17.12.13

PROCESS OF ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT



OD can be taken as  a process of changing people and other related aspects of an organization. Thus it contains of many subprocesses or steps. However, theorists and practitioners both differ about the various steps and their sequence in OD. This is because most of the ideas in OD have generated from practices and these practices have differed from organization to organization. It is not necessary that each organization may involve all the steps with same results from OD strategy. As such, uniformity in  the steps involved cannot be expected. Blake and Mouton provide six steps in OD programmes: studying the managerial grid as a theoretical framework to understand behavioral dynamics of organizations culture, study of the dynamics of the actual work team, launching similar activities in different units, engaging the top team, implementation tactics for transforming the organization into the above model, and measurement of changes. Beckhard provides five steps: diagnosis, action and process maintenance.


The difference in the various steps as described by various scholars and practitioners is due to the defining scope of a particular step. Moreover, since OD is on ongoing interactive process – a process is an identifiable flow of interrelated events moving over time towards some goal – many of the events overlap, and in real practice, a clear cut demarcation between various events becomes a difficult. In OD programmes, various steps may be problem identification and diagnosis, planning change strategy, intervening in the system, and evaluation. These step are not exclusive to each other and do not follow the same sequence but interact with each other.  

1.     PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND DIAGNOSIS: OD programme leads to meet certain objective in the organization because OD is a means and not an end in itself. Thus it attempts to solve some organizational problem. The problem may be a gap between desired path of action and actual path of action, that is the organization fail to meet its objective on a long term basis. OD programme starts with the identification of the help in identifying the problems. Diagnosis gives correct identification of the problem and its causes and determines the scope of future course of action. Diagnosis in OD involves a number of techniques concerned with identifying concerns and issues, establishing priorities and translating them into aims and objectives. At this stage itself, the collection and analysis of data is undertaken. Major consideration is given to techniques and methods used to desirable organization system, the relationships between the element or sub – systems and ways of identifying major problems and issues.

Problem identification flows almost immediately into analysis. Once a problem is identified, the analysis will show why the problem exists. The analysis will identify the variables that can be altered or changed by the organization and its management, such as leadership style, organization structure, organizational objective, etc. In other words, analysis brings the identification of environment that has caused problems.

2.     PLANNING STRATEGY FOR CHANGE: When the problems are diagnosed, the OD practioner – either consultant or management, but preferably consultant – plans the various courses of action in OD. Attempts are made to transform diagnosis of the problem into a proper action plan involving the overall goals for change, determination of the basic approach for attaining these goals, and the sequence of detailed scheme for implementing the approach. Although it is a relatively simple matter to identify changes after they have occurred, it is considerably more difficult to influence the direction thrust of changes while they are under way. Thus, planning and implementation of change while they are under way. Thus, planning and implementation of change are interdependent; the ay in which change is planned has an impact on the way in which it is carried out and conversely the problems of implementing change have an impact on the ay in which it is planned.

3.     INTERVENING IN THE SYSTEM: Intervening in the system refers to the planned programme activities during the course of an OD programme. these planned activities bring certain changes in the system which is the basis objective of OD. There may be various methods through which external consultant intervenes in the system, such as education and laboratory training, process consultation, team development etc. which will be discussed later.


4.     EVALUATION: This step relates to evaluate the results of OD programmes so that suitable actions may be followed up. Since OD is a long process, there is an urgent need for careful monitoring to get precise feedback regarding what is going on as soon as an OD programme starts. In this respect, the use of critique sessions, systematic appraisal of change efforts and pre – post – training behavioral patterns are quite effective. This step again involves data gathering because such data will provide the basis for OD efforts evaluation and suggest suitable modification or continuation of OD efforts in similar direction. All parties concerned in OD programme need to realize that if major organizational improvements are to be made and sustained, managerial practices with respect to many sub – systems will need to be modified if these practices are not congruent with the OD effort because there exists the possibility of slip back and regression to old behavioral pattern if adequate changes in other parts integrating behavioral change are not made.

Chapter II CORPORATE STRATEGY

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