Description ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬ ‫وزارة التعليم‬ ‫الجامعة السعودية اإللكترونية‬ Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education Saudi

‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
‫وزارة التعليم‬
‫الجامعة السعودية اإللكترونية‬
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Ministry of Education
Saudi Electronic University
College of Administrative and Financial Sciences
Assignment 3
Organization Design and Development (MGT 404)
Due Date: 04/05/2024 @ 23:59
Course Name:
Student’s Name:
Course Code: MGT404
Student’s ID Number:
Semester: Second
CRN:
Academic Year: 2023-24 – Second
For Instructor’s Use only
Instructor’s Name:
Students’ Grade:
Marks Obtained/Out of 10
Level of Marks: High/Middle/Low
General Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via allocated
folder.
Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.
Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented, marks may be reduced
for poor presentation. This includes filling your information on the cover page.
Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.
Late submission will NOT be accepted.
Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from students or other
resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO marks. No exceptions.
All answered must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced) font. No
pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered plagiarism).
Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Describe the basic steps of the organizational development process.
2. Evaluate the strategic role of change in the organization and its impact on
organizational performance.
3. Analyze the human, structural and strategic dimensions of organizational
development.
4. Analyse the ethical issues of the organizational development processes.
Assignment Question(s):
Read the case Lincoln Hospital: Third Party Intervention from book Organization
Development and Change by Cummings. take notes on the diagnosis and
intervention stages for this case and answer the following questions:
1. If you had been called by Lincoln’s president to help resolve the problems
described in the case, how would you have carried out the contracting and
diagnosis stages? (2 Marks) (150 Words)
2. What would you have done differently than what the OD consultant did? (2
Marks) (150 Words)
3. Do you think that the third-party intervention is an appropriate intervention in
this case? Why? (2 Marks) (150 Words)
4. What are some other OD interventions that can be appropriate in this case?
Why? (2 Marks) (150 Words)
5. How effective was the third-party intervention? And evaluate its impact. (2
Marks) (150 Words)
Note:
•
•
•
Use the concepts developed in this course in your answers.
You must include at least 5 references.
Format your references using APA style.
Answers
1. Answer2. Answer3. Answer-
© Pixmann/Imagezoo/Getty Images
10e
Organization
Development & Change
Thomas G. Cummings
University of Southern California
Christopher G. Worley
University of Southern California
Pepperdine University
Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States
Organization Development & Change,
Tenth Edition
Thomas G. Cummings and Christopher
G. Worley
Senior Vice President, LRS/Acquisitions &
Solutions Planning: Jack W. Calhoun
Editorial Director, Business & Economics:
Erin Joyner
Product Director: Michael Schenk
Product Manager: Scott Person
Content Developer: Sarah Blasco
Product Assistant: Tamara Grega
Brand Manager: Robin LeFevre
© 2015, 2009 Cengage Learning
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright
herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored or used in any form or by
any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited
to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution,
information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems,
except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States
Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
For product information and technology assistance, contact us at
Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706.
For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all
requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions.
Further permissions questions can be emailed to
[email protected]
Market Development Manager:
Emily Horowitz
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013935704
Marketing Coordinator: Michael Saver
ISBN-13: 978-1-133-19045-5
Manufacturing Planner: Ron Montgomery
Art and Cover Direction, Production
Management, and Composition:
PreMediaGlobal
Associate Media Developer: Courtney
Bavaro
Rights Acquisition Director: Audrey
Pettengill
Senior Rights Acquisition Specialist, Text
and Image: Amber Hosea
Cover Image: © Pixmann/Imagezoo/
Getty Images
ISBN-10: 1-133-19045-6
Cengage Learning
200 First Stamford Place, 4th Floor
Stamford, CT 06902
USA
Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations around the globe, including Singapore, the
United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. Locate your local
office at: www.cengage.com/global.
Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by
Nelson Education, Ltd.
To learn more about Cengage Learning Solutions, visit
www.cengage.com.
Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our
preferred online store www.cengagebrain.com.
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 17 16 15 14 13
Dedication
To Chailin and Debbie, still the loves of our lives
And to our wonderful children, Catherine Cummings
and Sarah, Hannah, and Samuel Worley
In Memory of the Fallen
Larry Greiner
Richard Hackman
Tony Raia
Edie Seashore
Charlie Seashore
In Loving Memory
Jessica Joan Worley
© Pixmann/Imagezoo/Getty Images
Brief Contents
Preface
xvi
About the Authors
xxii
CHAPTER 1
General Introduction to Organization
Development
CHAPTER 2
The Nature of Planned Change
CHAPTER 3
The Organization Development Practitioner
1
20
CHAPTER 4
Entering and Contracting
CHAPTER 5
Diagnosing
CHAPTER 7
Designing Interventions
CHAPTER 8
Managing Change
45
CHAPTER 12
Restructuring Organizations
iv
Transformational Change
Continuous Change
CHAPTER 20
157
179
207
264
438
439
473
497
Transorganizational Change
528
529
569
605
PART 7 Special Applications of
Organization Development
658
CHAPTER 21
Organization Development for Economic,
Ecological, and Social Outcomes
659
CHAPTER 22
Organization Development in Nonindustrial
Settings: Health Care, School Systems,
the Public Sector, and Family–Owned
685
CHAPTER 23
297
PART 4 Technostructural
Interventions
Interventions
CHAPTER 19
123
403
PART 6 Strategic Change
89
Interpersonal and Group Process Approaches 265
Organization Process Approaches
Workforce Diversity and Wellness
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
Talent Management
75
PART 3 Human Process
Interventions
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 9
Evaluating and Institutionalizing
Organization Development Interventions
Interventions
CHAPTER 16
74
375
PART 5 Human Resource
21
CHAPTER 6
Collecting, Analyzing, and Feeding Back
Diagnostic Information
CHAPTER 14
Performance Management
PART 2 The Process of Organization
Development
Employee Involvement
Work Design
PART 1 Overview of Organization
Development
CHAPTER 13
338
339
Future Directions in Organization
Development
731
Glossary
784
Name Index
793
Subject Index
797
© Pixmann/Imagezoo/Getty Images
Contents
Preface
About the Authors
CHAPT ER 1
xvi
xxii
General Introduction to Organization Development
1-1
Organization Development Defined 1
1-2
The Growth and Relevance of Organization Development
1-3
A Short History of Organization Development 7
1-3a Laboratory Training Background 8
1-3b Action Research and Survey-Feedback Background 8
1-3c Normative Background 9
1-3d Productivity and Quality-of-Work-Life Background 11
1-3e Strategic Change Background 13
1-4
Evolution in Organization Development 13
1-5
Overview of the Book 15
1
4
Summary 17
Notes
PART 1
CHAPT ER 2
17
Overview of Organization Development
The Nature of Planned Change
20
21
2-1
Theories of Planned Change 22
2-1a Lewin’s Change Model 22
2-1b Action Research Model 24
2-1c The Positive Model 26
2-1d Comparisons of Change Models
2-2
General Model of Planned Change 28
2-2a Entering and Contracting 28
2-2b Diagnosing 29
2-2c Planning and Implementing Change 29
2-2d Evaluating and Institutionalizing Change 30
2-3
Different Types of Planned Change 30
2-3a Magnitude of Change 30
27
Application 2.1 Planned Change at the San Diego County Regional Airport
Authority 31
2-3b Degree of Organization 34
2-3c Domestic versus International Settings 35
Application 2.2 Planned Change in an Underorganized System 36
2-4
Critique of Planned Change 40
2-4a Conceptualization of Planned Change
2-4b Practice of Planned Change 41
40
v
vi
CONTENTS
Summary
Notes
CHAPT ER 3
42
42
The Organization Development Practitioner
45
3-1
Who Is the Organization Development Practitioner?
46
3-2
Competencies of an Effective Organization Development Practitioner
3-2a Intrapersonal Skills or “Self-Management” Competence 48
3-2b Interpersonal Skills 51
3-2c General Consultation Skills 51
3-2d Organization Development Theory 52
3-3
The Professional Organization Development Practitioner 52
3-3a Role of Organization Development Professional Positions 52
47
Application 3.1 Personal Views of the Internal and External Consulting
Positions 55
3-3b Careers of Organization Development Professionals 59
3-4
Professional Values 60
3-5
Professional Ethics 61
3-5a Ethical Guidelines 61
3-5b Ethical Dilemmas 62
Application 3.2 Kindred Todd and the Ethics of OD 65
Summary
Notes
67
Appendix
PART 2
CHAPT ER 4
66
70
The Process of Organization Development
Entering and Contracting
75
4-1
Entering into an OD Relationship 76
4-1a Clarifying the Organizational Issue 76
4-1b Determining the Relevant Client 77
4-1c Selecting an OD Practitioner 78
4-2
Developing a Contract 79
Application 4.1 Entering Alegent Health
4-2a Mutual Expectations 81
4-2b Time and Resources 81
4-2c Ground Rules 82
4-3
74
80
Interpersonal Process Issues in Entering and Contracting 82
Application 4.2 Contracting with Alegent Health 83
Summary
Notes
CHAPT ER 5
87
87
Diagnosing
89
5-1
What Is Diagnosis?
5-2
The Need for Diagnostic Models 91
90
5-3
Open-Systems Model 92
5-3a Organizations as Open Systems 92
5-3b Diagnosing Organizational Systems 94
vii
CONTENTS
5-4
Organization-Level Diagnosis 96
5-4a Inputs 96
5-4b Design Components 98
5-4c Outputs 100
5-4d Alignment 100
5-4e Analysis 101
Application 5.1 Steinway & Sons
5-5
102
Group-Level Diagnosis 106
5-5a Inputs 106
5-5b Design Components 107
5-5c Outputs 108
5-5d Alignment 108
5-5e Analysis 109
Application 5.2 Top-Management Team at Ortiv Glass Corporation 110
5-6
Individual-Level Diagnosis 112
5-6a Inputs 112
5-6b Design Components 113
5-6c Outputs 113
5-6d Alignment 114
5-6e Analysis 114
Application 5.3 Job Design at Pepperdine University
115
Summary 119
Notes
CHAPT ER 6
119
Collecting, Analyzing, and Feeding Back Diagnostic Information
6-1
The Diagnostic Relationship 123
6-2
Collecting Data 126
6-2a Questionnaires 127
6-2b Interviews 129
6-2c Observations 130
6-2d Unobtrusive Measures
123
131
6-3
Sampling 132
6-4
Analyzing Data 133
6-4a Qualitative Tools 133
6-4b Quantitative Tools 135
Application 6.1 Collecting and Analyzing Diagnostic Data at Alegent Health 136
6-5
Feeding Back Data 142
6-5a Content of Feedback 142
6-5b Process of Feedback 144
6-6
Survey Feedback 145
6-6a What Are the Steps?
145
Application 6.2 Training OD Practitioners in Data Feedback 146
6-6b Survey Feedback and Organizational Dependencies 148
Application 6.3 Survey Feedback and Planned Change at Cambia Health
Solutions 149
6-6c Limitations of Survey Feedback 152
6-6d Results of Survey Feedback 152
Summary 154
Notes
154
viii
CONTENTS
CHAPT ER 7
Designing Interventions
7-1
Overview of Interventions 157
7-1a Human Process Interventions 157
7-1b Technostructural Interventions 159
7-1c Human Resources Management Interventions
7-1d Strategic Change Interventions 161
160
7-2
What Are Effective Interventions?
7-3
How to Design Effective Interventions 163
7-3a Contingencies Related to the Change Situation 164
7-3b Contingencies Related to the Target of Change 171
Summary
Notes
CHAPT ER 8
157
162
173
175
Managing Change
179
8-1
Overview of Change Activities
179
8-2
Motivating Change 181
8-2a Creating Readiness for Change 181
8-2b Overcoming Resistance to Change 183
8-3
Creating a Vision 184
Application 8.1 Motivating Change in the Sexual Violence Prevention Unit of
Minnesota’s Health Department 185
8-3a Describing the Core Ideology 186
8-3b Constructing the Envisioned Future 187
8-4
Developing Political Support 188
Application 8.2 Creating a Vision at Premier 189
8-4a Assessing Change Agent Power 192
8-4b Identifying Key Stakeholders 192
8-4c Influencing Stakeholders 192
8-5
Managing the Transition 193
Application 8.3 Developing Political Support for the Strategic Planning Project in
the Sexual Violence Prevention Unit 194
8-5a Activity Planning 196
8-5b Commitment Planning 196
8-5c Change-Management Structures 196
8-5d Learning Processes 196
8-6
Sustaining Momentum 197
Application 8.4 Transition Management in the HP–Compaq Acquisition 198
8-6a Providing Resources for Change 200
8-6b Building a Support System for Change Agents 200
8-6c Developing New Competencies and Skills 200
8-6d Reinforcing New Behaviors 201
8-6e Staying the Course 201
Application 8.5 Sustaining Change at RMIT University Library in Melbourne,
Australia 202
Summary
Notes
205
204
ix
CONTENTS
CHAPT ER 9
Evaluating and Institutionalizing Organization Development
Interventions
9-1
Evaluating Organization Development Interventions
9-1a Implementation and Evaluation Feedback 208
9-1b Measurement 211
9-1c Research Design 216
Application 9.1 Evaluating Change at Alegent Health
9-2
Institutionalizing Organizational Changes
9-2a Institutionalization Framework 222
9-2b Organization Characteristics 222
9-2c Intervention Characteristics 223
9-2d Institutionalization Processes 224
9-2e Indicators of Institutionalization 226
207
207
219
221
Application 9.2 Institutionalizing Structural Change at Hewlett-Packard
227
Summary 229
Notes
229
Selected Cases 232
Sunflower Incorporated 232
Kenworth Motors 234
Peppercorn Dining 238
Diagnosis and Feedback at Adhikar 257
Managing Change: Action Planning for the Vélo V Project in Lyon, France 262
PART 3
CHAPT E R 10
Human Process Interventions
264
Interpersonal and Group Process Approaches
265
10-1 Diagnostic Issues in Interpersonal and Group Process Interventions
10-2 Process Consultation 267
10-2a Basic Process Interventions
266
268
Application 10.1 Process Consultation at Christian Caring Homes, Inc. 271
10-2b Results of Process Consultation 273
10-3 Third-Party Interventions 274
10-3a An Episodic Model of Conflict 275
10-3b Facilitating the Conflict Resolution Process
276
10-4 Team Building 277
Application 10.2 Conflict Management at Ross & Sherwin 278
10-4a Team-Building Activities 282
10-4b Interventions Relevant to Individual Behavior 285
10-4c Interventions Relevant to the Group’s Behavior 285
10-4d Interventions Affecting the Group’s Integration with the Rest of the
Organization 286
Application 10.3 Aligning Senior Teams at Vaycot Products
10-4e The Manager’s Role in Team Building 291
10-4f The Results of Team Building 292
Summary 293
Notes
294
287
x
CONTENTS
CHAPT E R 11
Organization Process Approaches
297
11-1 Diagnostic Issues in Organization Process Interventions
298
11-2 Organization Confrontation Meeting 298
11-2a Application Stages 299
Application 11.1 A Work-Out Meeting at General Electric Medical Systems
Business 300
11-2b Results of Confrontation Meetings 301
11-3 Intergroup Relations Interventions 301
11-3a Microcosm Groups 301
11-3b Resolving Intergroup Conflict 304
Application 11.2 Improving Intergroup Relationships in Johnson & Johnson’s Drug
Evaluation Department 307
11-4 Large Group Interventions 309
11-4a Application Stages 310
Application 11.3 Using the Decision Accelerator to Generate Innovative Strategies
in Alegent’s Women’s and Children’s Service Line 314
11-4b Results of Large Group Interventions 318
Summary
Notes
319
320
Selected Cases 322
Lincoln Hospital: Third-Party Intervention 322
Large Group Interventions at Airbus’ ICT Organization
PART 4
CHAPT E R 12
329
Technostructural Interventions
338
Restructuring Organizations
339
12-1 Structural Design 339
12-1a The Functional Structure 340
12-1b The Divisional Structure 342
12-1c The Matrix Structure 344
12-1d The Process Structure 346
12-1e The Customer-Centric Structure 349
Application 12.1 Healthways’ Process Structure
12-1f The Network Structure 353
350
12-2 Downsizing 356
Application 12.2 Amazon.com’s Network Structure 357
12-2a Application Stages 359
Application 12.3 Downsizing in Menlo Park, California
12-2b Results of Downsizing 363
362
12-3 Reengineering 364
12-3a Application Stages 365
12-3b Results from Reengineering 368
Application 12.4 Honeywell IAC’s TotalPlant™ Reengineering Process 369
Summary
Notes
CHAPT E R 13
371
371
Employee Involvement
13-1 Employee Involvement: What Is It? 376
13-1a A Working Definition of Employee Involvement 376
375
xi
CONTENTS
13-1b The Diffusion of Employee Involvement Practices 377
13-1c How Employee Involvement Affects Productivity 377
13-2 Employee Involvement Interventions
13-2a Parallel Structures 379
379
Application 13.1 Using the AI Summit to Build Union–Management Relations
at Roadway Express 382
13-2b Total Quality Management 385
Application 13.2 TQM at the Ritz-Carlton 391
13-2c High-Involvement Organizations 392
Application 13.3 Building a High-Involvement Organization at Air Products and
Chemicals, Inc. 396
Summary 399
Notes
CHAPT E R 14
399
Work Design
403
14-1 The Engineering Approach 404
14-2 The Motivational Approach 405
14-2a The Core Dimensions of Jobs
14-2b Individual Differences 407
14-2c Application Stages 407
405
Application 14.1 Enriching Jobs at the Hartford’s Employee Relations Consulting
Services Group 410
14-2d Barriers to Job Enrichment 412
14-2e Results of Job Enrichment 413
14-3 The Sociotechnical Systems Approach 414
14-3a Conceptual Background 414
14-3b Self-Managed Work Teams 415
14-3c Application Stages 419
Application 14.2 Developing Self-Managed Teams at WI, Inc. 421
14-3d Results of Self-Managed Teams 423
14-4 Designing Work for Technical and Personal Needs 425
14-4a Technical Factors 425
14-4b Personal-Need Factors 426
14-4c Meeting Both Technical and Personal Needs 428
Summary 429
Notes
429
Selected Cases 433
City of Carlsbad, California: Restructuring the Public Works
Department (A) 433
The Sullivan Hospital System 435
PART 5
CHAPT E R 15
Human Resource Interventions
438
Performance Management
439
15-1 A Model of Performance Management 440
15-2 Goal Setting 442
15-2a Characteristics of Goal Setting
15-2b Application Stages 443
442
xii
CONTENTS
15-2c Management by Objectives 444
15-2d Effects of Goal Setting and MBO 445
Application 15.1 Changing the Human Capital Management Practices at Cambia
Health Solutions 446
15-3 Performance Appraisal 448
15-3a The Performance Appraisal Process 449
15-3b Application Stages 451
15-3c Effects of Performance Appraisal 452
15-4 Reward Systems 452
Application 15.2 Adapting the Appraisal Process at Capital One Financial 453
15-4a Structural and Motivational Features of Reward Systems 455
15-4b Reward System Design Features 457
15-4c Skill- and Knowledge-Based Pay Systems 458
15-4d Performance-Based Pay Systems 460
15-4e Gain-Sharing Systems 462
15-4f Promotion Systems 464
15-4g Reward-System Process Issues 464
Application 15.3 Revising the Reward System at Lands’ End 465
Summary
Notes
CHAPT E R 16
468
468
Talent Management
473
16-1 Coaching and Mentoring 474
16-1a What Are the Goals? 474
16-1b Application Stages 475
16-1c The Results of Coaching and Mentoring 476
16-2 Management and Leadership Development Interventions
16-2a What Are the Goals? 477
16-2b Application Stages 477
476
Application 16.1 Leading Your Business at Microsoft Corporation 479
16-2c The Results of Development Interventions 480
16-3 Career Planning and Development Interventions
16-3a What Are the Goals? 481
16-3b Application Stages 482
480
Application 16.2 PepsiCo’s Career Planning and Development
Framework 491
16-3c The Results of Career Planning and Development 493
Summary
Notes
CHAPT E R 17
493
494
Workforce Diversity and Wellness
17-1 Workforce Diversity Interventions 497
17-1a What Are the Goals? 498
17-1b Application Stages 499
17-1c The Results for Diversity Interventions
497
503
17-2 Employee Stress and Wellness Interventions
17-2a What Are the Goals? 504
504
Application 17.1 Aligning Strategy and Diversity at L’Oréal 505
17-2b Application Stages 507
17-2c The Results of Stress Management and Wellness Interventions
513
xiii
CONTENTS
Application 17.2 Johnson & Johnson’s Health and Wellness Program 514
Summary 516
Notes
516
Selected Cases 519
Employee Benefits at HealthCo 519
Designing and Implementing a Reward System at Disk Drives, Inc. 523
PART 6
CHAPT E R 18
Strategic Change Interventions
528
Transformational Change
529
18-1 Characteristics of Transformational Change 530
18-1a Change Is Triggered by Environmental and Internal Disruptions 530
18-1b Change Is Initiated by Senior Executives and Line Managers 531
18-1c Change Involves Multiple Stakeholders 532
18-1d Change Is Systemic and Revolutionary 532
18-1e Change Involves Significant Learning and a New Paradigm 533
18-2 Organization Design 534
18-2a Conceptual Framework 534
18-2b Basic Design Alternatives 535
18-2c Worldwide Organization Design Alternatives
537
Application 18.1 Organization Design at Deere & Company 538
Application 18.2 Implementing the Global Strategy: Changing the Culture of
Work in Western China 542
18-2d Application Stages 546
18-3 Integrated Strategic Change 548
18-3a Key Features 549
18-3b Implementing the ISC Process
549
18-4 Culture Change 552
18-4a Defining and Diagnosing Organization Culture
552
Application 18.3 Managing Strategic Change at Microsoft Canada 553
18-4b Implementing the Culture Change Process 558
Application 18.4 Culture Change at IBM 561
Summary 563
Notes
CHAPT E R 19
563
Continuous Change
569
19-1 Dynamic Strategy Making 570
19-1a Conceptual Framework 571
19-1b Application Stages 573
19-2 Self-Designing Organizations 576
19-2a The Demands of Turbulent Environments
576
Application 19.1 Dynamic Strategy Making at Whitbread PLC 577
19-2b Application Stages 579
19-3 Learning Organizations
582
Application 19.2 Self-Design at Healthways Corporation
19-3a Conceptual Framework 584
19-3b Organization Learning Interventions 586
19-4 Built-to-Change Organizations
19-4a Design Guidelines 593
593
583
xiv
CONTENTS
Application 19.3 Dialogue and Organization Learning at DMT 594
19-4b Application Stages 597
Application 19.4 Creating a Built-to-Change Organization at Capital One
Financial 599
Summary
Notes
CHAPT E R 20
601
602
Transorganizational Change
20-1 Transorganizational Rationale
605
606
20-2 Mergers and Acquisitions 607
20-2a Application Stages 608
Application 20.1 Planning the United–Continental Merger 613
20-3 Strategic Alliance Interventions
20-3a Application Stages 616
616
Application 20.2 Building Alliance Relationships
618
20-4 Network Interventions 620
20-4a Creating the Network 621
20-4b Managing Network Change 624
Application 20.3 The Alaska Workforce Coalition
Summary
Notes
627
631
632
Selected Cases 636
Global Mobile Corporation 636
Leading Strategic Change at DaVita: The Integration of the Gambro
Acquisition 645
PART 7
CHAPT E R 21
Special Applications of Organization Development
658
Organization Development for Economic, Ecological,
and Social Outcomes
21-1 Sustainable Management Organizations
21-1a Design Guidelines 660
21-1b Application Stages 667
21-2 Global Social Change 670
21-2a Global Social Change Organizations
659
659
670
Application 21.1 Interface Carpet’s Transformation to Sustainability
21-2b Application Stages 674
21-2c Change-Agent Roles and Skills 677
671
Application 21.2 Social and Environmental Change at LDI Africa 678
Summary
Notes
CHAPT E R 22
681
682
Organization Development in Nonindustrial Settings:
Health Care, School Systems, the Public Sector, and
Family–Owned
22-1 Organization Development in Health Care 686
22-1a The Health Care Industry—A Snapshot 686
22-1b Trends in Health Care 687
685
CONTENTS
xv
22-1c Opportunities for Organization Development Practice 690
22-1d Conclusions 693
22-2 Organization Development in Public School Systems 693
22-2a A Complex, Diverse, and Evolving K-12 Educational System 693
22-2b Change Forces 694
22-2c Disappointing Reform Efforts 696
22-2d Considerations for OD Practitioners 699
22-2e Conclusions 702
22-3 Organization Development in the Public Sector 703
22-3a Comparing Public- and Private-Sector Organizations 705
22-3b Recent Research and Innovations in Public-Sector Organization
Development 710
22-3c Conclusions 711
22-4 Organization Development in Family-Owned Businesses
22-4a The Family Business System 712
22-4b Business, Ownership, and Family Systems 714
22-4c Family Business Developmental Stages 715
22-4d A Parallel Planning Process 716
22-4e Values 716
22-4f Critical Issues in Family Business 719
711
Summary 725
Notes
CHAPT E R 23
726
Future Directions in Organization Development
23-1 Trends Within Organization Development
23-1a Traditional Trend 732
23-1b Pragmatic Trend 733
23-1c Scholarly Trend 733
23-1d Implications for OD’s Future 734
731
732
23-2 Trends in the Context of Organization Development 735
23-2a The Economy 735
23-2b The Workforce 738
23-2c Technology 739
23-2d Organizations 740
23-2e Implications for OD’s Future 741
Summary 747
Notes
747
Integrative Cases 750
B. R. Richardson Timber Products Corporation 750
Building the Cuyahoga River Valley Organization 764
The Transformation of Meck Insurance 774
Glossary
784
Name Index
793
Subject Index
797
© Pixmann/Imagezoo/Getty Images
Preface
What a difference an edition makes. We need look no farther than this text to get a sense
of the pace and consequences of change. Compared to the promise of hope and change
that accompanied Barack Obama’s first election while we were finishing the ninth edition, finishing this tenth edition in 2013 brings daily reminders that things are moving
far more quickly and unpredictably than we could ever have imagined. As a global society, we are still living with the enormous personal, social, and economic consequences of
the financial turmoil brought on by the mortgage-lending crisis and the subsequent
recession that enveloped the world’s economies; still coping with the distressing aftermath of man-made and natural calamities such as the BP/Macondo/Deepwater Horizon
disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan;
and still apprehensive about the spreading strife and seemingly intractable unrest in the
Middle East, the angry rhetoric from the Korean peninsula, and the ever present threat
of terrorist attacks almost anywhere, any time. We are reminded almost daily that global
climate change, nuclear weapons proliferation, and disease pandemics can actually happen in our lifetime, businesses are not too big to fail, and almost no industry or sector of
society is free of ethical breeches, illegal practices, or mismanagement. From a more optimistic perspective, more and more of the world’s population is taking advantage of the
rapid advances in information technology that are transforming how we do business,
communicate and relate with each other, deliver and access information, and educate
and entertain ourselves. Add to this the enormous advances in medicine and health
care that are offering promising new treatments for many of the maladies that plague us.
For organizations existing in these times, life can be extremely challenging. Businesses increasingly face global markets in which competition is intense, and economic,
political, and cultural conditions are diverse and can change unexpectedly. Sources of
competitive advantage, such as technical, product, or resource superiority, can quickly
erode as can a firm’s storehouse of human capital and knowledge. Government agencies
encounter more and more demands to operate more efficiently, offering faster, cheaper,
and better service at lower cost. Yet funding is scarcer and tied unpredictably to shifting
economic conditions, political whims, and public mandates. Educational institutions
increasingly are being asked to keep pace with the changing needs of a global society
by delivering more knowledge to larger numbers of more diverse students at lower
costs in ways that transcend the physical classroom. At the same time, budgets for public
education have been falling, advances in information technology have far exceeded the
willingness and capability of educators to apply them to student learning, and the
bureaucracy surrounding curriculum change remains well in place.
In times like these, organization development (OD) and change has never been
more relevant and necessary. For our part, this is the tenth edition of the market-leading
text in the field. OD is an applied field of change that uses behavioral science knowledge
to improve organizations’ functioning and performance and to increase their capability
to change. OD is more than change management, however, and goes well beyond the
mechanistic, programmatic assumptions that organization change can simply be scripted
by various methods of “involving” people and “enrolling” them in the change. OD is not
xvi
PREFACE
xvii
concerned about change for change’s sake, a way to implement the latest fad, or a pawn
for doing management’s bidding. It is about learning and improving in ways that make
individuals, groups, organizations, and ultimately societies better off and more capable of
managing change in the future. Moreover, OD is more than a set of tools and techniques.
It is not a bunch of “interventions” looking to be applied in whatever organization that
comes along. It is an integrated theory and practice aimed at increasing an organization’s
effectiveness. Finally, OD is more than a set of values. It is not a front for the promulgation of humanistic and spiritual beliefs or a set of interventions that boil down to “holding
hands and singing Kumbaya.” It is a set of evidence-based ideas and practices about how
organizations can produce sustainable high performance and human fulfillment.
The original edition of this text, authored by OD pioneer Edgar Huse in 1975,
became a market leader because it faced the relevance issue. It took an objective, research
perspective and placed OD practice on a strong theoretical footing. Ed showed that, in
some cases, OD did produce meaningful results but that additional work was still
needed. Sadly, Ed passed away following the publication of the second edition. His wife,
Mary Huse, asked Tom Cummings to revise the book for subsequent editions. With the
fifth edition, Tom asked Chris Worley to join him in writing the text.
The most recent editions have had an important influence on the perception of OD.
While maintaining the book’s strengths of even treatment and unbiased reporting, the
newer editions made even larger strides in placing OD on a strong empirical foundation.
They broadened the scope and increased the relevance of OD by including interventions
that had a content component, including work design, employee involvement, organization
design, and transorganization change. They took another step toward relevance and suggested that OD had begun to incorporate a strategic perspective. This strategic orientation
proposed that OD could be as concerned with performance issues as it was with human
potential. Effective OD, from this newer perspective, relied as much on knowledge about
organization theory and economics as it did on the more “micro” behavioral sciences. The
most recent additions describe how OD has become more global. This global orientation
includes the growing application of OD in cross-cultural settings. It also shows how OD
can help organizations design their global structures and operations. It is our greatest
hope that the current edition continues this tradition of rigor and relevance.
Revisions to the Tenth Edition
Our goal in the tenth edition is to update the field again. We take our role as the authors
of the leading textbook in OD seriously and, we hope, responsibly. Although we have
retained several features of the prior editions, we have made some important changes.
Integration and Flow
The chapter sequence from previous editions has been maintained, but we have reduced the
number of chapters from 25 to 23 and worked hard to better integrate the content. For example, we achieved a more integrated presentation of the diagnostic process by combining two
chapters into one. Similarly, we combined chapters on data collection, analysis, and feedback
into one, more tightly integrated description. Finally, we have tried to use a consistent organization design framework in the diagnosis, structural design, and strategic change sections.
Global Integration
We have also improved the integration and flow of material by making a concerted attempt
to address global issues and global perspectives throughout the text. We began the
xviii
PREFACE
internationalization of the text in the sixth edition with the addition of a chapter on “global
issues in OD.” However, in the past, the text could be criticized, and rightfully so, for being
“North America centric.” The examples, applications, and cases came almost exclusively
from U.S.-based companies. In the tenth edition, we have tried—ultimately the reader will be
the judge of our effectiveness—to dramatically reduce the North American bias and to cite
European, Asian, Australian, South American, and where possible, African examples.
Strategic Emphasis Continued
Reflecting on where we think OD is headed, we completely rewrote Part 6 on strategic
change interventions. While we kept the chapter titles, we added dynamic strategy making, completely revised the section on organization design, leveraged the design section
to more deeply explore integrated strategic change, and completely revised the sections
on organization learning, built to change, and culture change.
Sustainability
We have added a new chapter (Chapter 21) focusing on OD practices intended to
improve and balance organizations’ economic, social, and ecological outcomes. This
topic is a growing area of OD practice and one that we believe will continue to expand.
Key Chapter Revisions
Other chapters have received important updates and improvements. Chapter 7’s description of designing interventions, in keeping with the global integration described above,
has been rewritten to account for cross-cultural values in interventions. In Chapter 22,
the sections on OD in Healthcare, Education, Government, and Family Businesses have
been completely rewritten by new and familiar guest authors. Finally, Chapter 23—
Future Directions in Organization Development—has received a thorough revision
based on the authors’ recent research.
Distinguishing Pedagogical Features
The text is designed to facilitate the learning of OD theory and practice. Based on feedback from reviewers, this format more closely matches the OD process. Instructors can
teach the process and then link OD practice to the interventions.
Organization
The tenth edition is organized into seven parts. Following an introductory chapter that
describes the definition and history of OD, Part 1 provides an overview of organization development. It discusses the fundamental theories that underlie planned change (Chapter 2) and
describes the people who practice it (Chapter 3). Part 2 is a six-chapter description of the OD
process. It describes how OD practitioners enter and contract with organizations (Chapter 4);
diagnose organizations, groups, and jobs (Chapter 5); collect, analyze, and feed back diagnostic
data (Chapter 6); design interventions (Chapter 7); lead and manage change (Chapter 8); and
evaluate and institutionalize change (Chapter 9). In this manner, instructors can focus on the
OD process without distraction. Parts 3, 4, 5, and 6 then cover the major OD interventions
used today according the same classification scheme used in previous editions of the text.
Part 3 covers human process interventions; Part 4 describes technostructural approaches;
Part 5 presents interventions in human resource management; and Part 6 addresses strategic
change interventions. In the final section, Part 7, we cover special applications of OD, including
PREFACE
xix
OD for economic, social, and environmental outcomes (Chapter 21); OD in health care, family
businesses, schools, and the public sector (Chapter 22); and the future of OD (Chapter 23). We
believe this ordering provides instructors with more flexibility in teaching OD.
Applications
Within each chapter, we describe actual situations in which different OD techniques or
interventions were used. These applications provide students with a chance to see how
OD is actually practiced in organizations. In the tenth edition, about 30 percent of the
applications are new and many others have been updated to maintain the text’s currency
and relevance. In response to feedback from reviewers, all of the applications describe a
real situation in a real organization (although sometimes we felt it necessary to use disguised names). In many cases, the organizations are large public companies that should
be readily recognizable. We have endeavored to write applications based on our own OD
practice or that have appeared in the popular literature. In addition, we have asked several of our colleagues to submit descriptions of their own practice and these applications
appear throughout the text. The time and effort to produce these vignettes of OD practice for others is gratefully acknowledged.
Cases
At the end of each major part in the book, we have included cases to permit a more indepth discussion of the OD process. Seven of the 16 cases are new to the tenth edition.
We have kept some cases that have been favorites over the years but have also replaced
some of the favorites with newer ones. Also in response to feedback from users of the
text, we have endeavored to provide cases that vary in levels of detail, complexity, and
sophistication to allow the instructor some flexibility in teaching the material to either
undergraduate or graduate students.
Audience
This book can be used in a number of different ways and by a variety of people. First, it
serves as a primary textbook in organization development for students at both the
undergraduate and graduate levels. Second, the book can also serve as an independent
study guide for individuals wishing to learn more about how organization development
can improve productivity and human satisfaction. Third, the book is intended to be of
value to OD professionals, executives and administrators, specialists in such fields as
training, occupational stress, and human resource management, and anyone interested
in the complex process known as organization development.
Educational Aids and Supplements
Instructor’s Manual
To assist instructors in the delivery of a course on organization development, an Instructor’s Manual is available, which contains material that can improve the student’s appreciation of OD and improve the instructor’s effectiveness in the classroom.
Chapter Outline and Lecture Notes The material in the chapter is outlined and
comments are made concerning important pedagogical points, such as crucial assumptions that should be noted for students, important aspects of practical application, and
alternative points of view that might be used to enliven class discussion.
xx
PREFACE
Case Teaching Notes For each case in the text, teaching notes have been developed to assist instructors in preparing for case discussions. The notes provide an outline of the case, suggestions about where to place the case during the course,
discussion questions to focus student attention, and an analysis of the case situation.
In combination with the instructor’s own insights, the notes can help to enliven the
case discussion or role-plays.
Audiovisual Listing Finally, a list is included of films, videos, and other materials that
can be used to supplement different parts of the text, along with the addresses and phone
numbers of vendors that supply the materials.
Test Bank
The Test Bank includes a variety of multiple choice, true/false, and essay questions for each
chapter. The Test Bank questions vary in levels of difficulty and meet a full range of tagging
requirements so that instructors can tailor their testing to meet their specific needs.
Instructors can use these questions directly or to suggest additional questions reflecting
the professor’s own style.
Cognero
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero is a flexible, online system that allows you to:
•
•
•
author, edit, and manage test bank content from multiple Cengage Learning solutions
create multiple test versions in an instant
deliver tests from your LMS, your classroom or wherever you want
Start Right Away! Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero works on any operating system or browser.
•
•
No special installs or downloads needed
Create tests from school, home, the coffee shop—anywhere with Internet access
What Will You Find?
• Simplicity at every step. A desktop-inspired interface features drop-down menus and
familiar, intuitive tools that take you through content creation and management
with ease.
• Full-featured test generator. Create ideal assessments with your choice of 15 question
types (including true/false, multiple choice, opinion scale/likert, and essay).
Multi-language support, an equation editor and unlimited metadata help ensure
your tests are complete and compliant.
• Cross-compatible capability. Import and export content into other systems.
PowerPoint® Presentation Slides
®
The PowerPoint presentation slides consists of lecture outlines and select tables and
figures used in the book. These colorful slides can greatly aid the integration of text
material during lectures and discussions.
Companion Site
A rich companion site accompanies the text, providing many extras for the student and
instructor. Visit www.cengagebrain.com to learn more.
PREFACE
xxi
Acknowledgments
The Grateful Dead’s lyric, “What a long strange trip it’s been” seems particularly apropos
in writing this edition. Reflecting the global world we live in, we revised this text virtually.
Tom and Chris never once saw each other face-to-face once the work began. Tom wrote
from his office in Los Angeles and his view in Palos Verdes while trying to run the Department of Management and Organization at the Marshall School of Business; Chris wrote
from his sabbatical home in Lyon, France while trying to adopt the French lifestyle. However, we think it is safe to say that after collaborating on five editions of the text, we finally
have figured out how to do this effectively. This revision has gone very smoothly. That is
not to say that we haven’t lived in the VUCA world. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity,
and ambiguity certainly affected our lives in strange and tragic ways, but after five editions,
we’ve learned to roll with the punches, adapt and adjust schedules, and cover each other’s
back. Sometimes our writing is so bad, we want to throw up; sometimes it’s so good it
brings tears to our eyes. We hope this edition will, at times, at least make you feel good.
We’d like to thank those who supported us in this effort. We are grateful to and for
our families: Chailin and Catherine Cummings and the Worley clan, Debbie, Sarah,
Hannah, and Sam. We would like to thank our students for their comments on the previous editions, for contributing many of the applications, and for helping us to try out new
ideas and perspectives. A particular word of thanks go to our colleagues at USC’s Center
for Effective Organizations—Ed Lawler, Sue Mohrman, John Boudreau, Alec Levenson,
Gerry Ledford, Theresa Welbourne, Jim O’Toole, Jay Conger, and Jay Galbraith. They
have been consistent sources of support and intellectual inquiry. We also extend thanks
to Tom Williams at Booz&Co. for his patience, support, and partnership. To our friends at
Pepperdine University’s MSOD program (Ann Feyerherm, Miriam Lacey, Terri Egan, Julie
Chesley, Gary Mangiofico, and Kent Rhodes) we send our appreciation for their dedication
to maintaining the “long grey line.” As well, the following individuals reviewed the text and
influenced our thinking with their honest and constructive feedback:
Jack Cox, Amberton University
Stacy Ball-Elias, Southwest Minnesota State University
Bruce Gillies, California Lutheran University
Jim Maddox, Friends University
Shannon Reilly, George Brown College
We also would like to express our appreciation to members of the staff at Cengage
Learning for their aid and encouragement. Special thanks go to Scott Person, Sarah
Blasco, and Jennifer King for their help and guidance throughout the development of
this revision. And Jerusha Govindakrishnan patiently made sure that the editing and
producing of our book went smoothly.
Thomas G. Cummings
Palos Verdes Estates, California
August, 2013
Christopher G. Worley
San Juan Capistrano, California
Lyon, France
© Pixmann/Imagezoo/Getty Images
About the Authors
Thomas G. Cummings, professor, chair of the Department of Management and Organization, received his B.S. and MBA from Cornell University, and his Ph.D. from the University
of California at Los Angeles. He has authored over 70 articles and 22 books and was formerly
President of the Western Academy of Management, Chair of the Organization Development
and Change Division of the Academy of Management, and Founding Editor of the
Journal of Management Inquiry. Dr. Cummings was the 61st President of the Academy
of Management, the largest professional association of management scholars in the
world with a total membership of over 19,000. He is listed in American Men and
Women of Science and Who’s Who in America. His major research and consulting interests include designing high-performing organizations and strategic change management. He has conducted several large-scale organization design and change projects,
and has consulted to a variety of private and public-sector organizations in the United
States, Europe, Mexico, and Scandinavia.
Christopher G. Worley is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations (USC’s Marshall School of Business) and professor of management in Pepperdine
University’s Master of Science in Organization (MSOD) program. He received B.S. from
Westminster College, master’s degrees from Colorado State University and Pepperdine
University, and his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He served as Chair
of the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management,
received the Luckman Teaching Fellowship at Pepperdine University, and the Douglas
McGregor Award for best paper in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. His most recent
books are Management Reset and Built to Change, and he is completing a book on organization agility. His articles on agility and strategic organization design have appeared in the
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Journal of Organization Behavior, Sloan Management
Review, Strategy Business, and Organizational Dynamics. He and his family live in San Juan
Capistrano, CA.
xxii
© Pixmann/Imagezoo/
Getty Images
1
General Introduction to Organization
Development
learning
objectives
Define and describe the practice and study of organization
development (OD).
Describe the history and relevance of OD.
Distinguish OD and planned change from other forms of organization
change.
T
his is a book about organization development (OD)—a process that applies a broad
range of behavioral science knowledge
and practices to help organizations build their
capability to change and to achieve greater
effectiveness, including increased financial performance, employee satisfaction, and environmental sustainability. Organization development
differs from other planned change efforts, such
as project management or product innovation,
because the focus is on building the organization’s ability to assess its current functioning
and to make necessary changes to achieve its
goals. Moreover, OD is oriented to improving
the total system—the organization and its parts
in the context of the larger environment that
affects them.
This book reviews the broad background of OD
and examines assumptions, strategies and models,
intervention techniques, and other aspects of OD.
This chapter provides an introduction to OD,
describing first the concept of OD itself. Second, it
explains why OD has expanded rapidly in the past
60 years, both in terms of people’s need to work
with and through others in organizations and in
terms of organizations’ need to adapt in a complex
and changing world. Third, it reviews briefly the
history of OD, and fourth, it describes the evolution
of OD into its current state. This introduction to OD
is followed by an overview of the rest of the book.
1-1 Organization Development Defined
Organization development is both a professional field of social action and an area of
scientific inquiry. The practice of OD covers a wide spectrum of activities, with seemingly endless variations upon them. Team building with top corporate management,
structural change in a municipality, and job enrichment in a manufacturing firm are
all examples of OD. Similarly, the study of OD addresses a broad range of topics,
including the effects of change, the methods of organizational change, and the factors
influencing OD success.
1
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
A number of definitions of OD exist and are presented in Table 1.1. Each definition
has a slightly different emphasis. For example, Burke’s description focuses attention on
culture as the target of change; French’s definition is concerned with OD’s long-term
focus and the use of consultants; and Beckhard’s and Beer’s definitions address the process of OD. More recently, Burke and Bradford’s definition broadens the range and
interests of OD. Worley and Feyerherm suggested that for a process to be called organization development, (1) it must focus on or result in the change of some aspect of the
organizational system; (2) there must be learning or the transfer of knowledge or skill to
the organization; and (3) there must be evidence of improvement in or an intention to
improve the effectiveness of the organization.1 The following definition incorporates
most of these views and is used in this book:
Organization development is a system-wide application and transfer of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development, improvement, and reinforcement of the
strategies, structures, and processes that lead to organization effectiveness.
This definition emphasizes several features that differentiate OD from other
approaches to organizational change and improvement, such as management consulting,
project management, and operations management. The definition also helps to distinguish
TABLE 1.1
Definitions of Organization Development
Organization development is a planned process of change in an organization’s
culture through the utilization of behavioral science technology, research, and
theory. (Warner Burke)2
Organization development refers to a long-range effort to improve an organization’s
problem-solving capabilities and its ability to cope with changes in its external
environment with the help of external or internal behavioral-scientist consultants,
or change agents, as they are sometimes called. (Wendell French)3
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. (Richard Beckhard)4
Organization development is a system-wide process of data collection, diagnosis,
action planning, intervention, and evaluation aimed at (1) enhancing congruence
among organizational structure, process, strategy, people, and culture; (2) developing new and creative organizational solutions; and (3) developing the organization’s self-renewing capacity. It occurs through the collaboration of
organizational members working with a change agent using behavioral science
theory, research, and technology. (Michael Beer)5
Based on (1) a set of values, largely humanistic; (2) application of the behavioral
sciences; and (3) open-systems theory, organization development is a systemwide process of planned change aimed toward improving overall organization
effectiveness by way of enhanced congruence of such key organization
dimensions as external environment, mission, strategy, leadership, culture,
structure, information and reward systems, and work policies and procedures.
(Warner Burke and David Bradford)6
© Cengage Learning
2
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
3
OD from two related subjects, change management and organization change, that also are
addressed in this book.
First, 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 relates to a wider
environment and on how those relationships can be improved. 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. Similarly, an
OD program directed at helping a top-management team become more effective might
focus on social processes and task coordination within the group. This focus might result
in the improved ability of top management to solve company problems in strategy and
structure. This contrasts with approaches focusing on one or only a few aspects of a system, such as technological innovation or quality control. In these approaches, attention is
narrowed to improvement of particular products or processes, or to development of production or service delivery functions.
Second, OD is based on the application and transfer of behavioral science knowledge
and practice, including microconcepts, such as leadership, group dynamics, and work
design, and macroapproaches, such as strategy, organization design, and culture change.
These subjects distinguish OD from such applications as management consulting, technological innovation, or operations management that emphasize the economic, financial,
and technical aspects of organizations. These approaches tend to neglect the personal
and social characteristics of a system. Moreover, OD is distinguished by its intent to
transfer behavioral science knowledge and skill so that the organizational system is
more capable of carrying out planned change in the future.
Third, OD is concerned with managing planned change, but not in the formal sense
typically associated with management consulting or project management, which tends to
comprise programmatic and expert-driven approaches to change. Rather, OD is more an
adaptive process for planning and implementing change than a blueprint for how things
should be done. It involves planning to diagnose and solve organizational problems, but
such plans are flexible and often revised as new information is gathered as the change
process progresses. If, for example, there was concern about the performance of a set of
international subsidiaries, a reorganization process might begin with plans to assess the
current relationships between the international divisions and the corporate headquarters
and to redesign them if necessary. These plans would be modified if the assessment discovered that most of the senior management teams in the subsidiaries were not given
adequate cross-cultural training prior to their international assignments.
Fourth, OD involves the design, implementation, and subsequent reinforcement of
change. It moves beyond the initial efforts to implement a change program to a longerterm concern for making sure the new activities sustain within the organization. For example, implementing self-managed work teams might focus on ways in which supervisors
could give workers more control over work methods. After workers had more control,
attention would shift to ensuring that supervisors continued to provide that freedom.
That assurance might include rewarding supervisors for managing in a participative style.
This attention to reinforcement is similar to training and development approaches that
address maintenance of new skills or behaviors, but it differs from other change perspectives that do not address how a change can be sustained over time.
Finally, OD is oriented to improving organizational effectiveness. Effectiveness is
best measured along three dimensions. First, OD affirms that an effective organization is
able to solve its own problems and to continually improve itself. OD helps organization
4
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
members gain the skills and knowledge necessary to conduct these activities by involving
them in the change process. Second, an effective organization has high financial and
technical performance, including sales growth, acceptable profits, quality products and
services, and high productivity. OD helps organizations achieve these ends by leveraging
social science practices to lower costs, improve products and services, and increase productivity. Finally, an effective organization has an engaged, satisfied, and learning workforce as well as satisfied and loyal customers or other external stakeholders. The
organization’s performance responds to the needs of external groups, such as stockholders, customers, suppliers, and government agencies, which provide the organization
with resources and legitimacy. Moreover, it is able to attract and motivate effective
employees, who then perform at higher levels. Other forms of organizational change
clearly differ from OD in their focus. Management consulting, for example, primarily
addresses financial performance, whereas operations management or industrial engineering focuses on productivity.
Organization development can be distinguished from change management and organizational change. OD and change management both address the effective implementation
of planned change. They are both concerned with the sequence of activities, the processes,
and the leadership that produce organization improvements. 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. Change management focuses more narrowly on values of cost, quality, and
schedule.7 As a result, OD’s distinguishing feature is its concern with the transfer of
knowledge and skill so that the organization is more able to manage change in the future.
Change management does not necessarily require the transfer of these skills. In short, all
OD involves change management, but change management may not involve OD.
Similarly, organizational change is a broader concept than OD. As discussed above,
organization development can be applied to managing organizational change. However,
it is primarily concerned with managing change in such a way that knowledge and skills
are transferred to build the organization’s capability to achieve goals and solve problems.
It is intended to change the organization in a particular direction, toward improved
problem solving, responsiveness, and effectiveness. Organizational change, in contrast,
is more broadly focused and can apply to any kind of change, including technical and
managerial innovations, organization decline, or the evolution of a system over time.
These changes may or may not be directed at making the organization more developed
in the sense implied by OD.
The behavioral sciences have developed useful concepts and methods for helping
organizations to deal with changing environments, competitor initiatives, technological
innovation, globalization, or restructuring. They help managers and administrators to
manage the change process. Many of these concepts and techniques are described in
this book, particularly in relation to managing change.
1-2 The Growth and Relevance of Organization
Development
In each of the previous editions of this book, we argued that organizations must adapt to
increasingly complex and uncertain technological, economic, political, and cultural
changes. We also argued that OD could help an organization to create effective responses
to these changes and, in many cases, to proactively influence the strategic direction of the
firm. The rapidly changing conditions of the past few years confirm our arguments and
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
5
accentuate their relevance. According to several observers, organizations are in the midst
of unprecedented uncertainty and chaos, and nothing short of a management revolution
will save them.8 Three major trends are shaping change in organizations: globalization,
information technology, and managerial innovation.
First, globalization is changing the markets and environments in which organizations operate as well as the way they function.9 The world is rapidly becoming smaller
and more tightly interconnected economically, socially, and ecologically. Significant
movements of goods and services, technology, human resources, and capital across international borders have intensified the economic interdependence among nations and
organizations. This globalization opens new markets and sources of innovation and capital for organizations, but at the risk of economic problems in one sector of the world
spreading rapidly to other sectors. The United States’ 2007–2008 fiscal crisis quickly
evolved into a “global recession” that sent the European Economic Union into a financial
tailspin while negatively impacting the economies of nations in almost every region of
the globe. Similarly, social differences along cultural, political, and religious lines have
rendered global markets increasingly uncertain, complex, and conflictive. Persistent tensions in the Middle East have had repercussions for firms throughout the globe making
them more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, escalating diplomatic and military conflicts,
and disrupting energy supplies. Globalization also affects organizations ecologically,
expanding their access to natural resources yet making the planet more susceptible to
abuse by organizations with questionable environmental practices and governments
with loose environmental regulations. Growing international debates about climate
change and calls for more responsible and sustainable organizational practices underscore the ecological consequences of globalization.
Second, information technology is redefining the traditional business model by
changing how work is performed, how knowledge is used, and how the cost of doing
business is calculated.10 The way an organization collects, stores, manipulates, uses, and
transmits information can lower costs and increase the value and quality of products and
services. Information technology is at the heart of emerging e-commerce strategies and
organizations. Amazon.com and eBay are among the survivors of a busted dot-com
bubble; Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are revolutionizing the way that we converse
and interact with each other both personally and professionally. Google has emerged as
a major competitor to Microsoft, and the amount of business being conducted on the
Internet is projected to grow at double-digit rates. Moreover, the underlying rate of innovation is not expected to decline. Cloud computing—a state-of-the-art technology application a few years ago—is now considered routine business practice. Digital publishing
and online courses are transforming how we deliver knowledge and education. The ability to move information easily and inexpensively throughout and among organizations
has fueled the downsizing, delayering, and restructuring of firms. The Internet has
enabled new forms of work such as virtual teams and telecommuting; it has enabled
many companies to outsource customer-service functions to global regions where labor
is relatively inexpensive. Finally, information technology is changing how organizations
create and use knowledge. Enormous data sets, so-called “big data,” are being analyzed to
discover underlying trends and patterns that can inform strategic decision making. Information is also being widely shared throughout the organization. This reduces the concentration of power at the top of the organization as employees now share the same
key information that senior managers once used to control decision making.
Third, managerial innovation has responded to the 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
6
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
new ways of thinking about how to manufacture goods and deliver services. The strategic
alliance, for example, has emerged as one of the indispensable tools in strategy implementation. No single organization, not even IBM, Toyota, or General Electric, can control the
environmental and market uncertainty it faces. In addition, change innovations, such as
downsizing or reengineering, have radically reduced the size of organizations and increased
their flexibility; new large group interventions, such as the search conference and open
space, have increased the speed with which organizational change can take place; and organization learning interventions have leveraged knowledge as a critical organizational
resource.11 Managers, OD practitioners, and researchers argue that these globalization and
information technology forces not only are powerful in their own right but are interrelated.
Their interaction makes for a highly uncertain and complex environment for all kinds of
organizations, including manufacturing and service firms and those in the public and private sectors. Fortunately, a growing number of organizations are undertaking the kinds of
organizational changes needed to survive and prosper in today’s environment. They are
making themselves more streamlined and agile, more responsive to external demands, and
more ecologically and socially sustainable. They are involving employees in key decisions
and paying for performance rather than for time. They are taking the initiative in innovating and managing change, rather than simply responding to what has already happened.
Organization development plays a key role in helping organizations change themselves. It helps organizations assess themselves and their environments and revitalize and
rebuild their strategies, structures, and processes. OD helps organization members gain
the skills and knowledge needed to continuously improve and change the organization.
It helps members go beyond surface changes to transform the underlying assumptions
and values governing their behaviors. The different concepts and methods discussed in
this book increasingly are finding their way into government agencies, manufacturing
firms, multinational corporations, service industries, educational and health care institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. Perhaps at no other time has OD been more
responsive and practically relevant to organizations’ needs to operate effectively in a highly
complex and changing world.
OD is obviously important to those who plan a professional career in the field,
either as an internal consultant employed by an organization or as an external consultant
practicing in many organizations. A career in OD can be highly rewarding, providing
challenging and interesting assignments working with managers and employees to
improve their organizations and their work lives. In today’s environment, the demand
for OD professionals is rising rapidly. For example, large professional services firms
must have effective “change management” practices to be competitive. Career opportunities in OD should continue to expand in the United States and abroad.
Organization development also is important to those who have no aspirations to
become professional practitioners. All managers and administrators are responsible for
supervising and developing subordinates and for improving their departments’ performance. Similarly, all staff specialists, such as financial analysts, engineers, accountants,
information technologists, or market researchers, are responsible for offering advice and
counsel to managers and for introducing new methods and practices. Finally, OD is
important to general managers and other senior executives because OD can help the
whole organization be more innovative, adaptable, and effective.
Organization development can also help managers and staff personnel perform their
tasks more effectively. It can provide the skills and knowledge necessary for establishing
effective interpersonal relationships and building productive teams. It can show personnel how to work effectively with others in diagnosing complex problems and in devising
appropriate solutions. It can help others become committed to the solutions, thereby
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
7
increasing chances for their successful implementation. In short, OD is highly relevant to
anyone having to work with and through others in organizations.
1-3 A Short History of Organization Development
A brief history of OD will help to clarify the evolution of the term as well as some of the
problems and confusion that have surrounded it. As currently practiced, OD emerged
from five major backgrounds or stems, as shown in Figure 1.1. The first was the growth
of the National Training Laboratories (NTL) and the development of training groups,
otherwise known as sensitivity training or T-groups. The second stem of OD was the
classic work on action research conducted by social scientists interested in applying
research to managing change. An important feature of action research was a technique
known as survey feedback. Kurt Lewin, a prolific theorist, researcher, and practitioner in
group dynamics and social change, was instrumental in the development of T-groups,
survey feedback, and action research. His work led to the creation of OD and still serves
as a major source of its concepts and methods. The third stem reflects a normative view
of OD. Rensis Likert’s participative management framework and Blake and Mouton’s
Grid OD suggest a “one best way” to design and operate organizations. The fourth
background is the approach focusing on productivity and the quality of work life.
The fifth stem of OD, and the most recent influence on current practice, involves strategic change and organization transformation.
®
FIGURE 1.1
© Cengage Learning
The Five Stems of OD Practice
8
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
1-3a 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. Essentially, laboratory training began in the summer of 1946, when Kurt Lewin
and his staff at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) were asked by the Connecticut Interracial Commission and the
Committee on Community Interrelations of the American Jewish Congress for help in
research on training community leaders. A workshop was developed, and the community
leaders were brought together to learn about leadership and to discuss problems. At the
end of each day, the researchers discussed privately what behaviors and group dynamics
they had observed. The community leaders asked permission to sit in on these feedback
sessions. Reluctant at first, the researchers finally agreed. Thus, the first T-group was
formed in which people reacted to data about their own behavior. The researchers drew
two conclusions about this first T-group experiment: (1) feedback about group interaction
was a rich learning experience and (2) the process of “group building” had potential for
learning that could be transferred to “back-home” situations.12
As a result of this experience, the Office of Naval Research and the National Education
Association provided financial backing to form the National Training Laboratories, and
Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, was selected as a site for further work (since then,
Bethel has played an important part in NTL). The first Basic Skill Groups were offered
in the summer of 1947. The program was so successful that the Carnegie Foundation
provided support for programs in 1948 and 1949. This led to a permanent program for
NTL within the National Education Association.
In the 1950s, three trends emerged: (1) the emergence of regional laboratories, (2) the
expansion of summer program sessions to year-round sessions, and (3) the expansion of the
T-group into business and industry, with NTL members becoming increasingly involved
with industry programs. Notable among these industry efforts was the pioneering work of
Douglas McGregor at Union Carbide, of Herbert Shepard and Robert Blake at Esso Standard
Oil (now ExxonMobil), of McGregor and Richard Beckhard at General Mills, and of Bob
Tannenbaum at TRW Space Systems (now part of Northrop Grumman).13 Applications of
T-group methods at these companies spawned the term “organization development” and,
equally important, led corporate personnel and industrial relations specialists to expand
their roles to offer internal consulting services to managers.14
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. NTL, as well as UCLA and
Stanford, continues to offer T-groups to the public, a number of proprietary programs
continue to thrive, and Pepperdine University and American University continue to utilize
T-groups as part of master’s level OD practitioner education. 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.
1-3b Action Research and Survey-Feedback Background
Kurt Lewin also was involved in the second movement that led to OD’s emergence as a
practical field of social science. This second background refers to the processes of action
research and survey feedback. The action research contribution began in the 1940s with
studies conducted by social scientists John Collier, Kurt Lewin, and William Whyte.
They discovered that research needed to be closely linked to action if organization
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
9
members were to use it to manage change. A collaborative effort was initiated between
organization members and social scientists to collect research data about an organization’s functioning, to analyze it for causes of problems, and to devise and implement
solutions. After implementation, further data were collected to assess the results, and
the cycle of data collection and action often continued. The results of action research
were twofold: Members of organizations were able to use research on themselves to
guide action and change, and social scientists were able to study that process to derive
new knowledge that could be used elsewhere.
Among the pioneering action research studies were the work of Lewin and his students at the Harwood Manufacturing Company15 and the classic research by Lester Coch
and John French on overcoming resistance to change.16 The latter study led to the development of participative management as a means of getting employees involved in planning
and managing change. Other notable action research contributions included Whyte and
Edith Hamilton’s famous study of Chicago’s Tremont Hotel17 and Collier’s efforts to
apply action research techniques to improving race relations when he was commissioner
of Indian affairs from 1933 to 1945.18 These studies did much to establish action research
as integral to organization change. Today, it is the backbone of many OD applications.
A key component of most action research studies was the systematic collection of
survey data that were fed back to the client organization. Following Lewin’s death in
1947, his Research Center for Group Dynamics at MIT moved to Michigan and joined
with the Survey Research Center as part of the Institute for Social Research. The institute
was headed by Rensis Likert, a pioneer in developing scientific approaches to attitude
surveys. His doctoral dissertation at Columbia University developed the widely used
5-point “Likert Scale.”19
In an early study by the institute, Likert and Floyd Mann administered a companywide survey of management and employee attitudes at Detroit Edison.20 The feedback
process that evolved was an “interlocking chain of conferences.” The major findings of
the survey were first reported to the top management and then transmitted throughout
the organization. The feedback sessions were conducted in task groups, with supervisors
and their immediate subordinates discussing the data together. Although there was little
substantial research evidence, the researchers intuitively felt that this was a powerful process for change.
In 1950, eight accounting departments asked for a repeat of the survey, thus generating a new cycle of feedback meetings. In four departments, feedback approaches were
used, but the method varied; two departments received feedback only at the departmental level; and because of changes in key personnel, nothing was done in the remaining
two departments.
A third follow-up study indicated that more significant and positive changes, such as
job satisfaction, had occurred in the departments receiving feedback than in the two
departments that did not participate. From those findings, Likert and Mann derived several conclusions about the effects of survey feedback on organization change. This led to
extensive applications of survey-feedback methods in a variety of settings. The common
pattern of data collection, data feedback, action planning, implementation, and follow-up
data collection in both action research and survey feedback can be seen in these examples.
1-3c Normative Background
The intellectual and practical advances from the laboratory training stem and the action
research and survey-feedback stem were followed closely by the belief that a human relations approach represented a “one best way” to manage organizations. This normative
10
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
belief was exemplified in Likert’s Participative Management Program and Blake and
Mouton’s Grid Organization Development approaches to organization improvement.21
Likert’s Participative Management Program characterized organizations as having
one of four types of management systems:22
• 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. Decision making and control reside primarily at the top
of the organization. System 1 results in mediocre performance.
• Benevolent authoritative systems (System 2) are similar to System 1, except that
management is more paternalistic. Employees are allowed a little more interaction,
communication, and decision making but within boundaries defined by management.
• 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.
• Participative group systems (System 4) are almost the opposite of System 1. Designed
around group methods of decision making and supervision, this system fosters high
degrees of member involvement and participation. Work groups are highly involved
in setting goals, making decisions, improving methods, and appraising results. Communication occurs both laterally and vertically, and decisions are linked throughout
the organization by overlapping group membership. System 4 achieves high levels of
productivity, quality, and member satisfaction.
Likert applied System 4 management to organizations using a survey-feedback
process. The intervention generally started with organization members completing the
Profile of Organizational Characteristics.23 The survey asked members for their opinions
about both the present and ideal conditions of six organizational features: leadership,
motivation, communication, decisions, goals, and control. In the second stage, the data
were fed back to different work groups within the organization. Group members examined the discrepancy between their present situation and their ideal, generally using System 4 as the ideal benchmark, and generated action plans to move the organization
toward System 4 conditions.
Blake and Mouton’s Grid Organization Development originated from research about
managerial and organizational effectiveness.24 Data gathered on organizational excellence
from 198 organizations located in the United States, Japan, and Great Britain showed
that the two foremost barriers to excellence were planning and communications.25 Each
of these barriers was researched further to understand its roots, and the research resulted
in a normative model of leadership—the Managerial Grid.
According to the Managerial Grid, an individual’s style can be described according to
his or her concern for production and concern for people.26 A concern for production covers
a range of behaviors, such as accomplishing productive tasks, developing creative ideas, making quality policy decisions, establishing thorough and high-quality staff services, or creating
efficient workload measurements. Concern for production is not limited to things but also
may involve human accomplishment within the organization, regardless of the assigned
tasks or activities. A concern for people encompasses a variety of issues, including concern
for the individual’s personal worth, good working conditions, a degree of involvement or
commitment to completing the job, security, a fair salary structure and fringe benefits, and
good social and other relationships. Each dimension is measured on a nine-point scale and
results in 81 possible leadership styles, ranging from 1,1 to 9,9.
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
11
For example, 1,9 managers have a low concern for production and a high concern
for people: They view people’s feelings, attitudes, and needs as valuable in their own
right. This type of manager strives to provide subordinates with work conditions that
provide ease, security, and comfort. On the other hand, 9,1 managers have a high concern for production but a low concern for people: They minimize the attitudes and feelings of subordinates and give little attention to individual creativity, conflict, and
commitment. As a result, the focus is on the work organization.
Blake and Mouton proposed that the 9,9 managerial style is the most effective in
overcoming the communications barrier to corporate excellence. The basic assumptions
behind this managerial style differ qualitatively and quantitatively from those underlying
the other managerial styles, which assume there is an inherent conflict between the needs
of the organization and the needs of people. By showing a high concern for both people
and production, managers allow employees to think and to influence the organization,
thus promoting active support for organizational plans. Employee participation means
that better communication is critical; therefore, necessary information is shared by all
relevant parties. Moreover, better communication means self-direction and self-control,
rather than unquestioning, blind obedience. Organizational commitment arises out of
discussion, deliberation, and debate over major organizational issues.
One of the most structured interventions in OD, Blake and Mouton’s Grid
Organization Development has two key objectives: to improve planning by developing a strategy for organizational excellence based on clear logic, and to help managers
gain the necessary knowledge and skills to supervise effectively. It consists of six
phases designed to analyze an entire business and to overcome the planning and
communications barriers to corporate excellence. The first phase is the Grid Seminar,
a one-week program where participants analyze their personal style and learn methods of problem solving. Phase 2 consists of team development and Phase 3 involves
intergroup development. In Phase 4, an ideal model of organizational excellence is
developed and in Phase 5, the model is implemented. The final phase consists of an
evaluation of the organization.
Despite some research support, the normative approach to change has given way to
a contingency view that acknowledges the influence of the external environment, technology, and other forces in determining the appropriate organization design and management practices. Still, Likert’s participative management and Blake and Mouton’s
Grid OD frameworks are both used in organizations today.
1-3d 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. The first phase included the original projects developed
in Europe in the 1950s and their emergence in the United States during the 1960s. Based
on the research of Eric Trist and his colleagues at the Tavistock Institute of Human
Relations in London, early practitioners in Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden
developed work designs aimed at better integrating technology and people.27 Referred
to as “sociotechnical systems,” these QWL programs generally involved joint participation by unions and management in the design of work and resulted in work designs giving employees high levels of discretion, task variety, and feedback about results. Perhaps
the most distinguishing characteristic of these QWL programs was the discovery of selfmanaging 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.
12
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
As these programs migrated to America, a variety of concepts and techniques were
adopted and the approach tended to be more mixed than in European practice. For
example, two definitions of QWL emerged during its initial development.28 QWL was
first defined in terms of people’s reaction to work, particularly individual outcomes
related to job satisfaction and mental health. Using this definition, QWL focused primarily on the personal consequences of the work experience and how to improve work to
satisfy personal needs.
A second definition of QWL defined it as an approach or method.29 People defined
QWL in terms of specific techniques and approaches used for improving work.30 It was
viewed as synonymous with methods such as job enrichment, self-managed teams, and
labor-management committees. This technique orientation derived mainly from the
growing publicity surrounding QWL projects, such as the General Motors–United Auto
Workers project at Tarrytown and the Gaines Pet Food plant project. These pioneering
projects drew attention to specific approaches for improving work.
The excitement and popularity of this first phase of QWL in the United States lasted
until the mid-1970s, when other more pressing issues, such as inflation and energy costs,
diverted national attention. However, starting in 1979, a second phase of QWL activity
emerged. A major factor contributing to the resurgence of QWL was growing international competition faced by the United States in markets at home and abroad. It became
increasingly clear that the relatively low cost and high quality of foreign-made goods
resulted partially from the management practices used abroad, especially in Japan.
Books extolling the virtues of Japanese management, such as Ouchi’s Theory Z,31 made
best-seller lists.
As a result, QWL programs expanded beyond their initial focus on work design to
include other features of the workplace that can affect employee productivity and satisfaction, such as reward systems, work flows, management styles, and the physical work
environment. This expanded focus resulted in larger-scale and longer-term projects than
had the early job enrichment programs and shifted attention beyond the individual
worker to work groups and the larger work context. Equally important, it added the critical dimension of organizational efficiency to what had been up to that time a primary
concern for the human dimension.
At one point, the productivity and QWL approach became so popular that it was
called an ideological movement. This was particularly evident in the spread of quality
circles within many companies. Popularized in Japan, quality circles are groups of
employees trained in problem-solving methods that meet regularly to resolve work environment, productivity, and quality-control concerns and to develop more efficient ways
of working. At the same time, many of the QWL programs started in the early 1970s
were achieving success. Highly visible corporations, such as General Motors, Ford, and
Honeywell, and unions, such as the United Automobile Workers, the Oil, Chemical,
and Atomic Workers, the Communications Workers of America, and the Steelworkers,
were more willing to publicize their QWL efforts. In 1980, for example, more than
1,800 people attended an international QWL conference in Toronto, Canada. Unlike previous conferences, which were dominated by academics, the presenters at Toronto were
mainly managers, workers, and unionists from private and public corporations.
Today, this second phase of QWL activity continues primarily under the banner of
“employee involvement” (EI) as well as total quality management and Six Sigma programs,
rather than of QWL. For many OD practitioners, the term EI signifies, more than the name
QWL, the growing emphasis on how employees can contribute more to running the organization so it can be more flexible, productive, and competitive. Recently, the term
“employee empowerment” has been used interchangeably with the term EI, the former
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
13
suggesting the power inherent in moving decision making downward in the organization.32
Employee empowerment may be too restrictive, however. Because it draws attention to the
power aspects of these interventions, it may lead practitioners to neglect other important
elements needed for success, such as information, skills, and rewards. Consequently, EI
seems broader and less restrictive than does employee empowerment as a banner for these
approaches to organizational improvement.
1-3e 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. These trends have produced the need for a strategic perspective on OD and
encouraged planned change processes at the organization and multiorganization levels.33
Strategic change involves improving the alignment among an organization’s design,
strategy, and environment.34 Strategic change interventions seek to improve both the
organization’s relationship to its environment and the fit among its technical, structural,
informational, human resource, and cultural components.35 The need for strategic
change is usually triggered by some major disruption to the organization, such as the
lifting of regulatory requirements, a technological breakthrough, or a new chief executive
officer coming in from outside the organization.36
One of the first applications of strategic change was Richard Beckhard’s use of opensystems planning.37 He focused on an organization’s environment and strategy. Based on
the organization’s core mission, the differences between what the environment demanded
and how the organization responded could be reduced and performance improved. Since
then, change agents have proposed a variety of large-scale or strategic-change models;38
each of these approaches recognizes that strategic change is often driven from the top by
powerful executives, involves multiple levels of the organization and a change in its culture,
and has important effects on performance. More recently, strategic approaches to OD have
been extended beyond the boundaries of a single organization to include mergers and
acquisitions, strategic alliances among firms, and network development.39
The strategic change background has significantly influenced OD practice. For
example, implementing strategic change requires OD practitioners to be familiar with
competitive strategy, finance, and marketing, as well as team building, action research,
and survey feedback. Together, these skills have improved OD’s relevance to organizations and their managers.
1-4 Evolution in Organization Development
Current practice in organization development is strongly influenced by these five backgrounds as well as by the trends shaping change in organizations. The laboratory training,
action research and survey feedback, normative, and QWL roots of OD are evident in the
strong humanistic focus that underlies its practice. The more recent influence of the strategic change background has greatly improved the relevance and rigor of OD practice. They
have added financial and economic indicators of effectiveness to OD’s traditional measures
of work satisfaction and personal growth. All of the backgrounds support the transfer of
knowledge and skill to the organization so it can better manage change in the future.
Today, the field increasingly is being influenced by the globalization and information technology trends described earlier. OD is being carried out in many more countries
and in many more organizations operating on a worldwide basis. This is generating a
14
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
whole new set of interventions as well as modifications to traditional OD practice.40 In
addition, OD is adapting its methods to the technologies being used in organizations. As
information technology continues to influence organizations and their environments,
OD is managing change processes in cyberspace as well as face-to-face. The diversity of
this evolving discipline has led to tremendous growth in the number of professional OD
practitioners, in the kinds of organizations involved with OD, in the range of countries
within which OD is practiced, and in the kinds of interventions used to change and
improve organizations.
The expansion of the OD Network (www.odnetwork.org), which began in 1964, is one
indication of this growth. It has grown from 200 members in 1970 to 1,554 in 2012. At the
same time, Division 14 of the American Psychological Association, formerly known as
the Division of Industrial Psychology, changed its title to the Society for Industrial and
Organizational Psychology (www.siop.org) in 1982. In 2012, the Society had over 8,000
members worldwide. In 1968, the American Society for Training & Development (www.
astd.org) set up an OD division, which currently operates as the Human Capital Community of Practice with more than 2,000 members. In 1971, the Academy of Management
established an Organization Development and Change Division (
online.org/odc), which currently has more than 2,300 members. Pepperdine University
(www.pepperdine.edu), Bowling Green State University (www.bgsu.edu), and Case Western Reserve University (www.cwru.edu) offered the first master’s degree programs in OD
in 1975, and Case Western Reserve University began the first doctoral program in OD.
Organization development now is being taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels
in a large number of universities.41
Many different organizations have undertaken a wide variety of OD efforts. In many
cases, organizations have been at the forefront of innovating new change techniques and
methods as well as new organizational forms. Larger corporations that have engaged in
organization development include General Electric, Boeing, Kaiser Permanente, Texas
Instruments, American Airlines, DuPont, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, General
Foods, Procter & Gamble, IBM, Raytheon, Wells Fargo Bank, the Hartford Financial
Services, and Limited Brands. Traditionally, much of the work was considered confidential and was not publicized. Today, however, organizations increasingly are going public
with their OD efforts, sharing the lessons with others.
OD work also is being done in schools, communities, and local, state, and federal
governments. Several reviews of OD projects have been directed at OD in public administration.42 Extensive OD work was done in the armed services, including the army,
navy, air force, and coast guard, although OD activity and research activities have
ebbed and flowed with changes in the size and scope of the military. Public schools
began using both group training and survey feedback relatively early in the history of
OD.43 Usually, the projects took place in suburban middle-class schools, where stresses
and strains of an urban environment were not prominent and ethnic and socioeconomic
differences between consultants and clients were not high. In more recent years, OD
methods have been extended to urban schools and to colleges and universities.
Organization development is increasingly international. It has been applied in nearly
every country in the world. These efforts have involved such organizations as Saab
(Sweden), Imperial Chemical Industries (England), Orrefors (Sweden), Akzo-Nobel
(The Netherlands), the Beijing A…
Purchase answer to see full
attachment