Managing the organizational development----------

This article throws light on the seven major steps in the organisational
development process, i.e, (1) Initial Diagnosis, (2) Data Collection, (3)
Data Feed
Back, (4) Planning Strategy, (5) Intervention, (6) Team Building, and (7)
Evaluation.

1. Initial Diagnosis of the Problem:

In the first step, the management should try to find out an overall view of the
situation to find the real problem. Top management should meet the
consultants and the experts to determine the type of programme that is
needed. In the first stage only, the consultants will meet various persons in the
organisation and interview them to collect some information.

2. Data Collection:
In this stage, the consultant will make the surveys to determine the climate of
the organisation and the behavioural problems of the employees.

The consultant will meet groups of people away from their work
environment to get some answers to the questions such as:
(i) What specific job conditions contribute most to their job effectiveness?

(ii) What kind of conditions interferes with their job effectiveness?

(iii) What changes would they like to make in the working of the organisation?

3. Data Feedback and Confrontation:

The data which has been collected in the second step will be given to the
work groups, who will be assigned the job of reviewing the data. Any areas of
disagreement will be mediated among themselves only and priorities will be
established for change.

4. Planning Strategy for Change:

In this stage, the consultant will suggest the strategy for change. He will
attempt to transform diagnosis of the problem into a proper action plan
involving the overall goals for change, determination of basic approach for
attaining these goals and the sequence of detailed scheme for implementing
the approach.

5. Intervening in the System:

Intervening in the system refers to the planned programmed activities during

the course of an OD programme. These planned activities bring certain
changes in the system, which is the basic objective of OD. There may be
various methods through which external consultant intervene in the system
such as education and laboratory training, process consultation, team
development etc.

6. Team Building:
During the entire process, the consultant encourages the groups to examine
how they work together. The consultant will educate them about the value of
free communication and trust as essentials for group functioning. The
consultant can have team managers and their subordinates to work together
as a team in OD sessions to further encourage team building. Following the
development of small groups, there may be development among larger
groups comprising several teams.

7. Evaluation:

OD is a very long process. So there is a great need for careful monitoring to

get precise feedback regarding what is going on after the OD programme
starts. This will help in making suitable modifications whenever necessary. For
evaluation of OD programme, the use of critique sessions, appraisal of
change efforts and comparison of pre and post training behavioural patterns
are quite effective.

The steps in OD are part of a whole process, so all of them need to be applied
if a firm expects to get the full benefits of OD. An organisation which applies
only a few steps and leaves the others will be disappointed with the results.
Sensitivity training involves such groupings as --T groups (T for training), encounter
groups, laboratory training groups, and human awareness groups are all names usually
associated with what is known as sensitivity training.
Sensitivity training is about making people understand about themselves and
others reasonably, which is done by developing in them social sensitivity and
behavioral flexibility.

Social sensitivity in one word is empathy. It is ability of an individual to

sense what others feel and think from their own point of view.

Behavioral flexibility is ability to behave suitably in light of

understanding.

Procedure of Sensitivity Training

Sensitivity Training Program requires three steps:

1. Unfreezing the old values -It requires that the trainees become aware
of the inadequacy of the old values. This can be done when the trainee faces
dilemma in which his old values is not able to provide proper guidance. The
first step consists of a small procedure:

An unstructured group of 10-15 people is formed.

Unstructured group without any objective looks to the trainer for its
guidance

But the trainer refuses to provide guidance and assume leadership

Soon, the trainees are motivated to resolve the uncertainty

Then, they try to form some hierarchy. Some try assume leadership
role which may not be liked by other trainees

Then, they started realizing that what they desire to do and realize the
alternative ways of dealing with the situation

2. Development of new values - With the trainer's support, trainees begin

to examine their interpersonal behavior and giving each other feedback. The
reasoning of the feedbacks are discussed which motivates trainees to
experiment with range of new behaviors and values. This process constitutes
the second step in the change process of the development of these values.

3. Refreezing the new ones - This step depends upon how much opportunity the
trainees get to practice their new behaviors and values at their work place.

In one way Sensitivity training is the process of developing emotional intelligence,

which means "the mental ability an individual possesses enabling him or her to be
sensitive and understanding to the emotions of others as well as being able to manage
their own emotions and impulses". [Emotional intelligence, according to Merriam
Webster, "describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait, to identify,
assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups."] Emotional
intelligence enable employees to act according to the situation in the organization faced
by him. It develops the ability to understand others feeling and their mental status and
interact accordingly. Conflicts and misunderstandings are mostly raised because of lack
of emotional intelligence possessed by the person which leads to breakup in perception
and relationship they main since long time in organization and effects the productivity
of the organization.

Emotional intelligence became a popular study in 1995 when Daniel Goleman published
his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize and use one's own emotions as well as
the emotions of others to help determine what to do (or not to do). The competencies
include...

Emotional Self-Awareness (knowing what you are feeling),

Emotional Self-Management (choosing your emotions - transforming

negative emotions into positive emotions),

Emotional Self-Motivation (using positive emotions to persist under

pressure),

Empathy (awareness of other's feelings and using that awareness for

successful solutions), and

Nurture Relationships (creating a cooperative and collaborative climate)

The ability to stop and transform negative feelings in any given moment helps us to stop
much of the stress that we might have otherwise experienced.
Goals of Sensitivity Training

While the emphases, styles and specific goals of the multitude of sensitivity
training programs vary, there does seem to be some consensus as to general
goals. These include:
1. Increased understanding, insight, and self awareness about one's own behavior and
its impact on others, including the ways in which others interpret one's behavior.

2. Increased understanding and sensitivity about the behavior of others, including better
interpretation of both verbal and nonverbal clues, which increases awareness and
understanding of what the other person is thinking and feeling.

3. Better understanding and awareness of group and intergroup processes, both those
that facilitate and those that inhibit group functioning.

4. Increased diagnostic skills in interpersonal and intergroup situations. For the authors,
the accomplishments of the first three objectives provide the basic tools for
accomplishing the fourth objective.

5. Increased ability to transform learning into action, so that real life interventions will be
more successful in increasing member effectiveness, satisfaction, output, or
effectiveness.

6. Improvement in individuals' ability to analyze their own interpersonal behavior, as well

as to learn how to help themselves and others with whom they come in contact to
achieve more satisfying, rewarding, and effective interpersonal relationships.

Different sensitivity programs may emphasize one or more of these goals or may
neglect some. However, they are goals that are common to most T groups.

Outcomes of sensitivity training

The outcomes they depict (self, role, and organization) are only possibilities, and cannot
be guaranteed for everyone attending a sensitivity training program. This is because
some participants do not learn or learn very little from a T group experience, others
learn some things, and others learn a considerable amount and variety of things and
because programs vary so much in terms of their nature and goals. Possible outcomes
are as follows:

Self

1. Increased awareness of own feelings and reactions, and own impact on

others.
 2. Increased awareness of feelings and reactions of others, and their
impact on self.

3. Increased awareness of dynamics of group action.

4. Changed attitudes toward self, others, and groups; i.e., more respect
for, tolerance for, and faith in self, others, and groups.

5. Increased interpersonal competence; i.e., skill in handling

interpersonal and group relationships toward more productive and

satisfying relationships.

Role

1. Increased awareness of own organizational role, organizational

dynamics, dynamics of larger social systems, and dynamics of the
change process in self, small groups, and organizations.

2. Changed attitudes toward own role, role of others, and organizational

relationships, i,e., more respect for and willingness to deal with others
with whom one

3. is interdependent, greater willingness to achieve collaborative

relationships with others based on mutual trust.

4. Increased interpersonal competence in handling organizational role

relationships with superiors, peers, and subordinates.

Organization

1. Increased awareness of, changed attitudes toward, and increased

interpersonal competence about organizational problems of
interdependent groups or units.

2. Organizational improvement through the training of relationships or

groups rather than isolated individuals.
Organization Development (OD) interventions techniques are
the methods created by OD professionals and others. Single
organization or consultant cannot use all the interventions.
They use these interventions depending upon the need or
requirement. The most important interventions are,

1. Survey feedback

2. Process Consultation

3. sensitivity Training

4. The Managerial grid

5. Goal setting and Planning

6. Team Building and management by objectives

7. Job enrichment, changes in organizational structure and

participative management and Quality circles, ISO, TQM

Survey feedback: The intervention provides data and

information to the managers. Information on Attitudes of
employees about wage level, and structure, hours of work,
working conditions and relations are collected and the
results are supplied to the top executive teams. They analyse
the data, find out the problem, evaluate the results and
develop the means to correct the problems identified. The
team are formed with the employees at all levels in the
organization hierarchy i.e, from the rank and file to the top
level.

Process Consultation : The process consultant meets the

members of the department and work teams observes thie
interaction, problem identification skills, solving procedures
et. He feeds back the team eith the information collected
through observations, coaches and counsels individuals &
groups in moulding their behavior.

Goal setting and planning : Each division in an organization

sets the goals or formulates the plans for profitability. These
goals are sent to the top management which in turn sends
them back to the divisions after modification . A set of
organization goals thus emerge there after.

Managerial grid: This identifies a range of management

behavior based on the different ways that how
production/service oriented and employee oriented states
interact with each other. Managerial grid is also called as
instrumental laboratory training as it is a structured version
of laboratory training. It consists of individual and group
exercises with a view to developing awareness of individual
managerial style interpersonal competence and group
effeciveness. Thus grid training is related to the leadership
styles. The managerial grid focuses on the observations of
behaviour in exercises specifically related to work.
Participants in this training are encouraged and helped to
appraise their own managerial style.

There are 6 phases in grid OD:

First phase is concerned with studying the grid as a

theoretical knowledge to understand the human behavior in
the Organization.

Second phase is concerned with team work development. A

seminar helps the members in developing each members
perception and the insight into the problems faced by
various members on the job.
Third phase is inter group development. This phase aims at
developing the relationships between different departments

Fourth phase is concerned with the creation of a strategic

model for the organization where Chief Executives and their
immediate subordinates participate in this activity.

Fifth phase is concerned with implementation of strategic

model.. Planning teams are formed for each department to
know the available resources, required resources, procuring
them if required and implementing the model Sixth Phase is
concerned with the critical evaluation of the model and
making necessary adjustment for successful
implementation.

Management by Objectives (MBO) is a successful philosophy

of management. It replaces the traditional philosophy of
Management by Domination. MBO led to a systematic
Goal setting and Planning. Peter Drucker the eminent
management Guru in 1959 has first propagated the
philosophy since then it has become a movement.

MBO is a process by which managers at different levels and

their subordinates work together in identifying goals and
establishing objectives consistent with Organizational goals
and attaining them.
Team building is an application of various techniques of
Sensitivity training to the actual work groups in various
departments. These work groups consist of peers and a
supervisor.

Sensitivity training is called a laboratory as it is conducted

by creating an experimental laboratory situation in which
employees are brought together. The Team building
technique and training is designed to improve the ability of
the employees to work together as teams.

Job enrichment is currently practiced all over the world. It is

based on the assumption in order to motivate workers, job
itself must provide opportunities for achievement,
recognition, responsibility, advancement and growth. The
basic idea is to restore to jobs the elements of interest that
were taken away. In a job enrichment program the worker
decides how the job is performed, planned and controlled
and makes more decisions concerning the entire process.
The main benefits of MBO are as follows:

1) Improved Planning:

MBO involves participative decision-making which makes objectives explicit and plans more
realistic. It focuses attention on goals in key result areas. MBO forces managers to think in terms of
results rather than activities. It encourages people to set specific pleasurable goals instead of
depending on hunches or guesswork. An integrated hierarchy of objectives is created throughout the
organization. Precise performance objectives and measures indicating goal accomplishment are laid
down. There is a time bound programme.

2) Coordination:

MBO helps to clarify the structure and goals of the organization. Harmony of objectives enables
individuals at various levels to have a common direction. Every individual knows clearly his role in
the organization, his area of operation and the results expected of him. Interlinking of corporate, unit
and individual objectives helps in the decentralization of authority and fixation of responsibility.
MBO result in clarification of organizational roles and structure. It promotes and integrated view of
management and helps interdepartmental co-ordination.

3) Motivation and Commitment:

Participation of subordinates in goal setting and performance reviews tend to improve their commit-
ment to performance. The corporate goals are converted into personal goals at all levels to integrate
the individual with the organization Timely feedback on performance creates a feeling of
accomplishment Job enrichment and sense of achievement help to improve job satisfaction and
morale. Improved communication and sense of involvement provides psychological satisfaction and
stimulates them for hard work Conversion of organizational goals into personal goals helps to
integrate the individual with the organization. MBO ensures performance by converting objective
needs into personal goals and by providing freedom to subordinates.

4. Accurate Appraisals:

MBO replaces trait based appraisal by performance based appraisal. Quantitative targets for every
individual enable him to evaluate his own performance. Performance under MBO is innovative and
future oriented. It is positive, more objective and participative. Emphasis is on job requirements
rather than on personality. MBO is not a scapegoat approach rather it involves constructive criticism
to assess why operations have failed or lagged behind and suggests remedial actions like
organizational restructuring, better communication systems, more effective incentives to motivate
executives, etc. MBO provides an objective criterion for evaluation of actual performance. "Indeed
one of the major contributions of MBO is that it enables us to substitute management by self-control,
for management by domination."'Control becomes more effective due to verifiable standards of per-
formance. Subordinates know in advance how they will be evaluated.

5. Executive Development:
The MBO strategy is a kind of self-discipline whereby shortcomings and development needs are
easily identified. It stresses upon a long term perspective and self-development. MBO releases
potential by providing opportunities for learning, innovation and creativity. It encourages initiative
and growth by stretching capabilities of executives. MBO makes possible a high degree of self-
control by individual managers and increases decentralization of authority.

6. Organizational change and Development:

MBO provides a frame work for planned changes. It enables managers to initiate and manage
change. It helps to identify short-comings in organizational structure and processes. In this way,
MBO improves the capacity of the organization to cope with its changing environment. When an
organization is managed by objectives, it becomes performance-oriented and socially-useful.

Originally MBO was developed for business organizations but now it is being used by social welfare
organizations also. But MBO might not be very successful in welfare organizations because of the
abstract nature of the values to be measured in specific and quantified terms, general unwillingness
on the part of personnel to subject their efforts to precise evaluations and lack of measuring
instruments which could generate valid and reliable data. MBO has special significance in the areas
of long range planning and performance appraisal.

In the recently concluded International OD Conference organized by IODA in

Mysore in May 2016, Nancy Zentis, CEO, Institute of Organization
Development, USA and I had the opportunity the opportunity to share our
thoughts on The Future of OD in the Workplace. I am sharing the key
takeaways from our session in this post.

When I talk about Organization Development to others, I have received

different types of responses. Sometimes it is I dont know about OD, Tell me
about it? Or I have heard something about it, I want to know more? or OD is
my passion, I want to learn more or I am an OD Practitioner or Consultant
and more. Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge & Linda Holbeche share that
Organization Development is not a well understood field. Often questions
like: What is it? will pop up among clients. Even many of the OD Practitioners
feel that while they intuitively know what the field is about, it is hard to
articulate what OD is to others. The insight for me is that apart from those
who say that they have not heard about OD or dont know about OD, for many
others OD evokes an interest and there is no standard understanding of what
OD is. The same can be said about how organizations approach OD also and
there is no evidence of a consistent model or approach being used for OD
across organizations even though the value of OD is well understood. So the
question is what is Organization Development?
Since the 1940s, the field of OD has been growing in strength and application
with the contributions of many thought leaders across the globe. While there
are many definitions of OD, what appeals to me as most relevant is that of
Wendell French and Cecil Bell and according to them OD is a systematic
process for applying behavioural science principles and practices in
organizations to increase individual and organizational effectiveness. It is an
organizational improvement strategy and it is about how people and
organizations function and how to get them to function better. So the focus of
OD is to increase individual and organizational effectiveness. Its about taking
an organization from A to B to C and so on and to accomplish this task of
increasing the effectiveness and furthering the journey from A to Z, OD
Practitioners need a set of building blocks consisting of values, knowledge of
theoretical roots, mindset and skill set. In our OD program we also use the
definition of OD as a process where an internal or external change agent
helps senior leaders solve critical problems by involving all members of the
organization to share their views, provide feedback, and determine the best
solutions to fit the needs of the organization. This highlights the role of an
internal or external consultant in helping leaders solve critical problems and
brings in the humanistic values of involving of all members and empowerment
& choice to choose their direction. Now that we know a bit about what OD is,
the next question is what are the challenges ahead?

According to Edgar Schein there are two problems all organizations should
deal with 1. Survival, growth, and adaptation in environment and 2. Internal
integration that permits functioning and adapting. These two problems create
the business case for OD in any organization which is experiencing these two
problems. These two problems manifest through many challenges that
organizations have to face. When we ask what those challenges are we can
list many and I found two frameworks useful to understand at a global level
and at an organizational level. At the global level, the Millennium Project
(www.themp.org) lists 15 global challenges based on their research. I believe
that each one of those challenges is an opportunity for OD/OD Professionals
to support. At the workplace level we can look at the framework by Unum, who
articulated the key trends that will affect the employee wellbeing in the future
workplace. While this framework was for UK, there are a few trends which can
be global in nature like The Ageless Workplace which shifts the focus away
from what people cant do to what they can do and the shift from retirement to
returnment, The Mindful Workplace which stresses the need for business to
be mindful of the whole person in the employee, The Intuitive Workplace
which leverages technology to unite the workforce, The Collaborative
Workplace which needs to bring people together and break the silos, The
Changeful Workplace which makes change part of the DNA and The
Engaged Workplace which engages the hearts, minds and body of people.
We can list many other challenges including diversity building, capacity
building, leadership development and more in the backdrop of the two
problems articulated by Edgar Schein. So we do have several challenges and
the question is how can OD help? On a broad level, we see that OD can help
in

Improving Organization Effectiveness aligning organization systems,

developing sustainable processes, proactively managing change instead
of reacting, using data based/scientific approaches to decision-making,
increasing resilience and leadership impact, building a stronger brand &
reputation, improving processes & performance and more

Improving Workforce Effectiveness developing a stronger workforce

that adapts to change, supporting employees to increase capability,
developing a talent ecosystem and more

Nurturing Engaging Culture engaging the whole person, developing

boundary less / structure flexi organizations, going beyond the immediate
organizations to support the community, nurturing diversity and managing
multiple generations, creating culture of safety for employees to share
and be who they are, nurturing organizational dialogues and more

I believe that the possibilities of how OD can help organizations are endless
and we can continue adding to the lists above of how OD can help. We can
summarize by saying that OD has the power to help achieve the triple bottom-
line of Profits, People and Planet for any organization. I am confident of the
Triple Bottom-line Impact of OD because of its two major core values.
According to Friedlander & Brown the field of OD reflects two major core
values a humanistic orientation and emphasis on organizational
effectiveness. These core values make OD a powerful vehicle to help
organizations achieve the triple bottom-line.

For OD to be able to help organizations we need a few critical elements like

1.Leaders practicing OD Values, Behaviors & Principles, 2.HR/L&D
Transitioning to become Internal OD Consultants, 3.Setting up an internal OD
Function/Role or leveraging an External OD Consultant based on the need to
coach, build OD Capability and intervene/provide support, 4.Leveraging the
OD approach to deal with all people side of the enterprise and most
importantly the Top management should understand & appreciate the value
and returns of OD to the triple bottom-line, provide the complete support and
set expectations for a results oriented OD Culture.

In closing I would like to share that the field of OD is out there offering value
and impact to anyone who wants to use the power of OD to create miracles
for individual, organizational and social success. OD is not some niche
knowledge/skills used by the select few but rather open knowledge and
acquirable skill for Everyone to live/use to impact self and the world in a
positive way.

Organizational designs fall into two categories, traditional and contemporary. Traditional designs include simple
structure, functional structure, and divisional structure. Contemporary designs would include team structure, matrix

structure, project structure, boundaryless organization, and the learning organization. I am going to define and

discuss each design in order to give an understanding of the organizational design concept.

I. Traditional Designs

1. Simple Structure

A simple structure is defined as a design with low departmentalization, wide spans of

control, centralized authority, and little formalization. This type of design is very common

in small start up businesses. For example in a business with few employees the owner
This section is presented by:
Adam Garcia
tends to be the manager and controls all of the functions of the business. Often

employees work in all parts of the business and dont just focus on one job creating little if any departmentalization. In

this type of design there are usually no standardized policies and procedures. When the company begins to expand

then the structure tends to become more complex and grows out of the simple structure.

2. Functional Structure
A functional structure is defined as a design that groups similar or related occupational specialties together. It is the

functional approach to departmentalization applied to the entire organization.

3. Divisional Structure

A divisional structure is made up of separate, semi-autonomous units or divisions. Within one corporation

there may be many different divisions and each division has its own goals to accomplish. A manager

oversees their division and is completely responsible for the success or failure of the division. This gets

managers to focus more on results knowing that they will be held accountable for them.

II. Contemporary Designs

1. Team Structure

A team structure is a design in which an organization is made up of teams, and each team works towards a

common goal. Since the organization is made up of groups to perform the functions of the company, teams

must perform well because they are held accountable for their performance. In a team structured

organization there is no hierarchy or chain of command. Therefore, teams can work the way they want to,

and figure out the most effective and efficient way to perform their tasks. Teams are given the power to be as

innovative as they want. Some teams may have a group leader who is in charge of the group.

2. Matrix Structure

A matrix structure is one that assigns specialists from different functional departments to work on one or

more projects. In an organization there may be different projects going on at once. Each specific project is

assigned a project manager and he has the duty of allocating all the resources needed to accomplish the

project. In a matrix structure those resources include the different functions of the company such as

operations, accounting, sales, marketing, engineering, and human resources. Basically the project manager

has to gather specialists from each function in order to work on a project, and complete it successfully. In

this structure there are two managers, the project manager and the department or functional manager.
 3. Project Structure

A project structure is an organizational structure in which employees continuously work on projects. This is

like the matrix structure; however when the project ends the employees dont go back their departments.

They continuously work on projects in a team like structure. Each team has the necessary employees to

successfully complete the project. Each employee brings his or her specialized skill to the team. Once the

project is finished then the team moves on to the next project.

4. Autonomous Internal Units

Some large organizations have adopted this type of structure. That is, the organization is comprised of many

independent decentralized business units, each with its own products, clients, competitors, and profit goals.

There is no centralized control or resource allocation.

5. Boudaryless Organization

A boundaryless organization is one in which its design is not defined by, or limited to, the horizontal, vertical,

or external boundaries imposed by a predefined structure. In other words it is an unstructured design. This

structure is much more flexible because there is no boundaries to deal with such as chain of command,

departmentalization, and organizational hierarchy. Instead of having departments, companies have used the

team approach. In order to eliminate boundaries managers may use virtual, modular, or network

organizational structures. In a virtual organization work is outsourced when necessary. There are a small

number of permanent employees, however specialists are hired when a situation arises. Examples of this

would be subcontractors or freelancers. A modular organization is one in which manufacturing is the

business. This type of organization has work done outside of the company from different suppliers. Each

supplier produces a specific piece of the final product. When all the pieces are done, the organization then

assembles the final product. A network organization is one in which companies outsource their major

business functions in order to focus more on what they are in business to do.

6. Learning Organization
A learning organization is defined as an organization that has developed the capacity to continuously learn, adapt,
and change. In order to have a learning organization a company must have very knowledgeable employees who are
able to share their knowledge with others and be able to apply it in a work environment. The learning organization
must also have a strong organizational culture where all employees have a common goal and are willing to work
together through sharing knowledge and information. A learning organization must have a team design and great
leadership. Learning organizations that are innovative and knowledgeable create leverage over competitors.