Evolution of O.D.

History and Evolution of Organization Development
"Over the years, OD has continued its growth and its orientation toward solving organizational problems.
It is certainly an important way of changing and improving organizations... " (Umstat, 1988, p. 460).
OD As Practice
Organization Development (OD) is defined by Schein (1992) as "...a planned change process,
managed from the top, taking into account both the technical and human sides of the organization..." (p.
316). With roots in psychology and sociology, and an outgrowth of the work of academic researchers, OD
has been in existence for about 30 years, and has as its primary focus understanding organizations and the
individuals within them.
Today, the practice of OD comprises unifying concepts and practices based on divergent
philosophical orientations - one discusses learning prior to change, the other discusses learning after
change. Experts like Argyris, Bennis, Blake, Mouton, and Schutz, whose orientation is human process and
human relations, share the philosophy that "one must understand an organization in order to successfully
change or improve it." The practice that evolves from this philosophical basis is a collaborative process
among OD consultants and members of the organization. Experts like Bion, Cherns, and Davis, whose
orientation is in technical and job processes, share a view that, "in order to understand an organization,
one must try to change it and observe the results." The practice that evolves is one of analysis, problem
solving, action planning, and evaluation (Adapted from Kur, 198 1, p. 87). Differing philosophical
orientations provide practitioners with opportunities to develop unique approaches to the practice of OD.
The Role of the OD Practitioner
Margulies and Raia (1984) describe the OD practitioner as a "social architect" (p. 91). The role
clearly has a political aspect, due in part to the sensitivity of the work, which is centered around the
political structure of the organization. Margulies and Raia (1984) emphasize that "almost all OD efforts
are political in nature, since they encourage collaboration and participation that 'enfranchise' participants"
(p. 92). The OD practitioner needs to know where the political power bases are, who makes decisions,
who has the most influence, and who needs to buy into strategies and can carry them forward. Due to the
complexity of the OD practitioner's role, "...013 practitioners and change agents need to develop their
skills in structured, directive change strategies, as well as to maintain their skills in interpersonal,
participative change strategies..." (Hersey & Blanchard, 1993, p. 398) to ensure their success as well as
the success of the OD work.
Bridges (2000), reflecting the all too common situation in which OD consultants are called in after a
systemic change has been implemented, writes that "much that passes for organization development is
really little more than organizational repair" (p. 89). For, without benefit of participation in early
planning, the OD practitioner can only develop "band-aid" solutions for the deep issues that arise out of
change implemented without a clear strategic plan. At that point, "much of the work... deals with knitting
together diverse and sometimes warring subcultures, helping leaders, the dominant coalition or the whole
managerial subculture client figure out how to integrate constructively the multiple agendas of different
groups" (Schein, 1992, p. 316).
Management Theory and Change
The field of OD has expanded over time, in response to the needs of employers who not only want to
move their organizations forward in terms of business objectives, but also in terms of employee
engagement, as today's employers now understand the connection between employee involvement and
organizational success.
The move to employee involvement in change, and the use of internal or external consultants to
manage reactions to change, represents a shift in approach from early management theory. An example is
Charles Taylor's scientific management approach, which became known as "Taylorism." This "command-
and-control" approach drew a sharp line between managers and employees. The underlying philosophy
was that "workers work, managers think." Taylor's method was a reflection of the times, i.e., the industrial
age with its factories unions, and assembly lines - environments that needed tight management control
(Silverstein, 1999).
Taylor's view was eventually replaced by the Human Relations movement, when organizational
psychology and group dynamics evolved, paving the way for more worker involvement and benefits, and
the theory of worker motivation. Peter Drucker, a management theorist, responding to the need for a more
humanistic management approach, led the charge toward a strategy that took the collective intelligence of
the workforce into account. No longer "servants" of the organization, employees have a voice, marking a
dramatic shift to a more participative working environment and improved working relationships between
managers and their employees.
The Nature of Organizational Change
"Any change, but especially major change, disrupts the work environment" (Beckhard, 1992, p.4).
Deep organizational changes have a profound impact on people within organizations. In fact, today
most businesses have accepted the notion that the only thing constant is change. Nonstop change is often
referred to as "white water turbulence [that is] forcing most leaders to examine the very essence of their
organizations..." (Beckhard & Pritchard, 1992, p. 1). OD is a key factor in successful implementation of
large-scale organizational changes such as mergers, acquisitions, downsizings, and restructurings.
Deciding on a direction, or making an organizational change is one thing; managing employees'

personal reactions is yet another. Having the appropriate resources, i.e., an OD practitioner working with
the senior team to develop a strategic change management plan, can be the difference between a
successful and satisfying result and one that leaves employees feeling disenfranchised, forgotten, and
wounded.
A critical part of any OD change intervention is ensuring that everyone who needs to be part of the
process is included. While certainly part of the process, the OD practitioner is best served by realizing that
he or she is not the change "owner" but rather a vehicle for the change that organizational leaders create
and own. Warrick and Thompson (1980) point out that, "as practitioners we need to view OD as a process
and to change our practices to reflect this view ... by developing "internal change agents" that can carry on
the process, and by making planned disengagement and follow-up one of the most important phases of the
effort" (p. 98).
Usually, the OD practitioner's best course of action is to develop a team of internal change agents
who will take the work forward after the initial change event has completed. In fact, contrary to previous
views that planning and implementing change processes was their sole purview, "some OD practitioners
are beginning to realize that the real change agents are the managers and supervisors in the organization
and that the OD practitioner is more of a 'change catalyst,' whose primary role is to assist the real change
agents" (Warrick & Thompson, 1980, p. 95).
Change Management Models and Approaches

"Caught in the vortex offierce global competition and the ever-increasing speed of new technology,
organizations find themselves in a situation where they can survive only by adapting, and adapting fast"
(Carr, Hard, & Trahant, 1996, p. 43).
Optimum OD effectiveness is the product of several processes: A deep understanding of
organizational issues; diagnosis of issues related to the change; understanding the impact that change will
have on individuals and the organization; a strategic change management plan tailored to the needs of the
organization. Hersey and Blanchard (1993) support this premise, stating, "effective OD interventions
depend on diagnosing the situation and determining the highest probability success approach for the
particular environment" (p. 398). Essential to a discussion about change, whether organizational or
personal, is an understanding of what happens during times of change - to organizations and to the people
who work in them. Bridges (1991) claims that "change is external, transition is internal" (p. 3).
This operating premise is the foundation for his work with organizational transitions, where he
maintains that IhiM can change overnight, but individual responses to the change, what it means, how it
impacts them, is a personal transition that takes longer and cannot be ignored.
When an organization decides to make a strategic change, there is a planning process that results in
implementation - literally, flipping the switch. The "switch" might be changing the way work is done as in
reengineering, or changing reporting relationships through re-structuring or downsizing. However, experts
like Bridges are of the opinion that organizations don't give the same level of planning to personal
transitions, that is, the time it takes for individuals to accept and deal with change as they do to the
technical, or work aspects of change.
The Bridaes Transition Model
The process of moving from the comfort of the old - or what "used to be" to the ambiguity of the
new, has been compared to being between trapezes - there's nothing to hold on to! The Bridges' (1991)
Transition Model is widely accepted by individuals and organizations as a succinct and easy way to think
about change and its impact. The model illustrates that transition begins with letting go - a necessary (and
the most difficult) step to moving on to a new beginning. The model actually is a three-stage design, and
behaviors that are characteristic of all major transitions are identified.
The first stage of the model is the "Ending" or letting go of the past, which acknowledges that change
begins with starting something new, but transition starts with an ending. This process can be very difficult
because of the ambiguity it renders. Generally, people have difficulty letting go of the past because it is
comfortable; the future is unknown. The second phase, which is referred to as the "Neutral Zone" is one
of transition, and is marked by low stability, personal stress, and conflict. The third stage is the "New
Beginning," marking a time when real change begins, and there is a focus on the future. Creativity
flourishes in this phase, as individuals feel a sense of relief and promise.
The Action Research Model
A time-tested and widely accepted process for developing and implementing a change strategy,
Umstat (1996) describes "action research [as] the process of gathering data, feeding data back to the
client, problem solving or dealing with issues that arise from the data, developing action plans to resolve
problems, and following up to see if the action has worked as planned" (p. 461). Burke (1992) breaks the
process down as follows, stating, "data on the nature of certain problems are systematically collected and
then action is taken as a function of what the analyzed data indicate" (p. 8).
Understanding what the organizational change management needs are, and the impact that the change
will have on the organization at large, the OD practitioner can begin to develop a change strategy, and this
is where Action Research Model can serve as a guide to thought leaders. The specific techniques used
within this methodological model are:
Diagnosis
Interview both individuals and groups, observe the situation, then analyze and
organize the data collected.
Feedback
Report back to those from whom the data were obtained on the organization's
collective sense of the organizational problems.
Discussion
Analyze what the data mean and then plan the steps to be taken as a consequence.
Action
Take those steps (p. 8).
Great Pacific Shipbuilding: Successful OD in Action
The Great Pacific Shipbuilding organization is a good example of the role of the OD practitioner in a
change effort, and how the Action Research Model was implemented to ensure a successful outcome to
change.
It began when the CEO contacted a consultant who was an expert in organizational change (and
probably OD). Together they developed a strategy for involving the right people (the stakeholders) and
gathering data about performance through interviews. The next step ... an action-research process, was an
offsite, three-day retreat. The consultant fed back the data he had gathered, and the group spent the rest of
the retreat working on important issues that were raised. The problem solving resulted in an action plan
for reorganizing the company and creating a transition team. Actions were taken by the CEO and the
transition team to make sure the action plan was proceeding as desired. Follow-up was accomplished by
several offsite, one-day workshops (Umstat, 1996, p. 463). Note the author's use of the parenthetical
phrase, "and probably OD" to describe the expert in the case study. Inasmuch as OD is virtually
synonymous with change management, and that the action research model is an OD tool, the author
makes the assumption that the "expert in organizational change" is also an expert in OD. The action
research model used here helped the consultant to understand, at a deeper level, the issues associated with
this organization's change effort, to support the transition team in its work, and to develop the- change
agents needed for the work to be carried forward.
Change Models for Higher Education
OD can also be applied to higher education, however, Lueddeke (1999) argues that "...the proposed
framework or model of change in higher education differs from other rationalistic change approaches in
that its philosophical underpinnings are guided by field of learning and knowledge acquisition known as
constructivitism" (p. 236).
Constructivism is rooted in philosophy, and is based in experiential learning, where students are
actively involved in "constructing" interpretations. Lueddeke explains that his "...search for a more
realistic framework ... was ... informed by an investigation carried out to identify significant concepts or
factors that promote change efforts in higher education" (p. 236).
The following are the dimensions he cites:
Integrate experiential and dynamic praxis ... ensuring that change initiatives in higher education are rooted
in 'authentic'... experience
Encourage collegial and collaborative (vs. management) decision making, emphasizing linkages and
relationships, not structures;
Demonstrate a capacity to adapt to existing practice and to changing circumstances...
Focus on reflective, generative and transformative activity, stressing the synergy of the creative process
itself...
Ensure credibility ... to the academic 'mainstream'...
Function largely with ambivalent teaching/learning environments...
Provide a framework for verification purposes and multiple applicability ... in higher education contexts,
possibly through evaluation and action research (p. 234)
Using these criteria as a basis, Lueddeke suggests the "Adaptive-Generative Development Model (A-
GDM) as a way to "focus on the dual nature of the change process." (p.238)
This model consists of the following six interrelated elements: Needs Analysis, Research &
Development, Strategy Formation & Development, Resource Support, Implementation & Dissemination,
and Evaluation. Note the similarity of these elements to the Action Research Model mentioned earlier.
Lueddeke also suggests that "the framework for guiding the decision-making process that is at the heart of
the Adaptive-Generative Development model ... may be a useful starting point to reflect on the challenges
of a specific reform or innovation and the extent to which it is situated for the future." (p.238)
Conclusion
As today's leaders take their organizations through unchartered waters again and again, they have
recognized the need for a clear strategy for managing both the change itself, and the human side of
change, which is referred to as transition. In fact, "phrases such as 'change is inevitable,' 'change is
constant,' and 'the only thing certain is change itself' are commonly heard when commiserating about the
pace of modem life." (Imel, 2000) Organizational issues in educational settings are equally complex, so it
is essential that the elements for sound decision-making are present: A sound change management
strategy, an appropriate change model, and an environment that invites debate and challenge.
The models and approaches presented here describe systematic ways to plan and manage change.
However, the simplicity of models belies the complexities associated with the change process. Each
organization is different, which dictates a different approach to change initiatives depending on the
climate and culture. These tools help to guide thinking, but are not substitutes for the degree of strategic
thinking, influencing, and problem solving required in each unique situation.
What is Organization Development?
Organization Development (OD) utilizes what we know about systems, and what we know about human behavior, to plan and manage
the development of organizations into thriving, growing, healthy, organic human systems that meet the needs of all their
stakeholders.
OD practitioners improve the effectiveness of an organization by applying knowledge from the behavior sciences -- psychology,
sociology, cultural anthropology, and other related disciplines. Since its beginnings in the 1920s, the art and science of OD has
accumulated a significant body of knowledge through actual OD work in organizations.
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Human Dimension OD Services Include:
Change Management
All people and organizations are constantly going through change. Change is just another word for growth -- and continuous growth is
the way of the world now. If you and your organization are not growing, you and it will soon be obsolete in today's world. We provide
understanding and support processes to improve an organization's ability to implement change in healthy and least destructive ways.
Coaching
People and organizations have their own answers. We provide the processes that help them become aware of those answers, and
develop actions plans that help them get where they want to go.
Conflict Management
Differences are healthy and necessary for personal and organizational growth -- but only if they are worked through to resolution. We
help our clients do that, and we help them view differences not merely as problems to be solved, but rather, as the steppingstones
they are.
Cross-Cultural Understanding
Today's global world requires that people understand other cultures and act with awareness and appreciation of differences. This also
means that a person needs to understand his own culture and its effects on people of other cultures. We heighten self-awareness, and
awareness of one's own culture and the cultures of others, as appropriate.
Emotional Intelligence
Research shows that social and emotional abilities are four times more important than mental abilities in determining professional
success. All leaders need to have a high "EQ." We provide instruments that measure emotional intelligence to identify the current
competencies and areas for growth, and the coaching to support that growth.
Facilitation and Group Meeting Design
Sometimes people in organizations are too close to the questions to find the answers. We provide processes that facilitate their taking
a clearer, more objective view, while at the same time ensuring that they are gathering the energy they will need to implement the
answers.
Interpersonal Skills Training
All people in organizations need interpersonal skills to work in today's collaborative work environments -- even a two-person team
needs special skills. We provide custom workshops that increase people's interpersonal competencies.
Management and Leadership Development
Leadership can be taught. All managers have a leadership role. All employees have leadership roles these days. We provide
assessments for determining their current reality, coaching to help them identify actions they can take to achieve their goals, and
support along the way.
Personality Type Training
We have found that personality type training is an excellent foundational tool for people to understand themselves and others. It is
useful in conflict management, self-management, stress management, teamwork, cross-cultural understanding, management,
leadership, group problem-solving and decision-making, and in many other ways. We teach it to as many people in our client
organizations as possible.
Team Building
Teamwork and collaboration are greatly facilitated by team building processes. We provide workshops, meeting designs, and
facilitation that enable teams to accelerate growth. We believe that two heads are indeed better than one, but only when there is an
atmosphere of trust and mutuality, with systems that allow people to say what they really think and feel, and processes for decision
making that that take those thoughts and feelings into account.
Training Your Trainers
Whenever possible, we like to transfer skills to our client's in-house staff. This is not always possible of course, depending on the size
of the company. For smaller companies we endeavor to provide ongoing support at a cost they can afford. We also provide resources
for trainers.
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OD Consultants are Different From Management Consultants
OD consultants are different from management consultants in that our "client" is the total organization, not just the management
team. Of course, the growth of an organization and the growth of the people in it, especially the management team, are inextricably
tied. Warner Burke, Ph.D., who teaches OD at Columbia University, once said that an OD practitioner's client is the "lines" on the
organization chart -- the interactions between processes, departments, people, customers, suppliers, the board of directors,
shareholders, the community, and all other stakeholders.
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OD Tools and Processes (Interventions)
Like every field of practice, OD uses many specialized tools and processes. These are called Interventions. There are four basic
categories of OD interventions. These are not distinct or exclusive methods and they are usually used in conjunction with each other:
1. Human Processes: team building, conflict resolution, personal growth workshops, interpersonal skills and communications
training, emotional intelligence training, coaching skills training...
2. Techno-structural: total quality management, work process redesign...
3. Human Resource Management: job design, hiring and selection, performance management, reward systems, multicultural
training, coaching...
4. Strategic: strategic planning/management, Future Search conferences that help large diverse groups discover common
values, purposes, and projects; corporate culture change, building a "learning organization" in which people at all levels are
continually learning, Open Space and other large group meeting methodologies...
OD Consultants use many tools and processes in their work. Because the list of tools is constantly growing, OD Consultants are always
"in training."
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OD is a Step-by-step Process
Implementing OD processes is a lot like going to a physician. An OD practitioner first helps the organizational members to gather
accurate data about the current state of their system. What is the current reality of the system? What are the system's strengths and
weaknesses ? The presenting symptoms? The problems? The issues? Then the OD practitioner helps the organization to devise ways
to intervene into the system to facilitate its growth or stop its decline. After you make the intervention, we wait to see what happens
before deciding the subsequent steps. (What has the impact been? What would be the appropriate next step to keep the energy going
in the desired direction?) With today's accelerated pace of constant change, this is the only way that works. In the past, organizations
would assess, plan, and implement massive change projects, sometimes spanning years. Today, the OD profession focuses on helping
organizations to deal with constant change and on building its capacity to learn -- at the individual, team, and organizational levels of
their system. When this becomes a way of life for the organization, the organization becomes flexible like the mast of a sailing ship
that naturally adjusts to the changing winds.
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Importance of Getting the Process Right
In OD work, how you do something is equally as important, and often more important, than what you do. It is critical that the
intervention not only be the correct one, but also that it be done well, with the right group of people, and with the right facilitation and
support. The first rule is, "Do no harm." Many of us have experienced meetings that were more frustrating than helpful because the
wrong people were invited, or team-building sessions that fell flat due to ineffective facilitation or low trust. And many of us have also
experienced the thrill of a well-executed OD intervention, like a training workshop that was transformative, or a wonderfully
energizing strategic planning session, or an insightful coaching session.
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How to Choose an OD Consultant
The ever-increasing plethora of tools, processes, and interventions can easily overwhelm anyone looking for OD help. You ask
yourself, "What should we look for? Should we hire someone to do Action Reflection Learning? Should we hire someone to do team
building? Should we get a management coach? Who would that be, and who would he/she coach? And how would we inform the
person to be coached? How should we set goals for the coaching process? Should we get someone who will do expert consulting to the
management team in the area of organization development? Should we get someone to lead an Appreciative Inquiry or an Open
Space meeting?" Using the wrong intervention can be worse than doing nothing. It can falsely raise employee expectations and lower
their faith in management, in addition to wasting the company's resources of time, money, and energy. It can frustrate the search
and can even freeze the selection process. See http://members.aol.com/odinst/skills.htm for the OD Institute's very comprehensive
list of characteristics you might look for when choosing an OD Consultant.
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Consultant Must Fit With Your Management Team and Your Culture
The personality and style of your OD Consultant is as important as his or her experience and expertise. Think of it as hiring a member
of your management team. It is equally important. Your OD consultant must be a person who can work within your corporate culture,
and speak a language your management team and employees can relate to and comprehend. He or she must be credible to everyone.
He or she must be able to sit on the boundary of your organization as an interested, objective, informed observer. He or she must
provide accurate, informed feedback -- the mirror in which organizational members can see themselves clearly.
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Consultant's Method Must be Congruent With the Client's Need
OD practitioners must model the behaviors the client organization wants and needs to learn. He or she also must be a catalyst,
providing a special presence that encourages and supports the people in the organization to be constantly aware of the health of their
system.
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The Human Dimension is a Full-Service Consultancy
There are many kinds of organizations that properly list themselves under the category, Organization Development. As in all fields of
practice these days, specialization is normal and natural. Many firms specialize in providing one or a few OD interventions such as
management training, or large group meeting technologies, or employee surveys, or Action Learning or other specific interventions.
Some firms provide a full-service consultancy, including assisting management to develop an Organization Development strategy, and
directing and assessing the ongoing implementation of the interventions that underpin the strategy. Due to the global requirements of
organizations, many firms form networks of practice to provide this full service. We are one of these full-service firms. We like to help
our clients diagnose their problems and determine an appropriate, targeted intervention. While it is sometimes obvious what type of
intervention an organization needs, (for example, teambuilding) most often implementing an off-the-shelf intervention is a hit-or-miss
proposition. Sometimes it works beautifully; sometimes it makes things worse, wastes a lot of time, energy, and resources, and
reduces employee confidence in management. The consultant's competence is a critical factor
ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
the management of change
Robert H. Rouda & Mitchell E. Kusy, Jr.
OD IS A PROCESS
Action Research is a process which serves as a model for most OD interventions. French and Bell (5)
describe Action Research as a "process of systematically collecting research data about an ongoing
system relative to some objective, goal, or need of that system; feeding these data back into the system;
taking actions by altering selected variables within the system based both on the data and on hypotheses;
and evaluating the results of actions by collecting more data." The steps in Action Research are (6, 7):
1. Entry. This phase consists of marketing, i.e. finding needs for change within an organization. It is
also the time to quickly grasp the nature of the organization, identify the appropriate decision
maker, and build a trusting relationship.
2. Start-up and contracting. In this step, we identify critical success factors and the real issues, link
into the organization's culture and processes, and clarify roles for the consultant(s) and employees.
This is also the time to deal with resistance within the organization. A formal or informal contract
will define the change process.
3. Assessment and diagnosis. Here we collect data in order to find the opportunities and problems in
the organization (refer to DxVxF>R above.) For suggestions about what to look for, see the
previous article in this series, on needs assessment (8). This is also the time for the consultant to
make a diagnosis, in order to recommend appropriate interventions.
4. Feedback. This two-way process serves to tell those what we found out, based on an analysis of
the data. Everyone who contributed information should have an opportunity to learn about the
findings of the assessment process (provided there is no apparent breach of anyone's
confidentiality.) This provides an opportunity for the organization's people to become involved in
the change process, to learn about how different parts of the organization affect each other, and to
participate in selecting appropriate change interventions.
5. Action planning. In this step we will distill recommendations from the assessment and feedback,
consider alternative actions and focus our intervention(s) on activities that have the most leverage
to effect positive change in the organization. An implementation plan will be developed that is
based on the assessment data, is logically organized, results- oriented, measurable and rewarded.
We must plan for a participative decision-making process for the intervention.
6. Intervention. Now, and only now, do we actually carry out the change process. It is important to
follow the action plan, yet remain flexible enough to modify the process as the organization
changes and as new information emerges.
7. Evaluation. Successful OD must have made meaningful changes in the performance and
efficiency of the people and their organization. We need to have an evaluation procedure to verify
this success, identify needs for new or continuing OD activities, and improve the OD process itself
to help make future interventions more successful.
8. Adoption. After steps have been made to change the organization and plans have been formulated,
we follow-up by implementing processes to insure that this remains an ongoing activity within the
organization, that commitments for action have been obtained, and that they will be carried out.
9. Separation. We must recognize when it is more productive for the client and consultant to
undertake other activities, and when continued consultation is counterproductive. We also should
plan for future contacts, to monitor the success of this change and possibly to plan for future
change activities.
It would be nice if real OD followed these steps sequentially. This rarely happens. Instead, the consultants
must be flexible and be ready to change their strategy when necessary. Often they will have to move back
and repeat previous steps in light of new information, new influences, or because of the changes that have
already been made.
But for successful OD to take place, all of these steps must be followed. It works best if they are taken in
the order described. And, since learning is really an iterative, not a sequential process, we must be
prepared to re-enter this process when and where appropriate.
WHO DOES OD?
To be successful, OD must have the buy-in, ownership, and involvement of all stakeholders, not just of
the employees throughout the organization. OD is usually facilitated by change agents -- people or teams
that have the responsibility for initiating and managing the change effort. These change agents may be
either employees of the organization (internal consultants) or people from outside the organization
(external consultants.)
Effective change requires leadership with knowledge, and experience in change management. We
strongly recommend that external or internal consultants be used, preferably a combination of both.
("These people are professionals; don't try this at home.")
Bennis (2) notes that "external consultants can manage to affect ... the power structure in a way that most
internal change agents cannot." Since experts from outside are less subject to the politics and motivations
found within the organization, they can be more effective in facilitating significant and meaningful
changes.
WHEN IS AN ORGANIZATION READY FOR OD?
There is a formula, attributed to David Gleicher (3, 4), which we can use to decide if an organization is
ready for change:
Dissatisfaction x Vision x First Steps > Resistance to Change

This means that three components must all be present to overcome the resistance to change in an
organization: Dissatisfaction with the present situation, a vision of what is possible in the future, and
achievable first steps towards reaching this vision. If any of the three is zero or near zero, the product will
also be zero or near zero and the resistance to change will dominate.
We use this model as an easy, quick diagnostic aid to decide if change is possible. OD can bring
approaches to the organization that will enable these three components to surface, so we can begin the
process of change.
WHAT IS OD?
Beckhard (1) defines Organization Development (OD) as "an effort, planned, organization-wide,
and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned
interventions in the organization's processes, using behavioral-science knowledge." In essence, OD
is a planned system of change.
 Planned. OD takes a long-range approach to improving organizational performance and

efficiency. It avoids the (usual) "quick-fix".
 Organization-wide. OD focuses on the total system.

 Managed from the top. To be effective, OD must have the support of top-management. They
have to model it, not just espouse it. The OD process also needs the buy-in and ownership of
workers throughout the organization.
 Increase organization effectiveness and health. OD is tied to the bottom-line. Its goal is to
improve the organization, to make it more efficient and more competitive by aligning the
organization's systems with its people.
 Planned interventions. After proper preparation, OD uses activities called interventions to

make systemwide, permanent changes in the organization.
 Using behavioral-science knowledge. OD is a discipline that combines research and

experience to understanding people, business systems, and their interactions.
We usually think of OD only in terms of the interventions themselves. This article seeks to
emphasize that these activities are only the most visible part of a complex process, and to put some
perspective and unity into the myriad of OD tools that are used in business today. These activities
include Total Quality Management (an evolutionary approach to improving an organization) and
Reengineering (a more revolutionary approach). And there are dozens of other interventions, such
as strategic planning and team building. It is critical to select the correct intervention(s), and this
can only be done with proper preparation.
WHY DO OD?
 Human resources -- our people -- may be a large fraction of our costs of doing business. They
certainly can make the difference between organizational success and failure. We better
know how to manage them.
 Changing nature of the workplace. Our workers today want feedback on their performance,
a sense of accomplishment, feelings of value and worth, and commitment to social
responsibility. They need to be more efficient, to improve their time management. And, of
course, if we are to continue doing more work with less people, we need to make our
processes more efficient.
 Global markets. Our environments are changing, and our organizations must also change to
survive and prosper. We need to be more responsible to and develop closer partnerships
with our customers. We must change to survive, and we argue that we should attack the
problems, not the symptoms, in a systematic, planned, humane manner.
 Accelerated rate of change. Taking an open-systems approach, we can easily identify the
competitions on an international scale for people, capital, physical resources, and
information.
WHO DOES OD?
To be successful, OD must have the buy-in, ownership, and involvement of all stakeholders, not just
of the employees throughout the organization. OD is usually facilitated by change agents -- people
or teams that have the responsibility for initiating and managing the change effort. These change
agents may be either employees of the organization (internal consultants) or people from outside
the organization (external consultants.)
Effective change requires leadership with knowledge, and experience in change management. We
strongly recommend that external or internal consultants be used, preferably a combination of
both. ("These people are professionals; don't try this at home.")
Bennis (2) notes that "external consultants can manage to affect ... the power structure in a way
that most internal change agents cannot." Since experts from outside are less subject to the politics
and motivations found within the organization, they can be more effective in facilitating significant
and meaningful changes.
WHEN IS AN ORGANIZATION READY FOR OD?
There is a formula, attributed to David Gleicher (3, 4), which we can use to decide if an
organization is ready for change:
Dissatisfaction x Vision x First Steps > Resistance to Change

This means that three components must all be present to overcome the resistance to change in an
organization: Dissatisfaction with the present situation, a vision of what is possible in the future, and
achievable first steps towards reaching this vision. If any of the three is zero or near zero, the
product will also be zero or near zero and the resistance to change will dominate.
We use this model as an easy, quick diagnostic aid to decide if change is possible. OD can bring
approaches to the organization that will enable these three components to surface, so we can begin
the process of change.
OD IS A PROCESS
Action Research is a process which serves as a model for most OD interventions. French and Bell
(5) describe Action Research as a "process of systematically collecting research data about an
ongoing system relative to some objective, goal, or need of that system; feeding these data back into
the system; taking actions by altering selected variables within the system based both on the data
and on hypotheses; and evaluating the results of actions by collecting more data." The steps in
Action Research are (6, 7):
1. Entry. This phase consists of marketing, i.e. finding needs for change within an organization.
It is also the time to quickly grasp the nature of the organization, identify the appropriate
decision maker, and build a trusting relationship.
2. Start-up and contracting. In this step, we identify critical success factors and the real issues,
link into the organization's culture and processes, and clarify roles for the consultant(s) and
employees. This is also the time to deal with resistance within the organization. A formal or
informal contract will define the change process.
3. Assessment and diagnosis. Here we collect data in order to find the opportunities and
problems in the organization (refer to DxVxF>R above.) For suggestions about what to look
for, see the previous article in this series, on needs assessment (8). This is also the time for
the consultant to make a diagnosis, in order to recommend appropriate interventions.
4. Feedback. This two-way process serves to tell those what we found out, based on an analysis
of the data. Everyone who contributed information should have an opportunity to learn
about the findings of the assessment process (provided there is no apparent breach of
anyone's confidentiality.) This provides an opportunity for the organization's people to
become involved in the change process, to learn about how different parts of the
organization affect each other, and to participate in selecting appropriate change
interventions.
5. Action planning. In this step we will distill recommendations from the assessment and
feedback, consider alternative actions and focus our intervention(s) on activities that have
the most leverage to effect positive change in the organization. An implementation plan will
be developed that is based on the assessment data, is logically organized, results- oriented,
measurable and rewarded. We must plan for a participative decision-making process for the
intervention.
6. Intervention. Now, and only now, do we actually carry out the change process. It is important
to follow the action plan, yet remain flexible enough to modify the process as the
organization changes and as new information emerges.
7. Evaluation. Successful OD must have made meaningful changes in the performance and
efficiency of the people and their organization. We need to have an evaluation procedure to
verify this success, identify needs for new or continuing OD activities, and improve the OD
process itself to help make future interventions more successful.
8. Adoption. After steps have been made to change the organization and plans have been
formulated, we follow-up by implementing processes to insure that this remains an ongoing
activity within the organization, that commitments for action have been obtained, and that
they will be carried out.
9. Separation. We must recognize when it is more productive for the client and consultant to
undertake other activities, and when continued consultation is counterproductive. We also
should plan for future contacts, to monitor the success of this change and possibly to plan for
future change activities.
It would be nice if real OD followed these steps sequentially. This rarely happens. Instead, the
consultants must be flexible and be ready to change their strategy when necessary. Often they will
have to move back and repeat previous steps in light of new information, new influences, or because
of the changes that have already been made.
But for successful OD to take place, all of these steps must be followed. It works best if they are
taken in the order described. And, since learning is really an iterative, not a sequential process, we
must be prepared to re-enter this process when and where appropriate.
If you would like to know more about OD, we highly recommend the books by Cummings and
Worley (9), and by Rothwell, Sullivan and McLean (10).
WHAT'S NEXT?
In future articles in this series, we plan to discuss some of the major OD interventions in common
use today, and to classify these into systematic categories.
WHERE YOU COME IN
 TAPPI has a Training and Development Subcommittee (of the Board's Education
Committee.) Its current tasks include developing a getting-started guide for people newly
assigned to training responsibilities in the pulp and paper industry. Join us -- contact Clare
Reagan at Tappi if you would like to get involved.
 TAPPI in 1997. We are in the preliminary stages of planning for events at future TAPPI
conferences. These events will focus on education and Human Resource Development, and
may include a workshops on Organization Development. We invite your participation.
 Case studies. In future articles, we plan to include some case histories of the successes (and
failures) of applying OD practices in the paper industry. If you are involved in OD and
would like to join us in this effort, please contact us.
LITERATURE CITED
1. Beckhard, R., Organization development: Strategies and models. Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley, Reading, MA, 1969, p. 9.
2. Bennis, W., Organization development: Its nature, origin and prospects. Addison-Wesley,
Reading, MA, 1969, p. 12.
3. Beckhard, R. & Harris, R. Organizational Transitions. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1987.
4. Jacobs, R., Real Time Strategic Change. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.,
San Francisco, 1994, p.122.
5. French, W., & Bell, C., Jr., Organization development: Behavioral science interventions for
organization improvement (4th ed), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990, p. 99.
6. Burke, W., Organization development: Principles and practices. Boston: Little, Brown &
Co., Boston, 1982.
7. Rothwell, W., Sullivan, R., & McLean, G., "Models for Change and Steps in Action
Research", in Practicing OD: A Guide for Consultants, Pfeiffer, San Diego, 1995, pp. 51-69.
8. Rouda, R. & Kusy, M., Jr., "Needs assessment - the first step", Tappi Journal 78 (6): 255
(1995).
9. Cummings, T.G., & Worley, C.G., Organization Development and Change, 5th edition, West
Publishing, St. Paul, 1993.
10. Rothwell, W., Sullivan, R., & McLean, G., Practicing OD: A Guide for Consultants, Pfeiffer,
San Diego, 1995.
Organizational Dynamics Interventions
The day-to-day function of every business involves people. Employees, stockholders, customers, managers,
executives, and front line staff. The dynamics that exist among these people impact the effectiveness of the
organization and therefore, your bottom line.
We will work with specific intact teams in your organization, on specific issues that they identify as needing
attention. We'll take a systemic view to problem solving by examining the need for training initiatives,
adjustments to systems, and a review of policies and practices in order to identify all possible barriers to
performance and recommend practical solutions.
Long-Term Solutions and An On-Going Process

Interventions are designed to create change that is sustained over time and to prepare an internal
facilitator to take over where we leave off, so the process continues long after we are gone. A typical
intervention involves the following steps:
 Needs discussion with managers
 Needs discussion with team members
 Report of findings, discussed and prioritized by managers and team members
 Activities designed to identify and perpetuate 3-5 areas that are working
 Activities designed to identify and improve on 3-5 areas that are not working as effectively as
possible
 Facilitation of a one-day (or longer) session to include the activities mentioned above
 A 6-8 month follow up plan for implementation and measurement of results
 Coaching an internal staff person to take over the facilitation process after our work is complete
Organizational development (OD) is an application of behavioral science to organizational change. It

encompasses a wide array of theories, processes, and activities, all of which are oriented toward the goal
of improving individual organizations. Generally speaking, however, OD differs from traditional
organizational change techniques in that it typically embraces a more holistic approach that is aimed at
transforming thought and behavior throughout an entity. Definitions of OD abound, but they are all
predicated on the notion of improving organizational performance through proactive activities and
techniques. It is also worth noting that organizational development, though concerned with improving
workforce performance, should not be mistaken for human resource development. "Organization
development is the planned process of developing an organization to be more effective in accomplishing
its desired goals," wrote Rima Shaffer in Principles of Organization Development. "It is distinguished
from human resource development in that HRD focuses on the personal growth of individuals within
organizations, while OD focuses on developing the structures, systems, and processes within the
organization to improve organizational effectiveness."
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT BASICS
Although the field of OD is broad, it can be differentiated from other systems of organizational change by
its emphasis on process rather than problems. Indeed, traditional group change systems have focused on
identifying problems in an organization and then trying to alter the behavior that creates the problem. But
Margaret Neale and Gregory Northcraft observed in Organizational Behavior: A Management Challenge
that OD initiatives focus on identifying the behavioral interactions and patterns that cause and sustain
problems. Then, rather than simply changing isolated behaviors, OD efforts are aimed at creating a
behaviorally healthy organization that will naturally anticipate and prevent (or quickly solve) problems.
OD programs usually share several basic characteristics. For instance, they are considered long-term
efforts of at least one to three years in most cases. In addition, OD stresses collaborative management,
whereby managers and employees at different levels of the hierarchy cooperate to solve problems. OD
also recognizes that every organization is unique and that the same solutions cannot necessarily be applied
at different companies—this assumption is reflected in an OD focus on research and feedback. Another
common trait of OD programs is an emphasis on the value of teamwork and small groups. In fact, most
OD systems use small teams—or even individuals—as a vehicle to implement broad organizational
changes.
The catalyst—whether a group or individual—that facilitates the OD process is known as the "change
agent." Change agents are often outside consultants with experience managing OD programs, although
companies sometimes utilize inside managers. The advantage of bringing in outside OD consultants is
that they often provide a different perspective and have a less biased view of the organization's problems
and needs. The primary drawback associated with outside change agents is that they may lack an in-depth
understanding of key issues particular to the company. In addition, outside change agents may have
trouble securing the trust and cooperation of key players in the organization. For these reasons, some
companies employ an external-internal team approach, which seeks to combine the advantages of internal
and external change agents while minimizing the drawbacks associated with the two approaches. "Are
change agents necessary for organizational development to take place?" queried Gibson, Ivancevich, and
Donnelly, authors of Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes. "Once we recognize that
organizational development involves substantial changes in how individuals think, believe, and act, we
can appreciate the necessity of someone to play the role of change agent. But who should play the role?
Existing managers? New managers? Or individuals hired specifically for that purpose? Depending upon
the situation, any of these can be called upon to orchestrate the organizational development process. The
point is that the role of the change agent is necessary for organizational development to occur."
MANAGING CHANGE THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Organization 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. Writing in the
Academy of Management OD Newsletter, consultant William G. Dyer stipulated several conditions that
had to be present if an OD intervention could have any meaningful chance of bringing about the desired
change:
 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 organization; 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 change agents (which, if used, must be
competent).
 The intervention should be based on accurate diagnosis of organizational conditions.
 Owners and managers should show their commitment to OD at all stages of the effort, including the diagnosis,
implementation, and evaluation.
 Evaluation is 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 organization's goals and overriding
mission.
IMPLEMENTING OD PROGRAMS
OD efforts basically entail two groups of activities: "action research" and "interventions." Action research
is a process of systematically collecting data on a specific organization, 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
organization 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.
OD interventions are plans or programs comprised of specific activities designed to effect change in some
facet of an organization. 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
organization through change. In general, organizations that wish to achieve a high degree of
organizational change will employ a full range of interventions, including those designed to transform
individual and group behavior 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, organization development programs will simultaneously
integrate more than one of these interventions. A few of the more popular interventions are briefly
described below.
INTERPERSONAL INTERVENTIONS Interpersonal interventions in an OD program are designed to

enhance individual skills, knowledge, and effectiveness. This type of program utilizes 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 behaviors. Other types of interpersonal interventions include those designed to improve the
performance review process, create better training programs, help workers identify their true wants and
set complementary career goals, and resolve conflict.
GROUP INTERVENTIONS OD group interventions are designed to help teams and groups within
organizations 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 analyze 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.
Role analysis technique (RAT) is used to help employees get a better grasp on their role in an
organization. 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 utilizes a matrix system to assign decision and task responsibilities.
INTERGROUP INTERVENTIONS Intergroup interventions are integrated into OD programs to facilitate

cooperation and efficiency between different groups within an organization. For instance, departmental
interaction often deteriorates in larger organizations as different units 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.
Rotating membership interventions 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.
COMPREHENSIVE INTERVENTIONS OD comprehensive interventions are used to directly create change

throughout an entire organization, rather than focusing on organizational 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 developed specifically for such interventions have been
developed.
Structural change interventions are used by OD change agents to implement organizational alterations
related to departmentalization, management hierarchy, work policies, compensation and benefit incentives
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 realize 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
emphasize the reorganization 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.
A fourth OD intervention that became extremely popular during the 1980s and early 1990s is total quality
management (TQM). TQM interventions utilize established quality techniques and programs that
emphasize quality processes, rather than achieving quality by inspecting products and services after
processes have been completed. The important concept of continuous improvement embodied by TQM
has carried over into other OD interventions.
MARKETING
An effective organization development (OD) practitioner can . . .
1. Be aware of systems wanting to change
2. Be known to those needing you
3. Match skills with potential client profile
4. Convey qualifications in a credible manner
5. Quickly grasp the nature of the system
6. Determine appropriate decision makers
7. Determine appropriate processes
ENROLLING
8. Build trusting relationships
9. Present the theoretical foundations of change
10. Deal effectively with resistance
11. Help the client trust the process
12. Help the client manage emotionally charged feelings
13. Collaboratively design the change process
CONTRACTING
14. Contract psychologically for collaboration
15. Help the client reflect on motivation
16. Clarify outcomes
17. Build realistic expectations
18. Conduct a mini-assessment

19. Identify the boundary of systems to be changed
20. Articulate an initial change process to use
21. Explicate ethical boundaries
22. Confirm commitment of resources
23. Identify critical success factors for the intervention
24. Clarify the role of consultant
25. Clarify the role of client
26. Begin to lay out an evaluation model
MINI-ASSESSMENT
27. Further clarify real issues
28. Be aware of how one’s biases influence interaction
29. Link change effort into ongoing organizational processes
30. Identify formal power
31. Identify informal power
DATA GATHERING
32. Determine an appropriate data collection process
33. Determine the type of data needed
34. Determine the amount of data needed
35. Utilize appropriate mix of methods to ensure efficiency
36. Utilize appropriate mix of methods to ensure objectivity
37. Utilize appropriate mix of methods to ensure validity
38. Utilize appropriate mix of data collection technology
39. Clarify boundaries for confidentiality

40. Select a process that will facilitate openness
41. Gather data to identify future states
DIAGNOSIS
42. Gather data to identify initial first steps of transition
43. Watch for deeper issues as data is gathered
44. Suspend judgment while gather data
45. Know when enough data has been gathered
46. Suppress judgment while gathering data
47. Use statistical methods when appropriate
48. Recognize what is relevant
49. Know how data from different parts of the system impact each other
50. Communicate implications of systems theory
51. Continuously assess the issues as they surface
52. Stay focused on the purpose of the consultancy
53. Utilize a solid conceptual framework based on research
FEEDBACK
54. Prepare leadership for the truth
55. Involve participants so they begin to own the process
56. Synthesize the data gathered into themes
57. Create a non-threatening atmosphere
58. Facilitate complex emotional patterns
PLANNING

59. Distill recommendations from the data
60. Focus action that generates high impact at lowest cost
61. Consider creative alternatives
62. Mentally rehearse adverse consequences
63. Mentally rehearse potential gains
PARTICIPATION
64. Facilitate a participative decision-making process
65. Obtain direction from leadership
66. Obtain commitment from leadership
67. Co-create an implementation plan that is rooted in the data
68. Co-create an implementation plan that is concrete
69. Co-create implementation plan that is simple
70. Co-create implementation plan that is clear
71. Co-create implementation plan that logically sequences activities
72. Co-create implementation plan that is results-oriented
73. Co-create implementation plan that is measurable
74. Co-create implementation plan that is rewarded
INTERVENTION
75. Reduce dependency upon consultant
76. Instill responsibility for follow through
77. Intervene at the right depth
78. Pay attention to the timing of activities
79. Facilitate concurrent interventions

80. Help manage impact to related systems
81. Re-design intervention or mindfully respond to new dynamics
EVALUATION
82. Integrate research with theory and practice
83. Initiate ongoing feedback in client-consultant relationship
84. Choose appropriate evaluation methods - - that is, interviews, instruments, financial sheets -
- to collect evaluation information
85. Determine level of evaluation - - such as reaction, learning, behavioral change,

organizational impact, societal impact
86. Ensure evaluation method is valid
87. Ensure evaluation is reliable
88. Ensure evaluation method is practical
FOLLOW-UP:
89. Establish method to monitor change during the intervention
90. Establish method to monitor change after the intervention
91. Use information to reinforce positive change
92. Use information to correct negative change
93. Use information to take next steps
94. Link evaluation with expected outcomes
ADOPTION
95. Transfer change skills to internal consultant so learning is continuous
96. Maintain/increase change momentum
97. Link change process to daily life of system

98. Mobilize additional internal resources to support continued change
99. Determine the parts of the organization that warrant a special focus of attention
100. Pay attention to movement back to old behaviors
101. Move more away from project-driven change to strategy-driven change
102. Be sure customers and stakeholders are satisfied with intervention’s results
103. Plan renewal/reunion events
SEPARATION
104. Recognize when separation is desirable
105. Process any left over relationship issues between consultant(s) and client
106. Ensure that learning will continue
107. Leave the client satisfied
108. Plan for post-consultation contact

SELF-AWARENESS
109. Clarify personal values
110. Clarify personal boundaries
111. Manage personal biases
112. Manage personal defensiveness
113. Recognize when personal feelings have been aroused
114. Remain physically healthy while under stress
115. Resolve ethical issues with integrity
116. Avoid getting personal needs met at the expense of the client (i.e., financial, emotional,
sexual, etc.)
117. Work within the limits of your capabilities
118. Perform effectively in an atmosphere of ambiguity
119. Perform effectively in the midst of chaos
INTERPERSONAL
120. Develop mutually trusting relationships with others
121. Solicit feedback from others about your impact on them
122. Energize others
123. Collaborate with internal/external OD professional
124. Balance the needs of multiple relationships
125. Listens to others
126. Pay attention to the spontaneous and informal
127. Consistently maintain confidentiality
128. Interpersonally relate to others

129. Use humor effectively
OTHER
130. Interpret cross-cultural influences in a helpful manner
131. Handle diversity and diverse situations skillfully
132. Communicate directions clearly to large groups
133. Use the latest technology effectively
134. Use the internet effectively
135. Facilitate small group interventions (up to 70)
136. Facilitate large group interventions (70-2,000)
137. Apply the skills of international OD effectively
138. Function effectively as an internal consultant
139. Demonstrate ability to conduct transorganizational development
140. Demonstrate ability to conduct community development
141. Be aware of the influences of cultural dynamics on interactions with others

For each OD request, an office liaison will be established to be the recipient of collected data, feedback
and recommendations. All action steps associated with OD activities - including interviews, data
collection instruments and analysis - will be clearly communicated to and agreed upon by the liaison prior
to implementation. Included will be time, cost and personnel expectations and estimates.
The types of OD activities offered by Penn Behavioral Health (PBH) Employee Assistance Program
professionals are:
Executive Coaching
This intervention is a strategic, focused and individualized approach to professional development that
facilitates managers in expanding their abilities to grow and apply effective administrative and
interrelation skills.
Coaching could be for individuals in the company who have blocks to being their absolute best. It can
help them:
 Build superior interpersonal skills

 Grow in leadership abilities
 Learn how to manage others effectively
 Learn how to manage emotions in the workplace
 Master their time
 Build confidence
 Deal effectively with change and transitions
Executive coaching creates a working relationship that focuses on specific agenda(s) and helps the
manager crystallize his/her professional identity, goals, and how to best get there. The process achieves
tangible, meaningful results in both business and personal life by overcoming the specific obstacles that
are blocking effectiveness.
Candidates for Executive Coaching are:
The administrator who recognizes the need to develop a specific skill or skills that will improve or
otherwise enhance his/her ability to manage.
New managers with limited supervisory experience. (Existing in-house systems should be utilized first,
where available and appropriate.)
A manager taking over a department, division, or an existing management team could often benefit from
Transitional Coaching focused on the development of teambuilding, consensus-building, and
communication skills.
Where the organization recognizes the need for specific development, a manager can be referred for
Targeted Coaching to strengthen that area. Here, he/she must agree to participate voluntarily, because this,
as with the other types of coaching, should never be used as part of an exit strategy, or progressive
discipline.
Inter- workgroup Interventions

Often two or more works groups, that have independent staff and administrative structures must
coordinate tasks, on either a temporary or permanent basis, to fulfill the needs of the organization.
Sometimes issues arise between the groups that negatively impact upon morale and productivity. In such
cases, Inter work - group Interventions may be appropriate.
The process begins as a management consult to the EAP. Where that consult brings about resolution to the
problem, no further action is indicated. Should the problem remain, the OD process commences and flows
as follows:
1. OD consultant advises manager of need to gather information for the purpose of rendering
diagnostic impressions and recommendations for solutions of the problem.
2. Manager will make clear his/her desire for the consultant to continue.
3. Consultant will describe the data gathering process (interviews, questionnaires, feedback forms,
etc.), clarifying who will be involved, working out timeframes and estimating hours/costs.
4. Manager approves course of action.
5. Any changes in the parameters of what was agreed upon regarding data gathering will be reviewed
with, and approved by the manager prior to implementation.
6. As data gathering progresses, consultant will make manager aware of each activity within the
particular worksite, providing feedback where needed.
7. When data gathering is complete a written diagnostic impression will be delivered to the manager.
Write-up will include recommendations for bringing the issue to resolution, complete with who should be
involved, and exactly what the suggested intervention(s) are expected to accomplish.
8. Manager approves course of action.
9. Intervention(s) proceed, with manager involved in, or made aware of each related activity, prior to
implementation.
10. Any changes in the parameters of what was agreed upon regarding the interventions will be
reviewed with, and approved by the manager prior to implementation.
11. As each action-step is completed, consultant will solicit feedback from manager regarding the
processes implemented, and any impact upon staff.
12. When interventions are completed consultant will review the results with the manager, and they
will collectively decide on follow-up, evaluation, and ending processes.
13. Manager will be supplied a write-up of the entire OD involvement.
14. Manager will receive an invoice for services along with the write-up.
Intra-workgroup Interventions
When relationships within a work group threaten or begin to erode productivity, OD intervention may be
appropriate. The process and fees for such activity are identical to those for the Inter-workgroup
Interventions discussed above.
Custom Trainings
On occasion the PBH Employee Assistance Program will perform custom trainings at the request of the
University, that are designed to respond to specific School, departmental, or organizational needs,
problems or situations. An example could be a training to address diversity issues. When the PBH
Employee Assistance Program has existing trainings that cover the requested area, those trainings will be
utilized and no fee will be attached.
A Development Approach to Improving Inter-Agency Working
USING A DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO SUPPORT INTER-AGENCY WORKING
How can a development approach support inter-agency working?
Development approaches to achieving change in organisations encompass a range of methods including

leadership development, service design and joint training. The approach that the pilot sites took was one
of organisation development (OD).
Organisation Development (OD) is a generic term embracing a wide range of interventions aimed at the
development of individuals, groups and the organisation as a whole system. It is concerned with attempts
to improve the overall performance and effectiveness of an organisation, through a process of planned
change and development.
"I've been thinking about OD. It seems a strange subject to study because surely organisations can't
develop.... I suppose it depends on the strict use of words but it is the people who make up the
organisation who are developing.... So OD is really all about the actions, behaviour and performance of
people?" 7
Within the Health Service the term OD is sometimes used to mean change in only organisational structure
and decision-making processes. Whilst the nature of such changes sometimes achieve short-term
improvement they rarely achieve the long-term change in attitude, values and behaviour that are required
if partnership working is to become the norm and be sustained through periods of scarce resource and
difficulty.
In seeking to develop effective partnership working across organisations we are working with the whole
system and its diversity in organisational models (policies, procedures, structures, culture, behaviours, etc.
(Figure 2).
The literature provides many examples and experiences of using OD approaches within a single
organisation setting. Useful references are included in "Appendix 2: Recommended Resources and
Further Information".
The principles of OD:

"'Whole System Working' shifts the focus from the parts to the 'the whole' and offers a set of practical
working methods to influence the way 'the parts' connect and behave towards each other. ... It is an
approach to organisational development that views groups of people who come together around a shared
purpose as living systems.... If you see things operating as a living system then you recognise many
interconnected parts that make up 'a whole' which is capable of adapting and evolving ... if you don't like
the way the system is organising itself, you need to encourage it to behave in a different way. That means
you have to intervene at a system-wide level because you know that concentrating on the parts alone
won't deliver the overall change you are seeking." 8
The concept of the formal and informal organisation illustrated in Figure 3 provides a useful framework to
understand the place of OD interventions in addressing the barriers to change that are likely to be
encountered when seeking to develop organisations within a partnership.
Why do more than create a policy?
There are many examples of organisational and service improvement strategies that have
experienced minimum success at the implementation stage, resulting in short-lived changes in
practices or behaviours in service delivery. The literature quotes many examples of policy
implementation that have met with resistance at the implementation stage.
Our experiences are that to achieve change within a single organisation is a difficult enough task.
Achieving it within a whole health and care system means tackling complex and challenging issues
involved in crossing organisational and professional boundaries. Overcoming differences in
language, values, culture, decision-making processes, and communication and information systems,
requires a sophisticated and sustained intervention that supports the organisation and the people
working within it to change.
This project piloted the use of an organisation development intervention to improve inter-agency working.
The project sought to help:
 Senior managers understand the complexity of achieving change across the whole system
 Individuals from a range of agencies and professions understand and value each other's cultures
 Work with whole organisations to effect long-term, sustainable service improvement
Models of Organisational Performance and Change
In a single organisation it is difficult for a senior manager to take an overview of the whole system within
that organisation and lead and manage change.
Burke and Litwin's model of organisational performance and change 9 (figure 2) illustrates the complexity
of the change process. The model promotes the need to work with the many facets of an organisation in
parallel.
This becomes increasingly complex when working on an inter-agency basis. No single person has the
overview of the whole system, and can direct change and achieve it through strategy or structural changes.
A development approach to partnership working across the whole health and care system is a way of
helping all the key decision-makers to understand the component parts of the system. It enables the wide
range of perspectives from Users/Carers and professionals to be explored and accommodated. The
different experiences and expertise of the diverse group of people involved in all the agencies can
contribute to the change process, generating creative ideas as well as becoming the catalysts that will help
the whole system to adapt and evolve.
"Sometimes people from different organisational cultures or different professions find it hard to 'hear'
and respect the values of another group and reaching agreement on common ground is not an easy task.
Within an overall sense of purpose there are many shades of interpretation and many different priorities
that it is helpful to acknowledge, but if the overarching aim is to get people to behave in different ways,
then it is necessary to 'hear' and respect the purpose, beliefs and values held by others." 10
A development intervention will enable the very diversity of the system to work together constructively
and creatively to achieve a new way of improving the health of the local population. The use of
simulations and case studies enabled participants to see a problem as perceived by different constituent
groups and to learn to appreciate and work with the differences.
Development is a continual process
The misunderstanding that some people have about OD interventions is that a single event, such as a
workshop or training course, is the sum total of the intervention. It is not! OD is a continual process of
interventions, strategies and plans to achieve improvement through the development of the organisation
over a period of time.
The experience of the pilot projects described here was that the "event" became an important mile-stone
in a longer process of planning for change within the organisation: The sequence of key stages in the total
process tended to follow the same pattern:
1. Working with senior managers in the lead organisation (the PCT or LHCC) to influence them on the
need for a development approach to progress inter-agency working
2. Working with senior managers in the partner organisations to gain commitment to the pilot project
3. Identifying the service area to be addressed
4. Informal interviews with key stakeholders to gain a wide range of perspectives on the barriers that were
preventing the progression of inter-agency working in the service area to be addressed
5. Designing an "event" to bring together a large number of the clinicians, practitioners, managers, Users
and Carers from the range of agencies involved in planning, providing or receiving the service
6. Follow-up activity after the event including:
 steering group meetings to maintain executive level commitment to the continual change process
 task group activity to progress actions agreed at the event
 a follow-up workshop of the 'event' participants to review progress against actions agreed
Lewin's 11 model of planned change and improved performance (Figure 4) helps us to understand the total
development process and how a specific "event" can help to "unfreeze" the system and create movement.
FIGURE 4: A model of planned change

Unfreezing - reducing those forces which maintain behaviour in its present form, recognition for the need
for change and improvement to occur
Movement - development of new attitudes or behaviour and the implementation of the change
Refreezing - stabilising change at the new level and reinforcement through supporting mechanisms, for
example resource decisions, strategic prioritisation, policies or structural change
Lewin (1951)
The development intervention supporting inter-agency working will need to focus on each of these
aspects within each of the partner organisations. The "event" will need to be followed with a resourced
strategy, that is clear to all, to achieve the development of new behaviours and attitudes and stabilise
change within the partner organisations.
To achieve long-term sustainable organisational change in all the participating organisations may require
some form of OD support to be identified in each organisation. If the OD focus is based in only one or
two of the organisations there is a danger that the importance of the inter-agency approach becomes lost
over time, particularly when a single organisation is under pressure of workload, resources, or time. The
easy route to achieve an outcome may be perceived as the single agency route.
The right development approach for the right circumstances at the right time
Any development intervention, whether tackling single organisation or multi-organisation issues, needs to
be carefully planned to fit the circumstances and OD capacity within each organisation. It is likely to
require long-term support at a senior level. Commitment at chief executive or director level, within all the
participating organisations, is essential for an organisation development intervention to be seen as a
priority. This level of commitment is required to attract the resources (people, time and money) needed to
achieve change at all levels in the organisation(s).
The pilot sites that contributed to this project, developed a phrase:
"the right development approach, for the right circumstances, at the right time".
Figure 5 illustrates the need to consider two dimensions of an organisation before embarking on any
intervention: the capacity and capability of the local development team and the degree of chief
executive/director commitment of all participating partner organisations.
A detailed analysis of the problem with which the organisation thinks it is faced, is an essential first stage,
prior to planning any sort of intervention. Too often we find that managers and training and development
practitioners, jump too quickly to identifying a solution to a problem that has not been fully understood.
The solution that is designed is in danger of trying to address the "wrong" problem.
" I thought that the problem I was addressing was about developing leadership and creating effective
teams in an inter-agency setting, and I started to design and event that would explore and develop these
issues. But then I realised that until there is clarity about leadership roles and the contribution teams
can make, and 'event' would not help at all. Currently there are chairs of groups in place who see their
roles as purely a chair of meetings. The first step I need to take is to get some agreement with the
steering group about whether these chair roles are also leadership roles or if someone else has the
leadership role.
So the principle is that I initially need to determine what is required, and then design an approach,
which will deliver that. The important learning point for me was that what is visible now is very
different to what I thought I was dealing with at first."
The following stages should underpin the planning of any development intervention:
1. Fully analyse the problem and situation

2. Agree the desired outcomes with the key decision-makers
3. Design a development intervention that will move the organisation/individuals from where they
currently are to achieve the desired outcomes
Different issues and problems carry with them different levels of risk if "surfaced" and tackled. They
require different 'degrees' of executive level commitment, and different levels of OD capability and
capacity within the organisation to manage them and ensure a positive outcome. The inherent risk in any
OD intervention is that issues are surfaced and expectations raised that cannot then be addressed or
changed - if the will, capability or capacity to achieve fundamental improvement and change is not there,
then these issues are often better left undisturbed.
ACHIEVING LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO THE PROCESS
Gaining commitment from partner organisations
In each of the pilot sites the project was led and co-ordinated by the LHCC. The LHCCs shared the
leadership with partner organisations, including social care, voluntary organisations, user and carer groups
and other agencies within the local care sector.
In each case a single agency acted as "host", co-ordinating administration and communication. There is,
however, an inherent risk in a single organisation or agency taking the lead in any inter-agency initiative.
Having a "lead agency" can mean that the responsibility and drive to sustain and implement the changes
falls to that single agency.
From the outset, inter-agency development should have shared leadership and responsibility for agreeing
and delivering the outcomes. This will facilitate shared commitment and accountability for the total
process and achieving success. Each pilot project therefore established a steering group with
representation from each of the partner organisations involved. A senior clinician or manager represented
each participating agency at the steering group. The criterion for membership was that the representative
could commit resource and make strategic decisions within their own organisation.
It is important for each partner organisation to demonstrate visible commitment to the process as a
priority. Joint resourcing is one sign of visible commitment. This may not always mean a direct financial
resource; agencies may contribute in a variety of ways:
 Provision of the venue
 Releasing staff time
 Secondments across organisations to facilitate the implementation of action plans and change
programmes on a multi-agency basis
Each organisation should be prepared to show that they value both the process and outcomes by
recognising and committing to the resource implications.
A development intervention or event will not achieve change unless the participating organisation(s) are
committed to achieving change. Effective change that is sustained over a period of time requires change at
both strategic and operational levels within the organisation, resources and changes in the priorities of the
organisation. One without the other will often lead to either excellent strategy documents that are difficult
to implement and achieve changes in services and clinical or managerial practice or, to short-term change
that is not embedded in the organisation and is easily overtaken by other priorities.
"If change is to be successful, those who are leading the process must share a number of assumptions.
These would include not only the same vision about the organisation, its purpose and its values, the same
understanding of the way things are at the moment and the same commitment to what they are going to
do about it but also about the same view of the process of change itself." 12
To achieve real and significant change across partner organisations will involve the re-allocation of
resources and priorities, and significant changes in culture and behaviour. It will take time and
commitment at all levels in the organisation.
The steering group played an important role as "champions" for the project and the anticipated change
within their organisation. They engaged senior colleagues in the vision for improved inter-agency
working and gained commitment to both the development process and to changes that may be agreed as a
consequence of the development intervention.
One of the reasons that each of the pilot sites gave for engaging in this project, was to build on the good
practice that had already been established locally in inter-agency working. Small but significant success in
bringing agencies together could be identified in each site. They sought to build on those foundations and
to achieve longer term, and more fundamental change, that would be required to meet the challenges
presented in "Our National Health" 13 and "Community Care: A Joint Future".
From the outset, the local facilitators recognised that their involvement would not simply be in designing
an event to lever change. They would play a significant role in identifying and engaging the local
decision-makers in the whole OD intervention.
The key stages to accomplish this were:
 Talking to individuals face-to-face to explain the purpose of the pilot, the long-term involvement
that would be required, and most importantly the anticipated outcomes and service improvements
 Identifying the priority issues and agenda of key decision-makers. The intervention must deliver to
their agenda, if they are to commit time, energy and resource to a long-term process
 Involving as many of the decision-makers from the full range of local agencies in a steering group
that would direct the project. This increased their understanding of what was involved and
reassured them about what they may perceive as intangible OD processes
 Identifying an aspect of local health and care services that all the key stakeholders considered a
priority service for improvement. The service agenda for the development of inter-agency working
is extensive. One could almost select any service and argue that improved partnership working
would improve services - but where to start? OD practitioners worked with the steering group to
identify a service area that all agreed was a priority and that lent itself to involving a range of
agencies and professions in its development
 Agreeing achievable and measurable objectives and success criteria. Whilst the steering group
may recognise they were entering into a long-term process, they need to perceive this as a journey
with short-term benefits to demonstrate the success of the intervention and against which they can
measure the performance of the total OD intervention.
 Involving the steering group members in the "event". The event is only one part of the total
development process. However, the event will become significant in local people's minds. It is a
very visible part of the process that people can relate to, it is likely to be very emotive and leave
people with very vivid images and memories. It will also be a significant springboard at which
issues and barriers to change are recognised and actions may be agreed.
It is important that the steering group have a very visible presence at the event and are seen to be
participating and role modelling the partnership behaviour they are seeking to achieve. A visible
commitment to the actions agreed and to address outstanding issues can both reassure staff in all
the participating organisations and provide a lever that holds senior managers to their
responsibilities to enable those actions to be delivered. Without senior managers' presence there is
a risk that other priorities take over, and the actions agreed "by others" at the event are not valued
at a strategic level.
 Encouraging stakeholders to empower their staff to continue to work together and support local
initiatives after the event. This is more easily achieved within single organisations, but is more
powerful when it happens with inter-agency or multi-professional groups. This may need
continued and visible support from senior managers. Even though senior managers may perceive
they have empowered their staff, those staff may not feel empowered or may not believe the
reality that lies behind the rhetoric. Inter-agency teams may need direct support from senior
managers to break down very real boundaries that exist, that senior managers can influence e.g.
funding or policy protocols that are different in the different organisations.
 Continuing to engage the steering group post the event is perhaps the hardest part of the OD
practitioner's role. This may be achieved formally through regular meetings of the group, or
informally. In many ways the informal contact can be more powerful and help to retain the
stakeholders enthusiasm and commitment to attend steering group meetings. This can be achieved
by providing:

o regular up-dates of progress
o success stories as actions are implemented
o tangible examples of service improvements that have been achieved as a direct or indirect
consequence of the event or total OD intervention
"Participants identified that it was difficult to absorb the tasks taken on as part of the OD process into
their normal work programme. They requested an additional resource to undertake some 'leg work'
(seeking out good practice elsewhere, gathering information, literature searches, etc.). The local
managers had already forecast this need and agreed short-term funding for a 'resource' post to support
the work arising from the workshop action plans."
Follow-up activity
The pilot project sites planned a review day two to three months after the initial workshop event.
"Three main areas of work were identified for the review day:
1. to review progress of the actions agreed at the original workshop
2. to provide facilitated time to allow groups to progress actions and agree next steps
3. to explore the interface between the development approach to improving services and the
development of strategy across the participating agencies."
The pilot sites found that the Review Days helped to:
 maintain the enthusiasm of the participants
 "take stock" of progress and re-energise the task groups that had taken on responsibility for
progressing actions
 transfer the process from one that was perceived as "developmental" or a "training activity" to the
mainstream "business" agenda of the organisations
 facilitate a dialogue between staff and managers about service improvement and the integration of
strategy, policy and the operational service delivery
The facilitators used the review days as a useful forum to evaluate the OD process and the benefits of the
"events" in that process.
They found that enthusiasm from the initial event had been passed on to others who were not there, and
there had been new "recruits" to the task groups agreed at the initial event.
The review days became the platform for the integration of the short-term development work into the
strategic priorities of the organisations. They became the forum for real stakeholder involvement in the
strategic review and planning of services with senior managers
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Roles involved in the Development Approach
The pilot sites identified the need for four roles to provide the right level of support to each of their
projects:
1. A senior manager or senior clinician to chair the steering group and champion the project within the
"lead" agency
2. An OD practitioner to co-ordinate the whole process across all the participating organisations
3. Facilitators to support the development workshop
4. Administrative support to manage the logistics for any events
Each role is equally important, but distinctive. The boundaries of each role need to be established and be
clear to everybody at the beginning of the project.
In addition, each participating agency will need senior clinical/manager support to achieving improved
inter-agency working.
"The LHCC pilot was sponsored at a senior level by the Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust
who was keen to develop multi-agency working. The Development Manager for the Primary Care
Trust co-ordinated the total development approach and liaised with all the stakeholders. On reflection
it would have been very useful to have an administrator taking responsibility for all the logistic
arrangements, the Development Manager tried to do a lot of this work and found she didn't have
sufficient time."
Senior commitment
The visible involvement of the Chief Executive or a Director in the organisation is essential. Their
involvement demonstrates tangible commitment to the OD process as an organisational priority. He/she
understands and values the OD process in the context of ensuring that the organisation is effective in
achieving its strategic and operational objectives. They are unlikely to be a skilled OD practitioner but
they will "champion" the OD approach and change programme; there needs to be an effective partnership
between the "Executive Champion" and OD practitioner.
Each of the pilot projects established a steering group at an early stage. The steering group membership
was drawn from senior managers/clinicians in each of the participating organisations. The aim was to
ensure strategic level understanding of, and commitment to, the total OD process and its outcomes.
The OD Practitioner
The role and skills of the Organisation Development Practitioner are fundamental to the success of the
development intervention.
The OD practitioner will need to be experienced at working with senior manager colleagues and be skilled
in influencing executive level decisions. They will be an OD practitioner who understands change issues
in the health and care sector. Their role is multi-faceted and extends over a period of time. It includes:
 Helping senior managers/clinicians to identify the need for change and to understand how a
development intervention can become the vehicle to lever and support that change over time
 Identifying the barriers to change
 Ensuring long-term commitment by senior managers/clinicians to the change process - possibly by

identifying a champion(s) for the change within the organisation
 Identifying the appropriate development approach to address local circumstances and achieve the
required change and desired outcomes
 Designing interventions/workshops that will lever the change, bringing together all key
stakeholders, by unfreezing the organisation and providing movement 14
 Developing strategies, with key stakeholders, that will support the long-term changes and
improvements needed and achieve the actions agreed at the "event"
 Providing individual support/mentoring to those responsible for implementing the changes agreed
This role of the OD practitioner is extended when supporting inter-agency development:

 They will need to work with each of the partner organisations to identify the issues and barriers to
change. Individuals within the partner organisations will each have their own perceptions of what
is working well within the partnership and where the barriers lie. These will be only perceptions,
and may or may not reflect the reality.
The OD practitioner will need to research each organisation and gather the range of perceptions
and views of what works well and where improvement is needed.
 It is important that the practitioner works closely with OD colleagues in the other agencies to
ensure a joint and coherent approach across agencies and co-ordination with other initiatives in
each agency.
 The OD practitioner will be responsible, in collaboration with a local steering group, for designing
processes to surface, and address, the issues and barriers to change. Following research in each
organisation the practitioner will have developed a sense of where the successes are that can be
built upon, and the likely barriers to change e.g. communication between agencies, lack of
understanding of each others cultures, or perhaps simply that the key individuals do not know each
other!
The practitioner will use this information to inform the design of both the total development
intervention and the event.
 The OD practitioner plays a key role in ensuring the organisations' capacity to sustain change and
development over the long term and to manage future problems. They support senior managers
and "change agents" within each partner organisation to build the capacity to deliver the changes
agreed at the workshop, and to continue to sustain improvement over the long term.
Without this support it is easy for senior managers to be distracted by other priorities. The
importance of maintaining the change process becomes diminished and it is easy to fall into the
trap of assuming the enthusiasm and momentum generated by the workshop event will carry the
improvements and changes forward - they won't!
Everybody in the partner organisations is swamped with too much work and the immediate service
priorities will take precedence, it is likely that the OD practitioner will need to be one of the
champions of change. To enable them to fulfil this important role they need to be able to influence
senior clinicians and managers in the organisation.
Facilitators
Any event involving a small or large number of people requires an individual to co-ordinate proceedings
and manage the dynamics of the process. In meetings a chairman undertakes this role.
However, the dynamics of, and potential risks associated with, development interventions are much
greater than may occur in a normal meeting. Development interventions require facilitators who are
skilled in handling group processes and dynamics.
The scale of the interventions undertaken in this project required more than one facilitator. To enable
small group work to be facilitated in an effective way the ratio of facilitator to participant should be
approximately one to eight.
Administrative Support
Considerable time and administrative expertise is required to manage the logistics of both the total OD
process and "events" that are organised as a part of that process. This role should ideally be filled by
somebody other than the OD practitioner. The administrative support required for the pilot projects was
considerable and had a direct effect on their success (see Administrative Arrangements, Appendix 1).
Role Clarification
The involvement of both a senior manager to chair a multi-agency steering group, and an OD practitioner,
can potentially lead to some blurring of responsibilities and confusion about roles. The pilot sites found
that both were essential to the long-term success of the projects but that the following two points needed
careful consideration:
1. Clarity of Decision-making
There must be clarity in decision-making about the OD process and, in particular, the design of the OD
event. The potential for the conflicting decisions to be made by the steering group and the OD practitioner
were great. There must be terms of reference of the Group and an open discussion in the first steering
group meeting to agree the role, decision-making authority, and accountability of the OD practitioner. The
pilot sites found it useful to encourage the steering group to articulate clearly the outcomes they were
seeking by engaging in the process and their success criteria.
2. Ownership of the change process
In the initial stages the OD practitioner is likely to "own" the OD process. This is desirable at the
beginning of the process when it is essential that the process is well designed and appropriate to address
local circumstance and achieve the desired outcomes. The "champion" needs to have a high level of
knowledge and skill in OD processes. However, there will be a point when the ownership needs to be
transferred to a senior manager/management to enable the change process to be seen as "mainstream" to
the organisation and core to its business agenda.
"The Two-Day Workshop Event and the Review Day were described by participants as the engine
room of the multi-agency initiative and there was some discussion about how to transfer the project so
that it could become totally integrated with other local work and be driven entirely by the existing
internal leadership/management processes."
THE DEVELOPMENT "EVENT"
Although the "event", is the part of the Organisation Development intervention that many people
remember and hence talk about, it is not the sole activity within the total intervention.
However, it is a significant stage, particularly in the context of developing effective inter-agency working.
The events used in the pilot sites all engaged a large number of local stakeholders including Users and
Carers. The participants found these events stimulating, energising and highly participative. They proved
to be a productive way of bringing people together for a comparatively short period of time. Enthusiasm
was generated, and they produced a high level of commitment and creative ideas. At a simpler level each
event provided a common forum to share an understanding of each other's organisations and priorities, to
develop a common vision and language.
"It was an excellent two days. In our car going home, all three of us were feeling enthusiastic, positive
and motivated. We are still positive and hopeful of action and change."
An "event" can be a key catalyst in developing inter-agency working because it allows a large number of
people from a diverse range of professions and backgrounds to explore the issues and barriers to
partnership working together, and to develop a visible commitment to change and action.
Whilst the prominence of the event is attractive, it can also become a problem in its very public nature and
the expectations that will be raised in participants' minds of the changes and improvements that will be
made. Difficulties can occur after the event when these expectations are not met. People may also leave
the event with personal fears and threats of what the changes might mean for them individually or for
their profession. Informal communications, post the event, of what was said and what was agreed can lead
to rumours and unrest.
"A very thought-provoking and stimulating event, but the outcomes will be the real
test!"
All these can be managed, with positive outcomes, by the facilitator team. They need to be aware of the
inherent dangers and ensure that they have been planned for. There will need to be clear strategies to
anticipate and manage the potential risk areas e.g. regular communication to the participants and others,
visible actions occurring as a consequence of the event, and a regular review process to identify concerns.
Designing the Event
"Often when people are meeting around some burning local issue, the temptation to jump into problem-
solving is overwhelming. We have learned that it pays handsomely to spend as much time as possible
exploring purpose and possibilities." 15
The design of the event will have a key influence on the success of the whole OD process. The OD
practitioner will need to consider a number of factors in planning the design:
1. The objectives of the event itself and its contribution to the total development intervention must be
clear from the outset. There should be agreement between the key decision-makers and champions within
each participating agency on the purpose of the event and the anticipated outcomes, making sure that the
development intervention is positioned as part of an overall long-term development plan.
"Whilst it remained a high priority to achieve tangible actions and outcomes from the event, it was
agreed by the steering group that the process by which these outcomes would be achieved must include
opportunities for the 'soft issues' to be addressed."
2. The "starting-point" of the participants will need to be researched - e.g. is there a foundation of
effective joint working, do the participants know each other, what are the local perceptions of the barriers
to improving inter-agency working?
"The Organisation Development Practitioner met with a number of the key stakeholders prior to the
event and had identified the following potential blockages to effective multi-agency working:
 Hierarchies within partner organisations and the communication issues that this causes
 Funding issues
 Difficulties in communication and clinical planning processes in the Health Sector

 The sensitivity of the drug and alcohol topic
This not only provided information which helped to set the agenda for the event, but also established
some commitment and ownership for the stakeholders."
3. Participants may need an input from an expert speaker to help them to reach a common base-line of
knowledge and understanding of the context they are being asked to work within? If there is sufficient
"common ground" then it may be possible to quickly move into participative, interactive work.
"The workshop was designed over two consecutive days and the aim was to allow for reflection and
sharing of current reality and consider opportunities to view the potential for change on day 1. On day
2 we designed the programme to encourage participants to develop plans to put ideas into action."
4. We all tend to under-estimate the time and effort involved in designing and co-ordinating any
development intervention. If you have experience of organising a one-day skills training course you will
appreciate that it probably takes an equal amount of time for the design and planning as for delivering an
event. In other words, it will take one day to design and plan a one-day training course.
The planning and preparation work involved in the development interventions described in this project
took considerably more time than would be involved in a training course.
Types of Event
The literature provides a full coverage of the types of events that will support an OD intervention. We
would recommend that anybody, who is considering a development approach to support inter-agency
working, familiarises themselves with the more common models and concepts which are summarised
here. Appendix 2 provides some useful references.
Each of the pilot sites used one of these approaches or a combination of them.
System mapping
System mapping can be used as part of a bigger event or can be considered as the event in itself. It
involves participants, often working in small groups, in describing their own experiences of a particular
aspect of the service locally. It is particularly powerful when it involves Users and Carers as well as
clinicians and managers.
The facilitator may introduce an "archetype" - a description of a particular case or profile of a fictitious
person.
The pilot sites reviewing Older Peoples Services provided a profile describing a particular person or
couple and their circumstances to the group.
"The first workshop on day 1 was based around four case-study scenarios which aimed to highlight
typical situations involving Users and Carers. The participants worked in small multi-disciplinary and
multi-agency groups. We posed three questions to each group to stimulate debate and share
individual's perceptions of what currently happens:
1. What has happened to the patient to date?

2. Who has been involved in their care or supporting them?
3. What is the likely assessment process and who is involved?"
The group then went on to describe how the situation described might develop and how the local health
and care agencies might become involved. This was "mapped" on to flipchart, and displayed on the wall.
Participants discovered that their perceptions of how the system works were different, and their views of
what works well and where the gaps were in services also varied.
"We discovered that the Orthopaedic consultant didn't know how all patients are referred to him. He
asked one of the GPs in the room what happens if they have an elderly patient who falls and suffers a
suspected fracture. He discovered that the route through the system to him differed, dependent on the
initial telephone call - directly to one of his team or through the ambulance service. It was at this point
that we realised that the ambulance service hadn't been invited to the event, and yet they are a key part
of the system and an important partner."
System mapping can engage individuals from a range of organisations and backgrounds and allow them
to better understand the system as it exists. It engages with people's own experiences but also opens their
eyes to other experiences and perceptions so building a truer picture of the reality for everybody.
"We, as clinical professionals, working in the system tended to focus on the perceived gaps and
weaknesses in service when we were 'mapping'. It was the Carers that reminded us of the strengths of
the system. Aspects that we saw as problems, they saw as strengths - it really challenged our
assumptions."
The process of creating the map facilitates discussion and builds relationships early on in the event.
Everybody feels that they have a role to play whatever their status and position within their own
organisation.
"Every enterprise has four organisations,

the one that is written down,
the one that people believe exists,
the one that really exists,
and finally
the one the enterprise really needs." 16
Open Space
This technique can similarly be used as a part of a larger event, and will work with small groups as well as
very large groups. It involves the participants in creating their own agenda for the event and then choosing
the discussions they wish to be part of. Each group produces a summary report of their discussion and
conclusions - these reports are "posted" in a public place that all participants can access, e.g. the wall of
the main room.
Open space can be particularly useful at the beginning of an event to develop a shared commitment to the
agenda - the facilitator team need to be sufficiently flexible to structure the remainder of the event around
the outcomes of the open space session. Equally, open space is useful towards the end enabling
individuals to identify the issues that are important to them and to which they wish to make a personal
commitment to action.
Open space can help the commitment to change, become embedded in the range of organisations
represented at the event, moving the recognition and ownership for change from the facilitator team or
steering group to a wider group of people. Individuals are more likely to take responsibility to see that
things get done after the event. Difficulties can arise if the discussion group take ownership of an issue
and individuals that are key to affecting the change are absent from the event.
Simulation
An organisation simulation replicates real-life experiences in a shortened time-frame to accelerate and

focus learning.
A simulation creates a replica reality by creating a "fictitious" service or health care system using case-
studies, data sets and scenarios that the participants may encounter in their normal work situation. The
simulation will ask participants to tackle problems and make decisions that are similar to those that they
will need to make in the future.
"We chose to use a simulation event because we wanted to provide the participants with the
opportunity to model the future.This would enable participants to learn from their 'action planning'
process and review the experience of how the behaviour of individuals and organisations contributed
to the outcomes.The simulation allowed participants to test ideas in a structured environment and
reach decisions within a limited time scale.The data we provided were as accurate as possible and
provided the basis for consultation and decision-making."
The use of the simulation allows participants to prepare for future reality in a "safe", supported learning
environment. It can enable:
 decisions and actions to be "tested-out" before real implementation
 participants to be radical and take risks in planning service improvement, refining their ideas in the
light of the outcomes experienced in the simulation, before tackling real services
 the direct involvement of Users and Carers in evaluating and planning service improvement
 groups who are "breaking" new ground can explore the opportunities and challenges that they may
encounter in the future
The use of a simulation can provide a vehicle for the facilitator to tackle blockages that are preventing the
group from moving forward, and issues of conflict within the group. It provides an opportunity to
encourage the group to confront these issues with the support of the facilitator to help them to move on to
the next stage in group development terms.
The design and facilitation of a simulation event must devote equal time to the review and learning
processes as to the simulation exercise itself. The facilitated review should take place immediately
following the simulation exercise whilst each participant's experiences are fresh.
Future Search
These are events that are structured to provide participants with the opportunity to create their shared
understanding of the joint future. The programme leads them through a process of firstly, building a
shared understanding of their past, then moving on to discussions about their perceptions of the current
situation. These discussions are as much about allowing individuals to talk about their "successes" and to
receive positive feedback and "endorsement" of those successes, as it is to identify problem areas.
Participants are then led on to a creative process of generating a joint view of the future, but one that is
grounded in the realities of the past and present.
The future is built up by small groups each presenting, in an imaginative way, their vision of the future. A
consensus of all participants takes the best from each of these visions and pieces together a shared view of
the future which is creative but attainable.
This shared view is then broken up by the full group into themes, which are taken and worked on by small
task groups during the event to plan how they will progress each theme into action after the event.
"The steering group saw the aim of the event was to allow reflection and sharing of current reality,
opportunities to view the potential for change, and develop action plans to put ideas into action."
Future Search provides a balance between creative work on developing partnership working and focused
action planning that should result in short-term changes and outcomes after the event.
Future Search is most successful when held in a room that allows all participants to be seated at round
tables of approximately 6-10 people. The whole event takes place in this room without using break-out
rooms. Soon after the start of the event, the work takes place at each table with tables reporting back on
flip-chart. The facilitator co-ordinating feedback often works from each table in turn (a roving mike can
be useful!).
When the participants reach the point of action planning each table becomes the focus for a theme -
participants join whichever theme they choose to, or need to, work on.
The use of the single room maintains a sense of the whole system while groups are working - it keeps a
connection between different organisations and themes. Syndicate rooms would encourage many of the
isolation barriers that exist in real life. Everybody remains constantly engaged with what is going on in
the whole system as well as their own particular part of the system.
Future Search requires a careful structure to, and organisation of, the event. The stage management role of
the facilitator comes into its own in this sort of event.
PARTICIPANTS
The purpose of the event is to bring a large number of people who are involved in the local service,
together in one place at a single point in time. It enables people who may not normally meet or
communicate face-to-face to discuss common issues and problems in a "safe", informal environment with
the support and direction provided by facilitation. People can explore their own and other people's
perceptions of successes and barriers within the system. Assumptions are challenged, ideas are created,
and sustainable solutions to complex inter-agency problems developed.
"The diverse mix of participants from so many different agencies led to viewing problems from several
aspects. It is not often that all these groups are brought together."
The richness in the event is in finding constructive ways of working with the diversity within the room,
which represents the diversity within the local health and care system. The first stage to ensuring the
success of the event is in achieving a consensus that there is a inter-agency issue to be addressed, a
recognition that no single agency or profession within the system can tackle the problem and reach a
sustainable solution on their own.
"It was very useful to join with other people and gather their views and opinions. I was glad to learn
that all agencies are indeed 'singing from the same hymn-sheet'."
Identifying the Right People
The next critical stage is to identify the right people to be involved in the event. The steering groups in the
pilot sites devoted some considerable thought to this. Each of the pilot projects adopted a different
approach to their participation but all were enthusiastic about the added value that Users and Carers
brought to the event. The Scottish Executive is fully committed to the involvement of Users and Carers.
The general summary was that participants should include:
 different levels within each partner organisation - frontline staff, middle managers and senior
managers. The event needed the perspective and the on-going commitment of staff who could
make a difference at an operational level, as well as those who could make decisions about how
resources are deployed and priorities agreed
 people who were interested in doing things differently - who were passionate about developing a
different future and breaking down barriers
 people who are considered "healthy sceptics". There is a risk that the enthusiasm of the visionaries
results in a change strategy that meets its first major barrier when presented to the sceptics who
were not present at the event. The sceptic provides a useful barometer of the realities of the local
system and the views of many people who will need to be "won over" during the on-going change
process
 people who have made connections across the system and can demonstrate the benefits from so
doing - but equally people who are currently working in isolation from the rest of the system and
will bring benefit to both their organisation and the Users/Carers by making connections
 people from all parts of the local system involved in the services upon which the event is focusing.
"The Steering group recognised the need for participants to include a mix of front-line, senior staff,
Users and Carers involved locally in drug and alcohol services. It was felt important to explore and
address improvements at both operational and strategic levels during the event. The criteria for
inviting participants from the relevant agencies was that each individual should be:
 Informed
 Open and committed to making personal changes in their individual practice
 Able to influence changes within their employing organisation
Participants were sent personal invitations to attend based on these criteria."
Marketing the Event

The pilot sites found that the way that they communicated the purpose of the event was key to achieving
full participation. The event needed to be seen as something that individuals would benefit from as much
as the organisation.
The tone and language in which people were invited needed to be appropriate for the individual, this may
mean producing a number of different versions of the invitation letter if the audience includes, for
example, Users and doctors.
INVOLVING USERS AND CARERS
Each of the teams involved in the pilot sites found that the involvement of Users and Carers significantly
added value to the discussions and the outcomes of the development intervention.
Each site chose to adopt a slightly different approach to Users and Carers involvement:
 To fully involve Users and Carers throughout the event
 To involve Carers as the advocates of the Users
 To use recorded "Voices" of Users and Carers. Both Users and Carers were interviewed prior to
the event about their general experiences (good and poor) of the services provided. The recording
was presented by an advocate to all participants in a "plenary" session at the beginning of the
event, and participants were encouraged to reflect on their reactions to the "Voices" and the
implications to service design and improvement.
"Participants were selected for their knowledge, experience and current understanding of working
with the client group, older people. It was decided to involve Carers in the event to ensure that patient
voices were being heard and to help to ensure they were at the forefront of the plans."
In each of the pilot sites the steering group discussed, at the design stage, prior to the event, the
advantages and disadvantages of involving Users and Carers. In some instances there were concerns that
the individual user or carer may focus the group work during the event on to their specific issues rather
that participating in a more holistic review and planning of services. These concerns did not materialise
during the events. The Users and Carers participated fully and their contribution was valued by
everybody.
"Information on the service user's perspective was very effective and put it very clearly on the
agenda."
The response from all three pilot sites was that they would not hesitate to involve the Users and Carers in
the next event. However, they felt that there are some essential criteria that should be met to ensure
success:
 Users and Carers must be fully briefed prior to attending the event on the reason that the event is
being held, who will be attending, what will happen during the event and on their own
contribution
 The venue must be selected with Users and Carers in mind. Will they feel comfortable and not
intimidated?
 The facilitators need to regularly "touch base" with the Users and Carers during the event, and
make a particular point of making them feel welcome and equal participants in the process
 Thought must be given to providing respite care to enable Carers to attend the whole event
 It may be necessary to also involve advocates with some Users to help them to contribute on an
equal basis with senior clinicians and managers
 Users and Carers must be reimbursed with travel expenses. Consideration should also be given to
reimbursing them for the time they have taken from work.
FACILITATION OF THE EVENT
The dynamics of, and potential risks associated with, development interventions are much greater than
may occur in a normal meeting. Development interventions require facilitators who are skilled in handling
group processes and dynamics.
The scale of the interventions undertaken in this project required more than one facilitator. To enable
small group work to be facilitated in an effective way the ratio of facilitator to participant should be one to
eight.
Working with a Team of Facilitators
"Using a team of five facilitators drawn from the main agencies involved was very effective for a
number of reasons:
 it visibly reinforced the multi-agency nature of the work
 it ensured a broader understanding of how best to design and facilitate the event
 it provided an opportunity for a variation in styles during the two days which it was hoped
would address the variation in learning styles among the participants
 it provided a learning opportunity for the facilitators
 it shared the load of managing a large group where clear outcomes were required."
Each facilitator within the team may have particular strengths, skills or experiences. They may equally be
aspects of facilitation with which they are less familiar or feel less comfortable.
It is useful to know the facilitator's individual strengths and weaknesses prior to the event; this will allow
the most effective use of the team.
"We wanted all participants to be involved in mapping a particular aspect of Older Peoples' Services in
the local area to build a shared understanding of the current system and of where the gaps in services
exist. We planned to do this in small, mixed groups involving all participants including the Carers.
Whilst, as a facilitator, I am familiar with process mapping I do not feel sufficiently skilled in the
techniques to facilitate a group. Some of our facilitators use these techniques all the time in their own
organisation. The way we compensated as a team of facilitators was, firstly, the skilled facilitators
briefed the others on the techniques, then the session was led by the skilled team and those of us that
are less versed in process mapping acted as process facilitators, whilst the others provided any expert
facilitation that was needed.
This worked really well, the groups got a lot out of the session and began to better understand each
other's issues and the boundaries that exist, and the facilitators developed skills we didn't previously
have. I feel that I could now lead a session using this technique."
The following is a minimum set of competencies to have within the facilitator team:
All the facilitators need to be competent in:
 process facilitation and handling conflict
 change management
 dealing with fluidity and shifting circumstances
At least one of the facilitators must have:
 a high level of competence in handling conflict
 a good working knowledge of the local health and care system, and the key organisations and
players within it
 a good working knowledge of health and social care national and local policies and initiatives
 a high level of competence in any particular techniques that it is planned to use during the
workshop e.g. process mapping, creative thinking
Working with Facilitators from Partner Organisations
It is recommended the team that co-ordinates the total intervention and facilitates any workshop activity is
drawn from more than one of the participating organisations. This, in itself, begins to create a shared
understanding of the culture and structural processes that different organisations have, and the context
within which the team is working.
Improving partnership working is partially dependent on the commitment and support that each
organisation has to sustain the long-term change that will be required. A clear sign that organisations are
committed to the change process and to continue to develop partnership working is if the facilitation team
are drawn from more than one of the partner organisations. Not every partner organisation will have this
capability. However, there is usually a development resource within health and social care organisations,
although these people may carry different titles e.g. organisation development manager, training manager,
re-engineering facilitator. Within social care some of the social workers have the process facilitation skills
to support this sort of organisation development work.
The experience of the pilot sites was that it took time to build a shared understanding, trust and respect
within the inter-agency facilitation team. Because the facilitators were aware of the barriers that exist
between agencies, they tended to assume that they would quickly be able to break those barriers down and
build relationships that would enable them to work with inter-agency groups. Their experience, however,
proved to be different:
"We thought that, as we were all facilitators in our own organisations, we wouldn't find any difficulty
in quickly working together. Instead the opposite proved to be the case - although we shared some
common language about facilitation skills, we also had some major differences because we used
different techniques and approaches and have adopted the language of hospitals or social services.
I was amazed at the prejudices we brought and how we each stereotyped the other care agencies. I
thought the social workers could act almost autonomously and they would be very 'laid-back'. I almost
had the image in my head of the 'open-toed sandals' social worker. Instead I found they were very
business-like, probably more than many people I work with in the hospital. And I was surprised at the
constraints they have in decision-making, it seemed to be very hierarchical and slow. On the other
hand, they thought we would be very bureaucratic and were surprised at the amount the staff and we
are empowered.
We spent quite a lot of time overcoming our own stereotypes, prejudices and biases before we could
really work effectively as a team designing a development intervention to build partnership across our
organisations!"
It took, not insignificant time and effort, to build a partnership within the facilitator team to enable it to
work effectively on a project to develop effective partnership working across organisations!
"My reflections on being a member of the multi-agency facilitator team included:
 Did we provide ourselves with enough time as a group to review the process, our own
perceptions about what was happening and to discuss different perceptions we may have had?
 Did we have a shared model for how change can be effectively managed?
 Although the facilitator group did spend a lot of time together, it may have been helpful to
spend even more time 'storming and norming."17
The benefits of committing time and energy to building that partnership paid off both in the success of the
event and in supporting follow-up work within, and across, agencies.
"Coming from the Health Service I had no experience of working with the police and had no real feel
for their approach to such a sensitive issue as drugs and alcohol. We had a room full of about 80
people representing almost the full spectrum of agencies involved in delivering a local service to drug
and alcohol Users, including the Users themselves.
I would say that the police were arguably the most democratic and focused group there.You couldn't
tell by the way their discussions went and the way they behaved to each other who was the Assistant
Chief Constable and who was a police officer. They were all very approachable and willing to learn
from the experience.
They appeared to be the fastest to capture the learning and attempt to change the way they worked and
their behaviours during the course of the workshop.They were certainly the first to try to truly involve
the Users in planning services and decision-making.
One important lesson we all got from the two days was to recognise how we apply stereotypes and carry
prejudices."
A full de-brief immediately the event finishes to capture key actions agreed and learning points is
essential. There will be issues that seem very vivid at the time that may be forgotten or not fully re-
captured if the de-brief is postponed until the next day or later. At some point shortly after the event the
facilitators should meet to agree how to carry the process forward into each partner organisation.
One of the benefits that the multi-agency facilitation team brought was to provide an "external" dimension
to each agency. The internal facilitators to an agency brought their intimate knowledge of the local
situation; their intuitive judgement of what will be acceptable to the culture and their understanding of the
local power bases.
The facilitators from the other agencies added his/her external perspective, sometimes acting almost as a
mentor to the internal group, helping them to handle the more risky, confrontational aspects.
"The OD practitioner, who was external to our agency, arranged to interview key individuals within
our organisation prior to designing a workshop event. Some interviews were carried out face-to-face,
some were completed by telephone.
This allowed the facilitation team to uncover the issues and concerns that people had about inter-
agency working, that they would be unlikely to express in any other forum.
The internal facilitator team had questioned whether they should be conducting these interviews. It
was decided that it was better for the 'external' to take this role, as they would be seen as objective and
independent by the interviewees.
There is a history of good inter-agency relationships and working within the area, but the facilitator,
who was not a part of our organisation, uncovered barriers to extending this good practice and
developing
Each pilot site built an internal team of facilitators drawn from a range of agencies.
"In one pilot site the facilitator team of five people was drawn from the internal teams in both the
Primary Care Trust and Social Work.
The whole team was involved in designing and running a two-day workshop event for invited
participants from all the local health and care agencies, and provided follow-up support to the senior
managers responsible for actioning the changes agreed at the workshop.
Initially the PCT Director was not convinced of the benefits of adding other facilitators to the internal
team.They had been very successful at facilitating and implementing local service improvements
themselves and questioned the added value of the wider team.
Halfway through the project the PCT Director actively promoted the benefits of the partnership of
internal and external facilitation and was planning to continue that model in the future.The perceived
benefits were that the wider facilitator team:
 helped to build a bridge that enabled facilitators from different organisations, working with
very different models and styles of facilitation, to identify a common and shared approach to
designing and running this intervention
 helped the internal team to further develop their skills working in a new way with groups,
different from the approaches they had previously used in other local change projects
 brought a new perspective to local experiences to help the internal steering group find new
ways of tackling old issues."
Facilitation Style
The model of facilitation that is required for successful interventions of this type is a balance between
"process facilitation" and "expert facilitation". The facilitators need to feel comfortable to operate in a
fluid way moving between the two approaches as required.
"I found that the way in which I facilitated the workshop activity varied dependent on the dynamics
and needs of the groups and of individuals. Over the two days I worked with one group who knew and
understood the issues but found that they were having difficulty in moving their discussions on, partly
because there was one dominant member within the group who thought he had all the answers and
wouldn't allow others to contribute. I acted purely as a process facilitator and helped the whole group
to find a way of working that they sustained throughout the two days.
On another occasion I realised that a group were missing out on some basic information about the
Joint Futures Group recommendations on Single Assessment. I was able to steer them by supplying
them with essential documents and helping them to make contact with somebody else in the room that I
knew had been working on local implementation of the Joint Futures work.
During the second day of the workshop event I could see that one of the participants was feeling very
uncomfortable about the direction that the discussion was taking. The consensus within the room was
to look at how skills might be shared across professions to enable the implementation of single
assessment processes. This individual felt personally threatened by this proposal 'I feel they are trying
to de-skill me'. From her body language I picked up the signals that all was not well, took her to the
side and talked through the issue with her and helped her to form a strategy to cope with this anxiety
and feed her feelings into the discussions. She recognised that she was probably not alone in feeling
this way, although she appeared to be the only person expressing her anxieties."
Each facilitator must be prepared to be flexible in their approaches, responding to the dynamics and needs
of the group(s).
"I cannot overemphasise the need to be able to be flexible. As much as you plan beforehand and think
through every possibility that may happen during the workshop there are always surprises - these may
be very pleasant or something may surface that you just hadn't anticipated.
Meeting the participants beforehand helps you to anticipate where problems may arise within groups
or between individuals, but I have always found on these sorts of events with so many people and so
many issues around - something crops up that I hadn't expected, and you need to be ready to deal with
it without the luxury of time to plan what to do.
Sometimes, it's just that a group moves on through the difficult issues faster than you thought they
would and you have to speed up the programme to keep their momentum going. Often groups try and
avoid the really difficult barriers to change and you have to introduce something else into the
programme to encourage them to address the very issue they are trying to avoid.
On a two-day event, the end of day 1 can seem to be very chaotic, because all sorts of dynamics are
going on, you need to be able to make sense of that chaos and facilitate the process on day 2 to help the
group make sense of it and find a way through it to agreement and action.That's when the support and
skills of the other facilitators becomes invaluable - two heads are greater than one! - what can seem a
difficult process to manage for one facilitator, can be more easily put into perspective when you talk it
through with your colleagues!"
Figure 3 provides a useful framework to understand the role of the facilitators in supporting the types of
events that were used by the pilot sites.
FIGURE 6: Heron's Six Dimensions of Facilitation

The Planning Dimension. This is the goal-oriented, ends and means, aspect of facilitation. It is to do
with the aims of the group, and what programme it should undertake to fulfil them.
The Meaning Dimension. This is the cognitive aspect of facilitation. It is to do with participants'
understanding of what is going on, with their making sense of experience, and with their reason for doing
things and reacting to things.
The Confronting Dimension. This is the challenge aspect of facilitation. It is to do with raising
consciousness about the group's resistance to, and avoidance of, things it needs to face and deal with.
The Feeling Dimension. This is the sensitive aspect of facilitation. It is to do with the management of
feeling and emotion within the group.
The Structuring Dimension. This is the formal aspect of facilitation. It is to do with methods of learning,
with what sort of form is given to learning within the group, with how is it to be shaped.
The Valuing Dimension. This is the integrity aspect of facilitation. It is to do with creating a supportive
climate which honours and celebrates the personhood of group members; a climate in which they can be
genuine, empowered, disclosing their reality as it is, keeping in touch with their true needs and interests.
The six dimensions interweave and overlap, being mutually supportive of each other. They need to be
distinguished from each other in thought and action to achieve effective facilitation.
Drawn from Heron J (1999) The Complete Facilitators Handbook Kogan Page pp. 6-7
"Each facilitator was allocated to work with one of the Partner Agencies during the two-day event.
Their role was to:
 Observe during the simulation event, recording behavioirs and identifying on whom and how
these impacted
 Lead feedback sessions with their Partner Agency at the end of each day.
 Clarify aspects of the process and to help participants reflect on progress during the Simulation
event."
The facilitator team will need to continually de-brief during both the total intervention and the event itself,
flexing the programme to meet changing and emerging circumstances.
During a development event, facilitators should meet to review the process at least immediately prior to
the event, at lunch-breaks during the event, and on the evening of day 1 if working with a two-day
workshop. The original programme may need to be adjusted to respond to emerging circumstance.
Appendix 1 ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS
The importance of the administrative arrangements and selection and preparation of the venue for the
event cannot be emphasised enough.
Well-organised events carry a greater chance of success. We all remember events we have attended that
have not been well organised. If we didn't receive a programme and travel directions in good time, or
found it difficult to find the venue, we started the day feeling angry and frustrated, wondering why we
have bothered to give up a day when the paper-work on the desk is just piling up.
Our attitude during the day would be more open to listening attentively and participating if we feel
welcomed. If the event is running smoothly then we shouldn't notice the organisation arrangements - it's
only when these break down that we notice that the coffee didn't arrive on time, we couldn't hear the
speakers from the back of the room, we didn't know what was going on and what was expected of us, and
how many times have you felt uncomfortable all day because you were too cold or hot.
All these aspects of an event take time and skill to organise, this involves extensive preparation
beforehand as well as stage-management during the event. If the event is running smoothly, and
participants feel comfortable and confident of the proceedings, you are more likely to achieve a successful
outcome and motivation and commitment from participants to implement change.
"The venue was good and comfortable - possibly a little restricted for the numbers involved but the size
had a way of keeping things together."
The steering group in each of the pilot sites found that it was essential to be clear from the beginning
about who was managing the administration of the event, and to ensure that the individual responsibilities
of the administrator and OD practitioner were clear. There is a danger of each thinking the other is
responsible for completing the same task!
The greatest administration difficulty was in co-ordinating diaries and the administrative arrangements
across the agencies. It is likely that a single organisation will take lead responsibility for administration
for all the participating organisations, but the individual assuming that responsibility must be able to
access people in each organisation without encountering barriers.
Event Administrator
It is possible for anybody to take this role on but there are some essential skills and resources that they
need:
 Can they spend time during normal working hours on the telephone contacting people?
 Do they have access to a word-processor and have the necessary skills, or reasonably free access
to somebody with the necessary skills?
 Are they a "Completer-Finisher" or "Implementer" in Belbin terms? 18
 Have they experience of a similar event, so that they have a "picture" of what they are trying to
achieve?
 Are they able to visit the proposed venue and go through the arrangements with a manager prior to
the event?
 Can they contact key people/senior managers in each of the agencies?
 Can they easily obtain contact details for all the proposed participants?
 Do they have access to the resources needed - flipcharts, photocopying facility, etc.?
 Do they have authority to make decisions concerning the event - or can they easily contact
somebody who can make the appropriate decisions?
The venues used for the events that each pilot site ran ranged from a country house hotel, an outdoor
activity centre, to a large function room and hospitality boxes in a football stadium. Each worked well for
the group involved. The important factors were:
 Participants had exclusive use of the rooms allocated to the event, allowing issues to be freely
discussed in confidence, encouraging openness and honesty. This also allowed for plenty of space
and 'break-out' rooms for small groups to break off from the main activity, either as a structured
activity within the programme, or because an issue arose that people wanted to deal with there and
then.
 Each venue provided sufficient space for the main room to be laid out with small tables of 6-8
people (cabaret style), with plenty of circulation space.
 Participants felt comfortable and not "out-of-place" in the venue. Some venues may intimidate
participants if it is an environment that they are not used to, this can happen both in luxury hotels
or community centres in areas of high deprivation. The purpose of the venue is to provide an
environment that helps everybody to feel equitable and comfortable, whether they are a member of
the public or a senior manager in one of the agencies.
 The venue and room layouts facilitated free interchange between participants and encouraged the
breaking down of boundaries.
The administrators involved in each of the pilot projects found the use of an administration checklist
essential to help them to manage the complexities of the logistics. These checklists included the following
items; these may act as a reminder for you to create your own local checklist.
Items to be included on the Administrator's Check-List

 Invitations to the event sent at least six weeks prior -with an RSVP
 Programme and venue details/travel directions sent out at least 1 week prior
 Special catering arrangements checked and confirmed with the venue
 "Break-out" rooms arranged
 Badges completed
 Delegate packs completed - programme, delegate list, background papers
 Sufficient Flipchart stands, charts and pens arranged
 Speakers needs checked and ordered e.g. OHP, Slide Projector
 Table plans arranged if delegates are expected to sit at a specific table
 Facilitators Briefing packs completed
 Senior managers briefing packs completed
It can be very useful for the administrator to be in attendance throughout the event to fulfil a "stage-
management" role including such items as welcoming late-arrivals, ensuring coffees/lunch/teas arrive on
time, maintaining the temperature at a comfortable level, doing last minute photo-copying.
FURTHER INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Heron J (1999) The Complete Facilitators Handbook Kogan Page

Loxley A (1997) Collaboration in Health and Welfare Jessica Kingsley Publications
Margulies N & Adams J (1988) Organisational Development in Health Care Organisations Addison-
Wesley
Pratt J, Plamping D and Gordon P Partnership: Fit for purpose Kings Fund
Pratt J, Gordon P, and Plamping D (1999) Working Whole Systems: putting theory into practice in
organisations Kings Fund
Sainsbury Centre Taking Your Partners: using opportunities for inter-agency partnership in mental
health (2000) The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
Scottish Executive Health Department (2001) Organisational development in the NHSiS: Recognising
Roles, Skills & Capability Organisational Development Practitioners Working Group with the Strategic
Change Unit
Smale G (1998) Managing Change Through Innovation The Stationery Office
Stacey RD (1996) Strategic Management & Organisational Dynamics London, Pitman
Acknowledgements
Many people have committed a considerable amount of time, energy and enthusiasm to the three pilot
projects.
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of staff and managers from Fife Primary Care Trust and
Glenrothes LHCC, Highland Primary Care Trust and East Highlands LHCC, and Lanarkshire Primary
Care Trust and Airdrie LHCC.
There has also been an invaluable contribution made by many staff and managers from the wide range of
organisations involved in supporting and providing health and care services to the local populations of
these LHCCs.
We would like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution by Anne Tofts of Healthskills, both to the
delivery of the learning events and the composition of this Resource Guide.
In particular - we would like to acknowledge the involvement of all Users and Carers in the
workshop events.
Further information
Each of the pilot project sites is keen to share their learning with as wide an audience as possible, and to
help other organisations seeking to improve partnership working. For further information please contact:
Kathleen Bessos, Directorate of Human Resources, Scottish Executive Health Department, St Andrew's
House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG Tel: 0131 244 2242
Email: kathleen.bessos@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
SYSTEMIC ORGANISATIONAL DIAGNOSIS
We engage in a full exploration of the organisation from multiple perspectives and examine its many inputs, processes,
relationships and outputs. The focus is on the vision element, the operational-functional element, the socio-cultural element
and the human element. These are analysed within the framework of the transactional and contextual environments. The
relationships within and among these elements and environments are explored using a variety of techniques.
Recommendations are made in terms of the issues requiring attention, the appropriate methodologies to be used, the phasing
and timing of the interventions and the outcomes to be achieved.
 Diagnostic Surveys and Analyses

 Culture Surveys
 Needs Assessments
VISIONING AND STRATEGY FORMULATION
Many organisations have developed Vision and Mission statements designed to guide them forward. The futuring and visioning
are designed to create "preferred future states" and "images of potential". The fundamental elements of this methodology are
inclusion, diversity, creativity, innovation and analysis. Based on these elements, it mobilises inputs from all stakeholders,
analyses and explores the past and present and creates a series of "plausible futures". The major outcomes include increased
commitment to the organisation and its future, improved communication, reduced misunderstanding, increased organisational
alignment, clear guiding principles, prioritized strategic imperatives and the basis for realistic action plans.
 Vision Development
 Mission Development
 Core Values and Behaviour Models
 Strategy Definition
 Stakeholder Surveys
 Business Research
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTION
We engage in the process of guiding the organisation towards clinical execution of its strategic imperatives. This includes
strategic implementation (designing and implementing its operational plans) and strategic control and monitoring. These
steps are placed firmly within a conceptual framework which includes an understanding of strategy, strategic thinking,
strategic management, critical success factors, strategic objectives and operational planning. Ownership of this planning
process and its outputs is a necessary element for success and our approach ensures that ownership, commitment,
involvement and continuous action occur. We revisit the plans with the client in order to review and adjust as necessary.
 Strategic Planning Workshops

 Strategic Plan Preparation
 Staff Enrollment in Strategy Implementation
ORGANISATIONAL TRANSFORMATION
Current realities require that organisations change or die. We partner organisations through the process of creating and
anticipating change, identifying and evaluating the pressures towards change, determining the changes required, planning for
and implementing change and treating with the outcomes of change. Attention is given to the changing vision and direction of
the organization, operational, process and structural changes, as well as cultural and individual change. Our emphasis is on
an integrated and coordinated approach to transforming organisations for business success.
 Transformation Planning
 Organisational Restructuring
 Leadership Through Change
 Changing Organisational Culture
 Change Management Workshops
 Change Impact Analysis
 Building Change Management Teams
TEAM TECHNOLOGY
With this intervention clients benefit from the value added to organisations by effective teamwork. An on-going process rather
than a 'programme', team-building enables teams to manage and capitalise on their resources in a manner which provides
the organisation with quality results. Our approach to building teams in organisations focuses on team-purpose, (why the
team exists), team product (the team’s outputs), team people (who is on the team and what they bring) and team processes
(how the team functions). At the socio-psychological level, we examine typical team dynamics and the developmental stages
in the life of teams. This team technology is applicable to all types of teams, be they executive, departmental, inter-
departmental, cross-functional or special purpose teams.
 Evaluating Team Effectiveness

 Assessing Team Composition
 Establishing New Teams
 Team Building Workshops
ORGANISATIONAL COMMUNICATION
A systemic approach is taken towards facilitating the sharing of meaning and understanding in the organisation. Typical
communication content, patterns and processes are examined. Their effectiveness is assessed within the context of the
organization's vision, strategic direction, core values and stated goals. At the individual, intra-departmental and inter-
departmental levels, our technology improves the 'talking' and the 'listening', resulting in reduced time-loss and conflicts and
increased efficiency, effectiveness and morale.
 Assessing and Transforming Organisational Communication

 Organisational Language and Culture
POLICY AND PROCESS ALIGNMENT
Organisations in transformation need to take a close analytical look at how they function. This begins with aligning the
organization's philosophy, vision and strategy with its mission and methods. This alignment is best expressed in its policies,
processes and procedures. We examine all these dimensions of the organization, conduct a comparative analysis with actual
practices and provide services to improve performance.
 Policy and Procedure Analysis

 Policy and Procedure Manuals
 Process Mapping
 Process Improvement
QUALITY SERVICE SYSTEMS
We take our client-systems through a process which identifies their internal and external customers and their needs. We
analyse the work processes, attitudes and behaviours which contribute to quality service delivery, then design and deliver
interventions which positively impact corporate effectiveness in this area. Our systemic approach emphasises work on the
organization and its service delivery processes, its business context, as well as the individual employee and what (s)he brings
to the relationship with the customer.
 Analysing Service Delivery Systems

 Improving Service Delivery Processes
 Quality Customer Service Workshops
 Developing Customer Service Manuals
 Communication Skills Workshops
Understanding and choosing OD techniques

The tools and techniques that come together to make up "organisational development" should form a
useful armoury for HR specialists as they take a lead role in change processes.
Techniques are needed to:
 Analyze the current state of the Organisation

 Develop proposals for change and improvement
 Communicate the message of change and ensure staff buy-in
 Introduce and manage changes
 Evaluate outcomes
A whole raft of techniques was presented to the Consortium over the months. Some of the main ones are
listed in the table, with an indication of which of the stages in the change process they can help with.
The EO believes that all of these techniques and systems have an appropriate part to play for local
authorities in different stages of change and development. Value management is perhaps the most
versatile and comprehensive technique for analysis and development of change strategies. The balanced
scorecard is perhaps the most fashionable approach. Various speakers at the consortium outlined some of
the tools.
Communicate the
Analyze the Develop proposals Introduce
message of change Evaluate
current state of the for change and and manage
and ensure staff buy- outcomes
Organisation improvement changes
in
Balanced

Scorecard
Value

Management
Learning Labs
Change

Champions
Management

Competencies
Flexible job

design
EFQM
Workforce

surveys
Balanced Scorecard (J Tatam, Barking & Dagenham)
 Translates strategy into measurable objectives

 Spread across 4 quadrants:
 Finance
 Customers
 Systems
 Organisational Capacity
 Developed originally for the Private Sector - so profit and turnover critical
 For local government finance is perhaps less critical, so bring in
 Community Perspective (well being) as well as customers
There is a great deal of information available elsewhere on the balanced scorecard, so there is no need to
review it in detail here.
Value Management (Mark Law, Bone & Roberstson)
"VM is a structured framework for reviewing any product, process, project or service. It enables those
who have first-hand knowledge of the subject being studied to optimize value for money and performance
through a series of analytical and creative workshops."
It can deliver:
 Up to 20% efficiency savings -A large hospital saved 15% on its estates maintenance budget (a total of £400,000pa)...
 Ongoing improvements of 5% pa
 VM typically delivers over ten times its cost
 The VM studies cost the above hospital £50,000 for a £400,000 pa saving...
Change champions (T Compai, Head of Corporate HR Mgt. Derbyshire)
Champions are identified at the following levels in the authority, in this case relating to introduction of the
e-government agenda:
 Cabinet
 Member e-champion(Portfolio holder)
 Officer e-champion (Deputy CE)
 Chief Officers Steering Group
 Core Change Management Team
 Departmental Change Champions
 Staff
Some sample role profiles were outlined:
Member e-champion
To ensure that all aspects of e-government are addressed, from policy development to the impact on the
resources available, from integrating electronic service delivery into best value to promoting its use
amongst fellow Councillors. To ensure electronic community access is enabled. To oversee the transition
to electronic services and the overall change strategy. Receives regular briefings regarding e-government.
Officer e-champion
Responsible for ensuring that the 2005 target for ESD is achieved, for implementing the Change
Management Programme and managing the team. Has a wide management and policy role: to manage the
ICT and telecommunications services within the authority, to support the Chief Executive and elected
members. This officer provides the strategic over-view for e-government. Acts as a catalyst for change,
and supports the development of e-government initiatives throughout the Organisation. Ensures that there
is co-ordination and coherence in the council's strategy for delivering a wide range of e-Government
initiatives.
Learning labs (Heather Marsden, Suffolk)
"A flexible tool enabling front line staff to bring forward their ideas to explore new ways of doing things,
test their effectiveness and see them through to fruition."
 Front line led

 Championed by a Chief Officer
 Workshop style
 Creative process
 Independent facilitator
 Structured
 Direct line to decision makers
 Involves Change Champions
The pitfalls in learning labs
 Top down
 Brief is set by managers
 Delays in implementation of recommendations
 Manager as participant
 Staff not released to participate
 Lack of a recall session
Management Competencies (Christine Lee)
Christine Lee, a consultant with the EO had some observations about the skills, knowledge and
behaviours that authorities need to ensure are developed by line- managers and team-leaders at all levels
of the Organisation, to ensure successful delivery of a change programme.
Skills:
 Change Management
 Influencing
 Negotiation
 Relationship Management
 Political & Personal Sensitivity
 Risk Management
 Analytical/Diagnostic
 Research Techniques
 Team/Partnership working
 Networking
Knowledge:
 Overall LG Context and own authority

 How different aspects of original interrelate
 Organisational change models etc
 Insight into other Organisations
Behaviours:
 Strategic Focus
 Visionary/anticipate future direction
 Identifies push/pull (in Organisation) (in service)
 Communicates appropriately
 Establishes rapport
 Identifies creativity/innovation
 Leads from within & from behind when appropriate
 Challenges existing practice
 Flexible
 Reflects and Learns
 Perseverance
 Inspires trust and confidence
Flexible job design (Sue Filmer, Mercer HR)
 As business strategies change, so the Organisation and people strategies need re-assessment.
 In some cases this will require amendment or creation of new structures. In doing so roles and responsibilities will
change.
 Organisations need to have the ability, tools and channels to challenge existing structures, clarify the new goals and
accountabilities, and describe the content of new roles.
 Individuals need and expect a clear description of their role within the Organisation, their function and their team.
 It needs to be clear who is accountable for what, what level of performance is required and what behaviour is required.
The Organisation needs to ensure that:
 It can recruit effectively

 It can set clear goals and objectives thereby having performance management systems, which are measurable,
consistent and fair
 It can describe how individuals can develop within the role to achieve excellent performance
 It is able to spot high potential (for specific roles or abilities
In this context a Job description (list of tasks or activities) can be
 Rigid and can stifle initiative / hinder change

 Too focused on what happens in a job at a given point in time
Whereas a Role profile (performance and delivery) has these characteristics:
 One sentence definition of the overall purpose, followed by the key accountabilities (typically 5-7 key areas)
 Combines the role specification, person specification and progression
 'The role I currently have' rather than 'The job I do'
Organisational change from top to bottom - the Deming model (Mike Greenwood, Chief Executive,
Tameside)
A few local authorities have embarked on ambitious systematic programmes to alter their entire structure
from the traditional hierarchical approach to a performance driven approach. Mike Greenwood, Chief
Executive of Tameside gave a notable presentation on this, stressing that it had been a long-term
programme over the last decade.
The main elements of the programme are:
Clarifying responsibilities:
 defining management roles

 developing measures and performance management
 business planning
Decentralisation and delegation:
 finance
 human resources
 legal support
Attention to the customer:
 from customer care through customer focus to customer first
Communications:
 internal - team briefings, newsletters, surveys, intranet
Development and Training:
 focused training programme

 employee development review process
 bespoke development and support
 focus on improvement
 IIP
Twice-yearly major seminars
For the last seven years Tameside has been using the management philosophy of Dr. Deming as a key
theoretical basis for OD. This has been particularly concerned with improvement and quality. They have
taught about 2000 staff the tools and techniques of improvement (BPR) and the underlying philosophy. It
gives workgroups real control over their tasks and improves both motivation and performance.
Summing up
Such a major holistic approach as that attempted by Tameside may be beyond the ambitions of some
authorities at the moment but the context in which it has been done demonstrates the importance of
utilising the full range of OD techniques to achieve change and improvement, in the opinion of the EO.
Lyndsay Rashman of the Warwick Business School offered a useful wrap-up perspective on the role of
OD in changing local government. The Key OD interventions for increasing organisational capacity were
identified as follows:
 Individual coaching
 Team development
 Large group and whole system interventions
 Organisational design
Key skills:
 Design of intervention based on organisational analysis, diagnosis and consultancy
The Warwick Business School also provided a diagram of the components of an OD strategy:
To remind ourselves of the need to develop such strategies as part of the drive to improvement, let's end
with the words of the Prime Minister, quoted by the Office for Public Service Reform in the final seminar.
OD Research -- what seems to work?

For the details look at Organization Development French and Bell pp.312 - 319
Results seen in a significant number of cases

 Economic performance improved - impact on costs, profits, quality (about half the time)
 Improvement in process variables -- goal emphasis, decision making, human interaction such as
openness
 Employee productivity
 Worker satisfaction
Methods Used
 Managerial Grid
 Task-oriented laboratory training
 Survey feedback
 Use of multiple intervention approaches
 Relatively short term OD projects (4-6 months) and relatively long term projects (25 or more months)
 Sociotechnical systems (STS)
 Goal setting
 Training
 Appraisal and feedback
Examples of links between results and type of

intervention
Results Intervention
Greater impact on attitudes Human process interventions (team building, lab training) ; STS- lesser affect
Higher job satisfaction,
commitment, performance
and lower role stress, Increasing autonomy and participation
physical symptoms,
turnover
Increased productivity,
reduced absenteeism, STS interventions (increase pay, self directing teams, etc)
turnover
Organizational arrangements like -- employee feeling more in control, belief
Increased productivity in the value of the work, being challenged, engaged in life long learning,
recognition for achievements
Employment security, selective hiring of new personnel, self managing teams
Outstanding financial
and decision making decentralizing, high compensation related to
returns to shareholders and
organizational performance, extensive training, reduction in status distinctions
significant competitive
across levels, extensive sharing of financial and performance information
advantage
throughout the organization
ROLES FROM WHICH OD
EFFORTS CAN BE
STARTED

In each role the person is using Organization Development knowledge and methods in a process of organizational
improvement.
THE ROLE CHARACTERISTICS BENEFITS COSTS
Manager Has the legitimate Easier to make entry May be drawn away
authority for shaping into the system. More from OD effort by other
The CEO, executive director, processes, structures focused on results. Has demands. Becoming the
president or the manager of a and climate; also for a defined place in the target of the system’s
department are all people initiating and organization. cynics and those
with the primary monitoring; visible, resisting improvement
responsibility to take action accountable. effort.
for system improvement.
OD Team - an extension of
the manager’s authority;
team shares responsibility for
OD effort.
Internal Consultant Visible. Is accountable Is part of the system. Less status than
to several sources (the Can develop a highly external consultants.
Has a defined position within internal client, the integrated sense of how
the organization that carries client’s "boss"). Needs to do an OD effort in Dependent on others
responsibility for consulting contracts with others in this particular for authority to
and training activities toward order to function. organization. May be function. Low
organizational improvement. more secure (financial influence. Political
Is not a manager with the and psychological). binds. May be under
authority to initiate OD pressure to do projects
efforts. or do them in a manner
that violates own sense
of good practice.
External Consultant High visibility. Independence in Has to generate own

Temporary in the selecting work. clients. Lack of peers to
Is not part of the system. Has a formal Possible variety of work with in efforts --
organization’s on-going life. contract. clients. Clear contracts. lack of critique,
Is contracted with to provide May see things the loneliness. May be
consulting and training insiders fail to see. May unfamiliar with the
services to facilitate be able to productively organization and the
use dependence. product or services it
improvement. offers -- may lead to
misunderstandings, lack
of integration in
approach. Not seeing
the long-term results.
Internal Change Agent Role is not formally Acting on own values. Risk of punishment
defined or authorized. Sense of purpose. -being ostracized, loss
Any member or employee in May call for low of job or membership.
the organization that acts for visibility. May be
improvement on their own risky.
authority. Has no
organizational authorization
for the effort.
John E. Jones Organizational Universe Systems
Here is a brief catalog of interventions that OD practitioners choose from in partnering with
organizational leaders to create "planned change."
Applying criteria to goals
Here the leadership establishes objective criteria for the outputs of the organization's goal-
setting processes. Then they hold people accountable not only for stating goals against those
criteria but also for producing the desired results.
Establishing inter-unit task forces
These groups can cross both functional parts of the organization (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.
Experimentation with alternative arrangements
Today organizations are subject to "management by best-seller." The OD practitioner attempts

to get leaders to look for changes that may take 3-5 years to work through. The meta-goal in
these interventions is to create what is being called a "learning organization," one that performs
experiments on organizational structure and processes, analyzes the results, and builds on
them.
Identifying "key communicators"

The OD professional here carefully determines who seems to be "in the know" within the
organization. These people often do not know that they are, in fact, key communicators. This
collection of individuals are then fed honest information during critical times, one-on-one and
confidentially.
Identifying "fireable offenses"
This intervention deepens the understanding of and commitment to the stated values of the
organization. The OD professional facilitates the work of the organization's leaders to answer
the critical question, "If we're serious about these values, then what might an employee do that
would be so affrontive to them that he/she would be fired?"
In-visioning
This is actually a set of interventions that leaders plan with OD's help in order to "acculturate"
everyone in the organization into an agreed-upon vision, mission, purpose, and values. The
interventions might include training, goal setting, organizational survey-feedback,
communications planning, etc.
Team Building
This intervention can take many forms. The most common is interviews and other prework,
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 See J. E. Jones & W. L.
Bearley, TEAMBOOK, published by HRDQ, for a catalog of team-building interventions.
Intergroup 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.
[See J. E. Jones & W. L. Bearley, Intergroup Diagnostic Survey, published by HRDQ, for a
catalog of intergroup interventions.
Management/leadership training
Many OD professionals come from a training background. They understand that organizations
cannot succeed long term without well-trained leaders. The OD contribution there can be to
ensure that the development curriculum emphasizes practical, current situations that need
attention within the organization and to monitor the degree to which training delivery is
sufficiently participative as to promise adequate transfer of learnings to the job.
Setting up measurement systems
The total-quality movement emphasizes that all work is a part of a process and that
measurement is essential for process improvement. The OD professional is equipped with tools
and techniques to assist leaders and others to create measurement methods and systems to
monitor key success indicators.
Studies of structural causes

"Root-cause analysis" is a time-honored quality-improvement tool, and OD practitioners often
use it to assist organizational clients to learn how to get down to the basis causes of problems.
Survey-feedback
This technology is probably the most powerful way that OD professionals involve very large
numbers of people in diagnosing situations that need attention within the organization and to
plan and implement improvements. The general method requires developing reliable, valid
questionnaires, collecting data from all personnel, analyzing it for trends, and feeding the results
back to everyone for action planning.
"Walk-the-talk" assessment
Most organizations have at least some leaders who "say one thing and do another." This
intervention, which can be highly threatening, concentrates on measuring the extent to which
the people within the organization are behaving with integrity.
This catalog is, of course, not exhaustive. It only covers the most common OD interventions.
Every practitioner augments this list with both specially designed interventions that meet the
precise needs of clients and with other, more complex interventions such as large-group
sessions, and other popular programs. It is important, however, that all OD professionals be
completely grounded in these basic interventions

Evolution of O.D.

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Evolution of O.D.

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History and Evolution of Organization Development

The Role of the OD Practitioner

Management Theory and Change

The Nature of Organizational Change

Deciding on a direction, or making an organizational change is one thing; managing employees'

Change Management Models and Approaches

The Bridaes Transition Model

The Action Research Model

Great Pacific Shipbuilding: Successful OD in Action

Change Models for Higher Education

The following are the dimensions he cites:

Ensure credibility ... to the academic 'mainstream'...

Function largely with ambivalent teaching/learning environments...

Facilitation and Group Meeting Design

Interpersonal Skills Training

Management and Leadership Development

Personality Type Training

Training Your Trainers

OD Tools and Processes (Interventions)

How to Choose an OD Consultant

Consultant's Method Must be Congruent With the Client's Need

The Human Dimension is a Full-Service Consultancy

Robert H. Rouda & Mitchell E. Kusy, Jr.

WHO DOES OD?

WHEN IS AN ORGANIZATION READY FOR OD?

Dissatisfaction x Vision x First Steps > Resistance to Change

 Planned. OD takes a long-range approach to improving organizational performance and

 Organization-wide. OD focuses on the total system.

 Planned interventions. After proper preparation, OD uses activities called interventions to

 Using behavioral-science knowledge. OD is a discipline that combines research and

WHEN IS AN ORGANIZATION READY FOR OD?

Dissatisfaction x Vision x First Steps > Resistance to Change

WHERE YOU COME IN

3. Beckhard, R. & Harris, R. Organizational Transitions. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1987.

Long-Term Solutions and An On-Going Process

Organizational development (OD) is an application of behavioral science to organizational change. It

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT BASICS

MANAGING CHANGE THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Organization development initiatives do not automatically succeed. The benefits of effective OD

INTERPERSONAL INTERVENTIONS Interpersonal interventions in an OD program are designed to

INTERGROUP INTERVENTIONS Intergroup interventions are integrated into OD programs to facilitate

COMPREHENSIVE INTERVENTIONS OD comprehensive interventions are used to directly create change

An effective organization development (OD) practitioner can . . .

1. Be aware of systems wanting to change

2. Be known to those needing you

3. Match skills with potential client profile

4. Convey qualifications in a credible manner

5. Quickly grasp the nature of the system

6. Determine appropriate decision makers

7. Determine appropriate processes

An effective organization development (OD) practitioner can . . .

8. Build trusting relationships

9. Present the theoretical foundations of change

10. Deal effectively with resistance

11. Help the client trust the process

12. Help the client manage emotionally charged feelings

13. Collaboratively design the change process

An effective organization development (OD) practitioner can . . .

14. Contract psychologically for collaboration

15. Help the client reflect on motivation

16. Clarify outcomes

17. Build realistic expectations