Human Resource Knowledge

Organization Development vs Organization Behaviour

WHEN YOU LOOK AT OD/OB,

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE 4 ELEMENTS

-OD

-OB

-ORG. CLIMATE

-ORG. CULTURE

AS THEY ARE INTEGRATED SUBJECTS.
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WHAT IS ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT?

Organization Development

Organization Development (OD) is the systematic application of behavioral science knowledge at various levels, such as group, inter-group, organization, etc., to bring about planned change. Its objectives is a higher quality of work-life, productivity, adaptability, and effectiveness. It accomplishes this by changing attitudes, behaviors, values, strategies, procedures, and structures so that the organization can adapt to competitive actions, technological advances, and the fast pace of change within the environment.



Organization Development (OD) is the process of improving organizations. The process is carefully planned and implemented to benefit the organization, its employees and its stakeholders. The client organization may be an entire company, public agency, non-profit organization, volunteer group - or a smaller part of a larger organization.

The change process supports improvement of the organization or group as a whole. The client and consultant work together to gather data, define issues and determine a suitable course of action. The organization is assessed to create an understanding of the current situation and to identify opportunities for change that will meet business objectives.

OD differs from traditional consulting because client involvement is encouraged throughout the entire process. The ways in which people communicate and work together are addressed concurrently with technical or procedural issues that need resolution.

WHY IS ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT IMPORTANT?

Profitability, productivity, morale and quality of work life are of concern to most organizations because they impact achievement of organization goals. There is an increasing trend to maximize an organization's investment in its employees. Jobs that previously required physical dexterity now require more mental effort. Organizations need to "work smarter" and apply creative ideas.

The work force has also changed. Employees expect more from a day's work than simply a day's pay. They want challenge, recognition, a sense of accomplishment, worthwhile tasks and meaningful relationships with their managers and co-workers. When these needs are not met, performance declines.

Today's customers demand continually improving quality, rapid product or service delivery; fast turn-around time on changes, competitive pricing and other features that are best achieved in complex environments by innovative organizational practices.

The effective organization must be able to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges. Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to survive and thrive.

There are seven characteristics of OD:

Humanistic Values: Positive beliefs about the potential of employees .

Systems Orientation: All parts of the organization, to include structure, technology, and people, must work together.

Experiential Learning: The learners' experiences in the training environment should be the kind of human problems they encounter at work. The training should NOT be all theory and lecture.

Problem Solving: Problems are identified, data is gathered, corrective action is taken, progress is assessed, and adjustments in the problem solving process are made as needed. This process is known as Action Research.

Contingency Orientation: Actions are selected and adapted to fit the need.

Change Agent: Stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate change.

Levels of Interventions: Problems can occur at one or more level in the organization so the strategy will require one or more interventions.


WHAT DO ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT INVOLVES ?

OD consultants custom tailor established social science theory and methods to organizations seeking to improve profitability, productivity, morale and/or quality of work life. Examples of activities which are facilitated by OD consultants are:

Teambuilding
Goal Setting
Group Facilitation
Creative Problem solving
Strategic Planning
Leadership Development
Management Development
Career Management
Conflict Resolution
Developmental Education
Interpersonal Communication
Human Resources Management
Managing Workforce Diversity
Organization Restructuring
High Involvement Work Teams
Sociotechnical Systems Design
Technical Training
Total Quality Management

Often described as "change agents," OD consultants come from varied backgrounds with experience and training in organization development, organization behavior, psychology, education, management and/or human resources. Many have advanced degrees and most have experience in a variety of organizational settings.

There are both internal and external OD consultants. An internal OD consultant is a full-time employee with a given organization. External consultants may be self-employed or on the staff of a consulting firm. "Externals" work with one or more clients contracting for specific projects.

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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR


Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives.

As you can see from the definition above, organizational behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since these many of these topics are discussed in other sections of this leadership guide, this section will not go into topics previously discussed.



Elements of Organizational Behavior

The organization's base rests on management's philosophy, values, vision and goals. This in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. The culture determines the type of leadership, communication, and group dynamics within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcome are performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization operates from.



Models of Organizational Behavior

There are four major models or frameworks that organizations operate out of:
1.Autocratic - The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is minimal.

2.Custodial - The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.

3.Supportive - The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.

4.Collegial - The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The employee need that is met is self-actualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm.

Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates exclusively in one. There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more areas over-lapping in the other models.

Social Systems, Culture, and Individualization

A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Within an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to each other and to the outside world. The behavior of one member can have an impact, either directly or indirectly, on the behavior of others. Also, the social system does not have boundaries...it exchanges goods, ideas, culture, etc. with the environment around it.

Culture is the conventional behavior of an organization that encompasses beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices. It influences human behavior, even though it seldom enters into their conscious thought. People depend on culture as it gives them stability, security, understanding, and the ability to respond to a given situation. This is why people fear change. They fear the system will become unstable, their security will be lost, they will not understand the new process, and they will not know how to respond to the new situations.

Individualization is when employees successfully exert influence on the social system by challenging the culture.

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ORGANIZATION CLIMATE
The Climate of your Organization is the State of its Health

How your employees feel about their jobs, their supervisors, their peers, top management, and many other factors affects their individual productivity, and collectively the ability of the organization to achieve its objectives.

Without a formal process, finding out about employee attitudes usually relies on the manager's instincts or the employee's own willingness to communicate upward. But managerial instinct rarely provides the kind of hard data needed for decision ‑ making. And most employees are hesitant to communicate anything but positive information to their supervisors.

The formal process generally involves using a climate survey or questionnaire, and you have probably learned that there are lots of them out there.



Organizational climate measures attempts to assess organizations in terms of dimensions that are thought to capture or describe perceptions about the climate.


1. Structure ‑ feelings about constraints and freedom to act and the degree of formality or informality in the working atmosphere.

2. Responsibility ‑ the feeling of being trusted to carry out important work.

3. Risk ‑ the sense of riskiness and challenge in the job and in the organization; the relative emphasis on taking calculated risks or playing it safe.

4. Warmth ‑ the existence of friendly and informal social groups.

5. Support ‑ the perceived helpfulness of managers and co‑workers; the emphasis (or lack of emphasis) on mutual support.

6. Standards ‑ the perceived importance of implicit and explicit goals and performance standards; the emphasis on doing a good job; the challenge represented in personal and team goals.

7. Conflict ‑ the feeling that managers and other workers want to hear different opinions; the emphasis on getting problems out into the open rather than smoothing them over or ignoring them.
 8. Identity ‑ the feeling that you belong to a company; that you are a valuable member of a working team.

9.autonomy ‑ the perception of self‑determination with respect to work procedures, goals and priorities;

10.cohesion ‑ the perception of togetherness or sharing within the organization setting, including the willingness of members to provide material risk;

11.trust ‑ the perception of freedom to communicate openly with members at higher organizational levels about sensitive or personal issues, with the expectation that the integrity of such communications will not be violated;

12.resource ‑ the perception of time demands with respect to task competition and performance standards;

13.support ‑ the perception of the degree to which superiors tolerate members' behaviour, including willingness to let members learn from their mistakes without fear of reprisal;

14. recognition ‑ the perception that members' contributions to the organization are acknowledged;

15.fairness ‑ the perception that organizational policies are non‑arbitrary or capri*cious;

16.innovation ‑ the perception that change and creativity are encouraged, including
risk‑taking into new areas where the member has little or no prior experience.

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ORGANIZATION CULTURE

HOW AN ORGANIZATION's CULTURE CAN BE KNOWN ?

Organization culture can be a set of key values , assumptions,
understandings and norms that is shared by members of an
organization.

Organization values are fundamental beliefs that an organization
considers to be important , that are relatively stable over time,
and they have an impact on employees behaviors and attitudes.

Organization Norms are shared standards that define what
behaviors are acceptable and desirable within organization.

Shared assumptions are about how things are done
in an organization.

Understandings are coping with internal / external problems
uniformly.
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LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE

LEVEL 1---VISIBLE, that can be seen at the surface level
-dress codes
-office layout [ open office]
-symbols
-slogans
-ceremonies[ monthly / annual awards/long service/birthdays etc.
etc etc

LEVEL 2- INVISIBLE , that can be cannot be seen but only felt.
-stories about people performance
-symbols [ flag, trademark, logos, etc]
-corporate mission statements
-recruitment/selection [ methods used]
-fairness in treatment
-social equality
-risk taking in business deals
-formality in approach
-discipline
-autonomy for departments
-responsiveness to communication
-empowerment of staff.
etc etc.

Labels: Psychology

posted by Paresh @ 1:27 PM