts of the organisation and the development of a more collaborative
condition.
3) Decision making in a healthy organisation is located where the information
sources are, rather than in a particular role or level of hierarchy.
4) Organisations, subunits of organisations, and individuals continuously manage
their affairs against goals. Controls are interim measurements, not the basis of
managerial strategy.
5) One goal of a healthy organisation is to develop generally open communication,
mutual trust, and confidence between and across levels.
6) People support what they help create. People affected by a change must be
allowed active participation and a sense of ownership in the planning and conduct
of the change.

2.3 DESIGNING OF OD INTERVENTIONS

2.3.1 Designing Interventions
An organisation development intervention is a sequence of activities, actions, and
events intended to help an organisation improve its performance and effectiveness.
Intervention design, or action planning, derives from careful diagnosis and is meant
to resolve specific problems and to improve particular areas of organisational functioning
identified in the diagnosis. OD interventions vary from standardised programs that
have been developed and used in many organisations to relatively unique programs
tailored to a specific organisation or department.
Behind every program is an overall game plan or intervention strategy. This plan
integrates the problem or opportunity to be addressed, the desired outcomes of the
program, and sequencing and timing of the various interventions. Intervention strategies
are based on diagnosis and the goals desired by the client system. Designing OD
interventions requires paying careful attention to the needs and dynamics of the
change situation and crafting a change program that will be consistent with the
previously described criteria of effective interventions. Current knowledge of OD
interventions provides only general prescriptions for change. There is scant precise
information or research about how to design interventions or how they can be
expected to interact with organisational conditions to achieve specific results. Moreover,
because the ability to implement most OD interventions is highly dependent on the
skills and knowledge of the change agent, the design of an intervention will depend
to some extent on the expertise of the practitioner. Two major sets of contingencies
that can affect intervention success are: those having to do with the change situation
(including the practitioner) and those related to the target of change. Both kinds of
contingencies need to be considered in designing interventions.

2.3.2 Definition of Effective Interventions

The term intervention refers to a set of sequenced planned actions or events intended
to help an organisation increase its effectiveness. Interventions purposely disrupt the
status quo; they are deliberate attempts to change an organisation or subunit toward
22
a different and more effective state. In OD, three major criteria define an effective Selection and Organising
of Intervention Activities
intervention:
1) the extent to which it fits the needs of the organisation;
2) the degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended outcomes; and
3) the extent to which it transfers change-management competence to organisation
members.
The first criterion concerns the extent to which the intervention is relevant to the
organisation and its members. Effective interventions are based on valid information
about the organisation’s functioning; they provide organisation members with
opportunities to make free and informed choices; and they gain members’ internal
commitment to those choices. Valid information is the result of an accurate diagnosis
of the organisation’s functioning. It must reflect fairly what organisation members
perceive and feel about their primary concerns and issues. Free and informed choice
suggests that members are actively involved in making decisions about the changes
that will affect them.
It means that they can choose not to participate and that interventions will not be
imposed on them. Internal commitment means that organisation members accept
ownership of the intervention and take responsibility for implementing it.
If interventions are to result in meaningful changes, management, staff, and other
relevant members must be committed to carrying them out. The second criterion of
an effective intervention involves knowledge of outcomes. Because interventions are
intended to produce specific results, they must be based on valid knowledge that
those outcomes actually can be produced. Otherwise there is no scientific basis for
designing an effective OD intervention.
Unfortunately, and in contrast to other applied disciplines such as medicine and
engineering, knowledge of intervention effects is in a rudimentary stage of development
in OD. Much of the evaluation research lacks sufficient rigor to make strong causal
inferences about the success or failure of change programs. Moreover, few attempts
have been made to examine the comparative effects of different OD techniques. All
of these factors make it difficult to know whether one method is more effective than
another.
Despite these problems, more attempts are being made to assess systematically the
strengths and weaknesses of OD interventions and to compare the impact of different
techniques on organisation effectiveness. The third criterion of an effective intervention
involves the extent to which it enhances the organisation’s capacity to manage change.
The values underlying OD suggest that organisation members should be better able
to carry out planned change activities on their own following an intervention. They
should gain knowledge and skill in managing change from active participation in
designing and implementing the intervention. Competence in change management is
essential in today’s environment, where technological, social, economic, arid political
changes are rapid and persistent.

2.3.3 Specific Roles

There are at least three distinct sets of roles that must be fulfilled when designing and
implementing intervention strategy – the change manager, the change agent, and the
roles played by individuals within the system that is being changed. The change
manager oversees the design of the intervention strategy. This person would have 23
OD Interventions overall responsibility for assessing the need for change, determining the appropriate
intervention activities, implementing the strategy and evaluating the results. The change
agent assists the change manager in developing and implementing change strategy.
This person should have knowledge of OD theories, concepts, practices and research
results so that he or she can advice the change manager on implementing issues and
the efficacy of different intervention strategies. For example, if during the initial stages
of designing the intervention strategy, the change manager lacks understanding of
some of the key concepts of planned change, the change agent may act as a trainer
and educator to ensure that these concepts are understood. The change agent must
address himself to all of these hazards and obstacles. Some of the things which will
help him are:
1) A real need in the client system to change
2) Genuine support from management
3) Setting a personal example: listening, supporting behaviour
4) A sound background in the behavioural sciences
5) A working knowledge of systems theory
6) A belief in man as a rational, self-educating being fully capable of learning better
ways to do things.
The roles of individuals within the system that is the target of the intervention
strategy are determined by the change manager. Change committees or task forces
are important for helping to collect data, develop team skills and define the emerging
tasks and roles within the system. Therefore to design an intervention strategy, the
change manager with the help of the change agent and others in the system, must be
able to diagnose the existing environment for change, develop and implement a plan
of action and evaluate the results of the intervention to determine if the desired
behavioural changes have occurred.
HRD practitioners have two primary roles in the design of OD interventions; first
they can serve as change agents and second can play role in the design and
implementation of OD interventions. OD interventions and labour relations are
inextricably linked. If an organisation wants to bring about lasting change in a unionised
work environment, management must first attempt to make labor relations a more
rational process. They must view union leaders as partners in change and emphasise
that their commitment to long term goals for change is important.

2.3.4 Steps in Designing the Intervention Strategy

Consistent with system theory, organisational issues are interrelated and need to be
integrated with each other. Organisation’s need to match answers to one set of
questions, with answers to other sets of questions to achieve high levels of effectiveness.
For example, decisions about gaining competitive advantage need to fit with choices
about organisation structure, setting goals for and rewarding people, communication,
and problem solving. Thus, intervention design must create change methods appropriate
to the organisational issues identified and diagnosed. Moreover, because the
organisational issues are themselves linked together, OD interventions similarly need
to be integrated with one another. For example, a goal-setting intervention that tries
to establish motivating goals may need to be integrated with supporting interventions,
such as a reward system that links pay to goal achievement. The key point is to think
24 systemically. Interventions aimed at one kind of organisational issue will invariably
have repercussions on other kinds of issues. Careful thinking about how OD Selection and Organising
of Intervention Activities
interventions affect the different kinds of issues and how different change programs
might be integrated to bring about a broader and more coherent impact on
organisational functioning are critical to effective intervention activity. Some of the
steps involved in designing the intervention strategy / activities are:
Diagnose the environment: Diagnosing the environment is an assessment process
that focuses on determining the readiness of the target group to accept change. Force
field analysis is essential to analyse the driving and restraining forces. To determine
the effectiveness of the intervention activity it is required that the change manager
reduces the resistance.
Organisation of report: The report begins with an overview of the theoretical
framework underpinning our conceptualisation of problem areas. This allows all
readers, familiar or new to the topic, to develop a common bearing for the concepts
and terminology. That section is followed by a brief methods section wherein the
scope of literature search is discussed, for the purposes of this mandate. This search
led to the development of the report’s core elements contained in both the results and
recommendation sections. The results section overviews basic frameworks, models
and strategies with commentary and criticism on their utility. Then it is proposed how
a framework might best “evolve” from this review for the purposes outlined in
objectives. The results section will then end with a brief summary of evidence related
to objectives. The final section of the report will close with recommendations meant
to guide the efforts of research and practices. In a practical sense, those factors that
will assist organisations and researchers to make changes that are likely to have a
positive impact are recommended
Preparation of the report: A preliminary report to serve as a discussion piece
during a consultative symposium with invited international, national and local experts
is prepared. This symposium report hereafter includes commentary received from
these participants.
Literature search: The literature review for this work is conducted over a six-
month period The main goal of this search is to uncover any papers, articles or
reports that refer to studies conducted on the intervention in the workplace, any
reviews of such studies and any conceptual or theoretical papers reflecting on the
topic.
Results of literature search: Several frameworks have been proposed as a means
of integrating intervention strategies. Over twenty-six years ago, Newman and Beehr
(1979) conducted what is considered to be a first comprehensive review of the
literature and at that time presented a way of classifying intervention types. Elements
of that method are still in evidence today and used for practical purposes within more
elaborated systems of diagnosis and action (e.g., Cox et al, 2000). In fact, its
elements are arguably part of other frameworks or models proposed.
Development of an action plan: Involves identifying specific target variables and
determining the techniques that will be used to bring about change. The action plan
specifies intervention strategy
Analysis and evaluation of the intervention choice: The analysis focuses on a
thorough examination of the project objectives through this existing literature, conceptual
models and the several competent, detailed reviews recently conducted. It also
throws light in context of the related literature for the choice, success or failure of
intervention activities. 25
OD Interventions Therefore the following objectives get fulfilled:
Objective 1 calls for a meaningful framework that integrates intervention strategies.
Accordingly, several frameworks are identified and are reviewed.
Objective 2 deals with evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of organisational
intervention strategies.
Objective 3 corresponds to the implications of findings for research and organisational
practice regarding the intervention activities. In the recommendation and conclusion
section, the implications are examined.
Thus considering the following framework, issues assumptions and guidelines the
intervention strategies and activities are selected and designed to suit the organisation
and the individuals within.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What is the role of the change manager in OD Intervention activities?
a) Team functioning b) assessing the need for change
c) oversees design of intervention d) determining appropriate
intervention activities
2) Which of these is not a framework model for OD interventions?
a) Process model b) evidence- based framework
c) content model d) human resource model
3) Factors Related to the Target of Change include————
a) Strategic Issues b) Human Process Issues
b) Technology and Structure Issues d) Systems issues

2.4 ORGANISING OF OD INTERVENTION

ACTIVITIES
“Interventions” are principal learning processes in the “action” stage of organisation
development. Interventions are structured activities used individually or in combination
by the members of a client system to improve their social or task performance. They
may be introduced by a change agent as part of an improvement program, or they
may be used by the client following a program to check on the state of the
organisation’s health, or to effect necessary changes in its own behaviour. “Structured
activities” mean such diverse procedures as experiential exercises, questionnaires,
attitude surveys, interviews, relevant group discussions, and even lunchtime meetings
between the change agent and a member of the client organisation. Every action that
influences an organisation’s improvement program in a change agent-client system
relationship can be said to be an intervention.
Interventions range from those designed to improve the effectiveness of individuals
through those designed to deal with teams and groups, intergroup relations, and the
total organisation. There are interventions that focus on task issues (what people do),
and those that focus on process issues (how people go about doing it). Finally,
interventions may be roughly classified according to which change mechanism they
tend to emphasise: for example, feedback, awareness of changing cultural norms,
interaction and communication, conflict, and education through either new knowledge
or skill practice.
26
Michel Beer suggest some guideline for choosing and sequencing intervention activities Selection and Organising
of Intervention Activities
such as maximize diagnostic data, maximize effectiveness, maximize efficiency, maximize
speed, maximize relevance and minimize psychological and organisational strain. There
are some ways to structure activities to promote learning and change are better and
some are worse. To structure activities in better ways some points help practitioner
such as:
 Structure the activity to include the relevant people, affected by the problem or
the opportunity.
 Structure the activity so that it is (a) problem oriented or opportunity oriented
and (b) oriented to the problems and opportunities generated by the clients
themselves.
 Structure the activity so that the goal is clear and the way to reach the goal is
clear.
 Structure the activity to ensure a high probability of success.
 Structure the activity so that it contains both experience- based learning and
conceptual learning,
 Structure the climate of the activity so those individuals are freed up rather than
anxious or defensive.
 Structure the activity so that the participants learn both how to solve a particular
problem and learn how to learn.
 Structure the activity so that individuals learn about task and process.
 Structure the activity so that individuals are engaged as whole persons, not
segmented persons.

INTERVENTION ACTIVITY
ORGANISATIONAL
WORK SETTING

Social factors

Organising arrangements Physical setting

Technology

ORGANISATIONAL

OUTCOMES

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PERFORMANCE OF INDIVIDUAL

Fig. 1: Organisation and Implementation of Intervention for Organisational Development

and Change

The figure above explains how the intervention activity will go through the organisational
work setting and consider issues like social factors, physical setting, technology and
27
OD Interventions organising arrangements according to the requirements of the organisation to obtain
organisational outcomes in the form of individual development and effective
organisational performance.
Contingencies Related to the Change Situation: Researchers have identified a
number of contingencies present in the change situation that can affect intervention
success. These include individual differences among organisation members (for
example, needs for autonomy), organisational factors (for example, management
style and technical uncertainty), and dimensions of the change process itself (for
example, degree of top-management support). Unless these factors are taken into
account in designing an intervention, it will have little impact on organisational
functioning or, worse, it may produce negative results. For example, to resolve
motivational problems among blue-collar workers in an oil refinery it is important to
know whether interventions intended to improve motivation (for example, job
enrichment) will succeed with the kinds of people who work there. In many cases,
knowledge of these contingencies results in modifying or adjusting the change program
to fit the setting. In applying a reward-system intervention to an organisation, the
changes might have to be modified depending on whether the firm wants to reinforce
individual or team performance.
One of the most difficult tasks confronting the change agent is to help create in the
client system a safe climate for learning and change. In a favourable climate, human
learning builds on itself and continues indefinitely during man’s lifetime. Out of new
behaviour, new dilemmas and problems emerge as the spiral continues upward to
new levels. In an unfavourable climate, in contrast, learning is far less certain, and in
an atmosphere of psychological threat, it often stops altogether. Unfreezing old ways
can be inhibited in organisations because the climate makes employees feel that it is
inappropriate to reveal true feelings, even though such revelations could be constructive.
In an inhibited atmosphere, therefore, necessary feedback is not available. Also,
trying out new ways may be viewed as risky because it violates established norms.
Such an organisation may also be constrained because of the law of systems: If one
part changes, other parts will become involved. Hence, it is easier to maintain the
status quo. Hierarchical authority, specialisation, span of control, and other
characteristics of formal systems also discourage experimentation.
A few examples of interventions include team building, coaching, Large Group
Interventions, mentoring, performance appraisal, downsizing, TQM, and leadership
development.
The following are the different kinds of organisational development interventions:
 Sensitivity training
 Survey feedback
 Development discussion
 Goal setting and planning
 Team building and management objective.
 Managerial grid
 Job enrichment, participative management and quality circles.
 Process consultation intervention
28
 Inter-group Team-Building Interventions Selection and Organising
of Intervention Activities
 Third-Party Peacemaking Interventions
 Structural Interventions
These kinds of intervention can be used in various settings depending on the need
of the organisation. Survey feedback intervention provides data and information to
all the managers. Information related to the attitude, structure, working conditions will
be included in the survey. Managers analyse the data pertaining to each and every
employee and takes appropriate action. They try to analyse the problem, evaluate
the result and correct the problem.
On the other hand, along the consultation process, the consultant meets all departments,
work teams, and observes the interaction and skill levels of those working in those
areas. Goal setting and planning goals are important for the overall strategic plans for
the profitability of the organisation. Managerial grid identifies management behaviour
on different ways. It looks into production-oriented factors as well as the employee-
oriented factors and combines them to interact with each other. It also gives the
structural view of the laboratory training. Managerial grid interventions also relate to
the leadership skills.
Self Assessment Questions
1) To structure activities in better ways practitioner do the following—————
a) Structure activity for individuals to learn b) Structure activity to ensure
success
c) Structure day to day activities d) Structure activity to
include relevant people
2) Which of these is not an intervention activity?
a) Diagnostic process b) Survey feedback
c) Development discussion d) Sensitivity training
3) Survey feedback intervention provides data and information to all the managers
about———
a) attitude b) structure
c) working conditions d) all of these

2.5 LET US SUM UP

The growth of any organisation pulls its peoples to change their thinking toward
organisational development interventions. People with planned and changed
interventions can grow in organisations. An intervention forms the front view of any
developed organisation. So it is important to follow and implement creative
interventions. In implementing OD interventions, it is important to apply criteria to
goals, experiment with alternative arrangements, establish inter unit task force, and
identify key communicators and fire-able offenses.
An intervention forms the appropriate relationship between strategy and organisational
development. So a development model is required to reflect the human resource
management and structure to build the organisational development intervention. At
29
OD Interventions last an intervention makes a way for the effective business development with lots of
competition.

2.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) How can you ensure the success of the implementation of organisational
development interventions in your organisation?
2) How will you know if you’re using the right kind of intervention?
3) Why is the role of a manager critical to the success of the intervention?
4) Discuss the framework of OD intervention activities in context to the various
related issues.
5) Describe the designing of OD intervention activities and the specific roles played
at different levels by people in designing and implementing these activities.

2.7 SUGGESTED READINGS

Desimone, R.L., Werner, J.M. & Harris, D.M., Human Resource Development,
Thomson: Singapore.
Dwivedi,R.S, Human Relations And Organisational Behaviour: A Global
Perspective, Macmillan: ND
French, Wendell L & Bell, Cecill H Jr.: Organisational Development: Behavioural
Science Interventions For Organisational Improvement, Pearson ND (LDA)

30
UNIT 3 TYPOLOGY OF INTERVENTIONS
BASED ON TARGET GROUPS
Structure
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Typology of Interventions
3.3 Classification of OD Interventions Based on Target Groups
3.3.1 Information Based Interventions
3.3.2 Consequence Based Interventions
3.3.3 Design Based Interventions

3.4 Description of OD Interventions Based on Target Groups

3.4.1 Interpersonal Interventions
3.4.2 Group Interventions
3.4.3 Intergroup Interventions
3.4.4 Rotating Membership Interventions
3.4.5 Comprehensive Interventions

3.5 Interventions Related To Total Organisations

3.5.1 Socio Technical System (STS)
3.5.2 Structural Change Interventions
3.5.3 Parallel Learning Structures
3.5.4 MBO (Participation Form)
3.5.5 Cultural Analysis
3.5.6 Confrontation Meetings
3.5.7 Visioning
3.5.8 Strategic Planning /Strategic Management Activities
3.5.9 Real Time Strategic Change
3.5.10 Grid OD 4, 5, 6
3.5.11 Interdependency Exercise
3.5.12 Survey Feedback
3.5.13 Appreciative Inquiry
3.5.14 Search Conferences
3.5.15 Quality of Work Life (QWL) Programme

3.6 Total Quality Management

3.7 Let Us Sum Up
3.8 Unit End Questions
3.9 Suggested Readings

3.0 INTRODUCTION
This unit deals with typology of interventions based on target groups. We start with
defining what is typology of interventions. We describe the various dimensions related
to typology of interventions and we discuss the results that will be obtained from OD
interventions. Then we take up classification of interventions and discuss the
classifications in terms of information based interventions, consequence based 31
OD Interventions interventions and design based interventions. Then we present the target groups like
individuals etc. and the related typology of organisational development (OD)
interventions. Then we take up description of OD interventions based on target
groups in which we discuss interpersonal interventions, group interventions, intergroup
interventions and comprehensive interventions. This is followed by the section in
which we discuss interventions related to total organistions. In this we discuss socio
technical systems, parallel learning structures, cultural analysis etc. Then we deal with
characteristics of OD practitioners role.

3.1 OBJECTIVES
On completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define and describe typology of interventions;
 Describe the various dimensions of interventions;
 Describe target groups and the typology of interventions;
 Explain OD interventions based on target groups;
 Analyse different types of OD interventions in terms of the target groups; and
 Elucidate the characteristics of OD practitioners.

3.2 TYPOLOGY OF INTERVENTIONS

Blake and Mouton have continued to refine the nature of interventions and proposed
a theory and typology for the entire consultation field. The typology called the
Consulcube is a hundred/ cell cube depicting virtually all consultation situations. The
cube is built on three dimensions.
i) The first is what the consultant does, that is, which of five basics types of
intervention the consultant uses – acceptant (the consultant gives the client a
sense of worth, value, acceptance, and support); catalytic (the consultant helps
the client generate data and information to restructure the client’s perceptions);
confrontation(the consultant point out value discrepancies in the client’s beliefs
and actions); prescriptions (the consultant tells the client what to do to solve
the problem); and theories and principles (the consultant teaches the client
relevant behavioural science theory so the client can learn to diagnose and solve
his or her own problems.
ii) The second dimension is the focal issues causing the client’s problems. Blake
and Mouton identified four focal issue categories: power/authority, moral/cohesion,
norms/standard of conduct and goals/objectives.
iii) The third dimension of the cube is the unit of change that is the target of the
consultation. Five units are proposed: individual, group, intergroup, organisation,
and larger social systems such as a community or even a society. Blake and
Mouton’s Counsulcube represents a major contribution to developing a theory
of consultation and intervention.
Interventions do different things; they cause different things to happen. One
intervention’s major result may be increasing interaction and communication between
parties. Another intervention’s major result may be increasing feedback, or increasing
accountability. These differential results are often exactly what are needed to produce
32 change in the particular situation.
The results one can expect from OD interventions are: Typology of Interventions
Based on Target Groups
 Feedback referring to learning new data about oneself, others, group processes
or organisational dynamics;
 Awareness of changing Sociocultural Norms or dysfunctional current norms
helps people modify their behaviour, attitudes and values accordingly;
 Increased interaction and communication between individuals and groups;
 Confrontation with differences in beliefs, feelings, attitudes, values etc.;
 Education activities upgrade knowledge and concepts, beliefs and attitudes and
skills.
 Participation in problem solving, goal setting and generating new ideas;
 Increased accountability, energy and optimism.
Interventions ‘clump’ together in terms of (1) the objectives of the interventions and
(2) the targets of the interventions.

3.3 CLASSIFICATION OF OD INTERVENTIONS

BASED ON TARGET GROUPS
The interventions include many activities involving both conceptual material and actual
experience with the phenomenon being studied. Some families are directed toward
specific targets, problems or processes. One way to classify OD interventions is by
the primary target of the intervention e.g. individuals, dyads and triads, teams and
groups, intergroup relations and the total organisation. Another way is on the basis
of the content of the intervention i.e. Information- based, consequences based and
design based.

3.3.1 Information-Based Interventions

1) Interventions that define : Activities that specify or clarify the vision, mission,
purpose, process, products, services, market position, roles, relationships,
responsibilities, outcomes, expectations, and so on. Examples: holding sessions
to create vision statements; confirming market direction and market niche; mutually
setting performance goals. This intervention is delivered when people are unclear,
disagree, or have different expectations; there are conflicting objectives; or
people do not have a shared understanding.
2) Interventions that inform: Activities that communicate goals, objectives,
expectations, results, discrepancies, and so on. Examples: producing internal
newsletters; holding debriefing sessions; giving feedback. This intervention is
delivered when information has changed, the people have changed, or the
people are uninformed, and the consequence is poor performance; or people
don’t get the information they need.
3) Interventions that document: Activities that codify information (to preserve
it and make it accessible. Examples: setting up libraries; creating manuals, expert
systems, job aids, and decision guides. This intervention is delivered when
information is not accessible over time or is too complex; job aids, manuals,
help screens, and so forth are lacking or inadequate, inaccurate, or hard to
access.
33
OD Interventions 3.3.2 Consequences-Based Interventions
1) Interventions that reward: Activities and programs that induce and maintain
desired behaviours, eliminate undesirable behaviours, and reward desired
outcomes. Examples: holding public ceremonies and annual recognition events;
paying for performance. This intervention is delivered when current incentives
either reinforce the wrong behaviours or ignore the desired behaviours; or there
are few incentives for people to-do beater, more, or differently.
2) Intervention that measure: Activities and systems that provide metrics and
benchmarks so people can monitor performance and have a basis to evaluate
it. Examples: developing a scorecard; tracking means and variance in performance
over time. This intervention is delivered when people don’t know what criteria
are being used to judge productivity, performance, value, and so on, and they
could better control their own performance if they knew what the criteria were;
measures of good performance are lacking; or measures are inappropriate.
3) Interventions that enforce: Activities that actualise consequences and achieve
compliance. Example: policing; reviewing; double-checking; suspending; removing;
withholding pay. This intervention is delivered when consequences for poor
performance or unacceptable behaviour are hidden or not enforced.

3.3.3 Design Based Interventions

1) Interventions that organise: Activities that change the structure or arrange
business units, reporting relationships, work processes, jobs, and tasks. Examples:
reengineering processes; merging functions; reorganising responsibilities. This
intervention is delivered when the current structure is inefficient, results in
redundancy, adds excess costs, overly burdens cycle times, and hides
accountability.
2) Interventions that standardise: Activities that systematise or automate
processes and standardise tasks, tools, equipment, materials, components, or
measures. Examples: adopting ISO 9000; implementing uniform standards. This
intervention is delivered when deviations in equipment, materials, specifications,
procedures, common practices, and so on add extra costs; result in low yields,
and cause variance in the quality of work.
3) Interventions that (re) design: Activities that result in useful, easy-to-use,
safe, and ergonomically designed environments, workplaces, equipment, and
tolls. Examples: building in safety features; designing for ease of installation,
service, maintenance, and upgrading. This intervention is delivered when the
current work space, equipment, tools, or materials encumber, result in non-
value adding activity, or put employees health and safety at risk.
4) Interventions that reframe: Activities and programs that generate new
paradigms so that people can experience new perspectives, find creative solutions,
integrate new concepts into their behaviour, and manage change. Examples:
challenging assumptions; engaging in dialogue/ entering into new alliances;
brainstorming; creating alternative futures. This intervention is delivered when
old attitudes about work are preventing innovation or growth.
5) Interventions that counsel: Activities and programs that help individuals,
either singularly or collectively, deal with work, personal, career, family, and
financial issue. Examples: offering on-site daycare, retirement seminars, on-site
34
 physical fitness canters, and employee assistance programs. This intervention is Typology of Interventions
Based on Target Groups
delivered when people are preoccupied with or distracted by personal and
career issues, and this is limiting productivity or adding unnecessary costs.
6) Interventions that develop: Activities and programs that expand skills and
knowledge. Examples: offering training, coaching, and structured on-the-job
experiences. This intervention is delivered when current performance is suffering
or future performance will suffer because people lack skills and knowledge.
7) Interventions that align: Activities and programs that work toward congruency
between purpose and practice. Examples: setting up cross-functional teams;
soliciting customer (internal and external) feedback. This intervention is delivered
when current messages, behaviours, systems, structures, or environments do not
support the organisations goals. Figure 1 shows the Typology of OD interventions
based on Target groups:
Individual Life and career planning activities
Coaching and counseling
T-group (sensitive training)
Education and training to increase skills, knowledge in the
areas of technical task needs, relationship skills, process skills,
decision making, problem solving, planning, goal-setting skills
Grid OD phase 1
Work redesign
Gestalt OD
Behavior modeling
Dyads/Triads Process consultation
Third party peacemaking
Role negotiation technique
Gestalt OD
Teams and Groups Team building-Task directed-Process directed
Gestalt OD
Grid OD phase 2
Interdependency exercise
Appreciative inquiry
Responsibility Charting
Process Consultation
Role negotiation
Role analysis technique
“Startup” team-building activities
Education in decision making, problem solving, planning, goal
setting in group settings.
Team MBO
Appreciations and concerns exercise
Sociotechnical systems (STS)
Visioning
Quality of work life (QWL) programs
Quality circles
Force-field analysis
Self-managed teams

35
OD Interventions

Intergroup relations Intergroup activities- Process directed

-Task directed
Partnering
Process Consultant
Third party peacemaking at group level
Grid OD phase 3
Survey feedback
Total Organisation Sociotechnical system (STS)
Parallel learning structures
MBO (participation forms)
Cultural analysis
Confrontation meetings
Visioning
Strategic planning/strategic management activities
Real-time strategic change
Grid OD 4,5,6
Interdependency exercise
Survey feedback
Appreciative inquiry
Search Conferences
Quality of Work life (QWL) programs
Total quality management (TQM)
Physical settings
Large scale systems change

Fig. 1: Typology of OD Interventions based on Target Groups

Self Assessment Questions 1

1) Which of these is not a part of the individual Organisation Development
Intervention?
a) Work redesign b) Grid OD phase 1
c) Team building d) Behaviour modification
2) a) Activities and programs that generate new paradigms so that people can
experience new Interventions that reframe
b) Interventions that standardise
c) Interventions that enforce
d) Interventions that organise
3) Which of these is not the dimension of Blake and Mouton’s proposed theory
and typology for the entire consultation field called Consulcube?
a) What consultant does b) Focal issues
b) Target groups d) Humanistic view

36
 Typology of Interventions
3.4 DESCRIPTION OF OD INTERVENTIONS Based on Target Groups
BASED ON TARGET GROUPS
The OD interventions discussed represent the major organisational development
methods used.
A set of persons who serve as the focal point for a particular program or service is
a target group. This is a smaller sample than the target population. It can be individuals,
dyads, triads, teams or groups, or the organisation in total. Interventions are conducted
with an aim to focus on the problems associated with the target group as every
intervention will be target group specific and designed accordingly.
OD interventions are plans or programs comprised of specific activities designed to
effect change in some facet of an organisation. 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 organisation
through change. In general, organisations that wish to achieve a high degree of
organisational change will employ a full range of interventions, including those designed
to transform individual and group behaviour 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.
Typically, organisation development programs will simultaneously integrate more than
one of these interventions. A few of the more popular interventions are briefly described
below:

3.4.1 Interpersonal Interventions

Interpersonal interventions in an OD program are designed to enhance individual
skills, knowledge, and effectiveness. This type of program utilises group dynamics by
gathering individuals together in loosely structured meetings. Subject matter is
determined by the group, within the context of basic goals stipulated by a facilitator.
As group members try to exert structure on fellow members, group members gain
a greater awareness of their own and other’s feelings, motivations, and behaviours.
Other types of interpersonal interventions include those designed to improve the
performance review process, create better training programs, and help workers
identify their true wants and set complementary career goals, and resolve conflict.

3.4.2 Group Interventions

OD group interventions are designed to help teams and groups within organisations
become more effective. Such interventions usually assume that the most effective
groups communicate well, facilitate a healthy balance between both personal and
group needs, and function by consensus as opposed to autocracy or majority rule.
Group diagnostic interventions are simply meetings wherein members of a team
analyse their unit’s performance, ask questions about what the team needs to do to
improve, and discuss potential solutions to problems. The benefit of such interventions
is that members often communicate problems of which their co-workers were unaware.
Ideally, such communication will spur problem-solving and improved group dynamics.

3.4.3 Intergroup Interventions

Intergroup interventions are integrated into OD programs to facilitate cooperation
and efficiency between different groups within an organisation. For instance,
departmental interaction often deteriorates in larger organisations as different unit’s 37
OD Interventions battle for limited resources or become detached from the needs of other units.
Conflict resolution meetings are one common intergroup intervention. First, different
group leaders are brought together to secure their commitment to the intervention.
Next, the teams meet separately to make a list of their feelings about the other
group(s). Then the groups meet and share their lists. Finally, the teams meet to
discuss the problems and to try to develop solutions that will help both parties. This
type of intervention, say supporters, helps to gradually diffuse tension between groups
that has arisen because of faulty communication.

3.4.4 Rotating Membership Interventions

These are used by OD change agents to minimize the negative effects of intergroup
rivalry that arise from employee allegiances to groups or divisions. The intervention
basically entails temporarily putting group members into their rival groups. As more
people interact in the different groups, greater understanding results. OD joint activity
interventions serve the same basic function as the rotating membership approach, but
these involve melding members of different groups to work together toward a common
goal. Similarly, common enemy interventions achieve the same results by finding an
adversary common to two or more groups and then getting members of the groups
to work together to overcome the threat. Examples of common enemies targeted in
such programs include competitors, government regulation, and economic conditions.

3.4.5 Comprehensive Interventions

OD comprehensive interventions are used to directly create change throughout an
entire organisation, rather than focusing on organisational change through subgroup
interventions. One of the most popular comprehensive interventions is survey feedback.
This technique basically entails surveying employee attitudes at all levels of the company
and then disseminating a report that details those findings. The employees then use
the data in feedback sessions to create solutions to perceived problems. A number
of questionnaires specifically for such interventions have been developed.

3.5 INTERVENTIONS RELATED TO TOTAL

ORGANISATIONS
These interventions involve getting a broad variety of stakeholders into a large meeting
to clarify important values, to develop new ways of working, to articulate a new
vision for the organisation, or to solve pressing organisational problems. Such meetings
are powerful tools for creating awareness of organisational problems and opportunities
and for specifying valued directions for future action.

3.5.1 Socio Technical Systems (STS)

These interventions focus on an organisation’s technology (for example, task methods
and job design) and structure (for example, division of labor and hierarchy). These
change methods are receiving increasing attention in OD, especially in light of current
concerns about productivity and organisational effectiveness. They include approaches
to employee involvement, as well as methods for designing organisations, groups,
and jobs. Techno-structural intervention are rooted in the disciplines of engineering,
sociology, and psychology and in the applied fields of socio-technical systems and
organisation design, practitioners generally stress both productivity and human fulfillment
and expect that organisation effectiveness will result from appropriate work designs
and organisation structures.
38
3.5.2 Structural Change Interventions Typology of Interventions
Based on Target Groups
Structural change interventions are used by OD change agents to implement
organisational alterations related to departmentalization, management hierarchy, work
policies, compensation and benefit incentive programs, and other cornerstones of the
business. Often, the implemented changes emanate from feedback from other
interventions. One benefit of change interventions is that companies can often realise
an immediate and very significant impact in productivity and profitability (provided
the changes are warranted and implemented appropriately).
Sociotechnical system design interventions are similar to structural change techniques,
but they typically emphasise the reorganisation of work teams. The basic goal is to
create independent groups throughout the company that supervise themselves. This
administration may include such aspects as monitoring quality or disciplining team
members. The theoretic benefit of sociotechnical system design interventions is that
worker and group; productivity and quality is increased because workers have more
control over (and subsequent satisfaction from) the process in which they participate.

3.5.3 Parallel Learning Structures

Generally this consists of a steering committee and a number of working groups that
study what changes are needed in the organisation, make recommendations for
improvement, and then monitor the resulting change efforts. Use is made of facilitator
role, data gathering, data feedback and process consultation. It is used across a wide
array of change programs. These have included quality of work life (QWL) programs,
sociotechnical systems, work redesign efforts, open systems etc.

3.5.4 MBO (Participation Forms)

The concept of ‘Management by Objectives’ (MBO) was first given by Peter
Drucker in 1954. It can be defined as a process whereby the employees and the
superiors come together to identify common goals, the employees set their goals to
be achieved, the standards to be taken as the criteria for measurement of their
performance and contribution and deciding the course of action to be followed. The
essence of MBO is participative goal setting, choosing course of actions and decision
making. An important part of the MBO is the measurement and the comparison of
the employee’s actual performance with the standards set. Ideally, when employees
themselves have been involved with the goal setting and the choosing the course of
action to be followed by them, they are more likely to fulfill their responsibilities.
The principle behind Management by Objectives (MBO) is to create empowered
employees who have clarity of the roles and responsibilities expected from them,
understand their objectives to be achieved and thus help in the achievement of
organisational as well as personal goals. Some of the important features and advantages
of MBO are: Clarity of goals . With MBO, comes the concept of SMART goals i.e.
goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. The
goals thus set are clear, motivating and there is a linkage between organisational goals
and performance targets of the employees. The focus is on future rather than on past.
Goals and standards are set for the performance for the future with periodic reviews
and feedback.
Motivation involving employees in the whole process of goal setting and increasing
employee empowerment increases employee job satisfaction and commitment. Better
communication and Coordination, Frequent reviews and interactions between superiors
39
OD Interventions and subordinates helps to maintain harmonious relationships within the enterprise and
also solve many problems faced during the period.

Define
organisational goals

Performance Defining employee

Appraisals objectives and
(Rewards /
punishments)

Continuous
Monitoring of
Providing performance and
Feedback progress

Performance
evaluation/reviews

Fig. 2: Management by Objectives (MBO) Process

3.5.5 Cultural Analysis

This intervention helps organisations develop cultures (behaviours, values, believes,
and norms) appropriate to their strategies and environments. It focuses on developing
a strong organisation culture to keep organisation members pulling in the same direction.
As a discipline, cultural analysis is based on using qualitative research methods of
the social sciences, in particular ethnography and anthropology, to collect data on
cultural phenomena; in an effort to gain new knowledge or understanding through
analysis of that data. This is particularly useful for understanding and mapping trends,
influences, effects, and affects within cultures. There are four themes to cultural
analysis:
1) Adaptation and Change: This refers to how well a certain culture adapts to
its surroundings through the use of its culture. Some examples of this are foods,
tools, home, surroundings, art, etc. that show how the given culture adapted.
Also, this aspect aims to show how the given culture makes the environment
more accommodating.
2) How culture is used to survive: How the given culture helps its members
survive the environment.
3) Holism, Specificity: The ability to put the observations into a single collection,
and presenting it in a coherent manner.
4) Expressions: This focuses on studying the expressions and performance of
40 everyday culture
3.5.6 Confrontation Meetings Typology of Interventions
Based on Target Groups
This change method mobilizes organisation members to identify problems, set action
targets, and begin working on problems. It is usually applied when organisations are
experiencing stress and when management needs to organise resources for immediate
problem solving. The intervention generally includes various groupings of employees
in identifying and solving problems.

3.5.7 Visioning
This generates a common goal, hope, and encouragement. It offers a possibility for
fundamental change, and gives people a sense of control. It gives a group something
to move toward and generates creative thinking and passion. People in the organisation
are asked to visualise how they will like their organisation to be in the future or a
span of five to twenty years. All the employees can be involved in deriving the vision
of the organisation. Based on the vision certain missions are set along with specific
goals or targets to make it more concrete.

3.5.8 Strategic Planning/Strategic Management Activities

Interventions that link the internal functioning of the organisation to the larger environment
and transform the organisation to keep pace with changing conditions are among the
newest additions to OD. They are implemented organisation wide and bring about
a fit between business strategy, structure, culture, and the larger environment. The
interventions derive from the disciplines of strategic management, organisation theory,
open—systems theory, and cultural anthropology.

3.5.9 Real Time Strategic Change

Robert Jacobs’s real time strategic change is a process congruent with search
conferences and strategic management activities. “Real- Time” refers to simultaneous
planning and implementation of individual, group and organisation wide changes. A
critical mass of organisational members sometimes hundreds comes together for a
three day meeting to discuss organisation wide issues. This process requires a great
deal of planning and a great deal of facilitator’s assistance. Extensive follow up is
essential.

3.5.10 Grid OD 4, 5, 6
This normative intervention specifies a particular way to manage an organisation. It
is a packaged OD program that includes standardised instruments for measuring
organisational practices and specific procedures for helping organisations to achieve
the prescribed approach. In the Grid OD 4 the focus shifts to corporate strategic
planning, with the goal being to learn the concepts and the skills of corporate logic
necessary to achieve corporate excellence. Using the comparisons of ideal corporate
logic the top management team is better able to recognise what aspects of the culture
must be changed to achieve excellence. Grid OD phase 5 involves implementing the
ideal strategic model. Logical components of the corporation are designated. Each
component appoints a planning team whose job is to examine every phase of the
components operations. In Grid OD phase 6 systematic critiquing, measuring and
evaluating leads to knowledge of what progress has been made, what barriers still
exist and must be overcome and what opportunities have developed that may be
exploited.

41
OD Interventions 3.5.11 Interdependency Exercise
A shortened version of this technique can be used in a large group of say 60 people,
if clusters of ten people interview each other, each having a different question. Each
cluster has the same assignment and the same question. The participants interview
each other participant and then the consultant forms a new group of ten people again.
This procedure is a rapid way to gather great deal of data for diagnostic purpose.

3.5.12 Survey Feedback

In globally competitive environments, organisations are seeking information about
obstacles to productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Survey feedback is a tool
that can provide this type of honest feedback to help leaders guide and direct their
teams. Obstacles and gaps between the current status quo and the desired situations
may or may not be directly apparent. In either case, it is vital to have a clear
understanding of strategies for diagnosis and prevention of important organisation
problems. If all leaders and members alike are clear about the organisational
development and change, strengths, weakness, strategies can be designed and
implemented to support positive change. Survey feedback provides a participative
approach and enables all members to become actively engaged in managing the
work environment.
Survey process steps: Identify project plan and objectives; Brief team leaders and
employees about the process; Administer survey; Conduct interviews and focus
groups; Train leaders on facilitating team discussions; Analyse the data and construct
a report; Provide feedback to leaders; Team leaders conduct feedback action planning
and meetings; Leaders present reports on progress and results to Senior Management;
Follow-up by senior leadership to ensure progress and accountability.
Once the data has been collected and observations have been clarified, it becomes
the leader’s responsibility to familiarise the team with the findings. Next the leader
involves the team in outlining appropriate solutions and strategies that members can
“buy into” and support over the long-haul. When leaders can facilitate collaborative
teaming and become an organisational development and change agent, people in the
team will contribute creative ideas to enhance their work environment. It is important
for leaders to not underestimate the time and facilitation skills needed to pass on the
information and foster an action-oriented environment. The initial meetings and
communication sessions are just the start of a development process, not a single
event. If the survey feedback is to be effective, it must be implemented into a
comprehensive strategy that includes goals, responsibilities, time frames, revisions,
and reviews. Prior to the action meetings, leaders need to gain a full understanding
of the survey data and begin to structure a plan for the first meeting. Once the
meeting begins, the leader should guide the group’s evaluation of the results and
development of solutions. Following the initial meeting, a summary should be
documented and action plans circulated. Follow-up meetings are necessary to
coordinate and evaluate changes and progress. Action plans are the means of fully
utilising the survey feedback, without it we simply have a snap shot of where the
organisation is, with no plan for positive change. If the team feedback meeting is
poorly handled, there will be low front-end commitment on the part of the team.
Of course group dynamics will be unique in every situation, and the leader will need
to consider this as the survey data is disseminated. Tailoring sessions to meet the
group characteristics will provide for a more effective discussion. In any case, consider
a few of these ideas: Be optimistic and excited about the information and how it can
42
be used to better the organisation; Verbally express positive points; Ask for Typology of Interventions
Based on Target Groups
participation by all members and reinforce their openness and contributions; Invite
them to explore with you the areas that need improvement; Be supportive and clear
about action and follow-up plans; Establish a clear commitment to utilise the survey
feedback long-term and seek further feedback from the group. Most importantly,
help the group understand the purpose and mission of the survey feedback as a
leader feast on the opportunity of having clear data and truly listen and involve
members in your organisational development and change endeavor.

3.5.13 Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry is an organisational development method that seeks to engage
all levels of an organisation (and often its customers and suppliers) in its renewal,
change and improved performance. It may be particularly applicable to organisations
facing rapid change or growth. The method is based on the fact that questions tend
to focus attention. Excessive focus on dysfunctions can actually cause them to multiply
or become intractable. By contrast, when all members of an organisation are motivated
to understand and value the most favourable features of its culture, it can make
surprisingly rapid improvements. Strength-based methods are now commonly used
in the creation of organisational development strategy and implementation of
organisational effectiveness tactics. The practice emphasises learning how to perceive
organisations as entities that are alive, vital, and dynamic. The appreciative mode of
inquiry often relies on interviews to explore the life of an organisation. It seeks to
enable members to inquire deeply into the essentials of an organisation’s experience
and it’s potential. The objective is to create an understanding of the assets and
personal motivations that are of fundamental value to the particular organisation. The
following sequence describes some of the distinctions between Appreciative Inquiry
and more traditional approaches to organisational development. Appreciative Inquiry
employs a particular way of asking questions and envisioning the future that fosters
positive relationships and builds on the basic goodness in a person, a situation, or
an organisation. In so doing, it tends to enhance a system’s capacity for collaboration
and change. Appreciative Inquiry utilises a cycle of 4 processes focusing on:
1) Discover: the identification of organisational processes that work well.
2) Dream: the envisioning of processes that would work well in the future.
3) Design: planning and prioritising processes that would work well.
4) Destiny (or deliver): The implementation (execution) of the proposed design.
The basic idea is to build organisations around what works, rather than trying to fix
what doesn’t. It is the opposite of problem solving. Instead of focusing on gaps and
inadequacies to remediate skills or practices, AI focuses on how to create more of
the exceptional performance that is occurring when a core of strengths is aligned. It
opens the door to a universe of possibilities, since the work doesn’t stop when a
particular problem is solved but rather focuses on “What is the best we can be?” The
approach acknowledges the contribution of individuals, in order to increase trust and
organisational alignment. The method aims to create meaning by drawing from stories
of concrete successes and lends itself to cross-industrial social activities. There are
a variety of approaches to implementing Appreciative Inquiry, including mass-mobilized
interviews and a large, diverse gathering called an Appreciative Inquiry Summit
(Ludema, Whitney, Mohr and Griffin, 2003). Both approaches involve bringing very
large, diverse groups of people together to study and build upon the best in an
organisation or community. 43
OD Interventions Appreciative Inquiry was adapted from work done by earlier action research theorists
and practitioners and further developed by David Cooperrider of Case Western
Reserve University and Suresh Srivastva in the 1980s. Cooperrider and Srivastva
say that an organisation is a miracle to be embraced rather than a problem to be
solved. According to them, inquiry into organisational life should have the following
characteristics: Appreciative, Applicable, Provocative and Collaborative. The basic
philosophy of AI is also found in other positively oriented approaches to individual
change as well as organisational change. As noted above, “ AI ...fosters positive
relationships and builds on the basic goodness in a person, or a situation ....” The
principles behind A.I. are based in the rapidly developing science of Positive
Psychology. The idea of building on strength, rather than just focusing on faults and
weakness is a powerful idea in use in mentoring programs, and in coaching dynamics.
It is the basic idea behind teaching “micro-affirmations” as well as teaching about
micro-inequities.

3.5.14 Search Conferences

According to Emery and Purser ‘the search conference is normally a two-and- a-
half day event usually held off-site in a retreat like setting. Ideally twenty to thirty-
five people are selected to participate based on such criteria as their knowledge of
the system and their potential for taking responsibility for implementation. The consultant
meet with a voluntary committee, participants are assigned tasks and they generate
data focusing on the past, present and future factors as well as the action steps.
Volunteers agree to document the meeting and communicate with others.

3.5.15 Quality of Work Life (QWL) Programme

Quality of work life (QWL) is viewed as an alternative to the control approach of
managing people. The QWL approach considers people as an ‘asset’ to the organisation
rather than as ‘costs’. It believes that people perform better when they are allowed
to participate in managing their work and make decisions. This approach motivates
people by satisfying not only their economic needs but also their social and
psychological ones. To satisfy the new generation workforce, organisations need to
concentrate on job designs and organisation of work. Further, today’s workforce is
realising the importance of relationships and is trying to strike a balance between
career and personal lives. Successful organisations support and provide facilities to
their people to help them to balance the scales. In this process, organisations are
coming up with new and innovative ideas to improve the quality of work and quality
of work life of every individual in the organisation. Various programs like flex time,
alternative work schedules, compressed work weeks, telecommuting etc., are being
adopted by these organisations. Technological advances further help organisations to
implement these programs successfully. Organisations are enjoying the fruits of
implementing QWL programs in the form of increased productivity, and an efficient,
satisfied, and committed workforce which aims to achieve organisational objectives.
The future work world will also have more women entrepreneurs and they will
encourage and adopt QWL programs.

3.6 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)

OD intervention that became extremely popular during the 1980s and early 1990s
is total quality management (TQM). TQM interventions utilise established quality
techniques and programs that emphasise quality processes, rather than achieving
quality by inspecting products and services after processes have been completed.
44
The important concept of continuous improvement embodied by TQM has carried Typology of Interventions
Based on Target Groups
over into other OD interventions. Sometimes called continuous quality improvement,
is a combination of a number of organisation improvement techniques and approaches
including the use of quality circles, statistical quality control, statistical process control,
self- managed teams and task forces and extensive use of employee participation.
The quality imperatives include; primary emphasis on customers, daily operational
use of the concept of internal customers, an emphasis on measurement using both
statistical quality control and statistical process control techniques, competitive
benchmarking, continuous search for sources of defects with a goal of eliminating
them entirely, participative management, an emphasis on teams and teamwork, a
major emphasis on continuous training and top management support on an ongoing
basis.TQM invites a major culture change of the organisation.
1) Physical settings: Some consultants have been active in working with clients
and in conceptualising about how to make physical setting congruent with OD
assumptions and OD process. Physical settings are an important part of
organisation culture that work groups should learn to diagnose and manage and
about which top management needs input in designing plants and buildings. If
physical settings are not at par with the requirements then it interferes with
effective group and organisational functioning. Consultants pay attention to the
physical arrangements for team building sessions where participative diagnosis
is a prerequisite.
2) Large scale systems change: When a number of OD and other interventions
are combined to create major changes in the total culture and operations of an
organisation, the term large scale change is used.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Which of these is not the part of the cycle of four processes focusing in
Appreciative Inquiry?
a) Dignity b) Destiny
c) Discover d) Dream
2) Which of the following Intervention considers people as an ‘asset’ to the
organisation rather than as ‘costs’?
a) TQM b) QWL
c) Large scale systems change d) Survey feedback
3) _____________say that an organisation is a miracle to be embraced rather
than a problem to be solved.
a) Cooperrider and Srivastva b) Mohr and Griffin
c) Peter Drucker d) Morgan and King

45
OD Interventions Characteristics of the OD Practitioners’ Role
Meta level characteristics Marginal position relative to client system
Collaboration through facilitating or
assisting clients with exploring issues,
problems, actions and strategies
Continuum of directive to non directive role
areas
Practitioner’s role Provider of expert advice in methods or
approaches to changeDiagnostician by
gathering, analysing, and summarizing
informatio n and drawing
conclusionsTrainer-educator, primarily in
behaviour science tools and techniques
Objective problem solver using problem
solving approaches Surfacer of alternatives
for approaching organisational issues
Process specialist with attention to
interpersonal and intergroup dynamics
Observer or coach actiong as a neutral
sounding board.
Example role activities and Assisting clients to describe and clarify
behaviours situations and issues Assisting clients to
understand and express their own views
and developing measures of success and
understanding of risks. Assisting clients with
information gathering and understanding
Challenging client thinking Collaboratively
developing a course of action Offering
theories to increase understanding Teaching
and modeling problem solving approaches
Contingent role Range of available role areas linked to the
needs of the client system at any given
time Role dependent on stage of
organisational development intervention

3.7 LET US SUM UP

Each of these families of intervention includes many activities. They involve both
conceptual material and actual experience with the phenomenon being studied. Some
families are directed toward specific, targets, problems or processes. Another way
to classify OD interventions is by the primary target of the intervention, for example,
individuals, dyads and triads, teams and group, intergroup relations, and the total
organisational.

3.8 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Discuss the classification of OD Interventions on the basis of the content of the
intervention.
2) Describe the typology of OD Interventions based on target groups.
46
3) Discuss Management by Objectives and its process as an important participative Typology of Interventions
Based on Target Groups
OD Intervention
4) What do you understand by Survey feedback? Why is it in extensive use these
days in organisations?
5) Discuss the characteristics of the OD practitioner’s role in conducting OD
Interventions.

3.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

Judith Hale, The Performance Consultant’s Fieldbook: Tool and Technique for
Improving Organisations and People, Jossey Bass Publication. explorehr.org/articles/
.../Types_of_OD_ Intervention.html
Cummings, T.G. &Worley, C.G., Organisational Development and Change,
Thomson: Singapore.
Desimone, R.L., Werner, J.M. & Harris, D.M., Human Resource Development,
Thomson: Singapore.
Dwivedi,R.S, Human Relations And Organisational Behaviour: A Global
Perspective, Macmillan:ND
French, Wendell L & Bell, Cecill H Jr.: Organisational Development: Behavioural
Science Interventions For Organisational Improvement, Pearson :ND (LDA)

47
 UNIT 4 HUMAN PROCESS
INTERVENTIONS: INDIVIDUAL
GROUP AND INTER-GROUP,
COACHING, COUNSELING,
TRAINING, BEHAVIOURAL
MODELING, MENTORING,
MOTIVATING ETC.
Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Human Process Interventions
4.2.1 Characteristics of OD Programme
4.2.2 Individuals and the OD Programme

4.3 Teams and Groups

4.3.1 Characteristics of Well Functioning Teams
4.3.2 Team Building, Task Directed, Process Directed
4.3.3 Gestalt OD
4.3.4 Grid OD Phase 2
4.3.5 Interdependcy Exercise
4.3.6 Appreciative Inquiry
4.3.7 Responsibility Charting
4.3.8 Process Consultation
4.3.9 Role Negotiation
4.3.10 Role Analysis Technique
4.3.11 “Start up” Team Building Activities

4.4 Education in Decision Making, Problem Solving, Planning, Goal Setting in

Group Settings
4.4.1 Team MBO
4.4.2 Appreciations and Concerns Exercise
4.4.3 Scoio Technical Systems (STS)
4.4.4 Visioning
4.4.5 Quality Work Life (QWL) Programmes
4.4.6 Quality Circles
4.4.7 Force Field Analysis
4.4.8 Self Managed Teams

4.5 Intergroup Relations

4.5.1 Partnering
4.5.2 Third Party Peace Making At Group Level
4.5.3 Grid OD Phase 3
4.5.4 Survey Feedback

48
4.6 Coaching and Counseling Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
4.6.1 Executive Coaching Group, Coaching, Counseling,
4.6.2 Training Training, Behavioural
Modeling, Mentoring,
4.6.3 Behaviour Modelling Motivating etc.
4.7 Mentoring
4.7.1 Accompanying
4.7.2 Sowing
4.7.3 Catalysing
4.7.4 Showing
4.7.5 Harvesting
4.7.6 Mentoring Relationship
4.7.7 Mosaic Mentoring
4.7.8 New Hire Mentorship
4.7.9 High Potential Mentorship

4.8 Motivation
4.8.1 Provide a Nurturing Environment
4.8.2 Encourage Personal Growth
4.8.3 Empower Employees
4.8.4 A Top Down Method
4.8.5 Incentives
4.8.6 Responsibility
4.8.7 Pleasant Working Environment
4.8.8 Interesting Work
4.8.9 Listen
4.8.10 Share Business Success
4.8.11 Job Security
4.8.12 Promotion / Growth
4.8.13 Competitive Salary
4.9 Let Us Sum Up
4.10 Unit End Questions
4.11 Suggested Readings
4.12 Answers to Self Assessment Questions

4.0 INTRODUCTION
In this unit we will be dealing with Human Process Interventions: Individual, Group
and Inter-group, Coaching, Counseling, Training, Behavioural modeling, Mentoring,
Motivating. We begin with human process intervention followed by teams and groups
and the interventions thereof. We discuss here the many OD interventions such as
Gestalt OD, Responsibility charting etc. This is followed by education in decision
making, problem solving etc. in which we discus the team management by objectives,
the socio technical systems, visioning and so on. The next section deals with intergroup
relationships in which we discuss partnering, third party peacemaking etc. Then we
take up coaching and counseling in which we deal with executive coaching, training
and behaviour modeling. Mentoring is the next section which deals elaborately with
what is mentoring and what are all involved in it. This si followed by how to motivate
employees in the organisation and the various measures that could be taken up are
considered. 49
OD Interventions
4.1 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 Define and describe human process interventions;
 Explain the various intervention in teams and groups;
 Elucidate the techniques involved in education in decision making, problem
solving etc.;
 Describe the intergroup relations and bring out the important aspects of the
same;
 Describe coaching and counselling and mentoring;
 Delineate the various aspects of mentoring;
 Elucidate the types of mentoring;
 Define motivation of employees; and
 Describe the various methods to motivate employees to perform at the highest
level.

4.2 HUMAN PROCESS INTERVENTIONS

Organisational development (OD) is an application of behavioural science to
organisational change. It encompasses a wide array of theories, processes, and
activities, all of which are oriented toward the goal of improving individual organisations.
Generally speaking, however, OD differs from traditional organisational change
techniques in that it typically embraces a more holistic approach that is aimed at
transforming thought and behaviour throughout an entity. Definitions of OD abound,
but they are all predicated on the notion of improving organisational performance
through proactive activities and techniques.
It is also worth noting that organisational development, though concerned with improving
workforce performance, should not be mistaken for human resource development.
“Organisation development is the planned process of developing an organisation to
be more effective in accomplishing its desired goals,” wrote Rima Shaffer in Principles
of Organisation Development. “It is distinguished from human resource development
in that HRD focuses on the personal growth of individuals within organisations, while
OD focuses on developing the structures, systems, and processes within the organisation
to improve organisational effectiveness.”
Although the field of OD is broad, it can be differentiated from other systems of
organisational change by its emphasis on process rather than problems. Indeed,
traditional group change systems have focused on identifying problems in an
organisation and then trying to alter the behaviour that creates the problem. But
Margaret Neale and Gregory Northcraft observed in “Organisational Behaviour: A
Management Challenge” , that OD initiatives focus on identifying the behavioural
interactions and patterns that cause and sustain problems. Then, rather than simply
changing isolated behaviours, OD efforts are aimed at creating a behaviourally healthy
organisation that will naturally anticipate and prevent (or quickly solve) problems.

4.2.1 Characteristics of OD Programme

OD programmes usually share several basic characteristics. For instance,
 They are considered long term efforts of at least one to three years in most
50 cases.
 OD stresses collaborative management, whereby managers and employees at Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
different levels of the hierarchy cooperate to solve problems. Group, Coaching, Counseling,
 OD also recognises that every organisation is unique and that the same solutions Training, Behavioural
Modeling, Mentoring,
cannot necessarily be applied at different companies. Motivating etc.
 OD programs have an emphasis on the value of teamwork and small groups.
 OD systems use small teams or even individuals as a vehicle to implement broad
organisational changes.
Organisation development initiatives do not automatically succeed. The benefits of
effective OD programs are myriad, as many executives, managers, and business
owners will attest. But OD interventions that are pursued in a sloppy, half-hearted,
or otherwise faulty manner are far less likely to bring about meaningful change than
those that have the full support of the people involved. Ownership and all involved
personnel needed to be genuinely and visibly committed to the effort. People involved
in OD have to be informed in advance of the nature of the intervention and the nature
of their involvement in it. The OD effort has to be connected to other parts of the
organisation; this is especially true of such areas as the evaluation and reward systems.
The effort has to be directed by appropriate managers and guided by competent
change agents. The intervention should be based on accurate diagnosis of organisational
conditions. Owners and managers should show their commitment to OD at all stages
of the effort, including the diagnosis, implementation, and evaluation.
Evaluation is a key to success, and should consist of more than asking people how
they felt about the effort. Owners and managers need to show employees how the
OD effort relates to the organisation’s goals and overriding mission.

4.2.2 Individual and the OD Programme

These include individuals as their target group. It can be given on one to one basis
as well. These interventions focus on people within organisations and the processes
through which they accomplish organisational goals. These processes include
communication, problem solving, group decision making, and leadership. This type
of intervention is deeply rooted in the history of OD. It represents the earliest change
programs characterising OD, including the T-group and the organisational confrontation
meeting. Human process interventions derive mainly from the disciplines of psychology
and social psychology and the applied fields of group dynamics and human relations.
Practitioners applying these interventions generally value human fulfillment and expect
that organisational effectiveness follows from improved functioning of people and
organisational processes.
Some of the programmes include (i) Life and career planning activities (ii) T-group
sensitivity training (iii) Education and training (iv) Work redesign (v) Gestalt OD (vi)
Project consultation (vii) Thir party peace making and (viii) Role negotiation technique.
These are being dealt with in detail below.
i) Life and career planning activities: The intention of a life and career planning
exercise is to provide individuals with time for reflection, so that they can
identify important aspects of their life and work. It then provides with an
opportunity to consider other approaches to life and work which may better
meet their needs. The exercise involves mainly individual work, and discussion
in pairs.
There is no requirement that you discuss more than you want to. The important 51
OD Interventions part is the individual work. Pair discussion merely makes it easier for most
people to consider the issues more deeply. The most effective way of doing this
exercise is as part of a larger group. The size does not matter all that much,
though between 12 and 24 is easily manageable. We don’t really need the larger
group after the initial screening process. If we have ample time (the workbook
is presently intended to occupy about half a day) we may decide to compare
notes during some of the later stages too. This can be an advantage, as people
can learn from each others’ ideas and experience.
Edgar Schein has provided the concept of career anchors and hypothesized five
basic career anchors i.e. technical/ functional competence, managerial
competence, creativity, security or stability and autonomy. Career anchors are
the patterns of self perceived talents, motives and values that serve to guide
stabilize and integrate the person’s career.
ii) T-group (sensitivity training): This traditional change method provides
members with experiential learning about group dynamics, leadership, and
interpersonal relations. The basic T-group brings ten to fifteen strangers together
with a professional trainer to examine the social dynamics that emerge from their
interactions. Members gain feedback about the impact of their own behaviours
on each other and learn about group dynamics.
The T- group has high relevance for developing skills of importance in the
unfolding of an OD effort and for personal growth and development. T-group
is essentially unstructured, agendaless group session for about 10 to 12 members
and a professional trainer who acts as catalyst and facilitator for the group. The
data for discussion is the data provided by the interaction of the group members
as they strive to create a viable society for themselves. The actions, reactions,
interactions and the feelings accompanying them are the data for the group. The
group meets for three days to upto two weeks. Learning from T-group varies
from individual to individual.
iii) Education and training: to increase skills, knowledge in the areas of technical
task needs, relationship skills, process skills, decision making, problem solving,
planning, goal setting skills.
Grid OD Phase 1: Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton designed Grid
organisational development. Basic to the Grid OD program are the concepts
and methods of the Managerial Grid a two dimensional schematic for examining
and improving the managerial practices of individual manager. The organisation
selects managers’ part of the first Phase or Grid seminar. In this Phase a Grid
seminar conducted by in company managers is given to all managers of the
organisation.
The focus of the training: Attention is given to assessing an individual’s managerial
styles; problem solving; critiquing and communication skills are predicted; skills
of synergistic teamwork are learned and practiced, managers learn to become
9,9 managers.
iv) Work redesign: Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham have provided an OD
approach to work redesign. Extensive use of the facilitator role in team
development is recommended. They used five core job characteristics i.e. skill
variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback from job and
then redesign jobs to maximize employee motivation. The first three are related
52
 to experienced meaningfulness of the work; job autonomy related to experienced Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
responsibility for the outcomes of the work; feedback related to the knowledge Group, Coaching, Counseling,
of the results of work activities. The expected outcomes are high work motivation, Training, Behavioural
high job satisfaction, high work effectiveness and growth. Modeling, Mentoring,
Motivating etc.
Dyads / triads: Two individuals or units regarded as a pair are known as dyads and
a group of three individuals or units is known as triads. Some interventions in
organisations include dyads and triads depending on the type of situation and problems.
Self Assessment Questions
1) ________________intervenes directly in the relationships of power, authority
and influence within the group.
a) Team building b) Group Development
c) Role negotiation technique d) Behaviour modification
2) _________________is based on the belief that persons function as a whole
and each person possesses positive and negative characteristics that must be
owned up to and permitted expression.
a) Gestalt Therapy b) Third party peacemaking
c) Open communication d) Survey feedback
3) The traditional change method provides members with experiential learning
about group dynamics, leadership, and interpersonal relations.
a) T-Group training b) Gestalt OD
b) Work redesign d) Grid OD

4.3 TEAMS AND GROUPS

Rensis Likert and McGregor identified some characteristics of well functioning, effective
groups/ teams. McGregor’s list of characteristics is as follows:

4.3.1 Characteristics of Well Functioning Teams

1) The atmosphere tends to be relaxed, comfortable and informal.
2) The group task is well understood and accepted by the members.
3) The members listen well to each other.
4) There is a lot of task relevant discussion in which most members participate.
5) People express both their feelings and ideas.
6) Conflicts and disagreement are present but are centered around ideas and
methods not personalities and people.
7) The group is conscious of its own operation.
8) Decisions are usually based on consensus, not majority vote;.
9) When actions are decided upon, clear assignments are made and accepted by
the members.
According to McGregor when these conditions are met the team is likely to be 53
OD Interventions successful in accomplishing its mission and simultaneously satisfying the personal and
interpersonal needs of its members. So, teams and work groups are considered to
be the fundamental units of organisations as well as key leverage points for improving
the functioning of the organisation.

4.3.2 Team Building, Task Directed, Process Directed

This intervention helps work groups become more effective in accomplishing tasks.
Like process consultation, team building helps members diagnose group processes
and devise solutions to problems. It goes beyond group processes, however, to
include examination of the group’s task, member roles, and strategies for performing
tasks. The consultant also may function as a resource person offering expertise
related to the group’s task. Human process interventions that are more system wide
(than those related to Interpersonal and Groups) typically focus on the total organisation
or an entire department, as well as on relations between groups.

4.3.3 Gestalt OD
Robert Harman lists the goals of Gestalt Therapy as awareness, integration, maturation,
authenticity, self- regulation and behaviour change. One must come to terms with
oneself, must accept responsibility for one’s actions, must experience and live in the
‘here and now’ and must stop blocking off awareness, authenticity and the like by
dysfunctional behaviours. Stanley Herman applies a Gestalt orientation to organisation
development, especially in working with leader- subordinate relations and team building.
The objective here is not to provide instructions on making the organisation culture
safer, more pleasant or easier for the individual, but rather to help the individual
recognise, develop and experience his own potency and ability to cope with his
organisation world whatever its present condition. People must be able to express
their feelings fully, both positive and negative. They must ‘get in touch’ with ‘where
they are’ on issues, relations with others and relations with selves. The Gestalt OD
practitioner fosters the expression of positive and negative feelings, encourages people
to stay with transactions, structures exercises that cause individuals to become more
aware of what they want from others and pushes toward greater authenticity for
everyone.

4.3.4 Grids OD Phase 2

Team work development: The focus of this phase is work teams in the organisation.
The goal is perfecting teamwork in the organisation through analysis of team culture,
traditions and the like and also developing skills in planning, setting objectives and
problem solving. Additional aspects of this phase include feedback given to each
manager about his or her individual and team behaviour; this allows manager to see
his or her strengths and weaknesses in the team’s working.

4.3.5 Interdependency Exercise

This is a useful intervention if team members have expressed a desire to improve
cooperation among themselves and among their units. This exercise is also useful for
assisting people in getting better acquainted, in surfacing problems that may be latent
and not previously examined and in providing useful information about current
challenges being faced in others’ areas of responsibility. It works well with up to
approximately ten people, but can become too cumbersome and time consuming if
more than that number are involved. This exercise requires the participants’ cooperation
and assumes no serious conflict situations. Serious intense conflict situations require
54 a different structure and more time.
4.3.6 Appreciative Inquiry Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
An intervention developed by Frank Barrett and David Cooperrider and refined by Group, Coaching, Counseling,
Training, Behavioural
Gervase Bushe. This intervention is based on the assertion that the organisation ‘is Modeling, Mentoring,
a miracle to be embraced’ rather than ‘ a problem to be solved’. The central Motivating etc.
interventions are interviews and then discussions in small groups or organisation wide
meetings. Questions include ‘What have been the peak moments in the life of this
organisation?’, ‘What do staff members’ value most about themselves, their tasks
and the organisation as a whole?’ One of the important aspects that the approach
seems to generate is more attention by the consultant and the client organisation to
the strengths of the organisation and its member. AI can be productively combined
with other OD approaches.

4.3.7 Responsibility Charting

This helps to clarify who is responsible for what on various decisions and actions.
It is a simple, relevant and effective technique for improving team functioning. The
first step is to construct a grid; the types of decisions and classes of actions that need
to be taken in the total area of work under discussion are listed along the left-hand
side of the grid, and the actors who might play some part in decision making on those
issues are identified across the top of the grid. Then the process is one of assigning
a behaviour i.e. responsibility, approval required / right to veto, support and inform,
to each of the actors opposite each of the issues. A fifth behaviour is noninvolvement
of a person with the decision; this is indicated on the chart with a dash (-). Responsibility
charting is usually done in a work team context. Each decision or action is discussed
and responsibility is assigned. Then approval-veto, support and inform functions are
assigned. This can quickly identify who is to do what on new decisions as well as
help to pinpoint reasons why old decisions are not being accomplished as desired.
It helps to improve task performance of team work.

4.3.8 Process Consultation

PC represents an approach or a method for intervening in an ongoing system.
Process consultation consists of many different interventions it is not any single thing
the consultant does. The job of the process consultant is to help the organisation
solve its own problems by making it aware of organisational processes, the
consequences of these processes and the mechanism by which they can be changed.
The PC consultant works with the organisation, typically in work teams and helps
them to develop the skills necessary to diagnose and solve the process problems that
arise. Schein describes the kinds of interventions he believes the process consultant
should make agenda-setting interventions, feedback of observations or other data,
coaching or counseling of individuals and then give structural suggestions.

4.3.9 Role Negotiation

The first step in role negotiation is contract is contract setting. Here the consultant
sets the climate and establishes the ground rules starting with what you want others
to do more of or do better, to do less of or stop doing or maintain unchanged; all
demands and expectations must be written. The next step is issue diagnosis. Individuals
think about how their own effectiveness can be improved if others change their work
behaviours. Then each person fills out an issue diagnosis form for every other person
in the group. The next step is the influence trade or negotiation period, in which two
individuals discuss the most important behaviour changes they want from the other
and the changes they are willing to make themselves. Then the group breaks into
55
OD Interventions negotiating pairs, when the negotiated agreements have been made and written down,
the influence trade is concluded with a follow up meeting thereafter.

4.3.10 Role Analysis Technique

Role analysis technique (RAT) is used to help employees get a better grasp on their
role in an organisation. In the first step of a RAT intervention, people define their
perception of their role and contribution to the overall company effort in front of a
group of coworkers. Group members then provide feedback to more clearly define
the role. In the second phase, the individual and the group examine ways in which
the employee relies on others in the company, and how they define his or her
expectations. RAT interventions help people to reduce role confusion, which can
result in either conflict or the perception that some people are not doing their job.
A popular intervention similar to RAT is responsibility charting, which utilises a matrix
system to assign decision and task responsibilities.

4.3.11 “Startup” Team-Building Activities

Team building interventions are typically directed toward four main areas: diagnosis,
task accomplishments, team relationships and team and organisation processes. Major
approaches to team building or work groups are diagnostic meeting, the formal work
group team-building meeting, process consultation and Gestalt OD, as well as a
number of techniques and exercises used within team building sessions to address
specific issues.

4.4 EDUCATION IN DECISION MAKING,

PROBLEM SOLVING, PLANNING, GOAL
SETTING IN GROUP SETTINGS
These intervention involve skill development

4.4.1 Team MBO

MBO (Management by Objectives) programs evolve from a collaborative organisation
diagnosis and are systems of joint target setting and performance review designed to
increase a focus on objectives and to increase the frequency of problem solving
discussions between supervisors and subordinates and within work teams. MBO
programs are unilateral, autocratic mechanisms designed to force compliance with a
superior’s directives and reinforce one-on one leadership mode. Likert and Fisher
describe a participative team approach to MBO in use in a retail division of a
consumer products organisation and in an automobile plant. They report impressive
increase in contribution to corporate profits in the retail sales division and substantially
increased productivity and reduced scrap and rejects in the automobile plant. They
call the approach Management by Group Objectives (MBGO).

4.4.2 Appreciations and Concerns Exercise

Appreciations and concerns exercise is appropriate if interview data suggest that one
of the deficiencies in the interactions of members of a group is lack of expression of
appreciation and that another deficiency is the avoidance of confronting concerns and
irritations. The facilitator asks each member of the group to write the appreciation
and concerns relative to each member of the group. And then these are discussed
one by one to make improvements accordingly. If substantial conflict exists within the
56
group members then this exercise does not prove to be fruitful.
4.4.3 Socio Technical Systems (STS) Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
This change process concerns the organisation’s division of labor—how to specialise Group, Coaching, Counseling,
Training, Behavioural
task performances. Interventions aimed at structural design include moving from Modeling, Mentoring,
more traditional ways of dividing the organisations overall work (such as functional, Motivating etc.
self-contained-unit, and matrix structures) to more integrative and flexible forms
(such as process-based and networkbased structures). Diagnostic guidelines exist to
determine which structure is appropriate for particular organisational environments,
technologies, and conditions. These interventions focus on an organisation’s technology
(for example, task methods and job design) and structure (for example, division of
labor and hierarchy). These change methods are receiving increasing attention in OD,
especially in light of current concerns about productivity and organisational
effectiveness.

4.4.4 Visioning
This is a term used for an intervention, in which, group members in one or more
organisational groups, develop and describe their vision of what they want the
organisation to be like in the future. The time frame may be anywhere from six
months to five years in the future. The concept of visioning is credited to Ronald
Lippitt. It starts with writing down the characteristics they will like to see this organisation
have from one or two years in future, characteristics are made visible on a flip chart
paper and displayed, clarifications pertaining to questions are made, subjects then
extract themes from individual reports and report them to the total group. Visioning
uses mental imagery or cognitive maps to describe the organisation.

4.4.5 Quality of Work Life (QWL) Programmes

This Program has been applied to a wide variety of organisational improvement
efforts. The common element seems to be an attempt to restructure multiple dimensions
of the organisation and to institute a mechanism which introduces and sustains changes
over time. Aspects of the change mechanism are usually an increase in participation
by employees in shop floor decisions and an increase in problem solving between the
union and management. It includes voluntary involvement on the part of employees,
union agreement with the process and participation in it, assurance of no job loss,
training of employees in team problem solving, use of quality circles, work team
participation in forecasting, work planning and team leader/member selection, regular
plant and team meetings, encouragement of skill development and job rotation, skill
training and responsiveness to employee concern.

4.4.6 Quality Circles

Quality circle concept is a form of group problem solving and goal setting with a
primary focus on maintaining and enhancing the quality of the product. Quality circles
have been extensively used in Japan. It consists of a group of seven to ten employees
from a unit who have volunteered to meet together regularly to analyse and make
proposals about product quality and other problems. Supervisors who have volunteered
to participate are trained by quality control experts and facilitators. Favourable results
have been reported through the use of cross- functional quality circle teams.

4.4.7 Force-Field Analysis

Force- field analysis is a device for understanding a problematic situation and planning
corrective actions. The technique was first proposed by Kurt Lewin. It is essentially
vector analysis an analytical tool. It involves deciding upon problematic situation, 57
OD Interventions describing the desired condition, identifying the factors and forces operating in the
current force field, examine the forces, strategies to move the equilibrium from current
conditions to desired conditions, implement the action plans and describe what actions
must be taken to stabilize the equilibrium at the desired condition and implement
those actions.

4.4.8 Self-Managed Teams

Several problems are encountered in moving toward the use of self managed teams.
The first problem is what to do with the first-line supervisors who are no longer
needed as supervisors. Another is that the managers that are now one level above
the teams will likely oversee the activities of several teams and their roles will change
to emphasise planning, expediting and coordinating. Team members need to develop
new skills in running and participating in the team meetings as well as planning, quality
control and budgeting.

4.5 INTERGROUP RELATIONS

These interventions are designed to improve interactions among different groups or
departments in organisations. The microcosm group intervention involves a small
group of people whose backgrounds closely match the organisational problems being
addressed. This group addresses the problem and develops means to solve it. The
inter-group conflict model typically involves a consultant helping two groups understand
the causes of their conflict and choose appropriate solutions.

4.5.1 Partnering
Partnering is productive in situations, in which, two or more organisations are likely
to incur unnecessary conflict. It is a variation of team building, intergroup team
building and strategic planning having the objective of forming ‘an effective problem-
finding/ problem- solving management team composed of personnel from both parties,
creating a single culture with one set of goals and objectives for the project’.
Participants report better results than on non-partnered projects.
58
4.5.2 Third Party Peacemaking at Group Level Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
A basic feature of third party peace- making intervention is confrontation: the two Group, Coaching, Counseling,
Training, Behavioural
principals must be willing to confront the fact that conflict exists and that it has Modeling, Mentoring,
consequences for the effectiveness of the two parties involved. The third party must Motivating etc.
be able to diagnose the conflict situations. A major distinction is drawn between
substantive and emotional conflict. This distinction is important for the third party
consultant. Intervention tactics for the third party consist of structuring confrontation
and dialogue between the principals. The third party will intervene directly or indirectly
in facilitating dialogue.

4.5.3 Grid OD Phase 3

The focus of this phase is intergroup relations and the goal of this phase is to move
groups from their ineffective, win-lose actual ways of relating between groups toward
an ideal model of intergroup relations. The dynamics of intergroup cooperation are
explored. The phase consists of teams convening in twos to work on the previously
stated issues. Only the selected members of the teams take part in the exercises and
activities.

4.5.4 Survey Feedback

The process of systematically collecting data about the system and feeding back the
data for individuals and groups at all levels of the organisation to analyse, interpret
meanings and design corrective action steps. It has two major components – the use
of a climate or attitude survey and the use of feedback workshops – are called
survey feedback. The steps involved are organising top level members of the hierarchy
for preliminary planning, collecting data, feedback to top executives, each superior
discusses the data with subordinates and give feedback in presence of the consultant.
Survey feedback has shown as an effective change technique in OD.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Process consultation Intervention was developed by which of these practioners?
a) Stanley M. Hermann b) Kurt Lewin
c) Edgar Schein d) Peter Drucker
2) ____________identified characteristics of well –functioning, effective groups/
teams.
a) Rensis Likert and McGregor b) Kurt Lewin
b) Edgar Schein d) Stanley M. Hermann
3) ______________concept is a form of group problem solving and goal setting
with a primary focus on maintaining and enhancing the quality of the product.
a) Quality circle b) Socio-technical systems
b) Quality of Work Life d) Systems view

4.6 COACHING AND COUNSELING

Counselors and therapists were not in the vanguard of the coaching movement.
However, as coaching becomes more popular and more counselors discover it, more
counselors are found in various coach-training programs, and are either including
coaching as one of the services they offer or transitioning from a counseling practice
to a coaching practice. These activities frequently grow out of team- building and
59
OD Interventions intergroup interventions. In the aftermath of a team –building session an individual
may seek some attentive listening away from the group setting. Individuals may also
want feedback from the consultant or help in looking at optional behaviours that
might be more effective. Coaching, with a professional coach, is the practice of
supporting an individual, referred to as a client, through the process of achieving a
specific personal or professional result. Coaching is differentiated from therapeutic
and counseling disciplines
Coaching is performed with individuals and groups, in person, over the phone and
online. The facilitative approach to coaching in sport was pioneered by Timothy
Gallwey; hitherto, sports’ coaching was (and often remain solely a skills-based learning
experience from a master in the sport). Other contexts for coaching are numerous
and include executive coaching, life-coaching, emotional intelligence coaching and
wealth coaching. The basic skills of coaching are often being developed in managers
within organisations, specifically to up-skill their managing and leadership abilities,
rather than to apply in formal one-to-one coaching sessions. These skills can also be
applied within team meetings and are akin then to the more traditional skills of group
facilitation. Instructing, coaching and mentoring differ. Instructors disseminate
knowledge. Coaches help clients build skills. Mentors shape mental attitudes.
Alternately, instructors train to immediate tasks, coaches accompany achievements,
and mentors provide whole-life shaping.
In organisations today, coaching refers to a method of personal development or
human resource development (HRD). This field of coaching is becoming a distinct
area of practice for individuals and in organisations. A casual business practice of
coaching is the act of providing positive support and positive feedback while offering
occasional advice to an individual or group in order to help them recognise ways in
which they can improve the effectiveness of their business. Coaching is an excellent
way to attain a certain work behaviour that will improve leadership, employee
accountability, teamwork, sales, communication, goal setting, strategic planning and
more. It can be provided in a number of ways, including one-on-one, group coaching
sessions and large scale organisational work. Many corporations are instilling the
practice of 360 degree consulting before providing coaching, which permits employees
to utilise their own life or professional experiences in a positive way to create team
participation attitudes even with superiors. Coaching is not a practice restricted to
external experts or providers. Many organisations expect their senior leaders and
middle managers to coach their team members toward higher levels of performance,
increased job satisfaction, personal growth, and career development.

4.6.1 Executive Coaching

This can be grouped separately from business coaching, as there is a common
understanding that business coaching can be the equivalent of business planning, or
consulting, but the coach takes the lead in running the business process. Executive
coaching is the one-to-one relationship between a coach and a client, based around
the intrapersonal goals of the client within the organisational context. Global Executive
coaching deals specifically with the unique set of challenges created from crossing
cultures following an international or domestic relocation. Personal coaching is a
process which is designed and defined in a relationship agreement between a client
and a coach. It is based on the client’s expressed interests, goals and objectives. A
professional coach may use inquiry, reflection, requests and discussion to help clients
identify personal and/or business and/or relationship goals, develop strategies,
relationships and action plans intended to achieve those goals. A coach provides a
60
place for clients to be held accountable to themselves by monitoring the clients’
progress towards implementation of their action plans. Together they evolve and Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
modify the plan to best suit the client’s needs and environmental relationships. Coaches Group, Coaching, Counseling,
often act as human mirrors for clients by sharing outside and unbiased perspectives. Training, Behavioural
Coaches may teach specific insights and skills to empower the client toward their Modeling, Mentoring,
Motivating etc.
goals.
Clients are responsible for their own achievements and success. The client takes
action, and the coach may assist, but never leads or does more than the client.
Therefore, a coach cannot and does not promise that a client will take any specific
action or attain specific goals. Professional coaching is not counseling, therapy or
consulting. These different skill sets and approaches to change may be adjunct skills
and professions. Further, counseling is the professional practice of behaviour analysis
is one domain of behaviour analysis: others are behaviourism, experimental analysis
of behaviour and applied behaviour analysis. The professional practice of behaviour
analysis is the delivery of interventions to consumers that are guided by the principles
of behaviourism and the research of both the experimental analysis of behaviour and
applied behaviour analysis. Professional practice seeks maximum precision to change
behaviour most effectively in specific instances. Behaviour analysts are mental health
professionals and are licensed as licensed behaviour analysts. The professional
practice of behaviour analysis is a hybrid discipline with specific influences coming
from counseling, psychology, education, special education, communication disorders,
physical therapy and criminal justice. As a discipline it has its own conferences,
organisations, certification processes and awards.

4.6.2 Training
Self diagnostic surveys are widely used in human relations training and in laboratory
training settings. They can be also useful for team building. For a successful training
session the consultant must have expertise in the use of a particular instrument. When
shared in a group whose members have relatively high trust in each other and
relatively high communications skills, this self-disclosed information can further tolerance
and understanding between members, can be used by individuals to enhance strengths
in deficient areas and in some instances can be useful in sorting out team assignments.
Using a questionnaire, participants can plot on a two- dimensional grid where their
practices appear to be in terms of ‘concern for production’ and ‘concern for people’.
Workshops focusing on diagnosed styles can be a springboard for developing more
effective leadership and team behaviours. The advantage of using self- diagnostic
instruments are probably greater in the context of training programs involving strangers
or persons from different units than in the context of team building. Some of the
dysfunctional consequences might be: Using the results to label or stereotype others,
distorting responses so that scores produce results assumed to be ‘socially acceptable’,
focusing on the analysis of behaviour rather than on addressing and solving more
fundamental issues facing the team and fostering overdependence on the OD consultant.
One of the dysfunctional aspects of using instrumented training techniques is OD
happens when an OD consultant lets his or her ‘kit bag’ of diagnostic surveys drive
the selection of interventions. The consultant must make an informed judgment as to
what intervention would be particularly useful to the client group at a given time. Yet,
a self diagnostic survey might or might not be appropriate at times.

4.6.3 Behaviour Modelling

This is a training technique designed to improve interpersonal competence. It is an
effective tool for problems of interpersonal relations in organisations. Based on Albert 61
OD Interventions Bandura’s Social Learning theory has been shown excellent way to make first-line
supervisors more effective to improve organisational performance. The basic premise
of Social Learning theory is that for persons to engage successfully in a behaviour,
they must perceive a link between certain behaviour and their outcomes must desire
those outcomes and must believe they can do it. It starts with behaviour description,
justification to explain the impact of the observed behaviour, active listening of content
and feelings, participative problem solving and positive reinforcement to compliment
other sincerely. It teaches the skills and behaviours needed to deal with interpersonal
problems. For improving interpersonal skills behaviour modeling is an important
training option. Many first line supervisors find it difficult to discipline employees.
To learn this behaviour they must see a link between successful disciplining and
desired outcomes. We tend to describe behaviour, explain the impact of an observed
behaviour on individual, the observer, or the organisation, actively listen to accurately
reflect the content and feelings of another’s communication, participative problem
solving and provide positive reinforcement in an authentic manner in behaviour modeling.
But we need to determine the most pressing problem, design training modules for
each of about ten problems, specific behaviours exhibited by the model that cause
success are highlighted and then weekly training of four hours each are scheduled for
each module for groups. At training session the problem situation is announced and
briefly discussed. Participants then observe a videotape in which the model successfully
solves the problem by enacting specific behavioural skills. The trainees discuss the
behavioural skills and then role play the situation receiving the feedback from the
group and the trainer on their performances. Role playing continues until each participant
successfully masters all the specific skills. At the beginning of the new session
participants report how their new skill worked on the job. Thus behaviour modeling
works better with any kind of interpersonal skills.

4.7 MENTORING
Mentor is a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a more experienced person.
Some professions have “mentoring programs” in which newcomers are paired with
more experienced people, who advise them and serve as examples as they advance.
Schools sometimes offer mentoring programs to new students, or students having
difficulties. Today mentors provide expertise to less experienced individuals to help
them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks.
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more
experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less
knowledgeable person. The person in receipt of mentorship may be referred to as
a protégé (male), a protégée (female), an apprentice or, in recent years, a mentee.
Mentoring” is a process that always involves communication and is relationship
based, but its precise definition is elusive. One definition of the many that have been
proposed, is ‘Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge,
social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to
work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication,
usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who
is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor)
and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)”.
The focus of mentoring is to develop the whole person and so the techniques are
broad and require wisdom in order to be used appropriately. A 1995 study of
mentoring techniques most commonly used in business found that the five most
62 commonly used techniques among mentors were:
4.7.1 Accompanying Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
This is actually making a commitment in a caring way, which involves taking part in Group, Coaching, Counseling,
Training, Behavioural
the learning process side-by-side with the learner. Modeling, Mentoring,
Motivating etc.
4.7.2 Sowing
Mentors are often confronted with the difficulty of preparing the learner before he
or she is ready to change. Sowing is necessary when you know that what you say
may not be understood or even acceptable to learners at first but will make sense
and have value to the mentee when the situation requires it.

4.7.3 Catalysing
When change reaches a critical level of pressure, learning can jump. Here the mentor
chooses to plunge the learner right into change, provoking a different way of thinking,
a change in identity or a re-ordering of values.

4.7.4 Showing
This is making something understandable, or using your own example to demonstrate
a skill or activity. You show what you are talking about, you show by your own
behaviour.

4.7.5 Harvesting
Here the mentor focuses on “picking the ripe fruit”: it is usually learned to create
awareness of what was learned by experience and to draw conclusions. The key
questions here are: “What have you learned?”, “How useful is it?” Different techniques
may be used by mentors according to the situation and the mindset of the mentee,
and the techniques used in modern organisations can be found in ancient education
systems, from the Socratic technique of harvesting to the accompaniment method of
learning used in the apprenticeship of itinerant cathedral builders during the Middle
Ages. Leadership authors Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner advise mentors to look for
“teachable moments” in order to “expand or realise the potentialities of the people
in the organisations they lead” and underline that personal credibility is as essential
to quality mentoring as skill.

4.7.6 Mentoring Relationship

There are two broad types of mentoring relationships: formal and informal. Informal
relationships develop on their own between partners. Formal mentoring, on the other
hand, refers to a structured process supported by the organisation and addressed to
target populations. In business formal mentoring is part of talent management address
to populations such as key employees, newly hired graduates, high potentials and
future leaders. In formal mentoring, matching of mentor and mentee is done by each
choosing the partner in order to avoid creating a forced and inauthentic relationship.
There are formal mentoring programs that are value-oriented, while social mentoring
and other types focus specifically on career development. Some mentorship programs
provide both social and vocational support. In well-designed formal mentoring
programs, there are program goals, schedules, training (for both mentors and protégés),
and evaluation. There are many kinds of mentoring relationships from school or
community-based relationships to e-mentoring relationships. These mentoring
relationships vary and can be influenced by the type of mentoring relationship that is
in effect. That is whether it has come about as a formal or informal relationship. Also 63
OD Interventions there are several models that have been used to describe and examine the sub-
relationships that can emerge. For example, Buell describes how mentoring relationships
can develop under a cloning model, nurturing model, friendship model and
apprenticeship model.
The cloning model is about the mentor trying to “produce a duplicate copy of him
or her.” The nurturing model takes more of a “parent figure, creating a safe, open
environment in which mentee can both learn and try things for him-or her.” The
friendship model are more peers “rather than being involved in a hierarchical
relationship.” Lastly, the apprenticeship is about less “personal or social aspects...
and the professional relationship is the sole focus”.
Davis and Garrison, undertook to study successful leaders of both genders and at
least two races. Their research presented evidence for the roles of: cheerleader,
coach, confidant, counselor, developer of talent, “griot” (oral historian for the
organisation or profession), guardian, guru, inspiration, master, “opener of doors”,
patron, role model, pioneer, “seminal source”, “successful leader”, and teacher. They
described multiple mentoring practices which have since been given the name of
“mosaic mentoring” to distinguish this kind of mentoring from the single mentor
approach.

4.7.7 Mosaic Mentoring

This is based on the concept that almost everyone can perform one or another
function well for someone else — and also can learn along one of these lines from
someone else. The model is seen as useful for people who are “non-traditional” in
a traditional setting, such as people of color and women in a traditionally white male
organisation. The idea has been well-received in medical education literature. There
is also mosaic mentoring programs in various faith-based organisations.

4.7.8 New-Hire Mentorship

In newcomers to the organisation (protégés) are paired with more experienced
people (mentors) in order to obtain information, good examples, and advice as they
advance. It is has been claimed that new employees who are paired with a mentor
are twice as likely to remain in their job as those who do not receive mentorship.
These mentoring relationships provide substance for career growth, and benefit both
the mentor and the mentee. For example, the mentor gets to show leadership by
giving back and perhaps being refreshed about their own work. The organisation
receives an employee that is being gradually introduced and shaped by the organisation’s
culture and operation because they have been under the mentorship of an experienced
member. The person being mentored networks, becomes integrated easier in an
organisation, gets experience and advice along the way. It has been said that “joining
a mentor’s network and developing one’s own is central to advancement” and this
is possibly why those mentored tend to do well in their organisations.
In the organisational setting mentoring usually “requires unequal knowledge”, but the
process of mentorship can differ. Bullis describes the mentoring process in the forms
of phase models. Initially, the “mentee proves himself or herself worthy of the mentor’s
time and energy”. Then cultivation occurs which includes the actual “coaching...a
strong interpersonal bond between mentor and mentee develops”. Next, under the
phase of separation “the mentee experiences more autonomy”. Ultimately, there is
more of equality in the relationship, termed by Bullis as Redefinition.
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4.7.9 High-Potential Mentorship Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
This is used to groom up-and-coming employees deemed to have the potential to Group, Coaching, Counseling,
Training, Behavioural
move up into leadership roles. Here the employee (protégé) is paired with a senior Modeling, Mentoring,
level leader (or leaders) for a series of career-coaching interactions. A similar method Motivating etc.
of high-potential mentoring is to place the employee in a series of jobs in disparate
areas of an organisation, all for small periods of time, in anticipation of learning the
organisation’s structure, culture, and methods.
A mentor does not have to be a manager or supervisor to facilitate the process.
Mentorship in education is offered to support students in program completion,
confidence building and transitioning to further education or the workforce. There are
also many mentoring programs designed specifically to bring under-represented
populations into science and engineering. The blended mentoring is a mix of on-site
and online events, projected to give to career counseling and development services
the opportunity to adopt mentoring in their ordinary practice. In the reverse mentoring
situation, the mentee has more overall experience (typically as a result of age) than
the mentor (who is typically younger), but the mentor has more knowledge in a
particular area, and as such, reverses the typical constellation. Examples are when
young internet or mobile savvy Millennial Generation teens train executives in using
their high end Smart Phones. They in turn sometimes offer insight in business processes.
In Business mentoring the concept of mentoring has entered the business domain as
well. This is different from being an apprentice; a business mentor provides guidance
to a business owner or an entrepreneur on the entrepreneur’s business. An apprentice
learns a trade by working on the job with the “employer”. The experience of the
mentor can help the mentee overcome hurdles in business easily, given that the
mentor has faced similar situations in business himself.
Business professionals with a lot of experience and successful entrepreneurs are
lending their time to help others in business.

4.8 MOTIVATION
A major function of leaders is to support the motivation of other individuals and
groups. There are approaches to motivating people that are destructive, for example,
fear and intimidation. While these approaches can seem very effective in promptly
motivating people, the approaches are hurtful, and in addition, they usually only
motivate for the short-term. There are also approaches that are constructive, for
example, effective delegation and coaching.
These constructive approaches can be very effective in motivating others and for long
periods of time. Different people can have quite different motivators, for example, by
more money, more recognition, time off from work, promotions, opportunities for
learning, or opportunities for socialising and relationships.
Therefore, when attempting to help or motivate people, it’s important to identify what
motivates each of them. Ultimately, though, long-term motivation comes from people
motivating themselves. Motivating people is a myth. People cannot be motivated by
others. They are motivated from within. Leaders can however, set up an environment
in which people are able to motivate themselves. To set up an environment that
enables employees to be motivated, leaders need to understand what the motivational
needs of individuals and groups are. Determining the “what’s in it for me” for individual
employees and workgroups that is consistent with goals and strategies of the
organisation is the key to improving motivation for individuals and groups of employees. 65
OD Interventions A base for understanding what motivates human beings is found in the theories by
Maslow and Herzberg. When applying these theories, leaders must understand some
of the personal circumstances of the individuals and groups to develop the environment
that allows individuals and groups to motivate themselves and provide an overall
approach that reinforces the desired motivation. For employees whose basic needs
are fulfilled, it may be necessary to understand whether delegation of responsibility
and authority will cater to their self esteem needs. For example, giving them projects
for which they are accountable and have the resources and competence to complete.
Care has to be taken with processes and policies.
Processes and policies which are in contradiction of people’s motivators will depress
motivation. A study of Herzberg dis-satisfiers reveals that administration and policy
has the highest impact on motivation being a dis-satisfier on 36% of occasions.
However, processes and policies which motivate individuals may not be aligned to
an organisation’s strategy and objectives. Further, a robust performance management
system that recognises and rewards people in a way that fits their motivators is
necessary for developing an environment that allows individuals and groups to motivate
themselves. Developing an environment that improves employee’s motivation is hard
work. There is no one size fits all solution, as motivation is driven by “what’s in it
for me”.
Some of the basic principles guidelines to remember are:
1) Motivating employees’ starts with motivating ourselves. Enthusiasm is contagious.
If we’re enthusiastic about our job, it’s much easier for others to be, too. Also,
if we’re doing a good job of taking care of ourselves, we’ll have much clearer
perspective on how others are doing in theirs. A great place to start learning
about motivation is to start understanding your own motivations. The key to
helping to motivate your employees is to understand what motivates them.
2) Always work to align goals of the organisation with goals of employees.
Employees can be all fired up about their work and be working very hard,
however, if the results of their work don’t contribute to the goals of the
organisation. Therefore, it’s critical that managers and supervisors know what
they want from their employees. These preferences should be worded in terms
of goals for the organisation.
3) Key to supporting the motivation of our employees is, understanding what
motivates each of them. Each person is motivated by different things.
4) Recognise that supporting employee motivation is a process, not a task
Organisations change all the time, as do people. Indeed, it is an ongoing process
to sustain an environment where each employee can strongly motivate themselves.
5) Support employee motivation by using organisational systems (for example,
policies and procedures) — don’t just count on good intentions. Don’t just
count on cultivating strong interpersonal relationships with employees to help
motivate them.
Here are a few strategies to ponder while motivating employees:

4.8.1 Provide a Nurturing Environment

If one is only concerned about production and not about the people who can
produce, chances are, they will not produce. Motivating employees properly means
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caring for more than just bottom-line results; this can often present a problem for Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
you. Many supervisors believe that it is not their job to nurture their employees - that Group, Coaching, Counseling,
nurturing is something that should be done at home. Those supervisors are Training, Behavioural
wrong. When employees feel genuinely cared for, then you are motivating employees Modeling, Mentoring,
Motivating etc.
to increase productivity. Being a motivating supervisor means assessing what your
employees need. Some people may just need to work with other people who care
about them. However, as your organisation grows you may need to consider providing
counseling or pastoral care. There is a direct correlation between the health of your
employees and the health of your organisation.

4.8.2 Encourage Personal Growth

This is important for you and your employees. This can be difficult for many motivating
supervisors because it is not something that can be measured. Have employees write
down their thoughts in the following areas: First, their priorities and what is important
to them; Second, their goals and dreams for the future; Third, how you as a supervisor
can assist in motivating employees to meet each of their goals. In addition, offer
training and development in areas that will improve personal growth as well as
increase their effectiveness. When employees feel good about themselves, they will
perform. Encouraging personal growth is imperative for motivating employees.

4.8.3 Empower Employees

Employees need to be trained, and then empowered to make good decisions. Trusting
the people that report to you can help towards motivating employees to take on
more responsibilities. When people take on more responsibility they begin to take
ownership.  This is a good thing. People do not like to be micromanaged. If we have
provided the proper training, we must trust our employees to use it.

4.8.4 A Top-Down Method

These are some of the essential strategies and skills possessed by a motivating
supervisor. It is up to them to start being proactive and implementing methods
towards motivating employees. It is important to remember that motivation is a top-
down method.
When considering ways to motivate employees keep in mind that each individual is
different and therefore everyone is motivated by different things. While one employee
may be motivated by money another may be motivated by working with supportive
coworkers. One way to find out what motivates your employees is to discover their
wants and needs. One way to do this is by performing surveys or questionnaires.
Below are several factors that can motivate employees.

4.8.5 Incentives
Incentives are one of the most common ways of motivating employees. Employee
incentives can be money, gift cards, gifts, vacation trips, etc. The best way to decide
what incentive to use to motivate employees is by asking them what they would like.
You may be surprised that it’s not always money that an employee seeks.

4.8.6 Responsibility
Show your employees that you trust them by giving them responsibilities. Employees
usually like having some control and making choices. It makes them feel as if they
are a necessary part of the business.
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OD Interventions 4.8.7 Pleasant Work Environment
If an employee is working in an environment where there is a lot of negativity
between management and employees this can diminish his/her motivation. An employee
will be more motivated if he/she is working with supportive co-workers and
management.

4.8.8 Interesting Work

Performing the same tasks everyday will become boring and repetitive for employees
unless they enjoy what they do. Find out what tasks your employee is good at and
enjoys doing. Providing your employee with a task he/she enjoys can prove to be
an effective method of motivating employees.

4.8.9 Listen
Listen to your employee’s concerns and take them seriously. Employees can become
more motivated when they discover that you care about their concerns and problems.
Reward Good Work- Acknowledge employees who put in the extra effort. You can
have an “Employee of the Month” or Certificates of Appreciation. Employees like
to feel that their hard work is being acknowledged. Even a simple Thank You can
show appreciation and improve employee morale.

4.8.10 Share Business Success

Making employees feel like they are part of a bigger team can be a great tool for
motivating employees. Provide business performance reviews to let the employees
know how the business is doing. Encourage employees to strive to achieve success
and growing figures for the business. Reward the whole team when the business
reaches its goals and beyond.

4.8.11 Job Security

When motivating employees, job security is essential. If employees feel they might
be fired or laid off they are more likely not to put their best efforts into the job.

4.8.12 Promotion / Growth

Most employees have a natural wanting to improve. Everybody has dreams of where
they wish to be in the future. If there is no goal or growth to be achieved, there is
nothing to motivate them to work harder.
In addition to the above, one must be flexible and positive. Flexible means that one
should not make their employees come to work when they are sick. They should not
be penalised for emergency situations. If it’s possible be flexible with the employee’s
schedule. For example give them the option of choosing the day of the week they
want off. By doing this you show employees that you care and this will be appreciated.
As for positive attitude, as a manager and leader it is important to have a positive
attitude. Something as simple as a negative tone in your voice can be enough to
reduce employee morale. Increasing positive managerial behaviour and reducing
negative managerial behaviour will go a long way towards improving employee
engagement. When talented employees are engaged, they are able to perform
spectacularly and build and improve winning business.

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4.8.13 Competitive Salary Human Process Interventions:
Individual Group and Inter-
Though money is not always an employee’s main motivation, a competitive salary can Group, Coaching, Counseling,
Training, Behavioural
help an employee feel that they are receiving what they deserve for their job description. Modeling, Mentoring,
If an employee is under-paid they will often go searching for other jobs that offer Motivating etc.
competitive salaries.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Helping to identify the skills and capabilities that are within the person, and
enabling them to use them to the best of their ability – and by that increasing
the independence within the individual, and reducing reliance is____________
a) Mentoring b) Behaviour modification
c) Managing d) Coaching
2) Behaviour Modeling is based on Theory of________________
a) McGregor b) Albert Bandura
c) Hertzberg d) Abraham Maslow
3) Mentoring based on the concept that almost everyone can perform one or
another function well for someone else — and also can learn along one of
these lines from someone else is_____________
a) High-potential mentorship b) New hire mentoring
c) Mosaic mentoring d) Blended mentoring

4.9 LET US SUM UP

OD efforts basically entail two groups of activities: “action research” and
“interventions.” Action research is a process of systematically collecting data on a
specific organisation, feeding it back for action planning, and evaluating results by
collecting and reflecting on more data. Data gathering techniques include everything
from surveys and questionnaires to interviews, collages, drawings, and tests. The
data is often evaluated and interpreted using advanced statistical analysis techniques.
Action research can be thought of as the diagnostic component of the OD process.
But it also encompasses the intervention component, whereby the change agent uses
action plans to intervene in the organisation and make changes, as discussed below.
In a continuous process, the results of actions are measured and evaluated and new
action plans are devised to effect new changes. Thus, the intervention process can
be considered a facet of action research.

4.10 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) What are the OD Interventions conducted for Individuals to bring about
improvement in their functioning?
2) Discuss the Group / Intergroup Interventions in brief and critically analyse their
role in Organisation Development.
3) What are self-managed teams? Describe their role and functioning in the
organisations.
4) Discuss the importance of mentoring in today’s organisations.
5) What is Motivation? Discuss the guidelines for the practioners to motivate the
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employees.
OD Interventions
4.11 SUGGESTED READINGS
Cherrington, David J. (1994) Organisational Behaviour: The Management of
Individual and Organisational Performance. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
Dove, Rick. (1997) “The Principles of Change.” Automotive Manufacturing
and Production. March.
Dyer, William G. (1989) “Team Building: A Microcosm of the Past, Present, and
Future of O.D.” Academy of Management OD Newsletter. Winter.
Gibson, James L., John M. Ivancevich, and James H. Donnelly Jr. (1994)
Organisations: Behaviour, Structure, Processes. 8th ed. Boston: Richard D. Irwin,
Goodstein, Leonard D., and W. Warner Burke. (1991)”Creating Successful
Organisation Change.” Organisational Dynamics. Spring.
Ivancevich, John M., and Michael T. Matteson. (1990) Organisational Behaviour
and Management. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc.,.
Lippitt, Gordon L., Peter Longseth, and Jack Mossop. (1985) Implementing
Organisational Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,.
Northcraft, Gregory B., and Margaret A. Neale. ( 1990)Organisational Behaviour:
A Management Challenge. Chicago: The Dryden Press,.
Recardo, Ronald J. (2000) “Best Practices in Organisations Experiencing
Extensive and Rapid Change.” National Productivity Review. Summer.
Shaffer, Rima. (2000) Principles of Organisation Development. American Society
for Training and Development,

4.12 ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT

QUESTIONS
SAQ 1: (1) c (2) a (3) a
SAQ 2: (1) c (2) a (3) a
SAQ 3: (1) d (2) b (3) c

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