SOUTHEAST UNIVERSITY

Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Semester: Fall, 2011

Faculty: Dr. Md. Shahidul Islam

Course Title : Organization Development (OD) and Change Course Code : HRM 6188 Total Marks : 100 Marks Distribution: Attendance :05 Class Test :10 Assignment :15 Mid Term :30 Term Final :40 Class Test (CT): Best 2 consider out of 3 CT Assignment: (I) Term Paper -7.5 (II) Presentation -7.5 Mid Term: Should have attain 3 Questions out of 4 Final: Should have attain 4 Questions out of 6
Reference Books: 1. French and Bell: Organization Development, Pearson Education, Asia, New Delhi, 2009 2. Thomas G. Cummings & Christopher G Worley: Organization Development and change; Thomson, New York, 2009 3. David L. Bradford (Editor), W. Warner Burke: Reinventing Organization Development: New Approaches to Change in Organizations, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 2005

What will be covered in OD

The Field of Organization Development (OD) Definition and Historical Overview of OD Values, Assumption, and Beliefs in OD Foundation of OD Managing the OD Process Action Research and OD An Overview of OD Interventions Team Interventions Inter-group and Third Party peacemaking Interventions Comprehensive OD Interventions Structural Interventions and the Applicability of OD Training Experiences Issues in Consultant-Client Relationship Power, Politics, and Organization Development The Future Organization Development

Preferred Reference Book

Chapter-One
THE FIELD OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
Organization development is a systematic process for applying behavioral science principles and practices in organizations to increase individual and organizational effectiveness. This book tells the brand story of organization development its history, nature and characteristics, theory, methods an values. The setting is real organizations in the real world. Now let us try to understand of organization development (OD): What it is; how it works; why it works; and how one can use the information of this book to improve the performance of ones organization and/or ones client organizations.

OVERVIEW OF THE FIELD OF ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

Organization development is an organizational improvement strategy. Organization development is about how people and organizations function and how to get them to function better. The field is based on knowledge from behavioral science disciplines such as psychology, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, systems theory, organizational behavior, organization theory, and management. OD programs are long-term planned, sustained efforts. Organization development deals with the gamut of People problems and work systems problems in organizations.

A PREVIEW OF THE MAJOR THEMES OF OD

Several themes underline the theory and practice of organization development: Planned Change: Change means the new state of things and is different from the old state of things. Change has different facets; for example, it can be deliberate (planned) or accidental (unplanned). Organization Development as a Distinctive consulting method: OD consultants establish a collaborative relationship of relative equality with organization members as they together identify and take action on problems and opportunities. The role of OD consultants is to structure activities to help organization members learn to solve their own problems and learn to do it better over time.

A PREVIEW OF THE MAJOR THEMES OF THE BOOK/Cont

Organization Development as a Process That Focuses or Organizational Culture, Processes, and Structure Using a Total System perspective:

OD programs are identifiable flows of interrelated events moving over time toward the goals of organizational improvement and individual development. All organizational improvement programs are complex processes of goals actions redefined goals new actions.

Organization development is a process of fundamental change in an organizations culture.

Organization Development as a Process That Focuses or Organizational Culture, Processes, and Structure Using a Total System perspective/Cont.. Organization structure refers to the overall design of the organization, that is, the wiring diagram for how the parts are connected to producer the whole.

Traditional ways of structuring work and organizations have found wanting; they are associated with excessive waste, inefficiency, inflexibility and high costs. Organization are complex social systems interacting with the environment, and OD efforts usually focus on improving the total organization, or large parts of it.

Organization Development as a Process That Focuses or Organizational Culture, Processes, and Structure Using a Total System perspective/Cont..

A systems perspective directs OD Practitioners to be aware of interdependencies, interrelatedness, multiple causes, and multiple effects.
A primary goal of OD programs is to optimize the system by ensuring that system elements are harmonious and congruent. Organization are examples of open systems, that is, systems interacting with their environments.

THE ACTION RESEARCH MODEL

Earlier in the chapter we described OD as a process of diagnosing, taking action, re-diagnosing, and taking new action. This process assumes a distinct form in OD called action research. OD consists of (1) a preliminary diagnosis, (2) data gathering from the client group, (3) data feedback to the client group, (4) exploration of the data by the client group, (5) action planning by the client group, (6) action taking by the client group, and (7) evaluation and assessment of the results of the actions by the client group with an OD practitioner acting as a facilitator throughout the process. Action research yields both change and new knowledge.

Illustration I : Problems in a Business firm

Lack of cooperation between subunits, increasing complaints from customers, sagging morale, and rapidly increasing costs induced the president of a medium-sized company to confer with an OD consultant about ways to improve the situation.

Illustration 2 : From Muddling Through to making Millions

The team make a go decision. Three goals of the first session were (1) to understand the industry, the competitors, and critical success factors for the industry; (2) to determine what the executives wanted the company to be and to do; and (3) to generate the first draft of a corporate mission statement embodying their aspirations for the company.

Illustration 2: From Muddling Through to making Millions/Cont..

The goals of the second session three months later were to finalize the mission statement based on three months of reflection and on the inputs from additional managers, and to agree on corporate goals for the next two to five years. The goal of the third session four months later was to develop the strategy or strategies to enact the corporate mission and achieve the corporate goals. The goal of the fourth session three months later was to assess progress on the five initiatives. The fifth and final session was held four months later. Te goals were to assess progress on implementation, to build support mechanisms for the five initiatives, and to revisit the corporate goals for the present year.

Illustration 3 : Taking on global challenges with the help of OD

Providing IT services is where India has a proven competitive advantage. A major disadvantage of the Chinese software industry, it is reported, is a lack of fluency in English among its professionals. OD was taken up as a planned change management exercise.

There are two ways in which change can be viewed-Transactional and Transformational.
OD has definitely changed the organization. OD has brought about structural changes in the organization, a better collaboration and communication, a better orientation to business and quite a bit of positive energy, which is important to the success of the organization. OD in the present context is very essential if an organization wishes to sustain itself in the long run, rather than be focused only on the short term.