Organizational development - Essay Example

Organizational development according to Church and Waclawski is implementing well-organized plans within the particular organization that enable its improvement and better functioning. The plans implemented are usually properly, planned and their implementation does not only focus to affect performance, but also ensure there is positivity in delivery of services the company offers. This paper will analyse the characteristics, implementation and the benefits Organizational Development brings to a company. Organizational Development Characteristics Some characteristics of Organizational development are that it target to change the functioning of the organization, its individuals, department in the firm and eventually can end up influencing the community within which the company is located, finally the entire nation. Its primary goal, though not the only goal is to improve effectiveness and efficiently within the organization. Organizational development identifies the involvement of top managers in ensuring effectiveness is improved and changes made for the better. Organizations are constantly developing, hence there are several stages in which a certain organization passes through in order to make sure that problems are solved and new, better policies are implemented. All sectors of the organization, formal or informal, are analyzed. Structure, Objectives the company wants to achieve, policy and human resources, individual’s attitudes and social relationships are analysed. The adjustments are implemented on the entire organization and not just on one specific individual. Apart from solving problems within the organization, it helps the workers gain new skills. Mclean draws some core conclusions about various characteristics of OD and states that the main goal of OD is to elevate effectiveness in an organization where the targets to be changed or affected by the development may be work groups, several departments, individuals or sometimes the entire community of the nation that it is found in. Organizational Development Implementation Organizational development may not necessarily mean a change of management, there may be some instances where the organization may be forced to make some drastic changes to cope with an environmental change like market price changes; whereas, the use of organizational development may not be a solution. Such a case may require the organization to outsource for services be it locally or internationally, cutting salaries and wages or even downsizing on staff members. These actions to aid in organizational recovery do not follow OD principles hence disapproving the argument that OD and change management are similar. Professional consultants who either are employees within the organization or outsourced professionals carry out organizational development. It is more convenient to employ the use of both internal and external consultants because both have their strengths and weaknesses. What one may be able to solve, the other may not. An example is an internal consultant is familiar with the functioning of the organization whereas an external consultant may not have enough information of how the organization has been functioning. At any time the company feels like, organizational development is applied, it does not necessarily mean it has its moment of application. Some instances an organization can apply OD is when, for example it is evaluating or enhancing its Objectives and missions to better achieve development strategies to yield even more adequate results. OD sometimes finds its use when there is a conflict between staff members or groups within the society that disrupts the normal functioning of events. OD mainly used when there is Read More