OD INTERVENTIONS

WHAT IS ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT?

Organization Development (OD) is the process of improving organizations. The
process is carefully planned and implemented to benefit the organization, its
employees and its stakeholders. The client organization may be an entire
company, public agency, non-profit organization, volunteer group - or a smaller part
of a larger organization.

The change process supports improvement of the organization or group as a whole.

The client and consultant work together to gather data, define issues and
determine a suitable course of action. The organization is assessed to create an
understanding of the current situation and to identify opportunities for change
that will meet business objectives.
OD differs from traditional consulting because client involvement is encouraged
throughout the entire process. The ways in which people communicate and work
together are addressed concurrently with technical or procedural issues that need
resolution.

WHY IS ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT IMPORTANT?

Profitability, productivity, morale and quality of work life are of concern to most
organizations because they impact achievement of organization goals. There is an
increasing trend to maximize an organization's investment in its employees. Jobs
that previously required physical dexterity now require more mental effort.
Organizations need to "work smarter" and apply creative ideas.
The work force has also changed. Employees expect more from a day's work than
simply a day's pay. They want challenge, recognition, and a sense of accomplishment,
worthwhile tasks and meaningful relationships with their managers and co-workers.
When these needs are not met, performance declines.
Today's customers demand continually improving quality, rapid product or service
delivery; fast turn-around time on changes, competitive pricing and other features
that are best achieved in complex environments by innovative organizational
practices.
The effective organization must be able to meet today's and tomorrow's
challenges. Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to survive and thrive.
WHAT DO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS DO?
Examples of activities which are facilitated by OD consultants are:

• Teambuilding

• Goal Setting

• Group Facilitation

• Creative Problem solving

• Strategic Planning

• Leadership Development

• Management Development

• Career Management

• Conflict Resolution

• Developmental Education

• Interpersonal Communication

• Human Resources Management

• Managing Workforce Diversity

• Organization Restructuring

• High Involvement Work Teams

• Sociotechnical Systems Design

• Technical Training

• Total Quality Management

Often described as "change agents," OD consultants come from varied
backgrounds with experience and training in organization development, organization
behavior, psychology, education, management and/or human resources. Many have
advanced degrees and most have experience in a variety of organizational settings.

There are both internal and external OD consultants. An internal OD consultant is

a full-time employee with a given organization. External consultants may be self-
employed or on the staff of a consulting firm. "Externals" work with one or more
clients contracting for specific projects.

WHOM DO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS SERVE?

OD consultants work with all levels of employees. Examples include:

The Board of Directors, CEO or Vice Presidents -- during changes in corporate
strategy, mission, leadership development, technology or organization structure.

Middle Managers -- within specific areas or across functions to identify sources

of conflict and barriers to performance, or help build a broader vision and more
effective leadership.

First-line supervisors -- improve operations and employee involvement, establish

high involvement work teams, improve organizational communication, install
statistical process control (SPC) develop supervisory training or new reward
systems.

Line workers -- to facilitate job redesign improved performance, teambuilding or

improvement in the work environment.

OD SERVICES
Organization Development (OD) consultants provide services to improve
organization effectiveness and/or individual employee effectiveness. The purposes
are to increase productivity, work satisfaction and profit for the client company.

Organization Effectiveness
Consultants apply organization effectiveness strategies such as those shown below
when there are needs for assessment, planning, growth, quality improvement,
teamwork and other organizational changes.
Action Research
An assessment and problem solving process aimed at improved effectiveness for
the entire organization or specific work units. The consultant helps the client
organization identify the strengths and weaknesses of organization and
management issues and works with the client in addressing problem opportunities.
(Some form of action research is generally applied as a foundation for other
consulting strategies.)

Conflict Management
Bringing conflicts to the surface to discover their roots, developing a common
ground from which to resolve or better manage conflict. Consultants serve as
facilitator in a conflict situation or train employees to better understand and
manage conflict.
Executive Development
One-on-one or group developmental consultation with CEO's or VP's to improve
their effectiveness.

Goal Setting
Defining and applying concrete goals as a road map to help an organization get
where it wants to go. (Can also be applied to employee development.)

Group Facilitation
Helping people learn to interact more effectively at meetings and to apply group
guidelines that foster open communication, participation and accomplishment.

Managing Resistance to Change

Helping clients identify, understand, and begin to manage their resistance to
planned organizational change.

Organizational Restructuring
Changing departmental and/or individual reporting structures, identifying roles
and responsibilities, redesigning job functions to assure that the way work gets
done in the organization produces excellence in production and service.

Project Management
The general management of specific work, blending diverse functions and skills,
usually for a fixed time and aimed at reaching defined outcomes.
Self-Directed Work Teams
Developing work groups to be fully responsible for creating a well defined segment
of finished work.

Sociotechnical Systems Design

Designing and managing organizations to emphasize the relationship between
people's performance, the workplace environment and the technology used to
produce goods and services in order to effect high level productivity.

Strategic Planning
A dynamic process which defines the organization's mission and vision, sets goals
and develops action steps to help an organization focus its present and future
resources toward fulfilling its vision.

Teambuilding
Improving how well organization members help one another in activities where they
must interact.

Total Quality Management

Through work process analysis, teambuilding, defining quality and setting
measurable standards, the consultant assists the organization in becoming more
cost effective, approach zero-defects and be more market-driven.

Employee Effectiveness
Consultants use employee effectiveness strategies such as those below when there
are needs for employee improvement in skill, commitment and leadership.

Career Counseling
Focused attention on goal setting, career selection and job seeking help individuals
make career decisions.

Coordination & Management of Multi-Disciplinary Consultants

One or several different technical specialists team up with an OD consultant to
design and install new equipment, work processes, work methods, or work
procedures.

Creative Problem Solving

Organization members use practical problem solving models to address existing
problems in a systematic, creative manner.

Customer Service Training

Creating interpersonal excellence in public contact positions where the individual
and the organization are expected to meet or exceed customer expectations.

Developmental Education
Training in basic math, reading, writing and grammar.

Interpersonal Communication Skills

Increased skill in exchanging needed information within the organization and
providing feedback in a non-threatening, non-judgmental way.

Human Resource Management

Managing the function of hiring, compensation, benefits and employee relations
toward systematic goals of the organization's morale and productivity.

Labor Relations
Facilitation of conflict, planning and problem-solving among management and
workforce union representation.

Leadership Development
Training in select areas which change managers to leaders. Includes visioning,
change management and creative problem solving.

Management Development
Training in various management skill areas with particular focus on performance
management, communications and problem solving.

Outplacement
Providing individual and group job search skills and services to employees who have
been affected by corporate downsizing. Typically paid for by the employer.

Sales Training
Training in the art of selling a product or service.

Stress Management
An individual growth workshop designed to arm and activate healthy responses to
stress. It enables participants to maximize positive stressors and minimize the
negative, both for themselves and others.

Technical Training
Training in a specific technical area, such as computers.

Time Management
An opportunity for individuals and organizations to effect higher levels of
productivity with the time they are allotted.

Training Evaluation
Systematic controlled inquiry grounded in sound statistical practice, assessing on-
line training effectiveness and/or business impact. Assessment focuses on course
relevance, transfer and cost value.

Workforce Diversity
Facilitating understanding between groups toward the goal where differences
among people in an organization become the strengths for competitive advantage,
productivity and work satisfaction

TYPES OF OD INTERVENTION

Information-based Intervention

Interventions that define : Activities that specify or clarify the vision, mission,
purpose, process, products, services, market position, roles, relationships,
responsibilities, outcomes, expectations, and so on. Examples: holding sessions to
create vision statements; confirming market direction and market niche; mutually
setting performance goals. This intervention is delivered when people are unclear,
disagree, or have different expectations; there are conflicting objectives; or
people do not have a shared understanding.

Interventions that inform: Activities that communicate goals, objectives,

expectations, results, discrepancies, and so on. Examples: producing internal
newsletters; holding debriefing sessions; giving feedback. This intervention is
delivered when information has changed, the people have changed, or the people
are uninformed, and the consequence is poor performance; or people don't get the
information they need.

Interventions that document: Activities that codify information (to preserve it and
make it accessible. Examples: setting up libraries; creating manuals, expert
systems, job aids, and decision guides. This intervention is delivered when
information is not accessible over time or is too complex; job aids, manuals, help
screens, and so forth are lacking or inadequate, inaccurate, or hard to access.

Consequences-based Intervention

Interventions that reward: Activities and programs that induce and maintain
desired behaviors, eliminate undesirable behaviors, and reward desired outcomes.
Examples: holding public ceremonies and annual recognition events; paying for
performance. This intervention is delivered when current incentives either
reinforce the wrong behaviors or ignore the desired behaviors; or there are few
incentives for people to-do beater, more, or differently.

Intervention that measure: Activities and systems that provide metrics and
benchmarks so people can monitor performance and have a basis to evaluate it.
Examples: developing a scorecard; tracking means and variance in performance over
time. This intervention is delivered when people don’t know what criteria are being
used to judge productivity, performance, value, and so on, and they could better
control their own performance if they knew what the criteria were; measures of
good performance are lacking; or measures are inappropriate.

Interventions that enforce: Activities that actualize consequences and achieve

compliance. Example: policing; reviewing; double-checking; suspending; removing;
withholding pay. This intervention is delivered when consequences for poor
performance or unacceptable behavior are hidden or not enforced.

THE MAJOR FAMILIES OF OD INTERVENTION

1. Diagnostic Activities: Fact-finding activities designed to ascertain the
state of the system, the status of a problem, the "way things are." Available
methods range from projective devices such as build a collage that
represents for you your place in this organization to the more traditional
data collection methods of interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and meetings.

2. Team-Building Activities: Activities designed to enhance the effective

operation of system teams. They may relate to task issues, such as the way
things are done, the needed skills to accomplish tasks, the resource
allocations necessary for task accomplishments; or they may relate to the
nature and quality of the relationships between the team members or
between members and the leader. Again, a wide range of activities is
possible. In addition, consideration is given to the different kinds of teams
that may exist in the organization, such as formal work teams, temporary
task force teams, newly constituted teams, and cross-functional teams.

3. Intergroup Activities: Activities designed to improve effectiveness of

interdependent groups. They focus on joint activities and the output of the
groups considered as a single system rather than as two subsystems. When
two groups are involved, the activities are generally designated intergroup or
interface activities; when more than two groups are involved, the activities
are often called organizational mirroring.

4. Survey Feedback Activities: Related to and similar to the diagnostic

activities mentioned in that they are a large component of those activities.
However, they are important enough in their own right to be considered
separately. These activities center on actively working the data produced by
a survey and designing action plans based on the survey data.

5. Education and Training Activities: Activities designed to improve skills,

abilities, and knowledge of individuals. There are several activities available
and several approaches possible. For example, the individual can be educated
in isolation from his or her own work group (say, in a T-group comprised of
strangers), or one can be educated in relation to the work group (say, when a
work team learns how better to manage interpersonal conflict). The
activities may be directed toward technical skills required for effective
task performance or may be directed toward improving interpersonal
competence. The activities may be directed toward leadership issues,
responsibilities and functions of group members, decision making, problem
solving, goal setting and planning, and so forth.

6. Structural Activities: Activities designed to improve the effectiveness

of the technical or structural inputs and constraints affecting individuals or
groups. The activities may take the form of (a) experimenting with new
organization structures and evaluating their effectiveness in terms of
specific goals or (b) devising new ways to bring technical resources to bear
on problems.

7. Process Consultation Activities: Activities on the part of the consultant

that help the client to perceive, understand, and act upon process events
which occur in the client's environment. These activities perhaps more
accurately describe an approach, a consulting mode in which the client is
given insight into the human processes in organizations and taught skills in
diagnosing and managing them. Primary emphasis is on processes such as
communications, leader and member roles in groups, problem solving and
decision making, group norms and group growth, leadership and authority,
and intergroup cooperation and competition.

8. Coaching and Counseling Activities: Activities that entail the consultant

or other organization members working with individuals to help them (a)
define learning goals, (b) learn how others see their behavior, and (c) learn
new modes of behavior to see if these help them to achieve their goals
better. A central feature of this activity is the non-evaluative feedback
 given by others to an individual. A second feature is the joint exploration of
alternative behaviors.

9. Planning and Goal-Setting Activities: Activities that include theory and

experience in planning and goal setting, utilizing problem-solving models,
planning paradigms, ideal organization versus real organization "discrepancy''
models, and the like. The goal of all of them is to improve these skills at the
levels of the individual, group, and total organization.

10. Strategic Management Activities: Activities that help key policy

makers reflect systematically on their organization's basic mission and goals
and environmental demands, threats, and opportunities and engage in long-
range action planning of both a reactive and proactive nature. These
activities direct attention in two important directions: outside the
organization to a consideration of the environment, and away from the
present to the future

• ORGANISATONAL DIAGNOSIS

In the field of Organizational Development there are many activities and

disciplines. One of those is the area of organizational diagnosis and the use of
structured organizational diagnostic tools.

The effective diagnosis of organizational culture, and structural and operational

strengths and weaknesses are fundamental to any successful organizational
development intervention.

Since the beginnings of organizational development as a profession, diagnosis has

moved from the purely behavioral towards a strategic and holistic business
diagnostic approach. Moving away from looking at human interventions in isolation,
to exploring the interactions of people in the context in which they operate.
Equally as organizations are increasingly collaborative in nature, the traditional silo
approach to diagnostics is becoming increasingly rare. Organizational development
and in particular the diagnostic phase of activities is spreading from the
occupational psychologists towards main stream business. This is important for OD
practitioners as the role is increasingly holistic

The organizational Diagnostic phase is often integrated within an overall OD

process, commonly called 'a consulting process'. An example of such a process is:

Entry --> Diagnosis --> Action Planning --> Implementation --> Termination [2]

As the second phase in most change of consulting cycles it is also the first fully
operational phase of the consulting process or cycle. The purpose of the diagnosis
is to examine the problem faced by the organization in some detail, to identify
factors and forces that are causing the problem and prepare all information
needed for deciding how to orient any possible solutions to the problems identified.

The diagnosis of the problem is a separate phase or set of activities from the
solutions themselves.

• TEAM BUILDING
Team Building refers to a wide range of activities, presented to businesses,
schools, sports teams, religious or nonprofit organizations designed for improving
team performance Team building is pursued via a variety of practices, and can
range from simple bonding exercises to complex simulations and multi-day team
building retreats designed to develop a team (including group assessment
and group-dynamic games), usually falling somewhere in between. It generally sits
within the theory and practice of organizational development, but can also be
applied to sports teams, school groups, and other contexts. Team building is not to
be confused with "team recreation" that consists of activities for teams that are
strictly recreational. Teambuilding is an important factor in any environment, its
focus is to specialize in bringing out the best in a team to ensure self development,
positive communication, leadership skills and the ability to work closely together as
a team to problem solve.

Work environments tend to focus on individuals and personal goals, with reward &
recognition singling out the achievements of individual employees. "How to create
effective teams is a challenge in every organization" Team building can also refer
to the process of selecting or creating a team from scratch.
Reasons for Team Building include

 Improving communication
 Making the workplace more enjoyable
 Motivating a team
 Getting to know each other
 Getting everyone "onto the same page", including goal setting
 Teaching the team self-regulation strategies
 Helping participants to learn more about themselves (strengths and
weaknesses)
 Identifying and utilizing the strengths of team members
 Improving team productivity
 Practicing effective collaboration with team members

What are Team Building Exercises and what is their purpose?

Team building exercises consist of a variety of tasks designed to develop group

members and their ability to work together effectively. There are many types of
team building activities that range from kids games to games that involve novel
complex tasks and are designed for specific needs. There are also more complex
team building exercises that are composed of multiple exercises such as ropes
courses, corporate drumming and exercises that last over several days. The
purpose of team building exercises is to assist teams in becoming cohesive units of
individuals that can effectively work together to complete tasks.

Types of Team Building Exercises

Communication Exercise

This type of team building exercise is exactly what it sounds like. Communications
exercises are problem solving activities that are geared towards improving
communication skills. The issues teams encounter in these exercises are solved by
communicating effectively with each other.

• Goal: Create an activity which highlights the importance of good communication in

team performance and/or potential problems with communication.
Problem Solving/Decision Making Exercise

Problem Solving/Decision making exercises focus specifically on groups working

together to solve difficult problems or make complex decisions. These exercises
are some of the most common as they appear to have the most direct link to what
employers want their teams to be able to do.

• Goal: Give team a problem in which the solution is not easily apparent or requires
the team to come up with a creative solution

Planning/Adaptability Exercise

These exercises focus on aspects of planning and being adaptable to change. These
are important things for teams to be able to do when they are assigned complex
tasks or decisions. • Goal: Show the importance of planning before implementing a
solution

Trust Exercise

A trust exercise involves engaging team members in a way that will induce trust
between them. They are sometimes difficult exercises to implement as there are
varying degrees of trust between individuals and varying degrees of individual
comfort trusting others in general.

• Goal: Create trust between team members

Subgroups of Team Building Exercises

 simple social activities - to encourage team members to spend time together
 group bonding sessions - company sponsored fun activities to get to know
team members (sometimes intending also to inspire creativity)
 personal development activities - individual programs given to groups
(sometimes physically challenging)
 team development activities - group-dynamic games designed to help
individuals discover how they approach a problem, how the team works
together, and discover better methods
 psychological analysis of team roles, and training in how to work better
together
Team interaction involves "soft" interpersonal skills including communication,
negotiation, leadership, and motivation - in contrast to technical skills directly
involved with the job at hand. Depending on the type of team building, the novel
tasks can encourage or specifically teach interpersonal team skills to increase team
performance.

Models of Team Behavior

Team building generally sits within the theory and practice of organizational
development. The related field of team management refers to techniques,
processes and tools for organizing and coordinating a team towards a common goal -
as well as the inhibitors to teamwork and ways to remove, mitigate or overcome
them.

Several well-known approaches to team management have come out of academic

work.

 The forming-storming-norming-performing model posits four stages of new

team development to reach high performance. Some team activities are
designed to speed up (or improve) this process in the safe team development
environment.
 Belbin Team Types can be assessed to gain insight into an individual's natural
behavioral tendencies in a team context, and can be used to create and
develop better functioning teams.
 Team Sociomapping is a visual approach to team process and structure
modeling. This model is based on social networks approach and improves the
team performance by improvement of specific cooperation ties between the
people.

Organizational Development

In the organizational development context, a team may embark on a process

of self-assessment to gauge its effectiveness and improve its performance. To
assess itself, a team seeks feedback from group members to find out both its
current strengths and weakness.

To improve its current performance, feedback from the team assessment can be
used to identify gaps between the desired state and the current state, and to
design a gap-closure strategy. Team development can be the greater term
containing this assessment and improvement actions, or as a component of
organizational development.

Another way is to allow for personality assessment amongst the team members, so
that they will have a better understanding of their working style, as well as their
fellow team mates.

A structured teambuilding plan is a good tool to implement team bonding and thus,
team awareness. These may be introduced by companies that does teambuilding
sessionsm, or done internally by the human resource department.

What does a Team-Building Consultant do?

A team-building consultant is responsible for each component of a team building

intervention. He will likely interact with the team once, or for a limited number of
times. During these first contacts, actively assessing the team, making
recommendations, and providing activities (exercises that compose a team building
intervention) for the team are the main responsibilities of the consultant.
Moreover, usually a written proposal is required after the evaluation process, in
which the trainer indicates how he or she would go about improving the team’s
performance. Once the organization and consultant determine which
recommendations to utilize (if not all), the consultant is then responsible for
providing a useful intervention that will transfer back into the organizational
setting. This responsibility usually requires the consultant to create a detailed plan
of events, while allowing for flexibility. After the intervention has been employed,
the consultant will typically evaluate the team-building program and communicate
the results to the organization

Team Development and Group Processes Interventions

Team development and group processes interventions aim at improving different
aspects of a group performance, such as goal setting, development of interpersonal
relations among team members, role clarification and analysis, decision making,
problem solving, and communities of practice, among other. One of the most
important objectives of team building interventions relies on improving
interdependency of team members. The underlying premise is that the aggregated
value of the team is much greater than any individual. According to Robbins (1994),
Team building is applicable where group activities are interdependent. The
objective is to improve the coordination efforts of members, which will result in
increasing the team’s performance”

• SURVEY FEEDBACK

In globally competitive environments, organizations are seeking information about

obstacles to productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Survey feedback is a
tool that can provide this type of honest feedback to help leaders guide and direct
their teams. Obstacles and gaps between the current status quo and the desired
situations may or may not be directly apparent. In either case, it is vital to have a
clear understanding of strategies for diagnosis and prevention of important
organization problems. If all leaders and members alike are clear about the
organizational development and change, strengths, weakness, strategies can be
designed and implemented to support positive change. Survey feedback provides a
participative approach and enables all members to become actively engaged in
managing the work environment.

SURVEY PROCESS STEPS:

1. Identify project plan and objectives

2. Brief team leaders and employees about the process
3. Administer survey
4. Conduct interviews and focus groups
5. Train leaders on facilitating team discussions
6. Analyze the data and construct a report
7. Provide feedback to leaders
8. Team leaders conduct feedback action planning and meetings
9. Leaders present reports on progress and results to Senior Management
10. Follow-up by senior leadership to ensure progress and accountability

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEAM LEADER:

Once the data has been collected and observations have been clarified, it becomes
the leader’s responsibility to familiarize the team with the findings. Next the
leader involves the team in outlining appropriate solutions and strategies that
members can "buy into" and support over the long-haul. When leaders can facilitate
collaborative teaming and become an organizational development and change agent,
people in the team will contribute creative ideas to enhance their work
environment.

It is important for leaders to not underestimate the time and facilitation skills
needed to pass on the information and foster an action-oriented environment. The
initial meetings and communication sessions are just the start of a development
process, not a single event. If the survey feedback is to be effective, it must be
implemented into a comprehensive strategy that includes goals, responsibilities,
time frames, revisions, and reviews.

Prior to the action meetings, leaders need to gain a full understanding of the
survey data and begin to structure a plan for the first meeting. Once the meeting
begins, the leader should guide the group's evaluation of the results and
development of solutions. Following the initial meeting, a summary should be
documented and action plans circulated. Follow-up meetings are necessary to
coordinate and evaluate changes and progress. Action plans are the means of fully
utilizing the survey feedback, without it we simply have a snap shot of where the
organization is, with no plan for positive change.

If the team feedback meeting is poorly handled, there will be low front-end
commitment on the part of the team. Of course group dynamics will be unique in
every situation, and the leader will need to consider this as the survey data is
disseminated. Tailoring sessions to meet the group characteristics will provide for
a more effective discussion. In any case, consider a few of these ideas:

• Be optimistic and excited about the information and how it can be used to
better the organization.
• Verbally express positive points.
• Ask for participation by all members and reinforce their openness and
contributions.
• Invite them to explore with you the areas that need improvement.
• Be supportive and clear about action and follow-up plans.
• Establish a clear commitment to utilize the survey feedback long-term and
seek further feedback from the group.
 • TECHNO STRUCTURAL ACTIVITIES

Techno structural interventions

Techno structural interventions focus on improving the organizational
effectiveness and human development by focusing on technology and structure.
These interventions are rooted in the fields of engineering, sociology, and
psychology, combined with socio-technical systems and job analysis and design.
These types of interventions rely on a deficit based approach; the idea is to find
problems to solve. According to Cummings and Worley (2001) techno
structural approaches focus on improving an organization’s technology (for
example, task methods and job design) and structure (for example division of labor
and hierarchy)” (p. 104). Kormanik (2005) includes as technostructuralinterventions
the following: organizational structure, organization systems, business process
redesign, space and physical settings, socio-technical systems, change management,
job design / enrichment, competency-based management, knowledge management
and organizational learning.

This class of interventions include changes in how the overall work of an

organization is divided into units, who reports to whom, methods of control, the
arrangement of equipment and people, work flow arrangements and changes in
communications and authority.

1. Sociotechnical System: is largely associated with experiments attempted to

create better fit among the technology, structure and social interactions of a
particular production unit.

Premises of Sociotechnical System

(1) Effective work system must jointly optimize the relationship between their
social and technical parts.
(2) Such system must effectively manage the boundary separating and relating
them to the environment.

This system tend to feature the formation of autonomous work group, the grouping
of core tasks so that a team has major unit of total work to be accomplished, the
training of group members in multiple skills, delegation to the work group of many
aspects of how the work gets done, and the availability of great deal of
information and feedback to work groups for self-regulation of productivity and
quality.

2. Self managed teams

what is a self-managed team?
A self-managed team has total responsibility for its defined remit.
That remit might be a specific project. A self-managed team thrives on interacting
skill sets, on shared motivation and shared leadership.
The team is autonomous and its members are responsible to no one but each other.
The team’s accountability is based on team’s result and not on the performance of
its members. Individual performance is an internal team issue.
A self-managed team is not just a group of people working together but also a
genuine collaboration. It is measured by its results, not the performance of its
individual member.
Self-managed teams:
• Are more independent than other types of team.
• Help to flatten organizational structure.
• Eliminate intermediate levels of responsibility and removes the requirement for
middle management.
• Favor natural leaders.

Self –managed teams:

• Should set their targets.
• Should be fully empowered.
• Must monitor performance and maintain quality.
• Should be able to request assistance from outside the team but never have it
imposed.
• Must maintain contact with the organization.

3. Work redesign

(Richard Hackman & Greg Oldham)

OD approach to work redesign based on a theoretical model of what job
characteristics lead to the psychological states that produce what they call
"higher internal work motivation."
According Hackman and Oldham organization analyses jobs using the five core job
characteristics - i.e. skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and
feedback from the job.

Skill variety Related to experienced

Task identity meaningfulness of the work
Task significance

Job autonomy - Related to experienced

responsibility for the outcome
of the work

Feedback - related to psychological state

of knowledge of the result of the
work activities.

The outcome of these job characteristics is:

High work motivation
High satisfaction
High work effectiveness.

4. Quality of work life (QWL)

An attempt to restructure multiple dimensions of the organization and to institute

a mechanism, which introduces and sustains changes over time.

QWL Features
- Voluntary involvement on the part of employees
- Union agreement with process and participation.
- Assurance of no loss of job
- Training for team problem solving
- Use of quality circles
- Participation in forecasting, work planning
- Regular plant and team meetings.
- Encouragement for skill development.
- Job rotations.
5. Business Process Reengineering is the analysis and design of workflows and
processes within an organization. A business process is a set of logically related
tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. Re-engineering is the
basis for many recent developments in management. The cross-functional team, for
example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate
functional tasks into complete cross-functional processes
Business Process Reengineering is also known as Business Process Redesign,
Business Transformation, or Business Process Change Management.

Business process reengineering (BPR) began as a private sector technique to

help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to
dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-
class competitors. A key stimulus for reengineering has been the continuing
development and deployment of sophisticated information systems and networks.
Leading organizations are becoming bolder in using this technology to support
innovative business processes, rather than refining current ways of doing work.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is basically the fundamental rethinking and

radical re-design, made to an organization existing resources. It is more than just
business improvising.
It is an approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the
organization's mission and reduce costs. Reengineering starts with a high-level
assessment of the organization's mission, strategic goals, and customer needs.
Basic questions are asked, such as "Does our mission need to be redefined? Are our
strategic goals aligned with our mission? Who are our customers?" An organization
may find that it is operating on questionable assumptions, particularly in terms of
the wants and needs of its customers. Only after the organization rethinks what it
should be doing, does it go on to decide how best to do it.
Within the framework of this basic assessment of mission and goals, reengineering
focuses on the organization's business processes—the steps and procedures that
govern how resources are used to create products and services that meet the
needs of particular customers or markets. As a structured ordering of work steps
across time and place, a business process can be decomposed into specific
activities, measured, modeled, and improved. It can also be completely redesigned
or eliminated altogether. Reengineering identifies, analyzes, and redesigns an
organization's core business processes with the aim of achieving dramatic
improvements in critical performance measures, such as cost, quality, service, and
speed.
Reengineering recognizes that an organization's business processes are usually
fragmented into sub processes and tasks that are carried out by several
specialized functional areas within the organization. Often, no one is responsible
for the overall performance of the entire process. Reengineering maintains that
optimizing the performance of sub processes can result in some benefits, but
cannot yield dramatic improvements if the process itself is fundamentally
inefficient and outmoded. For that reason, reengineering focuses on redesigning
the process as a whole in order to achieve the greatest possible benefits to the
organization and their customers. This drive for realizing dramatic improvements
by fundamentally rethinking how the organization's work should be done
distinguishes reengineering from process improvement efforts that focus on
functional or incremental improvement.

The Impact of BPR on Organizational Performance

The two cornerstones of any organization are the people and the processes. If
individuals are motivated and working hard, yet the business processes are
cumbersome and non-essential activities remain, organizational performance will be
poor. Business Process Reengineering is the key to transforming how people work.
What appear to be minor changes in processes can have dramatic effects on cash
flow, service delivery and customer satisfaction. Even the act of documenting
business processes alone will typically improve organizational efficiency by 10%.
How to Implement A BPR Project
The best way to map and improve the organization's procedures is to take a top
down approach, and not undertake a project in isolation. That means:
• Starting with mission statements that define the purpose of the
organization and describe what sets it apart from others in its sector or
industry.
• Producing vision statements which define where the organization is going, to
provide a clear picture of the desired future position.
• Build these into a clear business strategy thereby deriving the project
objectives.
• Defining behaviors that will enable the organization to achieve its' aims.
• Producing key performance measures to track progress.
• Relating efficiency improvements to the culture of the organization
• Identifying initiatives that will improve performance.
Once these building blocks are in place, the BPR exercise can begin.

• GRID OD

Grid O.D. is a systematic six-phase theory-based programme, which develops from

the research and insights of the Managerial Grid theory. It is a normative
approach in that it is built on the premise that awareness starts at the individual
level and builds the foundation for further development. Team learning builds on
the development of individual awareness and critique skills, and intergroup learning
works best when the teams involved share commitment and common objectives.
These three characteristics are a prerequisite for a total organization approach to
strategy and transformation.

Grid Organization Development is a structured approach to O.D. which aims at

creating and implementing systematic change in organizations (Blake & Mouton,
1969; Blake, Mouton & McCanse, 1989). The goal of Grid O.D. is to use the Grid
theory of leadership styles to establish candor, mutual, trust, and respect in the
workplace. The theory and seminars provide a framework for identifying sound and
unsound behaviors in the workplace, and create standards of excellence in
teamwork. The core insight of the Grid is that the 3 Rs of people management -
resources, relationships and results - are optimally managed and transformed by
studying the degree of concern for results and people issues as they interact
interdependently in work relationships (Blake & McCanse, 1991; McKee & Carlson,
1999). Learning begins with individual development as related to seven specific
behaviors, including initiative, inquiry, advocacy, decision making, conflict
resolution, resilience, and critique. The learning then progresses to intact teams
and intergroup development. These first three stages of Grid O.D. lay the
foundation for organization wide change by building shared assumptions and
candor, decreasing resistance to change, and increasing commitment and personal
stake. Organizations can then begin addressing strategic change, which occupy the
second three stages of Grid O.D.. There are six programmed phases of Grid O.D...
(Figure 1)

Phase I - The Grid Seminar

The Grid seminar is a weeklong seminar in which managers and organization leaders
examine their own leadership style in comparison with the Grid theory of styles.
Through a series of scored activities, and critique and feedback, participants learn
how their personal behavior impacts the people around them. The seven styles of
leadership are analyzed and evaluated as the participants test their effectiveness
against various measurements. Participants also learn specific skills to increase
effectiveness. The synergetic designs make the experience more lasting than a
traditional lecture-notes-test-grading setting (Mouton & Blake, 1984). Anxieties
relating to personal performance are reduced by conducting the seminar composed
of "stranger" teams, where no direct co-workers participate in the same team. This
team structure allows members to feel more comfortable in exploring personal
critique and feedback, many for the first time. The synergetic designs also
increase the transfer of learning by accurately re-creating the workplace in the
activities. Team members are forced to deal with diverse personalities,
competition, conflict, time pressure, and competition issues in order to make
progress. By the end of the week, members have enough experience with each
other to provide constructive critique regarding personal performance. Members
also have enough experience to provide concrete and meaningful examples that
often reflect comments heard before but ignored or discounted.

Phase 2 - Grid Team Building

Phase 2 carries the same learning from the individual setting into the intact work
teams. A series of 3-4 day workshops are held during which teams apply their
Phase 1 Grid Seminar learning to their own team's performance. Key team
structure and process issues such as: mutual trust and respect, problem-solving,
decision-making, building commitment, role definition, performance review,
evaluating culture and so on, are examined in comparison with an agreed-upon model
of effectiveness. The motivational "gap" produced by the comparison is then
addressed by the team through designing specific improvement steps. As a
conclusion, team members create an action plan for specific team-effort project
along with criteria for measurement and follow-up.

Phase 3 - Intergroup Development/Interface Conflict Solving

Phase 3 is aimed at solving conflicts which might occur between two teams, groups,
units, departments or management and unions. Key representatives of each group
engage in a structured process whereby they study the relationship and structures
as they currently exist, analyze the underlying issues and establish ways of dealing
with the areas of disagreement or conflict (Blake & Mouton, 1984).

Phase 4 - Developing an Ideal Strategic Model

In the Phase 4 design, senior organizational leaders work towards establishing a
vision of organizational excellence through: (1) specifying key optimum and minimum
financial objectives, (2) clear and explicit definitions of the nature and scope of
organizational activities to be pursued, (3) clear operational definitions of the
nature and scope of markets, customers etc., (4) an organizational structure which
integrates operations, (5) basic policies for organizational decision-making, and (6)
identifying development requirements for growth and avoiding obsolescence and
stagnation. With the organization sharing the "common language" of what effective
leadership looks like, they are in a better position to begin designing and
implementing change strategies. The assumption of the Grid learning is that
strategic planning can only take place when underlying and unresolved dynamic
issues are overcome. The synergetic design used to develop an ideal strategic
model increases commitment by giving people throughout the organization a sense
of personal stake and involvement with in the effort to be undertaken. This occurs
through the structured critique cycles that include participation across the
organization's hierarchy.

Phase 5 - Implementing the Ideal Strategic Model

Blake and Mouton point out that if the four phases have been completed
successfully, many of the barriers to implementation will have already been
surmounted or reduced. Implementing the strategic model becomes a matter of: (1)
studying the gap between the ideal mode and the existing organization culture and
structure, (2) specifying which parts of the organization are sound and which parts
require change, (3) designing implementation steps from move from the existing to
the ideal, (4) continuing to keep the business in operation which simultaneously
changing towards the ideal model.

Phase 6 - Consolidation of the Model

The final phase is the systematic effort to assess and evaluate progress by
critiquing the change effort, identifying problems and taking corrective action, and
monitoring changes in the external environment which make forced changes in the
model. As Blake, Mouton and McCanse (1989) point out, these six phases are not a
fixed and inviolate sequence. There is a natural flow to them in that insights from
the Grid seminar may be brought to the team building activity, and so on. It is not
uncommon, however, to begin with the Interface Conflict Solving (Phase 3) to
resolve an existing impasse, and then move to individual and team development.
In summary, Grid O.D. is a systematic six-phase theory-based programme, which
develops from the research and insights of the Managerial Grid theory and forty
years of testing. It is a normative approach in that it is built on the premise that
awareness starts at the individual level and builds the foundation for further
development. Team learning builds on the development of individual awareness and
critique skills, and intergroup learning works best when the teams involved share
commitment and common objectives. These three characteristics are a
prerequisite for a total organization approach to strategy and transformation.

• BEHAVIOR MODELLING

Behavior modeling involves (1) showing trainees the right or model way of doing
something (2) letting trainees practice that way, and then (3) giving feedback on
the trainees’ performance. Behavior modeling training is one of the most widely
used, well researched and highly regarded psychological based training
interventions. The basic procedure is as follows:

1. Modeling: First, trainees watch live or video examples that show models behaving
effectively in a problem situation. The video might show a supervisor effectively
disciplining a subordinate, if teaching how to discipline is the aim of the training
program.
2. Role playing: Next, the trainees are given roles to play in a simulated situation;
here they practice and rehearse the effective demonstrated by the models.
3. Social reinforcements: The trainer provides reinforcement in the form of praise
and constructive feedback based on how the trainee performs in the role playing
situation.
4. Transfer of training: Finally, trainees are encouraged to apply their new skills
when they are back on their job..

The Modeling Process

. The following steps are involved in the observational learning and modeling
process:

• Attention:
In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that detracts
your attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If
the model interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far
more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning.

• Retention:
The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning
process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability
to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning.

• Reproduction:
Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is
time to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the
learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement.

• Motivation:
Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be
motivated to imitate the behavior that has been modeled. Reinforcement
and punishment play an important role in motivation. While experiencing
these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing other experience
some type of reinforcement or punishment. For example, if you see another
student rewarded with extra credit for being to class on time, you might
start to show up a few minutes early each day.
 • EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Organizational development services have simplified the learning process by

creating a wide range of programs that compliment just about any business
environment. Organizational development consultants can train staff through
various formats, some of which allow them to bring workshops and seminars
directly to your office.

Organizational development education and training programs have moved beyond

the traditional classroom setting, making it convenient to learn more about
organizational development issues and techniques.

In house development center: A company based method for exposing prospective

managers to realistic exercises to develop improved management skills.

Corporate Universities: Many firms, particularly larger ones, establish in house

development centers (often called corporate universities). GE, McDonalds, and IBM
are just a few examples. In–house development centers typically offer a catalogue
of courses and special programs aimed at supporting the employers’ management
development need. They typically do not produce all (or most) of their own training
and development programs, although some do. In fact, employers are increasingly
collaborating with academic institutions, training and development program
providers program providers and Web based educational portals to create packages
of programs and materials appropriate to their employees’ needs.

For many firms, learning portals are becoming their virtual corporate universities.
While firms such as GE have long had their own bricks and mortar corporate
universities, learning portals let even smaller firms have corporate universities.
Bain & Company, management consulting firm, has such a Web based virtual
university for its employees. It provides a means not only for conveniently
coordinating all the company’s training efforts , but also for delivering web based
modules that cover topics from strategic management to mentoring.

Many Indian firms have also set up in house development centers along the lines of
corporate universities. Indian public sector units (PSUs) have established
dedicated training institutions with separate campus and trainers for training their
employees. SAIL, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Heavy Electricals
Ltd (BHEL). Public Sector Units (PSU) banks and insurance companies are examples
of such organizations. Recent examples include the Infosys academy in Mysore, the
Apollo Laureate Academy of Apollo Tyres Ltd., Satyam Learning Center (SLC)
established by Satyam Computers, the Indian Oil Institute of Petroleum
Management of IOCL, and the Tata Management training Center (TMTC)
constituted for the Tata group.
Groups of industries or industrial associations have sponsored learning centers to
cater to the industry’s learning requirements.

The National Institute of bank management (NIBM) at Pune has been founded by
the banking industry to function as the apex level training center for banking in
India. Similarly, the National Insurance Academy (NIA) established by the
insurance industry. The National Institute of Construction Management and
Research (NICMR) was found by the construction industry and the Ahmadabad
Textile Research Association (ATIRA) by the textile industry.

• ORGANISATIONAL TRANSFORMATION
ACTIVITIES

Wendell L. French & Cecil H. Bell, Jr. (1999) define Organisational

Transformation activities as those that involve large-scale system changes,
specifically activities that are designed to change fundamentally the nature of the
organization. In the process of true Organisational Transformation, almost
everything about the organization is changed including the structure, management
philosophy, reward systems, the design of work and the organization’s mission,
values and culture.
Large-scale transformation in organizations needs to be seen as both a re-
socialization process as well as a journey of discovery.

• Today’s organizations need to renew and reinvent themselves continually in

order to stay ahead of the competition. To achieve this, business leaders
need to anticipate trends and grow their organization’s capacity for
continuous learning. Laszlo and Laugel (2000) note that a key focus for
leaders should be nurturing the emergence of organizational intelligence.

• Global corporations of today need to be less focused on structure and

internal resources and more on the dynamics of change. Companies are
defined by their ideas and business processes, the nature of their internal
 and external relationships and by the way they work with their business
partners. Organisations are looking for ways to encourage integration and
create more fluid boundaries.
• And transformational leaders are creating environments in which diverse
viewpoints are encouraged in a culture of sharing, mutual respect, active
listening and dialogue.
• Transformational leaders, when managing large-scale change in organizations,
are recognizing that they are managing ‘multiple-realities’ to the extent that
no single change intervention is now viewed as being sufficient to make
large-scale transformational change happen successfully. These leaders are
looking for multiple methods for influencing the transformational process.
• This is why Whole-System Participatory approaches, specifically large-group
intervention models which incorporate small-group work sessions, are
providing some of the best opportunities to leaders who are driving large-
scale change in their organizations

• . Three Types of Transformation

1. Improving Operation: To achieve a quantum improvement in the firm's

efficiency, often by reducing costs, improving quality and services and
reducing development time.
2. Strategic Transformation: The process of changing strategy seeks to
regain a sustainable competitive advantage by redefining business
objectives, creating new competences and harnessing these capabilities to
meet market opportunities.
3. Corporate Self-Renewal: Self-Renewal creates the ability for a firm to
anticipate and cope with change so that strategic and operational gap does
not develop.

• Phases of Transformation
Phase-1: It begins with the automation of existing activities to reduce cost
and raise capacities and expands to encompass a broader range of
applications to optimize operations.
Phase-2: It focuses on adding features, functions, value-added processes
and new service to the core business.
Phase 3: It may become principal vehicles for growth; the existing business
can be redefined.