CHAPTER 11ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

Team Building, Action Research and Process Consultants

THIS IS WHAT OD SESSIONS SHOULD NOT LOOK LIKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dokm2Oy1MNQ

SOME QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHTYour have been tasked to develop a plan for the

introduction of a new program of instruction in your school.

What is the easiest and quickest way to come up with a plan?

Would this be the most effective way to develop this plan or the training of the faculty?

What would make working with a group more effective?

What would make it more difficult?

BASIC CONCEPTS OF ODOrganization Development is based upon the

idea or goal of developing individual skills within the organization to facilitate change and improvement.

It begins as a training and skill development process, usually lead by a consultant.

The ultimate result is to leave an organization of people who can continue the process of organizational improvement.

Training that leads to behavioral change and improvement in the members of an organization will lead to overall improvement of the organization

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF THE 0D PERSPECTIVE

1. Developing organization members' interpersonal and group process skills are important ways to improve organizational effectiveness.

2. Organizations, groups, and individuals are important targets for developing process skills.

3. The context of OD process training is intended to be free of the organization's core technology. The assumption is that members can transfer the learning to the work setting.

4. The OD consultant comes from outside the organization. 5. The OD consultant does not introduce a specific innovation. The role

is to help the organization develop more effective processes in order to be better at solving its problems.

6. Planned change is a sustained multiyear approach to improving an organization.

7. Assessment and feedback about process and skills are important activities and should be ongoing.

8. Survey feedback is an important tool for diagnosing and informing the consultant and organization members about the current state of the organization.

9. Assessing organization climate and culture can be an important step.

CHANGING DEFINITIONS OF OD Organization development is an effort (1) planned, (2)

organization-wide, and (3) managed from the top, to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the organization's "processes," using behavioral-science knowledge. (Beckhard, 1969, p. 9) 

Organization development (OD) [is] a philosophy of and technology for producing organization change .... Growing out of the human relations tradition in the forties and fifties, it is actually a pastiche* of techniques developed in the behavioral sciences which focus on problems of organization learning, motivation. problem solving, communication. and interpersonal relations. (Kimberly & Nielsen, 1975, p. 191)  

OD is a planned and sustained effort at school self-study and improvement, focusing explicitly on change in both formal and informal norms, structures, and procedures, using behavioral science concepts and experiential learning. It involves the school participants themselves in the active assessment, diagnosis, and transformation of their organization. ( Schmuck, 1987, pp. 1-2)

*a musical, literary, or artistic composition made up of selections from different works (Merriam-Webster On-Line)

OD uses tools and techniques for instructionSurvey Data – Obviously, in the educational

setting the interpretation of data is paramount in decisions about changes – we usually do not need to do a lot of surveys, we have extensive data collection going on all of the time in the school setting. The same cannot be said for the business sector.

Exercises – These serve as both teaching tools and to motivate those to be prepared for the change process.

GROUP DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Decision Making –Brainstorming and Consensus MakingBrainstorming—generating alternatives—rules

No value judgments are made All possibilities must be accepted and placed on the

list There is an agreed upon time limit for the

brainstormingThrough group discussion, a decision direction

with wide spread support emerges – consensus does mean everyone is in agreement

FIGURE 5.3 Individual Skills for Increasing Group/Team Effectiveness Encouraging: Asking another to say more, participate,

elaborate, and/or lead by being warm toward and accepting of their contributions.

Clarifying: Saying an idea or point in a new way and asking, "Is this what you mean?"

Consensus testing: Asking for an indication as to where each member of the group is positioned at this time. This does not mean that it is his or her final position-it is just a check on where each person is right now.

Compromising: Offering a new position that takes into account points of disagreement and suggests a middle ground.

Gate Keeping: Inviting someone to contribute. This may be someone who has not said much or a person with relevant information.

Information seeking: Asking for information about the topic or a member's concerns.

Listening: Paying attention and carefully following a discussion.

Opinion giving: Presenting one's own position or feelings. Paraphrasing: Restating what someone has said in order

to be sure that there is shared understanding.

Perception checking: Asking a person if what you think he or she said is what the person intended to say.

Seeking opinion: Directly asking for an opinion. Summarizing: At various points in a discussion briefly

reviewing the points that have been made so far and the flow of topics.

FIGURE 5.4 Advocacy Skill Steps and Examples

ADVOCACY Make Your Thinking and Reasoning Visible State your assumptions. "Here's what I believe about. Describe your reasoning. "I came to this conclusion

because ... “Describe your feelings. "I feel __ about this." Distinguish data from interpretation. "These are the data

I have as objectively as I can state them. Now here is what I think. the data mean."

Reveal your perspective. "I‘m seeing this from the viewpoint of __ or __ or __ .”

Frame the wider context that surrounds this issue. "Several groups would be affected by what I propose ... "

Give concrete examples. "To get a clear picture, imagine that you are in school X ... “

Test Your Assumptions and Conclusions Encourage others to explore your model, assumptions

and data. "What do you think about what I just said? Do you see any flaws in my reasoning? What can you add?"

Reveal where you are least clear. "Here's one area you might help me think through ... “

Stay open. Encourage others to provide different views: "Do you see it differently?“

Search for distortions, deletions and generalizations. "In what I've presented, do you believe I might have over generalized, or left out data. or reported data incorrectly?"

FIGURE 5.5 Example Organizational Culture Interview Questions

SEEKING MEANING OF THE BEHAVIOR AND ACTIVITIES OF THE PRINCIPAL FOR TEACHERS Do you have many contacts with your principal? What

do you talk about? Can you tell me what is of great importance to your

principal? To which matters does your principal pay little or no

attention'! What does your principal expect from you as a teacher? What does your principal expect from you as a member

of the team? What is the importance of your principal in your

school?

DISCOVERING THE EXISTENCE OR THE FUNCTIONING OF A GOAL CONSENSUS OR

SHARED VISION What does the staff consider as very important in

this school? Why is this considered important? How can I see that this is important? Does everyone in the school consider this matter

as important, or is this only true for a few teachers?

How would you characterize your school during a conversation with parents?

What exactly makes your school different from other schools?

 What are some of the stories, expressions or slogans which are used to express what is considered as very important?

DISCOVERING THE VALUES AND NORMS WHICH ARE CONSTRUCTED IN THE PROFESSIONAL

CONTACTS BETWEEN TEACHERS  How often is there a staff meeting in your school? What

themes are discussed at these meetings? During lunch and at other times do you talk about work?  Do you ever look in on a colleague's classroom? How

often does that happen? What makes you do that? Do you discuss it afterwards?

When you think over all the contacts with colleagues you have just described, can you say which contacts are most precious to you? Why?

Are there things in this school that you are not able to talk about?

Are there ever conflicts between staff members? What are they about?

Source: Adapted from Staessens, K. (1990). De Professionele Cultuur van Basisscholen ill Vernieuwing. En Empirisch Onderzoek ill VLO·Scho/ell. [The Professional Culture of Innovating Primary Schools. An Empirical Study of R.P.S.-Schools.]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. For more information, see Staessens, K. (1993). Identification and description of professional culture in innovating schools. Qualitative Studies ill Education. 6,2,111-128.

IMPLICATIONS FOR LEADERS FACILITATING CHANGE

Everyone-consultants, leaders, and followers-will be more effective as they come to understand and develop skill in using the OD process.  

The many methods, exercises, and survey feedback techniques of OD can be applied in small-scale ways as well as in sustained whole organization planned change efforts.  

Understanding problem solving can be very useful since so many people jump to solutions without first identifying the facts/symptoms and describing the problem.

Organization Development exercises and methods for analyzing and improving group decision making can be used by any team, department, or unit.  

The OD perspective addresses conflict resolution through a variety of strategies as well as the role of the consultant. The strategies can help organizations reduce conflict and/or develop positive ways of dealing with conflict.

Organization Development is an excellent source of interventions for facilitating change, even when 00 itself is not being used as the change model