Organization development
Organization development (OD) is the study and implementation of practices, systems, and techniques that affect organizational change.
OD emerged from human relations studies in the 1930s, during which psychologists realized that organizational structures and processes influence worker behavior and motivation.
[2][3] Organization development as a practice involves an ongoing, systematic process of implementing effective organizational change.
Experts in systems thinking, in organizational learning, in the structure of intuition in decision-making, and in coaching (to name a few) whose perspective is not steeped in just the behavioral sciences, but in a much more multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach[citation needed], have emerged as OD catalysts or tools.
[4] From Lewin came the ideas of group dynamics and action research which underpin the basic OD process as well as providing its collaborative consultant/client ethos.
Institutionally, Lewin founded the "Research Center for Group Dynamics" (RCGD) at MIT, which moved to Michigan after his death.
As early as World War II (1939-1945), Lewin experimented with a collaborative change-process (involving himself as a consultant and a client group) based on a three-step process of planning, taking action, and measuring results.
These procedures became important parts of OD as developments in this field continued at the National Training Laboratories and in growing numbers of universities and private consulting-firms across the US.
[6] The failure of off-site laboratory training to live up to its early promise was one of the important forces stimulating the development of OD.
A major difficulty developed, however, in transferring knowledge gained from these "stranger labs" to the actual situation "back home".
A change agent's main strength is a comprehensive knowledge of human behavior, supported by a number of intervention techniques (to be discussed later).
An internal change agent is usually a staff person who has expertise in the behavioral sciences and in the intervention technology of OD.
Beckhard reports several cases in which line people have been trained in OD and have returned to their organizations to engage in successful change-assignments.
[11] Researchers at the University of Oxford found that leaders can be effective change-agents within their own organizations if they are strongly committed to "knowledge leadership" targeted towards organizational development.
In their three-year study of UK healthcare organizations, the researchers identified three different mechanisms through which knowledge leaders actively "transposed", "appropriated" or "contended" change concepts, effectively translating and embedding these in organizational practice.
There is a direct analogy here to the practice of psychotherapy: The client or patient must actively seek help in finding a solution to his problems.
Some believe that the change agent is a physician to the organization's ills; that s/he does not examine the "patient", make a diagnosis, and write a prescription.
Using theory and methods drawn from such behavioral sciences as industrial/organizational psychology, industrial sociology, communication, cultural anthropology, administrative theory, organizational behavior, economics, and political science, the change agent's main function is to help the organization define and solve its own problems.
This includes improved interpersonal and group processes, more effective communication, and enhanced ability to cope with organizational problems of all kinds.
These objectives stem from a value system based on an optimistic view of the nature of man—that man in a supportive environment is capable of achieving higher levels of development and accomplishment.
Essential to organization development and effectiveness is the scientific method—inquiry, a rigorous search for causes, experimental testing of hypotheses, and review of results.
An early analysis of the first-self-managing work groups yielded the following behavioral characteristics (Hackman, 1986): The ultimate aim of OD practitioners is to "work themselves out of a job" by leaving the client organization with a set of tools, behaviors, attitudes, and an action plan with which to monitor its own state of health and to take corrective steps toward its own renewal and development.
Due to downsizing, outsourcing, mergers, restructuring, continual changes, invasions of privacy, harassment, and abuses of power, many employees experience the emotions of aggression, anxiety, apprehension, cynicism, and fear, which can lead to performance decreases.
[21] If one idea can be said to summarize OD's underlying philosophy, it would be action research as it was conceptualized by Kurt Lewin and later elaborated and expanded on by other behavioral scientists.
The principal elements of this stage include a preliminary diagnosis, data gathering, feedback of results, and joint action planning.
This stage includes actions relating to learning processes (perhaps in the form of role analysis) and to planning and executing behavioral changes in the client organization.
The action-research model shown in Figure 1 closely follows Lewin's repetitive cycle of planning, action, and measuring results.
Data are not simply returned in the form of a written report but instead are fed back in open joint sessions, and the client and the change agent collaborate in identifying and ranking specific problems, in devising methods for finding their real causes, and in developing plans for coping with them realistically and practically.
Interventions are structured activities used individually or in combination by the members of a client system to improve their social or task performance.
"Structured activities" mean such diverse procedures as experiential exercises, questionnaires, attitude surveys, interviews, relevant group discussions, and even lunchtime meetings between the change agent and a member of the client organization.
