Trace the evolution of Organization Development—how it came into existence and its present significance both at the practitioner and academic levels.
Trace the evolution of Organization Development—how it came into existence and its present significance both at the practitioner and academic levels.
Instructions for this Assignment
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this assignment is to become aware of the history of Organization Development (OD), how its definition has changed over the years, how the field has changed in terms of its historical roots. This would allow us to understand the practice of OD as it is right now, in terms of the functions and responsibilities of OD as a profession—the tools, interventions and methods which are available for an OD consultant to use to resolve problems within the organization.
This assignment fulfills the course objective of enabling students to understand the issues and challenges that a change agent must keep in mind when designing and developing organizations. And the learning objective that students will be able to interpret and use OD theories and strategies by the end of the course.
TASK(S):
SUBMISSION FORMAT
The assignment should briefly summarize the nine strands of OD research and practice, starting from Laboratory training and T-groups to collaboration and organizational agility.
Format your essay in three paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: Define OD and the plan of your essay.Paragraph 2: write 2-3 lines on each of the nine strands—laboratory training, action research, survey feedback, sociotechnical systems, management practices, quality and employee involvement, organizational culture, change management, organizational learning, organizational effectiveness, employee engagement and finally collaboration and agility.You could divide Paragraph 2 into smaller paragraphs.Paragraph 3: conclude with current importance of OD.
Double-spaced
12 pt Arial
1″ margins
Sources should be accurately cited in APA.
Requirements: 3 paragraphs
Running head: The Evolution of Organization Development The Evolution of Organization Development Audrianna Holsey Albany State University MGMT 6110, Organizational BehaviorDr. Devi Akella
2The Evolution of Organization Development What is Organization Development?There is an increase of attention on the topic of organizational change which influences Organization Development (Anderson, 2016). What is Organization Development? This is a common question among practitioners and theorists due to its complexity. For over seven decades, OD has “been around and has undergone many years of research and practice to reach its current state” (Anderson, 2016). Although there are many definitions to OD, one thing in common, “that the backdrop and purpose of organization development is the change” (Anderson,2016). According to Beckhard, OD can be defined as a planned process of cultural change utilizing behavioral science knowledge as a base for interventions aimed at increasing the organization’s health and effectiveness (Beckhard, 1969). This paper provides an overview of how OD came to existence and its present significance both at practitioner and academic levels. Evolution of Organization Development Kurt Lewin and Bradford studies resulted in the evolution of OD. The National Training Laboratory was discovered by Lewin and his laboratory’s founders Kenneth Benne, Leland Bradford, and Ronald Lippit. In 1946, Lewin and his students contribute to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization service established the new concept of training methods such as T-groups. Lewin was asked by the Connecticut Interracial Commission “to develop a workshop for community leaders in association with the Commission on Community Interrelations of the American Jewish Congress” (Anderson, 2016). The workshop was successful because it did away with traditional training methods. Lewin, findings on leadership and management research “profoundly shaped academic and practitioner thinking about groups and their leaders” (Anderson, 2016). It can be observed that his success in group development created the foundation of OD that led to the development of action research and survey feedback. Action ResearchIn 1945, Lewin found the Research Center for Group Dynamics that helped practitioners gain actionable knowledge on the challenges that people faced in the social environment known as action research. Action research led to the development of survey development and sociotechnical systems. The Survey Research Center was founded by Rensis Likert around the same time Lewin was developing the T-group. In 1948 through 1952 the Survey Research Center led studies at Detroit Edison for over 8,000 personnel. Likert research showed that for an organization to become more effective and more efficient the goal is to overcome the dilemmas and complex challenges. It was realized that the improvement of the quality of work-life of employees determines the success of an organization. The study done at Detroit Edison “is the foundation and underlying philosophy of the majority ofOD work, particularly survey feedback methodologies” (Anderson, 2016).
3The Evolution of Organization Development Technological System and Social SystemTechnological system and social system practices are used by OD practitioners. These two systems contribute to employee motivation and productivity. OD practitioners concerns wereto create an organizational climate for workers to meet their own needs and meet the organizational goals at the same time. The goal of sociotechnical is to show how two principals (social and technical factors) work together so that the organization can run smoothly. These twoprinciples work together by allowing workgroups, “where members have some degree of ownership, control, and responsibility for the tasks that need to be performed” (Anderson, 2016).Sociotechnical systems theory and practices are followed today by OD practitioners. Today, STSplays a major role in how automation and information technology combine works together. (Anderson, 2016). There is increasing recognition of STS with international versions such as North American STS, Scandinavian STS, Australian STS, and Dutch STS (Anderson, 2016).Management Practices In the 1960s, scholars begin to rethink management and human behavior. Douglas MacGregor a psychologist contributed to the development of the Theory X and Theory Y. MacGregor explains the Theory X and Theory Y in his book “The Human Side of Enterprise.” These theories explained how the style of leadership depends on the manager’s perception of people. MacGregor summarizes Theory X as the traditional view which requires micromanaging people to ensure it gets done. Theory X managers tend to view their works as unmotivated and dislike work. In contrast Theory, Y managers have a positive opinion of their workers and use a more participative style of management. MacGregor believed in adopting the Theory Y approach was necessary to bring about innovative advances in products, technologies, and solutions to existing problems, and that managers would need to shed some of their existing assumptions about controlling people in favor of a more expansive and humanistic orientation to human behavior in organizations. (Anderson, 2016)In 1964 Blake and Mouton developed The Managerial Grid that was based on two behavioral dimensions and five leadership styles with each dimension ranging from low (1) to high (9). Blake and Mouton grid OD program help managers find out their leadership style. In this program managers “are trained on the grid concept and complete team-building activities, work on intergroup coordination and build and implement the ideal organization” (Anderson, 2016). Herzberg’s theory that employee satisfaction has two dimensions hygiene and motivation.Herzberg interviewed employees to find out what made them satisfied and dissatisfied about on the job. He found out that employees that reported unhappy about their job was not associated with the job itself but the work conditions of doing the job. He believed that once the hygiene issues are addressed the motivators will promote job satisfaction among employees. MacGregor, Likert, Blake and Mouton, and Herzberg works strongly influenced the field of OD. Quality and Employee Involvement
4The Evolution of Organization Development The increase of global and changing environment caused a shift in OD. OD mainly focused on internal problems until the advances in technology. To improve the progress of employees the employee involvement was adopted to improve organizational effectiveness and productivity. In the 1970s and 1980s, firms realized the quality of the product had a direct impacton the health of the organization. Firms began to look at management styles to increase productivity and product quality. After studying Japan success William Ouchi, proposed Theory Z. Theory Z introduced Americans to the Japanese style of management “with long-term or even lifetime employment for workers, performance reviews and promotions or career movement afteronly a very long observation period, and shared decision making and responsibility” (Anderson, 2016). The increase of global and changing environment caused a shift in OD. OD mainly focused on internal problems until the advances in technology. To improve the progress of employees the employee involvement was adopted to improve organizational effectiveness and productivity. Change Management, Strategic Change, and Reengineering The word change has always been the foundation of OD; however, it wasn’t until the 1980s and 1990s that practitioners and academic researchers put forth action in strategic change. The change required OD practitioners to address organization climate wherein individuals meet their own needs and the organization goals at the same time. Organizational Learning/Effectiveness Organization learning became a common topic among writers after the publication of Senge’s book. OD practitioners adapted the organizational learning and it became a part of OD. In today some OD practitioner view on OD is a soft practice and is not part of an organization’s business objectives. Many practitioners agree that organization effectiveness goes hand and handwith OD practices. Organization effectiveness is the efficiency of an organization to meet its goals. Also, employee engagement is being adopted among managers and OD practitioners. In conclusion, the researches that were done from the early practitioners during the 1960sthrough 1980s created the framework for OD. Kurt and Bradford shaped the academic and practitioner thinking from traditional views of management in an organization. Lewin, the success of the T-groups contributed to the development of action research, survey feedback activities, and sociotechnical systems. Today practitioners and academic researchers built on the framework created by early practitioners to develop the OD we know now.
5The Evolution of Organization Development Works CitedAnderson, D. L. Organization Development. [Chegg]. Retrieved from https://ereader.chegg.com/#/books/9781506363912/ikert in the conduction of researches in some organization, it was realized that much emphasis was placed on enhancing managerial and organizational effectivesikert in the conduction of researches in some organization, it was realized that much emphasis was placed on enhancing managerial and organizational effectivesikert in the conduction of researches in some organization, it was realized that much emphasis was placed on enhancing managerial and organizational effectivesby Likert in the conduction of researches in some organization, it was realized that much emphasis was placed on enhancing managerial and organizational effectives. by Likert in the conduction of researches in some organization, it was realized that much emphasis was placed on enhancing managerial and organizational effectives. by Likert in the conduction of researches in some organization, it was realized that much emphasis was placed on enhancing managerial and organizational effectiv
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