The Challenge and the Future for Organizations

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Chapter 16

• The Challenge and the Future for Organizations

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Learning Objectives (part 1 of 2)

• Understand basic issues in using OD as approach
  to planned change.
• Recognize ways of maintaining, internalizing, and
  stabilizing change program.

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Learning Objectives (part 2 of 2)

• Identify some of the future trends and problems
  facing the OD practitioner.
• Understand process of terminating
  practitioner-client relationship.

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Company of the Future (part 1 of 2)

• Company of the future will attract and retain
  talented employees by developing different kind
  of workplace.
• Powerful mission is magnet and motivator.
• Culture that values learning is key.

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Company of the Future (part 2 of 2)

• Core reality is old saying that a companys
  people are its most important asset.
• Collaboration essence of the organization.
• Create flexibility, resiliency, speed, and
  creativity.

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The Future Organization

• A constantly changing organization.
• An organization that is flexible and able to
  quickly change.
• Higher educational levels mean increase in
  motivational needs.
• Change is never ending.

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Monitor and Stabilize Action Programs

• Feedback.
• Stabilize the change.
• Evaluate the OD program results.

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Feedback of Information

• Information returned to participants.
• Commitment reinforced by feedback.
• Program effectiveness measured by degree problems
  corrected.

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Stabilization of Change

• Acceptance and adoption of change.
• Guard against fade out.
• Reinforcement necessary.
• Continue assessment of change during later
  periods.

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Evaluation of OD Programs(part 1 of 2)

• Evaluations important for 3 groups
• Key decision makers.
• OD participants.
• OD specialists.

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Evaluation of OD Programs(part 2 of 2)

• Three factors determine evaluation process
• Training of OD specialist.
• Cooperation of organization members.
• Willingness of decision makers to pay for
  evaluation.

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Termination of Practitioner-Client Relationship

• Termination of relationship final stage of OD.
• Relationship ends when practitioner or client
  believes little more can be accomplished.
• Disengagement will likely call for gradual
  reduction of practitioners help.

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Developing Self-Renewal Capacity

• Self-renewal means building innovation into
  organizations values.
• Self-renewing organization constantly able to
  innovate.

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Termination and Disengagement from Client System

• Client and practitioner agree on reduced
  involvement.
• Involvement does not drop to zero, but may
  continue at low level.
• The door always open for further work.

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Conditions Supporting ODs Success

• Organization under pressure to improve.
• Change begins at top of organization.
• Top management actively participates.
• New ideas developed at several levels.
• Innovation and experimentation used to develop
  solutions.

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OD in Practice War of Warehouse Stores (part 1
of 3)

• Costco and Sams Club warehouse stores both
  started in 1983.
• Some Analysts say Costco pays workers too much
  compared to competition such as Sams Club.
• But some analysts look at productivity figures
  and not just hourly wages.

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OD in Practice (part 2 of 3)

• Costco CEO Sinegal says, Paying your employees
  well is not only the right thing to do but it
  makes for good business.
• Business Week magazine ran the numbers on the two
  warehouse stores and found underlying results of
  2 strategies.

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OD in Practice (part 3 of 3)
Costco Sams Club
Average hourly wage 15.97 11.52
Covered by health plan 82 47
Labor and overhead costs 9.8 of sales 17 of sales
Sales per square foot 795 516
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Emerging Issues and Values

• OD is a growing, developing, and changing field
  of study.
• OD still in transition, which makes it difficult
  to define what is an OD intervention.

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Is OD Fad or Discipline?

• OD has over 40 years of background history.
• OD appears to be primary method for helping
  organizations adjust to change.
• Managers may use interventions as quick fixes.
• OD required even more as rate of change increases.

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Dilemmas for OD Practitioners

• Some question OD because ill-defined.
• Lack of evidence for some OD interventions.
• No accreditation program of OD practitioners.
• OD overemphasizes human interventions.
• Difficult for OD to deal with distrust, power,
  and conflict.

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Future Trends in OD

• Organization transformation (OT).
• Shared vision.
• Innovation.
• Trust.
• Empowerment.

• Learning organization.
• Reengineering.
• Core competencies.
• Organizational architecture.

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Macrosystem Trends in OD

• Impact of culture change.
• Total resource utilization.
• Centralization vs. decentralization.
• Conflict resolution.
• Interorganization collaboration.

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Interpersonal Trends in OD

• Merging line and staff functions.
• Resource linking.
• Integrating quality and productivity.
• Diversity.
• Networking.
• Rewarding.

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Individual Trends in OD

• Intrinsic worth.
• Change in individuals.
• Effects of thinking.
• Health and fitness.
• Interdependence.

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The Future of OD

• OD will deal with changing workforce, global
  competence, and transformation.
• OD is expanding and vital technology.
• Need for more studies on OD interventions.
• OD needs to deal effectively with external
  systems and power-coercive problems.

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Our Changing World No Job Is Safe - Never Will
Be (part 1 of 4)

• What you will be doing in future will constantly
  change.
• The career you are preparing for now will likely
  not be career you pursue for much of your life.

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Our Changing World (part 2 of 4)

• Career suggestions include
• Avoid jobs that can be broken down into
  repeatable steps.
• Search for jobs that require flexibility,
  problem-solving, creativity, and lifetime of
  learning.
• Work that relies on complex communication skills
  will probably not be outsourced.

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Our Changing World (part 3 of 4)

• Additional career suggestions
• Jobs that require frequent interactions with
  other people will flourish.
• Employees with good people skills and employees
  with multicultural teams will have advantage.
• Get a college education and then keep going to
  college.

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Our Changing World (part 4 of 4)

• Warren Bennis, OD practitioner, says
• No job is safe. Never will be. The half-life of
  any particular skill is, at most, five years. And
  thats on the long side. What will keep you
  alive? Be curious, be willing to learn, have a
  moral compass and know what gives your life
  meaning.

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Key Words and Concepts

• Feedback - required to determine whether to
  modify, continue, or discontinue activities.
• Individual trends - future trend of OD that
  focuses on personal level.

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• Interpersonal trends - future trend of OD that
  focuses on team and group dynamics.
• Macrosystem trends - future trend of OD that
  focuses on organizational system.
• Reconfigurable - an organization that is flexible
  and able to change.

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• Self-renewal - building innovation and commitment
  to change into organizations values.
• Stabilizing the changes - preventing
  deterioration of the change efforts and reverting
  to previous behaviors.