Prior to beginning work on this final assignment, read Chapter 10 in the course textbook, and rev

Running head: OD REALITIES AND MISCONCEPTIONS 1

OD REALITIES AND MISCONCEPTIONS 6

OD Realities and Misconceptions

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Title

Date

OD Realities and Misconceptions

Organizational development is one of the most important processes in the growth and success of organizations. Organizational development is a continuous process which requires the contributions of almost every member of the organization. The process also requires the contribution and input of external partners as organizations pursue neutral voices and opinions that could propel them to the next level. McEwan (2018) states that organizational development is a continuous process which may take at least one year for it to get underway and continue for an indefinite period of time. Organizational development is also a complex process that must be supported by top management. Without the support and contribution of the top management, the process cannot be adopted by the organization. Even if the process is adopted in the organization, the lack of the support of top leadership could lead to its failure. The success of organizational development is also determined by the quality of external consultants involved. Companies rely on professional consultants for them to identify new ways that they can implement to achieve their goals. The subsequent parts of this paper are focused on discussing OD problems, their validity, and the criteria for OD consulting.

The Process of Determining the Validity of the Problem

While consultants are meant to help organizations address or solve some of the problems that plague them, not all problems require consultation. Companies have competent employees and managers who are capable of addressing emerging problems or challenges. Less complex problems can be solved through brainstorming and collaboration within companies (McEwan, 2018). There are, however, other complex problems that may require special insight and guidance from professional consultants. Companies should understand the process of determining the validity of the problem for them to differentiate between problems that can be solved locally and those that must be solved by consultants. One of the main strategies that may be used to determine the validity of a problem is examining its impacts on the organization. Problems that have fewer impacts on the organizations are not valid for OD consulting and they should be locally addressed within the respective workplaces (Yip & Lee, 2017). Problems like failure to meet deadlines or targets are usually less complex and can be addressed by employees and their managers within the organization. A valid problem should be complex to the level that it cannot be addressed by employees and company leaders. For example, companies may want to establish whether venturing into a specific field may be rewarding (Yip & Lee, 2017). Therefore, they are forced to seek the services of a consultant who in most cases is a professional in a particular field or the market in which the companies want to venture.

Another important factor to determine the validity of a problem is whether the decision involved is too complex or delicate to be made by company leaders, managers, or employees within the company. Ionescu and Bolcaş (2018) state that there are many instances where companies fail to make the most obvious decisions because the issue at hand is controversial and making a decision may impact an individual’s career. Andriani et al. (2019) further explain that company leaders could be in a board room and all of them know the answer or solution to a particular problem. However, one of them may have the confidence to reveal the solution and execute what is needed to get the problem solved. Such problems therefore require consultants who are not constrained to the views of the company (Andriani et al., 2019). Such consultants have the ability to ask questions that no one else is willing to ask. Therefore, they can easily solve such challenges or problems.

Criteria for OD Consulting

The OD process is made up of five major steps and they are problem identification and definition, data collection, diagnosis and planning of change and its implementation and the evaluation of feedback. Gabriel et al. (2016) state that the first step in the OD process is the identification of the problem in the organization. Organizations should be aware of the challenges facing them so that they can know where they can direct their efforts and resources. The identification of problems also helps organizations to draw up appropriate plans to address the challenges. The next step in the OD process is the collection of necessary data. Data gathering is the most important activity in the OD process because it helps companies to better understand their challenges (Gabriel et al., 2016 ). Some of the methods that can be applied in data collection include personal observations, personal interviews and questionnaires. The nature of the problems facing organizations determines the data collection method applied. After collecting the necessary data, organizations can then proceed to the analysis stage.

McEwan (2018) states that diagnosis is the next stage in the OD process after data collection. After data has been collected through methods like interviews and surveys, it must be analyzed for the organization to better understand the problem and the best course of action. There is no particular formula for accurate diagnosis. Diagnosis requires considerable skills of observation and analysis because most of the challenges facing organizations are usually expressed in ambiguous terms. Before making any decision, the data collected should be subjected to a microscopic examination whose effectiveness is determined by judgment and experience.

The planning of change and its implementation is the successive step after the diagnosis stage in the OD process. After determining the problem, the OD expert shifts their attention to the planning and implementation of change. Intervention is the action phase of the OD process and it involves actively implementing steps to address the problem (McEwan, 2018). After the intervention, the problem is supposed to have been addressed by the company. Intervention is the action phase of the OD process and it involves programmed activities and techniques that require collaboration from different parties within and outside the organization.

Evaluation and feedback is the final step in the OD process. Evaluation is a critical stage because it allows the organization and consultants to know what has been done and whether it had been correctly done. The evaluation stage also allows companies to know whether further work is needed before moving to the next stage. Feedback is also another important step as it relays evaluation reports to the right employees through different methods like reports and special sessions.

From the analysis, it is evident that the OD process is important in every organization. The OD process allows organizations to seek solutions to complex problems by consulting professionals. Companies should know the major steps of the OD process so that they can implement each of them as required. Understanding the OD process ensures that companies identify complex problems and the various strategies that they can apply to address them.

References

Andriani, M., TMA, A. S., Siswanto, J., & Suryadi, K. (2019). Knowledge management strategy: An organisational development approach. Business Process Management Journal, 25(7), 1474-1490. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-07-2018-0191

Gabriel, T. J., Teasley, R., Walker, W. J., Schraeder, M., & Jordan, M. H. (2016). The "corps" of the matter: An illustration of collaborative engagement for organizational development. Organization Development Journal, 34(3), 25-42.

Ionescu, V., & Bolcaş, C. (2018). Organizational development through change. Manager, (28), 47-55. 

McEwan, B., PhD. (2018). Success of organizational development in the 21st century: Focus on sustainability. Organization Development Journal, 36(4), 55-60. 

Yip, J. Y. T., & Lee, R. W. B. (2017). Knowledge elicitation practices for organizational development intervention. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 15(1), 54-67. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2015.28

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Running Head: ACTION RESEARCH CASE STUDY 2

ACTION RESEARCH CASE STUDY 2

Action Research Case Study

Action Research Case Study

Student’s Name: Garry Bray Jr.

Institutional Affiliation: Ashford University

Course: BUS370

Date: 19 April, 2021

Introduction

Recently, organizational design has become more essential. The world today is characterized by complexity, uncertainty, ambiguity and volatility that necessitates new agility from organizations hence organizational development is the best way to end it. Organizational development can be termed as a critical and science-based concept that aids organizations in building their capabilities to change and achieve more effectiveness by advancing, improving and strengthening strategies, structures and processes (Christens, 2019). The main stakeholders of organizational development are both internal and external to the organization. The internal stakeholders include management and employees while the external stakeholders are investors, customers, suppliers, community and government.

Organizational development interventions

Considering that organizational goals vary from one firm to another such as increasing organizational competitiveness, organizational development creates aspects to help organizations achieve their goals so as to win in the marketplace. It aims at developing an organization’s capability to assess the current functioning and adjust it to achieve its goals. In organizational development, there are interventions which are structured programs that are designed to solve problems in the organization so as to enable the organization to achieve its goals. Basing on the Blaze mining case study, which faces organizational problems, theoretical concepts and methods used during organizational development interventions will be applied to solve the organizational problems.

The Blaze mining company has been experiencing antagonistic and non-collaborative behavior among the management and employees which has led to massive harm to the management and operations and critical functions within the company. A chief executive officer who recently joined the company was startled by the conflict among the leaders of the company and its impact on the organization. The Blaze mining company’s organization design, which is owned and managed by a family and has many departments whereby every department is led by a family member and the personally selected team should be shaped and well structured. As requested by the chief executive officer, organizational development interventions will be used to facilitate interactions with the leadership team and evolve a cohesive team that is aimed on the success of the company.

The organizational development intervention activities will be best conducted with overall context of short-term and internal strategic planning in the company which includes development and solving of problems so as to achieve organizational goals. For the organizational development interventions to be highly impactful to the Blaze mining company integrated standpoint that considers the structure and behavior of the leaders of the Blaze mining company will be used. The intervention will include three workshop sessions once a month for three months, a specialized intervention with each department and a wrap-up session with all stakeholders. The structural approach and behavioral approach will be integrated into the intervention for the specific groups involved in the organizational development intervention.

Behavior approach method

A behavioral approach that entails several techniques or aspects will be mostly used in the workshop sessions. Sensitive training will be the first technique taken in the workshop sessions. The purpose of it is to change the behavior of the leaders through unstructured group interactions. The leaders will be bought together by a facilitator and freely discus themselves. The objectives of the sensitive training include; to let the leaders of Blaze mining company understand the perception of greater sensitivity of behaviors of each of them, provide the leaders with increased awareness of their own behavior and increase understanding of group processes that are working together as a team. Management by objective is the second aspect of the behavioral approach that will be used to solve the leadership crisis in the Blaze mining company. It is a dynamic system that will integrate the Blaze mining company’s need to reach its goals for growth and profit with its leaders' needs to contribute and develop themselves. In other words, since the chief executive officer of the Blaze mining company is the overall overseer of the company, he or she will fix the goals of the company to be a responsibility of the leaders to make sure they attain them and also results will be expected from them.

The leaders will have no choice rather than working together and develop a cohesive team that will work together towards reaching the organizational goals. The leaders will be reminded of the organizational goals through the workshop sessions and through specialized intervention each departmental leader together with his or her team will discuss how to contribute to attaining the organizational goals. The management by the objective technique will encourage performance appraisal of the leaders because of shared goal setting and evaluation. Team building technique will also be essential for the leaders and all of Blaze mining company so as to motivate them to work together (Hayhurst, 2018). It will mostly apply in the specialized intervention of each department and make them aware of group functioning. It is an application of sensitive training techniques because the whole department will undergo a discussion facilitated by an expert concerning how to work together to achieve the organizational goals. The leaders in the department will be able to bridge their differences hence building a cohesive team that works together towards achieving the organizational goals. This is because the management in the department will get exposed to the thinking of others and also social-psychological behavior at the workplace.

Structural approach method

The structural approach method will involve organizational redesigning and work design. Organizational redesigning will involve changing the Blaze mining company’s structure to make it more efficient by redefining the flow of authority. There should be changes in the functional responsibility of the leaders such as adopting a matrix organizational structure. The organizational redesign will help the company pursue the strategies or techniques of ensuring there is cohesiveness in the company hence reaching the organizational goals. The organizational structure will be influenced by the chief executive officer since it will reflect his or her needs and values. Changing organizational structure will impact the relationship between the leaders in the organization to a cohesive team. Work design entails redesigning the tasks and jobs of the management and employees. The Blaze mining company’s leader’s jobs and responsibilities should be redesigned to involve responsibilities that require them to work together so as to achieve the organizational goals hence facilitate the cohesiveness of the leaders. Job redesigning will also involve educational skills, behaviors, and relationships with each other.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Blaze mining company should use both the behavioral approach and structural approach method of organizational development interventions to address the challenge of leadership antagonistic and non-collaborative behavior experienced by its leaders. The company should apprehend the challenge before it enlarges to a bigger scale and it should be addressed at the initial stage because it requires low efforts. The company should not neglect the issue because with time it can adversely affect the organization in terms of cost resulting in losses.

References

Carnevale, D. G. (2018). Groups, public management reform, and organizational development. Organizational Development in the Public Sector, 79-97. doi:10.4324/9780429498558-5

Christens, B. D. (2019). Organizational development. Community Power and Empowerment, 91-122. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190605582.003.0005

Hayhurst, R., & Wills, G. (2018). Part D: Organizational transfer-organizational development. Organizational Design for Marketing Futures, 135-176. doi:10.4324/9781351250887-4

Tearle, R. (2020). Organizational development: How to choose the right intervention.

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INTERVENTION SELECTION AND APPLICATION

INTERVENTION SELECTION AND APPLICATION

Intervention Selection and Application

Student’s Name: Garry Bray Jr.

Institutional Affiliation: Ashford University

Course Name: BUS370

Instructor: Niccolle Johnson

Date: 26 April, 2021

Intervention Selection and Application

Introduction

The creation of a diverse workforce within an organizational setting is an action that involves professionalism. Diversity is a key approach of the organization meeting its goals in terms of efficiency and productivity. However, lack of diversity among the workforce lead to the creation of management complications and poor customer relations and other underlying factors. Understanding the relevance of diversity within the workforce is a practice that needs to be observed at every management levels within a company. The focus is reflecting of realistic diversity practice that would focus on the promotion of diversity in the required way. The lack of diversity calls for a diagnostic activity based intervention to address the problem.

The Diagnostic Activity Intervention

The Diagnostic Activity intervention is an initiative that entails the collection of all the pertinent information about the organizational state. The state involved in this case is lack of diversity within the workforce and the likely outcome that is to be observed within the organization. The practice entails searching the organizational records and the observation of respective task activities to evaluate the impact of the problem (Lyons, 2021). The practices are focused in determining the company health when it comes to diversity. The analysis of the information leads to the creation of an action plan that would address the problem appropriately, the practice takes place in consultation with the employees to create a better way in approaching the solutions presented.

Applicability of the Intervention

Diversity within the workplace is a problem that is hard to identify especially when it comes to daily operations. The factor makes the organization to appear normal yet it has underlying issues that needs to be resolved. The use of the intervention would enable the organization put further detail to the intensity of the problem (Nelson, 2016). Ideally, the information collected from the employees plays an important part in the promotion of diversity and intensifying the relevance of organization when it comes to action implementation and other relevant operational units. Lac of diversity is a factor that the employees and the entire management needs to be aware and the intervention would play an important part in fulfilling the action.

Actions Involved in the Intervention

Diagnostic activity is an organizational development approach that would ensure that the information about workforce diversity is collected. The practice would take place through the observation of the task activities, employee interviews and respective meetings with subordinates. The data would be then applied to understand the intensity of the situation leading to the drafting of an action plan (Nielsen, 2017). The plan would be based on the improvement of the work diversity situation by ensuring that order and discipline is applied within the company. It is an intervention based practice that is focused more ion discipline and promoting efficiency when it comes to productivity.

Conclusion

In summary, the lack of diversity calls for a diagnostic activity based intervention to address the problem. The intervention is an initiative that entails the collection of all the pertinent information about the organizational state. The state involved in this case is lack of diversity within the workforce and the likely outcome that is to be observed within the organization. Diversity within the workplace is a problem that is hard to identify especially when it comes to daily operations. The factor makes the organization to appear normal yet it has underlying issues that needs to be resolved. Diagnostic activity is an organizational development approach that would ensure that the information about workforce diversity is collected.

References

Lyons, S. (2021). Council Post: The Benefits Of Creating A Diverse Workforce. Retrieved 27 April 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/09/09/the-benefits-of-creating-a-diverse-workforce/?sh=10c11143140b

Nelson, R. E. (2016). Social Networks and Organizational Interventions: Insights from an Area-Wide Labor-Management Committee. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 22(1), 65–76.

Nielsen, K. (2017). Review Article: How can we make organizational interventions work? Employees and line managers as actively crafting interventions. Human Relations, 66(8), 1029–1050.

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JOURNAL

NAME

April 14, 2021

Profile and description of the technical, interpersonal, and consulting competencies

The current technical competencies include the ability to intervene in change management and resolve the existing challenges in an organization. I possess adequate theoretical knowledge to perform organizational development duties. Other technical competencies are research skills and analytical thinking.

My interpersonal competencies include the ability to maintain positive relationships, communicate ideas, listen to others, build rapport and resolve conflicts. I can create effective relationships with all members of an organization.

Consulting competencies relate to one's ability to effectively navigate consulting management phases. There is a gap in a skill that needs to be addressed in this category. The desired competencies are the ability to address things such as engagement, evaluation, problem-solving, and diagnosis while discharging the organizational development duties.

Role and style

The primary style to be used is persuasion. To be persuasive, one must prioritize client satisfaction and motivate the managers and employees. There is a need to persuade the employees and managers on why specific changes should be implemented and why they should take certain measures and actions. One should ensure that the problem-solving strategies that are adopted are profitable.

Technical, interpersonal, and consulting competencies needed to be a confident and skilled practitioner

The technical competencies are project management, innovation, and change. A skilled practitioner should be able to manage projects and bring about changes in an organization. The interpersonal competencies needed are listening well and the ability to empathize. This is important when there are conflicts in an organization. The consulting competencies needed are presentation and speaking, influencing others, and strategic ability. One should be able to influence organizational members to become a skilled practitioner.

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