Organization Development: An Overview

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Organization Development An Overview
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Defined

• Organization development (OD) is an attempt to
  influence the members of an organization to take
  greater responsibility for their own actions. It
  is an organization-wide effort, managed from the
  top, to increase organization effectiveness.

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Typical OD Process

• Startup, contracting
• Assessment, diagnosis
• Feedback to clients
• Action planning
• Interventions, implementation, evaluations
• Managed by internal or external facilitator,
  consultant

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OD ProfessionBrief History

• 1940s survey research and feedback
• 1950s action research
• 1960s efficiency studies, motivation, quality
  circles
• 1970s strategic change, planned change
• Theorists Lewin, Likert, Beckhard, Bennis, Levy,
  Argyris, Schein, Burke, Senge

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Ways to discuss OD

• As a profession
• As a philosophy/paradigm
• Theories and models
• Tools and techniques

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Need for OD Today

• Organizations experience rapid change, so more
  need for OD
• Current OD Topics change management,
  appreciative inquiry, coaching, continuous
  learning, emotional intelligence, large-scale
  interventions, learning organization,
  self-managed teams, systems thinking

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Planned OD Change

• Strategic OD
• Organizational transformation
• Cultural change
• Self-designing organizations
• Strategic management

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Planned OD Changecontd

• Work from a plan with vision, milestones,
  measures and celebrations
• Must involve top management
• Usually has a champion (facilitator)
• Best if planned and implemented via teams

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Some OD Change Models

• Balanced Scorecard
• Benchmarking/Total Quality Management
• Business process reengineering
• Cultural change
• Organizational learning
• Involves changes to organizational structures and
  processes
• Establishes core competencies

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Difference in OD and Org. Behavior

• Organization behavior is the study and
  application of knowledge about how people,
  individuals and groups, act in organizations.
• OD takes a long-range approach to improving
  organizational performance and efficiency and
  focuses on the total system.

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OD Resources

• Fifth Discipline, Senge
• Practicing OD A Consultants Guide, Sullivan
• Organizational Change and Development, Cummins
  Worley
• OD its nature, origin and prospects, Bennis
• OD behavioral science interventions for
  organization improvement, French Bell

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OD is an applied behavioral science concerned
with(added 10-30-06)

• The health of the organization
• Organizational effectiveness
• The organizations capacity to solve problems and
  capture successes (AI)
• The organizations ability to adapt, change, or
  of self-renewal
• The organizations ability to create a high
  quality of life for its employees

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Possible OD consultant recommendations (added
10-30-06)

• Teambuilding
• Strategic planning
• Appreciative Inquiry
• Alignment of various systems (i.e. performance
  management, HR, communication, leadership, etc.)
• Peer Teaching
• Leadership Coaching
• Training
• Curriculum Design/Development

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OD Success Factors(added 10-30-06)

• Systematic processes to AI, identify problems,
  generate solutions, and implementing those
  solutions
• Employee participation
• Top management involvement
• Organization must be ready for change

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OD Stumbling Blocks(added 10-30-06)

• Lack of Trust within the organization (between
  individuals, among groups, up and down the
  hierarchy)
• Methods of dealing with conflict
• Decision-making processes (how and by whom, top
  down)
• Ownership of organizational goals
• Communication patterns (open, candid, feedback)
• Leadership (styles, behaviors)