Organizational Development

Organizational development is a systematic, integrated and planned approach to improving the effectiveness. Organizational development can be defined as top managements supported long-term effort to improve an organization’s problem-solving and renewal process, through an effective and collaborative diagnosis and management of organization culture. In other words, organizational development is a change effort that is planned, focused on an entire organization or a large subsystem, aimed at enhancing organizational effectiveness, and based on planned interventions made with the help of a change agent or third party who is well versed in behavioral sciences.

Objectives of Organizational Development:
As objectives of organizational development are framed keeping in view specific situations, they vary from one situation to another. In other words, these programs are tailored to meet the requirements of a particular situation. But broadly speaking, all organizational development programs try to achieve the following objectives:

• Making individuals in the organization aware of the vision of the organization. Organizational development helps in making employees align with the vision of the organization.
• Encouraging employees to solve problems instead of avoiding them.
• Strengthening inter-personnel trust, cooperation, and communication for the successful achievement of organizational goals.
• Encourage every individual to participate in the process of planning, thus making them feel responsible for the implementation of the plan.
• Creating a work atmosphere in which employees are encouraged to work and participate enthusiastically.
• Replacing formal lines of authority with personal knowledge and skill.
• Creating an environment of trust so that employees willingly accept change.

According to organizational development thinking, organization development provides managers with a vehicle for introducing change systematically by applying a broad selection of management techniques. This, in turn, leads to greater personal, group, and organizational effectiveness.

Organizational Development Process:
The organizational development process consists of three major steps: diagnosis, intervention and evaluation. These steps are similar with the planned change process, since organizational development is actually a specialized type of change effort. An organizational development process is most likely to be initiated when top management believes that there are deficiencies in the way the overall organization is functioning.

Diagnosis: The first step involves diagnosis of the present situation. Change agents collect the required information through interviews, questionnaires, internal documents, records, and reports. Usually, a diagnostic strategy is developed using two or more methods of data collection after their respective strengths and weaknesses have been considered.

Intervention: After the situation is diagnosed, organizational development interventions or change strategies can be designed and implemented with the help of a change agent. Some of the organizational development intervention techniques are:

• Process consultation: This is concerned with interpersonal relations and functioning of work groups. The organizational development change agent observes the group and gives feedback regarding dysfunctions in areas of decision making, handling conflicts, and communication patterns.
• Team building: This technique is used to help work groups become effective in performing their tasks. The organizational development consultant helps in assessing group tasks, member roles, and strategies for accomplishing work tasks.
• Third-party intervention: Here, organizational development consultants help the parties concerned to resolve their differences through techniques like problem solving and conciliation.
• Survey Feedback: In survey feedback, data gathered through survey questionnaires and personal interviews are analyzed, tabulated into understandable form and shared with those who first supplied the information. Survey feedback lets people know where they stand in relation to others on important organizational issues thus helping them resolve conflicts in a constructive manner. Effective feedback should be relevant, understandable, descriptive, verifiable, and inspiring.
• Techno structural activities: This technique is used to improve work technology and organization structure. It is intended to help employees evaluate themselves and to make appropriate changes in task design, work methods, and organization structure.
• Skill development: This technique is used to help employees identify their shortcomings and overcome their deficiencies. It is used to improve performance in areas such as delegation, problem solving conflict resolution, and leading.

Evaluation: Since organizational development is directed towards long-term change, organizational development programs have to be monitored on a regular basis. An accurate evaluation of organizational development interventions is dependent on the accurate diagnosis of the current situation and the clear identification of the desired results.