Values, Assumptions and

Beliefs in OD

A Belief
A belief is a proposition about how the
world works that the individual
accepts as true: it is a cognitive fact
for the person.

Values
They are also beliefs and are defined as:
Beliefs about what is desirable or
good and what is undesirable or bad

Assumptions
Assumptions are beliefs that are
regarded as so valuable and obviously
correct that they are taken for
granted and rarely examined or
questioned.

Three types of OD Values

Humanistic
Optimistic
Democratic

Humanistic values

They proclaim the importance of the

individual.
Respect the whole person.
Treat people with respect and dignity.
Assume that every one has intrinsic
worth.
View all people as having the
potential for growth and
development.

Optimistic values

They post that people are basically

good.
Progress is possible and desirable.
Rationality, reason, and goodwill are
the tools for making progress.

Democratic values

They assert the sanctity of the

individual.
The right of people to be free from
misuse of power.
Use of fair and equitable treatment
for all.
Need for justice through rule of law.

Early statements of OD values

Warren Bennis 1969

Richard Beckhard 1969
Robert Tannenbaum 1969

Warren Bennis

Improvement in interpersonal
competence.
Shift in values so that human factors
and feelings come to be considered
legitimate.
Development of increased
understanding between and within
working groups in order to reduce
tensions.

Development of more effective team

management
Development of better methods of
conflict resolution.
Development of organic rather than
mechanical systems.

Mechanical V/S Organic systems

Authority-obedience relations v/s

mutual confidence and trust.
Strict division of labour and
hierarchical super vision v/s multigroup membership and responsibility.
Centralized decision making v/s wide
sharing of responsibility and control.

Richard Beckhard

The basic building blocks of an

organization are groups, therefore the
basic units of change are groups, not
individuals.
Goal is the reduction of competition
between parts of the organization and
the development of a more
collaborative condition.

Decision making in a healthy

organization is located where the
information sources are, rather than in
a particular role or level of hierarchy.
Organizations, subunits of
organizations and individuals
continuously manage their affairs
against goals. Controls are interim
measurements, not the basis of
managerial strategy.

One goal of a healthy organization is to

develop generally open
communication, mutual trust, and
confidence between and across levels.
people support what they create.
People affected by a change must be
allowed active participation and a
sense of ownership in the planning and
conduct of the change.

Robert Tannenbaums values in

transition

People as essentially bad to basically

good.
Avoidance of negative evaluation of
individuals to confirming them as
human beings.
Individuals as fixed to seeing them as
being in process.
Resisting and fearing individual
differences to accepting and utilizing
them.

Utilizing an individual primarily with

reference to his job to viewing an
individual as a whole person.
Walling off the expression of feelings
to appropriate expression and
effective use.
Maskmanship and game playing to
authentic behaviour.

Use of status for maintaining power

and personal prestige to use of status
for organizationally relevant
purposes.
From distrusting people to trusting
them.
From avoidance to confrontation.
Avoidance of risk taking to
willingness to risk.

View of process work as unproductive

to seeing it as essential to effective
task accomplishment.
From primary emphasis on
competition to greater emphasis on
collaboration.

Implication of OD values

Implications for dealing with

individuals.
Implications for dealing with groups.
Implications for designing and
running organizations.

Individuals
1.

2.

3.

Most individuals are naturally driven

towards personal growth and development
if provided with environment.
Most people desire and are capable of
making greater contribution towards
attaining organization goals.
Ask-listen-support-challengeencourage risk taking-permit failureremove obstacles-give autonomy and
responsibility-set high standardsreward success.

Groups

What occurs at the formal and informal

levels, greatly influences feelings of
satisfaction and competence.
People wish to be accepted and interact cooperatively at least with one reference
group.
People are capable of making great
contributions to a groups effectiveness.
Let teams flourish-leaders should
invest in groups-adopt a team
leadership style.

Designing and running

organizations

Developmental outlook and opportunities in

which people can experience personal and
professional growth.
Create organizations that on one hand are
humane, developmental, and empowering
and on the other hand are high performing
in terms of productivity, quality of out-put
and profitability.
Putting people first.

Thank You