Impact of OD interventions and measures to analyse its impact
Introduction
Organisational development (OD) is an effort planned organisation-wide and managed from the top to increase organisation’s effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organisation’s `processes’ , using behavioural-science knowledge. (Beckhard 1969:9)
OD approach was developed to improve the various functions of the organization and is characterised by analysis of the organizational structure and system with emphasis on both individual and group efforts. OD interventions usually involve external consultants acting as change agents.
Activities in OD interventions
The activities which make up the OD intervention are mostly process and people related. Other change approaches including techno- cultural activities can also be grouped under OD activities. Some of the major groups of OD activities are:
• Laboratory training with a process emphasis - This consists of activities focussing on interpersonal and group processes like training groups, encounter groups and other laboratory training experiences. Task focus is not a primary concern in this activity.
• Laboratory training with a task emphasis '' Also called team building exercises, this approach deals with solution to task problems. Process issues are also considered but the task component is the primary concern.
• Managerial Grid or Grid OD - This contains six separate but interrelated phases primarily oriented toward managers within the organization. Sequence based structured exercises. Initial activities focus on identifying and developing managerial skills and applying them to improve organizational effectiveness. The later activities involve diagnosing and solving organization level problems.
• Survey Feed back '' This involves analysis of available data to precipitate organizational change. Data on the various human processes are collected from the organization and analysed...