Week 2

HISTORY OF OD AS TOOL FOR ORGANIZATION EFFECTIVENESS AND PERFORMANCE,

AND THE NATURE OF PLANNED CHANGE

Objectives
1. Discover the origin and development of OD.
2. Describe and explain OD as a tool for the attainment of a healthy and effective organization, in terms of process and performance.

3. Discuss and appreciate the role of OD consultant/practitioner, as well as the required knowledge, skills, values, and ethics in the practice of the profession.

4. Determine and understand theories of planned change in OD.

5. Learn and analyze the general model of planned change

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Let’s ponder!
• Why do we study history?
• Will it feels good to be an OD consultant?
• Is change in organization desirable?

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Describe!
• How OD evolved?
• How to be an OD consultant?
• What are the theories of planned change?
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History of OD Global
• Though the formal history of OD dates only from 1957 to 1958, its origins can be traced directly to post World War II organizational needs and practice (McGill, 1977).

• In 1945, a new concept – training as an integral managerial program of individual and organizational growth – was introduced (Bradford, 1945).

• Throughout the 19th century, enterprise managers worldwide were so preoccupied in the development of their organizations to better cope with and shape the environment in
which the enterprise operates.
 The following themes were followed (Beckhard, 1969):

 First Third of the 19th Century: There was an attempt through better “human engineering” to rationalize the way work was done, the way the work force was utilized to
increase the output, and the productivity of the goods and services produced. This theme reached its peak during WWII.

 After WW II: With the considerably improved human condition, management searched for a strategy to meet the demand of working men – that is, that their work
environment should meet some of their social needs for survival and identity.
 In 1954, the Training Division of the California State Personnel Board developed and implemented a program of “organization development.” The two major goals of the
program were: a) to develop an organizational climate which not only permitted training but also facilitated the use of results of that training in the organization; and b) to
develop the concept of training as an integral part of the organization’s activity (Gardner, 1957).

 Late 50s and Early 60s: The first theme focused on developing people for higher responsibilities – improvements on benefit programs, an increase in mandatory retirements,
and the rapid expansion of management requirements, in addition to rapid organization expansion intensified the need for planned management succession and development
programs.
 In 1957-1958, the Esso Standard Oil developed and implemented an organization development program with two basic requirements: first, a framework in which needs can
be diagnosed through individuals and the organization by asking “Where are we?” and “Where do we want to be?” and second, a theory of change for developing
procedures for moving from the former to the latter, answering the questions, “ How do we get from where we are to where we want to be?” (Esso 1960).
 Mid-60’s: A new program developed which focused on “total system” change along a variety of dimensions with the theme focused on system examination – looking at an
organization as a complex, human system with a unique character, its own culture, and a value system.
 New Environments (60s, described as the “Decade of Explosion): These comprised the following: the Knowledge Explosion, the Technological Explosion, the
Technological Explosion, the Communication Explosion, the Economic Explosion, and the Changing Nature of Work.
 Today’s business environment is volatile, unpredictable, complex, and ambiguous characterized by:
 Internalization of markets
 Shorter product life
 Increasing significance of marketing
 Relationship of line and staff, and
 Multiple memberships
 The new organization forms require people:
 to belong to several groups
 To have several bosses, and
 To cope with competition for their time and energy from different programs
 Increased or advanced technology means that machines not only make products that men used to make, but also make decisions that men used to make.

 Late 1960s: OD was implemented in organizations through consultants.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

 In the early turn of century, ASEAN have been collaborating and cooperating to enhance opportunities between ASEAN member countries.
 The goal of the integration is to enable all member states to move forward unified in three fields:
 Economic
 Socio-cultural
 Political security
 In Anticipating ASEAN Economic Community 2015 by Dr. Paryano, the vision of ASEAN leaders is to transform our region into a highly prosperous and competitive region by 2020, to include:
1) growth in job opportunities, 2) reducing poverty, and3) free movement of goods, services, investment and skilled labor
 For ASEAN Economic Community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (2013), the ASEAN Economic Community (AED) shall be the goal of regional economic integration by 2015,
envisages the following key characteristics:
 A single market and production base
 A highly competitive economic region
 A region of equitable economic development, and
 A region fully integrated into the global economy
 Overall, the ASEAN Integration is an exciting development that will enable all companies within the ASEAN member nations to trade skills, services and goods freely, and will expand the pool
of qualified and desirable job candidates.
 The need to apply organization development in every organization is definitely a requirement for each organization to benefit from this integration.
OD as a Tool for Organization Effectiveness and Performance
• Based on the aforementioned origins, OD evolved into the following definitions:
 Organization Development is an effort (1) planned, (2) organization-wide, and (3) managed from top, to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5)
planned interventions in the organization’s “processes”, using behavioral science knowledge (Beckhard 1969).
 From various interpretation of OD and change management practitioners and exposure to and experiences with different organization from different industries, an effective
organization is self-renewing (Gardner 1965) and can effectively adapt and cope with the changes in its environment (Schein 1980).

 Self-renewal means that the recruitment and selection and development program must be the right thing (that is, effective), and that the environment is very well conducive
and inspiring or motivating for its human resources and the various parties involved.
 A healthy organization has clear, achievable, appropriate and accepted goals shared with the various parties involved (that is, the stakeholders).

 The communication flow and equality of voice and power are relatively understood.
 It is one with creativity and innovativeness, empowerment, and clear authority.
 There is a commitment, responsibility, and accountability for actions of every member of the organization.
 Through all these, there is full utilization of every person’s capabilities and organizational flexibility.
A Diagram of an Effective and Healthy Organization
Why should an organization undertake OD?
 OD helps organization towards its effectiveness.
 Starts with assessment and analysis of the present situation.
 Then comes up with the recommendations on the interventions required or needed by the organization.
 In the collection of information about the current operations and analysis of the information, it is done in three (3) levels of:
1. Organizational
2. Group or department, and
3. Individual
 In the diagnosis, the organization is viewed as an open system
 The assessment results become the bases for the design and development of interventions.
 An intervention is a set of planned actions intended to help the organization increase its effectiveness.

Conditions that call for OD efforts:

1. The change in leadership which gives rise to a change in vision, strategies, systems and procedures, and culture.
2. The leaders sees a new vision for the organization which is either to expand the desired state for the future or shift to a different direction.
3. The need for creativity and innovativeness for the organization to compete in the industry and to adapt to the ever-changing environment.
4. The need to change structure and roles which will surely affect the other aspects of the organization.
5. The need to open up the communications system and to improve inter-group collaboration
6. The need for better planning (long-term and short-term) and monitoring and evaluation of plans; and/or the need for a more performance-based rewarding of
groups and individuals.
7. The need to correct performance failures and/or enhance and sustain good performance.
8. The need to make the organizational climate consistent with both individual aneeds and the changing needs of the environment.
9. The need to change or redefine the culture of the organization
10. Employee situation which affects the whole organization and/or the need to change/enhance work force motivation
11. The need to cope with mergers and acquisitions.
Some goals and objectives which need to be operationally achieved in an OD effort
1. To develop a practical and workable system that can be flexible enough in terms of its operation depending on the nature of tasks.
2. To introduce a built-in continuous improvement mechanism regarding how a system or sub-system operates.
3. To provide an environment where stakeholders learn continuously from every situation and operation in the organization
4. To attain higher collaboration and low competition between interdependent units.
5. To reach a balance between the authority of knowledge (where decisions are made on the basis of the information source), as well as authority of role (where decisions are
made on the basis of organizational role).
Is an effective and healthy organization truly attainable? Why?
The Role, Required Knowledge, Skills, Values, and Ethics of an Organization Development Consultant/Practitioner
 Known as a change agent, an OD practitioner or consultant takes on the task of initiating and managing planned change in an organization.
 Can be an internal member of the organization such as a manager or employee who is appointed to manage the change process
 Can be an individual outside the organization such as a consultant who is contracted from outside the company.
 OD practitioners are people who are given the tasks to carry out the planned change efforts in the organization.
 They are the people who are in charge of creating organization-wide effectiveness.
 They are people who do organization development
 There are different categories of OD practitioners.
1. OD consultants, whether internal or external, specializing in OD as a profession,
2. People specializing in OD-related fields such as strategy formulation/facilitation, organizational restructureing, systems and procedures development (performance
management system, total quality management, reward system, etc.), and information technology
3. Managers and administrators who have gained knowledge, skills and competencies in OD and who apply them in their own work areas.
 The OD practitioner establishes and maintains a collaborative relationship with the client system members.
 The two parties – OD practitioner and client – work together as equal with both are having their own knowledge and information, thus acting best based on
those knowledge and information
 The OD practitioner views the organization as a complex system
 Values and ethics have played a key role in OD
 The traditional values of trust, collaboration, and openness have been supplemented recently with concerns for improving organizational effectiveness and
productivity.
 OD, as a profession, has always shown a concern for the ethical conduct of its practitioners.
 Several ethical codes for OD practice have bben developed by various professional associations (Cummings & Worley 2001).
Competencies of an Effective OD Practitioner
 To be an effective OD practitioner, one requires a combination of personality traits, experiences, and certain types of knowledge and skills.
 The OD Network lists several competencies that an effective OD practitioner must have, divided into many categories including:
 Data gathering
 Assessment  Research on successful OD practitioners shows that the core skills needed in OD include:
 Diagnosis  Organizational skills include the ability to analyze and come up with enhanced structures to improve productivity and accountability of
 Feedback people and teams in the organization.
 Planning  People skills involve coming up with systems that enhance trust between and among members which would lead to improved
 Intervention performance.
 Evaluation  Direction-setting skills include the adeptness to analyze and assess the organization’s approach to leadership and creating the desired
 Follow-up future.
 Marketing  Process skills include the ability to realign processes with the organizational strategies toward a more quantifiable improvement
 Enrolling new clients
 Self-awareness, and o Practitioners must be able to discuss the results of assessments with clients and provide recommendations to address issues.
 Interpersonal skills
The Role of OD Practitioners
 The OD practitioner’s role is applicable and relevant to internal change agents, external change agents, and members of internal-external consulting teams.
 A marginal or borderline role of OD practitioner is to reconcile different viewpoints between and among the organizational members and units
o The external OD practitioners are more comfortable than the internal ones..
 With the prevailing modern approach, the OD practitioner takes on the role of expert, with the consent and collaboration of organization members.
 The role of OD practitioner encompasses that of a facilitator, catalyst, problem-solver, and educator.

OD Practitioner’s Values and Ethical Conflicts

 OD practitioner can still encounter ethical dilemmas despite adherent to guidelines, hence roles should be specifically and clearly defined.
 Ethical Considerations
5. Lack of professional and technical skills to implement the
1. Misrepresentation. 3. Coercion or putting pressure on the organization members.
change program on the part of the practitioner or
2. Misuse of data. 4. Conflict in values and goals between OD practitioner and client organizational members.