MODULES IN ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT. FOR CLASSROOM USE ONLY.

DO NOT REPRODUCE

MODULE 1

Introduction to Organization Development

OVERVIEW
In today’s highly competitive and dynamic business environment, the need for a
more proactive and behavioral approach to leading change and organizational success
is important. Organization Development is an area of practice and research in
Human Resource Management and Development that attempts to bring about
change in the different levels of the organization using a wide variety of
interventions. According to Cummings & Worley (2015), Organization Development
differs from other planned change efforts because the focus is on building the
organization’s ability to assess the current functioning and to make necessary changes
to achieve its goals. Moreover, OD is oriented to improving the total system – the
organization and its parts in the context of the larger environment that affects them.
Understanding the concept of organization development will give you an overview about
the field.
This module is designed to provide you with the basic knowledge and
understanding about organization development, its historical roots and evolution as a
field, and the goals of organization development efforts. This introduction to OD is
followed by an overview of the rest of the modules.
This module is divided into three lessons:
1. Lesson 1 – The Meaning of Organization Development
2. Lesson 2 – Historical Roots and Evolution of Organization Development
3. Lesson 3 – The Relevance of Organization Development

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this module, you should be able to:

1. Define organization development
2. Trace the historical roots and evolution of organization development as a field
3. Explain the relevance of organization development

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Before you start studying this module, take this simple test to find out what you already
know about the topic.
Indicate whether the statements below are true or false. Put a check mark (/) on
the column corresponding to your answer.

Statements True False

1. Organization Development (OD) is a field of study in
human resource development
2. Organization Development is about improving
organization effectiveness.
3. Organization Development is based on behavioral
science knowledge.
4. The core of Organization Development is human
processes.
5. Organization Development deals with problems of
change and organizational dynamics.
6. All OD involves change management, but change
management may not involve OD.
7. Organization Development is a system-wide process.
8. Organization development as a practice evolved in the
1950s out of the work on group dynamics and leadership
9. Organization Development evolved through research
and experiential learning of individuals with real
organizations.
10. The discovery in the T-groups of the power of
experiential learning marked the beginning of
Organization Development.

How did you fare in the test? Compare your answers with the Answer Key on page
14.
If all your answers are correct, congratulations! This shows that you already know
much about the topic. However, you may still study the module to review what you already
know and learn new things as well.
If you got a low score, don’t feel bad. This only means that this module is for you.
It will help you understand important concepts that you can apply in your daily life. If you
study this module carefully, you will understand the answers to all the items in the test
and learn a lot more! Are you ready?
You may begin Lesson 1.

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Lesson 1. Definition of Organization Development

According to Beckhard (1969), 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.
The definition above suggests that Organization Development can be understood
in terms of its several foci/characteristics:
1. It is a planned change effort.
An OD program involves a systematic diagnosis of the organization, the
development of a strategic plan for improvement, and the mobilization of resources to
carry out the effort.
2. It involves the total “system.”
An organization-development effort is related to a total organization change such
as a change in the culture or the reward systems or the total managerial strategy. There
may be tactical efforts which work with subparts of the organization but the “system” to
be changed is a total, relatively autonomous organization.
3. It is managed from the top.
In an organization-development effort, the top management of the system has a
personal investment in the program and its outcomes. They actively participate in the
management of the effort.
4. It is designed to increase organization effectiveness and health.
To understand the goals of organization development, it is necessary to have some
picture of what an “ideal” effective, healthy organization would look like. What would be
its characteristics?
5. Organization development achieves its goals through planned interventions using
behavioral-science knowledge.
A strategy is developed of intervening or moving into the existing organization and
helping it examine its present ways of work, norms, and values, and look at alternative
ways of working, or relating, or rewarding. The interventions used draw on the knowledge
and technology of the behavioral sciences about such processes as individual motivation,
power, communications, perception, cultural norms, problem-solving, goal-setting,
interpersonal relationships, intergroup relationships, and conflict management (Beckhard,
1969 in Gallos, 2006)

MODULES IN OD. FOR CLASSROOM USE ONLY. DO NOT REPRODUCE/UPLOAD

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 Cummings & Worley (2015) define Organization Development as a system-wide
application and transfer of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development,
improvement, and reinforcement of the strategies, structures, and processes that lead to
organization effectiveness.
From the definitions above, let us try this exercise.

Assessment Task 1: Identify the important characteristics of

organization development as found in the definition of
Cummings & Worley and compare it with Beckhard’s
definition of organization development.

In both definitions, you will learn that the ultimate goal of organization development
is organizational effectiveness. As emphasized in the definition of OD, it is necessary to
have some picture of what an “ideal” effective, healthy organization would look like to
understand the concept of organization development.

Assessment Task 2: Describe what is an ideal, effective and

healthy organization to you.

Numbers of writers and practitioners in the field have proposed definitions which,
although they differ in detail, indicate a strong consensus of what a healthy operating
organization is.
An effective organization according to Gallos (2006) is one in which:
a. The total organization, the significant subparts, and individuals manage their work
against goals and plans for achievement of these goals.
b. Form follows function (the problem, or task, or project determines how the human
resources are organized).
c. Decisions are made by and near the sources of information regardless of where these
sources are located on the organization chart.
d. The reward system is such that managers and supervisors are rewarded (and
punished) comparably for: short-term profit or production performance, growth and
development of their subordinates, creating a viable working group.
e. Communication laterally and vertically is relatively undistorted. People are generally
open and confronting. They share all the relevant facts including feelings.

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f. There is a minimum amount of inappropriate win/lose activities between individuals and
groups. Constant effort exists at all levels to treat conflict and conflict-situations as
problems subject to problem-solving methods.
g. There is high “conflict” (clash of ideas) about tasks and projects, and relatively little
energy spent in clashing over interpersonal difficulties because they have been generally
worked through.
h. The organization and its parts see themselves as interacting with each other and with
a larger environment. The organization is an “open system.”
i. There is a shared value and management strategy to support it, of trying to help each
person (or unit) in the organization maintain his (or its) integrity and uniqueness in an
interdependent environment.
j. The organization and its members operate in an “action research” way. General practice
is to build in feedback mechanisms so that individuals and groups can learn from their
own experience (Gallos, 2006).
Another definition is found in John Gardner’s set of rules for an effective
organization. He describes an effective organization as one which is self-renewing and
then lists the rules:
The first rule is that the organization must have an effective program for the
recruitment and development of talent. The second rule for the organization capable of
continuous renewal is that it must be a hospitable environment for the individual. The
third rule is that the organization must have built-in provisions for self-criticism. The
fourth rule is that there must be fluidity in the internal structure. The fifth rule is that the
organization must have some means of combating the process by which men become
prisoners of their procedures (Gardner, 1965 in Gallos, 2006).

Edgar Schein defines organization effectiveness in relation to what he calls “the

adaptive coping cycle,” that is, an organization that can effectively adapt and cope with
the changes in its environment. Specifically, he says:
The sequence of activities or processes which begins with some change in the
internal or external environment and ends with a more adaptive, dynamic equilibrium for
dealing with the change, is the organization’s “adaptive coping cycle.” If we identify the
various stages or processes of this cycle, we shall also be able to identify the points where
organizations typically may fail to cope adequately and where, therefore, consultants and
researchers have been able in a variety of ways to help increase organization
effectiveness (Schein, 1965 in Gallos, 2006).
Now that you know and have a clear picture of what an effective and healthy
organization is, try this exercise.

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 Assessment Task 3: What is Organization Development in
relation to organizational effectiveness?

If you are able to answer this exercise, you are ready to learn Lesson 2. If not, you
may need to review and study it again.

Lesson 2. Historical Roots of Organization Developments

A brief history of Organization Development (OD) will help to clarify the evolution
of the term as well as some of the problems and confusion that have surrounded it. As
currently practiced, OD emerged from five major backgrounds or stems, as shown in
Figure 1 below,
______________________________________________________________________
Figure 1. The Five Stems of OD Practice

Laboratory Training

Action Research/Survey Feedback

CURRENT
Normative Approaches OD
PRACTICE

Quality of Work Life

Strategic Change

___ı______ı_____ı_____ı_____ı_____ı_________ı___________________
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 Today

(Cummings & Worley, 2015)

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 The first was the growth of the National Training Laboratories (NTL) and the
development of training groups or T-groups. The second stem of OD was the classic work
on action research conducted by social scientists interested in applying research to
managing change. An important feature of action research was a technique known as
survey feedback. Kurt Lewin, a prolific theorist, researcher, and practitioner in group
dynamics and social change, was instrumental in the development of T-groups, survey
feedback, and action research. His work led to the creation of OD and still serves as a
major source of its concepts and methods. The third stem reflects a normative view of
OD. Rensis Likert’s participative management framework and Blake and Mouton’s Grid
OD suggest a “one best way” to design and operate organizations. The fourth background
is the approach focusing on productivity and the quality of work life. The fifth stem of OD,
and the most recent influence on current practice, involves strategic change and
organization transformation (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

➢ Laboratory Training Background

"This stem of OD pioneered laboratory training, or the T-group – a small,
unstructured group in which participants learn from their own interactions and evolving
group processes about such issues as interpersonal relations, personal growth,
leadership and group dynamics. This began in 1946 when Kurt Lewin and his staff at the
Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
were asked for help in research on training community leaders. A workshop was
developed, and the community leaders were brought together to learn about leadership
and to discuss problems. At the end of each day, the researchers discussed privately
what behaviors and group dynamics they had observed. The community leaders joined
these feedback sessions, thus, the first T-group was formed in which people reacted to
data about their own behavior. The researchers drew two conclusions about this first T-
group experiment: (1) feedback about group interaction was a rich learning experience
and (2) the process of “group building” had potential for learning that could be transferred
to “back home” situations.
As a result, the National Training Laboratories (NTL) was formed. In the 1950’s,
three trends emerged: (1) the emergence of regional laboratories, (2) the expansion of
summer program sessions to year-round sessions, and (3) the expansion of the T-group
into business and industry. Notable among these industry efforts was the pioneering work
of Douglas McGregor at Union Carbide and of McGregor and Richard Beckhard at
General Mills. Applications of T-group methods at these companies spawned the term
“organization development” and, equally important, led corporate personnel and industrial
relations specialists to expand their roles to offer internal consulting services to managers.
Over time, T-groups have declined as an OD intervention. The practical aspects
of T-group techniques for organizations gradually became known as team building – a
process for helping work groups become more effective in accomplishing tasks and

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satisfying member needs. Team building is one of the most common OD interventions
today” (Cummings & Worley, 2015).
➢ Action Research and Survey-Feedback Background
This second background refers to the processes of action research and survey
feedback. The action research contribution began with studies conducted by social
scientists John Collier, Kurt Lewin, and William Whyte. They discovered that research
needed to be closely linked with action if organization members were to use it to manage
change. A collaborative effort was initiated between organization members and social
scientists to collect research data about an organization’s functioning, to analyze it for
causes of problems, and to devise and implement solutions. The results were two-fold:
Members of organizations were able to use research on themselves to guide action and
change, and social scientists were able to study that process to derive new knowledge
that could be used elsewhere.
Among the pioneering studies were the work of Lewin and his students at the
Harwood Manufacturing Company and the classic research by Lester Coch and John
French on overcoming resistance to change which led to the development of participative
management as a means of getting employees involved in planning and managing
change. These studies and other notable action research contributions did much to
establish action research as integral to organization change. Today, it is the backbone of
many OD applications.
The systematic collection of survey data that were fed back to the client
organization served as the key component of most action research studies. Following
Lewin’s death, his Research Center at MIT joined with the Institute for Social Research
headed by Rensis Likert, who developed the widely-used 5-point “Liker Scale” as his
doctoral dissertation at Columbia University. Likert and Floyd Mann, in a study conducted
at Detroit Edison administered a company-wide survey of management and employee
attitudes. The major findings were first reported to the top management and then
transmitted throughout the organization. The feedback sessions were conducted in task
groups, with supervisors, and their immediate subordinates discussing the data together.
The study indicated that more significant and positive changes, such as job satisfaction
had occurred in the departments receiving feedback than in departments that did not
participate. Likert and Mann concluded about the effects of survey feedback on
organization change. This led to extensive applications of survey-feedback methods in a
variety of settings. The common pattern of data collection, data feedback, action planning,
implementation, and follow-up data collection in both action research and survey
feedback can be seen in these examples” (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

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 ➢ Normative Background
The intellectual and practical advances from the laboratory training stem and the
action research and survey-feedback stem were followed closely by the belief that a
human relations approach represented a “one best way” to manage organizations. This
normative belief was exemplified in Likert’s Participative Management Program and Blake
and Mouton’s Grid Organization Development approaches to organization improvement.
Likert’s Participative Management Program characterized organizations as having
one of four types of management systems:
• Exploitive authoritative systems (System 1) exhibit an autocratic, top-down
approach to leadership. Employee motivation is based on punishment and
occasional rewards. Decision making and control reside primarily at the top of the
organization.
• Benevolent authoritative systems (System 2) are similar to system 1 except that
management is more paternalistic. Employees are allowed a little more interaction,
communication, and decision-making but within boundaries defined by
management.
• Consultative systems (System 3) increase employee interaction, communication
and decision making. Although employees are consulted about problems and
decisions, management still makes the final decisions.
• Participative group systems (System 4) are almost the opposite of system 1.
Work groups are highly involved in setting goals, making decisions, improving
methods, and appraising results. System 4 achieves high levels of productivity,
quality, and member satisfaction.

Likert applied System 4 management to organization using a survey-feedback

process. The survey asked members for their opinion about both the present and ideal
conditions of six organizational features: leadership, motivation, communication,
decisions, goals, and control. In the second stage, the data were fed back to the different
work groups within the organization. Group members examined the discrepancy between
their present situation and their ideal, generally using System 4 as the ideal benchmark,
and generated action plans to move the organization toward System 4 conditions.
One of the most structured interventions in OD, Blake and Mouton’s Grid
Organization Development consists of six phases designed to analyze an entire business
and to overcome the planning and communications barriers to corporate excellence. The
first phase is the Grid Seminar, a one-week program where participants analyze their
personal style and learn methods of problem solving. Phase 2 consists of team
development and phase 3 involves intergroup development. In Phase 4, an ideal model
of organizational excellence is developed and in Phase 5, the model is implemented. The
final phase consists of an evaluation of the organization.

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 According to the Managerial Grid, an individual’s style can be described according
to his or her concern for production and concern for people. A concern for production
includes accomplishing productive tasks, developing creative ideas, making quality policy
decisions, establishing high-quality staff services, or creating efficient workload
measurements. A concern for people includes concern for the individual’s personal worth,
good working conditions, a degree of involvement or commitment to completing the job,
security, a fair salary structure and fringe benefits, and good social and other
relationships. Each dimension is measured on a nine-point scale and results in 81
possible leadership styles, ranging from 1,1 to 9,9.
Despite some research support, the normative approach to change has given way
to a contingency view that acknowledges the influence of the external environment,
technology, and other forces in determining the appropriate organization design and
management practices. Still, Likert’s participative management and Blake and Mouton’s
Grid OD frameworks are both used in organizations today” (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

➢ Productivity and Quality-of-Work-Life Background

"The contribution of the productivity and quality-of-work-life (QWL) background to
OD can be described in two phases: the original projects developed in Europe in 1950s
and their emergence in the United States during the 1960s. QWL was first defined in
terms of people’s reaction to work, particularly individual outcomes related to job
satisfaction and mental health. QWL in this definition focused primarily on the personal
consequences of the work experience and how to improve work to satisfy personal needs.
The second definition of QWL defined it as an approach or method. People defined QWL
in terms of specific techniques and approaches used for improving work.
The excitement and popularity of the first phase of QWL in the US lasted until the
mid-1970s when other more pressing issues, such as inflation and energy costs, diverted
national attention. Starting in 1979, a second phase of QWL activity emerged. A major
factor contributing to the resurgence of QWL was growing international competition faced
by US in markets at home and abroad. It became clear that the relatively low cost and
high quality of foreign-made goods resulted partially from the management practices used
abroad, especially in Japan.
As a result, QWL programs expanded beyond their initial focus on work design to
include other features of the workplace that can affect employee productivity and
satisfaction, such as reward systems, work flows, management styles, and the physical
work environment. Today, this second phase of QWL activity continues primarily under
the banner of “employee involvement” (EI) as well as total quality management and Six
Sigma programs rather than of QWL. For many OD practitioners, the term EI signifies,
more than the name QWL, the growing emphasis on how employees can contribute more
to running the organization so it can be more flexible, productive and competitive”
(Cummings and Worley, 2015)

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 ➢ Strategic Change Background
"The strategic change background is a recent influence on OD’s evolution. As
organizations have become more global and information intensive and their environments
have become more complex and uncertain, the scale and intricacies of organizational
change have increased. These trends have produced the need for a strategic perspective
on OD and encourage planned change processes at the organization and
multiorganization levels. Strategic change involves improving the alignment among an
organization’s design, strategy, and environment. Strategic change interventions seek to
improve both the organization’s relationship to its environment and the fit among its
technical, structural, informational, human resource, and cultural components.
One of the first applications of strategic change was Richard Beckhard’s use of
open-systems planning. He focused on an organization’s environment and strategy.
Based on the organization’s core mission, the differences between what the environment
demanded and how the organization responded could be reduced and how performance
improved. Since then, change agents have proposed a variety of large-scale or strategic-
change models, each of these approaches recognizes that strategic change is often
driven from the top by powerful executives, involves multiple levels of the organization
and a change in its culture, and has important effects on performance.
The strategic change background has significantly influenced OD practice. For
example, implementing strategic change requires OD practitioners to be familiar with
competitive strategy, finance, and marketing, as well as team building, action research,
and survey feedback. Together, these skills have improved OD’s relevance to
organizations and their managers” (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

Assessment Task 4. Based on your observations, how are these

backgrounds evident in organizations today? Answer the question by
citing a specific example how each of the five backgrounds/OD methods
are used by business organizations (manufacturing or service) today.

If you are able to answer this exercise, you are ready to learn Lesson 3. If
not, you may need to review and study it again.

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 Lesson 3. Relevance of Organization Development

Organizations must adapt to the complexities and uncertainties brought about by

technological, economic, political, and cultural changes. OD could help organizations to
effectively respond to these changes and proactively influence the strategic direction of
the firm.
According to Cummings & Worley (2015), there are three major trends that are
shaping change in organizations: globalization, information technology, and managerial
innovation. “First, globalization is changing the markets and environments in which
organizations operate as well as the way they function. The world is rapidly becoming
smaller and more tightly interconnected economically, socially and ecologically.
Significant movements of goods and services, technology, human resources, and capital
across international borders have intensified the economic interdependence among
nations and organizations. This globalization opens new markets and sources of
innovation and capital for organizations, but at the risk of economic problems in one sector
of the world spreading rapidly to other sectors. Similarly, social differences along cultural,
political, and religious lines have rendered global markets increasingly uncertain,
complex, and conflictive. Globalization also affects organizations ecologically, expanding
their access to natural resources yet making the planet more susceptible to abuse by
organizations with questionable environmental practices and governments with loose
environmental regulations.
Second, information technology is redefining the traditional business model by
changing how work is performed, how knowledge is used, and how the cost of doing
business is calculated. The way an organization collects, stores, manipulates, uses, and
transmits information can lower costs and increase the value and quality of products and
services. Information is at the heart of emerging e-commerce strategies and
organizations. [Link] and eBay are among the survivors of a busted dot-com
bubble; Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are revolutionizing the way that we converse
and interact with each other both personally and professionally. Google has emerged as
a major competitor to Microsoft, and the amount of business being conducted on the
Internet is projected grow at double-digit rates. The internet has enabled new forms of
work such as virtual teams and telecommuting; it has enabled many companies to
outsource customer-service functions to global regions where labor is relatively
inexpensive. Finally, information technology is changing how organizations create and
use knowledge. Enormous data sets, so-called ‘big data’, are being analyzed to discover
underlying trends and patterns that can inform strategic decision making.

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 Third, managerial innovation has responded to the globalization and information
technology trends and has accelerated their impact on organizations. New organizational
forms, such as networks, strategic alliances, and virtual corporations, provide
organizations with new ways of thinking about how to manufacture goods and deliver
services. Managers, OD practitioners and researchers argue that these globalization and
information technology forces not only are powerful in their own right but are interrelated.
Their interaction makes for a highly uncertain and complex environment for all kinds of
organizations. Fortunately, a growing number of organizations are undertaking the kinds
of organizational changes needed to survive and prosper in today’s environment. They
are making themselves more streamlined and agile, more responsive to external
demands, and more ecologically and socially sustainable. They are involving employees
in key decisions and paying for performance rather than for time. They are taking the
initiative in innovating and managing change, rather than simply responding to what has
already happened” (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

Assessment Task 5. Organization Development plays a key

role in helping organizations change themselves. In the
table below, indicate and briefly discuss the relevance or
importance of OD to the following:

Organization Members

Managers and Administrators

OD Professional

Manufacturing Firms

Service Industries

Government Agencies

Non-profit Organizations

After completing this task, you are almost done with Module 1. If you are not able to
answer it, you may need to review the lessons again. To summarize and evaluate how
far you’ve learned, try this final exercise.

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 Assessment Task 6 Assuming you are asked by someone about
Organization Development, what will you say in your own
words? In 100 words, present/write a comprehensive
introduction about Organization Development

Having completed assessment task 6, you are done with Module 1. Congratulations!
Do you have what it takes to be an OD practitioner? Get ready with Module 2.

SUMMARY
This module introduced Organization Development (OD) as a planned change
discipline concerned with applying behavioral science knowledge and practices to help
organizations achieve greater effectiveness. Managers must work with and through
people to achieve organizational objectives, and OD can help them form effective
relationships with others. Organizations are faced with rapidly accelerating change, and
OD can help them cope with the consequences of change.
Organizational Development has multiple meanings. The history of OD reveals its
five roots: laboratory training, action research and survey feedback, normative
approaches, productivity and quality of work life, and strategic change. The current
practice of OD goes far beyond its humanistic origins by incorporating concepts from
organization strategy and design that complement the early emphasis on social
processes. The continued growth in the number and diversity of OD approaches,
practitioners, and involved organizations attests to the health of the discipline and offers
a favorable prospect for the future.
References:
Cummings, T.G & C.G Worley (2015). Organization Development and Change. Canada:
South Western Cengage Learning
Gallos, J. V (2006). Organization Development: A Jossey-Bass Reader. San Francisco
Jossey-Bass

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