Organizational Development and Change Questions - Assignment Example

Organizational Development and Change Questions Table of Contents Organizational Development and Change Questions 1 Table of Contents 1 Answer 1. 2 Answer 2. 4 Answer 3. 5 Answer 4. 7 Answer 5. 7 Answer 6. 9 Answer 7. 9 Answer 8. 10 Answer 9. 10 Answer 10. 11 References 11 Answer 1. When a change in an organization is part of a planned process by incorporating technology, theory and research pertaining to organization's culture and behavior, it is termed as organizational development (OD). In other words it revolves around an organization's capability to address and even increase its potential to tackle problems that might arise on account of changes which are influenced by external environment. The OD which is in practice today has developed chiefly from five major backgrounds, called stems, which include the strategic, normative and productivity and quality of work life approaches, action research and survey feedback, and laboratory training and T-groups. The latter took birth in 1946 when Kurt Lewin, who is considered as OD's father, worked with groups whom he delegated a greater responsibility of acting as facilitators with regard to the groups' behavior. Lewin observed that group working provided an enriching experience about group dynamics, interpersonal relations, leadership and personal growth. This lead to the concept of team building, which is widely prevalent today in most of the organizations. It can be said that this stem went a long way in the making of an organizational theory which propounded team work makes acceptance of a change for organizations much easier on account of larger participation of individual team members. Action research and survey feedback, on the other hand, propound that in order to bring about a change, it is important to link laboratory training and T-groups with research. In today's organizations it has tend to become an accepted norm to base any major policy changes or decision-making on the data that is collated and analyzed before the decisions are reached and changes made. Notwithstanding the above two, normative approach to OD is based on the presumption that if an organization has to be effectively managed, there is only one "right" way of accomplishing that. Likert (1961) and Blake & Mouton (1964) have significantly contributed to this approach. The former's contribution was Likert scale and the latter's contribution was the Managerial Grid. Both are, sort of, graphical and numerical in their nature. Productivity and quality of work life approaches is a relatively new entrant on the scene, of which Eric Trist (1997) is considered as a major contributor. Trist said more than anything else work design plays a pivotal role in how an organization implements change or develops effectively. This concept is being accepted by many organizations now which align work on the basis of people or teams who possess specific abilities to handle the same. Previously it was thought that organizations needed to grow without changing; one reason why missions and visions of organizations remained the same even after years of tremendous growth. However, now, behavioral scientists state that since external influences on organizations have and still are of immense relevance to how organizations behave, this paradigm calls for changes within organizations that are strategic. In other words, when organizations introspect themselves internally, strategic changes become an inevitable part of their development. Answer 2. Lewin's change model forms the cornerstone of how changes are dealt with within organizations even today. Establishing its parallel with a cube of ice this model is popularly known as "unfreeze, change, and refreeze". That means if a change is to be brought to a cube of ice, say from being a cube to a cone, it has to be first unfreezed (by meting), then change (by putting the unfreezed matter into the desired shape), and finally refreeze (to a cone so as to give a new shape). In all a change, wherever it has to occur, has to follow a three-stage process. If an organization is taken as a cube of ice, the unfreezing stage would prepare it for the intended change, the second stage of 'change' would prepare its people towards the planned change, and the freezing stage would implement the change. Change model has to follow deep contemplation before being implemented and more often than not has to be a one-time rather than a repetitive process. Action research model, as propounded by Lewin, does follow a repetitive path in the sense that this is based on the continued assessments on the consequences of decisions being taken in an organization. Action research follows path of regular reviews on problems identified and solution to these problems given in an organization (Lewin, 1946). In the absence of problems, however, Lewin said the positive model can work better than anything else. The positive model is based on an overall sense of euphoria or positive mentality. Organizations do not need to be facing with any problem so as to initiate this model since this is based on the likely expectation of doing better of expecting good. Most of the improvements come by way of this model. For example, if an organization is doing well and a group, an individual or a manager thinks it could do even better, all can set an expectation and suggest improvements. The change model works wonders when an organization is readying itself for a major change, action research model can largely be a post-change option and positive model can turn changes into greater profitability when changes have been successful and there is an aura of positive outlook surrounding an organization. The greatest strength of using change model is that it can turn fortunes of an organization for good, and its inherent weakness is that if the change has not well-thought about (i.e., should the ice be put into the shape of a cone or a square) then results can be rapidly damaging. Research model gives an opportunity to review impacts of the change, but the reviews themselves are fraught with flaws if measurable criteria have not been identified well before the process is begun. Positive model can be an excellent source of further growth, but its weaknesses (like setting newer expectation when the positive outlook is not based on realities) can trigger a counterproductive trend in the organization. Answer 3. Originally developed as part of his psychotherapy work, the client- or person-centered approach theory developed y Carl Rogers (1902-1987) soon found its applicability into many other fields of study, including OD. Rogers said that people, who are 'essentially trustworthy', have the capability to handle problems on their own if they are given an environment which is supportive, empathic, caring and devoid of demoralizing criticism. By saying so Rogers was implying that people are bestowed with powers of self-direction if they are given reins to do so in difficult situations. In organizational context it can be equated to providing favorable environment among people involved with the organization who are part of the change as it occurs. This, according to Rogers, means providing these people open communication, creativity, stimulus to be part of, and embrace, change, respect diversity and make give these people the feeling of being involved. Largely based on attributes such as congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy, such person-centered approach simulates organizational teams for the change through growth-promoting climate (Rogers, 1980). That brings OD to humanism, which is the founding principle for the success of client-centered practice. On the contrary, consultant-centered practice does not have this humanism component embedded into it as much as that of the former. This is one reason why it is not taken as such a huge "agent of change". Good organizational systems are created by the synergy between the organizational culture and individual culture and the way they exert influence over each other. Powerful change is brought about more by group life, involving individuals, than consultants (Kaner, 2004). Consultants are best suited when organizations are facing power issues based on but not limited to classism, ableism, sexism, ageism, racism, etc. Client-centered approach is best suited when success and growth of organizations depends on individuals (Sinclair, 2003). Answer 4. Contracting process is evolutionary in nature and a cornerstone for striking an alliance in organization and its subsequent success. While there are no predefined set of rules on how to go about contract making with another organization or an individual, more often than not it turns out that in the process of making contracts organizations learn about several ways of dealing with the process, with the clients or even the organization itself. It is always interplay between several mechanisms and insights that finally result in the drafting of salient features of the contracts. For someone who has never heard of OD, explaining contracting process might turn out to be a difficult, but not impossible, task. First and foremost the person has to be acquainted with what OD is all about and what is the role of contract making in organizational development. The person has to be taken through several important characteristics that could foster his or her knowledge of OD. These include, but are not limited to characteristics like openness, collaboration, mutual respect, trust, supportiveness and flexibility (Brecko, 2002). Answer 5. Open systems perspective is virtually a part of virtually all modern organizational theories, which stresses that several external environmental factors influence organizations. The influence is strong and mostly at the social, political and economic front. This could explain when PESTLE analysis has become almost a norm at almost all organizations. Resources from these forces go a long way in giving direction to how organizations are supposed to lead their businesses or spheres of activities. Earlier on, particularly before World War II, it was thought that organizations were self-contained entities and did not have any major external influences. However there was a paradigm shift after the war and it came to be recognized that organizations execute most of their work and decisions keeping in mind the environment they are embedded into. Environmental, thus, is the key issue that governs the open systems theory as it is the environment that puts a specific kind of demand on organizational functioning (Scott, 2002). An organization’s openness to its external environment determines how it is going to use three key systems properties of inputs, transformations, and outputs. Input is mostly at the human or resource level but is determined by the external demand imposed on an organization. For example, if a hospital has greater inflow of patients (external influence), then it has to have proportionate number of doctors, nurses and equipment in place. The level of inputs translates into proportionate transformations and outputs. However, all three depend on the type of organization in whose context the same are being discussed. These further define closed or open organizational boundaries. The former type of an organization is rigid and mostly impenetrable, while the latter relatively open and porous. Whatever the type of organizational systems, feedback, equifinality and alignment are central to each, but fraught with certain differences on account of the systems on which they are based. Answer 6. Open systems theory has an impact on several facets of an organization, which includes the organization itself, groups therein and the job levels. Differences or similarities in these theories have wider implications on several organizational aspects, particularly on human resource management (HRM). This further gets transmitted to selection, recruitment, compensation, training, worker development and above all maintenance of organizational cultures and climates (Terpstra & Rozell 1993). Answer 7. Several methods of data collection are employed, which include observation, document review, interviews, focus groups, surveys and questionnaires, meetings and large group events, case studies, illustrated presentations, skits, dramatizations and visual representations. Advantage of observation is that it can be collected as and when the activity is happening, but the disadvantage is that the observer might report it with bias. Document review is an inexpensive method, but the validity/ authenticity of the document viewed might be questionable. Interviews are individual and often unbiased opinions, but the disadvantage is that bias may lurk on part of the interviewer. Focus group information provides useful data, but facilitator might express bias and the information provided may be disorganized. Surveys and questionnaires are widely sued methods of data collection and might be easier to handle than the interviews, but disadvantage is that not many people may respond to the surveys and questionnaire which results in low sample data for analysis. Group events and meeting provide enormous data but the disadvantage is that organizing such events might not be feasible. Case studies separate wheat from chaff and are mostly to-the-point, but the greatest disadvantage is that developing case studies is time-consuming. Other methods are more communicative in nature, but are limited to places where there are enough technological support systems available (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2001). Answer 8. OD practitioners have to be aware of the survey feedback limitations, which include ambiguity of purpose, distrust, unacceptable topics and organizational disturbance. These feedbacks can, however, quantify properly for their intended purpose if OD practitioner recognizes nine scoring qualities as propounded by Cummings and Worley (2009) correctly. By their correct recognition the OD practitioner is empowered with technical merits on these feedbacks. These qualities include relevance of data to the intended study, understandable clarity among stakeholders, descriptive nature of the feedbacks, their verifiability, timeliness, focused nature of the same, significance, comparability, and final recognizable outcome. Answer 9. Interventions are techniques used by organizations and evolved according to the desired requirement or need. Commonly used interventions are process consultation, survey feedbacks, sensitivity training, goal setting and planning; management and team building by objectives, the managerial grid, total quality management, participative management, changes in organizational structure and job enrichment. Gustafson (n.d.) has referred to eight steps towards building interventions. These include eliminating hierarchical decision-making, focusing on groups, building trust, reducing unnecessary competition, investing in employees, interim measurements of control, active employee participation and strategic interventions. Key considerations for using interventions include improvement of productivity, enhancement of performance and improvement of behaviors. Answer 10. If I am developing a change program, I would mostly importantly keep in mind that organizational readiness for change is a multi-faceted, multi-level construct. That means, if I am developing it all by myself, I should immediately try to create a shared resolve among my group. The shared resolve will fetch me shared commitment and the resulting shared belief will get me change efficacy or the group’s assured capability reflecting their potential to do so. Then I would move on to Lewin's unfreeze-change-defreeze model while consulting other organizational change theories. References Blake, R.R., & Mouton, J.S. (1964) , The Manageria l Grid, Gulf Publishing, Houston. Brecko, D. (2002). Forty modern teaching methods: a handbook for trainers, teachers and coaches. Ljubljana: Sofos. Cummings & Worley (2009), quoted by Lang (2010). In Reflecting on surveys for organizational feedback. Retrieved http://kansasreflections.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/reflecting-on-surveys-for-organizational-feedback/. Accessed November 18, 2012. Gustafson, F.R. (n.d.). Eight Steps for Organizational Development Interventions. Retrieved http://smallbusiness.chron.com/eight-steps-organizational-development-interventions-14144.html. Accessed November 18, 2012. Kaner, S. (2004). Organizational Diagnosis, unpublished manuscript. San Francisco, CA: Lewin, K. (1946) Action research and minority problems, in G.W. Lewin (Ed.) Resolving Social Conflicts. Harper & Row. New York. Likert, R. (1961) , New Pattern s of Management, McGraw-Hill, New York Rogers, R.C. (1980). A Way of Being, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. New York. Russ-Eft, D., & Preskill, H. (2001). Evaluation in Organizations. Basic Books, New York. Sinclair, Z. (2003). Organization Development Success in Grassroots Social Change Organizations: How Change Happens” MA diss. JFK University. Scott, W.R. (2002). Organizations: Rational, natural, and open systems. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Terpstra, D.E., & Rozell, E.J. (1993). The relationshipof staffing practices to organizational level measures of performance. Pers. Psychol. 46:27-48 Trist, Eric L. et al. (1997). The Social Engagement of Social Science: A Tavistock Anthology : The Socio-Ecological Perspective (Tavistock Anthology), University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. Read More