Organisational Development Interventions

"Interventions" are principal learning processes in the "action" stage of

organization development.
 Structured activities =(mean such diverse procedures as experiential exercises,
questionnaires, attitude surveys, interviews, relevant group discussions, and even
lunchtime meetings between the change agent and a member of the client
organization.) Used individually or in combination
 To improve their social or task performance.
 Introduced by a change agent
 Part of an improvement program.
 Every action that influences an organization's improvement program in a
change agent-client
 system relationship can be said to be an intervention.

Organisational Development Interventions

Beckhard lists six such assumptions:

1. The basic building blocks of an organization are groups (teams).Therefore, the
basic units of change are groups, not individuals.
2. An always relevant change goal is the reduction of inappropriate competition
between parts of the organization and the development of a more collaborative
condition.
3. Decision making in a healthy organization is located where the information
sources are, rather than in a particular role or level of hierarchy.
4. Organizations, subunits of organizations, and individuals continuously manage
their affairs against goals. Controls are interim measurements, not the basis of
managerial strategy.
5. One goal of a healthy organization is to develop generally open communication,
mutual trust, and confidence between and across levels.
6. People support what they help create. People affected by a change must be
allowed active participation and a sense of ownership in the planning and conduct
of the change. Interventions range from those designed to improve the
effectiveness of individuals through those designed to deal with teams and
groups, intergroup relations, and the total organization.
There are interventions that focus on task issues (what people do), and those that
focus on process issues (how people go about doing
 3. Finally, interventions may be roughly classified according to which change
mechanism they tend to emphasize: Ex: feedback, awareness of changing cultural
norms, interaction and communication, conflict, and education through either
new knowledge or skill practice. One of the most difficult tasks confronting the
change agent is to help create in the client system a safe climate for learning and
change. In a favourable climate, human learning builds on itself and continues
indefinitely during man's lifetime. Out of new behaviour, new dilemmas and
problems emerge as the spiral continues upward to new levels. In an
unfavourable climate, in contrast, learning is far less certain, and in an
atmosphere of Psychological threat, it often stops altogether. Unfreezing old ways
can be inhibited in organizations because the climate makes employees feel that
it is inappropriate to reveal true feelings, even though such revelations could be
constructive. In an inhibited atmosphere, therefore, necessary feedback is not
available. Also, trying out new ways may be viewed as risky because it violates
established norms. Such an organization may also be constrained because of the
law of systems: If one part changes, other parts will become involved. Hence, it is
easier to maintain the status quo. Hierarchical authority, specialization, span of
control, and other characteristics of formal systems also discourage
experimentation.

 4. The change agent must address himself to all of these hazards and obstacles.
Some of the things which will help him are:

1. A real need in the client system to change

2. Genuine support from management
3. Setting a personal example: listening, supporting behaviour
4. A sound background in the behavioural sciences
5. A working knowledge of systems theory
6. A belief in man as a rational, self-educating being fully capable of learning
better ways to do things. A few examples of interventions include team building,
coaching, Large Group Interventions, mentoring, performance appraisal,
downsizing, TQM, and leadership development.
Major Types of Interventions
The field of Organization Development uses a variety of processes, approaches,
methods, techniques, applications, etc., (these are often termed "interventions")
to address organizational issues and goals in order to increase performance. The
following partial list of interventions is organized generally in the order presented
by Cummings and Worley in their "Organization Development and Change" (West
Publishing, 1993).
Human Process Interventions

Guiding Individuals
 Coaching
 Counselling
 Delegating
 Leading
 Morale (Boosting)
 Mentoring
 Motivating
Group-Based
 Conflict Management
 Dialoguing
 Group Facilitation
 Group Learning
 Self-Directed Work Teams
 Team Building
 Virtual Teams

Techno structural Interventions

 Downsizing and Outsourcing
 Organizing Tasks, Jobs and Roles
 Organizing Staff
 Business Process Re-Engineering
 ISO9000
 Total Quality Management
Strategic Interventions
 Business Planning
 Cultural Change
 Large-Scale Interventions
 Organizational Transformation
 Strategic Planning

Human Resource Management Interventions

Employee Performance Management

 Establishing Performance Goals
 Performance Plans
 Observation and Feedback
 Evaluating Performance
 Rewarding Performance
 Recognizing Performance Problems
 ("Performance Gaps")
 Performance Improvement /
 Development Plans
 Staffing
 Firing Employees

Employee Development
 Career Development
 Leadership Development Planning
 Management Development Planning
 Personal Development
 Personal Productivity
 Personal Wellness
 Supervisory Development Planning
 Training and Development

Employee Wellness Programs

 Diversity Management
 Drugs in the Workplace
 Employee Assistance Programs
 Ergonomics: Safe Facilities in the
 Workplace
 HIV/AIDS in the Workplace
 Personal Wellness
 Preventing Violence in the Workplace
 Safety in the Workplace
 Spirituality in the Workplace

Most Common OD Interventions That Companies Practice

1. Applying criteria to goals Here the leadership establishes objective criteria for
the outputs of the organization's goal-setting processes. Then they hold people
accountable not only for stating goals against those criteria but also for producing
the desired results. Example: Organizations are implementing the concept of
Balanced Scorecard, X-Matrix etc., to capture the goals of the employees, which
in turn is helpful in their assessment and mid-term correction of their
performance.
2. Establishing inter-unit task forces These groups can cross both functional parts
of the organization (the "silos") as well as employee levels. They are ideally
accountable to one person and are appropriately rewarded for completing their
assigned task effectively. Then they disband. Example: Organizations have
introduced various schemes for rewarding their employees for their performance,
like: Introducing the concept of Variable pay in as a part of CTC Spot
Recognition Award Project bonus, performance bonus etc., Most Common OD
Interventions That Companies Practice

3. Experimentation with alternative arrangements Today organizations are

subject to "management by best-seller." The goal in these interventions is to
create what is being called a "learning organization," one that performs
experiments on organizational structure and processes, analyses the results, and
builds on them. Example: Organizations today are targeting at streamlining the
process of Learning and Development and encouraging the culture of Learning in
the organizations. - Targeting achieving mandatory man-days of training for their
employees - Introducing the Competency based practices
4. Identifying "key communicators“ This is to carefully determine who seems to
be "in the know" within the organization. These people often do not know that
they are, in fact, key communicators. This collection of individuals is then fed
honest information during critical times, one-on-one and confidentially. Example:
Defining the process of Organizational Communication policy Introducing Top –
down and Bottom – up Communication approach Introducing Employee Forums
and Suggestion Box options for employee interaction Identifying Critical
employees in the organization and making them the Brand Ambassadors of their
company

5. Identifying "Fireable Offenses" This intervention deepens the understanding of

and commitment to the stated values of the organization. This facilitates the work
of the Top Management to answer the critical question, "If we're serious about
these values, then what might an employee do that would be so affrontive to
them that he/she would be fired?" Example: Publishing and Instilling Values and
Beliefs among all employees Introducing Policies like Whistle Blowing, Sexual
Harassment etc.

6. In-visioning This is actually a set of interventions that help to "acculturate"

everyone in the organization into an agreed-upon vision, mission, purpose, and
values. The interventions might include training, goal setting, organizational
survey feedback, Communications planning, etc.

7. Team Building This intervention can take many forms. Example: The most
common is interviews and other pre-work, followed by a one- to three-day offsite
session. During the meeting the group diagnoses its function as a unit and plans
improvements in its operating procedures.

8. Inter-group Problem Solving This intervention usually involves working with the
two groups separately before bringing them together. They establish common
goals and negotiate changes in how the groups interface. Example: This is
practiced in Product Development Companies and most of the IT and ITES
Companies. Focused group discussion are encouraged by the management, for
generating better ideas and concepts

9. Management/ Leadership training Many OD professionals come from a

training background. They understand that organizations cannot succeed long
term without well-trained leaders. The OD contribution there can be to ensure
that the development curriculum emphasizes practical, current situations that
need attention within the organization and to monitor the degree to which
training delivery is sufficiently participative as to promise adequate transfer of
learnings to the job. Example: Most of the organizations today are focusing at
Leadership Management for their employees. Earlier, this was targeted to the
Top Management alone, but now, organizations are seeing its relevance to
inculcate the leadership skills in their middle management and junior
management as well. Business Organization Retreat (BOD) is being the most
common practice, is a part of this initiative.

10. Setting up measurement systems The total-quality movement emphasizes

that all work is a part of a process and that measurement is essential for process
improvement. The OD professional is equipped with tools and techniques to assist
leaders and others to create measurement methods and systems to monitor key
success indicators. Example: The concepts like Six Sigma, TQM etc. act as
Measurements tools for the process followed in the organization.

There are 3 types of interventions that an organization should be able

to identify and plan to implement.

1. Individual : Interventions pertaining to an individual.

2. Group : Interventions pertaining to a group.
3. Organization : Interventions related to the organization’s strategy and policy.

Below mentioned are the OD intervention process that an organization should

have to address any intervention.
1. Entering and Contracting: Here we establish the fact that yes we do require OD
intervention to address an issue.
2. Diagnosis: In this process we identify the intervention and establish the root
cause of the issue.
3. Designing Intervention: In this process we design the approach to address the
issue or intervene to sort the issue out and bring value to business.
4. Leading and Managing Change: Here we establish a focus group with
management buy in and implement the designed intervention. OD intervention is
a structured programme driven from top to bottom.
5. Evaluating and Institutionalizing Interventions: Here we evaluate the course of
actions implemented and see if we are on track or if we need to re-design the
approach so that the objective if met.

There are 4 buckets in which the OD intervention process can be bundled

together:
1. Human Process: Human process related activities are tagged under this group
viz. a. Job Analysis. b. Team Building Activities.
2. Strategic: Activities related to organizational strategies and policies are
grouped under this bucket.
3. Human Resource Management: Human resource related activities are grouped
under this bucket viz.
a. Reward and Recognition.
b. Appraisal.
c. Career Development.
4. Technostructural: Activities related to technology or where technology is
related are tagged under this bucket.

Note: These interventions are unavoidable in totality, however a vigilant and

matured organization should be able to apprehend the issue much before it
erupts off on bigger scale and should be able to address at the very initial stage
when it can be done with minimum efforts. The cost of negligence can have
adverse impact in terms of cost, wide spread agitation resulting in to image,
reputation, and delivery and branding loss.