Organizational Development and Culture Flashcards
What is the difference between OD and learning-oriented strategies?
OD strategies target the organization as a whole system
Learning-oriented strategies tend to target individuals or groups within the system
What is the purpose of an OD strategy?
To increase organizational effectiveness
What are the 5 phases of an OD strategy?
- Entry
- Diagnosis (assessment)
- Feedback
- Solution
- Evaluation
What key activities take place during the “Entry” phase of an OD strategy?
- initial contact between consultant and client where they explore problem, opportunities, or situation
- output: engagement contract or project plan that establishes mutual expectations and preliminary agreement on project scope (e.g., time, money, resources)
What key activities take place during the “Diagnosis/Assessment” phase of an OD strategy?
- fact-finding phase
- collaborative data collection process b/w org stakeholders and consultant
- output: relevant info is gathered, analyzed, and reviewed
What key activities take place during the “Feedback” phase of an OD strategy?
- the return of analyzed info to client
- explore info for understanding, clarity, and accuracy
- re-review preliminary agreements about scope and resource requirements
- output: action plan that outlines the change solution, along with defined success indicators based on information and data analysis
What key activities take place during the “Solution” phase of an OD strategy?
- the design, development, and implementation of the solution or set of solutions
- Outputs: communications plan, role-and-responsibility matrix, training plan, training curriculum, implementation plan, risk management plan, evaluation plan, change management plan
What key activities take place during the “Evaluation” phase of an OD strategy?
- the continuous process of collecting formative and summative eval data to determine whether the solution is meeting intended goals and achieving success indicators
- Outputs: evaluation report with recommendations for continuous improvement
During which OD stage does the client begin to own the data?
During the Feedback stage
What are 4 possible objectives the solution is trying to meet in an OD strategy?
- correct a problem
- close a gap
- improve or enhance performance
- seize opportunity
Systems thinking (OD theory)
- the belief that the component parts of a system can best be understood by examining their relationships with one another and with other systems, rather than in isolation
- small changes to any part of a system affect the whole system, based on their level of interconnectedness
Open systems theory
- Open systems are characterized by input-throughput-output mechanisms
- Organizational structure affects the flow of information and interaction, both internally and with the external environment
Open systems planning involves:
- scanning the environment to determine the demands and expectations of external stakeholders
- developing scenarios of possible organizational futures
- developing action plans to ensure that a desirable future occurs
This kind of thinking is a requirement for creating learning organizations
Complexity theory
- defines an organization as a complex, adaptive system that needs to respond to the external and internal environment by remaining on the edge of chaos while also self-organizing and continuously reinventing itself
- the future is unknowable
- the ability to learn is absolutely critical to ongoing organizational effectiveness
- Application requires experimentation and innovation to develop new operations patterns
Chaos theory
- there are underlying patterns, constant feedback loops, repetition, and self-organization, even in the apparent randomness of chaotic, complex systems
- the butterfly effect describes how a small change in one state of a system can result in large differences in a later state, meaning there is sensitive dependence on initial conditions
Social network theory
- how people, organizations, or groups interact with others inside their network
- Networks comprise actors and the relationships between those actors, who are referred to as nodes and can be individuals, organizations, or companies
- Actors are always the smallest single unit inside a network.
Action resarch
- a term first coined by Kurt Lewin
- also known as participatory research
- learning by doing in the sense that a group of workers—or teams as part of a community of practice—identifies a problem, develops a resolution, implements the solution, and then analyzes the final results
- Transformative change occurs through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research, which is linked by critical reflection
Organizational development
an ongoing, systematic process of implementing positive and effective organizational changes.
