Deck 16: The Challenge and the Future for Organizations

Question 1

Identify some of the conditions for the success of an OD program.

Answer 1

There are various conditions for an OD program to be successful. The successful OD programs have to ensure all these conditions are satisfied.
• Proper plan: This is a very important for any OD program. A proper plan needs to be made so as to determine the course of action and the type of OD intervention to be used. The planning phase should involve:
a. Need analysis: Matching the current status of the organization to the desired state.
b. Planning resources: The resources for the OD need to be allocated and planned for different activities. It needs to be determined whether the OD consultant or in-house program would work better.
c. Setting the objectives: SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) goals need to be set.
• Support and participation: The level of participation from the organization and its components should be high. Higher the participation more is the success achieved through the program. To ensure a high participation, a proper planning needs to be done.
The organization and its components need to be made clear about the objectives and the purpose of OD program. A high participation would be achieved only when the OD program is carried out in prior consultation with the participants and the facilitators.
• Monitoring: It needs to be monitored. The change management through OD program should be monitored closely and at regular intervals. This gives a good indication of how closely the OD program is adhering to the requirements.
• Change Management: The change management should be very smartly done. The change should be given due time to occur. Also, the change management should be carried out by experienced personnel.
The different phases of change namely unfreezing, changing and refreezing should be given proper time and effort for the change to be absorbed deeply.
• Strategy and culture: It is very important for the organization to have a strategy and a culture that supports the OD program. The OD program should be derived from the strategy and the values. However, if the OD program is very important and needs to change the strategy and culture, the same need to be done.
It is very important to determine whether and what changes to values, strategy and culture of the organization need to be done. The same has to be determined in the planning phase only.

Question 2

Is OD an emerging discipline or only a passing fad?

Answer 2

Although Organizational Development was developed in the second half of twentieth century, it is labeled as a relatively new discipline. This is because of the future of Organization Development requires more techniques and methods to be incorporated into this discipline. There are various factors that justify the significance of OD in the future:
• Change: It is a globally accepted fact that changes in corporate world is more fierce and turbulent than ever. This is owed to the Globalization, IT and enabled techniques.
These rapid changes in technology and culture make it mandatory for an organization to change and evolve continuously. It is easily foreseen that more drastic changes are bound to take place in the future and thus OD would be needed more than ever.
• Competition: Due to the effect of globalization, the competition in the business has gone to a new level. Due to this increased competition, the organizations need to develop and evolve continuously. The role of OD in this aspect is likely to be higher.
• Technological advancements: The advancements in terms of technology mandate it for the organization to impart trainings regularly. It is thus very important for the organization to keep the employees flexible to learn and change.
The learning attitude and flexibility in employees is achievable only by proper OD programs.
• Strategy: It is very important for an organization to have a strategy that supports continuous learning and development. Such a strategy is bound to be supported by appropriate OD interventions at regular intervals.
Due to the increasing competition, all organizations would be needed to adhere to a continual learning strategy. Thus the role of OD is going to increase.
• Increased human relations and promotion of innovation: As the human relations approach towards the employees is increasing, the organizations need to enhance the employee engagement.
Similarly, innovation is needed to sustain in the competitive market. Thus the organizations need to be more employee-friendly and provide them a congenial environment more suitable to innovation.
Both these requirements are satisfied through OD.

Question 3

Do you agree or disagree with the criticisms of OD?

Answer 3

The various criticisms that the OD faces are a result of improper implementation of these interventions. Apart from this, many other criticisms of OD are rooted in the process only. It can be put that many of the OD programs result in a failure because of weak planning and improper implementation.
There are certain measures that can be taken to minimize the effect of criticisms of OD.
• Certifications and recommendations: There should be a proper body or an organization of OD practitioners that certifies the OD practitioner. A very big criticism for OD is that there is no formal regulatory body. Having such a body or a union would solve the purpose as it would certify the trainers.
• Proper planning and goals: A very common criticism of OD is that it lays huge stress human and social interventions. This is a result of poor implementation or poor planning. The primary step of planning an OD program involves designing the interventions.
Proper techniques: There is a major controversy over the techniques of OD. However these techniques may vary from consultant to consultant, circumstances to circumstances. This criticism is a result of trust deficit. The OD consultant should be trusted by the client organization and rendered help and cooperation. The effectiveness of the program should be measured by the results and not in the midway of process.