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Cases and Exercises in Organization Development & Change

Edited by: Donald L. Anderson
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Publication year: 2012
Online pub date: December 19, 2014
Discipline: Business & Management
Subject: Organization Design , Organization Development , Organizational Psychology
DOI: https:// doi. org/10.4135/9781483387444
Keywords: consultancy , interviews , overtime , staff , supervisors , team management , teams Show all Show less
Print ISBN: 9781412987738
Online ISBN: 9781483387444
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This comprehensive collection of cases and exercises allows students to practice organization development (OD) skills at the same time as learning about theories of organizational change and human behavior. The first part of the book presents cases about the OD process, and the second part includes cases in organization-wide, team, and individual interventions. The final part provides practical exercises that make the course material come alive through realistic scenarios that organizational change practitioners regularly experience.

This book can be used as a stand-alone text or as an accompaniment to Donald L. Anderson's textbook Organization Development: The Process of Leading Organizational Change, Second Edition (ISBN 978-1-4129-8774-5).

Front Matter

Introduction

Part I: Cases in the Organization Development Process

Case 1: Contracting for Success: Scoping Large Organizational Change Efforts
Case 2: The Discipline Dilemma in Rainbow High School
Case 3: A Case of Wine: Assessing the Organizational Culture at Resolute Winery
Case 4: Utilizing Exploratory Qualitative Data Collection in Small Organizations: Consulting for the Multicultural Community Connections
Case 5: Identifying the Scope of Work at Dixie Weaving, Inc.
Case 6: A Manufacturing Crisis in Bayrischer Silicon Products
Case 7: The Ivory Tower Opens Up
Case 8: Engineering Culture Change with Strategic Initiatives
Case 9: Organization Culture—Diagnosis and Feedback
Case 10: Engaging Broader Leaders in the Strategic Planning of Lincoln Women's Services
Case 11: Resistance to Change: Technology Implementation in the Public Sector
Case 12: Resistance to Change: Assessing Readiness for the Implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System at MedDev, Inc.
Case 13: Where Do We Begin? Selecting an Intervention at the Springfield County Office of Economic Development
Case 14: To Change without Appearing to Change: Creating Stability in a Multichange/Multiresolution Government Agency
Case 15: When a Contract Is Not Enough
Case 16: Measuring Organizational Effectiveness in the Nonprofit Sector: The Case of the Community Action Network
Case 17: Not in Watertight Compartments: Service Quality Improvement and Organization Development

Part II: Cases in Organization Development Interventions

Case 18: Global Chain of Command: A Japanese Multinational Manufacturer in the United States
Case 19: Safe Passage: An NGO in Guatemala City Responds to a Leadership Crisis
Case 20: The Case of Jim: A Vice President in a National Nonprofit Association
Case 21: A Small World After All
Case 22: Accounting Team Problems at Acme Manufacturing
Case 23: Who's Making the Decisions at Livingston University?
Case 24: Greencycle Publishing
Case 25: When a Team Breaks in Two
Case 26: Diggins/Reinholdt Plastics, Inc.: A Study in Resistance to Change in the Aftermath of a Merger
Case 27: Whole Organizational Design Intervention
Case 28: The Change Story of Yellow Auto Company
Case 29: We Must Learn to Innovate! Culture Change (and Shock) in a Consumer Packaged Goods Company
Case 30: Sticker Shock in an Organization That Will Not Stick Together

Part III: Exercises in Organization Development and Change

Exercise 1: Contracting with a Client
Exercise 2: Organization Development Practitioner Skills
Exercise 3: Data Gathering
Exercise 4: Giving Feedback
Exercise 5: Resistance to Change
Exercise 6: Resistance to Change Scale
Exercise 7: Cynicism About Organizational Change
Exercise 8: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Exercise 9: Coaching and Individual Instruments
Exercise 10: Team Values
Exercise 11: Team Diagnosis and Intervention
Exercise 12: Team Facilitation
Exercise 13: Identifying and Changing Organizational Culture
Exercise 14: Perceived Organizational Innovativeness Scale
Exercise 15: Designing and Redesigning Organizations

Back Matter

About the Editor
About the Contributors

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Organizational development (OD) interventions: examples & best practices

In the world of organizational development, change is a constant process of discovery, analysis and action. An effective OD intervention can be one of the best mechanisms for creating impactful change and helping improve organizational efficiency.

The right OD intervention can help ensure you're solving the right problems, achieve your desired change velocity and also navigate any resistance. In this guide, we'll explore the different types of organization development interventions available to org dev teams and give you practical advice for implementing them along the way.

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What are Organizational Development (OD) interventions?

Organizational Development (OD) interventions refer to a systematic and planned series of actions or activities designed to improve the overall effectiveness, health, and performance of an organization.

To simplify, an OD intervention is a process that is actioned in response to a need for change. You might radically redesign your organizational structure because of inefficiencies in how your org works together and achieves your goals.

If you identify a significant ongoing issue in how your organization operates, innovates or grows, this is often a trigger point for an OD intervention.

For example, if you struggle to find and retain the right talent, your HR and hiring teams might use an OD intervention to identify issues with job description or design, DEI initiatives or onboarding and employee happiness.

OD interventions are typically large in scale and are designed to have a major impact on key areas of how your organization operates. They require the coordination and efforts of multiple departments and the input of senior leadership in order to take effect.

OD interventions follow a process of identifying and exploring the problem, diagnosing the issue further and then carefully developing a strategy that considers people, processes and other organizational factors.

After crafting a solution in the form of a proposed intervention, then comes the challenge of actually enacting that change and then evaluating the impact of the solution.

In the above example, your org dev team would work with affected teams to understand the situation and build an action plan that may radically change the organization.

Perhaps you discover job design is an issue or that there is a communication gap between your SMT and the rest of the company that has left your employees feeling unheard and unvalued. Finding a solution that adequately addresses organizational challenges requires a thorough exploration and analysis of the problem at hand and the people affected.

While conducting an OD intervention can be a little overwhelming, with the right process you can improve organizational performance, take care of your people and create lasting change.

What are the 4 types of organizational development (OD) interventions?

Organizational development interventions can take various forms, and they are typically categorized into different types based on their focus and objectives. Some common types of organizational development interventions include:

Human process interventions:

Human process interventions focus on improving group dynamics within the organization and how teams work together. Group interventions are common here, and change managers working in this area will likely run workshops and facilitate team building interventions with a desire to improve dynamics and interpersonal relationships on the team.

Techno-structural interventions:

OD interventions in this bracket typically focus on improving team productivity and performance by leveraging new technology and by considering how an organization is structured. Typical actions can include deploying new tools to streamline team workflows, automating processes or shifting organizational structures in order to maximise efficiency and reduce overhead.

Human resource management interventions:

Human resource management interventions typically focus on developing talent, creating employee training plans and otherwise working on how your organizations sources, nurtures and develops your people. Diversity interventions and wellness interventions also fall under this banner and as such, they’re typically implemented and coordinated by HR teams.

Strategic change interventions:

Organization development interventions related to strategy can be the among far reaching and impactful when it comes to improving an organization’s performance. This kind of change often aims to be transformational in nature and is often actioned when the long-term survival of the organization is at risk or there is a desire to radically alter how a company operates.

While other OD interventions exist, as Cummings and Worley noted in their book, Organization Development and Change 9th Edition , most interventions fall under the four types of OD interventions outlined in this guide.

That said, this list is not exhaustive nor are these OD interventions mutually exclusive. The actions your organization will take to create meaningful change will likely feature elements of various intervention types.

When considering what changes and interventions might be most effective, try not to be pigeon-holed into just one type of OD intervention or restrict yourself to set organizational strategies.

Think about the desired end state of your OD initiative and conduct a thorough root-cause analysis to select the most appropriate intervention(s). After implementation, evaluate the efficacy of your actions and be open to using other types of intervention in your ongoing quest to improve organizational efficiency.

Human Process Interventions

The original, best known and most regularly deployed OD intervention are those which focus on human processes. These kinds of interventions aim to improve interpersonal, group and organizational dynamics.

Facing challenges with team culture, communication or conflict resolution between teams and individuals? OD teams will often run interventions in the form of soft skills training , team building programs and improving relationships between different departments.

These can be low effort, such as running a weekly games session for employees to deepen bonds and get to know each other better. They can also include long term programs for conflict resolution and soft skills training, culture committees or mentoring and coaching opportunities for your team.

I recall an early career moment where there was friction between sales and support. Both teams felt misunderstood by the other and were regularly coming into conflict. Not only did this affect team morale, but it also contributed to a decline in our CSAT score AND missed sales targets.

By helping the team understand one another more deeply and creating a clear, collaborative process of handling high ticket customers and sharing information, the issue gradually improved.

Examples of human process interventions

Individual interventions.

Interventions on the individual level can have a massive impact on not only a single person’s happiness or job satisfaction but on how the system operates as a whole. Individual interventions often take the form of one-to-one interactions designed to improve how a single employee relates to their work, their team and themselves. Common interventions at this level can include one-to-one mentoring, individual growth plans, buddy systems and work shadowing programs.

Managers or HR teams might work with specific individuals to help resolve conflicts, build skills or better integrate them into the team. Regular one-to-ones can inform this process, but an individual intervention is often called for when a problem is discovered.

A common trigger point for such an intervention is during an employee feedback process. For example, if a manager has received a lot of feedback from their team that suggests they aren’t managing well, they may get coaching from a senior leader to help them improve their leadership skills.

Team forming interventions

Group dynamics are an important aspect of how a team functions. Team forming interventions are focused on helping improve those dynamics, creating alignment and helping groups get to know each other more deeply in a safe environment. Interventions designed to help accelerate team cohesion and bring groups together are some of the most common you’ll run, and it’s likely you’re doing some of them already.

Common trigger points for such an intervention can include when a new team is formed, discovering problems with how a team works together or wanting to reassert team values and shared bonds. Team building events, participatory workshops and any shared activities that create opportunities for connection and trust are all common interventions in this area.

Workshops are among the most powerful formats for team forming interventions . When first bringing a team together, you might run a team canvas workshop to help a group align on their values, explore team dynamics and decide how they want to work together.

Alternatively, you might conduct a skills workshop where your team gets to ideate and learn something new as a group. In any case, be sure to support your process with the right workshop tools in order to create engagement and get results.

Purposeful team building activities are another key human process intervention. Simply spending time playing games, having fun or sharing our stories can have a powerful effect on team dynamics. The important thing is providing an opportunity for people to get to know each other more deeply, create bonds and grow together.

Intergroup interventions

When two different departments in your organization are finding it difficult to work together, an intergroup intervention is a great step. Mapping how the two teams would like to collaborate and deepening understanding of the challenges and specifics of each group’s work can help smooth things out and improve efficiency too.

In the sales/support example above, a combination of team building and process design was key to the intergroup intervention we undertook. Only by coming together and talking about the problems while also getting to know each other as individuals were we able to move forward.

For companies with few opportunities for inter-departmental work, simply bringing employees together for a team building activity so they can understand one another better is a powerful step towards change.

Tips for human process interventions

One size doesn’t fit all.

Whenever you’re working with people, it’s important to note that everyone is different and what works with one team or individual may not work for another . I recall an occasion where a company-wide team building activity (casino and club night) chosen by upper management was chosen without asking the team how they felt.

While some folks loved it, many people felt uncomfortable or were disengaged. The desired goal of improved team connections wasn’t met and instead, the group ended up feeling more fractured. Especially in the case of intergroup relations interventions, remember to include people from both groups and think about their varying needs!

Choose your intervention with the individual or group affected in mind and where possible, directly include them in the process. For example, an individual development plan should absolutely factor in how the person in question learns best and the unique context of the situation. Processes and systems are good, but don’t forget that the best outcomes arise out of solutions that have those people affected at heart.

It’s an ongoing process

One common mistake I’ve seen with organizations deploying change is to assume a single intervention will solve a problem forever. Human processes are all about relationships between people and teams. Like any relationship, these need nurturing over time.

While a single team building event can recharge the tanks and help cement bonds, without care and consistent attention, that hard work can be for nothing.

For example, let’s say you run a company values workshop to help create alignment on the future of the organization and improve company culture. Your team comes together to choose core values and everyone feels good at the end of the session. Then, 6 months later, you ask your team what your values are and nobody can remember what they are. Without follow-up actions and a process of keeping those values alive and present, the desired change in culture has been ineffective.

While most organizational development interventions are ongoing in nature, human processes can prove to be especially liquid and require extra attention from people throughout the system.

People are complex! Be sure to create systems to check-in on progress, continue the good work of an intervention afterwards and reinforce the change you wish to create.

Repetition is a key element of these processes so think not about running a single company event, but how to ensure you continuously build on your company culture.

Empower your managers

While large-scale interventions benefit from research, analysis and oversight provided by a change manager, some changes can benefit from speed.

At the human process level, line managers are often the first to see issues and spot opportunities for change. So why not give them the tools and permission to try and create positive changes for their teams?

For example, let’s say that a team member comes to you feeling overwhelmed and stressed because they’re having difficulty finding childcare. In the long-term, a company policy around childcare would be great, but that doesn’t solve the immediate issue for the team members affected.

At a human process level, proactivity and timeliness can make all the difference. Ensure your company policies and organizational culture support managers in making timely, responsible and effective interventions on behalf of their team.

As with any change process, be sure to log and track changes and reflect on the impact. In addition to alleviating difficulties for individuals and teams, smaller, fast-moving intervention techniques can provide important insights for company-wide initiatives.

Feedback loops are vital

Human systems are dynamic and ever-changing. Without feedback loops, it’s possible for issues or opportunities within those systems to go unnoticed. For some interventions such as coaching or mentoring programs, feedback is an implicit part of the process.

For others, change managers will need to create a process for gathering feedback in order to monitor, evaluate and improve OD interventions with the input of all stakeholders. Whatever system you use, it’s also vital that feedback goes both ways. Running a train the trainer course and giving your trainees feedback on their progress is important, but you should also get feedback about the program from trainees, managers and any other stakeholders.

When it comes to human systems, you’ll also find it most effective to have a system for gathering feedback well in advance of any intervention. Try to make giving and receiving feedback a consistent process for your teams and use tools to support the process where possible.

Techno-Structural Interventions:

Techno-structural interventions aim to better align an organization’s structure, technology and processes with its goals and objectives. OD interventions in this area can be among the most far reaching for any org dev team and they’re often deployed when change feels paramount for a company’s survival or for maintaining a competitive edge.

Low growth, a rapidly changing market or key areas of a business underperforming? These can be triggers for a techno-structural intervention.

Tasks such as organizational restructuring, process redesign, job enrichment or even downsizing fall under this umbrella. Other common interventions for OD teams include implementing new tools and technologies to improve efficiency, streamline workflows and future proof the company.

In techno-structural interventions, there is often an emphasis on continuous process improvement. Switching to Agile or lean methodologies or embracing total quality management processes like Six Sigma, as made famous by their use at Ford Motor Company , are common tasks.

As large-scale processes that can include changing business direction or radically repositioning your product, these interventions can be a challenge to implement.

Without a change management plan, change can be slow, meet resistance or simply not catch on. Be sure to leverage the skills and expertise of change managers and senior leadership when conducting these kinds of interventions.

Examples of techno-structural interventions

Organizational restructuring.

Restructuring an organization means rethinking how some or all of your workforce is structured and operates . Who reports to who? Which departments fall under which manager and who is responsible for making decisions that affect different areas of the business?

Common triggers for an organizational restructure include a need for greater revenue or reduced costs, a desire to refocus or change company goals or a move into a new market.

Creating innovative new products or services or simply working to resolve issues with workload, resource management or siloing are also common interventions that require a technological or structural approach.

For example, in a small startup, it’s not uncommon for all of your developers and designers to sit under the same branch in your org chart with a single founding developer as their manager.

For a while, this works and then as you grow, you start seeing bottlenecks in your dev process, and there are too many direct reports for your founding developer to handle while also trying to innovate and place your product in the market.

At this stage, an organizational restructure will be necessary in order to ensure efficiency, avoid burnout and also ensure you have the right skillset present among your dev team.

Rapid growth or reduction in your team size is another trigger for a restructure. Sometimes, this might mean a single department may split or combine with others.

On other occasions, it’s necessary for organizations to completely rethink how the hierarchy of their teams works – for example, switching from a functional org structure, where each department reports to a department head, to a matrix structure, where cross functional teams are put together on a project by project basis.

Business process reengineering

BPR is a process of radically redesigning how your organization works. It’s a comprehensive model of analyzing, redesigning and optimizing your organizational processes in order to improve business performance.

This is particularly valuable for organizations who need to see significant change in order to remain competitive or where redundancies and inefficiencies in processes are creating massive costs or an inability to meet goals.

Organizations implementing a BPR intervention typically begin by mapping all current business processes and analyzing them for opportunities, gaps and issues. After validating ideas for improvement, the organization will design an ideal future state and begin moving towards it.

By definition, BPR is wide ranging in nature, and team’s working with this kind of intervention should not feel constrained with their suggestions. Removing redundant processes or implementing a new helpdesk to improve the efficiency of your customer support team might be enough to save costs, but what if you fixed the root cause of your largest customer issues or invested in self-serve support?

If your team is finding themselves coming up against the same problems even after a solution or quick-fix has been implemented, you may need to go further. That’s the perfect time for a more thorough and radical appraisal and solution process such as BPR.

Work design interventions

Work design interventions are used when an organization wishes to improve the content or organization of the work and responsibilities falling upon individual employees or departments.

The way our work is designed affects how we feel about our job our ourselves. The tasks, working hours or contact points associated with our role can have a massive impact on our overall motivation, engagement and stress.

We all want our teams to be happy and productive, and a work design intervention can cover everything from redesigning job roles and individual tasks, to finding ways to automate or improve processes that impact job satisfaction or productivity.

For example, let’s say that individuals on a team feel stressed because they have a large workload and don’t feel supported in achieving their goals. OD interventions might include redesigning job sepcs, allocating more resources, creating reward and recognition schemes or even improving autonomy and self management.

Deep understanding of the problem is key when considering work design interventions. Be sure to conduct interviews, run a focus group and implement a continuous feedback system so you can see problems emerge and understand whether team’s need more support, job control, enrichment, development opportunties or something else entirely.

Tips for running a techno-structural intervention

Document your current processes. .

While the ideal state is that your processes are well documented in advance of problems arising, it’s not uncommon for there to be gaps in your documentation when you get around to thinking about interventions. In fact, it’s entirely possible that one of the first steps of the problem analysis and diagnosis stage will be to document any missing processes.

Before you start implementing a new process, be sure to take time to understand how your organization operates now. Try to map your processes from end-to-end and be sure to capture all the actors involved in the system. Redesigning a sales process without thinking about how it might impact your support team is a surefire way of causing new problems.

When documenting, be sure to involve stakeholders from across the organization so you can gain an accurate, in-depth picture of your processes. Not going deep enough or speaking to the people who actually enact or work with a process is another pitfall you can avoid by simply speaking to the right people.

Moving forward, aim for each team to document your processes as a matter of habit and ongoing improvement. Not only will it help any changes be smoother should you need to make them but it can help surface issues and opportunities more quickly.

Use a proven framework and do your research

Changing the structure or processes or a large organization is a difficult undertaking but you are not the first person to encounter this challenge. Lean on proven frameworks and the work of other thinkers, experts and organizations.

At SessionLab, we transitioned to an EOS framework to help us nail down our strategy, create a new org chart and organize our work . We found that the structure, advice and existing knowledge around EOS allowed us to make better decisions, transition faster and focus on implementation, rather than trying to come up with an entirely new solution.

No two organizations are the same but there’s something to learn from how others have changed for the better. Try looking at how successful organizations at a similar maturity or size to your own operate or better yet, look at those that have solved some of the challenges you’re facing. Join a masterclass or community – the ongoing support and insight of peers can also be invaluable in actioning change.

Run workshops to surface insights quickly and collaboratively

When thinking about introducing new processes it’s imperative that you first explore and diagnose a problem correctly . When it comes to how teams and departments operate, it’s not uncommon for hidden variables or unspoken actions within the system to be at the heart of your issues. So how do you bring them out into the open and encourage openness from your team?

Speaking to major stakeholders and business people across the org is vital, but it’s often not enough to just send out an email asking for input.

Workshops are some of the most powerful intervention techniques available to change managers and org dev teams. Ideating on possible solutions collaboratively is often a more effective way to truly discover the root cause of issues and create solutions that account for the people who will be most affected by the process you are changing.

SessionLab is an effective tool for designing and delivering the workshops that you’ll use to support your OD intervention process. Invite stakeholders to co-create your agenda in real-time and involve them in the change process. Save time designing your key workshops and ensure your process is efficient with SessionLab.

Human Resource Management (HRM) Interventions

HRM interventions concentrate on developing and managing human resources within the organization. Examples include improving hiring processes, creating and reinforcing diversity, improving performance management processes and building opportunities for career development. People are one of the most important parts of how an organization functions and HRM interventions are designed to directly impact the people working in your company.

As the name would suggest, these kinds of interventions are often deployed by or in conjunction with HR teams in response to difficulties with hiring or retaining staff, employee satisfaction or problems with performance.

Effective change tracking, strong feedback loops and good communication are essential elements of a successful HRM intervention. Programs and initiatives that form the backbone of human resource development – such as wellness or training programs – are ongoing in nature.

You’ll often find that such an intervention takes time to achieve its chosen goal and the strength of your research is a key element of success. Purposeful interventions that incorporate the direct input of your employees are more likely to be fit for purpose and create long-lasting change.

Examples of human resource management interventions

Employee wellness interventions.

Staff are reporting high levels of burnout and managers are noting that their direct reports are feeling overwhelmed or stressed. This is the perfect time for an employee wellness intervention.

While HR teams might also consider job design and other factors, these programs most commonly involve the creation of new opportunities and programs designed to alleviate issues and improve the health of your team.

Some common strategies include creating new employee benefits linked to health and wellness . Cycle-to-work schemes, free gym memberships and budgets to support employees in improving their own wellbeing can all have positive impacts on team wellness.

You might also provide opportunities for staff to access company healthcare and counselling. On the lighter side, creating a budget for healthy lunches and office snacks, giving opportunities to volunteer or exercise on company time can also have an immediate impact.

While the same is true for most interventions, employee wellness programs absolutely require the involvement of everyone on your team when choosing what to implement. A poorly designed or unfit for purpose intervention can quite easily have a negative impact on wellness.

Let’s say you create a scheme where everyone in the office gets a free healthy lunch. Great for your onsite team, but how about your hybrid and remote employees? If you don’t offer a similar benefit or take them into account, they could feel less valued and overall wellness could suffer.

Performance management interventions

Managing and hopefully improving the performance of your team over time is a necessity for any successful business. But what about if the problem you uncover issues with staff performance or a lack of process for tracking and improving the performance of your team? Time for a performance management intervention.

For some organizations, such an intervention might include actually setting up a performance management system and ensuring that every member of staff is given frequent feedback and opportunities to improve. For others, this might mean enabling managers with better tools and processes or creating reward programmes to encourage higher performance.

Coaching, mentoring and the unblocking of other issues that might impact employee performance are also key tasks that can be part of a performance management intervention.

A key part of a successful performance management intervention is truly understanding the root cause of an issue. Underperforming staff may face issues with job design, internal or external pressures or may not have even been given feedback or an opportunity to improve before.

Try not to jump into the deep-end with punitive measures unless you’ve already taken a more holistic approach that gives staff the feedback, tools and opportunities they need to develop.

Talent development interventions

As a company grows and roles change, it’s not uncommon to discover that your team has skill gaps that need to be filled. You might find that a changing market means that key competencies need to be updated or supported with new training. Or you might discover that people are unhappy with the pace of their career development and are leaving the company as a result.

Talent development interventions are all about managing and developing your team so they’re better positioned to do their jobs, grow in their careers and stick around.

Common talent development interventions include designing new training programs and coaching opportunities, personal growth plans and even reconsidering how you onboarding, compensate and promote members of your team. These kinds of interventions also extend to rethinking how your HR team goes about attracting and hiring new team members.

Any time you are struggling with team performance, remember that the solution is only as good as the analysis of the problem. Talk to team members at different levels and who have been with the company for different lengths of time.

Only once you’ve truly identified the root cause of the issue can you implement an intervention that will serve everyone on your team and prevent issues from occurring in the future.

Tips for running HRM interventions

Engage people throughout the organization .

Any intervention that directly affects your team should get some level of input from the people being affected. For some interventions, it’s absolutely paramount to source input and get feedback from your employees.

For example, a wellness program for your remote employees without the input of remote team members isn’t likely to serve their needs.

Underperforming sales team? Rather than making an assumption at a management level, talk to your sales reps and see what they think the issue is. Not only are these people more likely to be able to identify the root cause of a problem, but they’re also instrumental in actioning any given intervention.

Engaging people early in the process is helpful for getting buy-in and removing barriers to change. Don’t keep your change discussions entirely confined to management meetings and get input when you can, so long as it’s appropriate.

Support your process with data

Human-process interventions can sometimes be kickstarted by qualitative data : anecdotes about how people on the team are feeling or gut feelings from management about burnout or stress. While these kinds of comments and discussions are vital, it’s also important to back-up any change with data and processes to determine the viability and success of any initiative.

The gut feeling about a problem is likely onto something, but without data of some kind, it can be hard to be confident that your solution is the right one to support your wider business strategy.

For example, before making a large-sweeping change to working hours, maybe survey your team to find out if that works for them. Want to roll out your marketing training program to other teams? What data about team performance and employee satisfaction do you have that supports that decision?

Feeling like your hiring process is bringing in a large number of low quality interviewees and want to make a change? Check out industry standards, compare across job roles and back up your feelings with hard data wherever possible.

Start measuring employee KPIS before the need for an intervention

While some challenges are difficult to predict, HR teams are in a great position to pro-actively source input, monitor employee happiness and prepare for wider change.

If you’re already using a performance management system, it’s easy to start tracking how your team feels, see the efficacy of personal development plans and monitor things like onboarding efficacy and retention.

If you’re not, it really pays to start measuring employee sentiment and refining your feedback loops so that you have something to point to if the need for a HRM intervention arises.

Even something as simple as a monthly employee satisfaction survey can help your HR team see issues coming, track changes over time and also create an ongoing channel for surfacing opportunities for improvement.

Properly resource line managers

Managers across your organization are vital parts of making any HRM intervention a success. Whether they’re directly involved as a result of overhauling performance management processes or indirectly affected because of changes to flexible working hours or giving back schemes, your managers often have extra work or overhead created by HRM interventions.

Don’t underestimate the impact and ripple effects of even the smallest interventions. Line managers are often the frontline in actioning change or hearing misgivings from employees. They can often be those people who pick up slack within the system.

Be sure to take this additional workload into account and create extra resources and support processes for line managers . Consult them before any changes are rolled out, involve them in the process as much as needed and think about how to make it easier for them to implement and support processes when engaging with their teams.

Strategic Change Interventions

While other organizational development interventions can operate on the individual to small group level, strategic change interventions are more far-reaching in scope. These interventions are designed to analyze and radically redefine how an organization functions or what it hopes to achieve.

An organization might reconsider its vision or goals because of changes in the market or because the team has conflicting ideas about their shared missions or core values. Other times, the changes can come about because of issues preventing a company from meeting their goals, such as how a team is structured or how a culture of innovation is nurtured.

Interventions that impact core business strategies are usually undertaken when the survival or competitive edge of a business is at risk. Strategic change can be prompted by internal or external factors, but they’re very rarely taken lightly. The desire is for a massive improvement in how the company functions and the work required is often massive in scale too.

Done right, however, and companies who deploy these interventions can create incredible innovation, reverse falling revenue forecasts and radically improve employee happiness too.

Examples of strategic change interventions

Transformational change interventions.

Examples of interventions for transformational change include a top-to-bottom organizational redesign, perhaps in response to a changing environment, a major pivot or a desire to enact meaningful culture change.

Dangers to the long term viability of the business, major competition or market shifts can be a common trigger for a transformational change intervention. You can also find that analyzing challenges to employee retention can uncover an issue with company culture that only a massive change and restructure can improve.

Expect transformational changes to radically alter how a company operates, shifting the status quo and transforming the organization into something that is better positioned to achieve its goals.

Continuous change interventions

Continuous change interventions are designed to help an organization make minor improvements on an ongoing basis. Creating a culture of learning, developing an experimental, continuous growth model or creating space for innovation and cooperative structures are common actions taken here.

Trans-organzational change interventions

Trans-organizational change refers to interventions where two or more organizations are involved. Mergers and acquisitions fall under this umbrella though major business partnerships are also an example of a task that might require an OD intervention.

Tips for implementing strategic change interventions

Map your systems and organizational structure.

Before you decide where to take your organization, you’ll need a clear view of where you are right now. Activities such as Systems Mapping are a great first start for any intervention but they are especially valuable when considering large-scale strategic change.

Not only can you more accurately assess the scope of what you’re doing, but you can also draw out where changes need to take place.

Try creating a map of your organization with a process of systems mapping to better understand and enact your proposed change. These are workshops dedicated to drawing out (and actually drawing) all the stakeholders and other elements (such as suppliers, for example) that compose the wider system of which your company is a part.

Systems Mapping will help your teams look at the big picture and figure out best place to intervene.

Get outside help

Enacting or even deciding whether to undergo a major strategic change is a significant undertaking. Experience and expertise is invaluable in making a change process a success and when conducting major organizational change, a consultant or agency can make all the difference.

Receiving advice from someone who has enabled change for dozens of companies and has seen many processes from inception to completion is invaluable. They’ll help you ask the right questions, show you a proven framework for change and also help you navigate any roadblocks. Consultants are also adept at working around unintentional biases or assumptions that can form as a long-term employee.

If you want to improve your change velocity, feel confident in the changes you’re making and streamline the change management process, professional assistance is absolutely worth investigating.

Remember that big changes take time (and sometimes multiple interventions)

Strategic changes can involve upending how your company operates, thinks about its culture or how it positions itself in the market. While a single intervention might help you successfully restructure your team, it will take further work and careful management to help those teams thrive in the new environment.

Committing to large-scale organizational change means committing to a process that will take time, consistent effort and potentially further interventions along the way. Prepare your teams and managers for a long, ongoing process and be sure to check in along the way.

Shifting your target customer base for example, might require your sales and marketing teams to radically rethink how they source and talk to customers. While the eventual change might be great, don’t expect to see a complete upswing overnight. Be sure to take this into account when setting targets and when managing your people.

Set expectations accordingly and ensure there are feedback and support systems in place for your team while such large scale changes are in action. Run effective team meetings to keep track of what’s happening and ensure stakeholders can synchronise effectively.

More tips for a successful OD intervention

Organizational development is a complex process that can test even the most seasoned teams . The good news is that you’re not the first company undergoing a process of change and there are a heap of best practices and tips you can use to help you achieve your desired change.

We’ve included tips for each of the different types of OD intervention above, though we also wanted to share some additional OD best practices that should help, regardless of the kind of intervention you’re running.

Carefully assess the current state of the business

Designing and deploying the right OD intervention means gaining a thorough understanding of where your business is currently at. Not only will you need to determine what needs to change, but also gain an understanding of drivers and potential blockers to that change.

Failure to do this properly can result in slow or unsuccessful change. It can even lead to changes with unintended consequences or negative effects.

There are various tools for assessing the state of the business. A change management framework is one such tool, though you’ll likely synthesize everything from stakeholder input, current business performance, risk assessments and other situational analysis tools.

The key here is to ensure you deeply understand the system being changed in order to propose the right change and have the resources and environment to make it happen.

Find the root cause of your problem

Long lasting change comes from a deep understanding of the root cause of an issue. Facing challenges with high staff turnover and low morale? Bringing in free snacks and reducing working hours over the holidays might have a short-term impact on employee happiness, but it’s unlikely to truly solve the issue.

Whenever engaging in an organizational development process, be sure to go deep enough to truly understand the cause of an issue before enacting change. Don’t rely on assumptions and talk to your team, often multiple times while conducting a root cause analysis.

Review performance data and thoroughly analyze what you find. (Sometimes, it’s enough to just keep asking why!) If in doubt, run a problem solving workshop to truly surface what’s going on and create a safe space for uncovering issues.

Not spending enough time analyzing an issue is a potential pitffall for any organization seeking to improve. Without finding the root cause of organizational issues, it’s entirely possible to treat the symptoms rather than finding a cure. Avoid this by going deep, involving people across the organization, backing up ideas with data where possible and be ready to challenge your assumptions.

Fishbone Analysis #problem solving ##root cause analysis #decision making #online facilitation A process to help identify and understand the origins of problems, issues or observations.

Have a clear purpose and end-state

People are more likely to get behind change when they know exactly what it is they are working towards. The purpose of an intervention should be clear, focused and simple to explain. If you can’t easily explain why you’re making a change or it’s overly complex or unclear, chances are you’re trying to do too much or you don’t have a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve.

Clarity of purpose helps ensure that you are taking the right actions and that your change will be successful. Decision making gets easier when you have a clear purpose too. Does this support our purpose and will it help us achieve our goal? Yes: let’s do it. No: either we don’t do it or it could be the focus of a separate intervention or change initiative.

In addition to a clear purpose, it’s useful to have a desired end-state in mind when conducting any organizational development activities. What will the business look like when you’re done? How will you know your change has been a success?

Asking these questions helps you align and focus your actions while also giving you a means to evaluate the impact of your process. An exciting, aspirational end-state is also invaluable when it comes to getting support for your intervention and reducing possible resistance to change.

Align interventions with organizational goals

Successful change requires many moving parts across your organization to be working in tandem. Your organizational goals or mission are often the north star for anything your team does, including any development processes. Often, the simplest way to determine the right OD intervention is to ask whether it helps your organization better achieve its goals. If the answer is yes, then it’s a great candidate for action. Aligning your interventions with your greater goals can also help ensure that the team is able to get behind them and understand why the intervention is being run. For example, let’s say you’re an NGO whose mission is to help provide learning opportunities for disadvantaged folks.

Interventions that are aligned with that organizational goal, either helping your team reach more people with better tools or clearly improve your team’s ability to do their core tasks are much more likely to succeed than interventions that seem tangential or don’t support that core mission.

Work backwards from your ideal future state

A common facilitation technique for creating change is backcasting, or imagining an ideal future state and working backwards to decide how to achieve it. Often, the prospect of organizatioanl change can leave teams overwhelmed with how to achieve it or be unsure of how their actions might result in a desired change.

Working backwards can simplify the process, reducing noise and help crystallize your shared purpose. By thinking big, you can often find that the ideal steps towards change become more clearer.

An aspirational future state can also be an effective tool when getting stakeholder buy-in. A shared vision gives everyone a clear target and it’s easier to align various actions around an organizational goal they believe in.

Backcasting #define intentions #create #design #action Backcasting is a method for planning the actions necessary to reach desired future goals. This method is often applied in a workshop format with stakeholders participating. To be used when a future goal (even if it is vague) has been identified.

Communicate effectively

Resistance to change can often come as a result of poor communication or a lack of understanding about why a change is being implemented at all. How you talk about your OD intervention is an important part of ensuring that stakeholders and those affected get behind the initiative.

When rolling out your OD intervention, create a communication plan and be sure to highlight the purpose of the proposed change. For example, rolling out a personal development program without context can cause confusion or anxiety. Is this a genuine desire to improve career prospects and employee fulfilment, or is there an issue with my performance and is my job at risk?

Clearly communicate why and how you’re making changes, create documentation that is easy to access and create space for questions and answers too. By providing a clear vision and purpose for such a program, you can make it easier for everyone involved to get involved and help your change take root.

Be wary of analysis paralysis

Thorough analysis and careful planning is an integral part of leading an organizational change. But is it possible to do too much?

For some teams lacking in confidence or expertise, it’s possible they delay making changes or continue to analyze and weigh up options even when the path is clear. It’s a tough balance, but spending too long assessing when a case for change is clear can actually undermine the process or create barriers to change.

You can mitigate this potential by following a proven framework, having clear organizational timelines and by bringing in consultants to help increase the velocity of your process. In other cases, it’s a matter of using an 80/20 principle or using a bias for action methodology to make a decision and move forward.

If your company is just starting the process of organizational development, it’s natural to want to tread carefully. Just be certain that your process is efficient and that your team’s anxieties are aired and don’t get in the way of progress.

Get started!

In the case of small interventions or change processes, you can often adopt a more lightweight process and get started more quickly. You may not need to mobilize your entire change management team for a localized intervention. You might also find that you can gain confidence in a proposed change without performing a top-to-bottom situational analysis.

Change can only happen once a process is set in action and in some cases, it’s worthy to just get started, monitor the results and empower your teams to be proactive. This is different for every organization and while it’s common for small teams to be more agile, large organizations often have more red-tape, and with good reason.

Recognise the specific circumstances of your organization and review every OD intervention you perform to see how you can do better. If your changes are successful but your team feels like you spend too long assessing when things were clear early in the process, that makes a good case for trying to streamline your process.

Not every change needs a large intervention

In my experience, the thoroughness of the process directly correlates to the scale of the proposed change. Over-engineering small-scale change processes can create unnecessary friction or lead to frustrated team members. This can cause just as many problems as under-engineering a large scale intervention and developing a poor solution. In doubt about a small, low–risk change but don’t want to block an enthusiastic team mate? Call it an experiment and monitor the impact. Sometimes, you can learn more from just getting started, rather than adding it to a massive organizational to-do-list.

In any case, it’s worthy to explore how you can create continuous change by engaging your team proactively in the process. Teams are vital actors in any change process and by empowering them, you can often avoid future issues and ensure opportunities are taken where possible.

Leaders are integral

Without leadership support, organizational change can struggle to get traction. Everyone from senior leaders to line managers are instrumental in helping change be a success. This might include modelling changes yourself by attending skills workshops, volunteering or cycling to work in line with sustainability goals.

Often, leaders and line managers are also responsible for tracking employee sentiment, keeping change processes front-of-mind and helping employees adapt to change.

Without leadership backing, change can be slow or ineffective. Get them onboard early and give them the tools they need to brief and support their teams and they can help any change process be smooth and purposeful.

Leaders aren’t just important when helping enact change. During the early stages of an org dev process, leaders are often key stakeholders in research and analysis tasks. They’re well positioned to provide input, spot additional risks and see dependencies you might not.

Engage leaders throughout the organization as early as possible and keep them in-the-loop. Change doesn’t just come from your senior management team! Even the most well-designed OD interventions can fall down if logistics or team workloads don’t align with the process.

Acknowledge the additional workload of change and plan accordingly

Change is hard for most living things, humans included. Whatever the level of involvement in planning, enacting and evaluating organizational change, the process can create additional work or mental load for those affected. Acknowledge this and be proactive in order to support your team and remove potential barriers to change too.

This might look like simply reducing workload in other areas to create space for change, creating support structures or otherwise addressing the unique pain points that might come up in the process.

Sometimes, even an acknowledgement and group discussion about change can be sufficient to clear the air and give teams the opportunity to suggest ways to counterbalance any increased workload.

Use measurable metrics for success

Measuring the effects of change is an integral part of organizational development, but how can you ensure you are measuring the right metrics and have confidence that your change has been successful?

KPIs and data-based measurements are your friend here. Seeing a clear change in revenue, customer satisfaction or staff turnover in numbers can provide verifiable proof your change has been successful. That said, think about sourcing both qualitative and quantitative data where possible.

Staff might anecdotally report lower stress in a one-on-one meeting, but how are sick days trending since you implemented the change? Revenue might be up, but did your sales team bag an enormous contract that has skewed data?

It’s also important to decide on the metrics of success before you implement any change. You’ll want to use metrics that will be directly affected by what you’re doing and align your actions accordingly.

It’s also vital that you actually have the means to measure what you want to measure and ideally source existing data to serve as a point of comparison. If you’re conducting an employee wellness program to lower stress, see if you have previous surveys or performance metrics to serve as a baseline. Using a combination of leading and lagging indicators can also be helpful. For example, a leading indicator for the efficacy of your wellness program might be how many people take advantage of new services on a weekly basis. If more people take advantage of the services, you’d expect to see lower stress – great, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle.

A lagging indicator might be how many staff are reporting high stress levels in a monthly employee survey or even the productivity levels for a team or department. With a combination of these kinds of metrics, you can not only determine if your change has been successful, but also see where in the process you might make improvements.

Use tools to support your process

Successfully implementing an OD intervention strategy means organizing tasks, project managing the process and evaluating its impact. It’s a lot of work that can be streamlined by using the right tools.

Use change management software to optimize the end-to-end process of an intervention and improve the velocity of change you’re enacting.

It’s also worth recognising that various barriers to change can be mitigated by using efficient processes and bespoke tools. When committing to creating impactful organizational change, invest in tools that will help you achieve your goals faster and more efficiently.

With SessionLab, you can create stakeholder workshops and braining storming sessions in minutes. Drag and drop blocks to create your session. Invite collaborators to co-create your design in one-place and make changes with ease.

Developing a new learning program ? Create your ideal learning flow and invite your course managers and subject matter experts to collaborate in one-place.

Innovation experts and consultancies have found SessionLab to be a vital part of creating change for their clients. Get started for free and save time and effort in your session design process.

Evaluate & adjust

Once an intervention is complete, it’s time to evaluate. Using your carefully chosen success metrics in combination with stakeholder input, you’ll determine if you’ve achieved your goals and if not, how might you change or adjust your intervention to do so.

While it can be tempting to see a green KPI and call it a day, proper investigation of why you were successful can help ensure you can repeat that success in future. It can also help your org dev team improve their processes and fuel the next intervention too!

And how about if you feel the need to make changes in the middle of an intervention? However well you’ve designed and run a change process, it’s possible for something unexpected to occur or for additional elements to emerge. Be sure to have a system of checking-in on progress and adjusting where necessary.

Use your KPIs, talk to your team and create open channels for feedback . In some change processes, you might freely adjust throughout the process or you may want to complete the entire intervention before properly evaluating and making changes.

For example, if you’re running a series of soft skills workshops and discover that employees are struggling to engage, the workshop facilitator might take a different approach in order to fulfil the needs of the intervention and you might adjust the program as a result.

On the other hand, if you’re rolling out a new interview process with your HR team and they’ve had some feedback that it’s too long from a few participants. It might be too early to make changes when the success of the intervention is the quality of the final hire.

Whatever your process, thorough evaluation is necessary to first determine the success of your intervention and then enable your team to make the right adjustments. Ensure you have the means to collect data and input from your team in order to evaluate well early so that you aren’t picking up the pieces later!

Conclusion

OD interventions are a key tool for any company wanting to improve organizational performance, stay competitive and create meaningful change.

Whether it’s finding ways to improve employee development, implement new tools or radically restructure your team, we hope that this guide will help you take the first steps in creating your intervention strategy.

In my experience, while the distinctions between different types of group interventions are useful for understanding the role of organizational development and what tools might be available, they are not mutually exclusive.

For example, fixing a complex problem like low employee satisfaction may include a combination of human process, human resource management and other change strategies. As with any change process, the solutions used should respond to the specifics of the challenge and situation you face.

Your own OD intervention strategy will likely feature elements of various intervention types and in truth, OD interventions are most successful when tailored to the organization at hand and the problems they are facing. Looking for more resources? Discover how change management software can help facilitate successful OD interventions and improve organizational effectiveness.

Running workshops as part of your group interventions? Explore how to create engaging and impactful sessions in this workshop planning guide.

James Smart is Head of Content at SessionLab. He’s also a creative facilitator who has run workshops and designed courses for establishments like the National Centre for Writing, UK. He especially enjoys working with young people and empowering others in their creative practice.

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Case Studies

Food Co-op Engages Its Members

“There was no way to move forward until we could build consensus around a plan for the future of this organization,” said Paul Cultrera, general manager.

“Things were so bad,” said then board of directors member Peter Keat, “that we literally felt paralyzed as an organization.”

With tensions running high, Cultrera interviewed Eric Douglas of Leading Resources Inc. (LRI). Cultrera was impressed by Douglas’ track record for managing change and gaining consensus within large organizations. “I was looking for someone with really good communication skills,” Cultrera said. “Someone skilled at working with diverse constituencies.”

D2K: Establishing Trust as a Foundation for Long-term Growth

Together Douglas and Cultrera mapped out a five-stage process they called “Directions 2000” or “D2K.” The process was carefully crafted to engage as many member-owners as possible in a productive dialogue with management and each other. At each stage of the process, Douglas guided the participants toward an understanding of the complex business issues under consideration while improving their communication and problem-solving skills. Because the issues were complex, and emotions were running high around the issue of expansion, flexibility had to be at the heart of the process itself.

“Eric has experience working with large, fractured groups, so he was able to bring people together in a constructive manner,” Cultrera said. “As we got into the process and realized that changes needed to be made, he was flexible. He didn’t have a tremendous amount of ego tied up in his own process.”

Stage 1: Identifying Basic Values

“I sat through all 13 of these ‘listening’ sessions and hardly said a word,” Cultrera said. “Eric facilitated them tightly, to the extent that there was a program – but loosely, to the extent that people were able to express themselves very freely. It took me out of it, so there wasn’t this perception of the general manager pushing this thing where he wants it to go.”

Stage 2: Casting a Wider Net

Using input from the focus groups, LRI drafted a survey with 50 questions about values and visions and distributed it to all 7,000 Co-op member-owners. LRI’s analysis of the 1,645 returned surveys confirmed that pricing was most important to members. Member-owners were evenly divided on the question of whether to expand to additional locations. A third issue that came into focus from the survey was the 5% member-owner discount: Owners did not want to give it up, even if it meant they paid higher prices in the store.

Stage 3: Moving Beyond Conflict to Strategy

With the survey data in hand, a group of 25 people – comprised of 15 member-owners, seven members of the Board of Directors and three members of management – began working together as the D2K Planning Team under the guidance of LRI consultants.

Within a few weeks, the team had defined the purpose and values – what Douglas calls the “strategic foundation.” The team then faced the question of vision – and the deep conflict over whether or not the Co-op should expand to a second store.

As a first step, Douglas broke the drafting committee into two teams to generate deeper discussion. The resulting dialogue between the teams ultimately led to a draft vision that called for the Co-op to extend its services “to as many people as possible in the communities we serve.”

“This vision was based on a philosophy of inclusion,” said Keat who was a Planning Team member. “The Co-op offers something very special in the quality of its products, its support for local farmers, and its reliance on cooperative economic principles. Our vision was to share that.”

“We tested this vision again and again within the Planning Team,” Douglas said. As they grew more comfortable, team members used a combination of brainstorming exercises, management input and survey feedback to develop seven key goals to achieve the vision. LRI consultants carefully translated their decisions into a draft strategic plan.

Stage 4: Honoring the Process through Feedback

The resulting feedback was overwhelmingly positive. More than 95% of those responding said they supported the process. More than 90% said they supported the vision.

“Based on our previous experience, I thought we might get 55% in favor and 45% opposed. And then we’d be stuck where we were at the beginning,” Cultrera admitted.”Instead, we got a very high approval rating of each individual piece of the plan.”

Even more surprising: “Many of the member-owners who approved the plan had only been touched tangentially by the process – through taking the survey or reading about it in the Co-op’s newsletter,” Douglas said. “But because they had been touched, they supported the change.”

Stage 5: From Approval to Action

After unanimously voting to approve the plan, the Board handed it over to management to implement. “It makes my job as general manager a whole lot easier,” Cultrera said.

“Now, when we run into pockets of controversy or resistance, it’s very easy to say, ‘Well, thank you. I really appreciate your input. But we heard from a lot of people who said this is what they want us to do.’ I feel like when there are other issues we need to face on a nitty-gritty level, we can call that process up again.”

Roadmap to the Future: From Plan to Action

That opportunity was right around the corner. Fresh from the D2K victory, the Co-op again hired LRI to implement one of the plan’s key initiatives. This was the hot button issue of deciding whether to keep or modify the 5% member-owner discount.

True to the D2K process model, Douglas and Cultrera ensured a high level of member-owner involvement at every stage.

They convened a half-dozen “focus groups” to educate member-owners about the impacts of the discount. As with D2K, a Planning Team representing a broad spectrum of viewpoints was selected by LRI to explore alternatives and make a recommendation to the Board.

“At that point, we ran up against the fact that grocery store finance is not easy,” said Douglas. “Yet the team had to learn it in order to make a cogent decision.” For example, the Co-op marked up prices for most items beyond the normal operating markup to support the 5% member-owner discount. This meant higher prices throughout the store and placed the Co-op at a competitive disadvantage with other natural food store chains in the market.

“There were lots of questions and concerns,” said Barbara Mendenhall, Board president. “Eric finally broke us into small groups and asked us to answer three questions:

‘Is there a problem that needs to be fixed?’ ‘What would you propose as an alternative to the discount?’ and ‘What additional information do you need?’

All of the groups came back and said yes, there is a problem. It needs to be fixed. And here’s what we think the new benefits package should be. The amazing thing was – we all proposed the exact same solution!”

As team members became convinced of the wisdom of changing to the discount structure, some wanted to survey member-owners about the alternatives they were considering. “But a new survey would only confirm what the earlier survey told us,” Douglas said. “Without going through the education process, people would resist giving up the discount.” The team finally agreed to stage a series of forums that would bring member-owners from the Planning Team face to face with fellow member-owners still skeptical about making a change.

It was a critical part of the process that Mendenhall calls “transformative.”

“One planning team member really turned the group around just on the force of her own presentation,” Mendenhall said. “As she talked about what she and the group had gone through, you’d start to see heads nod. You could see she felt it from the heart.”

With positive feedback from member-owners, the Board approved changes to an end-of-the-year patronage refund that has worked well at a number of co-ops throughout the country, combined with special pricing programs such as monthly category specials. Some of the original benefits – such as a 10% discount on Owner Appreciation Days – remained in force.

Moving Ahead with Confidence

“We’ve learned that there are a variety of ways to involve members in decision-making, besides just sending everything out for a member vote,” said Mendenhall. “Communication and cooperative education are very important.”

Cultrera agrees. “Because we kept the lines of communication open with the ownership throughout this long process, we heard from people we had never heard from before. By the end of it, member-owners clearly honored the process, so they trusted the plan. It’s given the organization a tremendous amount of strength and ability to keep moving forward.”

The bottom line:

The Co-op’s annual sales increased to $17 million. Its employees had received an across-the-board pay increase reflecting the plan’s commitment to a quality workplace. Meanwhile, the Co-op had begun looking at new locations for a second store, this time with the clear support of its owners.

We hope you enjoyed this organizational development case study. To schedule an initial meeting with LRI, please contact us online or call 1-800-598-7662.

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Organizational Development Examples

Organizational development examples are a great way to understand the abstract field of organizational development.

The key principle of OD is that business organizations are complex social creations that impact society in unpredictable ways. In the factories and workhouses of the Industrial Revolution, managers did not take much thought to this complexity.

But in the twentieth century, things changed dramatically. Now, in the 2020s, organizations are more complicated than ever. Hierarchical relationships still matter. But employees expect a great deal from their employees – and ruling with authority is unpopular.

When deploying any kind of change management project, small or large, organizational development examples help to make things happen.

In this article, we will show you how while explaining the difference between organizational development and organizational change. We’ll briefly define organizational development, then offer key examples from the corporate world. Then, we’ll highlight the difference between organizational change and development. In 2023, we are at a moment in which many employees are frustrated at the pace of change in their organizations . Using the right interventions is crucial to change success. Pay attention to these organizational development examples, and you are far more likely to be on the right path.

What are organizational development examples all about?

In this article, the organizational development examples will be drawn from the specific field of organizational development.

Organizational development (OD) is a planned approach to improving an organization’s effectiveness through specific interventions. It is a multidisciplinary field aimed at enhancing organizational performance, employee well-being, and overall effectiveness.

At its core, organizational development aligns its culture, systems, and processes with the company’s strategic objectives, employee engagement, and culture. The practice of OD includes diagnosing organizational problems and challenges, designing interventions to address them, implementing change initiatives, and evaluating their impact.

So, organizational development examples can include

Case studies of successful change management
How to design an appropriate intervention
Organizational development interventions of any kind
Explanations of relevant KPIs for OD interventions.

We will cover some of these examples in this article.

Organizational development projects can include ongoing, long-term programs such as:

Employee training. Employee training is essential, especially in the digital business environment. Workers need to stay competent and productive. And, as lifelong learning becomes more of a reality, this means continual training initiatives.
Product research and development. The development of new services, products, and ideas can change the nature of a business. However, these programs often take years to come to fruition.
Cultural change campaigns. Culture matters – it affects an organization’s productivity, agility, performance, and many other things. Aligning culture with an organization’s mission is often a long-term, continual effort.

Now, let’s look at a few real-world organizational development examples:

Amazon’s recent initiative to retrain and upskill its employees. The online retail giant recently committed to spending $700 million on retraining its workers. This forward-thinking project will help its own employees stay resilient in the years to come. It will also help the business develop employee training programs that keep the company relevant, modern, and cutting-edge.
Google’s culture of learning. According to a former Google executive, a culture that emphasizes learning is important to long-term business growth. A culture of learning is essential for businesses that continually grow and transform, such as Google.
Starbucks’ environmental initiatives. The well-known coffee company introduced a variety of environmentally-friendly initiatives that include recycling, paper cup reduction, energy consumption, and so on. Naturally, these long-term changes will positively impact the environment. But they will also improve the company’s image and its bottom line.
Walmart’s long-term digital transformation programs. It’s no secret that Amazon and other online retailers have pressured Walmart to transform. The US retailer has responded by engaging in complex, long-term digital transformation efforts. These include a variety of digital adoption programs, the introduction of new customer services, and more.

Programs such as these may be called “organizational development” by some.

Others may refer to them as “ organizational change ” programs.

So which is correct?

Organizational Development and the Future of Change

There is definitely an overlap between organizational development and organizational change.

As we have seen, organizational development (OD) and organizational change are related concepts but differ in scope, focus, and approach. Short-term organizational change is just one part of long-term organizational development. So it makes sense that change projects can use corporate development examples.

We’ve explored some great examples of organizational development interventions from Amazon, Google, Starbucks, and Walmart. We’ve also shown how they are different from large-scale organizational change.

What does the future hold for the field of organizational development?

Recent developments like hybrid working, digital transformation, and economic uncertainty all mean that it’s essential to be extremely cautious with any change or intervention. An organizational culture of agile learning can help businesses of every size weather the storm.

Organizational Change Examples

While long-term organizational development projects may not be noticeable to outside observers, short-term change projects often are.

Here are some examples:

Mergers and acquisitions. When two businesses join forces, there are often drastic, overnight changes. These can include rebranding, restructuring, job displacement, rapid cultural changes, and more.
Rebranding. To stay modern and relevant, many businesses will engage in rebranding efforts. Typically, these changes occur quickly, through the introduction of new logos, new branding assets, a new brand image, and so on.
Digital adoption. A company that adopts new digital technology will often make a quick transition to a new set of tools. Digital adoption is becoming more and more common in today’s digitizing economy.

Changes such as these are often driven by the same causes as organizational development projects.

Such drivers of change can include:

Competitive pressure
Changing industry paradigms
Customer demand
Growth opportunities

Final Thoughts: “Change” vs. “Develop”

Should an organization engage in short-term disruptive change?

Or long-term development?

Many factors contribute to this decision, including:

The level of urgency
The business’s strategic imperatives
The marketplace
The nature of the required change

As we have seen, there is certainly overlap between “organizational development” and “organizational change.”

However, in today’s fast-paced economy, speed is an asset.

The faster an organization can initiate, implement, and complete changes, the better it will be able to adjust to the demands of today’s ever-changing economy.

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The path to a meaningful purpose, organization development 2.0 (od2.0): a case study.

CEO Boston Institute for Meaningful Purpose

February 27, 2018. Updated on April 11, 2018

Second Wave Organization Development or OD2.0 has been described in current literature ( Marrero 6 May 2016 ; Marrero 15 Feb. 2018 ). The OD2.0 brand stands on two legs: (1) people first and (2) designing solutions fit-to-context. Building on that foundation, this paper describes in greater detail the application of Meaningful Purpose Psychology (Logoteleology or Logotelogy) Organization Development approach (LODA) within the context of a fine dining restaurant chain in the United States of America. First, this paper briefly reviews four theories to Organization Development (OD) that are leveraged by the Logoteleology practitioner: Positive (Cameron, et al 2003), Meaning-Centered (Wong 2017), classical or Lewinian (Lewin 1975; Sites, et al 1989; Rothewell 1995); and Meaningful Purpose Psychology or Logoteleological (Marrero 2013). Second, each one of these approaches is a valid OD method. However, I explain how they can be blended and help meet different contextual realities using the STARS Model (Watkins 2003). Fitting method-to-context by combining two or more of these four approaches is a key signature of the Logoteleology OD Approach (LODA). (Marrero 27 July 2015; Marrero 23 Dec. 2015; Marrero 7 July 2016; Marrero 20 Jan. 2018;). I explain the difference between the LOD method and the LOD Approach (LODA). Third, the paper describes another key signature of LODA: the AVR Method© (Meaning: awareness, analysis, validation, re-decision, plus replacement and sustainment), and how the scheme was used and helped the client organization achieve its goals in a meaningful way. The outcomes of the consulting process highlight the positive value of the LODA approach, yet I encourage further empirical research to the method. While the LOD and LODA processes are discussed, this paper’s attention is on the Logoteleology Organization Development Approach (LODA). Finally, Second Wave Organization Development (OD 2.0) is synonymous with LODA.

Introduction

Of the many Organization Development (OD) methods and tools available, which is best? How can I best diagnose conditions and select a fitting process that will effectively solve the problem or maximize the opportunity? What tools can I confidently leverage to increase the odds that all stakeholders are well-served? What values should guide my improvement approach? Why, despite so many self-congratulatory consulting firms and a rich resource of tools and methods are there such dismal reports on the state of trust, engagement and happiness at work? While the field of Organization Development has not been able to tackle these problems at a macro-social level, it can still play a decisive role in improving conditions (Marrero 15 Feb. 2018). Many change management initiatives fail, or their positive effect is short-lived for two crucial reasons. First, they do not give equal priority and weight to competence-building and the practice of meaningful behaviors. Second, many change initiatives do not adapt method-to-context. I explain how a Logoteleology “people first” mindset and a method-to-context approach was successfully implemented in a restaurant setting.

LODA, as an emerging approach, has shown promising results in the OD field helping organizations strike the right balance between profitability and being humane. The Logoteleology OD approach follows a “People First” practice where an individual and collective effort are considered the driving engine to prosperity and growth. Success can be achieved through three unified venues. First, by building competence. Second, by practicing virtuous values. And third, by applying a method-to-context blend of classical, positive, meaning-centered, and logotelogical approaches to OD.

Four Organization Development Methods

Four Organization Development (OD) methods (Marrero 15 Feb. 2018) play a predominant role in improving organizational performance and quality of work life.

Classical or Lewinian approaches look at both social, psychological (i.e., social psychology) and technical aspects of situations. Pioneered in the United States of America by Kurt Lewin as a response to social injustice and in support of the diversity agenda, the method emphasizes planning, process, and inclusion. (Sites, et al. 1989; NTL Institute) Lewinian OD must not be confused with management consulting OD (Marrero 15 Feb. 2018). And while with different origins, the classical approach also includes the British Tavistock and the German Gestalt schools of OD.
Positive Psychology (PP ) defines success in terms of abundance and well-being and addresses a broad array of subjects on positivity such as the impact of virtuousness on performance, gratitude, and meaning in work (Cameron et al. 2003)
Meaning-Centered Approach (MCA) and its PURE Model highlights the centrality of meaning and purpose, embracing both positive and negative emotions and experiences, servant leadership, and responsible action for what is good and worthwhile (Wong 2017; Wong 2011).
Logotelogical OD (LOD) as a unique method leverages its identity model (Marrero February 8, 2014) and AVR Method© to study the meaning individuals, groups, organizations, and nations give to self, others, and situations to understand the motivation, actionable behavior, and consequence. Meanings can be meaningful or life-enhancing; or meaningless or life-depleting (Marrero 2013). In the LOD scheme, meanings precede and prompt behavior. Meanings provide the why , and purposeful action the what and how . Logoteleology’s meaningfulness is by default positive.

Distinguishing Between LOD and LODA

There are two OD Logoteleological approaches to improvement: pure and blended. The pure LOD, as its name implies, adheres to logoteleology tools and methods. A second consulting alternative combines two or more of the LOD, Classical, PP, and MCA OD approaches to fit method-to-context. This second more inclusive style I call the Logoteleology Organization Development Approach or LODA . LODA — as a blended approach where there is no “one-best-method” – follows the axiom that context dictates the best approach. Hence, the setting can dictate a leading role by either classical, positive, meaning-centered, and logotelogical OD. However, while any school of OD can play a prominent role, to meet the criteria of LODA, the blending includes the LOD way, regardless of context. To assess such context, I use Watkin’s STAR Model. The Boston Institute for Meaningful Purpose is the pioneer and hub of LODA or its synonym: OD 2.0 (Second Wave Organization Development).

Watkin’s STAR Model

The STAR Model (Watkins, 2003) can help assess the business context. The five states are Start-up, Sustaining Success, Realignment, Turnaround, and Shutdown/Divestiture.

Start-up entails building the infrastructure and culture with limited resources.
Sustaining Success requires expanding and holding on to gains.
Realignment is vital when there are deviations from expectations, and the team or organization must refocus meaning, purpose, and process.
Turnaround point to severe conditions that demand a reversal of current practices. The survival of players, departments, branches, divisions and even the corporation could be at stake.
Shutdown/Divestiture means that the Turnaround intervention was not successful. Steps must be taken to stop operations or divest unprofitable segments of the organization.

The STAR Model does not replace the typical classical consulting process steps: contract, gap and root cause analysis, design options and solution development, implementation, and impact assessment (Jordyn, 2017; Rothewell et al., 1995, p 50-1). Instead, the STAR Model complements the consulting process to determine the school of psychology most appropriate for the situation or context.

Matching OD Psychological Approaches to Context

Logoteleology Consultants are trained in all schools of OD and thus can select the most appropriate approach to context, as follows:

Start-up Phase : While any one of the schools can play a significant role, meaning-centered, logotelogical and positive approaches are most beneficial for this phase. They can play a leading role in creating a virtuous culture as the engine for profit and general prosperity. For instance, if a logotelogical approach is followed, members of the organization would answer questions such as “What meaningful impact will our organization have on all stakeholders?”
Sustaining Success : Is a phase that supports the start-up’s momentum by building strengths and meaningful values and finding ways to close competence and technical gaps. The selected approach from the start-up phase would continue to play a leading role in strengthening the culture for competitive advantage. However, it could be complemented by the classical approach to ensure the technical and commercial systems are performing and improving as expected. This sustaining phase is about building and managing growth. It answers the sample questions such as “What can we do to avoid becoming complacent?” And “What positive approach will we follow to manage realignments and avoid turnarounds?”
Realignment is required when the values of the organization are being tested, and financial metrics are not being met. These conditions fit the stage described by Bruce W. Tuckman (1965) [1] as “Storming,” though in realignment the “storm” is considered mild. The leading approaches would be those best fit to aid the organization to be true to meaningful values, leverage strengths, and build competence in weak areas as the engine to solve technical, process and commercial issues. This stage is usually an early testing ground to a genuine commitment to values. It answers questions such as “What is it that we are not good at, that if we were, we would not be facing this problem?” Followed by, “What strengths and meaningful values will we muster to improve?” And “What must we be good at to avoid the turnaround stage?”
Turnaround conditions are a severe type of “storming.” As a rule, because survival depends on sound financial results, turnarounds require a leading role by the classical approach. The goal is to stop loss and to enhance customer loyalty to products and services through people-centered values. Given many years of experience in the field, the Logoteleology practitioner follows the axiom that financial underperformance starts with and is the outcome of human underperformance. Such underperformance happens when LOD’s “People First” rule is violated. The negative business conditions are, as a rule, the result of lack of competence and misaligned values (e.g., lack of trust and transparency). This gap erodes the organization’s capacity to discern and respond to deviations and trends. While classical OD should play a leading role for this phase, any of the other remaining approaches could play a supportive and complementary role, particularly instilling a positive “can do” attitude on members of the organization.

A meaningful approach would prevent the organization from wasting time playing the blame game (Berne 2004). Instead, team members are coached to focus and follow meaningful values and behaviors to improve conditions. This phase is a test of character and values where virtuosity and profitability can either be opposing or balanced weights on a values scale.

Shutdown/Divestiture happens when the turnaround fails. Because lives are affected by closures and divestitures (e.g., investors, customers, employees, and suppliers) I recommend the leading role of LOD, MCA and positive OD approaches, supported by the classical method. Following values that help affected parties transition whole and humanely should play a prominent role.

[1] The stages are forming, storming, norming, and performing. Others have added “outperforming and adjourning” to these stages of group and organizational development.

Certified and licensed logotelogists, whether coaches, consultants, counselors or therapists, use the AVR Method © to help clients in their improvement journey. AVR stands for meaning awareness, analysis, validation, re-decision, replacement; reintegration, reinforcement and sustainment.

Meaning Awareness entails bringing to one’s attention what is not known, perceived and understood. (Marrero, December 2017)
Meaning Analysis involves helping the client understand the “so what” or the implications, impact, and consequence of the meaning given to self, others, and situations.
Meaning Validation tests the quality of the meaning given to self, others and situations. The MPP Golden Quality Standard is Meaningfulness . (Marrero, February 4, 2018)
Meaning Re-decision quizzes the client’s readiness to confront reality and commit to improving.
Meaning Replacement and Realignment is the phase where meaningless meanings are replaced, realigned, improved, enhanced and finetuned with meaningful options. Here complementary skills are identified, learned, and practiced in a safe setting.
applying new patterns for relating with others
practicing skills to gain access to one’s and others’ meanings
constructing with stakeholders a mutually meaningful compatible reality.
Meaning Reinforcement and Sustainmen t is the improvement phase where success is celebrated, reinforced, and hence sustained.

Let’s now see how the LODA consultant makes a meaningful difference through a case study of a fine dining restaurant chain . I will place in brackets the phases of the AVR Method© to demonstrate progress.

Case Study: Client Restaurateur

In the year 2005, an upscale restaurant chain was experiencing increasing costs in some of its restaurants. Top leadership asked the consultant to discover the cause of the cost deviation and to recommend improvements.

After a few days reviewing financial statements and interviewing staff through the value chain, the consultant found that sommeliers and front-of-house managers were ordering expensive wines and displaying them in large wine racks to entice guests (Meaning Awareness phase). However, the restaurants were not generating the desired demand from patrons through the visual cue, hence, the reason for the low turnover and the high cost of wine inventory (Meaning Analysis phase).

Again, using the previously mentioned Watkins STAR Model, the consultant concluded from conditions that a realignment approach was the appropriate path to follow. In other words, minor adjustments could normalize cost. The methods used were a combination of classical, and what was at the time LOD’s emerging meaning-centered theoretical approach. (Meaning-centered methods are, by default, positive.) The consulting assignment required a classical way to make a diagnosis, explicitly approaching the problem from a quality and financial perspective. And while the business situation used classical tools, the human element was dealt with the stated emerging meaning-centered LOD approach.

The first recommendation dealt with the meaning given to key stakeholders, and to the situation (Meaning Awareness phase). The consultant proposed giving positive recognition to the sommeliers and front-of-house managers for showing initiative to experiment and to innovate; notably to improve the guest experience and for their desire to increase sales. In other words, the sommeliers and front-of-house managers were not to be reprimanded for attempting to do the right thing. While the business results were negative, the meaning-intention was positive. Consistent with Dr. William Edward Demin’s 14 Key Principles to quality, specifically the eight Key Principle, “Drive out fear,” (Deming, 1986) the meaning principle followed was: what is rewarded and punished influences purposeful action or behavior (Meaning Validation and Meaning Re-decision phases). In this case, the consultant gave management two options for how to handle the situation with restaurant staff: either legitimize the disclosure of errors as an opportunity to learn and to improve; or instead discourage organization members from revealing and solving problems because of fear of intimidation and reprisal (Meaning Analysis and Meaning Validation phases). Management supported the consultant’s recommendation to reward initiative. (Meaning Re-decision phase)

The second recommendation dealt with the commercial requirements. The goal was to engage all sommeliers and front-of-house managers to learn from failure and come up with solutions. The positive outcome of the exercise was to

• Explain and use the current financial state as the number to improve, and to describe how wine inventory impacted cost (In the work sessions the referent parties were not put-out.) • Improve the guest experience to attract new patrons and maintain existing ones. • Increase sales while keeping cost in line with expectations.

The consultant facilitated creative brainstorming sessions where participants exchanged best practices with one another and learned from corporate and external experts on how to achieve optimal results. Participants were able to create, innovate and pair alluring menus, to increase inventory turnover on targeted products, reduce cost, and to enhance restaurant staff and patron experience.

Solutions included: learning new problem-solving and decision-making skills, establishing new corporate standards, improving processes, and implementing innovative and creative solutions to increase wine sales while keeping costs down for widespread adoption (i.e., what to do and how to do it) (Meaning Replacement, Reintegration, and Sustainment phases). Qualitative and quantitative post-assessment results showed improvements in crucial areas such as staff morale, guest experience, and higher profitability in line with expectations. The improvement effort also created a pathway for employees to fulfill a meaningful purpose for themselves, the organization, and their patrons.

Conclusions

Considering depressing reports on the state of trust, engagement and happiness at all levels and in every continent on the planet (Marrero February 4, 2018) OD theorist and practitioners should assess why, despite a collection of approaches and methods, macro-level results show no sign of improvement. Causes for this depressing state have been published (Marrero 15 Feb. 2018). Second Wave Organization Development is an attempt to break out of the existing consulting and leadership paradigms, and to replace them with a meaningful “people first” approach. Building on previous papers on the topic of Second Wave Organization Development (Marrero May 1, 2016), I share here a typical OD2.0 or LODA approach to a restaurant chain in the United States of America. From the cache of methods and tools available to the consultant, two were blended to solve the restaurant chain’s problem: LOD and classical.

The critical competence takeaways from this case consist of knowing how to diagnose a business scenario using Watkin’s STAR Model, blending methods fit-to-context, and following LOD’s AVR Method© to remain in touch with reality as it is, and helping the client select meaningful (i.e., virtuous) alternatives to improve conditions — including a “people first” philosophy.

The four psychological schools as methods of intervention shared here are Classical, Positive. Meaning-Centered Approach, and Logotelogy. LODA aspiring consultants are encouraged to become versed in all these schools so that they can select the best approach to context.

In the high-end restaurant chain, two methods played a prominent role: classical and LOD. Since two methods were blended, the approach is considered a LODA.

The Watkin’s STAR Model helped the consultant define the context. After identifying the setting, the consultant selected the psychological approach best suitable to solve the problem. As discussed, the high-end restaurant chain’s context required a realignment-type approach. The blended classical and LOD were found to be fitting approaches to improve conditions.

Finally, the AVR Method© complemented the classical consulting process steps to ensure the restaurant chain moved forward from one phase to the next on a firm and confident footing. M eaning awareness revealed the commercial results that drew attention and led to the assignment of a consultant. The combined meaning awareness, analysis and validation exercise by the consultant revealed positive meaning-centered intentions by staff (i.e., increase sales), yet commercial incompetence on how to manage inventory. Restaurant operators were made aware of the negative financial statements, and state of the wine inventory ( meaning awareness ) as the cause ( meaning analysis ) of the fiscal deviation ( meaning validation ). Embraced by top management ( meaning re-decision and replacement ) the realignment approach followed (Watkins 2003) avoided penalizing restaurant operators for their positive intent to increase sales. Instead, following Demin’s principle to remove fear from the system, they were to be openly acknowledged by management for taking the initiative, followed by a commitment to build their skills to ensure their future success. Hence, management followed the proposed “people first” principle.

The case study represents one situation from many others where the LODA approach has demonstrated promising results. However, these promising results should be further tested with qualitative and quantitative rigor. For instance, researchers could test the proposition that method should fit the context. The AVR Method© too has shown promising results in coaching and OD consulting approaches. On the other hand, it still requires being studied with scientific rigor.

Finally, the OD 2.0 brand is established on two fundamental elements of Logoteleology psychology. First, giving priority to people by building competence and practicing virtuous leadership, and the second implementing solutions fit-to-context. Certified LOD and LODA consultants are versed on the theories and concepts and can demonstrate competence in their practice. Ultimate, the goal of the Logoteleology practitioner, is to create a path to a meaningful purpose that benefits all stakeholders.

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[1] The stages are forming, storming, norming, and performing. Others have added “outperforming and adjourning” to these stages of group and organizational development.

Organizational Development Case Study

Organization development case study: introduction, company profile, diagnostic methods, analysis and feedback methods, recommendations, od case study: conclusion, reference list.

For any organization to be successful in its field and progress to profitability, it is important that managers and employees in its leadership embrace organizational development. According to Cummings and Worley, “Organizational Development (OD) is a planned long-term effort led and supported through the top management to improve an organization’s ability in a bid to solve its own problems by continuously working together and managing the culture using behavioral skills” (2005, p. 1).

The paper uses the Tedtec Company Limited, which is a fictional organization. The company chosen for this case study is respected in the country of origin. It is among the pioneers of organizational development in the country. Tedtec Company Limited that is located in India has been in operation for the last 70 years dealing with machinery, engineering, production, and construction works.

According to the results of the performance index of India’s companies, Tedtec Company Limited “is also adjudged India’s best managed and most respected company on various attributes of customer delight and shareholder value” (Roy, 2006, p. 25). The case study on organizational development was based on this company because of its significant history in this field in India.

Tedtec Company Limited is among the most respected of India’s private sector companies that deal with technology, construction, engineering, and manufacturing. The company has been in existence for about seven decades with a strong international presence including offices in the China as well as her Gulf neighbors.

A wide marketing and distribution network and decades of strong customer focused approach has ensured that the company is the leader in its field. The company also “believes that progress must be achieved in harmony with environment” (Roy, 2006, p. 25). This claim has informed its commitment to protection of the environment and participation in community welfare.

Some of the achievements that the company has made include the record for having made the largest coal gasifier in India that it exports to China.

It is the largest FCC regenerator for a refinery, which is the longest coal conveyer in the world besides being Asia’s highest viaduct and the world’s largest EO reactor for a protochemical complex in the Gulf. The company also took part in the construction of India’s first nuclear powered submarine. It has won a number of local and international awards and recognitions.

The company is also one of the most profitable construction companies in the region with thousands of employees being employed directly or indirectly by the company. A policy of giving back to the society has ensured that the company establishes good relations with workers and the communities in which it is involved, with only the issue of pollution being the major challenge.

Tedtec Company Limited has however managed to remain viable and important within the manufacturing and construction sector even with the financial crisis experienced over the years in this part of the world and elsewhere in the world.

The methods used for diagnosis in this particular organization included interviews and questionnaires, which were addressed to the employees in the organization. Initially, the company had experienced faults in its existing appraisal system at some point in its history. This challenge necessitated a professional correction of the system.

The company elicited help from some of experts in this field with eminent professors being invited to carry out a study and assessment of the appraisal process in the company (Wilson, 2003, p. 13). Walter Jay and Engineer Schwartz Raymond were the professors that were consulted in the evaluation process for the company.

In their study of the appraisal process in the company, they began by interviewing departmental heads and their subordinates. To accomplish the interview, they used diagnosis or action research with the results being recorded and analyzed against a background of other results they had gotten elsewhere and against the existing case studies.

From the diagnostic methods used in the company, a number of feedbacks were obtained. In the analysis of information provided by the subordinates in the various departments, there was apparent communication breakdown in the administrative hierarchy with junior workers not getting information and feedback on their performance in the company.

This case was despite their expressed a desire to get the feedback, which was not forthcoming. Another interpretation of the results of the feedback included the fact that the managerial staff members were responsible for a large number of employees thus making an appraisal of their subordinates difficult.

However, one shortcoming was that the appraisal form used was too lengthy meaning that the number of employees participating was reduced due to time constraint.

The results of the feedback were presented by the two professors to the top management of the company for consideration and formulation of suggestions and recommendations on the possible solutions to the actual problem.

According to Cummings and Worley, an appraisal system is important in any organization as it helps the company’s employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses and the progress they are making in the job performance (2005, p. 15).

It also enables them to understand the options available for growth in the company. Cummings and Worley claim that the process should “address the issues of appraisal, potential, counseling, career development, and training all in one” (2005, p. 15).

SWOT analysis

As in the case of IKEA that was discussed as a case study, Tedtec Company Limited used SWOT analysis in the achievement of objectives and planning of its strategic achievements.

As discussed in the essay and in the literature on planning strategies in organizations, this form of analysis investigates the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that an organization establishes in its course of operations and development (Cummings, & Worley, 2005, p. 15).

According to Cummings and Worley, threats are external to an organization, and are outside the control of the company with the best examples being economic performance of the country, the levels of technology at the time, social changes, and the environmental conditions (2005, p. 24).

On the other hand, strengths and weaknesses are internal to an organization thus serving to counter the threats that are outside the organization’s control (Cummings, & Worley, 2005, p. 25).

As an opportunity, Tedtec Company Limited has over the years invested in manufacturing and construction industry. It boasts of creating a respected brand in India. The company has been in existence since 1938 when it started as a manufacturer of daily equipment.

Therefore, it has a well-established organizational culture and management policies that stand the test of time. The company also has vast investments in technology, investing heavily in the latest technology available in the industry. This opportunity has created a competitive edge over her competitors.

As strength, the organizational culture in the organization has been described as a goal-oriented one with the employees largely reporting career satisfaction when working with the company.

The company has invested in a number of international brands mainly in the region thus ensuring relevance and competitiveness in the industry. With diversification of its operations, the organization is now able to produce different products besides offering a range of services in the region.

A significant weakness that the organization has established in its operations is the pollution that has been created in the production method in the process of rectification following the ambitious investment in environmental conservation and social responsibility.

The company also faces a threat in operations in the form of the financial crisis that, as demonstrated in the last one, has the ability to paralyze its operations. The threat is however countered by the cautious financial investment in other market coupled with strict financial auditing and consultations.

OD intervention options and general risk and value scenarios

The assessment of risks in an organization is important as it enables the management to formulate the desired change and effect on it. This assessment is quite crucial for any company since it makes it aware and ready for any particular risk that it might incur.

Many companies have experienced an untimely closure following the occurrence of risks that it did not expect or rather risks that were not planned for in the event of their occurrence.

For Tedtec Company Limited, the specific interventions that were necessary included diversification of products and expansion into other markets to counter the decline in demand in the home country in a bid to create new opportunities to secure industrial relevance.

In the analysis of vales, one of the relevant values to the company is customer service. The company has established a number of methods of ensuring the customers are loyal to it. Customer loyalty is recognized as one of the factors leading to the success of many organizations and that the company is no exception (Cummings, & Worley, 2005, p. 25).

To guarantee exceptional customer service, organizations need to have an effective indicator in place (Cummings, & Worley, 2005, p. 21). For Tedtec Company Limited, customer loyalty rating is the key indicator. The organization has commissioned a number of surveys to find out the satisfaction of its clients on its products and services.

According to Cummings and Worley, this strategy is an effective way of doing it (2005, p. 21). The results have then been used to gauge performance and or inform decision-making.

The expected benefits include improved service provision and customer satisfaction as well as profitability. The company also utilizes feedback from clients especially complaints that are provided as feedback to change its operations.

Since Tedtec Company Limited carries out many civil projects that are funded by the Indian government and other governments, the quality of work is also evaluated by government contractors as well as other state agencies concerned with quality control (Cummings, & Worley, 2005, p. 25).

This ensures a subjective review of products and services provided thus ensuring that there is quality in the future projects. The strategy has enabled the company to win a number of tenders based on previous projects that were evaluated as being professionally carried out.

Evaluation methods

According to Cummings and Worley, post change evaluation in an organization is important since it presents the executives with a picture of the effects of the change (2005, p. 17) made by the change agent “in consultation with the management of the organization” (Wilson, 2003, p. 23). Wilson also states, “The evaluation sets initial agreed aims and objectives against the current, post-change situation” (2003, p. 23).

In the analysis made of Tedtec Company Limited, the attitude and satisfaction of workers as well as the financial outlook and performance ratings were made thus being some of the most common areas of evaluations in an organization development analysis.

The results of the evaluation were then presented to the management. The summary consisted of areas where the effected change was successful, recommendation for improvement, areas that were unsuccessful and not in line with the company objectives, areas that required constant monitoring, and the suggested rolling evaluation program.

For Tedtec Company Limited, the results showed success in areas of change such as improved organizational performance since the entry of the firm in to the international market.

The change in organizational culture, which was made mainly involving the diversification of the employee base, was also reported to influence the company in a positive manner with the employees reporting improved satisfaction from the working conditions.

The employees also reported a breakdown in communication and ineffective management mainly due to the large size of the personnel department, which was created by expansion. This exposition meant that the employees were getting inadequate attention from their bosses.

One of the recommendations is that the company should consider splitting or bifurcation of the personnel department in the company to ensure that fewer employees are under the supervision of managers in the various departments. It is said that the smaller the number of subordinates that each manager is responsible for, the better the output of the employees (Wilson, 2003, p. 21).

The company should also consider increasing the number of managerial staff especially those in the human resource department in an attempt to improve the contact between the administration and subordinates (Wilson, 2003, p. 18). Another recommendation is that the organization should monitor the human resource department and the marketing department to enhance customer loyalty.

In conclusion, organizational development is an important aspect in the success of companies. Organizations that wish to perform well have a well established organizational development plan that stipulates the issues that they need to do or rather the issues that they need to be aware of so that they remain not only in track but also ready for any unexpected emergency.

The paper has used the Tedtec Company Limited as a fictional company in an attempt to address this key issue of organizational development. Thus, its evaluation should be carried out in a formal manner. Tedtec Company Limited is considered to have made significant organizational changes since its inception. The changes have affected its operations in a number of ways.

An evaluation of its organizational development established a number of threats, weaknesses, and strengths, as well as the effects of the organizational change. These elements were then evaluated with recommendations and suggestions being made to the development specialists and business executives of the organization.

Cummings, T., & Worley, G. (2005). Organization development and change . Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western.

Roy, S. (2006-2005). Made in India: a study of emerging competitiveness . New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. Co.

Wilson, D. (2003). Promoting institutional & organizational development . London: Dept. for International Development.

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Cases and Exercises in Organization Development & Change

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This site is intended to enhance your use of C ases and Exercises in Organization Development & Change , Second Edition , by Donald L. Anderson. Please note that all the materials on this site are especially geared toward maximizing your understanding of the material.

Cases and Exercises in Organization Development & Change , Second Edition, encourages students to practice organization development (OD) skills in unison with learning about theories of organizational change and human behavior. The book includes a comprehensive collection of cases about the OD process and organization-wide, team, and individual interventions, including global OD, dialogic OD, and OD in virtual organizations. In addition to real-world cases, author Donald L. Anderson gives students practical and experiential exercises that make the course material come alive through realistic scenarios that managers and organizational change practitioners regularly experience.

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Cases and Exercises in Organization Development & Change

Front Matter

Part I: Cases in the Organization Development Process

Part II: Cases in Organization Development Interventions

Part III: Exercises in Organization Development and Change

Back Matter

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Organizational development (OD) interventions: examples & best practices

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What are Organizational Development (OD) interventions?

What are the 4 types of organizational development (OD) interventions?

Human Process Interventions

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Team forming interventions

Intergroup interventions

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It’s an ongoing process

Empower your managers

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Techno-Structural Interventions:

Examples of techno-structural interventions

Business process reengineering

Work design interventions

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Use a proven framework and do your research

Run workshops to surface insights quickly and collaboratively

Human Resource Management (HRM) Interventions

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Performance management interventions

Talent development interventions

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Support your process with data

Start measuring employee KPIS before the need for an intervention

Properly resource line managers

Strategic Change Interventions

Examples of strategic change interventions

Continuous change interventions

Trans-organzational change interventions

Tips for implementing strategic change interventions

Get outside help

Remember that big changes take time (and sometimes multiple interventions)

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Carefully assess the current state of the business

Find the root cause of your problem

Have a clear purpose and end-state

Align interventions with organizational goals

Work backwards from your ideal future state

Communicate effectively

Be wary of analysis paralysis

Get started!

Not every change needs a large intervention

Leaders are integral

Acknowledge the additional workload of change and plan accordingly

Use measurable metrics for success

Use tools to support your process

Evaluate & adjust

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