Generally, Organization Development (OD) is the
process of improving organizations. According to French & Bell,
"Organizational development is a long-term effort led and supported by top
management, to improve an organization's visioning, empowerment, learning, and
problem-solving processes, through an ongoing, collaborative management of
organizational culture-with special emphasis on the consultant-facilitator role
and the theory and technology of applied behavioral science, including
participant action research."
Components of OD
Long-term
effort: It means that organization change and development takes time. It
is more accurate to describe improvement as a never ending of continuous
change.
Led and
supported by top management: Top management must lead and encourage the
change effort. Top management must initiate the improvement journey and be
committed to seeing it through.
Visioning
process: Through this process organization members develop a viable,
coherent and shared picture of the nature of the product and services the
organization offered.
Empowerment
process: It means those leadership behavior and human resource practices
that enables organization members to develop and use their talents as fully as
possible.
Learning
process: It means those interacting, listening and self examining process
that facilitate individual, team and organizational learning.
Problem
solving process: It refers to the ways organization members
diagnose situation, solve problems, make decisions and take actions on
problems, opportunities, and challenges in the organizations environment and
its internal functioning.
By ongoing
collaborative management: One of the most important things to manage in
organizations is the culture. The prevailing pattern of the values, attitude,
beliefs, assumptions, activities, norms and artifacts, affect organization
activates.
By intact
work teams and other configurations: It recognizes that teams can
contribute in accomplishing works in organizations. The most prevalent forms of
teams in organizations are intact work teams consisting of superiors and
subordinates with a specific job to perform
Consultant
facilitators role: It tells us that leaders can benefit from
seeking professional assistance in planning and implementing OD initiatives.
Theory and
Technology of applied behavioral science: Refers understanding people in organizations about – (i)how they
function, (ii) they can function better, as OD applies knowledge and theory, it
also includes: a)behavioral science: psychology, social psychology, sociology
b)applied discipline: psychotherapy, adult education, social work etc.
Action
research: It means the participative model of collaboration, diagnosis and action
in which the leader, organization members, and OD practitioners work together
to defined and resolve problems and opportunities.
