Assignment

Subject Code: MU0010

Roll no- 1302006411

Q1. What do you mean by forecasting? Describe the various types of forecasts
Organization development (OD) is a deliberately planned, organization-wide effort to
increase an organization's effectiveness and/or efficiency and/or to enable the organization to
achieve its strategic goals.
A.

History of OD:
1947 National Training Laboratories Founded
NTL in USA advances the research into applied behavioral sciences, develops understand of
change agent role and experiential learning.
1950s Human Relations Movement
Growth of social and developmental psychology
1951 Socio-Technical System Thinking (STS)
Tavistock Institute (UK) research shows that combining social factors with technological
changes increases effectiveness, efficiency and moral.
1967 Survey Research Methods
Likert and Mann pioneer survey feedback to help organizational leaders understand the impact
they have on the people and performance of the organization.
1968 Creation of the T Group
Lewin (USA) and Tavistock Institute develop unstructured group laboratory training, and action
learning sets.
1974 OD as Planned approach to Change
Friedlander and Brown research OD as a method of planned change effort
1980s General Systems Theory

Neilsen and Schein promote OD as activities that influence the social processes within an
organization.
1997 Organizational Effectiveness
Linking the application of OD in planned development interventions to the improvement of
organizational effectiveness.
2000s to Present Complexity Theory
OD continues to be informed by new insights and research in a number of disciplines including
natural sciences, biology and physics as well as developments in the social and behavioral
sciences.
Importance of OD from a managers perspective:
1. Improved organizational performance to enhance profitability, market share and
innovativeness.
2. Adaptation of firm in its dynamic environment.
3. Making employees willing to face the problem and contribute creatively in finding the
solutions to the problem.
4. Improvement in behavior patterns line inter-personal, inter-group communication, trust
and support etc.

Q2. What do you mean by Human Resource Accounting (HRA)? Discuss the objectives
and advantages of HRA.
A.
To be effective, all OD practitioners must possess the following basic knowledge,
skills and attitudes which are listed below:
a. Intrapersonal skills: As OD is a highly, uncertain process which requires constant
adjustment and innovation, OD practitioner must possess good learning skills and must have
values, feelings, purposes and integrity that helps in building the relationships in a smooth and
cordial way.
b. Interpersonal skills: An OD practitioner helps to gain the competence which is required to
solve problems. So, in order to build and maintain the relationships the OD practitioner must
consider the concepts of group dynamics, cultural perspectives, and business function. These
constitute the core foundation of their knowledge and help in developing managing, facilitation
and consulting as their core skills.
c. General consultation skills: To diagnose and understand the current functioning of the
organization, an OD practitioner needs to know how to engage people in the diagnosis, how to
help them in asking the appropriate queries and how to collect, analyze and evaluate the
information and finally make modifications, if necessary. It also helps in designing the
interventions.
d. Participation skills: An effective and efficient OD practitioner helps the organization in
redesigning and implementing the plan which must be clear, concrete, simple, rooted with
data, result oriented, measurable and rewarded.
e. Contracting skills: An effective and efficient OD practitioner helps the organization to
confirm the resource commitment and clarify the role of client and consultant. This helps them to

identify the change needed in the system and critical success factors for intervention. This way,
realistic expectations are built.
f. Organizational development theory skills: One of the most important tools for OD
practitioner is knowledge of organizational development and for this the practitioner must
know the planned change model. They need to know what, where and how the interventions
are applicable. They must also be clear about their position, role and responsibilities they are
about to perform.
g. Impact: Creating a good first impression, commanding attention and respect, showing an air
of confidence.
h. Emotional Intelligence: When we talk about applying behavioral science knowledge
Emotional Intelligence is the core competency OD professional must possess. EI will help an
OD professional to sense the challenges in an organization perceiving rightly the concerns and
challenge of its employees. So EI gives an effortless insight into psyche of people and hence
the teams and groups within an organization. As said Humans are not the creatures of logic but
emotions.
i. Building Positive Working Relationships and Trust: Developing and using collaborative
relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of work goals. Interacting with others in a way that
gives them confidence in ones intentions and those of the organization.
j. Mentoring & Coaching: Providing timely guidance and feedback to help others strengthen
specific knowledge/skill areas needed to accomplish a task or solve a problem.
k. Influencing and Gaining Commitment: Using appropriate interpersonal styles and
techniques to gain acceptance of ideas or plans; modifying ones own behavior to accommodate
tasks, situations, and individuals involved.
l. Managing Conflict: Dealing effectively with others in an antagonistic situation; using
appropriate inter-personal styles and methods to reduce tension or conflict between two or more
people.
m. Strategic Decision Making: Obtaining information and identifying key issues and
relationships relevant to achieving a long-range goal or vision; committing to a course of action
to accomplish a long-range goal or vision after developing alternatives based on logical
assumptions, facts, available resources, constraints, and organizational values.

Q3. Discuss the Ethical Dilemmas in practicing OD.

A.
Ethical dilemmas are the results of behaviors and inappropriate actions or roles on the
part of both change agents and client systems. Ethical problems and dilemmas are, therefore, a
mutual responsibility of change agents and client systems, dependent largely on the nature of
their specific relationship. The outcome of role conflict and role ambiguity may give rise to the
ethical dilemmas which are explained below:
a. Misrepresentation: This dilemma is endured by the party who is working on the false
pretenses of inaccurate goals and needs. Thus, the outcome of this will be that the intervention
will produce the results which according to a change program or circumstances are irrational

and unreasonable. Misrepresentation mostly occurs in the entry and contracting stage of
planned change. So, in order to prevent it, the main role of OD Practitioners is the clarity of
goals of change effort and exploring its expected efforts and relevance to the clients.
b. Misuse of data: The next dilemma which the OD practitioner face is when the data or
information gathered through OD process is misused. These data are gathered at the entry and
the diagnostic stage so it is the duty of the OD practitioner to see that the information is properly
utilized. Thus, spreading inappropriate information can be harmful to both the individual and the
organization. Therefore, in order to minimize and eliminate this dilemma, OD practitioner should
make an agreement with the organization about the proper use of this data which is collected
during the change process.
c. Coercion: Forcing the members of the organization to participate in the OD intervention may
give rise to coercion. All this depends on the choice of the member whether he wants to
participate in the change process or not.
d. Values and goal conflict: When the main purpose of goals are unclear and the OD
practitioners and the client disagree over how to achieve the goals, then this dilemma occurs.
The OD practitioners face the practical dilemma to with old the services or not when
organizations do not agree with their values and methods.
e. Technical Ineptness: When the client tries to bring out change for which it is not ready or
when the unskilled OD Practitioners try to implement the interventions then this dilemma take
place. So careful diagnosis and proper selection of appropriate intervention bring out success to
the organization. Thus, the qualities required by the OD practitioners for the selection of
intervention are values, skills, abilities and knowledge.
Collusion: When OD interventions are used by the top management as tools of
awarding subtle punishment, it creates an ethical dilemma called collusion.
Promising Unrealistic Outcomes: The temptation to make promises in order to
gain a contract often makes the consultant promise unrealistic outcomes. The consequences
of this ethical dilemma lead to reduced credibility of the consultant within the clients
organization and also in the OD field.
Q4. What is a Learning Organization? Discuss the attributes of a learning organization.
Explain the various learning disciplines.
A.
A learning organization is the term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its
members and continuously transforms itself. Learning organizations develop as a result of the
pressures facing modern organizations and enables them to remain competitive in the business
environment.
The attributes of the learning organization are as follows:
1> Strategic orientation: Before taking any decisions, learning organizations has to take
care of both its customer and employees.
2> Openness: There should be openness in the learning organization for both the tolerant
of debate and criticism as well as enquiry also.

3> Innovation: There must be organic culture and structure in the learning organization
which allows it to evolve rapidly. Also, it must have the deep skill and capacity to deal
with internal uncertainty and complexity.
The 5 Learning Disciplines in brief are:
(a) Personal mastery: It creates the organizational climate that encourages and motivates the
organizational members to develop themselves towards purposes and objectives which they
choose.
(b) Mental models: It is an enquiry and reflection skills which is focused in developing
awareness of perceptions and attitudes. It, thus, helps in defining the current reality more
clearly and honestly and shapes the managers views of market strategies and conditions.
(c) Shared vision: It emphasizes on the focus of mutual purpose. Thus, by guiding practices
and principles and developing shared images build a sense of commitment within a group.
(d) Team learning: It is related with the interactions among the group. Thus, it is a collective
thinking which put focus on achieving the common goals and involves exposing new ideas
through constructive disagreement and being comfortable not knowing answer to every
question as well as listening to others without confirmation bias.
(e) Systems thinking: It is about the behavior of the feedback and is able to deal more
efficiently with the force that shapes the consequence of their actions. Thus, it is a language for
understanding and describing interrelationships which helps in shaping the behavior of the
systems.

Q5. Describe the various tools used in OD intervention.

A.
a. Experimental Randomized control trial (RCT): The best accepted gold standard of
evaluation is RCT which is used to provide highest quality of evidence to represent the
success or failure of OD intervention. In such a method, you first randomly allocate the study
population into received or not received intervention. After this randomization becomes
adequate, other factors influencing the outcomes are balanced between intervention and nonintervention groups. Without being biased, its effectiveness is then measured.
b. Quasi-experiment study design: Such study designs are most effective when they are
properly designed. These study design for evaluating interventions involve collection of trend
information through monitoring key indicators over a period of time. These quasi-experimental
methods include controlled before-after studies, interrupted time services studies and beforeafter studies with no control group, etc.
c. Interviews and focus groups: In-depth interviewing is the best method of gathering
qualitative data. Interviews involve use of open ended questions where the respondents can
answer the question in their own terms and in the detailed way as they like.
The questions to be answered in an interview depend upon the purpose of the data gathering.
Interviews can also be structured and unstructured.

 A structured interview contains a standardized means of data gathering.

Unstructured is more likely to be more informal conversation where questions are generated
during natural conversation flow, etc.
Focus group is the interview with a small group of individuals where semi-structured interviews
are typically used. In such interviews, six to ten individuals are interviewed together making it
as a highly efficient data collection source as different opinions about a subject is received at
single time from different people.
d. Questionnaires with open-ended questions: Open-ended questionnaires serve as one of
the best available methods of collecting qualitative data. It expands the breadth of the results
that OD practitioner can achieve. Questionnaires are used to gauge the employees reactions
to identify the program barriers and to find out unintended consequences of the interview.
e. Observations and document analysis: Going on-site and observing the live reactions
serves as a good source of collecting qualitative data about interventions. Depending on the
need of evaluation using observation, you can capture physical environment, program activities,
behaviors and interactions related data, etc.
Documents of intrinsic interest and importance in workplace safety intervention can be
evaluated including evaluation of materials related to procedures and policies, safety records,
minutes of committee, memorandums, reports and correspondences, etc.
Q6. Write a short note on the following:
a) Role Analysis Technique (RAT)
b) Reward Systems
A.
a) Role analysis technique (RAT)
We can define role analysis technique (RAT), as a technique designed to clarify role
expectation. Role Analysis Techniques (RAT) has been developed by Dayal (1969) for
redefining the managerial roles in an organization. The set of behaviors or attitudes associated
with a particular position in a group is called a role. Role analysis is used to clarify the role
discrepancies, which boss and subordinates may have about each other, leading to improved
group cohesiveness and functioning.
Role expectation are those behaviors of one member (role incumbent) expected or prescribed
by other group members, while role conception refers to the focal persons own ideas about
appropriate role behaviors.
Role ambiguity refers to the role incumbent being unaware of or lacking sufficient knowledge of
the expectations of others. When there is incongruence or a discrepancy between the role
expectation and the role conception, then role conflict occurs. This intervention is based on the
premise that consensual agreement about group member roles will lead to a more productive
and satisfied team.
We can identify the steps in RAT as:

Role analysis: It involves listing perceived duties, behaviors, and responsibilities the
role conception.
Expectation of role incumbent about others: This list describes those expectations of
others that affect the incumbents role and impinge upon his or her performance.
Role expectations: The other members now list their expectations of what they expect
him or her to do and accomplish as it affects them role performance.
Role profile: The role incumbent becomes accountable for making a written summary
called a role profile, a copy of which is distributed to each member.

b) Reward Systems
A reward is something that, when presented after a behavior, causes that behavior to increase
in intensity and/or frequency. Nowadays, OD Practitioners are focusing on developing,
designing and implementing an effective reward system. They have a view that reward should
match the other systems and practices of the organization such as top managements HR
philosophy, work design and organization structure. Now let us study objectives and different
types of awards.
The objectives of the reward system are as follows:
(a) It helps to maintain and improve the overall performance.
(b) It helps in strengthening the commitment of employees.
(c) It helps to attract and retain the competent employees.
Overall, employee reward system helps to motivate the employee at individual or group level.
There are two categories of rewards. They are explained as follows:
(a) Extrinsic reward: It is also known as financial rewards which covers the basic needs like
income for survival (example to pay bills, etc), recognition (example skills, workplace
values etc.) and a feeling of consistency and stability (example Job security)
(b) Intrinsic reward: It is also known as psychological rewards as it covers the needs in which
there is a feeling of completing the challenges competently.