Strategic Organizational Development Research Articles

Barriers to organisational development in higher education lifelong learning initiatives

From an economic human capital perspective, higher education lifelong learning initiatives should include the professional development of individuals as well as organisational development. This indicates the dissolving of boundaries between individual and organisational development and that successful professional development occurs at both individual and aggregated levels. Based on the networked mode, higher education institutions could be closely linked to their surrounding society, embracing a two-way relationship with a hybrid character, including multiple connections with branches and/or organisations. In such initiatives, formal education and informal work-related tasks are blurred and both are emphasised as equally important. In focus are collaborative features and the idea to link theoretical reasoning to authentic organisational problems. To offer higher education lifelong learning for organisational development, Mid Sweden University initiated a project called BUFFL in collaboration with eight organisations belonging to an established network of banks and insurance companies. This paper aims at reporting barriers to organisational development in higher education lifelong learning. It answers the following research question: Which barriers could be identified when implementing a hybrid and networked approach to higher education lifelong learning for organisational development? A case-study-inspired approach was conducted. In total, 328 registrations from the collaborating organisations were documented in the BUFFL courses. In addition to open-ended questions and Likert scale questions in the course evaluations, the methods also included conversations with leading representatives of the collaborating organisations. Although several barriers were highlighted in line with the innovation resistance theory, the main barrier seems to be that no organisation applied lifelong learning as a tool for strategic organisational development. The study suggests that a crucial barrier breaker to reduce or eliminate the main barrier is a course on strategically managed competence development for leading representatives of participating organisations. A combined focus on individuals and organisations could also stimulate leading representatives to take a holistic approach to the organisation’s competence development. This includes increased responsibility to ensure that investments in the competence area are beneficial for the organisation. Bringing company-relevant data as input to the courses could ensure the establishment of strong links between theoretical perspectives and work-related practices.

Employee Development and Organizational Performance: The Role of Strategic Organization Development Interventions

Employee Development and Organizational Performance: The Role of Strategic Organization Development Interventions

KPI for the Evaluation of Growth Scenarios for the Strategic Organizational Development

Today's world faces constant change and increasing complexity. This also influences companies in their actions. In order to ensure growth and resilience, technology companies must innovate and strive for internal adaptability within the organization. A field of tension can be observed between the values of effectiveness and efficiency. Effective actions lead to the company and its products becoming better by doing the right things. Efficient actions allow the company and its products to become less costly by doing the things right. The expression of these values in the field of tension changes over the life cycle of a company. Strategic organizational development can thus only take place sustainably in balancing effective and efficient values.
 Based on these ideas, a performance indicator model was developed to promote value balance by assigning concrete parameter to several perspectives. Balance is not a static condition, but the basis for healthy and above all sustainable growth. Without balance, too much of a good thing is done and destructive exaggerations are the result. The model takes a holistic, systemic and balancing position.
 The main aim of this paper is therefore to describe the development, application and critical evaluation of this key performance indicator model to validate the underlying research methodology. The key performance indicator model is to be understood as a thought model, with the help of which the alignment of a company and its employees is to be achieved. The model is used to evaluate growth scenarios. As part of a case study, the organization, culture and environment of an exemplary company were examined with the help of representative workshops and expert interviews. The results of the status quo analysis were able to confirm the basic principles and logic of the key performance indicator system. Based on the information about the environment and organization gathered in the workshops and interviews, the KPI model was applied as an example to evaluate growth scenarios of an exemplary company.
 Finally, interviews were conducted with top managers with many years of management experience to evaluate the KPI system and examine its general validity. The applicability of the KPI model could be conclusively determined for innovation-driven technology companies in the transition between the growth and maturity phase.

Regional health care profiles \u2013 an improved method for generating case studies on the catchment areas of envisaged primary health care units in Austria: a report to the InfAct Joint Action

BackgroundThe recent Austrian Primary Care Act established new primary health care units (PHCUs) and obliged them to draw up a “care strategy” specifying their focal care tasks and objectives and emphasizing the health care needs of the population in their catchment area with its specific local health and epidemiological profile. The main purpose of these care strategies is thus to ensure that care-providers meet the local needs, but they also provide a rationale for evaluation and organizational development. To assist new PHCUs in establishing care strategies it was necessary to develop a method for automatically generating comprehensive local case studies for any freely definable location in Austria.ResultsWe designed an interactive report generator capable of producing location-specific regional health care profiles for a PHCU located in any of Austria’s 2122 municipalities and of calculating the radius of its catchment area (defined by different levels of maximum car-travelling times). The reports so generated, called “regional health care profiles for primary health care” (RHCPs/PHC), are in comprehensive PDF report format. The core of each report is a set of 35 indicators, classified under five health and health service domains. The reports include an introductory text, definitions, a map, a graphic and tabular presentation of all indicator values, including information on local, supra-regional and national value distribution, a ranking, and numbers of service providers (e.g. pharmacies, surgeries, nursing homes) located within the catchment area.ConclusionsThe RHCPs/PHC support primary health care planning, efforts to improve care-effectiveness, and strategic organizational development by providing comprehensive information on the health of the population, the utilization of health services and the health care structures within the catchment area. In addition to revealing the scope and nature of the health care needed, they also provide information on what public health approaches are necessary. RHCPs/PHC for different locations have already been distributed to numerous stakeholders and primary health care providers in Austria.

Development Tendencies of Consultancy Services in the Republic of Moldova

The present paper investigates the issue of consulting services market in the Republic of Moldova and their development trends. The research is based on secondary data analysis, as well as on the results of an online survey of 54 business consultancy providers. The results of the study show that most service providers are microenterprises. Usually, consulting companies provide services in different fields and only the largest, with experience, are focused on specializations. In 2020, the most frequent were the consultations in the field of “strategic planning and organizational development” and “marketing and sales”. The study has revealed the impediments faced by the consultancy service providers from the Republic of Moldova, also, some recommendations were formulated, that, in the opinion of the service providers, would contribute to the development of this sector.

Mastering continuous improvement (CI): the roles and competences of mid-level management and their impact on the organisation's CI capability

PurposeThis paper establishes a comprehensive basis for understanding the roles and competences of mid-level management and their influence on the effectiveness of continuous improvement (CI) capability within an organisation.Design/methodology/approachThis research builds upon the hypothesis that methods alone do not lead to successful CI capability development. It focuses on the role of mid-level management in driving a CI environment that underpins the effectiveness of CI capability. A reference model for the CI environment is synthesised based on critical literature review, integrating CI culture, CI enablers and CI leadership elements. A comprehensive framework is introduced to define CI leadership roles and competence indicators. A quantitative benchmarking study involving structured interviews with 15 UK organisations was undertaken to collect evidence for a causal relationship between CI leadership competences and CI capability.FindingsAnalysis of the benchmarking data provides clear evidence of the causal relationship between the CI leadership competences of mid-level management and CI capability of the organisation. Given that the empirical study was structured on the basis of the CI leadership roles and competences framework introduced in this paper, this also provides validation for the proposed framework and the CI environment model.Practical implicationsThe evidence-based knowledge of the positive relationship between the mid-management CI leadership competences and the effectiveness of the CI capability informs strategic organisational development interventions towards enhancing CI capability and effectiveness, ultimately underpinning productivity enhancement and sustainability. The framework for mid-level management CI leadership roles, responsibilities and competences introduced in this paper and grounded in underpinning work undertaken within a large automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), can be adapted by any organisation. The CI environment reference model should provide a comprehensive support for strategists to communicate the framework for CI capability improvement within an organisation, to enhance acceptability and adherence to improvement actions.Originality/valueThis research proves for the first time the significance of the causal relationship between the CI leadership competences and the effectiveness of the CI capability within an organisation, thus filling an important gap between established previous work, focussing on the role of mid-level management on one side and practitioner and team level roles, methodologies and tools. The proposed CI environment model is a theoretical contribution with reference value for both practice and further studies. The comprehensive framework for mid-level management CI leadership roles, responsibilities and competences introduced in this paper provides sound foundation to deliver CI leadership in the workplace.

Strategic intelligence, organizational development and entrepreneurial behavior

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between manager’s Strategic intelligence, organizational development and entrepreneurial behavior. Design/methodology/approach Data is gathered from the responses of 274 employees from a government agency in an underdeveloped country to three standard questionnaires. Findings The results show significant positive relationships between manager’s SI and OD and manager’s SI and EB but no significant moderating effects of demographic variables with the exception gender which had a significant effect on managers’ SI- EB relationship. Practical implications Therefore to optimize performance and gain a competitive advantage training to improve SI and EB should be provided and consideration should be given to improving internal factors within the organization to promote OD. Originality/value This paper has an original approach by using data collected in a government agency in an underdeveloped country to propose a model of manager’s SI, OD and EB.

Strategic Greening and Social Responsibility of Organizational Development

This study has the aim to analyze the characteristics of the strategic greening and social responsibility of organizational development. The main assumption of the analysis is based on the consideration that the strategic organizational development should take into consideration the greening of organizations and corporate social responsibility. Using holistic and humanistic approaches on individual and organizational development, the analysis focus on individual freedom, lifetime education and training, consciousness on human values and ethical concerns related to the implementation of the organizational greening and corporate social responsibility. Finally, it is proposed a strategic organizational development model. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, organizational development, organizational greening, strategy

Strengthening stakeholder buy-in and engagement for successful exploration and installation: A case study of the development of an area-wide, evidence-based prevention and early intervention strategy

BackgroundThe implementation of evidence-based programmes (EBPs) designed to improve outcomes for children and young people and prevent disadvantage is an increasingly important international policy imperative. However, the integration of EBPs into existing service settings and systems is a complex and multifaceted undertaking. MethodsA process evaluation was conducted to appraise the design and development of a large-scale, area-based, prevention and early intervention initiative. This initiative, called Youngballymun, consisted of five service strategies comprising a range of EBPs (e.g. the Incredible Years Programme, Highscope) targeted at children and young people and their families (from birth to 20 years). The initiative was designed to promote the development, adoption and implementation of EBPs within routine children and youth services in a disadvantaged urban area in the Republic of Ireland. The analytical approach involved the systematic analysis and triangulation of data obtained from relevant documentation (e.g. programme manuals, meeting minutes), as well as a series of one-to-one interviews (n = 27) and six group discussions with key stakeholders (n = 29). ResultsAdopting aspects of an implementation stages framework (Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, & Friedman, 2005), we examined the key implementation stages of exploration and installation. Data gathering and needs assessment and strategic organisational development played an important role in implementation. However, resistance to innovation amongst local service providers emerged as a major challenge to implementation. Factors identified as crucial to overcoming this challenge and promoting stakeholder buy-in for innovation included: encouraging and supporting stakeholder engagement; and adopting a flexible approach to implementation planning. ConclusionGenerating buy-in amongst stakeholders is central to ensuring a fit between innovative programmes and practices and the systems in which they are to be embedded. Some key lessons, such as the need for the active involvement of community-based service providers in the planning process at the earliest stages of implementation, are identified. The kinds of implementation strategies that may be used to address challenges to practice change and innovation, particularly stakeholder responsiveness to, and perceived compatibility of, EBPs, are discussed.

Tacit and explicit knowledge management and assessment of quality performance of public R&D in emerging economies

PurposeThe authors investigate the relationship between the structure and the functioning of scientific and technical (S&T) personnel and the quality research and development (R&D) performance output of laboratories functioning under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. The purpose of this paper is to examine how rapid economic and social changes and the demand for better accountability are addressed by public R&D institutions in a specific developing economy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the functions performed by the S&T personnel as indicators of their tacit knowledge. The authors use data from 27 different CSIR laboratories to analyze the specific functions carried out by knowledge workers (S&T personnel) in order to gauge the internal strengths and weaknesses of individual laboratories in different functional areas. The authors use the following measures to tap the quality R&D performance of these laboratories – number of Indian patents filed and granted, number of foreign patents filed and granted, and the number of published papers figuring among the top 50 CSIR publications in specific research areas over an extended period of 11 years (2003-2004 to 2013-2014).FindingsThe findings show that there is no readymade formula for identifying improvements in quality performance by a research laboratory, given a particular set of S&T worker profile in terms of the six functions defined in the study. The top-performing laboratories have excellent patent as well as publication record reinforcing the point that innovation encompasses both basic and applied research with success depending upon strategically emphasizing the different components of the innovation process.Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of the present research work is limited by the choice of the quality R&D performance measures adopted in the study that could be further expanded to better tap the social accountability of these public-funded institutions. In addition, inclusion of all CSIR laboratories in the study framework would add value to the study findings. The research highlights the importance of tacit knowledge management and organizational learning as central features of strategic organization development for technology practices incorporating R&D work, the support of pilot plants, experimental field stations, and engineering and design units.Practical implicationsThe paper has particular implications for the leadership and management of public R&D organizations and public policy formulation for innovation in an emerging developing economy context.Originality/valueThis study extends the extant literature by drawing upon the role of tacit knowledge and organizational learning to inform the empirical research on managing public R&D and the innovations that result from it, in a particular emerging economy context, that is, India.

My How Things Have Changed! Strategic Organization Development and the Transformation of Human Resource Management

The purpose of this book Strategic Organization Development is to report a metasynthesis research study focusing on a human resources management approach - Strategic Organizational Development. The book is written by Sharadindu Pandey who conducted a meta synthesis research study that is the focus of the book. The book is organized by chapters in which each is devoted to a step in the metasynthesis process. Pandey details the many decisions that must be made by the researcher employing this method as well as discussing the importance of the use of strategic organization development to build actionable knowledge. Valuable feature s of this book include the provision of a unique view of evolving metasynthesis research and the perspective of understanding the e merging use of the ‘Strategic Business Model’ of an organization being aligned with the Organizational Development of a company. This is not a book for light reading; rather this book would be most meaningful for those readers that are informed on the subjects of metasynthesis, qualitative research, business management, and strategic organization development.

Contemplations on the Business of Government: A Conversation With Morley Winograd and Alan Glassman

In this interview, Morley Winograd and Alan Glassman-two recognized experts on strategic planning and organization development in government agencies-explore the uniqueness of the public sector environment, highlighting both the complexity of the federal and multiple-level municipal relationships and the more common criticisms about public sector governance. Specifically, they remind us of (a) the often forgotten benefits of the nation’s deliberative democracy and the constant, yet arguably appropriate, tension between career civil servants and politicians, (b) the need to change the current problem-solving culture to spur innovation in government, and (c) the potential for strategic planning in the public sector to accelerate change and shift government’s focus from process to outcomes. Finally, they offer five pieces of hard-won advice to those attempting strategic planning in the public sector, and share optimism about the future based on the influx of the millennial generation into the public sector.

Effective Strategic Alignment of IT: Implications for the CIO as a Member of the C-Suite

There is a growing focus on the need to ensure that the information technology (IT) provision within the organization is aligned with business strategy in order to create value. This has come about partly as a result of evidence that IT does not automatically contribute to the generation of value within organizations and may in fact offer little return on investment or pose a risk. As Chief Information Officers migrate to new positions where they have greater involvement with strategic organizational development and where they are more in the glare of the governance spotlight, they will need to use a broad range of business and technology frameworks and tools. This paper explores this situation and identifies a number of practical tools that can be used by leaders of all parts of an organization as they strive to produce positive and holistic strategic alignment of information technology. We consider the role that various business and IT derived approaches and tools can play in supporting stronger moves towards the strategic alignment of IT with the broader business, and a shared understanding among C-Suite executives.

Characteristics of Health Care Organizations Associated With Learning and Development

Characteristics of health care organizations associated with an ability to learn from experiences and to develop and manage change were explored in this study. Understanding of these characteristics is necessary to identify factors influencing success in learning from the past and achieving future health care quality objectives. A literature review of the quality improvement, strategic organizational development and change management, organizational learning, and microsystems fields identified 20 organizational characteristics, grouped under (a) organizational systems, (b) key actors, and (c) change management processes. Qualitative methods, using interviews, focus group reports, and archival records, were applied to find associations between identified characteristics and 6 Swedish health care units externally evaluated as delivering high-quality care. Strong support for a characteristic was defined as units having more than 4 sources describing the characteristic as an important success factor. Eighteen characteristics had strong support from at least 2 units. The strongest evidence was found for the following: (i) key actors have long-term commitment, provide support, and make sense of ambiguous situations; (ii) organizational systems encourage employee commitment, participation, and involvement; and (iii) change management processes are employed systematically. Based on the results, a new model of "characteristics associated with learning and development in health care organizations" is proposed.

Managing for sustainability: findings from four company case studies in the UK precast concrete industry

Managing for sustainability is considered to be critical to the development of corporate sustainability, and is fundamentally about strategic organisational development and change. This paper presents the key findings from four case studies undertaken to investigate how the leaders in corporate sustainability in the UK precast concrete industry were managing for sustainability. It was found that by adopting a compliance approach, characterised by the development of management systems and continuous performance improvement cultures, the four companies studied were engaged in the activities and developing the capabilities necessary to manage for sustainability, and had progressed naturally to the ‘efficiency’ phase of corporate sustainability.

Searching for Competitive Advantage in the Black Box

This paper deals with the sources of potential competitive advantage. It builds upon previous work by Flamholtz (1995) to develop a model of the determinants of organizational success and failure as well as subsequent empirical studies of the link between the model and financial performance ( Flamholtz and Aksehirli, 2000,;Flamholtz and Hua, 2002). The paper discusses the extension of the model from a framework for organizational development to a framework or ‘lens’ for building competitive advantage. It also hypothesizes that an organization’s infrastructure (defined in terms of four of the model’s variables) are likely to be the true source of sustainable competitive advantage. Data originally collected for the study reported in Flamholtz and Aksehirli to test the relation between the model and financial performance was utilized to test hypotheses concerning the model and competitive success and sources of competitive advantage. Some of the data derived from the prior study by Flamholtz and Aksehirli, which has not been previously analyzed or reported, was used to identify empirically the sources of competitive advantage, and, in turn, test the hypothesis about the role of infrastructure as the true source of sustainable competitive advantage. Two different statistical methods were used to analyze the hypothesized relationship between the variables included in the Pyramid of Organizational Development and competitive success: (1) the Friedman two-way analysis of variance by ranks and (2) regression analysis. SPSS statistical software was used for both analyses. Results of the Friedman test indicate that ROE scores are significantly associated with total Pyramid of Organizational Development scores. At the significance level of 0.005, higher values of total scores are connected with higher ROE values, and lower total scores are linked with lower ROEs [Siegel (1956)]. To address the issue of the Sources of Potential Strategic Advantage we performed an analysis of the data on strategic organizational development scores shown below in Figure 4 to determine which of the six key variables comprising the Pyramid of Organizational Development actually differentiated one firm from another. As hypothesized, we found different frequencies or proportions of the variables comprising the Pyramid of Organizational Development. We also tested the hypothesis that the key sources of competitive advantage are a firm’s infrastructure, rather than its choice of markets and its products, using the Cochran Q Test. The results of this test indicate that the proportions of competitive advantages of each matched pair do differ significantly among the different sources of potential competitive advantages, at a significance level of 0.028. In addition, to test the hypothesis that infrastructure is significantly different from markets and products, we performed a Friedman Two Way Analysis of Variance. This test was significant at 0.014. The empirical analysis above shows a clear relationship between the Pyramid of Organizational Development framework and competitive advantage. This has several significant implications for practicing managers and researchers.

Strategic Organizational Development, Growing Pains and Corporate Financial Performance:: An Empirical Test

In a previous paper, Flamholtz (1995) proposed a framework for strategic organizational development. This framework included an organizational effectiveness model (the six factor pyramid of organizational success), and a life cycle model (seven key stages of organizational growth, which uses revenues as a surrogate measure of organizational size. In this framework, strategic organizational development equilibrium occurs when there is a fit between the organization’s strategic development of the six key building blocks of organizational success and its size or stage of development. When this fit does not occur, the organization will experience a variety of ‘organizational growing pains.’ These growing pains are symptoms of organizational distress and an indication of the need to change, if the organization wants to continue to operate successfully. The ultimate criterion of organizational success is the ability to continue to operate profitably, and therefore the ultimate measure of organizational success is financial performance. The current paper builds upon this previous framework and presents an empirical test of the hypothesized relationship between ‘organizational growing pains’ and corporate financial performance. It also provides evidence that there appear to be certain threshold levels of growing pains which might be used to predict which organizations will be profitable versus those which are likely to be unprofitable. Although there has been research to test the overall relationship between the organizational effectiveness model and financial performance (Flamholtz and Aksehirli, 2000; Flamholtz and Hua, 2001), there has been no previous empirical research on the relationship between growing pains and financial performance, as reported in the present study. Another question of interest in this study is: are there benchmark levels of growing pains which might be used to predict which organizations will be profitable versus those which are likely to be unprofitable? The hypothesized relationship between growing pains and performance in previous literature has been conceptual in nature; in contrast, this study presents some very specific ‘benchmarks’ for growing pains in relation to successful organizational financial performance. The current paper reports the results of a test of the hypothesized relationship between growing pains and financial performance within a US manufacturing firm, using a set of 15 relatively comparable divisions. Each division’s growing pains was measured by a questionnaire ( Appendix A). This score and these measures of financial performance (‘EBIT’) were used in a regression analysis to test the predictive validity of the hypothesized relationship. The results of the analysis suggest that there is a statistically significant relationship between growing pains and financial performance. An analysis of the relationship between specific growing pains scores and financial performance was also conducted to determine benchmark levels of ‘safe’ versus ‘unsafe’ growing pains. The results suggest that there appears to be a maximum level of growing pains beyond which organizational financial health is at risk. These findings have potentially significant implications for management theory and practice.

Strategic Organizational Development and the Bottom Line:: Further Empirical Evidence

This paper provides an empirical test of a holistic model of organizational success. It builds upon previous work by Flamholtz [Eur. Mngmt J. 13 (1995) 39] and Flamholtz and Aksehirli [Eur. Mngmt J. 14 (2000) 488] to develop a model of organizational success and failure. The initial model of Flamholtz (1995) proposed that there are six key factors or ‘strategic building blocks’ of successful organizations, and the six key variables must be designed as a holistic system, which has been termed ‘The Pyramid of Organizational Development.’ Subsequently, Flamholtz and Aksehirli (2000) proposed a link between the organizational development model and the financial success of organizations. They analyzed financial and non-financial information relevant to the hypothesized model for eight pairs of companies in different industries, and found a statistically significant relationship. This current paper builds upon the previous research and provides additional empirical evidence of the hypothesized link between the organizational development model and financial performance. However, this paper reports the results of a test within a single firm, using a set of fifteen relatively comparable divisions. A related research question concerned the thresholds of strategic organizational development for profitability of individual companies or operating units. Each division was evaluated in terms of the six key strategic building blocks. Scores were assigned to indicate the degree of each division's ‘strategic organizational development.’ This score and measures of financial performance (‘EBIT’) were used in a regression analysis to test the predictive validity of the framework. The results of the regression analysis suggest that there is a statistically significant relationship between the development of the six critical success factors and overall financial success of organizations. An analysis of the data on the relation between ‘average pyramid score and EBIT’ for each of the individual divisions was also conducted to determine threshold levels of ‘strategic organizational development’ and profitability. Accordingly, this research provides further empirical support for the hypothesized relationship between the Pyramid of Organizational Development model and the financial success of organizations.

Effective change strategies for public enterprises: Lessons from turnaround cases

The paper describes two alternative organizational change paradigms which have gained currency in the West, namely, strategic management and organization development. It highlights the distinctive characteristics of public enterprises, especially those operating in developing countries. It examines and analyses several turnaround cases of public enterprise in India and Sri Lanka to develop hypotheses on sequencing of events in a turnaround, leadership skills needed for turnaround, management of external interface of the enterprise, and determinants of mobilization of internal resources for turnaround. The paper identifies some systemic, self-sustaining effects of both sickness and turnaround; the way enterprise leadership can convert the liabilities of public enterprises into assets; and the necessity for changing leadership styles in the different phases of a turnaround. It concludes that strategic management and organizational development models of change may be inadequate as models for changing public enterprises, and a fuller model of planned change for public enterprises may emerge by considering turnaround strategies.