HANDOUT 2 IN ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Prepared by: Mr. Voltaire B. Torrion, CHRA, MBA

Learning Outcome:
At the end of the lesson the students can:
a. Describe who is an Organizational Development Practitioner;
b. Discuss the careers in pursuing as OD Practioner
c. Critique the professional ethical behavior that OD practitioner must have.

The pace of global, economic, and technological development makes change an inevitable
feature of organizational life. However, change that happens to an organization can be
distinguished from change that is planned by its members. In this handout, the term change
will refer to planned change. Organization development is directed at bringing about
planned change to increase an organization’s effectiveness and capability to change itself. It
is generally initiated and implemented by managers, often with the help of an
OD practitioner from either inside or outside of the organization. Organizations can use
planned change to solve problems, to learn from experience, to reframe shared perceptions,
to adapt to external environmental changes, to improve performance, and to influence
future changes. All approaches to OD rely on some theory about planned change. The
theories describe the different stages through which planned change may be affected in
organizations and explain the temporal process of applying OD methods to help organization
members manage change. In this lesson, we first describe and compare three major theories
of organization change that have received considerable attention in the field: Lewin’s
change model, the action research model, and the positive model. Next, we present a
general model of planned change that integrates the earlier models and incorporates recent
conceptual advances in OD. The general model has broad applicability to many types of
planned change efforts and serves to organize the chapters in this book. We then discuss
different types of change and how the process can vary depending on the change situation.
Finally, we present several critiques of planned change.

THEORIES OF PLANNED CHANGE

Conceptions of planned change have tended to focus on how change can be implemented in
organizations.
Called “theories of changing,” these frameworks describe the activities that must take place
to initiate and carry out successful organizational change.

Lewin’s Change Model

One of the earliest models of planned change was provided by Kurt Lewin. He conceived of
change as modification of those forces keeping a system’s behavior stable.

Lewin viewed this change process as consisting of the following three steps, which are
shown above.
 Unfreezing. This step usually involves reducing those forces maintaining the
organization’s behavior at its present level. Unfreezing is sometimes accomplished
through a process of “psychological disconfirmation.” By introducing information that
shows discrepancies between behaviors desired by organization members and those
behaviors currently exhibited, members can be motivated to engage in change
activities.
  Moving/ Change. This step shifts the behavior of the organization, department, or
individual to a new level. It involves intervening in the system to develop new
behaviors, values, and attitudes through changes in organizational structures and
processes.

 Refreezing. This step stabilizes the organization at a new state of equilibrium. It is

frequently accomplished using supporting mechanisms that reinforce the new
organizational state, such as organizational culture, rewards, and structures.

Lewin’s model provides a general framework for understanding organizational change.

Because the three steps of change are relatively broad, considerable effort has gone into
elaborating them.

Action Research Model

The classic action research model focuses on planned change as a cyclical process in which
initial research about the organization provides information to guide subsequent action.
Then the results of the action are assessed to provide further information to guide further
action, and so on. This iterative cycle of research and action involves considerable
collaboration among organization members and OD practitioners. It places heavy emphasis
on data gathering and diagnosis prior to action planning and implementation, as well as
careful evaluation of results after action is taken.

Action research is traditionally aimed both at helping specific organizations implement

planned change and at developing more general knowledge that can be applied to other
settings. Although action research was originally developed to have this dual focus on
change and knowledge generation, it has been adapted to OD efforts in which the major
emphasis is on planned change.

 Problem Identification. This stage usually begins when an executive in the

organization or someone with power and influence senses that the organization has
one or more problems that might be solved with the help of an OD practitioner.
 Consultation with a Behavioral Science Expert. During the initial contact, the OD
practitioner and the client carefully assess each other. The practitioner has his or her
own normative, developmental theory or frame of reference and must be conscious
of those assumptions and values. Sharing them with the client from the beginning
establishes an open and collaborative atmosphere.
 Data Gathering and Preliminary Diagnosis. This step is usually completed by the OD
practitioner, often in conjunction with organization members. It involves gathering
appropriate information and analyzing it to determine the underlying causes of
organizational problems. The four basic methods of gathering data are interviews,
process observation, questionnaires, and organizational performance data
(unfortunately, often overlooked). One approach to diagnosis begins with
observation, proceeds to a semi structured interview, and concludes with a
questionnaire to measure precisely the problems identified by the earlier steps.
When gathering diagnostic information, OD practitioners may influence members
from whom they are collecting data. In OD, any action by the OD practitioner can be
viewed as an intervention that will have some effect on the organization.
 Feedback to a Key Client or Group. Because action research is a collaborative
activity, the diagnostic data are fed back to the client, usually in a group or work
team meeting. The feedback step, in which members are given the information
gathered by the OD practitioner, helps them determine the strengths and
weaknesses of the organization or unit under study. The consultant provides the
client with all relevant and useful data. Obviously, the practitioner will protect
confidential sources of information and, at times, may even withhold data. Defining
what is relevant and useful involves consideration of privacy and ethics as well as
judgment about whether the group is ready for the information or if the information
would make the client overly defensive.
 Joint Diagnosis of the Problem. At this point, members discuss the feedback and
explore with the OD practitioner whether they want to work on identified problems. A
 close interrelationship exists among data gathering, feedback, and diagnosis because
the consultant summarizes the basic data from the client members and presents the
data to them for validation and further diagnosis. An important point to remember, as
Schein suggests, is that the action research process is very different from the doctor–
patient model, in which the consultant comes in, makes a diagnosis, an prescribes a
solution. Schein notes that the failure to establish a common frame of reference in
the client–consultant relationship may lead to a faulty diagnosis or to a
communication gap whereby the client is sometimes “unwilling to believe the
diagnosis or accept the prescription.” He believes that “most companies have
drawers full of reports by consultants, each loaded with diagnoses and
recommendations which are either not understood or not accepted by the ‘patient.’”
 Joint Action Planning. Next, the OD practitioner and the client members jointly agree
on further actions to be taken. This is the beginning of the moving process (described
in Lewin’s change model), as the organization decides how best to reach a different
quasi-stationary equilibrium. At this stage, the specific action to be taken depends on
the culture, technology, and environment of the organization; the diagnosis of the
problem; and the time and expense of the intervention.
 Action. This stage involves the actual change from one organizational state to
another. It may include installing new methods and procedures, reorganizing
structures and work designs, and reinforcing new behaviors. Such actions typically
cannot be implemented immediately but require a transition period as the
organization moves from the present to a desired future state.
 Data Gathering After Action. Because action research is a cyclical process, data must
also be gathered after the action has been taken to measure and determine the
effects of the action and to feed the results back to the organization. This, in turn,
may lead to re-diagnosis and new action.

The Positive Model

The third model of change, the positive model, represents an important departure from
Lewin’s model and the action research process. Those models are primarily deficit based;
they focus on the organization’s problems and how they can be solved so it functions better.
The positive model focuses on what the organization is doing right. It helps members
understand their organization when it is working at its best and builds off those capabilities
to achieve even better results.
 Initiate the Inquiry. This first phase determines the subject of change. It emphasizes
member involvement to identify the organizational issue they have the most energy
to address. For example, members can choose to look for successful male–female
collaboration (as opposed to sexual discrimination), instances of customer
satisfaction (as opposed to customer dissatisfaction), particularly effective work
teams, or product development processes that brought new ideas to market
especially fast. If the focus of inquiry is real and vital to organization members, the
change process itself will take on these positive attributes.
 Inquire into Best Practices. This phase involves gathering information about the “best
of what is” in the organization. If the topic is organizational innovation, then
members help to develop an interview protocol that collects stories of new ideas that
were developed and implemented in the organization. The interviews are conducted
by organization members; they interview each other and tell stories of innovation in
which they have personally been involved. These stories are pulled together to
create a pool of information describing the organization as an innovative system.
 Discover the Themes. In this third phase, members examine the stories, both large
and small, to identify a set of themes representing the common dimensions of
people’s experiences. For example, the stories of innovation may contain themes
about how managers gave people the freedom to explore a new idea, the support
organization members received from their coworkers, or how the exposure to
customers sparked creative thinking. No theme is too small to be represented; it is
important that all of the underlying mechanisms that helped to generate and support
the themes be described. The themes represent the basis for moving from “what is”
to “what could be.”
  Envision a Preferred Future. Members then examine the identified themes, challenge
the status quo, and describe a compelling future. Based on the organization’s
successful past, members collectively visualize the organization’s future and develop
“possibility propositions”—statements that bridge the organization’s current best
practices with ideal possibilities for future organizing.27 These propositions should
present a truly exciting, provocative, and possible picture of the future.
 Design and Deliver Ways to Create the Future. The final phase involves the design
and delivery of ways to create the future. It describes the activities and creates the
plans necessary to bring about the vision. It proceeds to action and assessment
phases similar to those of action research described previously.

General Model of Planned Change

The three models of planned change suggest a general framework for planned change. The
framework describes the four basic activities that practitioners and organization members
jointly carry out in organization development. The arrows connecting the different activities
in the model show the typical sequence of events, from entering and contracting, to
diagnosing, to planning and implementing change, to evaluating and institutionalizing
change. The lines connecting the activities emphasize that organizational change is not a
straightforward, linear process but involves considerable overlap and feedback among the
activities.

THE ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT (OD) PRACTITIONER

OD practitioners are those people specializing in OD as a profession. They may be internal or
external consultants who offer professional services to organizations, including their top
managers, functional department heads, and staff groups. OD professionals traditionally
have shared a common set of humanistic values promoting open communications, employee
involvement, and personal growth and development. They tend to have common training,
skills, and experience in the social processes of organizations (for example, group dynamics,
decision making, and communications). In recent years, OD professionals have expanded
those traditional values and skill sets to include more concern for organizational
effectiveness, competitiveness, and bottom-line results, and greater attention to the
technical, structural, and strategic parts of organizations. That expansion, mainly in
response to the highly
competitive demands facing modern organizations, has resulted in a more diverse set of OD
professionals geared to helping organizations cope with those pressure.

More OD practitioners are gaining professional competence in related specialties, such as

business process reengineering, reward systems, and organization design. Conversely,
many specialists in those related areas are achieving professional competence in OD.

Competencies of an Effective Organization Development Practitioner

Careers of Organization Development Professionals
In contrast to such long-standing occupations as medicine and law, organization
development is an emerging practice, still developing the characteristics of an established
profession: a common body of knowledge, educational requirements, a recognized code of
ethics, and rules and methods for governing conduct. People enter professional OD careers
from various educational and work backgrounds. Because they do not have to follow an
established career path, they have some choice about when to enter or leave an OD career
and whether to be an internal or external consultant. Despite the looseness or flexibility of
the field, most professionals have had specific training in OD.

As might be expected, career choices widen as people gain training and experience in OD.
Those with rudimentary training tend to be internal consultants, often taking on OD roles as
temporary assignments on the way to higher managerial or staff positions.
Holders of master’s degrees generally are evenly split between internal and external
consultants. Those with doctorates may join a university faculty and do consulting part-time,
join a consulting firm, or seek a position as a relatively high-level internal consultant.
External consultants tend to be older, to have more managerial experience, and to spend
more of their time in OD than do internal practitioners. However, one study suggested there
were no differences between internal and external consultants in pay or years of consulting
experience.
Perhaps the most common career path is to begin as an internal consultant, gain experience
and visibility through successful interventions or publishing, and then become an external
consultant. A field study found that internal consultants acquired greater competence by
working with external consultants who purposely helped develop them. This development
took place through a tutorial arrangement of joint diagnosis and intervention in the
organization, which gave the internal consultants a chance to observe and learn from the
model furnished by the external consultants. There is increasing evidence that an OD career
can be stressful, sometimes leading to burnout. Burnout comes from taking on too many
jobs, becoming overcommitted, and generally working too hard. The number-one complaint
of OD practitioners is constant traveling.

Professional Ethics
Values have played a key role in OD, and traditional values promoting trust, collaboration,
and openness have been supplemented recently with concerns for improving organizational
effectiveness and productivity. OD specialists may face value dilemmas in trying to jointly
optimize human benefits and organization performance. They also may encounter value
conflicts when dealing with powerful external stakeholders, such as the government,
stockholders, and customers. Dealing with those outside groups may take political skills, as
well as the more traditional social skills.

Ethical issues in OD involve how practitioners perform their helping role with clients. As a
profession, OD always has shown a concern for the ethical conduct of its practitioners, and
several ethical codes for OD practice have been developed by various professional
associations. Ethical dilemmas in OD arise around misrepresentation, misuse of data,
coercion, value and goal conflict, and technical ineptness.

Reference/s:
 Organization Development & Change. Thomas G. Cummings & Christopher G. Worley.
South-Western Cengage Learning. Copyright © 2008
 Beckhard, Richard. Organization Development: Strategies and Models. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, 1969.