UNIT 1

Introduction to OD
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
• After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• Describe both organisation development (OD) and organisation
transformation (OT), and explain their similarities and differences.
• Explain the relevance of OD and its role within organisations.
• Analyse the evolutionary historical context of OD and have an
understanding of its future.
• Assess the environment of OT and comment on its relevance in
today’s change environment.
WHAT IS ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT?
• Organisation 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.
• There are many different definitions of OD, each of
which has a different emphasis. These are
presented in the next slide
Definitions of Organisational Development
• Warner Burke (1982) - Organisation development is a
planned process of change in an organisation’s culture
through the utilisation of behavioural science
technology, research and theory.
• Wendell French (1969) - Organisation development
refers to a long-range effort to improve an
organisation’s problem-solving capabilities and its
ability to cope with changes in its external environment
with the help of external or internal behavioural-
scientist consultants, or change agents, as they are
sometimes called.
Definitions of Organisational Development
• Richard Beckhard (1969)- Organisation development
is an effort: (1) planned, (2) organisation-wide, and (3)
managed from the top, to (4) increase organisation
effectiveness and health through (5) planned
interventions in the organisation’s ‘processes’, using
behavioural science knowledge.
• Michael Beer (1980) - Organisation development is a
system-wide process of data collection, diagnosis,
action planning, intervention and evaluation aimed at:
• Enhancing congruence between organisational
structure, process, strategy, people and culture
• Developing new and creative organisational solutions,
and developing the organisation’s self-renewing
capacity
 The following should be noted about OD:
• OD applies to an entire system
• OD is based on behavioural science knowledge and
practice
• OD is oriented to improve an organisation’s
effectiveness through processes of adaptive
development
• OD creates change and also reinforces it
• OD encompasses strategy, structure and process
changes
• OD is oriented towards improving organisational
effectiveness.
 Organisational Transformation
• Organisation transformations can occur in response to
or in anticipation of major changes in an organisation’s
environment or technology.
• In addition, these changes are often associated with
significant alterations in a firm’s business strategy,
which, in turn, may require modifying corporate culture
as well as internal structures and processes in order to
support the new direction.
• Such fundamental change entails a new paradigm for
organising and managing organisations. It involves
qualitatively different ways of perceiving, thinking and
behaving in organisations.
 Organisational Transformation
• Movement towards this new way of operating requires
top managers to take an active leadership role. The
change process is characterised by considerable
innovation and learning. This process continues almost
indefinitely as organisation members discover new
ways of improving the organisation and adapting it to
changing conditions.
• Organisation transformation, however, is often
responsive and reactive rather than planned change. It
is often perceived as ‘quick fix’ in environments which
are largely unpredictable and is often perceived as
revolutionary rather than evolutionary.
ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT:
VIEWS FROM THE FIELD
 OD and Oganisational Environment
• OD attempts to assist organisations to ‘revitalise’,
rebuild and reorganise their ‘strategies, structures and
processes’.
• It attempts to help organisations cope with the
changes in their environment brought about by
globalisation, information technology and managerial
innovation.
• It does this by facilitating employee involvement in the
welfare of the organisation, as it rewards them for their
performance rather than the time they spend on
particular tasks.
 OD and Oganisational Environment
• Globalisation is changing markets and environments
• Information technology is changing work and
knowledge
• Managerial innovation is responding to these trends
and accelerating their effect on organisations.
Managerial innovation has both responded to the
globalisation and information technology trends and
accelerated their impact on organisations. New
organisational forms, such as networks, clusters,
strategic alliances and virtual corporations, provide
organisations with new ways of thinking about how to
manufacture goods and deliver services.
 Value of planned change
• Planned change is the systematic efforts made by
management to improve the functioning of some
human system. It is a change process in which power
is usually equal between consultants and clients and in
which goals are mutually and deliberately set.’
• From this definition of planned change, we can see that
it is not based on the usual assumptions of change,
such as organisational business planning or
technological innovation.
• It is instead a process or a plan of how the organisation
should carry out change and implement it. In other
words, it is an outline of the change process that
involves diagnosing and solving problems within the
organisation.
 Value of planned change
• The main aim of OD is to improve organisational
effectiveness based on two assumptions. The first is
that an effective organisation is able to solve its own
problems and concentrates on the relevant skills and
resources involved in achieving these key goals.
• The second assumption is that, in order to implement
change, an effective organisation must have high
performance and high productivity and must strive to
improve continually. OD helps the organisation by
providing it with the relevant skills and knowledge to
conduct its everyday activities and to implement the
new processes and changes.
 LABORATORY TRAINING
Origin: T-groups
• Kurt Lewin’s research: unstructured group in which
participants learn from their own interactions and evolving
dynamics about such issues as interpersonal relations,
personal growth, leadership and group dynamics.
Now: Team Building
• T-group style development expanded into business and
industry.
ACTION RESEARCH/SURVEY FEEDBACK
Origin
• Researchers John Collier, Kurt Lewin and William
Whyte found that research must be closely linked to
action to be useful in managing change.
Now
• OD practitioners now use action research cycles and
surveys to help gather information about an issue or
problem before a change process starts.
 PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT
Origin
• Likert found that participative management was the
most effective way to make change happen. He
identified four systems:
1. Exploitative authoritative systems (autocratic; top-
down)
2. Benevolent authoritative systems (paternalistic)
3. Consultative systems (workers involved;
management decides)
4. Participative systems (managers and staff involved
in all levels of decision making).
5. Now : Debates about levels of staff involvement in
managing change.
 PRODUCTIVITY AND QWL
Origin
• Eric Trist examined the technical and human sides of
organisations and how they interrelate.
• Aimed at improving productivity AND quality of workers’
lives: an early example of win-win.
Now
• Strongly aligned to TQM developed by Deming and
Duran and pioneered by Toyota, Ericsson and
Sheraton.
 STRATEGIC CHANGE
Origin
Beckhard was one of the first to use strategic thinking
to align both the organisation’s relationship to its
environment and the fit between its technical, political and
cultural systems.
Now

A competitive OD strategy involves the whole

organisation and is multi-levelled: might include finance
and marketing, as well as using team building, action
research and survey feedback.
Why study OD? What are the major contributions
OD can bring to an organisation?

• The field of OD is being influenced by

information technology and globalisation.
• OD is being carried out in all major trading
countries and a whole new set of OD
interventions are being developed.
• OD needs to contribute to the management of
change in cyberspace as well as face-to-face.
Diversity in the evolving discipline of OD is
growing and good change managers require a
keen and current understanding of the
developments in OD.
Why study OD? What are the major contributions
OD can bring to an organisation

• The key contribution OD brings to an

organisation is in the management of planned
change in order for organisations to meet their
strategic objectives.
• Good OD will mean that the organisation is in a
state of preparedness for change.