Literature Summary Organizational Development – ‘22/’23
Week 1
Cummings & Worley Chapter 1 – General introduction to OD
Organizational Development is a system-wide application and transfer of behavioral science
knowledge to the planned development, improvement and reinforcement of the strategies
and processes that lead to organization effectiveness.
Fist, OD applies to changes in the strategy, structure and/or processes of an entire system,
such as an organization, a single plant of a multiplant firm, a department or work group, or
individual role or job. A change program aimed at modifying an organization’s strategy, for
example, might focus on how the organization related to a wider environment. It might
include changes both in the grouping of people to perform tasks (structure) and in methods
of communicating and solving problems (process) to support the changes in strategy.
Second, OD is based on the application and transfer of behavioral science knowledge and
practice such as leadership, group dynamics and work design (microconcepts) and strategy,
organization design and culture change (macro approaches).
Third, OD is concerned with managing planned change. OD is more an adaptive process for
planning and implementing change than a blueprint for how things should be done.
Fourth. OD involves the design, implementation and subsequent reinforcement of change.
Fifth, OD is oriented to improving organizational effectiveness. Effectiveness is best
measured along 3 dimensions:
1. OD affirms that an affective organization is able to solve its own problems and to
continually improve itself. OD helps organization members gain skills and knowledge
necessary to conduct these activities
2. An effective organization has high financial and technical performance. Od helps
organizations achieve these ends by leveraging social science practices to lower
costs, improve products and services and increase productivity.
3. An effective organization has engaged, satisfied and learning workforce as well as
satisfied and loyal customers or other stakeholders.
Organization development can be distinguishable from change management and
organizational change. They differ however in their underlying value orientation:
OD’s behavioral science foundation supports values of human potential,
participation and development in addition to performance and competitive
advantage. It is intended to change the organization in a particular direction, toward
improved problem solving, responsiveness and effectiveness.
Change management focusses more on values of cost, quality and schedule. It is a
broader concept than OD. It is more broadly focused and can apply to any kind of
change including technical and managerial innovations.
,The Growth and Relevance of Organization Development
Three trends are shaping change in organizations:
1. Globalization: changes the markets and environments in which organizations
operate as well as the way they function. It intensifies the economic
interdependence. Globalization affects organizations ecologically, expanding their
access to natural resources yet making the planet more susceptible to abuse by
organizations.
2. Information technology: redefines traditional business model by changing how work
is performed, how knowledge is used and how the cost of doing business is
calculated. The way an organization collects, stores, manipulates, uses and transmits
information can lower costs and increase the value and quality of products and
services.
3. Managerial innovation: has responded to globalization and information technology
trends and has accelerated their impact on organizations. New organizational forms
such as networks, strategic alliances and virtual corporations, provide organizations
with new ways of thinking about how to manufacture goods and deliver services.
A short History of Organization Development
OD emerged from 5 backgrounds:
1. First was the growth of the National Training Laboratories (NTL) and the
development of training groups.
2. Second stem of OD was the classic work on action research conducted by social
scientists interested in applying research to managing change.
3. Third stem reflects a normative view of OD
4. Fourth background is the approach focusing on productivity and the quality of work
life.
5. Fifth stem of OD, and the most recent influence on current practice, involves
strategic change and organization transformation.
,Laboratory Training Background
This stem of OD pioneered laboratory training, or the T-group – a small, unstructured group
in which participants learn from their own interactions and evolving group processes about
such issues as interpersonal relations, personal growth, leadership and group dynamics. The
researchers drew 2 conclusions about the first T-group experiment:
- Feedback about group interactions was a rich learning experience
- The process of group building had potential for learning that could be transferred to
‘back-home’ situations.
Over time, T-groups have declined as an OD intervention. They are closely associated with
that side of OD’s reputation as a ‘touchy-feely’ process. The practical aspects of T-group
techniques for organizations gradually became known as team building – a process for
helping work groups become more effective in accomplishing tasks and satisfying member
needs. Team building is one of the most common OD interventions today.
Action research and Survey-Feedback Background
The action research discovered that research needed to be closely linked to action if
organization members were to use it to manage change
Normative Background
There is a belief that a human relations approach represented a ‘one best way’ to manage
organizations. Likert’s Participative Management Program characterized organizations as
having one of 4 types of management systems:
1. Exploitive authoritative systems (System 1): exhibit an autocratic, top-down
approach to leadership. Employee motivation is based on punishment and
occasional rewards. Communication is primarily downward and there is little lateral
interaction or teamwork. System 1 results in mediocre performance.
2. Benevolent authoritative systems (System 2): are similar to system 1 except that
management is more paternalistic. Employees are allowed a little more interaction
within boundaries defined by management.
3. Consultative systems (System 3): increase employee interaction, communication
and decision making. Although employees are consulted about problems and
decisions, management still makes the final decisions. Productivity is good, and
employees are moderately satisfied with the organization.
4. Participative group systems (System 4): are almost the opposite of system 1. This is
a system fostered with high degrees of member involvement and participation.
Communications occurs both laterally and vertically and decisions are linked
throughout the organization. System 4 achieves high levels of productivity, quality
and member satisfaction.
Productivity and quality of Work-Life Background
The contribution of the productivity and quality-of-work-life (QWL) background to OD can
be described in two phases. First phase: original projects developed in Europe and their
emergence in the US. It developed work designs aimed at better integrating technology and
people. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of these QWL programs was the
discovery of self-managing work groups as a form of work design. These groups were
composed of multiskilled workers who were given the necessary autonomy and information
to design and manage their own task performances.
, A second definition of QWL defined it as an approach or method. People defined QWL in
terms of specific techniques and approaches used for improving work. It was viewed as
synonymous with methods such as job enrichment, self-managed teams and labor-
management committees.
Strategic Change Background
The strategic change background is a recent influence on OD’s evolution. As organizations
have become more global and information intensive and their environments have become
more complex and uncertain, the scale and intricacies of organizational change have
increased. Strategic change involves improving the alignment among an organization’s
design, strategy and environment.
Cummings & Worley Chapter 2 – The nature of planned change
Theories of Planned Change
In this section, we describe and compare 3 theories of changing:
1. Lewin’s change model
2. The action research model
3. Positive model
Lewin’s Change Model
A particular set of behaviors at any moment in times is the result of 2 groups of forces:
- Those striving to maintain the status quo
- Those pushing for change
When both sets of forces are about equal, current behaviors are maintained in a state of
quasi-stationary-equilibrium. To change that state, one can increase those forces pushing
for change, decrease those forces maintaining the current state.
Lewin suggested that decreasing forces maintaining the status quo produces less tension
and resistance than increasing forces for change and consequently is more effective change
strategy. Lewin viewed this change process as consisting of the following 3 steps:
1. Unfreezing: reducing those forces maintaining the organization’s behavior at its
present level. 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
2. Moving: this step shifts the behavior of the organization to a new level. It involves
intervening in the system to develop new behaviors, values and attitudes.
3. Refreezing: this step stabilizes the organization at a new state of equilibrium.
Action Research Model
Focusses on planned change as a cyclical process. Figure 2.1b shows the cyclical phases of
planned changes as defined by the original action research model. There are 8 main steps:
1. Problem identification: begins with an executive in the organization who senses that
the organization has one or more problems.
2. Consultation with a behavioral science expert: the OD practitioner and the client
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
