Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3 MU0011 Management and Organizational Development (Book ID: B1229) Assignment Set- 1

Q1. What are the goals of sensitivity training? Answer:

Goals of Sensitivity Training I) Teaching effective work practices Sensitivity training was designed as a method to teach more effective work practices within groups. Three important elements of sensitivity training are providing immediate feedback, here-and-now orientation and focusing on the group process. It is believed that the number of fixed reactions that occur toward others can be decreased and greater social sensitivity can be achieved. Therefore people stop taking die-hard positions with regards to situations and people. Sensitivity training focuses on being sensitive and aware of feelings of others. This enables one to be supportive of the individual instead of being provocative or offensive. II) Putting emphasis on personal relationships A branch of sensitivity training places emphasis on personal relationships and remarks. Before training commences participants decide whether the training will focus on group relationships or personal growth. Most individuals who volunteer to participate seek more personal growth and interpersonal effectiveness. Those who represent a company, community service program, or some other organization are more likely ready to improve their functioning within a group and/or the organization sponsoring the activity. III) Revealing information about oneself and others Sharing ones perceptions of everyone else present by each member of the group is a part of sensitivity training. Therefore everyone gets to know other perceptions about them individually. The facilitator attempts to clarify the group processes using incidents as examples to clarify general points or provide feedback. The group action, overall, is the goal as well as the process.

Q2. What are the major types of changes in an organization? Answer:

Types of Changes in an organization: Types of organization changes vary from planned versus unplanned to organization-wide versus change primarily to one part of the organization to incremental versus transformational, etc. Knowing which types of change you are doing helps all participants to retain scope and perspective during the many complexities and frequent frustrations during change. The major types of changes in an organization are listed below: I) Organization-wide Versus Subsystem Change Organization-wide change includes major restructuring, collaboration or rightsizing. When organization need to evolve to a different level in their life cycle, for example, going from a highly reactive, entrepreneurial organization to one that has a more stable and planned development, then is the time when they should switch to organization-wide changes. Experts assert that successful organizational change requires a change in culture cultural change is another example of organization-wide change. Addition or removal of a product or service, reorganization of a certain department, or implementation of a new process to deliver products or services is examples of these kinds of changes. II) Transformational Versus Incremental Change Changing an Organizations structure and culture from the traditional top-down, hierarchical structure to a large amount of self-directing teams are examples that form transformational changes. Examples of incremental change might include continuous improvement as a quality management process or implementation of new computer system to increase efficiencies. Many times, organizations experience incremental change and its leaders do not recognize the change as such. III) Unplanned Versus Planned Change A sudden, major surprise to the organization, which causes its members to respond in a highly reactive and disorganized fashion usually, causes an unplanned change. As the name suggests, in an unplanned change nothing happens in a planned way or in order. Examples of such change are when the Chief Executive Officer suddenly leaves the organization, significant public relations problems occur, poor product performance quickly results in loss of customers, or other disruptive situations arise. Planned change occurs when leaders in the organization recognize the need for a major change and proactively organize a plan to accomplish the change. Planned change occurs with successful implementation of a Strategic Plan, plan for reorganization, or other implementation of a change of this magnitude. Note that planned change, even though based on a proactive and well-done plan, often does not occur in a highly organized fashion. Instead, planned change tends to occur in more of a chaotic and disruptive fashion than expected by participants.

IV) Remedial Versus Developmental Change Remedial changes are changes that can bring remedy to current organizational situations. Improving the poor performance of a product or the entire organization, reduce burnout in the workplace, help the organization to become much more proactive and less reactive, or address large budget deficits. So these form examples of remedial changes. More focus of these projects is to solve a problem on an urgent basis because they are addressing a current, major problem. Change can also be developmental to make a successful situation even more successful, for example, expand the amount of customers served, or duplicate successful products or services. Developmental projects can seem more general and vague than remedial, depending on how specific goals are and how important it is for members of the organization to achieve those goals. Some people might have different perceptions of what is a remedial change versus a developmental change. They might see that if developmental changes are not made soon, there will be need for remedial changes.

Q3. Explain team building interventions. Answer:

Team Building Interventions Team building interventions can be defined as a process of getting either a new or poor performing group on track. Let us have a look at the possible examples of a team building intervention. There are lots and they can be well categorized within two extremes of fun and developmental. At the fun end, there are the icebreakers, ropes courses, camping trips, etc which are generally used to bond together new teams or revive an already established team. At the "developmental" end, there are workshops and intensive team-building exercises that are all goal-specific and typically suited to a group of professionals already focused on addressing certain issues. Stages of Team Development What can be expected out of team building is an evident question and for that it is prudent to explore a few team building models. Though the models vary from each other, they usually agree on two basic pretexts. First, that there are quite a number of predictable stages that every team has to go through for becoming a highly productive and efficient team, and second is that leaders and team members who are already aware of these stages can work towards improving the quality of their team's interactions during each stage. Bruce Tiuckman proposed an easy to remember model which designates four stages of team development. I) Stage 1 Forming The members of a team are quite uncertain when the team first gets together. So people try to explore and dabble something. During the forming period everyone tries their best to look ahead and think about all the things that need to be done. Leader must set the focus. II) Stage 2 Storming Under the pressures of work and other conflicting perspectives, the process inevitable begins to heat up. Even patient and impatient people clash. Trust is tested, and confusions around goals and roles begin to surface. Under heavy deadlines, this stage can be quite tense. III) Stage 3 Norming As people slowly get comfortable and get to know each other better, they reconcile and agree on certain things like decision-making processes, resources, timing, and quality standards. A "norm" is usually defined as something which everyone understands. Norms are the formal and informal rules that make up the operating system of productive work. IV) Stage 4 Performing This is the final stage of team development and it involves using all the experience and understanding with each other to get results for each other and the organization. Goals of Team Building Interventions Goals of team building interventions are listed as below: -examination opportunity to the group to analyze its functioning, performance, strengths, and weaknesses to help the work unit.

Q4. What is the role of power and politics in the practice of OD? Answer:
Role of Power and Politics in the practice of OD Virtually, all OD interventions promote problem-solving, not politics, as a preferred way to get things accomplished. OD interventions increase problem-solving, collaboration, co-operation, fact-finding, and effective pursuit of goals while decreasing reliance on the negative faces of power and politics. We know of no OD interventions designed to increase coercion or unilateral power. For example, OD interventions typically generate valid, public data about the organization's culture, processes, strengths, and weaknesses. Valid, public data are indispensable-for problem solving but anathema for organizational politics. OD interventions do not deny or attempt to abolish the reality of power in organizations; rather, they enhance the positive face of power, thereby making the negative face of power less prevalent and/or necessary. Not only is organization development not a power/political intervention strategy, it is instead a rational problem-solving approach that is incompatible with extreme power-oriented situations. The values of Organizational Development are consistent with the

positive face of power, but not with the negative face of power. Values such as trust, openness, collaboration, individual dignity, and promoting individual and organizational competence are part of the foundation of organization development. These values are congruent with rational problem solving and incongruent with extremely political modes of operating. "Power equalization" has long been described as one of the values of organization development. Emphasis on power equalization stems from two beliefs: first, problem solving is usually superior to power coercion as a way to find solutions to problematic situations; second, power equalization, being one aspect of the positive face of power, increases the amount of power avail-able to organization members, and by so doing adds power to the organization. An OD practitioners role is limited to that of a facilitator, catalyst, problem solver, and educator. The practitioner is not a political activist or power broker. The practitioner works to strengthen skills and knowledge in the organization. But organization members are free to accept or reject the practitioner, his or her program, and his or her values, methods, and expertise. The OD consultant, like all consultants, provides a service that the organization is free to "buy" or "not buy." The facilitator or educator role is incompatible with a political activist role because cooperation requires one set of behaviors and competition requires a different set of behaviors, as we discussed earlier. Cobb and Margulies caution that OD practitioners can get into trouble if they move from a facilitator role to a political role.

OD values are consistent with the positive face of power, but not with the negative face of power. Values such as trust, openness, collaboration, individual dignity, and promoting individual and organizational competence are part of the foundation of organization development. These values are congruent with rational problem solving and incongruent with extremely political modes of operating. "Power equalization" has long been described as one of the values of organization development. Emphasis on power equalization stems from two beliefs: first, problem solving is usually superior to power coercion as a way to find solutions to problematic situations; second, power equalization, being one aspect of the positive face of power, increases the amount of power available to organization members, and by so doing adds power to the organization.

Q5. Distinguish between management and administration. Answer:

Administration and Management According to Theo Haimann, Administration means overall determination of policies, setting of major objectives, the identification of general purposes and laying down of broad programs and projects. It refers to the activities of higher level. Administration lays down the basic principles of the organization. According to Newman, Administration means guidance, leadership & control of the efforts of the groups towards some common goals. Management involves conceiving, initiating and bringing together the various elements; coordinating, actuating, integrating the diverse organizational components while sustaining the viability of the organization towards some pre-determined goals. In other words, it is an art of getting things done through & with people assigned to formally organized teams. Management and administration differences can be categorized on the basis of functions and on the basis of usage / applicability. On the Basis of Functions:

On the Basis of Usage:

Q6. Suppose you are an OD practitioner. What are the challenges that you have be prepared for while carrying out organization development? Answer:
As an OD practitioner there are many challenges a person will fact. The strategies taken by OD practitioner to intervene in the ongoing activities of the organization and to carry out the processes for improved effectiveness are often blocked by the following issues, among others:

-Making processes.

Other than these, in organizational development (OD), a performance problem is found any time there is a discrepancy between the sought-after results and the actual results. This can occur at various levels:

blems