An important aspect of organizational culture is the mindset, influenced by the basic assumptions and core values underlying it. It is the same as in the case of individuals whose thinking and behavior is governed by certain values imbibed through their own life experiences. An organization, at any given point of time, tends to be in a particular psychological state or mental mode, which, in turn, influences its functions, activities, and processes. An organization’s psychological state arises out of its experiences in the business environment in which it operates, the basic assumptions it holds about the environment (markets, customers, technology, community) and itself (mission, strategy, capabilities/competencies), and its operative culture. “A mental mode is the peak of a particular existential/experiential state that an organization gets into over time (as do individuals, who live in their own mental modes and most often see what they want to see) and that remains Continue reading
Organizational Development
Concept of Organizational Effectiveness
Organizational effectiveness is defined as an extent to which an organization achieves its predetermined objectives with the given amount of resources and means without placing undue strain on its members. Sometimes efficiency and effectiveness are used as synonyms. However, there exists a difference between the two concepts. Therefore, it is important to explain the difference between the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency to understand why organizations may be effective but not efficient, or efficient but not effective. Effectiveness is a broad concept and takes into account a collection of factors both inside and outside an organization. It is commonly referred to as the degree to which predetermined goals are achieved. On the other hand, efficiency is a limited concept that pertains to the internal working of an organization. It refers to an amount of resources used to produce a particular unit of output. It is generally measured as the ratio Continue reading
Four Levels of Organization Development Interventions
Organizational development is the direction of organizational consulting, which is a list of methods aimed at changing the existing situation in the field of corporate culture, psychological climate, and other degrees of satisfaction with work. Unlike organizational diagnostics, these events and projects not only assess the current situation in the organization but mainly aim at changing this situation. In addition, the given development interventions are conducted at four levels, such as physical, infrastructural, behavioral, and cultural, and they are assisted by coaching activities. Moreover, organizational development of an enterprise is a systematic, purposeful improvement of its organization by building more rational production and management structures, regulating the functions of individual units or divisions. The given approach also affects workers and their interaction by streamlining labor, managing processes based on the optimal combination of production elements, and creating conditions for their smooth functioning and further development. In other words, the essence of Continue reading
Sensitivity Training – Meaning, History, and Stages
Sensitivity training is a method of laboratory training where an unstructured group of individuals exchange thoughts and feelings on a face-to-face basis. Sensitivity training helps give insight into how and why others feel the way they do on issues of mutual concern. Training in small groups in which people develop a sensitive awareness and understanding of themselves and of their relationships with others. Sensitivity training is based on research on human behavior that came out of efforts during World War II to ascertain whether or not an enemy’s core beliefs and behavior could be modified by the application of certain psychological techniques. These techniques have been gradually perfected over the years by efforts of business and industry leaders to persuade people to buy products, including the radio and television industry to ascertain how an audience might be habituated to certain types of programming. Kurt Lewin is credited with being the Continue reading
Action Research in Organizational Development
Action research is another view of the organizational change process. It is an organizational change process that is based on a research model specifically one that contributes towards the betterment of the sponsoring organization and contributes to the advancement of knowledge of organizations in general. In Action Research, the change agent is usually an outside person, who is involved in the total change process, from diagnosis to evaluation. This person usually contracts with the sponsoring organization to engage in organizational research, whereas the typical change agent is called in to make a specific change. Action Research in organizational development provides a scientific methodology for managing planned change. Kurt Lewin 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, Continue reading
Overcoming Resistance to Change
In the previous post, we deal with the various sources of resistance to change. In this post we discusses strategies and tactics to overcome resistance to organizational change. Kotter and Schelsinger (1979) has identified six general strategies for overcoming resistance to change. Education and Communication : Resistance can be reduced through communicating with employees to help them see the logic of a change. This tactic basically assumes that the source of resistance lies in misinformation or poor communication. If employees receive the full facts and get any misunderstanding cleared up, resistance will subside. Communication can be achieved through one-to-one discussions, memos, group presentations, or reports. Does it work? It does, provided the source of resistance is inadequate communication and that management-employee relations are characterized by mutual trust and credibility. If these conditions don’t exist, the change is unlikely to succeed. Participation and Involvement : It is difficult for individuals Continue reading