The process of

organizational change
Learning Objectives
Topics Objectives Readings and
Examples
Diagnostic The meaning and Doctor Patient
definitions model
Readings 5.1
Chapter 5
Models of Describe 12 models HR Intelligence
diagnostic Report
Organizational
Diagnostic Models
A Review &
Synthesis
Readings 5.2
Learning Objectives
Topics Objectives Readings and
Examples
Data collection 1. To understand
methods for
collecting and
analysing
diagnostic
information
2. To learn how to
feedback
diagnostic
information

OD Interventions To learn how to

design an
intervention
To learn how to
implement change
To learn how to
evaluate an OD
intervention
Diagnosing Organisations
What is diagnosis?
The need for diagnostic models
The Open Systems model
What is Diagnosis?

• Broadly, the process of understanding how the

organisation is functioning
• The client and the OD practitioner, internal or
external, working together to identify the focus of the
issue or problem
• The process of the OD practitioner, using diagnostic
models and various methods for gathering data,
collecting and analysing diagnostic information
about the issue or problem
A Useful Diagnostic Tool:
DIAGNOSTIC MODELS
The models are presented in the chronological
order in which they first appeared in the
literature. The models reviewed in this section
include:
1. Force Field Analysis (1951)
2. Leavitt’s Model (1965)
3. Likert System Analysis (1967)
4. Open Systems Theory (1966)
DIAGNOSTIC MODELS ( CONTINUED)
5. Weisbord’s Six-Box Model (1976)
6. Congruence Model for Organization Analysis
(1977)
7. McKinsey 7S Framework (1981-82)
8. Tichy’s Technical Political Cultural (TPC)
Framework (1983)
9. High-Performance Programming (1984)
10. Diagnosing Individual and Group Behavior (1987)
11. Burke-Litwin Model of Organizational
Performance & Change (1992)
12. Falletta’s Organizational Intelligence Model
(2008)
Characteristics of Organizations as
Systems
• Boundaries
• The part of the system that separates it from its environment
• Four Types of Boundaries (Becker, 1997)
• Physical Boundary - prevents access (security system)
• Linguistic Boundary - specialized language (jargon)
• Systemic Boundary - rules that regulate interaction (titles)
• Psychological Boundary - restricts communication (stereotypes,
prejudices)
• The ‘Closed’ System
• Healthy organization is OPEN
• Do not recognize they are embedded in a relevant environment
• Overly focused on internal functions and behaviors
• Do not recognize or implement equifinality
• Inability to use feedback appropriately
• CO-DEPENDENT
Characteristics of Organizations as
Systems
• McMillan & Northern (1995) on Enabling Co-dependency
• Asymmetrical communication status of the hierarchy
• Levels of authority
• Fear of Punishment
• The socially acceptable addiction
• Workaholics
• Addiction leads to more co-dependency
• The organization’s selective attention
• Money and power as distractions
• Focus on ends instead of means
• Skilled communication incompetence
• Deprived of useful feedback
• Emotion is masked
• First extension of Systems Theory into Management Practice -
CONTINGENCY THEORY
1. Force Field Analysis (1951)

READ READING 5.2

2. Leavitt’s Model (1965)
Sometime after Lewin conceptualized Force Field
Analysis (i.e., fourteen years later, in 1965),
Leavitt designed another relatively simple model.
This model does specify particular variables
within organizations, rather than driving forces;
these variables include: task variables, structure
variables, technological variables, and human
variables (Burke, in Howard, 1994;
3. Likert System Analysis (1967)
4. Open Systems Model
Diagnostic Considerations Using
the Open Systems Model

• Inputs, transformations and outputs

• Boundaries
• Feedback
• Equifinality
• Alignment
OPEN SYSTEMS
All living and many non-living things are open
systems
Systems theory gives us a way to ‘think about’
open systems
Systems theory lays the foundation for the
analysis and modelling of systems
Systems theory provides an analytical
framework for comprehending dynamic
interrelated operating systems
OPEN SYSTEM

Sense OPEN
Response
SYSTEM

ENVIRONMENT
 UNIVERSITY – OPEN SYSTEM

Policy
Approved Funding
Industry Needs UNIVERSITY

Students
Funding Requests
New Knowledge
Graduates
CONTINGENCY THEORY

There is no one best way to structure and manage

organizations.
Structure and management are contingent on the
nature of the environment in which the
organization is situated.
Argues for “finding the best communication
structure under a given set of environmental
circumstances.”
Management of Innovation - Burns and Stalker
(1968)
 5. Weisbord’s Six-Box Model (1976)
 6. Congruence Model for Organization Analysis (1977)
 7. McKinsey 7S Framework (1981-82)
 8. Tichy’s Technical Political Cultural (TPC) Framework
(1983)
 9. High-Performance Programming (1984)
 10. Diagnosing Individual and Group Behavior (1987)
 11. Burke-Litwin Model of Organizational Performance &
Change (1992)
 12. Falletta’s Organizational Intelligence Model (2008)
TWO CONTINGENCY THEORIES

Burns and Stalker (1968) Management of Innovation

 Organizational systems should vary based on the level of stability in the environment
 Two different types of management systems
 Mechanistic systems - appropriate for stable environment
 Organic systems - required in changing environments (unstable conditions)
 Management is the Dependent Variable
 Variations in environmental factors lead to management
Lawrence and Lorsch (1969)
 Key Issue is environmental uncertainty and information flow
 Focus on exploring and improving the organization’s relationship with the environment
 Environment is characterized along a certainty-uncertainty continuum
PRAGMATIC APPLICATION OF SYSTEMS
THEORY
The Learning Organization
 Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
(1990)
 An organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future
 Organizational Learning Occurs under Two Conditions

1) When design of organizational action matches the intended outcome

2) When initial mismatch between intentions and outcomes is corrected, resulting in a
match

 Key attribute of learning organization is increased adaptability

 Adaptability is increased by advancing from adaptive to generative learning
THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Adaptive (single-loop) Learning
 Involves coping with a situation
 Limited by the scope of current organizational assumptions
 Occurs when a mismatch between action and outcome is corrected without changing the
underlying values of the system that enabled the mismatch.
Generative (double-loop) Learning
 Moves from COPING to CREATING an improved organizational reality
 Necessary for eventual survival of the organization
Both are Central Features of the Model of the Communicative Organization (Chapter
6)
Synergy and Nonsummativity are Important
THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Through communication, teams are able to learn more than individuals operating
alone.
 Critics argue that teams inhibit learning
 Thoughts?
Leadership is a key element in creating and sustaining a learning organization.
Leaders are responsible for promoting an atmosphere conducive to learning
CREATIVE TENSION
 Represents difference between the “vision” of where the organization could be and the
reality of the current organizational situation.
IMPEDIMENTS TO LEARNING
ORGANIZATION
Complexity of the Environment
 Difficult to determine cause and effect
 Multiple contributing elements in complex environments
Internal Conflicts
 Individuals, teams, departments, and subcultures are often at odds
 Energy is drained by conflect
Organization members must be trained in communication and conflict-negotiation
skills
Collecting and Analysing
Diagnostic Information

The data collection and feedback cycle

The diagnostic relationship
Methods for collecting data
Sampling
The Data Collection and Feedback
Cycle
The Diagnostic Relationship
• The OD practitioner needs to establish their role as a
change agent during the data collection phase by
clarifying:
• Who am I?
• Why am I here and what am I doing?
• Who do I work for?
• What do I want from you and why?
• How will I protect your confidentiality?
• Who will have access to the data?
• What’s in it for you?
• Can I be trusted?

Think about what you would want to know before you

would participate? What feelings would you have?
Major Methods for Collecting Data
• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Observations
• Unobtrusive methods
Questionnaires
• One of the most efficient ways to collect data
• Contain fixed-response questions
• Administered to large numbers of people simultaneously
• Can be analysed quickly
• Permit quantitative analysis
• Data can easily be fed back to employees
Questionnaires
• Advantages
• Large quantities of data
• Relatively inexpensive
• Drawbacks
• Little opportunity for empathy with subjects
• Rigid structure
Interviews
• Interviews may be highly structured
• resembling questionnaires
• Interviews may be highly unstructured
• starting with general questions that allow the
respondent to lead the way
Interviews
• Advantages
• Adaptive
• Empathic
• Builds rapport with subjects
• Potential problems
• Relatively expensive
• Coding and interpretation can be difficult
Observations
• A more direct way of collecting data
• Observe organisational behaviours in their
functional settings
Observations
• Advantages
• Yields data on actual behavior
• Real time, not retrospective
• Potential problems
• Difficulties in interpretation
• Sampling inconsistencies and observer bias
• Expense
Unobtrusive Measures
• Data is collected from secondary sources
• Records of absenteeism, tardiness, grievances, quantity
and quality of production or service, financial
performance, correspondence with key stakeholders
• Helpful in diagnosing group and individual outputs
Unobtrusive Measures
• Advantages
• Non-reactive, no response bias
• High face validity
• Easily quantified
• Potential problems
• Access and retrieval difficulties
• Validity concerns
• Coding and interpretation difficulties, for example, the information
is mostly general and not specific to an individual
Sampling
• Population vs. sample
• Importance of sample size
• Process of sampling
• Types of samples
• Random
• Convenience
Feeding Back Diagnostic
Information
Determining the context of the feedback
Possible effects of the feedback
Characteristics of the feedback
Determining the Content of
Feedback
• Relevant • Limited
• Understandable • Significant
• Descriptive • Comparative
• Verifiable • Unfinalised
• Timely
Possible Effects of the Feedback
Characteristics of the Feedback
Process
• Attention to the following will enable the OD practitioner
to move forward to design a successful intervention
• Motivate everyone to work with the data
• Structure the meeting for focus and clear effective
communication of the message
• Ensure appropriate membership
• Be clear about what can be changed and what cannot
• Use effective process skills to support positive
outcomes
Designing Interventions
Criteria of an effective intervention
How to design effective interventions
Contingencies related to the change situation
Contingencies related to the target of change
Criteria of an Effective Intervention
• An intervention is a set of sequenced planned actions or
events that are intended to help an organisation increase
its effectiveness
• Criteria that define an effective intervention are:
• the extent to which it fits the needs of the organisation,
• the degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of
intended outcomes, and
• the extent to which it transfers competence to manage
change to organisation members
How to Design Effective
Interventions
• No ‘one size fits all’ recipe
• Needs careful attention to detail
• Not enough yet known about what causes change
• Two sets of contingencies that impact on the design of
successful intervention need to be considered
• Contingencies related to the change situation
• Contingencies related to the target of change
Contingencies Related to the
Change Situation
• Readiness for change
• Capability to change
• Cultural context
• Capabilities of the change agent
Contingencies Related to the
Target of Change
Focus of the Intervention
• Strategic issues
• focus on the big picture ensuring that the organisation is
competitive, well-positioned in the market and ready to meet new
challenges
• Technology and structure issues
• focus on ensuring that the design structure and the technology
are aligned to the strategic goals of the organisation
• Human resource issues
• focus on ensuring that personnel practices are aligned to
recruiting and retaining the best people for the organisation
• Interpersonal issues
• focus on developing people and their interpersonal skills
Implementing Change
Motivating change
Creating vision
Developing political support
Managing the transition
Sustaining momentum
Motivating Change
• Identifying the need for change
• a continual process of assessment
• Creating a culture which is ready for change
• change is inevitable and a certainty; there will always be a need
for improvement; the process of change is always for the
betterment of the organisation and the people within
• Managing resistance to change
• Resistance can be positive and constructive if there is empathy
and support, communication and involvement
Creating a Vision
• Energising commitment
• Should be exciting, connected to the past, present and future …
and compelling
• Describing a desired future state
• Mission and value outcome; future directions
Developing Political Support
• Assessing change agent power
• OD practitioner’s sources of power – knowledge, personality and
others’ support
• Identifying key stakeholders
• Who are the other powerbrokers?
• Influencing stakeholders
• ‘Playing it straight’, social networks and utilising the formal
system
Managing the Transition
• Activity planning
• Detailed ‘road map’ with top management support
• Commitment planning
• Identification of key stakeholders
• Management structures
• Allocation of key roles and responsibilities
Sustaining Momentum
• Providing resources for change
• Change cannot develop without tangible and intangible
assistance
• Building a support system for change agents
• A professional network of like-minded personnel
• Developing new competencies and skills
• Change includes innovative perceptions of what may
be achieved
• Reinforcing new behaviours
• Prevent return to the ‘old ways’
Evaluating OD Interventions
Implementation and evaluation feedback
Measurement
Institutionalising interventions
Characteristics that effect institutionalisation
Processes and indicators of institutionalisation
Implementation and Evaluation
Feedback
Implementation and Evaluation
Feedback
• Process must not be taken for granted
• Evaluation aimed at guiding implementation is
implementation feedback
• Assessment intended to discover intervention outcomes
is called evaluation feedback
Measurement
• Selecting variables
• Should derive from the intent that underlies the interventions;
should incorporate the key features as well as expected results
• Designing good measures
• Operational definition
• Reliability
• Validity
Institutionalisation Framework
Characteristics that Affect
Institutionalisation
• Organisation characteristics
• Congruence
• Stability of environment and technology
• Extent of unionisation
• Intervention characteristics
• Goal specificity
• Programmability
• Level of change target
• Internal and external support
• Sponsor
Processes and Indicators of
Institutionalisation
• Processes of institutionalisation
• Socialisation
• Commitment
• Reward allocation
• Diffusion
• Sensing and calibration
• Indicators of institutionalisation
• Knowledge
• Performance
• Preference
• Normative consensus
• Value consensus
Summary
• Organisational change requires the OD
practitioner/change agent and members of the
organisation to follow a process
• The problem/issue needs to be clearly identified and diagnosed
• To do this, data needs to be collected and analysed
• Feedback then needs to be given back into the organisation
• Knowledge gained from the diagnosis and feedback enables the
design of the intervention
• The planned intervention is then implemented through a series of
activities
• Implementation and evaluation data are then gathered and
desired changes are institutionalised