Organizational Development & Innovation - the Modern Approach to the Management of Change

Presentation topic: Organizational development & innovation

Group member:

Hao Qixiang

Uthiesh Raju

Yang Wenxue

Zhang ChenXi

Outline

OD definition

OD principles

OD techniques:

Grid training

Survey feedback

Team building

Effectiveness of OD

Video show

Innovation

OD definition

Organization development: the modern approach to the management of change

The modern approach to the management of change and the development of human resources is called organization development.

More traditionally, French and Bell offered this comprehensive definition: Organization development is a long-range effort to improve an organization's 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 behavior science, including action research.

Burke has a simple definition: organization development is a planned process of change in an organization's culture through the utilization of behavioral science technology, research, and theory.

OD Principles

The goal of OD is to implement successful long-term planned change to which employees are committed. It aimed to educate; change beliefs, assumptions, and attitudes; and transform behaviors.

This figure illustrates the OD general principles. The commitment to long-lasting change that involves fundamental transformation in people and in the organization, a humanistic approach that involves empowerment and cooperation, the use of action research tools to improve management practice, and a focus on process are at the heart of OD.

Reference from:

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR the person-organization fit

Part IV Organizational Processes

14 MANAGE CHANGE

Organizational Development

Principles and steps 511page

OD Techniques:

Grid Training:

The six phases of grid training for OD:

1. Laboratory-seminar training. The purpose of this first phase is to introduce the participants to the overall concepts and materials used in grid training. The seminars that are held are not like therapeutic sensitivity training. There is more structure and more concentration on leadership styles than on developing self-insights and group insights.

2. Team development. This is an extension of the first phase. Members of the same department are brought together to chart how they are going to attain a 9,9 position on the grid. In this stage, what was learned in the orientation stage is applied to the actual organizational situation.

3. Intergroup development. Whereas the first two phases are aimed at managerial development, this phase marks the beginning of overall organization development. There is a shift from the micro level of individual and group development to a macro level of group-to-group organization development. Conflict situations between groups are identified and analyzed.

4. Organizational goal setting. In the manner of management by objectives, in this phase the participants contribute to, and agree upon, the important goals for the organization. A sense of commitment and self-control is instilled in the participants.

5. Goal attainment. In this phase the participants attempt to accomplish the goals which they set in the fourth phase. As in the first phase, the participants get together, but this time they discuss major organizational issues, and the stakes are real.

6. Stabilization. In this final phase, support is marshaled for changes suggested earlier, and an evaluation of the overall program is conducted.

These six phases of grid training may take from three to five years to implement, but in some cases they may be compressed into a shorter period of time.

Most of the support for grid training has come from its founders, Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton. They and their colleagues have maintained over the years that "managerial and team effectiveness can be taught by managers with outside assistance. Furthermore, it appears that this type of educational strategy can help to make significant contributions to organizational effectiveness."

In a later work, The New Managerial Grid, Blake and Mouton continue to suggest that research indicates that grid training is very effective. A review of the research on OD gives some support to their claims. Although it was found to have the least rigorous research (along with the survey feedback), the four studies reviewed found grid training to have a 43 percent substantial positive impact on outcome variables. The impact of grid training on outcome variables was higher than that of any of the other OD techniques, but, again, this finding was based on only three studies. Conclusions are still tentative at this point because more and better research is needed in the future before any firm conclusions can be drawn; nevertheless, the use of grid training does seem to be justified. One thing is certain: It has been very widely used.

Survey Feedback:

Besides grid training, another popular OD technique has been survey research and feedback of the data. The use of surveys to assess employee attitudes, organizational climate, and differences in perceptions is survey feedback. The results help the organization identify and clarify problem issues in a systematic way that avoids personal attacks. It is one of the most-used OD techniques, often conducted independently by OD program specialists. Survey feedback provides efficient, relatively quick access to information from a broad