Organization Change and Development

Dr. Monika Srivastava

Organization Change
Successful managers must recognize the need for change in order to keep their organizations competitive in a dynamic environment.

They must face the challenge of change.

Management is charged with the responsibility for maintaining a dynamic equilibrium by diagnosing situations and designing adjustments that are most appropriate for coping with turbulent environment.

Jerald Hage defines organizational change as the alteration and transformation of the form so as to survive better in the environment. Organizational change refers to the alteration of structural relationship and roles of people in organization in order to improve its adaptive capacity. It is an alteration that occurs in the work environment.

External Pressures
Forces to Change Internal Pressures

External Pressures

Technological change Knowledge explosion Product and service obsolescence Market conditions Social trends Value gap

Internal Pressures

Changes in the composition, skill requirements or personal goals of employees Changes in job technology, job design and product design Changes in organizational structure, allocation of responsibilities and office layout Changes in organizational climate, such as creation of distrust, hostility and insecurity etc Changes in organizational goals

Changes in styles of management.

Types of Changes

Incremental or Continuous change Radical or Discontinuous change Proactive or Anticipatory change Reactive change

Lewins Three-Step Model of Change

Unfreezing

Changing or Moving

Refreezing

1.

Unfreezing is the state in which employees would become ready to learn new behaviour. It is the process of preparing the system for change through disconfirmation of the old practices, attitudes, or behaviours.

2. Changing or Moving is the phase where the changes that have been planned are actually initiated and carried out. Once individuals have become motivated to change, they are opened up to new patterns of behaviour, new information and new concepts. 3. Refreezing occurs as the newly created patterns of behaviour become part of ongoing organizational processes and individuals personality. It means making new change permanent. It is the process of stabilizing new behaviour and integrating it into actual practice.

Resistance to Change

Parochial self-interest vested interest

Misunderstanding and lack of trust Contradictory assessments about cost and benefit of change Low tolerance of change

Sources of Individual Resistance to Change

Sources of Organizational Resistance to Change

Overcoming Resistance or Building Support for Change

Education and communication Participation and involvement Facilitation and support Negotiation and agreement Manipulation and co-optation Coercion Use of group forces Leadership for change Shared rewards Employee security Working with unions Working with the total system

The Concept of OD
Organizational development (OD) is an organizational improvement strategy. In the late 1950s and 1960s, it emerged out of insights from the theory and practice of planned change. To day the field offers an integrated frame work capable of solving most of the important problems confronting the human side of organization. OD attempts to change an organization as a totality by changing the organizations structure, technology, people, and tasks.

It is a process which attempts to increase organizational effectiveness by integrating individual desire for growth and development with organizational goals.

OD is an ongoing and system-wide developmental approach. It seeks to improve both productivity and efficiency on the one hand and the quality of working life on the other.

Definition of OD

French and Bell. OD is a long-range effort to improve an organizations problem-solving and renewal processes, particularly through a more effective and collaborative management of organization culture-with special emphasis on the culture of formal work teams-with the assistance of a change agent, or catalyst, and the use of the theory and technology of applied behaviour science, including action research.

The OD Process
OD is conducted in several phases with the support of top management. This process may continue for a year or more.
1.

Initial Diagnosis - identify the basic problem of organization.

Data Collection - develop various information's.

2.

3.

Feedback and Confrontation

Action Planning and Problem Solving

4.

5.

Team Building- strengthen the bonds of the problemsolving groups.

Intergroup Development

6.

7. Follow-up and Evaluation

OD Techniques, Methods, and Approaches or OD Intervention Strategies

The term OD interventions refers to the range of planned programmatic activities clients and consultant participate in during the course of organizational improvement program. It is important to note some differences between OD intervention and traditional methods.

Sensitivity Training

Sensitivity training, also known as laboratory training, encounter groups, or T-groups (training groups), is a method of changing behaviour through unstructured group interaction. It was evolved in 1946 from the group dynamics concepts of Kurt Lewin. Sensitivity in this context means sensitivity to self and to self-other relationships.

Grid Organization Development

Based upon the Managerial Grid of Blake and Mouton, grid training approach is a comprehensive, long-term effort directed towards changing the total organization. It aims to achieve an ideal style of management, which integrates task completion and maintenance of good interpersonal relations. Grid OD is used to clarify many complex roles and styles in the organization.

Survey Feedback
Survey feedback involves collecting data from organizational members and feeding this information back to them with an objective to develop an understanding of problems within the organization and to identify areas or opportunities for change.

Transactional Analysis
Although transactional analysis (TA) is not a full-fledged OD technique, it is a useful tool to analyze interpersonal behaviour in therapeutical setting. TA programmes are prepared for developing more adult states in managerial personnel and complementary transactions with others.

Some Other OD Interventions

These are briefly discussed below :

1.
2. 3. 4. Role Analysis Technique Life and Career Planning Organizational Mirroring Quality of Work Life

Success and Future of OD

When successfully applied, OD enables the organization to remove obstacles to individual and organizational development and renewal.