Organization Development - Article Example

Organizational Development Cosmetics Organization Organizational development refers to a deliberate and flexible process of implementing change in an organization. It mainly involves the development of new organizational strategies, structures and processes in order to improve the effectiveness and health of the organization. Organizational development comes about when the managers of the organization realize that there is still some potential for the organization to improve its performance (Cummings & Worley, 2008). Scholars thus assert that though an organization might be successful, it may still undertake organizational development if it realizes an opportunity for improvement. Therefore, it is indeed beneficial to understand the organization’s performance well in order to identify its most viable opportunities. The cosmetic organization has been in operation for the past three years, and over the years, it has managed to establish a steady graph of improved performance each year. Despite this success, the managers of the organization have identified that the organization still has the potential to perform much better. The marketing department of the organization has realized that most of the customers are requesting a variety of the cosmetic products. Therefore, this is one reason as to why the organization needs to undertake the process of organizational development. One other reason for organizational development is seeking to acquire current technology and diversify its operations according to the acquired technology. The management has also noted that the company has the potential to improve the quality of its products by changing its operational procedures. Therefore, organizational development will act as a key direction of acquiring the new operational procedures. Being an organization that deals with cosmetics, the company covers a wide variety of clients, ranging from young people to the aged, both male and female. Therefore, this implies that the process of organizational development will affect a large number of people. From the data collected in the markets covered by the organization, the customers expect that the organization will develop a new variety of products after the development process. The clients also expect that the organizational development will not lead to fluctuation or hiking of prices. It is also the expectation of buyers that the development process will be able to accommodate each and every user of the cosmetic products. Users of the old products also expect that the organization will still continue supplying them even after developing new ones. The process of organizational development usually begins by having the members express their opinions concerning the current strategies followed by the organization (Cummings & Worley, 2008). All the positives and negatives are clearly analyzed in order to ensure that past mistakes are not repeated and that the foundation of the organization is maintained. This also serves as an opportunity for the organization to know its loose-ends that need to be put back together in the development process. After this critical analysis, the following plan will then be followed to implement change in the organization. It is a plan consisting of five stages that outline the strategies, techniques and alternatives that need to be used in the organizational development process. Stage One: Initiation Stage At this stage, the organization will focus on identifying the unique customers’ needs that are not being satisfied by the current operational procedures of the organization. All customers’ needs including the old ones are reviewed, and a way of satisfying each one of them is identified. The organization also identifies other problems being faced within the organization. All departments are examined, and their weaknesses noted down. Examples of departments include: the employee’s department, the sales and marketing department and the management department. The organization also identifies the ways in which it can implement changes into the organization and still accomplish its goals and objectives (Cummings & Worley, 2008). Stage Two: Creating awareness and collecting ideas Once the organization has identified the parts that need development, it then launches the organizational development process for the people involved. It seeks the suggestions and recommendations of all the employees by asking them to give their suggestions concerning the problems being faced in their departments. The employees should also propose new and improved ways of achieving the goals and objectives of their departments. The organization should also collect all the required information from its online systems. Stage Three: Implementation The suggested changes are then implemented to the organization by committing the necessary resources. At this stage, different implementation criteria are used to effectuate the changes in the organization. Some of these include: employee and staff training, the change of operational procedures and creating awareness of changes to be implemented. Under the employee development process, the organization could use facilities such as courses, seminars and goal development workshops for the employees. However, for the operational systems development, the organization mainly seeks to change the way in which it carries out its processes and procedures (Cummings & Worley, 2008). Therefore, areas analyzed for change include: operational procedures, organization’s business cycles, work instructions, audit and accounting procedures and data handling procedures. The organization also purchases the resources and materials required to improve the quality of its products. Recommended procedures made by other departments such as the sales department are also implemented. The management of the organization should also ensure that all changes made in the organization are well planned and that they are not abrupt or sudden. All the changes made should also be noted with all the resources used being accounted for accurately. The organization should also ensure that all the implementation procedures are in line with the goals and objectives of the organization (Cummings & Worley, 2008). In the implementation stage, the organization also has to decide whether to change all its past operations and begin operating on entirely new procedures. It may also decide to change a part of them while still retaining a part of the past operational procedures. However, under the issue of organizational training and development, all employees have to be trained without selection. Stage Four: Feedback Assessment Once all the implementation has been completed, the organization then reviews the impact of the change to itself and to the society in general. This is conducted by interviewing the customers, employees and any other persons that are affected by the change. The organization can also conduct this procedure by issuing questionnaires containing standard questions. These views of the people interviewed are all assessed and thus the organization can determine if the organizational development process has met the expectations of the people. At this stage, the management are also supposed to identify whether the changes implemented in the organization are having a positive or negative effect. In the case where the changes made in the organizational development process are not known to a large number of people, the organization will need to create awareness by carrying out promotions and advertisements. The company can also use strategies such as giving purchase offers to all buyers of the new products. This will help to create awareness and market the product fast. Stage Five: Follow up and Maintenance of the new development Once the impact has been examined, it is then the duty of the company’s management to maintain the new and improved standards. Institutionalizing the changes and improvements made in the organization is an ongoing process and it takes time. Scholars have indicated that introducing changes in an organization may be an easy task but maintaining and managing the changes in the organization until they are steady is difficult. This is because it involves complete change of doing things in the organization which might be time consuming if not well implemented (Cummings & Worley, 2008). This will involve ensuring that all the employees fully get used to the newly adopted operational procedures. The organization should also ensure that the employees do not oppose the changes made since this may limit full adoption. Employee performance should also be examined to assess the results of trainings and seminars undertaken by the employees in the course of organizational development. Therefore, organizational development is a process that involves understanding the current state of the organization and its current operational strategies. Understanding the organization also involves understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, before implementing new strategies in an organization, it is important to understand the organization in order to avoid implementing unnecessary changes in the organization. After understanding the organization, the developer should then ensure to follow the five stages of organizational development one after the other. The organization should consider both internal and external factors while assessing how to implement the changes. It should also ensure that it remains socially responsible to the community since it is the community that makes up its customers. The new changes implemented in the organization should not be harmful to the community or negatively impact any individual. The organization should also ensure that the expectations of its customers and clients are met. The plan used should also be economical despite the resources required to implement the changes. References Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2008). Organizational Development & Change (9th ed.). New York: Cengage Learning. Read More