Organizational Development Case # 9

Title of the Case

OD Action Research and Action Plan to Increase Organizational Effectiveness

Facts of the Case

In early part of 1976, the president of Roxanne Company decided to hire the

services of an outside behavioral science group practitioners as an attempt to increase

organizational effectiveness. They were asked to conduct a training needs survey and an

attitude/morale survey of all employees at the different levels of the organization.

A multiple approach was employed to identify and discuss areas which showed

the relative strengths and weaknesses of the attitudes and perceptions of the company’s

workforce toward organization and management practices.

Statement of the Problem

1. What OD Action Research and Action Plan Intervention to Increase Organizational

Effectiveness?

Objective

To obtain objective information which could assist management in planning personnel training

programs to maximize the potentials of the organization’s human resources. Specifically,

1. To yield objective, perpetual, and aptitudinal information on the business styles of the

senior personnel and the supervisory group.

2. To evaluate the workforce effectiveness in the organizational ooperations.

3. To determine specific problem areas within the organization and its causes.

4. To evaluate the attitude and morale of the entire workforce on the following areas:

a. Role perception

b. Toward supervisors/subordinates

c. Toward management, work conditions, and incentive programs

5. To discover the level of job satisfaction of the entire personnel as related to the

following:

a. Personnel practices

b. Internal communications

c. Job itself

d. Job related to personnel development

6. To provide the company with basic data of every individual and group in the company to

serve as guide in designing and effecting change during and after training.

Alternative Courses of Action

1. Make an action research and action plan.

Action research is a scientific method of inquiry that is data-based. It is a basic model

underlying most organizational development activities. The sequence of activities in AR

is usually follows:

1. key officials’ perception of problems,

2. consultation with a behavioral scientist consultant,

3. data gathering and diagnosis by consultant,

4. further data gathering,

5. feedback to key client or client group,

6. joint action planning,

7. data gathering,

8. feedback from client group,

9. discussion and work on feedback and emerging data,

10. action planning, and

11. action

Significant elements of design for AR include:

1. Identification of problem area,

2. Selection of a specific problem,

3. Formulation of a hypothesis or prediction that implies a goal and a procedure for

reaching it,

4, Evaluating and monitoring actions taken,

5. Making generalizations and continuous retesting of these generalizations in actual

situation.

Action Plan is the blueprint for an organization’s Organizational Development. In this

case, there was structural change. The change must be utilize to improve organizational

efficiency by redefining the flow of authority (vertical) and responsibility (horizontal). The

following factors to consider installing a structural change must have:

a. A strong need for change within the organization.

b. The top-level management should be involved. Commitment of top management is

essential since many of the problems which will be uncovered will require agreement and

participation on the part of top management.

c. . Majority of the people in the target system must be solidly behind an OD effort.
 d. The OD objectives must be clear.

e. The focus of change should be behavior of people rather than their values and beliefs.

f. The OD program should be unique to the target client system.

g. Depending on the magnitude of the problem and the abilities of the people in the

organization, it might be advisable to seek professional OD help from outside.

h. OD efforts should focus on individual behavior rather than system behavior.

i. OD involves a long-term commitment.

2. Status quo in job function in the new management structure.

In order that the staff will work satisfactorily in their comfort zone so that the

company will not be having a hard time for major adjustment in re organization.

Conclusion

In order to solve the problem and address the objectives, therefore I conclude, that the #1

alternative is the best solution in increasing the organizational effectiveness.

Recommendation

In conducting an Action Research, it must attacked a problem through OD consists

of the following steps:

1. Identification of a relevant problem which may be defined as a condition or

situation that adversely affects performance.

Defining a problem so that it is relevant to decision-makers begins with

awareness that a problem exists or, more specifically, that there is a difference

between the actual and desired state of affairs. It is essential for the advocate

for change to be very clear about what the problem really is. To go forward not

being clear or not having analyzed the problem will send you, the advocate for
change, on the wrong solution path. Following an analysis of the problem, you

will be ready to consider the range of solutions available to you.

In the case, the behavioral group practitioners must design or device an

instrument in order to assess the Company Training Needs Survey (CTNS).

The said instrument will be device in four inventory-questionnaire:

CTNS I - Employee Morale Inventory consists of 56 questions organized

into 11 areas of concern in the work. It is intended to obtain information on

the feelings, attitudes, and beliefs held by the employee regarding pertinent

aspects of personnel work related to the social and emotional climate

generated within the personnel. This instrument will be administer to the

non-supervisory group.

CTNS II – Questionnaire referring to aspects of business organizational

operations. The respondents will be ask questions to tap their conceptual

levels of idealized effectiveness related to organization. It will be consists of

13 areas or factors with 3 added items to measure humanizing dispositions,

attitudes, and knowledge. This instruments will be administer to supervisory

and non-supervisory levels.

CTNS III – Survey of the business management style of the respondents. It

is designed to determine how far top management is willing to carry out

training programs designed to accelerate the optimum use of the human

resource potential in the company. This instruments will be administer to

the supervisory staff and the senior personnel.

 CTNS IV – job satisfaction Checklist is a survey of concerns in personnel

administration normally it will consider in assessing the effectiveness of the

employees. It will taps seven motivational and environmental factors of

satisfaction. This instrument will be administer to all levels.

2. Collection of data pertinent to the problem.

If an organization is considering whether to collect data on its own or get

help from an external consultant, it will need to have enough information to

make an informed decision about how to proceed.

The main consideration is to make sure that any information collected is

done in a way and for a purpose that is consistent with the Code and complies

with freedom of information and privacy protection legislation. In the interest of

effectiveness and efficiency, it is recommended that efforts be made to collect

data that will shed light on issues or opportunities. To protect the credibility and

reliability of data, information should be gathered using accepted data

collection techniques.

3. Diagnosis of the problem.

Once you’ve defined the problem you’re already to move next step that is

understand it root cause(s). Understanding the root causes of a problem

helps you focalize your thinking on solutions that can truly bring you closer to

where you want to be; so in general, it is a good idea to first diagnose the

problem before looking for ways to correct it.

 You’ll need to use critical thinking and creative thinking. To be creative

requires you to diverge in your thinking by using brainstorming or other idea-

creation activities; being creative, for instance using humor, and balancing

judiciously optimizing and satisficing.

Once you have identified all the possible root causes for your problem,

you’ll need to summarize them in a set of hypotheses, prioritize their analysis,

conduct the analysis using hypothesis map, and synthesize your conclusions.

4. Development of a problem-solving strategy, generally including feeding back

the data to personnel at the appropriate level and involving personnel in the

development of strategy.

Developing strategies is the essential step between figuring out your

objectives and making the changes to reach them. Strategies should always

be formed in advance of taking action, not deciding how to do something after

you have done it. Without a clear idea of the how, your group's actions may

waste time and effort and fail to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Strategies should also be updated periodically to meet the needs of a

changing environment, including new opportunities and emerging opposition

to the group's efforts.

Conduct Depth Interview and Sentence Completion Form., the depth

interview technique takes the form of dialogue that is relatively unstructured

and designed to tap areas which questionnaire cannot easily surface.

Spontaneous exchange of information and interaction between subjects is

encouraged without to ask too direct and loaded questions. The degree of
 relevance is to be found in the context of responses, the emotional tone, and

intensity of feelings and opinions which yield an index to an individual’s

attitude system and morale.

The sentence completion form supplements finding drawn from the group

discussions. This technique involves completing a word or sentence fragment

on a particular subject.

5. Applying strategy through intervention in the situation.

Implementing Effective Interventions is a process of assuring that key

aspects of promising approaches are put into practice as intended and to

meet organizational needs. When engage in this process, it will prioritize and

implement intervention strategies based on what has been learned through

research and experience in organization contexts. "Best practices" are proven

programs or policies shown to be effective with a particular issue. Despite

evidence indicating their effects, "best practices" are not always effective in

new or different situations. For example, increasing access to health services

by lengthening clinic hours may not improve outcomes if language issues are

the actual barriers. Implementing Effective Interventions often requires

assuming technical assistance and adapting interventions to different or

changing conditions, especially when programs or policies are applied in

different populations, places, and situations. The process of Implementing

Effective Interventions can help community initiatives combine their

understanding of what has worked elsewhere with local conditions and

opportunities to improve outcomes for a "real-world" impact.

6. Assessing results after sufficient time has passed.

Each major area has a variety of specific strategies or techniques that can

be used to achieve the desired outcomes. There are several intervention and

the type of strategy you use will depend on your comfort level with the

technique, the stage the group is in, and other information you have about the

situation. Furthermore, each intervention carries a different level of intensity.

Always begin with a gentle intervention. “Gentle interventions, if they are

clear, overcome rigid resistances”. If the gentle intervention doesn’t work, try

another. Use harsh interventions only when all else fails.

Establish an Employee Manual Book. It is a record of all the company’s

practices, policies, fringe benefits, and other information that an employee

needs to know about the company and the Group of Companies to which it

belongs.

7. Recycling the intervention with such changes as may be indicated from

assessment of feedback on performance.

The continuous improvement process must be a permanent fixture in the

organization. Approaches to positive transformation for continuous

improvement that have limited lifetimes will become ineffective if left

unattended. Review progress with respect to improvement efforts and modify

or rejuvenate existing approaches for the next progression of methods. This

constant evolution reinforces the idea that continuous improvement through

organizational transformation and reengineering is not a ―program but rather

 is a new expectation for day-to-day behavior and a way of life for each

member of the organization.

Create a standing committee to facilitate activities within and outside the

organization such as: Personnel (Recruitment) Committee, Training

Committee, Public Relations/Advertising Committee’ Collection Committee,

Sports Committee, Special Projects Committee, and Special Company

Activities Committee.

8. The OD consultant’s major concern is the human aspect of the organization.

An organizational development consultant is a person called in to a

company to evaluate how it operates and make recommendations for

improvement. Organizational development consultants are typically hired

when a firm struggling and needs to make changes in order to remain

profitable. Such consultants are often highly educated in the field of business,

have experience in managerial roles, and depend on an excellent reputation

for bringing businesses back to profitability in order to continue being hired by

other struggling groups.

Reorganizing employees by means of rightsizing. Employing &

maintaining exact number of employees with required skills, abilities and

knowledge to perform the existing number of jobs in an organization. The

need for rightsizing are:

 To have exact number of employees as per the job analysis, job description,

and job specification exercise of the company.

 To reduce dysfunctional activities of employees.

 To minimize the cost of human resources and to increase the production

cost by eliminating unnecessary costs.

 To maximize productivity by enhancing employee performance.