Applications of Organization Development Techniques to Improve the Team Level - Coursework Example

Applications of Organization Development Techniques to improve the team level in an Organization in Australia Introduction Learning process is very critical for overall development of an individual and organization. Organization Development (OD) has been used in this organization to make improvements at individual, team and organization levels and to help achieve the target. Organizational Development Organization Development is any process or activity, based on the behavioral sciences, that either initially or over the long term, has the potential to develop enhanced knowledge, expertise, productivity, satisfaction, income, interpersonal relationships, and other desired outcomes in an organizational setting, whether for personal or group/team gain, or for the benefit of an organization, community, nation, region, or ultimately, the whole of humanity. (McLean & McLean, 2001, Chapter 11) The truth is that many behavioral sciences in the form of Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Education, Counselling, and Public Administration have helped in the evolution of Organizational Development. Concept of Organizational Development The key components of Organizational culture are value, beliefs, attitudes and structures. The primary aim of Organizational Development is to increase the effectiveness of the organization. In some cases the whole concept of the organization may be changed, in some circumstances a department may be changed; in other instances an individual may be changed. Organizational Development can be used to enhance the company’s mission and vision statement. Organizational Development can be used to develop a strategic plan that is useful to chart out the future. Organizational Development can be used to align functional structures in an organization and can also be used to resolve conflicts either among individual, organizational or group or sites. Organizational Development can be used to create a reward system in tune with the culture of the organization and a system that will help the staff of the company. Organizational Development can be used to identify and understand the strengths of the company and the ways through which the weakness can be nullified. Organizational Development can be used to support senior employees in training them for new jobs and make them secure in their work environment. Organizational Development can be used to get feedback about the performance of the individual and help them understand about the feedback with an aim to improve his or her performance. Organizational Development has the ability to create an organization that will be working in harmony and churning out higher quality goods and services at reasonable price. The improvement in the work environment will improve the stock price and overall the perception about the company. Organizational Development that brings in change in one area has the potential to bring in changes in other areas of the organization, almost like a domino effect. Organizational Development can bring in change to the training given to the contract workers when compared with the regular workers. Organizational Development can be used in a company planning to start operation in an area, which they are not familiar with, or in overseas condition. Organizational development can be used to bring down the conflict inside the organization and it can be used to sort out cultural differences and other differences that arise. Organizational Development has been used to improve the health being of the workers in an organization. Change in concept of Organizational Development There is a huge difference between change and change bought by Organizational Development. A change can be brought about by market driven factors. For example, outsourcing a part of job that has to be done to reduced prices and gain an edge over the competition is part of change that is driven by market forces. By ignoring this need for change, the organization may lose out to competition. OD changes are more long term and system-wide and that can bring positive effects in the functioning of the organization. Organizational Development: Independent or dependent There have been studies to know whether Organizational Development has or is showing an independent character. Many organizations see OD as a part of Human resource development (HRD). The organizations subscribe to this belief include but are not limited to the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD), Academy of Human Resource Development (India) (AHRD), Korean Academy of Human Resource Development (KAHRD), Academy of Management (AOM) (especially, the ODC—Organization Development and Change—Division), American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), Euresform, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) (with several affiliated groups, such as the Arabian Society for HRM, the Japanese Society for HRM, etc.), Society for Industrial and Organizational Development (SIOP), University Forum of Human Resource Development (UFHRD). Persons trained for it can do the work of Organizational Development. The field of Organizational Development is complex and the persons should know some of the behavioral sciences though one cannot be expert in every field. A decent knowledge of business has to be there before undertaking Organizational Development for the company. The role of consultants in the form of Tradition and Organizational Development is important. The role of Organizational Consultants would be that of facilitator and need not be subject expertise like the tradition consultant. Organizational consultants should have the ability of working with others, as direction is more of the role of traditional consultants. Organization development succeeds only when Organizational consultants can make the members of the group to become enthusiastic about the project in hand. An organizational consultant has the ability of transferring skill to client organization. Technical consultants do not transfer skill to organization. Organizational consultants have the ability to allow the clients to manage process playing a role similar to an expert mentor. Models used in Organizational Development Several models are used in Organizational Development to lay the platform for the process. Models help to understand a phenomenon but will not describe it fully. It is just like a model plane that has all the features of a plane but model plane cannot carry passengers or cargo and will not fly over ocean. The action research model (ARM) has been the most preferred model. Kurt Lewin, one of the pioneers of Organizational Development, has been credited with this model and his famous statement was “No research without action, no action without research”. Planning is the first process in this stage with campaign strategies and time frame is decided well in advance. Check stage is the next stage after planning. This is the stage where the changes implemented are checked to see whether the desired results have been obtained. Act stage is the next stage when the changes are found to be successful and implemented. The cycle will be repeated even if the model is successful or unsuccessful. If successful, steps will be taken to improve it and if found unsuccessful steps will be taken to correct it. Application of Organizational development in an Organization The organization studied is an organization operating in international markets and is positioned in Agriculture industry. The unit studied for this purpose is not the parent company but a sub company. The name of the organization was Banrock Wine and Wetland Center, South Australia regional. Goal: The aim of using Organizational Development is to reduce operating problems that may arise due to wrong defining of goals, wrong clarification of goals, reduce conflicts, misunderstandings, and interpersonal problems, help the team to come up with decisions, help the team to ward of anti social problems, and make a cohesiveness in the team that will help the group problem solving thought process. Interviewing The individual and the team should be interviewed to understand the general problems faced by them as each individual has different culture and different personal or career goals to achieve. Some of the problems faced The group has faced some of the problems in the form of less recognition, discriminatory problems, and problems of working with colleagues, bureaucratic culture and no opportunity for extracurricular activities among others. OD solution to the above problems Career Planning The main role will be to meet each and every individual personally to understand the career goal the individual is pursuing. Individuals will be encouraged to list projects that may excite them and will be made part of project that they are enthusiastic about. That will go along way in making sure that the individual gels with the project and team. Empowerment Empowering each individual in a team is important as empowerment has the power to make the individual self sufficient and pro active to reach the goals. Wellness program Each individual and team in an organization will be given facility to spend time in leisure activities (individual and team activities that can build team spirit and understanding) and will be motivated to improve their physical and mental make up. Hygiene factors Care will taken to ensure that the organization functions in a hygienic environment so that the individual will feel satisfied and that can in turn improve the performance. Recognition Recognition is very important as it motivates and encourages the workforce to work with more enthusiasm “even when people know something is right and best thing to do, they still need encouragement, examples, and rewards to maintain a desired behavior (Townsend and Gebhardt, 2006). Give participation in administrative matters By asking opinion of individuals and team members, the agony of not listening can be removed and the concept of bureaucratic structure can be removed. The individual is now an important stakeholder in the decision making process and takes ownership for the decisions made. Chart wise presentation of Organizational Development being done. Conclusion: When staffs of an organization are satisfied as an individual, team and organization, they will serve their customers with positive energy. OD will cause synergy, improve in processes, quality and efficiency resulting in a better output. This model can be also replicated in other parts of globe. References: 1. Organization Development Principles, Processes, Performance by Gary N. McLean,Published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2005. 2. Townsend and Gebhardt, J., (2006), Leadership in action: Complete Quality Process, Pearson Power. Read More