The Organization Development Process

In this article we will discuss about the process of organisational development. This article will further help you to learn about:

A. The process of Organisational Development involves 7 interesting approaches:- (1) Initial Consultation (2) Data Collection (3) Data Feedback and Confrontation (4) Action Planning and Problem Solving (5) Team Building or Team Formation (6) Inter-Group Development (7) Appraisal and Follow-Up.

B. Some of the steps for involve in the process of Organizational Development are as follows: 1. Problem identification and definition 2. Collection of necessary data 3. Diagnosis 4. Planning of change and its implementation 5. Evaluation of feedback.

C: Steps generally involved in an organisational development programme are- (1) Diagnosis of the Problem (2) Planning to Change Strategy (3) Intervening in the System and Implementing Change (4) Evaluation Process.

D: Top 4 Processes of Organizational Development include- 1. Problem Identification and Diagnosis 2. Planning Strategy for Change 3. Intervening in the System 4. Evaluation.

E: Kurt Lewin has explained the organizational development process as – 1. OD Diagnosis 2. OD Intervention 3. Follow-Up.

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Organisational development is a continuous process. It takes at least one year to have a start and may continue for indefinite long period. It is a complicated process and hence needs top management support without which the process cannot be adopted or if adopted cannot be successfully implemented in the organisation.

Organization development is a slow and continuous process. The process is designed, reviewed and implemented. The problems, diagnosis and suggestions are designed under organization development. The outcomes are evaluated and the momentums of functioning are accelerated.

Process of Organisational Development: 7 Approaches, 5 Steps and 4 Processes

Process of Organisational Development – 7 Approaches

Organization development has various approaches but a whole typical programme may include the following:

(1) Initial Consultation:

The first step in the organizational development process is to approach the organizational development consultant to determine the type of OD programme to be developed. The consultant may be a professional consultant from outside or he may be an internal service personnel expert in organisation development programmes.

At this point, the consultant may have consultations with persons from various levels in the organisation in order to -gain the knowledge of imports. For this purpose, he may interview such persons or he may adopt any other way to be acquainted with the necessary information.

(2) Data Collection:

The next step in the process is data collection. The consultant meets various groups away from the work place in order to determine the organizational climate and behavioural problems faced by the organisation. They gather information through surveys and develop information through interviews etc.

(3) Data Feedback and Confrontation:

Data, so collected are made known to work­groups concerned and are asked to review the data collected. They go through the data and locate the points of disagreement, discuss such points and take the decision and then suggest the priorities for change.

(4) Action Planning and Problem Solving:

Data are used by the group to suggest specific recommendations for change. They discuss the problems, faced by the organisation and sketch specific plans including who is responsible for problems and their solutions and what action should be taken and at what time.

(5) Team Building or Team Formation:

During the whole process, group meetings are convened to discuss the programme and the consultant in the whole process encourages the groups to examine how to work together as a group or as a team. The consultant helps them to see the value of open communication and trust them.

These are essential pre-requisites for improved group functioning. Consultant also encourages team building by organising meetings with managers and their immediate sub-ordinates. So that they can improve the functioning of the work group with the guidance of the consultant.

(6) Inter-Group Development:

With the development of natural team (a manager and his sub-ordinates), the larger groups comprising several teams may be developed. In this way, it will include the whole organisation.

(7) Appraisal and Follow-Up:

The consultant further helps the organisation in making an appraisal of the programme and find out the deficiencies if any. He can develop additional programmes in areas where the original programme is felt ineffective and results are poor and that requires improvement. Thus, the consultant advise follow-up for better understanding.

Thus, the above social process and the steps discussed are not the same with every type of organisation. They may differ from organisation to organisation depending on the society in which it is being applied.

For Example — where trade unions have political bent, the workers are on the board of directors. There is also more industry government interaction. In such climate, organizational development is more concerned with power and political implications of the action plans.

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Process of Organisational Development – 5 Steps

Organisational development is a process rather than a solution to a given problem.

Organisational development process involves the following steps:

1. Problem identification and definition.

2. Collection of necessary data.

3. Diagnosis.

4. Planning of change and its implementation.

5. Evaluation of feedback.

Step # 1. Problem Identification and Definition:

Understanding and identification of the problem in the organisation is the first step in OD process. The awareness of the problem includes knowledge of the possible problems of organisational growth, human satisfaction, organisational effectiveness, and use of human resources. Having understood exactly what the problem is, the OD practitioner can proceed to collect the necessary data to solve the problem.

Step # 2. Collection of Necessary Data:

Data gathering is perhaps the most important activity in the process of OD. Personal interviews, personal observations, and questionnaires are the most common base through which the data is collected. Different data and as such the question of which method to use depends upon the nature of problem the organisation encounters. Having collected the necessary data, organisation proceeds to analyse it.

Step # 3. Diagnosis:

There is no hook-book formula for accurate diagnosis. It demands considerable skills of analysis and observation as most of the problems are often expressed by organisational members in ambiguous terms. OD program may turn out to be a self-defeating exercise if decisions were to be based on such general vague information.

Before decisions are taken, the information collected must be subjected to a microscopic examination, and therefore, experience and judgement are critical to this phase. If organisational leaders were to show in decent haste to arrive at decisions quickly without considering the pitfalls, dangers, it may prove to be very costly at the end. Diagnosis should not be limited to a single problem.

Often, important factors like attitudes, assumptions, available resource, etc., must be taken into account in the diagnostic phase. For this purpose attitude surveys can be undertaken through questionnaires wherein the respondents may be asked to evaluate and rate several jobs related factor like working conditions, compensation, benefits, etc.

Such surveys will help identify the problem clearly as perceived by the organisational members. Diagnosis assists the planners to locate the source of specific problem and see what changes are required in the system, the structure, or in people.

Step # 4. Planning of Change and its Implementation:

After diagnosing the problem, the OD expert turns his attention to the planning of change and implementing it. OD interventions come into picture here. Intervention is considered to be the action phase in OD process. Intervention is a set planned, programmed activities, and techniques by which organisation and their clients collaborate in an OD program. According to French and Bell, ‘interventions consist of the long range evolving applications of OD techniques targeted for changing individuals, groups, or the total organisations’.

The range and numbers of available interventions is not small but extensive. The particular interventions to be used depend on the target group in the organisation. One intervention differs from another. In a program it does not consider all interventions, but selects the appropriate one that suits the requirement. But sometimes more than one intervention is used in a program.

Step # 5. Evaluation and Feedback:

Probably one of the important stages in OD process is evaluation. As one stage ends and another stage looms, evaluation is helpful to know as to what has been done, whether it is correctly done or not, and show whether further work is needed before proceeding to the next stage.

Any OD activity is incomplete without proper feedback. Feedback is the process of relaying evaluations to appropriate employees and group by means of special sessions or reports. Feedback must be carefully handled because sometimes emotional factor set in.

For instance, when mistakes of some of the members are spelled out then emotional factors accompanying the resentment may creep in. It is important to remember that feedback should be based on the broad array of data and should include the assessment of the change model itself.

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Process of Organisational Development (OD) – Steps Generally Involved

Following steps are generally involved in an organisational development programme:

(1) Diagnosis of the Problem:

Organisation development programme starts with the identification of the basic problems involved in the organisation. Analysis of the various symptoms may be helpful in identifying the problem. Proper diagnosis will give correct identification of the problem and its causes and determine the scope of future course of action.

In this the diagnosis involves a number of techniques concerned with identifying issues, establishing priorities and translating them into aims and objectives. In this the major consideration is given to the techniques of identifying basic problems and issues.

(2) Planning to Change Strategy:

In this the attempts are made to transform diagnosis of the problem into a proper action plan involving the overall goals for change, determination of the basic approach for attaining these goals and the sequence of detailed steps for implementing the approach.

(3) Intervening in the System and Implementing Change:

Intervening in the system refers to all the planned activities during the course of an organisation development programme. Organisation development interventions are ‘sets of structured activities in which selected organisation units, target groups engage with a task or a sequence of tasks where the task goals are directly or indirectly related to organisational improvement.

French and Bell has said that “Interventions constitute the action thrust of organisation development; they make things happen. Organisation development interventions include team development, laboratory training, managerial grid training, brain storming and intergroup team building. The intervention should take place at all the three levels, namely, individual, group and organisation.”

(4) Evaluation Process:

Organisation development programme is a -long process. Therefore, careful monitor of the programme is essential. For that, effective appraisal of organisation development programme, the use of critique sessions, systematic appraisal of change efforts and the comparison pre and post-training behavioural pattern is very effective.

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Process of Organisational Development (O.D.) – 4 Processes: Problem Identification, Planning Strategy for Change, Intervening in the System and Evaluation 

Process # 1. Problem Identification and Diagnosis:

Organisational development programme leads to meet certain objective in the organization because Organizational development is a means and not an end in itself. Thus, it attempts to solve some organizational problem. The problem may be a gap between desired path of action and actual path of action, that is, the organization fails to meet its objective on a long-term basis.

Organisational development programme starts with the identification of the problem in the organization. Analysis of various symptoms both overt and covert may help in identifying the problems. Diagnosis gives correct identification of the problem and its causes and determines the scope of future course of action.

Diagnosis in Organisational development involves a number of techniques concerned with identifying concerns and issues, establishing priorities and translating them into aims and objectives. At this stage itself, the collection and analysis of data is undertaken. Major consideration is given to the techniques and methods used to desirable organization system, the relationships between the elements of sub-systems and ways of identifying major problems and issues.

Problem identification flows almost immediately into analysis. Once a problem is identified, the analysis will show why the problem exists. The analysis will identify the variables that can be altered or changed by the organization and its management, such as leadership style, organization structure, organizational objective etc. In other words, analysis brings the identification of environment that has caused problems.

Process # 2. Planning Strategy for Change:

When the problems are diagnosed, the O.D. practioner-either consultant or management, but preferably consultant-plans the various courses of action in O.D. Attempts are made to transform diagnosis of the problem into a proper action plan involving the overall goals for change, determination of the basic approach for attaining these goals and the sequence of detailed scheme for implementing the approach.

Although it is a relatively simple matter to identify changes after they have occurred, it is considerably more difficult to influence the direction thrust of changes while they are under way.

Thus, planning and implementation of change are interdependent; the way in which change is planned has an impact on the way in which it is carried out and conversely, the problems of implementing change have an impact on the way in which it is planned.

Process # 3. Intervening in the System:

Intervening in the system refers to the planned programme activities during the course of an O.D. programme. These planned activities bring certain changes in the system which is the basic objective of O.D. There may be various methods through which external consultant intervenes in the system, such as education and laboratory training, process consultation, team development, etc.

Process # 4. Evaluation:

This step relates to evaluate the results of O.D. programmes, so that suitable actions may be followed up. Since O.D. is a long process, there is an urgent need for careful monitoring to get precise feedback regarding what is going on as soon as an O.D. programme starts. In this respect, the use of critique sessions, systematic appraisal of change efforts and pre- and post-training behavioural pattern are quite effective.

This step again involves data gathering because such data will provide the basis for O.D. efforts evaluation and suggest suitable modification or continuation of O.D. efforts in similar direction.

All parties concerned in O.D. programme need to realise that if major organizational improvements are to be made and sustained, managerial practices with respect to many sub-systems will need to be modified if these practices are not congruent with the O.D. effort because there exists the possibility of slip back and regression to old behavioural pattern if adequate-changes in other parts integrating behavioural change are not made.

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Organisational Development Process – As Explained by Kurt Lewin (With Diagram)

Organisational development is a slow and continuous process. The process is designed, reviewed and implemented. The problems, diagnosis and suggestions are designed under organization development. The outcomes are evaluated and the momentums of functioning are accelerated.

Kurt Lewin argued that successful change should follow unfreezing, movement or change and refreezing. The following Figure 28.1 describes how the unfreezing-change-freezing analogy applies to Organization Development (OD).

The process of organizational development involves following steps:

Unfreezing prepares the members of a social system for change and then helps neutralize initial resistance. Lewin believes that the change should not come as a surprise to members of the organization. Sudden, unannounced change would be socially destructive. The management must pave the way by “unfreezing the situation”, so that members would be willingly and ready to accept the change.

Unfreezing means the status quo and this is considered to be an equilibrium state. It makes the individuals or organizations aware and prepare for the change. Unfreezing can be possible in one of the three ways.

These are:

i. Driving Forces, which direct behaviour away from the status quo, can be increased.

ii. Restraining Forces, which hinder movement from the existing equilibrium or it forces hinder movement away from the status quo, can be decreased.

iii. The third alternative is to combine the first two approaches.

Driving Forces → Equilibrium → Restraining Forces

Managers who are trying to implement change must analyze this balance of driving and restraining forces. For effective change the driving forces should be strengthen and the restraining forces should be weaken successfully.

1. Movement or Changing:

This a stage at which the individual being changed learn new behaviour, methods of working, new thinking, perception of new roles, etc.

2. Refreezing:

It is stabilization of change intervention by balancing driving and restraining forces. It means that what has been learned is integrated into actual practice. At this stage, the individuals learned new beliefs, feelings and behaviour. The new behaviour must replace the former behaviour completely for successful change to take place. It is necessary to follow up on problems, complaints, unanticipated side effects.

OD model introduced here is based on Lewin’s approach to handling change. Diagnose is carried out during the unfreezing phase. Change is then carefully introduced through tailor made intervention. Finally, a systematic follow-up refreezes the situation. Each phase is critical to organizational change and development. Thus, the following three-phase sequence makes OD an on-going system of planned change. The catchall term used to describe this process is organizational development.

These are explained as below:

1. OD Diagnosis:

Because of the expenses of conducting a diagnosis, management teams need to identify at the outset the specific problems areas or subunits that deserves close examination. Diagnosis that is over comprehensive is a waste of time.

Therefore, the management must select the relevant domain and can turn to three important aspects of the diagnostic phase:

(a) Unfreezing the Situation:

An OD programme should not come as a surprise. Some unfreezing-making announcements, holding meetings and launching promotional campaign in the organization’s newsletter and on bulletin boards-can help start things. All these activities help deliver clear message- “We can improve the effectiveness of our organization while increasing our personal satisfaction if we all cooperate in a comprehensive programme of finding out where we are, where we want to go and how we can get there”.

This message prepares people for interviews, questionnaires, unfamiliar consultants and group activities that could be threatening if they came as surprises. One word of caution: during the unfreezing phase, care needs to be taken to avoid creating unrealistic expectations.

(b) Designing the Diagnostic Strategy and Interpreting the Diagnostic Data:

Those about to tackle an OD diagnosis will find it helpful to view the typical organization as an iceberg. For getting some feedback in the organization at large it is important to examine the organization climate. Organization climate is determined by knowing the attitudes and perceptions the employees have about the organization’s leadership, products, pay, employee benefits, discipline, policies and goals. In measuring organizational climate, we are interested in learning about the informal organization, which is analogous to the part of an iceberg that rests under the water.

The Formal aspects are readily observable and oriented to structural considerations. The formal aspects are visible, if there is something wrong with the formal aspects, we can adjust them. If someone is inefficient, we can find out why and try to deal with the problem.

The Informal aspects are hidden from view and oriented to social-psychological process and behavioural consideration. Usually, we do not know what is going on in the informal organization until problems begins.

However, there are ways of measuring organizational climate and dealing with a trouble situation before it becomes too serious. A complete diagnosis of every feature listed in figure would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming and so it is important to select the right diagnostic strategy for the information sought. Four approaches are widely used.

These are:

(i) Review of Records:

Nowadays organizations possess a wealth of recorded information and data in response to the government’s increased demand. When change agents have the time and patience to carry out a thorough records search, they are often rewarded with valuable information about the relative health or sickness of the organization.

Much can be learned by review of human records for signs of excessive absenteeism and turnover or for patterns of grievances. Similarly, studies of financial records can yields telling signs of cost overruns and other financial problems.

(ii) Interviews:

By using a carefully compiled list of specific questions and general, open- ended questions, a skilled interviewer can discover a great deal about both individuals and the organization at large.

(iii) Survey Questionnaires:

These are most widely used diagnostic strategy today. Questionnaires may be administered to people assembled in groups, or they may be mailed individually. They may be constructed in-house or purchased. Some of the more sophisticated published survey questionnaires include in the purchase price scoring and statistical analysis.

(iv) Direct Observation:

It is well known that people tend to say one thing and do another. When this kind of discrepancy is likely to be a problem, management may choose to have a neutral third party observe organizational members at work.

Each of these strategies has its appropriate place in OD diagnosis. By balancing the respective strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches, it is possible to develop a diagnostic strategy based on two or more approaches.

The Six-Box Model of Marvin R:

This diagnostic model can help in identifying processes and activities as to which box give signs of troubles/problems. Weisbord identifies six critical areas-purpose, structure, rewards, helpful mechanisms, relationships and leaderships, where things must go right if the organization is to be successful.

According to Weisbord, one should look to both the formal and informal aspects of each box. Commonly one finds that formal arrangements are inappropriate, but informal system works around the deficiencies by developing methods to correct them. He suggests, before choosing interventions, a thorough diagnosis should be done based on multiple boxes.

2. OD Intervention:

An OD intervention is defined as the set of structured activities in which selected organizational units (target groups or individuals) engage with a task(s) where task goals are related to organizational improvement. All the activities which are planned and carried in order to bring about improvements are called as interventions.

These cover the action planning and implementations. An intervention, in OD terms, is a systematic attempt to correct an organizational deficiency uncovered through diagnosis. Management teams, working either alone or in collaboration with an outside consultant are responsible for selecting OD interventions.

OD strategy, on the other hand, can be defined as an overall plan for relating and integrating different organizational improvement activities over a period of time to accomplish objectives.

Characteristics of OD interventions:

i. An OD intervention focuses on organizational process apart from substantive content of an activity.

ii. An OD intervention focuses on work team as the unit of analysis and change towards effective behaviour.

iii. OD would view change as an on-going process and would rely on a collaborative management of work culture.

Different kinds of OD interventions are explained as below:

(1) Individual Interventions:

(a) Sensitive Training:

Training, seeking change of behaviour through interaction, is sensitive training. Members are allowed to have free and frank discussion where they discuss their own weaknesses and problems. Their weaknesses and problems are solved through interactive processes involving behavioural experts.

The members learn proper behaviour through participation, under the guidance of some expert behaviorists. They express their beliefs, ideas and attitudes with the experts who try to modify them through practical orientation. Practical training is imparted to them by these unbiased experts. Employees are taught self-awareness based on their own behaviour and perception.

Greater sensitivity is made use of to understand their attitudes. Employees are put under training to understand better about themselves and about others. They develop observation and listening skills, greater openness, increased tolerance and conflict resolution style.

The employee understands what others think about him. The self-perception is developed through understanding himself and perceiving how other perceives him. It is more realistic and leads to self-perception and group cohesiveness. Sensitive training provides the wisdom to understand about himself, others and the organization.

(b) Life and Career Planning:

Many employees today have no clear plans for their lives on their careers, things just happen. But individuals can be challenged to take greater responsibility for the direction of their lives. One company that helps its people rise to the challenge of actively managing their own careers is prudential, the well-known insurance giant.

(c) Laboratory Training:

Individual intervention requires laboratory training wherein the employees’ attitudes, values and lifestyles are changed to make organization more effective. It is expected that the employees learn skills which are applied and reinforced on the job. Laboratory training provides situations in which the trainees themselves experience the methods of development and behaviour in the organization through their own interactions.

The employees experiment on themselves on how to improve and fit themselves for growth and development of the organization. The laboratory method of training includes role playing, game playing, modeling, encountering and simulation.

Role Playing is a spontaneous acting of a realistic situation. Real-life situations are used to teach the trainees, while other trainees stand by and watch. Other trainees are considered as observers and critics.

Game Playing is a group exercise of sequential decision-making. Workers perform the job in groups. There may be two or more groups who exercise their decision-making process with a competitive start. The decision of each group is processed and again put up for discussion.

Modelling is based on the social learning process of observation and imitation. It develops the skills of handling the encountered behaviour. Modelling relies upon demonstration, explanation, practice and feedback.

Encountering involves dividing the group into small participating groups. They are unstructured and are sensitive to others feelings. Encountering develops reasonable group activity. These sub-groups are training groups known as T-groups. These groups have variations on account of their sensitivity and human potentials. All the training groups performs during the decision-making process under their respective environment.

Simulation is the experiments of different dimension of work life. It includes physical setting, organizing, hierarchy, modelling roles and design production tasks. It is recreating reality, communication patterns, decision-making styles and conflict resolution.

(d) Skill Development:

When carried out alone, this intervention is considered part of management training and development. Unlike most OD interventions, skill development deals with content rather than process. For example, when an OD diagnosis uncovers the inability of a group of engineers in the research and development department to write objectives and formulate plans, the deficiency can be corrected through appropriate training.

Similarly, managers at all levels can be trained to polish their skills in areas such as delegation, problem-solving, conflict resolution and leading. Emphasis in skill development clearly in on learning “how to do it”.

(2) Group Intervention:

(a) Role Analysis:

A role, once again, is a prescribed way of behaving. In an unhealthy organization, many people do not know what their roles are or should be, and if they do know, their roles typically are in direct conflict with those of co-workers. In a healthy organization, everyone knows his or her role, and those roles mesh in a way that encourages cooperation and reduces dysfunctional conflict.

For this reason, many OD programmes call for some sort of role analysis, which is the systematic clarification of independent tasks and job behaviour.

(b) Team Building:

It is essential for task performance. It is a family concept helping all the members of the corporation for improving the performance. Special task force (for task accomplishment), field force (identifies role and goal setting) and financial teams (relationship between resources and manpower allocation) are examples of teams associated with corporate development. The structure, task, relationship, process, role analysis and role identification are analyzed under team building process.

The basic ingredients of team building are supportive environment, skills and role clarity, super- ordinate goals and team rewards. The potential team problems are overcome for its successful building. The benefits of team building are greater motivation, increased productivity, better quality of work, higher job satisfaction, better resolution of conflict and increased willingness to change.

(c) Survey Feedback:

In survey feedback, data gathered through personal interviews and/or survey questionnaires are analyzed, tabulated into understandable form, and shared with those who first supplied the information. The main purpose of survey feedback is to let people know where they stand in relation to others on important organizational issues so that constructive problem solving can take place.

Effective feedback should be:

(i) Relevant- Only information that is meaningful to the recipients should be fed back.

(ii) Understandable- To ensure clear communication, language and symbols should be familiar to the recipients.

(iii) Descriptive- Data should be in the form of real-life examples with which the recipients can identify.

(iv) Verifiable- The form of presentation should allow recipients to test the validity and accuracy of the data fed back to them.

(v) Limited- Too much feedback causes an information overload, and so only significant highlights should be presented.

(vi) Controllable- Recipients should be given information on situations that they can directly control.

(vii) Comparative- Comparative data let recipients know where they stand in relation to others.

(viii) Inspiring- Recipients must see feedback information as a beginning and a stimulus for action rather than as a final statement.

Feedback that meets these criteria should be fed back to organizational subgroups, as the situation allows, until all employees have had a chance to see where and how they fit. At that point, interventions such as life and career planning, skill development, team building, and role analysis can be introduced.

(3) Inter-Group Interventions:

Organizational development seeks an inter-group development. Conflict situations between groups are identified and analyzed. Confrontation meeting (mirroring) may be used for inter- department cooperation. Inter-group development seeks to change the attitudes and perceptions that groups have of each other.

A popular method for improving inter-group relations is problem-solving. In this method each group meets independently to develop lists of perceptions of itself, the other group, and how it believes the other group perceives it. The groups then share their lists, after which similarities and differences are discussed. Differences are clearly articulated and the groups look for the causes of the disparities.

The groups can now move to the integration phase, i.e., working to develop solutions that will improve relations between the groups. Basically organization mirroring is meant to give feedback to work groups regarding how other groups view each other. The aim of this intervention is to improve inter-group relations and increase organizational effectiveness.

(4) Organizational Interventions:

The important intervention of total organization is Grid OD intervention which is used to bring about change in the entire organization and improve organization effectiveness. It is based on managerial grid of Blake and Mouton (1964).

Various six phases of OD grid training are explained below:

(i) Laboratory-Seminar Training:

The purpose of this is to introduce the participants to the overall concepts and materials used in grid training. In this first focus on training, e.g., manager’s styles-training to managers is imparted so that high score on both, i.e., concern for production and concern for people is achieved which is desirable.

(ii) Team Development:

Members of the same department are brought together to chart how they are going to attain 9, 9 position on the grid. In this emphasis is on improving both boss-subordinate relationships and team effectiveness. Here focus is laid on diagnosis meetings, task achievement, building relationships, role clarification and mutual expectations.

(iii) Inter-Group Development:

Here trust is on improving coordination, cooperation, relieve tensions and solve problems jointly. Here focus is on group-to-group. Conflict situations between groups and identified and analyzed. Another intervention is third party peace making. It is designed as an inter-group intervention where OD consultant acts as a mediator in a conflict situation.

(iv) Organizational Goal-Setting:

Members agree upon the important goals for the organization, in the manner of management by objectives.

(v) Goal Attainment:

In this participants attempt another strategy used is to accomplish the goals which they set.

(vi) Stabilization:

Stabilize positive changes and identify new areas of opportunity for the organization after evaluation of overall programme is conducted.

The other OD intervention strategy is Transactional Analysis, it makes the employees understand themselves. People understand their own ego states and those of others to understand the principles behind the transaction. It suggests more meaningful ways to interact with one another.

It is used for developing the managerial personnel and employees. It helps to understand and analyze the transactions with others. The transaction may be complementary, crossed, ulterior or others. It also helps process consultation, third part peace-making and team-building.

3. Follow-Up:

Effective OD programmes do not end abruptly when the intervention phase is completed but, rather, require a carefully monitored refreezing period to ensure lasting change. This follow-up phase has two objectives – the effectiveness of OD interventions needs to be evaluated, and steps need to be taken to maintain the changes that have been introduced.

These two objectives are explained below:

(a) Evaluating the OD Programme:

Evaluating changes in any complex social system is never easy. A statistical analysis of 126 studies involving OD intervention yields following insights-

(i) Combined interventions were more effective at improving employee attitudes and satisfaction than were single technique interventions;

(ii) Team building was the most effective OD intervention for improving attitudes and satisfaction; and

(iii) OD intervention tends to have a stronger influence on attitudes than on satisfaction.

From a research perspective, objective evaluation should be a part of every OD programme, even though they are difficult, time-consuming, expensive and hence largely unappealing from an administrative standpoint. Claims of improvement because of an OD programme are virtually impossible without an objective evaluation of results.

(b) Maintaining Positive Change:

The purpose of any OD programme is to induce organizational members to behave differently. Although the various OD interventions are designed to persuade individual to experiments with new modes of behaviour, permanent behaviour change is a different matter. Only skilful unfreezing and exciting, relevant, and innovative OD interventions will generate individual commitment. But after enthusiasm among organization members is achieved and the culture shifts in a positive direction, no barrier to change is too great to be overcome.

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