Human Skills: Organizational Development
“Organization Development is an effort planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization’s ‘processes,’ using behavioral-science knowledge.”
“OD is a planned process of developing an organization to be more effective in accomplishing its desired goals.”
One of the most frequently cited definitions of OD comes from Richard Beckhard (1969), an early leader in the field of OD:
“Organization development is an effort (1) planned, (2) organization wide, and
(3) managed from the top, to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through
(5) planned interventions in the organization’s “processes,” using behavioral-science knowledge.”
Wendell French has identified typical objectives of an OD training programme as follows :
1. To increase the level of trust and support among organizational members.
2. To increase the incidence of confrontation of organizational problems, both within groups and among groups, in contrast to “sweeping problems under the rug”.
3. To create an environment in which authority of assigned role is augmented by authority based on knowledge and skills.
4. To increase the openness of communication laterally, vertically and diagonally.
5. To increase the level of personal enthusiasm and satisfaction in the organization.
6. To find synergistic solutions to problems with greater frequency. Synergistic solutions are creative solutions in which 2 + 2 equals more than 4, and through which all parties gain more through co-operation than through conflict.
7. To increase the level of self and group responsibility in planning and implementation.
Following are a few OD Intervention techniques discussed :
a) Eliminating Hierarchical Decision-Making
b) Focusing on Groups
c) Building Trust
d) Reducing Unnecessary Competition
e) Investing in Employees
f) Interim Measurements of Control
g) Active Employee Participation
h) Strategic Interventions