ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
the management of change
WHAT IS Organization Development?
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).
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.
other articles in this series:
1. Human Resource Development: Beyond training - a perspective on
improving organizations and people
2. Needs Assessment - the first step
3. Organization Development - the management of change (this article)
4. Career Development - personal career management and planning
5. Managing Change with Large-Scale, Real-Time Interventions
6. High Performance Training
