What is Organizational Development?
Within the business world today there are many terms for the many different processes that can be used by organizations in order to bring about organizational success. One such term is organizational development. Let us examine organizational development from two different definitions to include the standard and the new definition of the term.
Old Standard Definition of Organizational Development
The very natures of organizations today as well as the needs of the organizations are changing intensely. Organizational development must occur in order to meet these changing needs of the business. While there are several definitions to this term, the standard definition was created in 1969 and is an effort planned with the entire organization in mind with management from the very top bringing about the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of the organization (McNamara, 2017). Consideration is made for planned intervention relative to organizational processes as well as behavioral knowledge (McNamara, 2017).
New Definitions of Organizational Development
In today’s business world not only are the natures of the organizations changing, but there is the changing environment that must be considered for the success of the business. Organizations today must also understand how to manage change enabling the very health of the organization. Organizational development is the plan to influence organizational members to take responsibility for actions that will allow them to discover new methods of working collectively; thereby having the ability to enable the achievement of organizational goals. This process also reveals the success of organizational structures as well as processes that are positively influenced by the behavior of the employees and employee motivation.
The Benefits of Organization Development
With the definition of organizational development defined there is the need for a discussion of the benefits of the process. One factor that is of importance relative to organizational development is that it is a practiced plan with systemic change relative to beliefs and attitudes. The process gives concern to employee value that will benefit the employees and organizational growth (Explorance, 2013). But the primary benefit of organizational development is that the process brings focus to five distinct benefits involving continuous improvement for increased organizational profits via (Explorance, 2013):
Continuous improvement which is an ongoing cycle that enables the improvement of strategies that are planned to include the implementation of the process. Organizational development also involves the evaluation of the process so that improvements can be made and monitored;
Increased communication which is viewed as an open process used throughout the entire organization with the inclusion of feedback that can be shared bringing about improvement;
Employee development which enables the organization to enhance the skills of the employees while involving continued training and skills competency improvement that increases employee value to the organization;
Product/Service Improvement which brings about innovation via employee engagement. Organizational development increases product innovation via the use of different forms of competitive analysis inclusive of market research and client expectations; and
Increased revenue as the use of innovation along with productivity and efficiency will bring about increased revenue/profit. Another benefit is the reduction of costs thereby minimizing employee turnover as well as absenteeism. It is most important for objectives and plans to be aligned and focused which is yet another benefit of organizational development.
Resistance to Change that Can Occur With Organizational Change
Whenever there is organizational change there is usually resistance to change by the employees. Since leaders make the decision concerning organizational change, these leaders must also have the ability to understand how resistance will be manifested. There are several reasons for resistance to change to include (Kanter, 2012):
Loss of control as change can enable employees to feel that they have lost control relative to what they know how to do. Questions begin to arise concerning how this change will affect their present positions and even concerns about having a job in the future;
Excess uncertainty because people can feel that they have been blindsided by the proposed change;
Surprise as there has not been the ability to have needed advance warning about the organizational change with employees not understanding the need for the change;
Things being different because of not understanding the change. Questions begin to arise concerning how different the work environment will be and how different the position may become;
Loss of face as change means a departure from how things use to be performed. If there have been other organizational changes in the past, there is the remembrance of how things did not work with the fear that this process will be even worse;
Concerns about competence as employees begin to wonder will they fit in with the changes;
More work as change can bring about tasks being performed differently. Employees can become very concerned about this process as they may not see more work for the same pay as a benefit;
Ripple effects which means disruptions for employee jobs. This process could also cause disruptions within other departments as well as the customers receiving products and services;
Past resentments which could become very apparent because of the changes from the last organizational change which were not positively received by some employees; and
The fear of the entire process which can be viewed as a threat by the employees. This can be especially true if the last organizational change brought about a layoff.
While this may not be a complete list of the resistance to change issues that can occur for an organization; it is definitely a good starting point. By recognizing these issues leadership can put a plan into place that can enable positive interventions that can be used to assist in positive implementation of the organizational change plan. This is plan that can be used by leadership with organizational support to bring about employee engagement.
How to Effective Implement Organizational Change with Positive Interventions
The responsibility of successful organizational change lies with leadership. Trends, Program and Kirk (2013) share the fact that change can be difficult but that not changing can be fatal to an organization. The key to effective implementation of organizational change with positive interventions involves an implementation change process that can be successfully implemented by leadership. The three stages of successful change implementation involves (Trends, Programs, & Kirke, 2013):
Effective communication about the reason for the change. Begin meetings with the supervisors and other members of the management team to discuss the change process and the need for that change. The next set of meetings needs to involve the employees so that questions can be asked and concerns can be addressed. Employees also need to have the ability to speak with their individual supervisors and managers if needed to gain a clearer understanding of the process. If this process is not handled effectively, the change process can be a nightmare for the organization as well as the employees;
Make plans to implement the change in phases thereby having the ability to ensure success. Small changes can be handled easily with employee concerns being dealt with in a positive manner; and
Evaluating and reviewing of the organizational change giving management the opportunity to report on the change and to measure the impact of the organizational change process.
This is a three stage process that can enable successful implementation of organizational change with the inclusion of positive intervention.
References
Explorance,. (2013). 5 Key Benefits of Organizational Development. Explorance.com. Retrieved 15 January 2017, from http://explorance.com/2013/11/5-key-benefits-organizational- development/
Kanter, R. (2012). Ten Reasons People Resist Change. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 15 January 2017, from https://hbr.org/2012/09/ten-reasons-people-resist-chang
McNamara, C. (2017). Some "Definitions" of Organization Development (OD). Managementhelp.org. Retrieved 15 January 2017, from http://managementhelp.org/organizationdevelopment/od-defined.htm
Trends, S., Programs, H., & Kirke, D. (2013). How to Implement and Manage Successful Change Programs. Small Business Trends. Retrieved 16 January 2017, from https://smallbiztrends.com/2013/09/implementing-change-programs.html
