The Open System Model - Case Study Example

? Case Study and Analysis Contents Case Study and Analysis Contents 2 I. Diagnosis 3 II. Feedback 5 III. Recommendation Intervention 7 Reference 8 I. Diagnosis The Open System Model aims to introduce the concept of relationship which describes the behavior and properties of things which is called systems such as organization, groups and people. Therefore, the general diagnostic model which is mainly based on the theory of system which underlies the OD is called the open system model. The open system model recognizes that organization often exits in the context of larger environment which affects the performance of the organization and in turn how the organization interacts with it. As per the open system model, the organization along with the sub system which includes groups, individuals and departments often share a number of similar features which explains how the organizations functions and are organized (Cummings & Worley, p.89). The organization, in the given case study, seems to lack coordination among the members and also with the top level management. There are no specific goals attached with the organization and employees often sends query about what the specific goal is and how to achieve it. By looking at the open system model of the organization, it can be assumed that the major problem lies with the group level. Although the other two levels that is organizational level and individual level are far away from perfection but the major issue lies with the group level. Group Level Diagnosis The group level diagnosis consists of inputs under which organizational design plays an important role in group design. Structure of the organization, technology, HR system, measurement system and organizational culture are the components of the organizational design. It mainly specifies the work done tighter in a group which is the main issue in the present organization. As per the survey or questions asked, the response revealed that the organization did not have a so called team. The organization does not function as a team whenever group decisions are required. As commented by Don, the national sales manager, the members do not listen to each other and tends to talk much without listening much to each other. The members are effective in sharing information but not much as a team. The core factors of team functioning was missing such as appraisals and reward system. The next factor is design components which consist of five major components. In task structure, the main idea is to see how the group work is designed. It varies along two dimensions which are regulation of task behavior and coordination of member’s effort. In the respective case, there is no group work, no interaction among the group members regarding the work. When meeting are conducted the members do not know what to discuss on such meetings. Meetings are thought to be wastage of time and rather talking as a team the members address it to Joe the division president. The next components talks about the clarity of goal. The members do not know the objective of the organization, what kind of goal is the organization thriving for and so on. Group composition is concerned with the membership of the groups .The members have the ability to differ on dimensions which are relevant to group behavior. But group work does not take a stand in the particular organization, members tends to work on their own, their own way. Group functioning is also important to group life. It takes into consideration how members of an organization relate to each other as quality of relationship does affect the task performance. The relationship among the members is quite effective, which is expressed on the last page of the case study. Since there is a lack of team spirit and team work, members needs to work on their own and discuss issues with Joe instead of team members. Lastly, the performance norms which talks about the group should perform task and include performance which are acceptable. The members in the organization want Joe to take care of the needs and wants of the members should trust the staff more than the functional expertise. Joe should appreciate the involvement of its members in developing aspect of business. Group effectiveness leads to two dimensions-performance and quality of work life. When the members of the organization work together as a group and team it would ultimately lead to group effectiveness. II. Feedback It is one of the most important steps in the process of diagnostic. Though a major portion of the data has been collected with the help of the client, but the OD practitioner’s duty is to organize and present the data to the client. Thus proper analyses with meaningful data have an impact on the organizational change (Kalliath, et.al, p. 2162). The feedback process is conducted basically to help the client understand the issue and it’s the duty of the OD practitioner to summarize the data and present it to the client so that necessary change can be implemented. As per the interview conducted the summary of the data collected are as follows: The organizations main issue was that it did not have a team and did not work as a team effectively. The staff does not work as a team but all the members are loyal to Joe, the division president. The members tend to talk much but without the motive to listen to each other but the relationship among the members are mutual and have high regard for one another. The members are effective in information sharing have the willingness to deal with others problem, and wants to perform well but individually and not as a team. The members of the organization do not know what they do well. The members do not address the issues or clarifies data; all the problems in the organization are treated in a similar manner. The organization lacks the capacity to sole issues and problems, the organization have probably avoided solving issues. The organization defines the effectiveness of meetings as semi effective. When a problem arises they do not tend to address the problem in an orderly way and are merely a group of functional heads. Meetings are not effective and are seen as wastage of time and the issues are often discussed with Joe and not among the members. The meetings are in effective and no one knows the reason behind such meetings. The organizational structure has some problems, the fundamental things are handled properly by the respective organization but when it comes to administrative they are not effective to that extend. There is too many staff concerned with the marketing department as compared to other departments and needs to be dealt with each of them, which usually takes lot of time. Every organization has a specific goal and objectives and the target of the employees is to achieve the specific goals. But the organization does not have a specific goal, a clear cut goal. As a group the goal is missing but they do have individual goals. The management of the organization lacks involvement from Joe. Goals and priorities of the organization are not fully coordinated. Although the relations between workers are mutual, they serve a good understanding. The data would be in a form of a report and presented to the top management-Joe the Division President. The feedback meeting would be conducted with the members of the organization and also with Joe and the feedback meetings would be conducted about 3 times where the members would discuss and interpret the data, concentrate on the problem and eventually come out with an action plan. III. Recommendation Intervention The interventions of OD are termed as sets of structured activities where the selected unit of the organization that is the groups or individuals engages in a task to improve organizational goals and development of individual (French, p.97). It is recommended to have a clear and specific vision, goals and objective of the organization (Haneberg, p.33). With an effective goal the members would know exactly the direction they are heading towards. Since the major problem was that the organization did not have an effective team, thus team building activities would be an effective part of the intervention by the OD. These activities would mainly focuses on issues relating to tasks the way things are to be done, the needed resources and skills to complete the task along with the quality of relationship among the team members needed to perform the job. The next intervention which is designed to improve effectiveness is the Grid OD activities. This activity was developed by Jane Mouton and Robert Blake which talks about six phase change model which includes the entire organization. The advantage of using this model is that the change would take place from the individual leadership and managerial skills, then to team activities and later to intergroup relation activities. Apart from the above recommendations and interventions the OD suggest Joe and its members to take part in decision making activities, problem solving, goal settings and planning. Since the organization lacks the important aspect of doing a business thus all the interventions would prove effective and help in team building and group work. Reference Cummings, T. G. & Worley, C. G. Organization development & change. Cengage Learning. 11-Jul-2008. French, W. L. Organization Development. Pearson Education India. 2006. Haneberg, L. Organization Development Basics. American Society for Training and Development, 25-Aug-2005. Kalliath, T. et.al. Organizational Behavior. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. 2011. Read More