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Organizational development: Systematic process to improve the org.
Definitions:
• Is a long process and it involves all of the organization.

Some branches of knowledge that contributes to organizational development like:

• Psychology: the study of behavior and mind.

• Sociology: the study of behavior of societies/groups/masses
• Administration/management: includes:
a) Finances focus on the business assets.
b) Marketing focus on the 4 P’s (product, price, promotion)
c) Production(processes to produce the product)
operations (management of different operations)
d) Human Resources: personnel (management) HR Human Factor
Human Capital. in charge of recruitment and selection, coaching,
compensation, industrial safety, conflict management, training and
development, hiring, labor relations, labor law, testing, performance
evaluation, termination processes.
• Economics: the study of how limited resources are distributed. Study of the
behavior of markets, money, exchange, stocks, finances, etc.
• Law: the study of legal regulations and production and use of law (s).
• Biology: the study of living creatures.
• Anthropology: study of man – humans.
• Engineering: study of the application of science/technology to develop
devices, machines, to improve human’s life.
• Human factors/ergonomics: the matching of man- “machine” systems.
Contributes to O.D.

Characteristics of organizational development

• It has to be comprehensive (very complete, complicated and deep) because
it includes all the organization or most of it.
• It is an ongoing, long-term process.
• It usually comes from the “top” (directors, managers).
• It has to involve everybody in the company. (top down approach “efecto
CASCADA”) the bottom up approach las ideas vienen de abajo y suben
(“efecto BURBUJA”).
• It implies a change in order to improve the whole organization.

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Everybody could get involved. • Impose very high responsibilities on
• It is an effective method to increase or people who cannot hold them.
improve: • expensive.
productivity • time-consuming.
work motivation • Stress may go up
work satisfaction
org. climate
• It allows for interdisciplinary (one)
 just one by one. Marketing, economic,
law, finances. multidisciplinary (all
contribute).

Historical Aspects of Organizational Development.

• Scientific administration or Taylorism: Taylor was an engineer that put
administration in a scientific framework (marco de referencia). He based his
studies on Darwinism or evolutionary biology. Therefore, he proposed:
a) The strongest and best adapted will survive.
b) The weaker organisms are destined to disappear.
c) Keeping these weaker individuals in the organization is very expensive.
Criticism of this school.
1. It is a reductionist theory.
2. It is not easy to determine for certain how weak or strong an individual is
3. It tends to consider individuals as production objects.
4.

• Human Relations Model: Elton Mayo He conducted some studies to observe

how changes in environmental conditions affected productivity.
His hypothesis was: if environmental conditions are improved, productivity
increases. However, this hypothesis did not work.
Elton Mayo explained this by saying people (workers) believe that since they
are being observed they are important to the observer.
This was generalized by what we call the “Hawthorn effect”. This effect
proposes that the moment an individual is being observed, his/her behavior
changes.
Besides the Hawthorn effect or as a consequence of it we can say that
individuals tend to work better, when they are taken into consideration, when
they are important to the authorities (or their representatives) in the
organization.
HR School of Thought is based on humanitarianism/humanism. The
basic tenet (idea-propuesta) of this is “humans are rational, capable of
developing and good by nature”. Humanism appeared as a protest to the
currents of psychoanalysis and behaviorism.
A humanism quote: “each individual is highly variable and complex due to
genetic composition and family, social and work experiences and becomes
even more variable and complex in interaction with other unique individuals”.
(Wren, 1979, p.348)
Ginzberg (1958) produced what we call a “human capital theory of
economics” by using ideas from economics and psychology to try to explain
how human being contribute to productivity.
 The 2 main exponent of humanism are:
Rogers Maslow

1. client centered Self actualization:

therapy to become the best
2. student centered you can become.
classes
3. he believed that Esteem
humans are Aprroval, recognition
willing to develop
continuously so
that they can Love needs Belonging,
Safety
affiliation, needs
acceptance by others
reach what we Home-dressing, absence of danger
call self-
realization
4. he also believe
Love needs
that all men
Belonging, affiliation, acceptance by others
thrive on (fight
for) progress) Physiological needs
Safety needs
Home-dressing, absence of danger
Breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping

Tenets of these theories:

♣ this is a sequential scale. That means, one cannot jump levels. The previous
ones have to be completed before initiating a new one. It is an epigenetic
scale.
♣ The last level is accomplished by very few individuals. These subject are
usually well advanced in their lives (they are senior citizens).
Criticisms on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.
Positive Negative
 It is one of the most complete  Can this be proven in all cultures?
models of motivation.  We can move to another even though we
 research has resulted. It has been a haven’t finished with all the previous ones.
seminal model.  The last step is very difficult to describe (to
 It can be applied in many fields. operationalize). It is a very slippery concept.
 include biological motivation, and  Is not representative of all humans.
psychological (social) motivators

Herzberg’s two Factor Theory

The 2 factors are: hygiene and motivators.
 Hygiene factors: Motivators:
a) Tools and materials to work with a) Recognition
b) Salary b) Bonuses, prizes
c) Place to work c) Promotions
d) A given time d) Creating an atmosphere of
e) Security safety belonging
e) Training and development
Barriga llena corazón content
Hygiene factors motivators
Alderfer’s ERG Theory of Motivation
ERG- a unit of energy (in the cgs system of units) cgs: centimeter, gram, second

E – Existence – physiological needs and part of safety needs

R – Relatedness – socio-psychological needs (safety needs, affiliation, estteem)
G – Growth – some of esteem needs and self actualization

Mc Gregor’s X and Y Theories

Theory X (negative) leaders assume Theory Y (positive) leaders assume that people:
that people: o Work is a natural activity.
o genuine distance for work. o Selfcontrol if they are committed
o work is unpleasant. o Free will to perform, to achieve if goals are
o closely supervised. valuable.
o avoid responsibility. o Share imagination and creativity to
o Have little ambition. management
o Free to perform

Reflections on X & Y theories:

A. They seem to go to the extremes. There is not a middle point. Probably
humans are not in the extremes but seem to move in the middle area
between the 2.
B. Theory Y individuals seem mucho more motivated to work, this probably
helps them reach their goals.
C. X employees need to be forced to work, while Y workers do not need to be
forced and this allows them to be more creative. This leads to a virtuous
cycle/circle and they become more motivated to work.
D. Each of these theories can be applied depending on:
a) The organization
b) The individual
c) The groups the individuals form
E. The 2 theories are too centered on the “subordinates”, but nothing is said
about leadership styles.

Houle (1961) and Knowles (1972) focused on assumptions about the learning
process and the learners themselves.
There are 3 basic assumptions for learning:
• People love learning itself
• People desire social relationship
• People have also a desire for practical information to solve immediate
problems.
 Methodological perspectives of OD

1) Laboratory training: this perspective was created by authors such as Kurt

Lewin, Leland Bradford and Ronald Lippitt.
The most important work on this was done in Britain at the National
Training Laboratories (NTL Institute for applied behavioral science). Here,
they created what we call T-groups.
Bradford, Gibb and Benn (1964) defined a T-group as: a relatively
unstructured group in which individuals participate as learners. The data for
learning are not outside these individuals or removed from their immediate
experience within the T-group.

Advantages Disadvantages
• Roles are defined as people • Some people are better at
work, for example, leaders star team work than others. This
appearing may put obstacles hinder the
• Knowledge, by definition, is progress of the group.
shared. • It is very difficult to implement
• Sometimes there are enriching with immature workers.
diversity. Eg. People with
different backgrounds and
training.

T-groups are rarely used originally defined. Yet, they gave rise to what we
call team-building. Here, there is an emphasis on group dynamics and how
they can be used to really transpose knowledge from the outside world onto
the team.

2) Survey research and feedback: or Survey guided development.

Rensis Likert worked on this from 1950’s to 1970’s. Parenthetically he is the

inventor of Likert scale. He found that most managers survey but did not
implement any intervention. Employees became frustrated. Likert
recommended the following: use feedback in a series on 10 conferences. 10
conferences allowed for communication of results and feedback starting from
top management and finishing at the lower levels.
This technique is called the interlocking conference’s, he also found 8
characteristics that had an impact on the type of organization:
☆ Leadership
☆ Motivation
☆ Intervation
☆ Decision making
☆ Goal setting
☆ Control
☆ Communication
☆ Performance
From these, he arrived at the following classification:

Likert’s 4 types of organizations & their characteristics.

 System I System II
Exploitative authoritarian. Benevolent - Authorative.
I. Dogmatic leadership I. Parental approach to
II. Manipulative use of rewards management.
III. Top-down communication II. Intrinsic rewards but are based
on extrinsic motivators
System III System IV
Consultative. Participative.
I. listen to employees, but I. Leadership based on influence.
reserves the right to take the II. Uses mostly intrinsic rewards.
final decision. III. Two way communication.

3) Tavistock’s sociotchnical systems:

Tavistock’s is a clinic and research center based on psychologic knowledge.

There was work on this that followed these points:

 Research was done with a group of workers.
 New equipment was installed.
 Production decreased even though the workers knew how to use the equipment.
 Workers were not allowed to work in the teams they wanted to form. Thus, the workers
felt unmotivated.
 Further investigation showed that if workers were considered to choose who to work with
production increased.

From these 5 points, it was concluded that human beings tend to form productive systems by
combining social aspects (socio) plus machinery equipment (technical). This is why this is called
“socio-technical systems”.

Aligning the client’s and consultant’s values

Client.- the company/organization that needs OD interventions that is going to use the services of
the consultant.
Aligning of values is important because:
1. Understanding between them (the client and the consultant becomes easier)
2. Both of them navigate in the same direction.
3. Work is facilitated and can be faster and more effective.
When client and consultant do no share the same set of values, it is better not to work together.
The consultant can suggest another OD developer to the client.

Values and OD

1. Values of the organization they have to match

2. Values of the consultant they have to be similar

If this does not happen, the OD project is bound to fail because:

 1. It will be very difficult for them to work together.
2. There will be much conflict between them.
3. Probably, they will not trust each other.

Binder of OD
Layout
Contents
I. Introduction: general organization of the binder.
II. Theoretical framework of reference
III. Description of the organization (mission, vision, etc.) problem to be solved
(how I was diagnosed, extension, etc).
IV. Proposed solution or interventions
V. Conclusions (possible consequences, results / further suggestions for the
future)

Distinguishing features of OD

1) An emphasis, although not exclusively, on group and organizational

processes.
2) An emphasis on work team as the key unit for learning more effective ways
of organizational behavior. A team is formed that works for the same goal.
3) An emphasis on the collaborative management of work-team culture.
4) An emphasis on the management of the culture of the total system.
5) Attention to the management of system ramifications.
6) The use of action research. (real life / real problems in real organizations).
7) The use of a behavioral-scientist change agent, sometimes referred to as a
facilitator or catalyst.
8) A view of the change effort as an ongoing (continuous) process.
9) A comprehensive process. (complex)
10) A long term process.

Question for exam

How do you differentiate OD interventions from others?
Is apply to almost everyone in the organization, is a long term process, team in
charge of the work, uses action research as a tool.

OD has a behavioral science base.

a) It is based on any of the 4 schools of psychology:
I. Psychoanalysis.
II. Cognitive behavioral perspective systemic approach
III. Humanism
IV. Biological perspective
b) Examples of behavioral sciences used in OD:
Psychology, sociology, psychiatry. These are the ones directly or indirectly
deriving from Ψ
Anthropology, administration, etc. Not necessarily coming from Ψ but
interested in behavior.

Systems theory, cybernetics and OD

 1. Cybernetics: study of communication, control and feedback in systems
(biological, engineering, administrative, etc.) Norbert Wiener was the creator
of cybernetics.
2. Systems theory: basically, there are 2 types of systems.
• Closed systems: formed by a series of elements and communication,
control and feedback but it does not allow intervention from the
outside.
Besides nothing can come in and nothing can come out from the
system. ARE IDEALIZATIONS

Ex. Manager and a consultant exchanging information without letting

anything come or anything leave.
Ex.2 an idealized cell, which processes everything (materials and
energy) without interacting with the environment (nothing comes in
and nothing goes out).
Ex. 3 organization with no communication to the exterior NO SYSTEM
IN REAL LIFE IS CLOSED. However there is a slight problem. No system
in real life is closed. Therefore the idealization of a closed system is
only a model. As we know, models are simplified versions reality. This
simplicity makes them more manageable than reality.
• Open systems: this is formed by a series of elements and
communication, control and feedback. However, now there can be
interaction with the outside.

Ex. 1 managers and consultants info going out and getting in.
Ex. 4 organization with communication with communication with the
exterior (info+materials +people can go out or get in). as a conclusion
we can say that these 2 types of models are useful to study an
organization. What perspective/model are we going to use? Probably,
at the beginning a closed system to facilitate our work. Afterwards,
when we are more acquainted with the organization and its
environment an open system approach can be more useful.

A special technique of OD delegation of authority.

Mean dischoring responsabilities on workers they assume parts of repsonsability

that originally belong to the boss.

Problems:
• autocratic leaders find it very difficult (keaders are not ready)
• Workers are not ready: lack of skills, inmaturity to assume
responsibility, not motivated to do it, bad experiences in the past.
Solutions:
• Training may help n some cases, not everybody can change attitudes.
• Training, wait, explain importance, empower employees.

Empowering: implies delegation responsibility and at the same time giving the
worker to power to take decisions. It a worker makes a bad decision, assume
responsibility for the actions.
Action research: this is the tool where problems are observed diagnosed and
possible solutions are opffered in a real life setting. The basic idea is to detect the
problem in a given org.

6 square model of diagnosis in OD.

1- Purposes of the diagnosis.

2- Structure, the division of the work into steps to more it clean.
3- Rewards, incentives to do the necessary work
4- Helpful mechanisms, technologies, procedures to help us do the job.
5- Management, of people and conflict among then.
6- Leader of project is a critical actor in the diagnosis project.
7- Environment, the events, factors that happen outside the org. and have an
impact.