Organization Development Approach Research Articles

Combining individual and organizational stress interventions: An organizational development approach.

Combining individual and organizational stress interventions: An organizational development approach.

Introducing Evidence-Based Practices into Substance Abuse Treatment using Organization Development Methods

Background: Dissemination of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in addiction settings is a national priority. We tested Organization Development (OD) methods for dissemination. Methods: Using OD in two addiction treatment programs we developed an organization-specific treatment plan using employee work teams with the goals of changes in organizational policies and procedures and improvement in practitioner skills. Results: OD was effectively applied, but EBPs were premature for these addiction programs because they first needed to address more fundamental aspects of client-clinician interaction and agency treatment philosophy. Conclusion: The OD approach in addiction treatment is complementary to other technology transfer efforts by being: (a) “organization-centered,” engaging practitioners at all levels; (b) “needs-focused,” addressing concerns of the particular organization; (c) flexible in its responsiveness to readiness for change; and (d) relatively affordable. However, before absorbing EBPs, substance abuse treatment organizations must develop strengths in delivering fundamental aspects of care.

Teams and management control systems: a synthesis of three organizational development approaches

Purpose – This paper applies organizational development (OD) process‐cultural and structural change strategies to synthesize Etzioni's three approaches to power and compliance: normative, coercive and remunerative to study the management control systems of teams in organizations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses library‐archives research.Findings – OD's process and structural differences have affected team members' commitment and operating performance in these three control systems. Advances in information technology have introduced new forms of normative: surveillance control.Research limitations/implications – If MCS are viewed as adaptive systems, the design and implementation of MCS center on identifying those contingent OD process and structural conditions that support team management in these three control systems.Originality/value – The management control literature has not applied Etzioni's basis of power and compliance typologies to study the administrative control of teams. This paper...

Examining the Possibilities of School Transformation for Peace in Northern Ireland from a Narrative Perspective

Against a backdrop of slow progress toward a more peaceful and pluralist society in Northern Ireland, the research reported in this article addresses the transformative potential of narrative modes of professional learning. Phrases such as “the storied nature of human conduct” admirably embodied our narrative stance. Peace poems were elicited from children and young people, and a sample of these was then discussed interpretatively by groups of experienced teachers and educators supported by practices from the organisational development approach called Appreciative Inquiry. The story-based approach proved to be an empowering and sensitive way to develop a language of possibility for action. Narrative ideas and approaches were found to be extremely powerful tools for challenging that most obdurate of barriers to the transformation of schooling for peace—the “culture of silence” that discourages open discussion within schools on the causes and consequences of social division.

Bringing narrative psychology to school improvement for peace: Some implications for the role of the educational psychologist in social conflict

Staub remarked that psychology had important contributions to make to our understanding of how to create peaceful, harmonious and caring relationships between groups. This paper reports on the school improvement phase of an ongoing programme of practitioner research. It illuminates the potential for practitioner educational psychology to contribute towards building a culture of peace and to counter hegemonic school discourses which detract from the task of addressing inter-communal conflict. The work was underpinned by the argument that school-based efforts to overcome ethnopolitical conflict could be transformed through a perspective that gives a central role to the storied nature of human conduct; that is, through narrative psychology. This stance is a special case of the wider perspective called social constructionism, itself a movement which draws sustenance from and has links to a range of disciplines and intellectual traditions including Vygotskian theory and sociocultural perspectives on learning. Peace poems were elicited from children and young people and a sample of these were then discussed interpretatively by groups of experienced teachers and educators supported by practices from the organisational development approach called appreciative inquiry. Narrative thinking and methods were found to have great potential to help teachers generate alternative ‘richer descriptions’ of schooling for peace and consequently construct more inclusive and democratic social worlds. I argue that school improvement for peace requires the development of an alternative epistemology of professional practice based on a relational redrawing of psychological processes.

Sociale perceptie als insteek voor systeembrede organisatieverandering: veranderen volgens een sociaal-constructionistische strategie

Social perception as entrance for systemwide organizational change: Change through a social constructionist' strategy Social perception as entrance for systemwide organizational change: Change through a social constructionist' strategy A.T.M. van Nistelrooij, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 17, august 2004, nr. 4, p. 242-521 By developing a strategy that links up with normative-re-educative assumptions of the Organization Development approach this article tries to extend the understanding of producing intentional change from a social-constructionist' perspective. This strategy is based on unfolding a dialogue with the whole system. A social-constructionist' approach respects the unique reality of each stakeholder, pays attention to the context, emphasises the symmetric and mutual nature of dialogue in which meanings are (re-)produced. The article points out that one of the most basic mechanism of realizing change is to discover in a conversational process that the interpretation that someone else puts on a concept is different from one's own. Regarding the planned change nature of OD there are some implications for the way a dialogue should be organized, the role of management and the selection of a suiting intervention method.

Promoting mental health through employment and developing healthy workplaces: the potential of natural supports at work.

In England, policy developments in the field of mental health are stimulating interest in employment for mental health service users as a means of mental health promotion. To date, research that might assist in increasing employment rates amongst this group has focused largely on the question of which service users are most likely to benefit from vocational interventions and, more recently, on models of vocational support. Less is known about how employers can assist people in their transition or return to work. In this article we draw on the accounts of 17 employment project clients to identify workplace factors that were associated with job retention. Specific adjustments such as flexibility about working hours, work schedules and job tasks emerged as crucial in enabling clients to deal with the effects of medication, and to regain stamina and confidence. Over and above these, however, 'natural supports' of a kind from which any employee would arguably benefit were equally important. In this respect the main themes revolved around training and support to learn the job, supportive interpersonal relationships at work, workplace culture, and approaches to staff management. These themes might equally provide a productive focus for workplace health promotion more generally, using organization development approaches.

Applying an organizational development approach to creating diversity

Applying an organizational development approach to creating diversity

Leadership profiles of managers in post‐communist countries: a comparative study

This research sought to identify leadership styles of enterprise managers in four countries of the former USSR. The survey was based on the Bass and Avolio MLQ5x leadership styles instrument. Valid responses were received from 2,391 managers and employees at nine manufacturing enterprises located in Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. The results suggest that managers in these four countries used three well‐known leadership styles – transactional, transformational, and laissez‐faire. However, the laissez‐faire style was not prevalent. Overall, transactional contingent reward leadership was used more often than any other approaches. Charisma and individualized consideration received the lowest scores among the transformational leadership style dimensions. Tests of the relationship between leadership styles and managerial performance measures indicated that contingent reward and charisma had the strongest relationship with positive outcomes. Individual country leadership style profiles and implications for developing leadership training programs, and for the transfer of Western organization development approaches are discussed.

Enhancing employability: the role of prior learning assessment and portfolios

Examines the role of prior learning assessment, the portfolio method specifically, in workforce development. Despite the continuous evolution of work, organizational provisions for career development have not necessarily progressed to reflect advancing demands on workers. Organizations may better enable the contemporary workforce to embrace the shift from employment to employability through encouraging enhancement of both personal and professional growth. Incorporation of the portfolio process promises to augment organizational learning and development approaches by more effectively supporting workers in taking greater responsibility for managing their own careers.

A Field Study of the Effects of Asynchronous Groupware Support on Process Improvement Groups

Process improvement (PI) groups have been among the main change instruments of widely adopted and publicized organizational development approaches such as total quality management and business process re-engineering. Asynchronous groupware tools, such as electronic messaging systems, have found widespread use in organizations yet very little field research exists on how PI groups are affected by such tools. We try to fill this gap with a field study of the effects of asynchronous groupware support on seven PI groups in two New Zealand organizations. Our study indicates that, while not having perceived negative effects on group effectiveness, asynchronous groupware support was perceived as increasing process adoption, hierarchy suppression, departmental heterogeneity and contribution length and decreasing discussion duration, cost and interaction in PI groups. We argue that, based on these findings, the use of asynchronous groupware tools is likely to be beneficial in PI projects, particularly where a large number of PI groups proposing incremental process changes is conducted.

A field study of the effects of asynchronous groupware support on process improvement groups

Process improvement (PI) groups have been among the main change instruments of widely adopted and publicized organizational development approaches such as total quality management and business process re-engineering. Asynchronous groupware tools, such as electronic messaging systems, have found widespread use in organizations yet very little field research exists on how PI groups are affected by such tools. We try to fill this gap with a field study of the effects of asynchronous groupware support on seven PI groups in two New Zealand organizations. Our study indicates that, while not having perceived negative effects on group effectiveness, asynchronous groupware support was perceived as increasing process adoption, hierarchy suppression, departmental heterogeneity and contribution length and decreasing discussion duration, cost and interaction in PI groups. We argue that, based on these findings, the use of asynchronous groupware tools is likely to be beneficial in PI projects, particularly where a large number of PI groups proposing incremental process changes is conducted.

Organizational Development Interventions for Enhancing Creativity in the Workplace

ABSTRACTIn an era of rapidly accelerating change, many organizations which developed during a more stable era that demanded bureaucratic efficiency find themselves in a crisis of adaptability and commitment. Effective organizations are those which can mainstream both adaptability and efficiency and strike an appropriate balance between the two. This paper evaluates traditional organizational development (OD) approaches to this problem, then presents a new approach to OD based on organizational creativity. Organizational creativity is defined as a deliberate and continuous change‐making process of problem generation and formulation, problem solving, and solution implementation, and as synonymous with adaptability and innovation. Unlike traditional OD approaches that lack a strategic perspective and that rely on single interventions, OD should be employed as an innovation process requiring thinking skills in change‐making and incorporating interventions as tools. Under the new approach, organizations can learn to mainstream adaptability by doing two things: encouraging employees to master new thinking skills which increases their creativity, motivation, and commitment; and creating an infrastructure that ensures that these skills will be used regularly. Research is reviewed supporting the new approach, and future research directions are suggested.

Organizational development strategies for integrating mental health services.

The recent debates about health care reform have focused attention on the need to develop organized systems of care capable of delivering comprehensive services which are coordinated or integrated. Achieving service integration has emerged as a central and pressing objective in most mental health systems in response to existing difficulties with fragmentation of care. However, attempts at service integration often fail at the implementation stage as provider agencies zealously guard their organizational boundaries and struggle with each other for power and control. In this article, the authors formulate an organizational development approach to service integration that focuses on reducing the rigid maintenance of agency boundaries by developing informal networks among staff of local provider agencies. Eight strategies, drawn from the research literature on services integration and recently implemented by a local mental health authority, are described as potential tools for use by systems managers in accomplishing these goals.

Managing Adolescent Behavior A Multiyear, Multischool Study

A 3-year study in eight middle schools tested a program to improve adolescent conduct. The program sought to increase clarity of school rules and consistency of rule enforcement, improve classroom organization and management, increase the frequency of communication with the home regarding student behavior, and increase reinforcement of appropriate behavior. An organization development approach provided a context to achieve strong implementation by increasing communication, collaboration, and planning at the school level. The strength and fidelity of implementation differed across schools. In schools in which the program was well-implemented student conduct improved significantly.

Managing Adolescent Behavior A Multiyear, Multischool Study

A 3-year study in eight middle schools tested a program to improve adolescent conduct. The program sought to increase clarity of school rules and consistency of rule enforcement, improve classroom organization and management, increase the frequency of communication with the home regarding student behavior, and increase reinforcement of appropriate behavior. An organization development approach provided a context to achieve strong implementation by increasing communication, collaboration, and planning at the school level. The strength and fidelity of implementation differed across schools. In schools in which the program was well-implemented, student conduct improved significantly. (Abstract Adapted from Source: American Educational Research Journal, 1993. Copyright © 1993 by the American Educational Research Association) Child Behavior Child Problem Behavior Juvenile Behavior Juvenile Problem Behavior Student Behavior Classroom Behavior Classroom Management School Based Prevention Program Intervention Program Program Effectiveness Program Evaluation Behavior Intervention Behavior Prevention Junior High School Student Program Implementation Late Childhood Early Adolescence 12-04

Organizational development in the third world: values, closeness of fit and culture-boundedness(1)

This paper seeks to counterbalance some common arguments about the role of organization development (OD) in Third World settings. OD is a value-laden technology and this raises the issues of the closeness of fit of specific OD approaches or designs to different cultures, histories and settings. Most organizational theorists recommend a close fit, based upon an overall characterization of OD and estimates of the features of macro-cultures such as nations or regions. This paper urges a more differentiated perspective, based on evidence that OD works, on balance, in a broad range of contexts. Specifically, OD designs/approaches are not homogeneous, and neither are the nation-states or organizations in which OD is applied. The paper suggests a number of ways in which OD practitioners might become more sensitive to different contexts and thereby improve their judgments about the advisability of making OD interventions. Since its earliest days, OD has been concerned with the issue of degree of fit. OD is a norm...

Mediation in academia: Practicing what we preach

AbstractThis paper addresses the use of mediation in academia as a valuable technique for resolving conflict that exists between individuals or among groups. A model for mediation in academia that incorporates organizational development approaches and mediation strategies is discussed. The following issues are addressed: the environment of the conflict, parameters of the mediation process, identification of the client, the process of engagement, and the process of termination and follow‐up.

Energizing the School Community: A Research Approach to Practical School Improvement

There is a temptation among school practitioners to use standard recipes (Lieberman and Miller 1986; Purkey and Degen 1985) for improving schools. Evidence suggests that this temptation results from a lack of understanding of the theory of organization development and the process of change. This lack of understanding weakens the potential outcomes of school reform. What is needed is a systematic approach for promoting change in schools. The organization development approach emphasizes the restructuring of individuals' norms, values, and beliefs in producing an enhanced organizational culture. This approach also emphasizes the significant roles groups play in organizations and attempts to create new structures to improve withinand between-group collaboration (Fullan, Miles, and Taylor 1980). Thus, organization development is the attempt to improve the effectiveness of an organizational whole through a focus on its parts.

Organisational Development: A New Direction for Marketing Channel Research

The concept of organisational development is an important one, but has yet to be applied to the marketing channel. The theory and practice of organisational development are examined and linked with their crucial needs in marketing channel research. The advantages of channel‐modified organisational development are demonstrated and what steps need to be taken to build the organisational development approach into a viable stream for marketing channel research are discussed.