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Introduction
In this brief report ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT four important questions will be addressed. These include: aspects of the intervention representing Organisational Development (OD) initiative; impact of intervention on the organisational culture; the implications of intervention for organisational design and structure; and lessons for the HR professionals.
The important subjects being discussed ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT under these questions encompass: analysis and critical evaluation of the historical and theoretical basis of organisation design and development (being discussed under Question – 1); context of OD in terms of value and contribution to organisational life (being discussed under Question – 2); analysis and critical evaluation of the available design options regarding structures and relationships (being discussed under Question – 3); analysis and critical evaluation of the processes and systems that need to be in place to maintain such structures and relationships (being discussed under Question – 3); and analysis and critical evaluation of the importance of the HR role in advising on these design and development choices and supporting their implementation (being discussed under Question – 4).
The early definitions of OD were presented by Beckhard and Bennis in 1969. Bechard described OD as, “a planned effort, organisation‐wide, managed from the top, to increase organisation effectiveness and health, through planned interventions in the organisation’s processes using behavioural science knowledge”; while Bennis explained it as “a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values and structure of organisations so that they can better adapt to new technologies, markets and challenges and the dizzying rate of change itself” (Garrow, 2009). Both these definitions were widely criticised for incompatibility with the modern business concepts of customer participation, supply chains, globalisation, cross‐cultural and cross‐sector, out and open-sourcing, deregulation, information technology and consolidations and mergers (Cummings & Worley, 2014; and Robbins & Judge, 2012).
The development and evolution of OD as taken place through five major phases or stages. The first step ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT involved the establishment of training laboratories and also the emergence of training groups, which were also called the T-groups or the sensitivity training groups. In the second phase, OD was explored by the sociologists through the application of change oriented research on organizations. This phase is marked by the contributions of Kurt Lewin who specialized in action research, survey feedbacks and T-groups. In its third evolutionary stage, OD encompassed the impact of participative management upon the design and structures of organizations (Reason & Bradbury, 2013). At this juncture, the concept entered its refinement stage. In the fourth phase, the concept of OD started relating to the concepts of the work life quality and organizational productivity. In the fifth and on-going phase, OD is concentrated upon transforming organizations through strategic change (Reason & Bradbury, 2013).
Question No. 1: In what ways does this intervention represent an OD initiative? The action learning program or intervention named ‘Leading Change in Nurse Practice’ and developed by the West Bravenhurst NHS Trust (Stewart & Rigg, 2011), is in essence an OD initiative in all dimensions and aspects. The reasons for this claim are being discussed along with a brief discussion on historical and theoretical basis of OD…
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