OD Process

Learning objectives
Components of OD process
Diagnosis of the whole system
The action i.e. Nature of OD interventions
& analyzing discrepancies
Phases of OD program
Diagnosis
Action
Program
Management
Components of OD process
The diagnostic component represents a
continuous collection of data about the total
system, its subunits, its processes, & its
culture.
Diagnosis
Focus of clients major concerns
What are strengths?
Its problem areas?
Its unrealized opportunities?
Is there any discrepancy between the vision
of desired future & the current situation?
(Diagnosis identifies strengths, opportunities
& problem areas)

Action plans are developed to correct problems
seize opportunities & maintain areas of
strength.

Action
Consists of fact finding about the results of
the actions.

Program
Management
Focuses on
Did the action have desired effects?
Is the problem solved or the opportunities
achieved?

Actions directed at
problem/opportunity
No1
Actions directed at
problem/opportunity
No 2
Actions directed at
problem/opportunity
No 3
Actions directed at
problem/opportunity
No 4
Problem/Opportunity 1
Evaluation of effects of
actions
Problem/Opportunity 2
Evaluation of effects of
actions
Problem/Opportunity 3
Evaluation of effects of
actions
Problem 4 Evaluation
Problem
solved/Opportunity
realized Terminate actions
Problem solved /
Opportunity not realized
Initiate new actions
Problem solved /
Opportunity not realized.
Redefine problem; Initiate
new actions
Problem 4 solved; but
new, related problem 5
develops, actions are
directed at problem 5
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
Diagnosis of
the state of the
organization
Actions to correct
problems & realize
opportunities
Evaluation of the
effects of Actions/
Interventions
New actions/ interventions
as needed
System
Diagnosis

Yielding
"Strengths"
1,2,3,4

Yielding
Opportunities
1,2,3,4

Yielding
Problems
1,2,3,4
COMPONENTS OF OD PROCESS
DIAGNOSIS
Diagnosis Defined

Diagnosis is a collaborative process between
organizational members and the OD
consultant to collect pertinent information,
analyze it, and draw conclusions for action
planning and intervention.
Major methods for
collecting data

Questionnaires
Interviews
Observations
Unobtrusive methods
Questionnaires

One of the most efficient ways of collecting data
Contain fixed-response questions about various features
Administered to large numbers of people simultaneously
Can be analyzed quickly
Permit quantitative comparison and evaluation
Data can easily be fed back to employees
Questionnaires
Major advantages
Responses can be quantified and summarized
Large samples and large quantities of data
Relatively inexpensive
Major potential problems
Predetermined questions - no chance to change
Over interpretation of data possible
Response biases possible
Interviews
Interviews may be highly structured
resembling questionnaires
Interviews may be highly unstructured
starting with general questions that
allow the respondent to lead the way
Interviews
Major advantages
Adaptive - allows customization
Source of `rich data
Process builds rapport with subjects
Major potential problems
Relatively expensive
Bias in interviewer responses
Coding and interpretation can be difficult
Self-report bias possible
A more direct way of collecting data
Observe organisational behaviors in their
functional settings
Observations

Observations
Major advantages
Collect data on actual behaviour, rather than reports of
behaviour
Real time, not retrospective
Adaptive
Major potential problems
Coding and interpretation difficulties
Observer bias and questionable reliability
Can be expensive
Unobtrusive measures

Data is not collected directly from respondents but from
secondary sources
Use records of absenteeism or tardiness, grievances,
quantity and quality of production or service, financial
performance and correspondence with key customers,
suppliers or governmental agencies
Helpful in diagnosing the organisation, group and
individual outputs
Unobtrusive measures
Major advantages
Non-reactive, no response bias
High face validity
Easily quantified
Major potential problems
Access and retrieval difficulties
Validity concerns
Coding and interpretation difficulties
Diagnostic activities- Activities designed to
provide an account of things as they are
needed for 2 reasons
First- To know the state of things
Second- To know the effects &
consequences of actions.
Diagnosing the System
Diagnostic
Targets
Information sought Methods of Diagnosis
Total
Organization
Q) What is organizations culture? Q)
Are organizational goals and strategy
understood and accepted? Q) What is
organizations performance?
Examination of
organizational records
rules, regulations, policies
Questionnaire survey
oInterviews (both group &
individual)
Large
complex &
heterogeneou
s sub-systems
Q) What are the unique demands on
this subsystem? Q) Are organization
structures and processes related to
unique demands? Q) What are the
major problems confronting this
subsystem?
Questionnaire survey
Interviews
Observations
Organization records
Small, Simple
& relatively
homogeneous
subsystems
Q) What are major problems of
the team? Q) How can team
effectiveness be improved? Q)
Do individuals know how their
jobs relate to organizational
goals?
Individual interviews
Group meeting to review the
interview data
Questionnaires
Observation of staff meetings
And other day- to-day
operations
Intergroup
subsystems
Q) How does each subsystem see
the other? Q) What problems do
the two groups have in working
together? Q) How can they
collaborate to improve
performance of both groups?
Confrontation meetings,
Organisation mirroring meetings
Interviews of each subsystem
followed by sharing the data
Meetings or observations of
interactions
Diagnostic
Targets
Information sought Methods of Diagnosis
Diagnosing the System

Diagnostic
Targets
Information sought Methods of Diagnosis
Individuals Q) Do people perform according to
organizations expectations? Q) Do
they need particular knowledge or
skills? Q) What career development
opportunities do they have/ want/
need?
Interviews
Information from diagnostic
meetings
Data available with
HR department
Roles Q) Is the role defines adequately? Q)
What is the fit between person and
role? Q) Is this the right person for
this role?
Role analysis , MBO
Observations
Interviews
Diagnosing the System
(MBO) is a process of agreeing upon objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the
objectives and understand what they are in the organization.
The Confrontation Meeting
What is a confrontation meeting?
One day meeting of entire management of an
organization in which they take a reading of their
own organizational health
Process
1. Climate setting 45-60 min.
2. Information Collecting 60 min.
3. Information Sharing 60 min
4. Priority setting and group action planning 75 min.
5. Action Planning 60-120 minutes
6. Immediate follow-up by top team 60-180 min.
7. (Four-six weeks later) Progress review 120 minutes
When is it appropriate to conduct a
confrontation meeting?
Need for the total management group to examine
its own workings
Very limited time available for the activity
Top management wishes to improve conditions
quickly
Real commitment by top management to resolve
the issue
Organization is experiencing , or has recently
experienced, some major change
Organizational Mirroring
Set of activities in which host group
receives feedback about how it is perceived
and regarded from reps across organization
Intended to improve inter-group
relationships

Process
1. Host group asks key reps from interface group to meet and provide
feedback
2. Pre- and post interviews by consultant to magnitude of issue(s), prepare
participants and answer their questions
3. At the actual session:
1. Opening remarks by manager of host group to set tone
2. Guests use fishbowl discussion to maintain natural flow; hosts listen
3. Hosts fishbowl discuss, ask for clarification from guests
4. Subgroups of guests and hosts form to address most important
changes host group needs to make
5. Reconvene in large group to hear summaries of each sub group and
form master task list
6. Action planning, tasks, responsible parties, completion dates
established and agreed, concluding mirroring session
7. Follow-up meeting to assess and review progress

The Fishbowl Technique
What to observe:
communication
power & influence
roles
conflict
norms
decision making
problem solving
leadership
goal clarity
task/maintenance
Diagnosing the Process
Organizational
Processes
Information sought Methods of Diagnosis
Communication
patterns & styles
& flows
Who talks to whom? Who
initiates? Is there 2 way or 1
way communication? Is it top
down or down-up? Does the
information reach right places?
Observations in meetings
Questionnaires , Interviews and
discussion with group members
Goal setting Q) Do people set goals? Q)
Who participates? Q) Do they
possess necessary skills for
effective goal setting?
Questionnaires , Interviews
Observations
Decision
making,
Problem solving
& action
planning
Q) Who makes decisions? Q)
Are they effective? Q) Are
additional decision making
skills needed?
Observations of problem-solving
meetings , Analysis of videotaped
sessions , Organizational records

Diagnosing the Process
Organizational
Processes
Information sought Methods of Diagnosis
Conflict
resolution &
management

Q) Where does conflict exist? Q)
Who are involved parties? Q)
How is it being managed?
Interviews
Flowcharting critical processes
Meetings between both groups
Superior-
subordinate
relations
Q) What are the prevailing
leadership styles? Q) What
problems arise between superiors
and subordinates?
Questionnaires
Interviews
Strategic
management &
long range
planning
Q) Who is responsible for
looking ahead and making long
term decisions? Q) Do they have
adequate tools and support? Q)
Have the recent long range
decisions been effective?
Interviews of key policy makers
Group discussions
Examination of historical records
Diagnosis
The Marvin Weisbord Six-Box Model
identifies six critical areas where things must
go right if organisation is to be successful.
According to him, the consultant must attend
to both formal and informal aspects of each
box. This model is still widely used by OD
practitioners
Six-Box Organizational Model
Purposes:
What Business
Are we in?
Leadership
Helpful Mechanisms:
Do we have adequate
technologies?
Rewards: Do all
needed tasks have
incentives?
Structure: How do
we divide up the
work?
Relationships: How
Do we manage conflict
Among people?
With technologies?
Environment
Third wave consulting
First wave refers to AGRICULTURAL
REVOLUTION
Second wave refers to INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
Third wave refers to the INFORMATION
& TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION
Weisbord identifies 4 useful practices"
for the third wave consultant
Assess the potential for action (look for
situations with committed leadership, good
business opportunities, & energized people)
Get the whole system in the room
Focus on the future
Structure tasks that people can do
themselves
ACTION
COMPONENT
Action Component
Action plans are OD
interventions
specifically tailored to
address issues at
individual, group,
inter-group, or
organizational levels
as well as issues
related to selected
processes.

Actions
Interventions are the actions taken to produce
desired changes.
Four conditions that give rise to the need for
OD interventions:
The organisation has a problem ( corrective
action to fix it)
Organization sees an unrealized opportunity
( enabling action to seize the opportunity)
Features of organization are out of alignment
( alignment action to get things back in sync)
Yesterdays vision is no longer good enough
( action for new vision actions to build necessary
structures, processes and culture to make new
vision a reality)
The nature of OD interventions
OD interventions focus on real problems rather than
hypothetical problems.
Real set of individuals involved in the group & the
group are the problem solvers.
Planning actions, executing actions & evaluating the
consequences of actions of actions are integral to OD.
The interventions activities have 2 goals
1. An educational goal
2. An accomplishing goal
OD problem solving interventions tend to focus on
real problems central to the organizational needs.
OD interventions use several learning models not just
one
Intervention strategies are based on results
of the diagnostic process and the specified
goals of the client system.
Interventions
Human process interventions
Individual
Group based
Inter-group based
Techno structural interventions
Balance score card
BPR
Outsourcing
downsizing
Example:
Team Building (Group based)
Special teams Diagnostic meetings
Team building focused on goal setting, decision
making, problem solving etc.
Building & mainitaining effective interpersonal
relationships
Team building focused on task accomplishment
Role negotiation
Analyzing discrepancies (gaps)
What is happening Where one is
Where one wants to be What should be happening
The Program Management
Phases of OD program
Entry
Contracting Diagnosis Feedback
Evaluation Intervention
Planning
change
WARNER BURKE
Program Management Cummings and
Worley identified 5 sets of activities
required for effective change
management:

A model for Managing Change
Motivating Change
Managing the
Transition
Developing
Political Support
Creating a Vision
Sustaining
Momentum
Effective
Change
Management
Program Management Contd..
John P. Kotter Kotters 8-stage process for
managing organizational change:
1. Establishing a sense of urgency
2. Creating a guiding coalition
3. Developing a vision and strategy
4. Communicating the change vision
5. Empowering a broad base of people to take action
6. Generating short term wins
7. Consolidating gains and producing even more change
8. Anchoring (institutionalizing) the new approaches
into the culture 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 HBR, Mar-Apr 1995,
p.61
Parallel Learning Structures
A structure (specific division and coordination of
labor) is created that operates side-by-side with the
formal hierarchy and structure with the goal of
increasing organizations learning.
These are the devices for introducing & managing
change in large bureaucratic organizations

Parallel learning structures are useful when
the organization needs to:
Develop and implement organization-wide
innovations
Foster innovation and creativity within a
bureaucratic system
Capture the organizations collective expertise
Support the exchange of knowledge and
expertise among performers.
Organization
Parallel
Structure
Phase 1: Initial definition of purpose & scope
Phase 2:Formation of steering committee
Phase 3:Communicating to organization
members
Phase 4:Formation & development of study
groups
Phase 5: The inquiry process.
Phase 6:Identifying potential changes
Phase 7:Experimental implementation of
proposed changes
Phase 8:Systemwide diffusion & evaluation