Organization Development Practitioners Research Articles

Total quality and organization development

What happens when you bridge the fields of Total Quality (TQ) and Organization Development (OD) to improve organizational performance? You get Total Quality and Organization Development.Here is a comprehensive and practical treatment of the impact TQ approaches to system performance has on OD. For the first time, views of organization change processes taken by academic researchers and practitioners in the fields of TQ and OD are bridged into a single text. Total Quality and Organization Development presents empowering insights, up-to-date tools, and challenging opportunities for organizational managers, OD practitioners, academicians, trainers, and students alike.When facing the fact that a true need exists to transform organization structures and corporate cultures, and to develop organizations to meet the challenges and demands of the next century, the principles and practices of total quality can aid in the transformation. OD was originated by a group of varied professionals, ranging from organizational psychologists to economists and philosophers who had a major role in developing the side of work. The core philosophies of the parallel movements of OD and TQ are rapidly coming together as quality advocates deal with human factors in quality improvement and the technical and measurement factors that accompany such changes. This book will be a vital tool in making those changes successfully.

OD Practitioners as Facilitators of Change

A study was undertaken to determine the degree of knowledge and understanding that organization development (OD) practitioners have regarding key issues in the management of change in organizations. Other variables of interest included the preferred mode of influence or consulting style based on a transformational versus transactional framework and the degree of tolerance for ambiguous situations. Data were collected using two survey instruments, the Managing Change Questionnaire (MCQ) and the Change Agent Questionnaire (CAQ), which were mailed to 1,500 OD practitioners randomly selected from the membership rosters of three professional associations. Of the sample, 24% returned completed questionnaires. Responses were compared with previous findings from managers and executives and then analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple regression techniques to identify differences among categories of practitioners. Overall, OD practitioners were found to be quite knowledgeable about the concepts covered in the MCQ, more likely to be transformational than transactional in their consulting approach, and relatively tolerant of ambiguous situations. Formal educational background and nonacademic training experiences were identified as contributing factors in these trends, as well.

The Educational Psychologist as Organization Development Consultant in South African Schools

South Africa is currently undergoing a process of reconstruction and transformation, and educational changes constitute an integral part of this process. Organization Development (OD), could play a valuable role in such change. OD practices, when located within an ecosystemic framework, represent a departure from certain inadequacies of conventional educational psychology practice in South Africa, such as decontextualization and individualization. This paper is the product of a formative evaluation study and ongoing enquiry into school organization development in South Africa. Such research has indicated that particular issues tend to emerge as 'substantive' in the course of OD practice. The paper outlines and discusses a number of substantive issues and presents a framework for conceptualizing these issues in an integrated fashion. The framework is comprised of three interrelated components, namely the school, the consultant(s) and the interaction between them. These components exist within a particular micro and macro context which needs to be taken into account in any OD intervention. It is hoped that the framework will prove useful to OD practitioners in a variety of different contexts and provide a practical means of conceptualizing their situations.

AN ASSESSMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND P—E FIT: A TOOL FOR ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Person—environment (P—E) fit has long been a focus in organizational research. A climate‐based measure of P—E Fit was developed for use in organizational and individual assessment. A series of studies with a Q‐sort measure of climate and fit (the Organizational Fit Instrument—OFI) indicated ways in which P—E fit information can be used in organizational development. In addition, the psychometric properties of the OFI assessed in these studies suggested that, despite the ipsative nature of the measure, it may provide the organizational development practitioner or researcher with a sound and useful tool. Suggestions for future research are proposed.

Using surveys for change: an applied example in a pharmaceuticals organization

Regardless of changes in an organization′s environment, its mission, structure or culture, employee satisfaction and quality of worklife remain significant concerns for most organizational change and development efforts. While morale and motivation are not often the impetus for such change programmes, they are almost always tied inextricably to the problems that have manifested themselves. One of the most effective tools a practitioner has for understanding and diagnosing the issues involved, as well as for highlighting key levers for change, is the organizational survey. Describes an applied example of how survey feedback was used in conjunction with an organizational change effort in an international pharmaceuticals company to explore the relationships between managerial and work‐group member behaviours and employee outcomes (e.g. feelings of satisfaction, contribution and team spirit). After an overview of the consulting project leading up to the diagnosis, presents and highlights key findings of a survey of 1,428 employees. Discusses the results in terms both of the implications of these data for the organization involved in the consulting engagement and of the utility of survey‐based feedback and modelling techniques as tools for organizational development and change practitioners.

Women in organization development

Focuses on women in the field of organization development (OD), their consulting practices, motivators, values, and intended directions for the future. Reviews the current state of the field – focusing on both the inherent tension in values that is endemic to the practice of OD today and the increasing presence of women doing OD. Presents the results from a recent survey of 148 contemporary women OD practitioners. Discusses intervention preferences, perceptions of primary motivators and values in the field today, and idealized motivators and values for the future of OD. Also addresses implications of these results for the field.

Women and men as organizational development practitioners: An analysis of differences and similarities.

Women and men as organizational development practitioners: An analysis of differences and similarities.

Women and men as organizational development practitioners: An analysis of differences and similarities.

Women and men as organizational development practitioners: An analysis of differences and similarities.

Values, Motives, and Interventions of Organization Development Practitioners

A mail survey was conducted to empirically measure respondents' perceptions of the values, motives, and interventions of today's organization development (OD) practitioners. The survey sample consisted of 1,500 names randomly selected from three different professional organizations. Overall, 416 practitioners (27.7%) returned the questionnaire. Data from each of the three content areas were analyzed through: (a) factor analyses to determine the underlying structure and to generate subscales, and (b) MANCOVAs to assess the degree of differences among various types of respondents (e.g., professional association membership, gender, internal vs. external status) across the respective summary scores. In terms of the values of OD, results indicated that practitioners perceive the field today to be focused more on business effectiveness and productivity issues than on the humanistic concerns and orientation of the past. Although respondents rated interest in social action and helping people as the most important motivators of OD work in the ideal, exercising personal power and reaping the rewards of the consulting relationship were considered to be the more dominant motivators for people in the field today. Regarding interventions, practitioners reported engaging primarily in activities aimed at long-term organizational change, action research methodologies, and management skills training.

Quality Management: Practice Risks and Value-Added Roles for Organization Development Practitioners

As an increasing number of organizations move to adopt some form of quality management, organization development (OD) practitioners are being called on to assist with these efforts. A growing number of OD practitioners are entering into such quality management consulting content areas as providing clients with roadmaps for implementation, instructing management teams in the principles and methods of quality management, and serving as facilitators/trainers of quality improvement project teams. The authors believe there are inherent dangers attached to this trend. This article first explores the basis of what seems to be the strong attraction that quality management has for OD practitioners and then discusses some of the risks associated with OD practitioners entering into content areas of quality management consulting. Finally, the authors offer what they believe to be several distinctive, value-added roles that OD practitioners can play when consulting with organizations interested in implementing quality management models. These roles both add value to the client system and are consistent with the core ideals and values of the OD field.

Behavioral Competencies, Goal Setting, and OD Practitioner Effectiveness

A behavioral competency model was applied to organization development (OD) interventions conducted in the United States and New Zealand. Consultants and their clients were surveyed to assess perceived frequencies of a range of consultant behaviors and goal-setting activities and their contribution to overall consultation effectiveness. Differences between consultant and client perceptions of consultant behaviors, along with regressions on consultant effectiveness, highlighted the need for researchers and OD practitioners to give more attention to client expectations and requirements. The utility of the behavioral competency approach is considered.

What Do OD Practitioners Know About Managing Change?

Suggests that change is inherent in contemporary organizational experience, and its management is not only critical to organizational success but it is also at the centre of the field of organization development (OD). Describes the results of a survey of 357 OD practitioners regarding their knowledge and understanding of important aspects of organizational change. Based on a comparison of the survey data collected with previous research, demonstrates that this group of presumed “change experts” is, in fact, more knowledgeable in most areas about the application and process of organizational change than their managerial and executive counterparts. Presents further analyses that serve to highlight different areas of knowledge and application of change management techniques with respect to various respondent characteristics, e.g. internal versus external status, number of years of experience in the field, etc. Concludes with a call for reflection regarding the results obtained and continued research in this area.

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...

Managing change, leadership style, and intolerance to ambiguity: A survey of organization development practitioners

In today's business environment, human resource development (HRD) and organization development (OD) practitioners need to be experts at helping executives and managers deal with organizational change. This article presents survey research findings, based on responses from 357 HRD/OD practitioners, related to this critical area of expertise. The authors first describe the results of their research, and then conclude with implications of these results for HR and related professionals. Overall, HRD/OD practitioners were found to be quite knowledgeable about managing organizational change, and were more likely to describe their work style as transformational rather than transactional. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Activities of Organization Development Practitioners at the Turn of the Decade of the 1990s

Organization development practitioners generated predictions about the activities they would engage in at the turn of the decade. Factor analyses were conducted and revealed 13 different activity factors. Examination of these factors suggest that group development and action research activities are predicted to be engaged in to a great degree in the future, whereas strategic planning and forecasting will be given much less attention.

Organization Development Practitioners' Activities and Interventions in Organizations during the 1980s

A study was undertaken to determine the activities and interventions organization development (OD) practitioners engaged in during the 1980s. After interviews with practitioners and an examination of the OD literature, a survey was developed listing various activities and asking respondents to indicate the extent to which they had been involved in these activities. This survey was then administered to 142 participants of a professional development program for OD and human resource management practitioners, of whom 71 returned completed questionnaires. The responses were analyzed using factor analysis, which revealed five different activity factors. An examination of these factors suggests that OD practitioners engaged in management style enhancement, strategy development, culture change, technology integration, and employee development during the 1980s. The results are discussed in terms of the relationships among these activities, the business environment, and the organization development field at large.

Inappropriate Defenses Against the Monitoring of Organization Development Practice

Many organization development practitioners resist public inquiry into the reasoning behind and validity of their assumptions, methods, and outcomes. Based on personal experience, the author presents three patterns of defenses used by practitioners uncomfortable with discussions of their perceptions, strategies, and behavior. In the first pattern, the practitioner accuses someone seeking to address these issues of being inappropriately rational and insufficiently respectful of intuition. In the second pattern, the practitioner inhibits discussion by charging that rational dialogue and confrontation are inappropriate whenever they cause distress or interfere with one's personal learning style. In the third pattern, the practitioner withdraws from the interaction and accuses those questioning the practitioner's work of being judgmental and punishing. The author concludes that these defenses endanger the credibility of organization development, and that its practitioners must make their conclusions, methods, and claims explicit and test them using logical processes separate from their own experiences and biases.

Behavioral Competency Requirements for Organization Development Consultants

Behavioral event interviews were conducted with twenty-three organization development practitioners ranging in experience from two to more than twenty years and twenty-two client organizations from public and private sectors to generate a set of consultant behaviors judged to be effective and ineffective during organizational interventions. Six general dimensions of competency and a list of fourteen important behavior classes emerged from coding and content analyses of the behavioral events by independent observers. Some behaviors were judged to belong to more than one competency category, although five of the six clusters were dominated by particular behaviors. These data provided the basis for developing a behavior observation scale for assessing consultant skills and intervention effectiveness. This behavioral perspective holds promise for improving organization development training programs and for on-going professional development among consultants, as well as for enhancing client understanding of co...

Ironies in organizational development

The practice of organization development has by and large been quite successful, as evidenced by the recent proliferation of OD programs in higher education and its widespread application in business environments. Despite these successes, says Robert Golembiewski, or perhaps because of it, practitioners can point to too little translation of individual successes into broader analytic frameworks. This basic irony is the motivating force behind this book. Robert Golembiewski, a leading intellectual force in the field since its inception, takes stock of where OD has been and where it is going. His purpose is to motivate the committed practitioner to develop frameworks that reflect an intellectual grasp of the field and can in turn help further enrich practice. Ironies in Organizational Development argues that the field does quite well, in general; but in numerous particulars it can do much better, with only a modest investment of wit and will. The ironies of which the title speaks are the relative successes in some categories of practice, coupled with areas where opportunity for improvement exists. Golembiewski notes that some of the chapters will be perceived as challenges by some practitioners and theorists and encourage despondency in others. Although many have been previously published, the sources have in some cases been obscure or inaccessible, and most of these chapters will be new to the organizational development practitioner. All have been vigorously revised and updated for book publication. As an overview of the current state of the art of organizational development, this volume will be of interest to old hands in the field as well as new specialists, managers facing the challenge of continuous change in organizational life, and researchers in organization behavior and theory, including social psychologists. The book is self-consciously oriented toward where organizational development is going-and where it has been only as a basis for understanding its future.

How Can OD Consultants and Researchers Assess Gamma Change? A Comparison of Two Analytical Procedures

Evaluation of organizational development (OD) interventions, especially with regard to gamma change, is criticalfor both OD practitioners and researchers. Yet how to assess gamma change has not been adequately resolved. An 18-month field study of an OD intervention was used to explore empirically two alternative procedures for assessing gamma change-namely the methods of Golembiewski, Billingsley and Yeager (1976b) as compared to a modification of the methods of Terborg, Howard, and Maxwell (1980). Results suggest important differences between the methods and these differences are explored in detail.