The Key Phases of an Organizations Development
Millan Ochieng Otieno
Health Systems Manager I Resource Morbilizer I Strategic Management I Certified Quality Manager I CQSP
Introduction
What is Organization Development?
Organization development (OD) is any process or activity, based upon the behavioral sciences that either in the short term period or the long term period have the potential to develop in an organizational setting. (Kapur Radhika, 2018). Organization development is a process that applies a broad range of behavioral science knowledge and practices to help organizations build their capacity to change and to achieve greater effectiveness, including increased financial performance, customer satisfaction, and organization member engagement (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009). 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 (Joan V. Gallos,2006).
The definitions so analyzed contain the elements which are important for OD. To summarize, here are the primary distinguishing characteristics of organisational developments:
It encourages the involvement and participation by all the level of organisation in the problem solving and decision-making (Dilfraz Singh,
By the term "culture" in our definition we mean prevailing patterns of activities, interactions, norms, sentiments (including feelings), attitudes, values, and products (Wendell L. French et al,)
Enhanced knowledge, expertise, productivity, satisfaction, income, interpersonal relationships, team spirit, and other desired outcomes such as goodwill are the factors that are meant to prove to be advantageous to the individual, group, team, society, region, nation or the whole humanity. Organization development’s primary emphasis has been laid upon the relationships between individuals and groups, so that there is cooperation and mutuality between them so that they can work together in harmony towards the progress of the organization (Kapur Radhika, 2018).?Organization development differs from other planned change efforts, such as project management or innovation, because the focus is on building the organization’s ability to assess its current functioning and to achieve its goals (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009). ?
Different levels of Organization development
Comprise of six overlapping and nonlinear stages of change: entering and contracting, diagnosis and feedback, assessing organizational and client factors, planning and implementation, evaluation and institutionalization, and empowering– withdrawal stages (Maxwell. A. Asumeng et al, 2015).
Entering and Contracting,
Entering and contracting are the initial steps in the OD process. They involve defining in a preliminary manner the organization’s problems or opportunities for development and establishing a collaborative relationship between the OD practitioner and members of the client system about how to work on those issues. Entering and contracting set the initial parameters for carrying out the subsequent phases of OD: diagnosing the organization, planning and implementing changes, and evaluating and institutionalizing them. They help to define what issues will be addressed by those activities, who will carry y them out, and how they will be accomplished (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009).
?It?serves?to?establish?a?relationship?between?an?organisation?and?the?OD consultant or?OD?practitioner who could be internally appointed. The?complexity?of?the entering?and?contracting?stages?and?formality?of?the?OD?process?depends?on?various situations. The process of entering firstly receives attention where entering can be seen as the beginning of a relationship between professional OD consultant and an organization (Mofolo, Malefetsane, 2014). Entering an organization involves gathering initial data to understand the problems facing the organization or the positive opportunities for inquiry. Once this information is collected, the problems or opportunities are discussed with managers and other organization members to develop a contract or agreement to engage in planned change. The contract spells out future change activities, the resources that will be committed to the process, and how practitioners of OD and organization members will be involved (B.Pratap, 2019).
Contracting can be seen as the extension of entering into an OD relationship in an organisation, and it should clarify how the OD process will take place. The contract must be well drawn up and that it should be clearly defined between an organisation and the professional OD consultant. This means that, firstly, the terms of the contract or expectations must be stipulated before any attempt could be made to initiate the OD process, and this activity is referred to as compiling a letter of agreement or a memorandum of understanding (Mofolo, Malefetsane, 2014). Contracting in this context refers to clarifying what each party expects in terms of key deliverables, outcomes, timescales, available resources and budget (NHS North West Leadership Academy,n.d).
In conclusion Organizational entry involves clarifying the organizational issue or presenting problem, determining the relevant client, and selecting an OD practitioner. Developing an OD contract focuses on making a good decision about whether to proceed and allows both the client and the OD practitioner to clarify expectations about how the change process will unfold. Contracting involves setting mutual expectations, negotiating time and resources, and developing ground rules for working together (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009).
Diagnosis and Feedback,
Organizational diagnosis is a creative method for getting to know an organization at all levels- from the surface levels to the deepest hidden parts that aren’t visible to the eye (Appelbaum, Steven, 2020). Diagnosis is the process of understanding how the organization is currently functioning, and it provides the information necessary to design change interventions. It generally follows from successful entry and contracting, which set the stage for successful diagnosis. Those processes help OD practitioners and client members jointly determine organizational issues to focus on, how to collect and analyze data to understand them, and how to work together to develop action steps from the diagnosis (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009).
In this stage of planned change, the client system is carefully studied. Diagnoses can focus on understanding organizational problems, including their causes and consequences, or on identifying the organization's positive attributes. The diagnostic process is one of the most important activities in OD. It includes choosing an appropriate model for understanding the organization and gathering, analyzing, and feeding back information to managers and organization members about the problems or opportunities that exist (B.Pratap, 2019).
?Diagnosis is the process of understanding a system’s current functioning. It involves collecting pertinent information about current operations, analyzing those data, and drawing conclusions for potential change and improvement. Effective diagnosis provides the systematic knowledge of the organization needed to design appropriate interventions (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009).
Diagnostic models for analyzing problems explore three levels of activities. Organization issues represent the most complex level of analysis and involve the total system. Group-level issues are associated with department and group effectiveness. Individual-level issues involve the way jobs are designed. Gathering, analyzing, and feeding back data are the central change activities in diagnosis. Describes how data can be gathered through interviews, observations, survey instruments, or such archival sources as meeting minutes and organization charts. It also explains how data can be reviewed and analyzed (B.Pratap, 2019).
Assessing Organizational and Client Factors,
An?organisational assessment?is a systematic process for obtaining valid information about the performance of an?organisation?and the factors that affect performance. It differs from other types of evaluations because the?assessment?focuses on the?organisation?as the primary unit of analysis (Katrina Rojas et al, n.d)
This phase focuses on identifying those factors capable of influencing whether a planned change would be successful, accepted, implemented and adopted. Examples of such organizational factors are readiness, resources, support of all members, perceived need to change, perceived self-efficacy to manage change, and perceived psychological cost of the expected change. The pertinent practitioner factors that change agents may need to assess include their motivation, capability, resources (e.g. ample time), power, and relevant skills required to implement the necessary intervention strategies (e.g. whole systems/global intervention strategies). It is important to note that activities at this stage should also include feedback to organizational members, and seek to address any potential barriers to the planning and implementation of the necessary interventions. Overall, the purpose of this stage should be to create readiness for change, ensure suitability of the change agent, and set expectation regarding the type and level of intervention that can be achieved (Maxwell. A. Asumeng et al, 2015).
Planning and Implementation,
Organizational development (OD) is a set of planned-change techniques or interventions designed to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being (Fred C. Lunenburg, 2010). In this stage, organization members and practitioners jointly plan and implement OD interventions. They design interventions to achieve the organization's vision or goals and make action plans to implement them. There are several criteria for designing interventions, including the organization's readiness for change, its current change capability, its culture and power distributions, and the change agent's skills and abilities (B.Pratap, 2019).
领英推荐
Planning involves the plan or pattern of act that adds company main goals, policies and action systems are unified into a whole. Planning methods empower managers to convert data into valued decisions and appropriate actions. Planning should involve developing objectives or the organizational strategic plans and looking for resources that would best be suited in achieving the organizational goals as outlined in strategic plans. Planning also involves developing the tracking and assessment method that will be used to monitor the project process. Planning is normally where the direction of the business is made through a multiplicity of activities comprising the making of goals (Felistus Kabiru et al, 2018)
Data are used by the group to suggest specific recommendations for change. They discuss the problems, faced by the organisation and sketch specific plans including who is responsible for problems and their solutions and what action should be taken and at what time (Tamanna. s. n.d).
?Depending on the outcomes of diagnosis, there are four major types of interventions in OD:
Implementing interventions is concerned with managing the change process. It includes motivating change, creating a desired future vision of the organization, developing political support, managing the transition toward the vision, and sustaining momentum for change (B.Pratap, 2019).
Evaluation and Institutionalization,
The final stage in planned change involves evaluating the effects of the intervention and managing the institutionalization of successful change programs (B.Pratap, 2019). Evaluation processes consider both the implementation success of the intended intervention and the long-term results it produces. Two key as pects of effective evaluation are measurement and research design. The persistence of interven tion effects is examined in a framework showing the organiza tion characteristics, intervention dimensions, and processes contributing to institutionalization of OD interventions in organizations (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009).
Measurement issues focus on selecting variables and designing good measures. Ideally, measurement decisions should derive from the theory underlying the intervention and should include measures of the features of the intervention and its immediate and long-term consequences. Further, these measures should be operationally defined, reliable, and valid and should involve multiple methods, such as a combination of questionnaires, interviews, and company records.
Research design focuses on setting up the conditions for making valid assessments of an intervention’s effects. This involves ruling out explanations for the observed results other than the intervention. Although randomized experimental designs are rarely feasible in OD, quasi-experimental designs exist for eliminating alternative explanations (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009).
Feedback to organization members about the intervention's results provides information about whether the changes should be continued, modified, or suspended. Institutionalizing successful changes involves reinforcing them through feedback, rewards, and training. It demonstrates how traditional planned change activities, such as entry and contracting, survey feedback, and change planning, can be combined with contemporary methods, such as large-group interventions and high levels of participation (B.Pratap, 2019).
Once?it is determined?that?a?change?has?been?implemented?and?is effective,?attention?is?directed?at
institutionalizing?the changes--making them a?permanent?part?of the organization's normal?functioning (zeepedia.com , n.d). Institutionalization is the process by which a set of activities becomes an integral and sustainable part of a formal system. It can be seen as a sequence of events leading to “new practices becoming standard practice (Zida Aet al, 2018).
?
OD interventions are institutionalized when the change program persists and becomes part of the organization’s normal functioning. A framework for understanding and improving the institutionalization of interventions identified organization characteristics (congruence, stability of environment and technology, and unionization) and intervention characteristics (goal specificity, programmability, level of change target, internal support, and sponsorship) that affect institutionalization processes. The framework also described specific institutionalization processes (socialization, commitment, reward allocation, diffusion, and sensing and calibration) that directly affect indicators of intervention persistence (knowledge, performance, preferences, normative consensus, and value consensus) (Thomas G. Cummings et al, 2009).
Empowering– Withdrawal Stages
Empowering–withdrawal should have two pathways.
1)?????The change agent, following institutionalization of the change and before withdrawal from their role, should consciously train and empower key organizational members to continuously learn (research/inquire), and proactively plan successful changes ahead of anticipated change situations. Key organizational members may consist of a group of motivated members (including at least a manager or an executive), strongly interested in, and dedicated to activities that promote organizational effectiveness.
2)?????The change agent, following institutionalization of the change, may work with organizational members on a continuous basis, to help the whole organization to engage in constant learning activities. The advantage of this recommended pathway is that together with the change agent, organizations can continuously acquire, create, and use knowledge to alter their fundamental strategies, processes, and practices. This way, organizations are likely to develop a culture of constant learning, and as a result, remain learning organizations over the long term (Maxwell. A. Asumeng et al, 2015).
The existing literature defines empowerment broadly as a relational and motivational construct, psychological and structural dimension, the psychological and multidimensional perspective and psychological and environmental empowerment (Bijaya Mishra et al)
Conclusion
Healthcare Organizations have to fully evaluate the OD phases and utilize them by developing programs for correcting the deviations and/or improvements. The organizations have an opportunity to work with both internal and external consultants to guide them through the organizational development. All the steps in the OD processes should be followed by the organization in order to derive full range of OD benefits.
?
Reference