UNIT 4

In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, businesses undergo
regular change, creating a need for continuous organizational development (OD). The main
goal of OD is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization. 

An example of this is tech giant Amazon, which has gained a competitive edge by investing
in organizational development. It plans to invest $700 million in OD and retrain a third of its
workforce by 2025, helping its workers transition into new, advanced roles by adapting to
new technologies, working conditions, business procedures, and overall digital
transformation.

Organizational development is an evidence-based scientific approach to help organizations

become effective and adaptive to change by developing, improving, and reinforcing
strategies, structures, and processes. 

Definitions of OD

According to Cummings and Worly - Organization Development is "a systematic application

of behavioural science knowledge to the planned development and reinforcement of
organizational strategies, structures, and processes for improving an organization's
effectiveness."

According to Burk and Hornstien "Organization development is a process of planned change

- change of an organization's culture from one which avoids an examination of social
processes (especially decision making, planning and communication) to one which
institutionalizes and legitimizes this examination".

According to Warren Bennis - "Organization development is a response to change, a complex

educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes and structure of organization so
that they can better adapt to new technologies, markets and challenges".
Characteristics of organization development

1. Focus on culture and process: Organization development on culture and process of

proper and organization on following suitable and positive culture level and process success
organization development program depend.

2. Collaboration: Organization development encourages heartfelt collaboration between

managers and employees and members managing culture and processes.
3. The accomplishment of tasks: Various kinds of teams and groups play important roles in
the accomplishment of organizational development activities. Thus targets can also be
achieved.

4. Human and social sides: Organization development focuses on both human and social
sides. By doing so, it intervenes in the technological and structural sides also.

5. Participation: Participation and involvement of managers and players can make the

organization development process a success. It helps to exchange views and ideas related to
organization development.

6. System change: Organization development focuses on total system change. Because every

change is inevitable for the success of any development program.

7. Facilitation: There are three parties to the organization’s development process. They are
facilitators, collaborators, and co-learners in the client system. The cooperation of all these
parties can help the organization to develop.

8. Overarching goals: An overarching goal of the organization is to make the client system
able to solve its problems. It is done by teaching the skills and knowledge of continuous
learning through self-analytical methods.

9. Action research model: Organization development activities are undertaken following the

conclusions and recommendations of action research members related to the client system.

10. Developmental view: Organization development takes a developmental view of the

betterment of both process and organization. Another practice in organization development
programs is to create win-win solutions.

What Are the Goals for Organizational Development?

Here are a few of the most important goals for organizational development:

1. Improve Productivity & Efficiency Across the Organization

85% of employees are disengaged at their workplace, costing $7 trillion in lost productivity,
according to Gallup’s State of the Local Workplace. However, the organizational
development process focuses on making the workforce more efficient and productive by
equipping them with the required skills to succeed in constantly changing markets. 

2. Improves Communication and align employees with the company’s vision

OD also improves communication within the team to align employees with the company’s
vision. Once employees feel empowered, they are motivated to give their best and are willing
to take more ownership of their work.

3. Create a Culture that Embraces Change & Innovation

Organizational development leverages competitive analysis, market research, and consumer
behavior to create innovative products and services. It positively impacts the organizational
culture by creating a continuous improvement cycle through special committees and new
business processes. Strategies are implemented and assessed for results and quality, thereby
helping employees embrace change without any barriers. 

For instance, Google fosters a culture of ongoing learning through organizational

development. New employees are aware that they need to learn continuously to keep pace
with changing business dynamics and grow professionally. 

3. Higher Profit Margins

New development initiatives streamline organizational processes, as well as increase
employee productivity and product innovation. The operational costs further decrease due to
a lower employee turnover rate, resulting in substantial profit margins.

Benefits of Organizational Development

Increasing productivity and efficiency comes with many benefits. One of the best ways to
encourage positive results in these metrics is by using a well-thought-out organizational
development structure. Organizational development is used to equip an organization with the
right tools so that it can adapt and respond positively to changes in the market. The benefits
of organizational development include the following:

1. Continuous development

Entities that participate in organizational development continually develop their business

models. Organizational development creates a constant pattern of improvement in which
strategies are developed, evaluated, implemented, and assessed for results and quality.

In essence, the process builds a favorable environment in which a company can embrace
change, both internally and externally. The change is leveraged to encourage periodic
renewal.

2. Increased horizontal and vertical communication

Of considerable merit to organizational development is effective communication, interaction,

and feedback in an organization. An efficient communication system aligns employees with
the company’s goals, values, and objectives.

An open communication system enables employees to understand the importance of change

in an organization. Active organizational development increases communication in an
organization, with feedback shared continuously to encourage improvement.
 

3. Employee growth

Organizational development places significant emphasis on effective communication, which

is used to encourage employees to effect necessary changes. Many industry changes
require employee development programs. As a result, many organizations are working
toward improving the skills of their employees to equip them with more market-relevant
skills.

4. Enhancement of products and services

Innovation is one of the main benefits of organizational development and is a key

contributing factor to the improvement of products and services. One approach to change is
employee development – a critical focal point is a reward for motivation and success.

Successful engagement of employees leads to increased innovation and productivity.

Through competitive analysis, consumer expectations, and market research, organizational
development promotes change.

5. Increased profit margins

Organizational development influences the bottom line in many different ways. As a result of
increased productivity and innovation, profits and efficiency increase. Costs come down
because the organization can better manage employee turnover and absenteeism. After the
alignment of an entity’s objectives, it can focus entirely on development and product and
service quality, leading to improvements in customer satisfaction.

Principles of Organization Development (OD)

For the successful implementation of organizational development programs, some principles

are expected to be followed. Success depends on the following of these principles. These four
principles of organization development (OD) are as follows:

1. Values-Based: Values-based key variables include.

 a. Collaboration: Builds collaborative relationships between the practitioners and
the client while encouraging collaboration throughout the client system.
b. Self-awareness: OD (Organization Development) practitioners engage in
personal and professional development through lifeline learning.
2. Systems focused: Approaches communities and organizations as open systems: that is,
acts with the knowledge that change in one area of a system always results in tin changes in
one area of a system always results in changes in other areas, and change in one area cannot
be sustained without supporting changes in other areas of the system.

3. Action Research: Continuously reexamines, reflects, and integrates discoveries

throughout the process of change in order to achieve desired outcomes. In this way, the client
members are Involved both in doing their work and in dialogue about their reflection and
learning in order to apply them to achieve a shared result.

4. Informed by data: Involves proactive inquiry and assessment of the internal environment

in order to discover and create a compelling need for change and the achievement of a desired
future state of the organization or community.

The Process of Organizational Development

The organizational development process is a systematic, research-based series of steps.
Common implementation steps include the following:

 Identifying an area of improvement. Organizational change begins with identifying a need

that aligns with business goals. Companies often know that need right away, but they may
consider a data-driven approach to identify problems through formal surveys and feedback.
This approach allows for a more thorough understanding of the area for improvement.
Companies should ask themselves what they want to change, and why that change is
necessary.
 Investigating the problem. Once the area for improvement is identified, companies conduct
an investigation to learn why the problem exists, what the barriers to improvement are, and
what solutions have previously been attempted. This step can also include surveys or focus
groups and individual consultations.
 Creating an action plan. The company then creates a plan with allocated resources and
clearly defined employee roles. This plan will include specific support for individuals
involved and identify a measurable goal. During this step, companies should think about how
they’ll communicate changes to staff and manage feedback.
 Creating motivation and a vision. Once the company has clearly defined and
communicated a plan, its leaders must motivate their employees to share in a vision. This step
involves leaders acting as enthusiastic role models while helping employees understand the
plan’s big-picture goals and desired impact.
 Implementing. While stability is necessary during implementation, supporting employees
during the transition with mentoring, training, and coaching is equally important. When
thinking about such support, management should consider what new skills employees will
need and what delivery methods will be most effective. Ongoing feedback and
communication can help make the change process easier.
 Evaluating initial results. Once the company has implemented a plan, its leaders may create
space for shared reflection, asking themselves and their employees if the change effectively
 met the business goals. They’ll also evaluate the change management process and consider
what could be done differently. This step can’t be overlooked; if the company doesn’t
evaluate the changes, it won’t know whether interventions have been effective.
 Adapting or continuing. Depending on the evaluation of the initial results, the company
may choose to adapt its plan. If the results show success, it may continue with the current
plan to keep improving

Organisational Development Models

An organization brings together individuals from different backgrounds, varied passions and
knowledge on a common platform, to work as a team and achieve certain prearranged goals.
It is necessary for the employees to deliver their level best and eventually increase the
productivity of the organization. Over the years organizational development models have
been used to guide the organization development (OD) consulting process for enhanced
organizational effectiveness.
Today many major companies are going through significant changes and most people are not
prepared to cope with it. In future organizations will need to be accommodating to these
changed market conditions and at the same time coping with the need for a recurring rather
than unresponsive workforce. It is going to discuss the three OD models, and the extent to
which they can be used to create learning organizations.

1. The Three Step-Model

Organizational development is a form of organizational change. The Three-Step
model of change was proposed by Kurt Lewin in 1947. Lewin’s model is based on the layout
that before actually introducing a change, organization needs to be prepared for change,
motivated to change and establish the change into behaviours of organization. Accordingly,
Lewin has classified these steps as unfreezing, changing and refreezing.
 Unfreezing: Before a change can be applied, it must go through the primary step of
unfreezing.  Since many people will naturally resist change, the goal is to create an
awareness to show employees how necessary a change is for the organization to create or
maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Unfreezing means inspiring
individuals to leave old attitudes and create the need for change, motivating people for
change and reducing hostility to change.
 Changing: This changing step is the time that most people struggle with the new reality,
marked with uncertainty and fear, making it the hardest step to overcome. People begin to
learn the new behaviors, processes and ways of thinking and if they are prepared, it
becomes easy to complete. Employees are  reminded of the reasons for the change
throughout the process and how it will benefit them once carried out.
 Refreezing: In this final step, new opinions, benefits, and habits are established. This
means stabilizing and integrating the change by reinforcing the new behaviours. Lewin
found the refreezing step to be extremely important to make sure that people do not go
back to their old ways of thinking. Efforts must be made to maintain the change as the
acceptable way of thinking or doing.
 2. The Action Research Model

The term was first suggested by Kurt Lewin. He described action research as ‘a comparative
research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading
to social action’ that uses ‘a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning,
action and fact-finding about the result of the action’.

Action research is a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action,
and fact-finding about the result of the action. In guiding planned change within
organizations, eight main steps are involved: problem identification, consulting with a
behavioural science expert, data gathering and preliminary diagnosis, feedback to client, joint
diagnosis of the problem, joint action planning, action, and data gathering after action.
1. The first of these steps is problem identification. This involves sensing a change situation
or problem within the organization. Usually, this is done by an executive or a powerful and
influential person within the organization who realises one or more problems that might be
solved with the help of an OD practitioner.
2.The second step involves the organization consulting with a behavioural science expert
such as an OD practitioner. During this stage, the expert may share his framework for
implementing planned change with the organization in order to establish an open and
collaborative relationship.
3. The third step concerns data gathering and preliminary diagnosis. Here, the OD
practitioner may use process observation, interviews, questionnaires and/or organizational
performance data to gather appropriate and pertinent information about the organization’s
structures and/or operations. This information is then analysed to understand precisely, how
the organization is currently functioning, and to determine the underlying causes and
consequences of the problems within the organization.
4. Feedback to key client/group follows the data gathering stage and involves the OD
practitioner feeding back findings of the diagnostic exercise to members of the organization
(e.g. employees, managers, and executives). A balance between openness about relevant and
useful information and confidentiality about sensitive or private data sources is critical at this
stage of the change process. Likewise, the readiness of the organization for the diagnostic
information is crucial to the preceding stages of the change process.
5. Joint diagnosis of the problem follows feedback to the client. At this stage, the OD
practitioner and organization members jointly agree on what the problem and its causes are, as
gaps in communication during the data gathering stage could result in misdiagnosis. This is a
critical stage within the action research model as misdiagnosis or misunderstanding of the
diagnosed problems could bring the change process to a halt or create resistance to change.
6. The joint action planning step precedes the actual action phase and involves the OD
practitioner and the organization members jointly agreeing on the actions or interventions
needed to bring about the desired change. The specific action agreed upon at this stage usually
depends on a host of factors including the diagnosis of the problem, the culture of the
organization and the nature of the intervention/actions.
7. At the action phase, the planned actions are undertaken to bring about desired changes to
the overall organization (e.g. changes in strategic mission and goals, structure, processes and
human resources); at the group level (e.g. changes in culture or behaviour of departments or
teams); or at the individual level (e.g. changes in job descriptions and tasks).
8. The data gathering after action has been taken, is the last step in the model. Here, the OD
practitioner gathers data on the effects of the action and feeds this information back to the
client. This may result in re-diagnosis and new actions, giving this model its cyclical nature.

The General Model of OD/ the general model of planned change

Based on the three model, Cummings and Worley (2009) have proposed a general framework
for guiding the OD consulting process: the general model of planned change. This general
OD model focuses on planned change from a problem solving perspective, as well as from
the perspective of identifying and leveraging best practices within organizations.

According to the general OD model, planned change within organizations can be achieved in
four main stages through four sets of activities: entering and contracting, diagnosis and
feedback, planning and implementation, evaluation and institutionalization.
1. The first stage, the entering and contracting stage, describes the initial set of activities that
the change agent and the organization must engage in, in order to better understand what
needs to be improved or facilitated and whether to engage further in the planned change
programme. The activities include data gathering to identify the problems or opportunities for
change; joint discussion of the data gathered; agreement to engage in planned change; and
setting expectations around the role (e.g. consultant or expert), time, and pay of the change
agent as well as the resources that the organization would need to commit to the process.
2. The diagnosis and feedback stage is the second stage of the OD consulting process. It
involves a set of activities aimed at understanding the current state of the organization
(including the causes and consequences of organizational problems or best practices), in
order to clearly identify the set of intervention activities necessary to improve organizational
effectiveness. This phase, according to Cummings and Worley (2009), is one of the most
important stages in the change process. Key change activities at this stage are; choosing an
appropriate diagnostic model (e.g. the whole systems model) for understanding the
organization; collecting pertinent data about current operations and culture at the
organizational, group and/or individual level; analysing the data; and feeding back the
conclusions drawn to the organizational members.
3.The planning and implementation stage follows the diagnosis and feedback stage and
precedes the last phase of the change process. At this stage, organization members and the
change agent mutually design action plans or interventions based on the diagnostic results.
Depending on the outcomes of the diagnosis, interventions may focus on modifying
organizational strategy, structure, technology, human processes, and/or human resources. The
nature and scope of the interventions developed may also depend on organizational factors
such as readiness for change, change capability, organizational culture, and power
distributions, as well as on factors that relate to the change agent such as motivation,
commitment, skills and abilities. This stage also involves the change agent engaging in
implementation activities, i.e. leading and managing the application of the action plans or
interventions such that all members of the organization at least, perceive the impact of the
change.
4. The last stage of the change process concerns evaluating and institutionalizing
change. Here, the change agent gathers data on the current state of the organization
following the implementation of the intervention in order to ascertain how well the
intervention accomplished the objectives that were planned. Feedback to
organizational members about the impact of the intervention is also a significant
activity at this stage. It allows organizational members (particularly the
management) to decide whether the changes should be continued, modified or
abolished. When found to be successful, the intervention becomes institutionalized,
i.e., a usual way in which business is done in the organization through methods such
feedback, rewards and training

What is OD Interventions?
OD interventions are the building blocks which are the planned activities designed to
improve the organisation’s functioning through the participation of the organisational
members.
OD interventions include team development, laboratory training, managerial grid training,
brainstorming and intergroup team building. The intervention should take place at all three
levels, namely, individual, group and organisation.

Definitions of OD

OD intervention refers to the range of planned, programmatic activities client and consultant
participate in during the course of OD program. - French & Bell

OD intervention is a sequence of activities actions and events intended to help an

organisation improve its performance and effectiveness. -- Rober Zawacki

Types of OD Interventions

We can classify the OD interventions into three categories:

A. Behavioural Techniques: These techniques are designed to affect the behaviour of
individuals and the group. These include:
1. Sensitivity Training
2. Role Playing
3. Management by Objectives
4. Grid Organisation Development
B. Non-Behavioural Techniques: These techniques are much more structured than
behavioural techniques. These include:
1. Organizational Redesign
2. Work design
3. Job enrichment
C. Miscellaneous Techniques: In addition to the above techniques, there are certain other
techniques which are used in organisation development, such as:
1. Survey feedback
2. Process consultation
3. Team building
 A.Behavioural Techniques
1. Sensitivity Training
The purpose of sensitivity training sessions or T-groups (T for training) is to change the
behaviour of people through unstructured group interaction. Members (ten to fifteen
individuals) are brought together in a free and open environment, away from work places, in
which participants discuss themselves freely, aided by a facilitator. No formal agenda is
provided. Simply, the sensitivity training means, putting oneself in the other member’s shoes
and behaving in a given situation from his point of view. It is the mental ability than an
individual possesses, that enables him to be sensitive and understand the emotions of others,
and at the same time, being able to manage one’s own behaviour and impulses.

The sensitivity training is known by varying names such as T-Groups, laboratory training,
and encounter groups. In a meeting, there is a passive leader, who tries to maintain a safe
psychological atmosphere, where each member feels free to share whatever is in his mind.
 Three Steps essential for a sensitivity training program

1. Unfreezing the old values: The group members should keep their old beliefs or perceptions
about the other members aside and motivate them to speak freely, whatever is in their minds.
By doing so, there is a chance that each member will be heard carefully, and new relations
can be formed by eliminating the misconceptions, that were created in the past.
2. Development of New Values: Once the member is allowed to speak freely, the behavior of
each other can be determined easily, through the interactions in the form of feedback. Thus,
at this stage, the members start developing the values or beliefs about each other.
3. Re-Freezing the new ones: The beliefs formed through the interactions with each group
member, individual tries to freeze the perception or behavior in his mind. The success of
sensitivity training depends on how the trainees get an opportunity to practice their new
behaviors at their workplace.
Under the sensitivity training, each member is allowed to speak freely, whatever he feels
about the other member or the working conditions. The objective of sensitivity training is to
enable each member to know what is his behaviour and how others perceive him.

The objectives of the T-groups are

 To provide the participants with increased awareness of their own behaviour
 How others perceive the, greater sensitivity to the behaviour of others
 Increased understanding of group processes.

2. Role Playing
Role playing may be described as a technique of creating a life situation, usually one
involving conflict between people, and then having persons in group play the parts or roles of
specific personalities. In industry, it is used primarily as a technique of modifying attitudes
and interpersonal skills.
For instance, two trainees may play the roles of a superior and a subordinate to discuss the
latter’s grievances.
The purpose of role playing is to aid trainees to understand certain business problems and
to enable observers to evaluate reactions to them.

Role-playing is generally used for human relations and sales training. This technique makes
trainees self-conscious and imaginative and analytical of their own behaviour.

3. Management by Objectives (MBO)

Management by Objectives (MBO) is a strategic approach to enhance the performance of an
organization. It is a process where the goals of the organization are defined and conveyed by
the management to the members of the organization with the intention to achieve each
objective.

An important step in the MBO approach is the monitoring and evaluation of the performance
and progress of each employee against the established objectives. Ideally, if the employees
themselves are involved in setting goals and deciding their course of action, they are more
likely to fulfill their obligations.

Management by objectives (MBO) is a technique designed to

1. increase the precision of the planing process at the organisational level.

2. reduce the gap between employee and organisational goals.
3. MBO encourages performance appraisal through a process of shared goal setting and
evaluation.

Steps in Management by Objectives Process

1. Define organization goals

Setting objectives is not only critical to the success of any company, but it also serves a
variety of purposes. It needs to include several different types of managers in setting goals.
The objectives set by the supervisors are provisional, based on an interpretation and
evaluation of what the company can and should achieve within a specified time.

2. Define employee objectives

Once the employees are briefed about the general objectives, plan, and the strategies to
follow, the managers can start working with their subordinates on establishing their personal
objectives. This will be a one-on-one discussion where the subordinates will let the managers
know about their targets and which goals they can accomplish within a specific time and with
what resources. They can then share some tentative thoughts about which goals the
organization or department can find feasible.

3. Continuous monitoring performance and progress

Though the management by objectives approach is necessary for increasing the effectiveness
of managers, it is equally essential for monitoring the performance and progress of each
employee in the organization.
4. Performance evaluation

Within the MBO framework, the performance review is achieved by the participation of the
managers concerned.

5. Providing feedback

In the management by objectives approach, the most essential step is the

continuous feedback on the results and objectives, as it enables the employees to track and
make corrections to their actions. The on-going feedback is complemented by frequent
formal evaluation meetings in which superiors and subordinates may discuss progress
towards objectives, leading to more feedback.

6. Performance appraisal

Performance reviews are a routine review of the success of employees within MBO
organizations.

Benefits of Management by Objectives

1. Management by objectives helps employees appreciate their on-the-job roles and

responsibilities.
2. The Key Result Areas (KRAs) planned are specific to each employee, depending on
their interest, educational qualification, and specialization.
3. The MBO approach usually results in better teamwork and communication.
4. It provides the employees with a clear understanding of what is expected of them. The
supervisors set goals for every member of the team, and every employee is provided
with a list of unique tasks.
5. Every employee is assigned unique goals. Hence, each employee feels indispensable
to the organization and eventually develops a sense of loyalty to the organization.
6. Managers help ensure that subordinates’ goals are related to the objectives of the
organization.

Limitations of Management by Objectives

1. Management by objectives often ignores the organization’s existing ethos and

working conditions.
2. More emphasis is given on goals and targets. The managers put constant pressure on
the employees to accomplish their goals and forget about the use of MBO for
involvement, willingness to contribute, and growth of management.
3. The managers sometimes over-emphasize the target setting, as compared to
operational issues, as a generator of success.
4. The MBO approach does not emphasize the significance of the context wherein the
goals are set. The context encompasses everything from resource availability and
efficiency to relative buy-in from the leadership and stakeholders.
 5. Finally, there is a tendency for many managers to see management by objectives as a
total system that can handle all management issues once installed. The
overdependence may impose problems on the MBO system that it is not prepared to
tackle, and that frustrates any potentially positive effects on the issues it is supposed
to deal with.

Grid Organisational Development (Grid OD)

Grid organisational development is the comprehensive organization development programme

developed by Blake and Mouton, which focuses on the overall development of individuals,
groups and the organization as a whole. It is designed in such a way that it enables the
individuals as well as the groups to ascertain their strengths and weaknesses and focus on
their skills, knowledge and processes that are essential to perform effectively at different
levels in the organization.

Phases of GRID OD

1. Managerial Grid: This aspect of Grid training programme lay emphasis on identifying the
managerial styles, teamwork and communication skills prevailing within the organization.
2. Teamwork Development: Here, the focus is on developing the teamwork by analyzing the
tradition and culture existing within the organization. Also, the planning skills, objective-
setting skills, and problem-solving skills are developed in this phase.
3. Intergroup Development: This aspect deals with maintaining the cordial intergroup
relationships. The focus is on increasing the cooperation among the group members and
ruling out the conflicts, if any.
4. Developing Ideal Strategic Corporate Model: Here the focus shifts towards the
organization as a whole, where the skills necessary for the organizational excellence are
inculcated into the members through training.
5. Implementing the Ideal Strategic Model: This aspect of the programme focuses on
building the organization on the grounds of an ideal organization as perceived in the previous
phase. Here, each group is assigned a task to evolve a strategy that helps in making an ideal
organization, with the help of consultants. Once the strategies are evolved the best one gets
implemented.
6. Systematic Critique: Here, organization development programme is critically evaluated on
the grounds of efforts made and the shortcomings encountered while running the programme.
In case, the shortcomings are severe; the programme may be redesigned.
Thus, the major objective behind the grid training is to consider the entire organization as an
interactive system where the analysis techniques could be applied to diagnose the problems
and understand the reasons behind the changes in the organization. Also, it helps in
determining the leadership styles and techniques of participation to help in producing the
desirable results.

Non-Behavioural Techniques
1. Organizational Redesign
The organisation’s structure may be changed to make it more efficient by redefining the flow
of authority. It can be changes in functional responsibility, such as a move from product to
matrix organisational structure.
Organisational structure often reflects the personal desires, needs, and values of the chief
executive. Changing structure, therefore, may create resistance and concern because people
are worried about their power or status, or how the change will affect their work groups.

2. Job Enrichment
Job enrichment implies  the deliberate upgrading of the responsibility, scope and challenge in work.
Job enrichment is a motivational technique which emphasises the need for challenging and
interesting work. It suggests that jobs be redesigned, so that intrinsic satisfaction is derived
from doing the job.
In its best application, it leads to a vertically enhanced job by adding functions from other
organisational levels, making it contain more variety and challenge and offer autonomy and
pride to employee.
The job holder is given a measure of discretion in making operational decisions concerning
his job. In this sense, he gains a feeling of higher status influence and power.

3. Work Design
Work design is a broad term meaning the process of defining tasks and jobs to achieve both
organisational and employee goals, it must, therefore, take into account the nature of the
business (organisational interest), the organisational structure, the information flow and
decision process, the differences among employees, and the reward system.
Work design concerns the "content and organization of one’s work tasks, activities,
relationships, and responsibilities"  (Parker, 2014). 

Imagine designing the role of a police officer. Illustrative work design decisions include:

 Which activities should be grouped together to form a meaningful police officer job?
 Which decisions should be made by officers and which by their supervisors?
 Should individual jobs be grouped together into a team?
 Can one build in routine tasks amidst complex ones to ensure officers are not overwhelmed?
 
These decisions - about the content and organization of one’s work tasks, activities,
relationships, and responsibilities - will affect outcomes at multiple levels including whether
individual officers feel engaged or stressed at work, and whether the wider police service
achieves its targets, such as how effectively crime is detected and prevented.

Often work design is described in terms of "job characteristics", or features of work that
affect how people feel about their jobs. Research has identified many job characteristics that
are positive, that result in work being more motivating or less stressful.  Examples of positive
job characteristics include: 

 Job autonomy: Being able to make decisions within the job

 Task variety: Having a range of tasks in the job
 Skill utilisation: The opportunity to use one's skills in the job
 Task significance: Doing a job that is important
 Task identity: Doing a whole job
 Job feedback: Getting feedback whilst doing one's work 

4. Job Redesign
Restructuring the elements including tasks, duties and responsibilities of a specific job in order
to make it more encouraging and inspiring for the employees or workers is known as job
redesigning. The process includes revising, analyzing, altering, reforming and reshuffling the
job-related content and dimensions to increase the variety of assignments and functions to
motivate employees and make them feel as an important asset of the organization. The main
objective of conducting job redesigning is to place the right person at the right job and get the
maximum output while increasing their level of satisfaction.
Job Redesign Process

 Revising the Job Content: Job redesigning process involves recollecting and

revising job-related information to determine the inconsistency between person and
the job.
 Analyzing Job-related Information: Once the job analyst is through with
recollecting and revising the job content, analyzing the discrepancies is the next step.
It is done to determine the hindrances in performing job-related tasks and duties and
investigate why an employee is not able to deliver the expected output.
 Altering the Job Elements: The next step is to amend the job elements. It may
include cut back on extra responsibilities or addition of more functions and a higher
degree of accountability. The basic aim of altering the job content is to design a job in
such a manner that encourages employees to work harder and perform better.
 Reformation of Job Description and Specification: After altering the job elements,
a job analyst needs to reform the job description and specification in order to make
sure that the worker placed at a particular place is able to deliver what is expected of
him.
 Reshuffling the Job-related Tasks and Duties: Next is to reallocation of new or
altered tasks and functions to employees. It may be done by rotating, enriching,
enlarging and engineering the job. The idea is to motivate the performers while
increasing their satisfaction level.
  Enhances the Quality of Work-Life: Job redesigning motivates the employees and
enhances the quality of their work life. It increases their on-the-job productivity and
encourages them to perform better.
 Increases Organization’s and Employees’ Productivity: Altering their job
functions and duties makes employees much comfortable and adds to their
satisfaction level. The unambiguous job responsibilities and tasks motivate them to
work harder and give their best output. Not only this, it also results in increased
productivity of an organization.
 Brings the Sense of Belongingness in Employees: Redesigning job and allowing
employees to do what they are good at creates a sense of belongingness in them
towards the organization. It is an effective strategy to retain the talent in the
organization and encouraging them to carry out their responsibilities in a better
fashion.
 Creates a Right Person-Job Fit: Job Redesigning plays an important role in creating
a right person-job fit while harnessing the full potential of employees. It helps
organization as well as employees in achieving their targets or goals.

Therefore, the purpose of job redesigning is to identify the task significance and skill variety
available in the organization and reallocating the job-related tasks and responsibilities
according to the specific skills possessed by an employee.

5. Job analysis 
Job analysis is the process of identifying and determining in detail contents of a particular
job, thereby, clearly defining duties, responsibilities, accountabilities, and skills associated
with the job. An important aspect of job analysis is that the analysis is conducted of the job,
and not of the person. The process of job analysis results in two sets of data:

 Job description - It is a written statement containing complete information about

what all a job involves including job title, duties, tasks and responsibilities related to
job, working conditions and hazards, reporting relationships, tools, machines and
equipments to be used, and relationships with other positions.
 Job specification - It provides particulars about capabilities that an individual should
posses to perform the job efficiently. This includes educational qualification,
experience, training, appropriate skills, knowledge, and abilities required to perform
the job.

Job evaluation, on the other hand, specifies the relative value or worth of each job in an
organization.

An organization undertakes the task of job analysis and evaluation for one or many of the
following purposes:

 Designing new organization and roles/jobs

 Changing the organizational design or roles
 Aligning roles and pay to organizational changes
 Designing an effective organization
 Defining interdependencies among different jobs
 Clarifying accountabilities of jobs
  Managing succession in organization
 Reviewing the existing pay structure
 Auditing legal compliance of pay policies
 Implementing benchmark pay structures
 Setting value-based pay policies

An organization can appoint internal HR Specialists or take service of an HR Consulting

Firm to carry out the project of job analysis and evaluation with the aim of meeting the pre-
determined purposes as mentioned above. However, external HR Consultants are beneficial
for their expertise and independent views.

The systematic process of job analysis and evaluation followed by the firm includes:

 Identifying concerned job.

 Selecting/appointing a team or an individual to conduct project.
 Defining main outcomes required.
 Identifying main participants in the work process, including the ones in the job/role as
well as reporting authorities.
 Prepare a list of the participants, by name and position, in work analysis chart.
 Keep track of work process, documents and other related information present with
participants.
 Information can also be gathered from previous job analysis and evaluation reports.
 When job/role is new in organization, then information for the same may be obtained
from other similar organizations having such job/role, and by understanding the
reasons for creating that job/role from the concerned authority in the organization.
 Analyze the collected information.
 Make proposals regarding the new or changed job, role or pay structure.

The various methods by which an HR Consultant can obtain the information for job
description and job specification are:

 Observing the employee.

 Carrying out individual/group interviews.
 Having brainstorming sessions between groups of employees.
 Performing desk audit by carefully examining documents used and tasks executed by
employee.
 Using questionnaires.
 Asking employees to jot down all their tasks and duties as and when they perform
them.
 Interviewing employees for any critical incidents that may have occurred.
 Keeping a video recording of employee on duty.
 Reviewing all the necessary documents present in organization.
 Referring to previous job analysis and evaluations done in organization.

Job evaluation is done by any of the following methods:

 Points rating - Different levels are accorded to the various elements of jobs and then
the points allocated to different levels are totaled to get point score of the jobs which
forms the basis of pay structure.
  Factor comparison - A comparison of various independent factors of jobs is done
and points are given to each factor rank of individual job. These points are then
totaled to rank the jobs.
 Job ranking - Job is not broken into factors or elements, rather it is evaluated as a
whole and is compared with other jobs to be ranked accordingly.
 Paired comparison - Jobs are compared with each other and allocated points
depending on being ‘greater, lesser or equal’. These points are added to create rank
order of jobs.

The outputs of job analysis and evaluation are then aligned to the purpose of the project. This
requires the HR Consultants to interpret the changes required in the existing job/pay and
suggesting the improvements, as required. HR Consultants also advice on smooth
incorporation of these changes to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

Miscellaneous Techniques
1. Survey Feedback
Survey feedback is one of the most popular and widely used intervention techniques, in the
field of OD.
It involves two basic activities:

 collecting data about the organisation through the use of surveys of questionnaires, and
 conducting feedback meetings and workshops in which the data are presented to
organisational members.
Survey feedback is useful in as much as it helps bring about changes in attitudes and
perceptions of participants. Used along with team building the impact of the survey feedback
is much more positive.
2. Process Consultation
Process consultation includes “a set of activities on the part of a consultant which help the
client to perceive, understand, and act upon process events which occur in the client’s
environment”.
Process consultation assumes that an organisation’s effectiveness depends on how well its
people relate to one another. An organisation’s problems, therefore, often can be traced to the
breakdown of critical human processes at key places.

Consultation concentrates on certain specific areas as communication, functional roles of

members, group problem-solving and decision-making; group norms and growth, leadership
and authority, and intergroup cooperation and competition.

3. Team Building
Team building is a process of diagnosing and improving the effectiveness of a work
group with particular attention to work procedures and inter-personal relationship with in it,
especially the role of the leader in relation to other group members.
Both the group’s task procedures and its human interactions are the subjects of study in team
building.

The basic assumption of team building is that increasing the effectiveness of

teams will improve the organization’s overall effectiveness.
 OD Interventions Examples
 Microsoft relied on OD interventions aimed at behavioural changes and operational
changes.

 Cisco initiated change through substantial structural interventions, statistical evaluation

interventions and process interventions. It also focuses on CSR initiatives.

 Dell focused on six sigma as an OD intervention for zero defects.

 Hyundai and Toyota focus on cultural interventions and quality management systems.

 Wipro adopted for internal organizational restructuring to meet customer specific needs.

 ONGC relies on succession planning, employee participation, training, organizational

remodeling and climate surveys as OD interventions.

 Infosys has a broad base of OD interventions like Leadership development programme,

personal development initiatives, cross functional assignments, 360-degree feedback ,
psychometric testing (MBTI) for individual personality assessment.

Purpose & Importance of OD Interventions

1. Boosts the quality of employee outcome
2. Perpetually improving organization
3. Enhanced quality of products/services
4. Enhanced Competitive Edge
5. Increased profit

Process of OD Intervention Techniques

OD intervention techniques is designed only after scientific research and diagnosis of a
problem. This action research helps to understand the current system of an organization.
1. Diagnosis
2. Designing an OD intervention strategy
3. Development of OD intervention strategy
4. Implementation of OD intervention strategy
5. Evaluation
Diagnosis
The search for performance gaps is called as diagnosis. These gaps help to know where the
client’s performance is less than desired. For an accurate diagnosis of the current scenario,
there should be a trustworthy relationship between the consultant and client^^This
relationship helps in collaboration to find out the real need of the change.

Designing an OD intervention strategy

Diagnosis leads to designing an OD intervention strategy that is problem based. Objectives of
OD intervention strategy are developed to have a direct link with business goals. Designing
an OD intervention strategy represents the best solution, outlines specific outcomes, and role
of each component in the entire process. Designing also gives specific points to keep watch
on for evaluation of the process.

Development of OD intervention strategy

Design is a blueprint of developing an OD strategy. The OD intervention strategy is designed
and developed with the evaluation objectives. The development of OD intervention strategy
is a crucial step as it is directly related to desired outcomes.

Implementation of OD intervention strategy

The action takes place and progress is evaluated, organizational members can be engaged at
this stage. The deployment needs a high level of energy and creativity of participants.
Participants need to have a clear picture of change and their role at each step. Accountability
with meaningful feedback is reinforced for the process to be effective. Evaluation can be
conducted by constructing pilot studies and data collection.
Evaluation
It can be studied by understanding the impact after implementing OD strategy. It can be done
be checking immediate feedback or learning gained through the process, or by evaluating
performance. This is a continuous process.