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Approaches to Organization Development

OD Processes

The Organization Development is a continuous process and being complicated it takes a long time to complete. It is very difficult to give a specific OD model which is applicable to the entire organization. OD has various approaches but a whole typical program may include the following steps.

a. Initial Diagnosis:
In the first step, the management should make an effort to find out an overall view of the situation to find the real problem. Top management should meet the consultant and the experts to determine the type of program that is needed. The consultants will, in the first instance, meet various persons in the organization and interview them to collect the needed information.

b. Data Collections:
Survey and interview methods are used to collect the data and information for determining organizational climate and identifying the behavioral problems.

c. Data feedback and confrontation:
Data collected are analyzed and reviewed by various work groups formed for the purpose, in order, to mediate in the areas of disagreement or confrontation of ideas or opinions and established priorities.

d. Selection and Design of Intervention:
The interventions are planned activities that are introduced into the system to accomplish desired changes and improvements. At this stage, suitable interventions are to be selected and designed. We shall be discussing the various interventions in another chapter.

e. Implementation of Intervention:
The Selected intervention should be implemented. Intervention may take the form of workshops, feedback of data to the participants, group discussions, written exercises, on- the – job activities, redesign of control system etc. They are to be implemented steadily as the process is not a ‘One- shot, quick cure’ for organizational malady. But it achieves real and lasting changes in the attitudes and behavior of employees.

f. Action planning and problem solving:
Data are used by the group to suggest specific recommendations for change. They discuss the problems, faced by the organization and sketch specific plans including who is responsible for problems, what is the solution, what action should b taken and at what time.

g. Team Building:
The consultant encourages the group to examine how thy work together. The consultant will educate them about the value of free communication and trust for effective group functioning.

h. Inter group development:
The consultants encourage the inter group meetings, interactions etc., after the formation of groups / teams.

i. Evaluation and Follow-up:
The organization evaluates the OD programmers, finds out their utility, and develops the programs, further correcting the deviations and/ or improved results.

Approaches to Organizational Effectiveness as a part of overall Organizational Development

To develop an organization in order to drive the full range of benefits by the organizational development, a student will have to study various approaches to the organizational effectiveness. The OE is a relative term and is conceptualized by different theorists of OCD differently. As such no unanimity is found in their approaches. The diverse approaches are not only judgment but open to questions also. The concept of OCE consists of the following.

• Organizational Productivity.
• Organizational Flexibility.
• Absence of organizational conflicts.

The OE is reflected in how the organization is equipped to move towards its goals and survive in the face of external and internal variability through creative adaptation strategy. We shall now discuss the various approaches to OE.

a. Goal Attainment Approach:

Organization are developed to achieve on or more goals. Goal attainment is one of the most widely used criteria of effectiveness. Profit maximization, high productivity, employees’ high morale, providing efficient service may be some examples of attainment criteria. This approach assumes that

• Organization must have ultimate goals.
• Goals must be identified and defined to be understood.
• Goals must be few enough to be manageable.
• There must be general agreement on these goals.
• Goals must be measurable.

However the managers should be able to identify and measure the goals, in order to assess the organizational effectiveness.

b. Systems Approach:

Sometimes the goal attainment approach may not be appropriate in view of the fact that there may be multiple goals which could be in conflict with each other. It may also so happen that the performance may be highly encouraging in regard to some goals, while there may be a dismal failure in regard to some other goals. Hence, we can never say that an organization is effective or ineffective in terms of its multiple goals. Therefore it may be necessary to look at OE through a system approach. Some scientist calls this approach as “input- throughput-output approach”. The behavioral scientist Bennies has listed the following criteria for explaining OE.

• Adaptability: The ability to solve problems and to react with flexibility to changing environment demands.

• A sense of identity: Knowledge and insight on the part of the organization of what it is, what its goals are, and what it is to do? How outsiders perceive the organizational goals.

• Capacity to Test Reality: The ability to search out accurately, to perceive clearly and interpret correctly, the real properties of the organizational environment, particularly those which have relevance to the functioning of the organization.

• Integration: it is integration among the sub parts of the total organizational, such that the parts are not working at cross purposes.

In fact, the systems approach focuses not so much on specific ends i.e., goals. The systems approach also suffers from two major limitations.

i. Problem of measurement:
There has not been any accurate and convincing criterion to measure the process variables in quantity or intensity. With this difficulty, the measures that may be used are open to question.

ii. Problems of means:
Another problem of systems approach is how much it is valid to attach significance to means to end for accessing OE. This is because once the ends are achieved, the means may not be important.

c. Strategic—constituencies Approach:

One closely related approach to systems approach is the above approach. This approach proposes that an effective organization is on that satisfies the demands of those constituencies in its environment from whom it requires support for its continued survival. This approach differs from the systems approach in the sense that it did not concern with all the organizational environments, but seeks to appease only those constituencies who can threaten the organizational survival. Some typical criteria of selected strategic constituencies are shown in the table below.

This approach is not without problems. The first problem is that there is no reliable technique to tap information accurately on what constituencies actually expected from the organization. The other problem is that task of separating one strategic constituency from the other. Given the fast changing business environment, what was strategic today to the organization till the other day may not be so today. The converse of the above may also hold true. However this approach cannot be totally rejected. Management will have to constantly monitor and modify its order of goals as necessary to satisfy the expectation of various strategic constituencies. The following table is given to enable the student to know that typical criteria of selected strategic constituencies.

Constituency		Typical of Criteria
Owners		Return on investment: growth in earnings.
Employees		Compensation: firing benefits; Satisfaction with working conditions.
Customers		Satisfaction with price, quality, service.
Suppliers		Satisfaction with payments; future sales potential.
Creditors		Ability to pay indebtedness. Competitive wages and benefits.
Unions		Satisfactory working conditions; Willingness to bargain fairly.
Local community officials		Involvement of organization’s members in local affairs, lack of damage to the community’s environment.
Government agencies		Compliance with laws; avoidance of penalties and reprimands.

d. Competing Values Approach:

OE assessed on the basis of one single criterion in terms of goals or systems or constituencies, as discussed in the preceding three approaches, does not give a comprehensive understanding of OE. Hence, there is a need to integrate all of key variables in the domain of organizational effectiveness. Such an integrative approach is offered by the Computing – values approach.

The basic theme underlying the competing- values approach is that the criteria you actually value and also use in assessing an organization’s effectiveness be it, for example, return on investment, or market share of your product, or new product development depend on who you are and the interest you represent in the organization . Different stakeholders such as stockholders, unions, suppliers, management, employees, or public represent different interests in the organizations. It should come as no surprise then to find that all above mentioned stake- holders look at the same organization but evaluate its effectiveness entirely. You can conveniently relate this fact by thinking about how you the students of MBA differently evaluate your teacher who teaches you Management Concepts and Organizational Behavior.

Theoretical foundations of Organizational Development

We are discussing the theoretical foundations of Organizational development which is basic to the entire range of studies in the field of organizational development and design. We are explaining only the basic theoretical ideas to give a simple insight into the study and it is for the students to understand this very clearly as these ideas will be applied to all the related study of organizational development.

OD as a planned change strategy draws heavily upon theoretical and the conceptual frameworks developed in the field of behavioral sciences for understanding human behavior at individual, inter personal, group and organizational levels. Bringing about change in the individual as also the structure, process and culture of the organization conducive to the release of human potential towards productive pursuits and consequent individual satisfaction has been major area of focus in behavioral sciences. The insight gained through research and experimentation in the dynamics of change at individual and organizational levels provide the foundations for the theory and practice of OD. Notable contributions, towards understanding this, from some eminent academicians are discussed below.

Process of Change

A path braking insight into the change process was provided by kurt Lewin who is credited with the development of group dynamics as a field of inquiring and action research model for planned change. Kurt lewin used forced field theory to explain the stability inherent in an organization at a given point of time. The change is conceived as modification of the forces that maintain steady state and kept the system’s behavior stable.

There is always, at any point of time a field of opposing forces, which can be determined by force field analysis and the point of equilibrium is that which is achieved at the end. Any organization will have two opposing forces as follows:

a. Driving or facilitating force --- factors that facilitate the movement of the organization towards the targets, goals and purposes.

b. Restraining forces or hindering forces—factors that prevent the organization from moving towards its goals and purposes.

These two forces when equal in strength cause a kind of semi stationary equilibrium. The change process is always affected by this stationary state. Change by definition would mean disturbing the status- quo in an organization crating an imbalance in the system, thanks to the above two opposing forces. Management of such a situation would imply:

a. Identification and analysis of facilitating and hindering forces:
These forces may be internal or external to the organization. High degree of employee engagement with requisite competencies would be an internal facilitating force, whereas a growing market for products and services offered by the organization would be an external facilitating force. Likewise, inability to full utilize IT--- enabled service by the organization would be an internal hindering factor, whereas a shrinking market due to increased competition would be an external hindering force. These forces need to be carefully analyzed in terms of their impact on the capacity of the organization to move towards higher levels of effectiveness.

b. Formulation of strategies:
Strategies and action plans for strengthening the facilitating forces and minimizing the impact of hindering forces are formulated to enable the organization achieve its higher goals and purposes.

Kurt Lewin’s three step change model

Whenever the organization is at a state of equilibrium due to the facilitating and hindering forces, any effort to change this status will involve the following three steps:

a. Unfreezing:
Organization members need to realize that the existing state is not conclusive to survival and sustained growth of themselves and the organization. The unfreezing process will enable people search for other options. They will be more prepared to accept the change.

b. Moving:
This step involves making interventions in the organization to develop new assumptions, beliefs, values and behavior demanded by the change objectives. It may also involve changing the structural forms and processes in the organization to support the change initiatives.

c. Refreezing:
Supporting mechanisms like teams, appraisal and reward systems, change in processes, cultures and other subsystems of the organization would and to be developed to reinforce the newly acquired attitudes and behaviors.

The three step model discussed above is broad enough to include different kinds of change efforts in different organizations. The model is equally applicable in attitudinal change efforts at an individual level. In organization development and the related training and development activities undertaken in a wide variety of fields, the application of this model remains implicit.

Edgar Schein has further elaborated Lewin’s model of change process by including sub processes in each step:

1. Unfreezing:

Involves creating motivation and readiness to change thought:

i. Disconfirmation or lack of confirmation
ii. Creation of guilt or anxiety and
iii. Provision of psychological safety

2. Changing through cognitive restructuring:

Helping the client to see, judge and feel things and react to thing based on a new point of view obtained through

i. Identifying with a new role model, mentor and
ii. Scanning the environment for new and relevant information

3. Refreezing:

Helping the client to integrate the new point of view into

i. The total personality and self-concept and
ii. Significant relationships

Building on kurt Lewin’s three-step change process, Ronald Lippitt, et. Al. have suggested a seven- phase model of the change process described below:

Phase 1: The development of need for change.
Phase 2: The establishment of a change relationship. In this phase, the OD consultant or external change agent establish a working relationship with the client organizations in need of help.
Phase 3: The clarifications or diagnosis of the client organization’s problem.
Phase 4: The examination of alternative routes and goals, establishing goals and intentions of action.
Phase 5: The transformation of intentions into actual change efforts.
Phase 6: Generalization and stabilization of change.
Phase 7: Achieving a terminal relationship.

The model discussed above provide useful insights into the change process, particularly the theory and practice of OD. Dynamics of organizational change, however, involves many more challenges which cannot be captured in a generalized model of change. As the students proceed further into deeper studies of OD, additional principles to tackle the change will automatically emerge.

Action Research Model

As stated in the preceding pages, OD as a planned change strategy relies heavily on action research model as an approach to initiating and managing change in organizations. Action research differs from traditional approach to consultancy as also other of research on the following counts:

1. It focuses on planned change as a cyclical process of problem diagnosis, action planning and valuation. The outcome of valuation leads to carrying out further problem diagnosis followed by subsequent actions.

2. Members of the target group such as, organization or community are involved in all stages of action research.

3. The consultant or OD practitioner works in close collaboration with organization members. Action research thus involves joint efforts of the consultant and the client in planning and implementation of change.

4. Data gathering, diagnosis, action planning, implementation and evaluation of results are carried out systematically on a continuous basis, by both consultant and client.

Contemporary Action Research

This approach is based on the premise that reality is socially constructed and therefor any change in reality can only be brought about by a redefinition of reality by the members of the organization or community. Greater and deeper involvement of people, therefor, is an essential pre requisite for effecting change through action research.

Transformational Change

Like all other fields of knowledge, OD theory and practice have also undergone significant changes to keep pace with the emerging reality. Certain changed concepts as detailed blow have been proposed as another model of OD change by warner Burk and George Litwin:

1. Transactional change: the transactional change is called the first order change and this includes evolutionary, adaptive, incremental or continuous change organization. In this the features change but not the fundamental nature of the organization.

2. Transformational change: the transformational change, on the other hand is, called the second order change and this involves revolutionary, radical or discontinuous change. In this the very nature of organization is substantially altered.

The two broad categories of changes will require different leadership modes. The transactional leaders are those who guide or motivate followers to achieve a goal by clarifying tasks and role requirements. The transformational managers inspire followers to transcend their interest for the good of the organization.

The Emerging Trends in OD

OD as a planned change strategy represents the traditional approach to revitalizing the organization through a proper alignment of its constituent parts. In the changed scenario, however, a more radical approach is needed to enable organization realign itself with the ever-changing environment on a continuing basis. The second type is often called Organization transformation (OT) representing ‘second generation’ OD.

Summary

Organisational change is an ongoing process and must be embedded in the organization and its interactive sub-systems. The challenge today is to crate change friendly organization responsive to discontinuous and unpredictable change in its environment.

Organisational development is a planned change strategy that aims at improving the internal capability of an organization to continuously seek to align the individual organization and the environment.

Organization development has strong roots in action research in which organization members identify, diagnose, choose appropriate intervention and evaluate the outcomes and their consequences. The target of change is the total system or identifiable subsystems.

Behavioral Health in Relation to Organizational Development

General Concept of health in the behavioral environment

In psychology, behavioral health, as a general concept, refers to the reciprocal relationship between human behavior, individually or socially, and the well-being of the body, mind, and spirit, whether the later are considered individually or as an integrated whole. The term is more commonly used to describe a field of scientific study, academic proficiency and clinical healthcare practice.

Organization development (OD) is discussed as being a valid tool for advancing mental health and for promoting the present goals of community mental health centers, as well as, for accomplishing organization development’s traditional objectives of increasing organizational effectiveness in business, industry, and government agencies. A comparison is made between the main objectives of the community mental health movement and the major thrusts of current OD practice, showing how the foci of the two fields are essentially similar. The psychological aspects of OD are presented in their relation to mental health. Organization development is demonstrated to be both a legitimate and an effective modality for the community mental health practitioner to use in reaching large numbers of people in promoting positive mental health, primary prevention, improved interpersonal relations, and personal growth activities in the community.

Managed behavioral health care in its most basic definition represents an approach that superimposed organizational structure, control measurement and accountability on the health care system to affect a balance in the utilization of health care resources, cost containment and quality or value.

Managed behavioral health organizations have been developed in both the private and the public sectors. Both payer and provider systems have developed these organizations. In either case, the fundamental components are generally similar.

A study of behavioral health would most certainly involve two important components of on the job health related problems of Behavioral frustration and Behavioral stress.

Behavioral Frustration

Human Behavior being goals oriented, an organizational worker undertakes a series of activities to achieve a goal. If a goal is not achieved, it produces a sense of deprivation in the individual behavioral pattern. Frustration is this resultant feeling caused by privation, deprivation or conflict in relation to the goal directed activities. In other words frustration is the blocking or slowing down a goal directed activity. Frustration is a sort of disappointment that people face in their everyday life. This is one aspect of behavioral health problems which an organization has to take care of in order to get the full potential from the worker.

There can be three sources from which frustration comes:

a) Privation-
When an individual experiences lack of something relevant to a desired goal, it may produce frustration for him. If for example, a student is preparing hard to seek admission into the IIM he may not pursue this goal if there is a lack of financial resources. This kind of frustration is caused by privation.

b) Deprivation-
Blocking or interfering with one’s goal directed activities may also produce frustration. If an employee prepares hard for a career promotion and falls ill during the course of this process he may be forced to take rest. This leads to frustration due to deprivation factor.

c) Conflict-
Frustration may also be caused by conflict between two goals. Take an example of a professor working in a college in Chennai who wants to take up the professorship in a central university in Delhi, but is unable to take his family and hence decides to continue in the Chennai based college. This would lead to conflict based frustration. This is known as approach- approach conflict. The conflict between two unattractive goals is called avoidance- avoidance conflict. A bank employee’s option to choose between a higher position in New Delhi and giving up chances of promotion by staying in his hometown is called avoidance = avoidance conflict. When an attractive goal also has some unattractive aspects, it produces approach – avoidance conflict. Getting a very attractive offer of employment in a highly disturbed region is an example of such conflict.

Therefore it is clear that the frustration is caused by goal related factors only.

How does frustration affect the behavioral health of a worker in an organization?

People experience frustration often in their daily life. People manifest wide range of reaction to this .There are four mods of worker Behavior which can take several forms.

a) Aggression:

Aggression is the most common reaction to frustration. It may take the form of general aggression like kicking , knocking, breaking, stamping foot, etc. target directed aggression such as anger expressed towards the boss or subordinate; self-directed by blaming himself for the frustrated situation and displaced aggression when anger is diverted to some other person other than the person who is causing the frustration, since a worker cannot express his anger to a boss and can only express his anger to his wife at home or subordinates in the office.

b) Regression:

This is characterized by reverting to the previous mode of behavior. It may take the form of retrogression when one reverts back to one’s past behavior. It might take another form called primitivation reflecting primitive or less mature modes of behavior under frustration. Stereotype is making the person show repetitive behavior. Such a regression is best demonstrated in gambling when a gambler repeats the same approach and loses in a series of moves.

c) Flight:

One reaction to frustration is escaping or flight from a frustrating situation .It may take several forms like Apathy when on neglects the frustrating situation. Withdrawal is not attending to such frustration situations all together. Fantasy is dreaming pleasant things and creating fantasies of doing something which one cannot do in real life in a situation of frustration. Rationalization is one when someone attributes certain reason for not getting what was expected- the example of fox seeing the grapes sour.

d) Exploration:

This mode of reaction to frustration is problem solving. In this mod of reaction, the individual explores alternative strategies with others to solve the frustrating problem like self-action, action by others or joint action with someone around him.

How to manage frustration?

Frustration is inevitable in human life. There is no way out but to manage it or cope with it. The following are some of the steps that may help managers to effectively manage frustration related behavioral health problem.

1. Diagnostic steps:

It needs to be diagnosed before trying to combat the frustration in an employee. The following steps may help in such diagnosis:

(a) To know the fling of the frustrated employees- the step involved in this diagnostic technique is to listen to the feeling of the frustrated employee. On way to assure the employees that the manager has listened has listened to their feeling will itself calm down the frustration in the employee.

(b) To share one’s feeling of disappointment – the next step is to express and share one’s own feeling of disappointment, if any, for the employee’s frustration. If an employee is not duly rewarded this may cause disappointment to the manager also. If the manager has partly contributed to an employee’s frustration, the manager should also share his feelings of guilt.

These acts may help cement a good rapport between the manager and the employee. Cementing such relationships should be done with a feeling of honesty.

2. Constructive steps: This state consists of combating measures. One such step is to help the frustrated employee realize and assess damages that the frustration is causing to the organization. The damages can be in terms of physical effects (sleeplessness, tension, loss of appetite, etc), social effects (such as distortion in social relationships, reduced social contracts, etc) and effects on work (such as absenteeism, work errors, falls in work quality and neglect of work).The realization of these effects of frustration will pamper the frustrated employee to think of steps need to combat frustration. Accordingly the employee himself may generate alternatives in dealing with frustration problems. Engaging oneself in physical exercise, sports activities, meditation, self-management techniques, etc are some of the ways that help dissipate the dysfunctional consequences of frustration.

Behavioral Stress

Job stress has been a much widely talked phenomenon in the industrialized world. The stress has become a major legitimate concern of the current times because it causes harm to both employees and the organization. There is a constant need for stress management. We shall now study this behavioral stress in detail.

What is job stress?

There are numerous definition for stress. Stress is usually thought of in negative terms. The stress refers to distress in the interaction of the individual with the environment. It is a condition arising from the interaction of the people and their jobs, mostly characterized by changes within people that force them to deviate from their normal functioning. In other words, the stress can be defined as an adaptive response to an external situation which results in physical, psychological and / or behavioral deviations for organizational participants/ employees.

Stress has both positive and negative aspects. The positive aspect is caused by good feeling (for example, a worker is offered a job promotion at another location). This is a form of Eustress. This term coined by experts in stress research means good. Eustress is not damaging or bad and is something people should seek out rather than avoid. The key is how the person handles the stress. Stress is negative or damaging when it is associated with absenteeism, heart related health problems, alcoholism, etc. The physical and mental condition of person alters while undergoing stress. The culmination of stress develops various symptoms in the physic, psychology and behavior of the employee.

Where does stress come from?

The sources of stress are called stressors. These come from both inside our body and mind and outside of ourselves. The stressors fall logically into four categories.

1. Environmental stressors: Environmental factors do affect an organization and have impact on stress also. The environmental stressors to which an employee responds mainly include things such as fast change in technology, obligations and family demands, economic and financial conditions, race, caste, class, ethnic identity, relocation and transfers. While the medical science has increased the life span of people through interventions that reduce life claiming threats of many dreaded diseases on the one hand, on the other hand the modern living style in the urbanized and crowded cities has deteriorated the wellness and increased the potential for on the job stress. Extra job to earn extra money has compelled a worker to put a strain on himself. This reduces time for relaxation and family activities. The medical science has established the fact that the more and sudden change, the poorer the subsequent health of the employee. For example, the divorce interferes with the work more than any other trauma in personal life.

2. Organizational stressors: These occur not only outside the organization but inside also. Organizational stressors can be categorized into policies and strategies, structure and design, processes and working conditions. S an organizational change, the downsizing policy serves as a potential stressor. Then comes the competition between good and not so good managers when the latter have to put in harder work to complete. Also there is evidence to believe that working men with perceived pay inequality and work overload, experience more stress. Added to these are undesirable working conditions (work area, noise, heat, pollution, strong odour, poor lighting, etc.).

3. Group stressors: People are usually members of different formal and informal groups. Group bars tremendous influence on individual’s behavior. The group stressors can be:

(a) Lack of group cohesiveness: cohesiveness or togetherness provides satisfaction to the employees. Lack of such togetherness causes stress. Denying opportunities to employees to develop and not accepting an employee by others produces stress.

(b) Lack of social support: When we get support from other employees during happiness and sorrow, we are better off. Lack of such support can also cause stress.

(c) Interpersonal and intergroup conflict: Variance in objectives and goals between groups lads to intergroup conflicts. The incompatibility in terms of needs and values between co – workers causes interpersonal conflicts, such dysfunctional conflicts can lead to considerable stress.

(d) Individual stressors: The individual factors that accuse stress is detailed below:

1. Role conflict and ambiguit: individual employees have multiple roles to play inside and outside an organization such as superior, subordinate, co- worker, family, community, etc. these roles are a set of expectations from the employee by others. Variation in expectation leads to ambiguity. If these expectations make conflicting demands on the employee, this conflict causes huge stress.

2. Personality traits: Personality affects behavior. The traits vary from person to person. These traits may cause considerable stress.

3. Life and career changes: Life’s changes (getting older or death) may be slow. Sudden changes have a dramatic effect on people. With sudden changes the subsequent health is affected. The same is true for career changes also. Certain situations like demands placed on time and finance from family and friends cause stress. Trying to achieve too much in too short a time also causes stress. Those who could not make a mark by their mid age tend to develop obsolescence tendencies and experience stress in the remaining years of their work.

What are the consequences of stress?

People in certain jobs, such as creative field, who work under pressures of time would seem to benefit from a mild level of stress. This may lead to increase the worker’s activity and performance. But a high level of stress can lead to harmful consequences for both the worker and the organization. These are classified into the following 3 behavioral consequences.

(a) Physical consequence: Stress has tremendous impact on physical health. A high level stress is accompanied by blood pressure and high cholesterol and can result in heart disease and ulcers. Health care organizational professionals report that ninety percent of patients complain of stress related disorders.

(b) Psychological consequences: High levels of stress may be accompanied by anger, anxiety, depression, nervousness, irritability and tension. This type of stress leads to lowering of self esteem, resentment of supervision and inability to concentrate and make decisions leading to poor job performance.

(c) Behavioral consequences: Over a long period stress adversely affects the employee behavior. These include underrating or overeating, lack of sleep, increased smoking/ drinking, and drug abuse. What follows next is tardiness, absenteeism and reduced turnover. Workers may experience stress and react by drinking and absenting from work. They may quit the job or get fired. This will prove costly for the organization in terms of filling up and replacement of such employees. Stress has implications on job performances.

How to manage stress?

Stress affects the employee. This needs to be opened with or managed to effectively minimize undesirable consequences. Two strategies for this exercise are:

1. Physical exercise- exercise in any form like walking, jogging, swimming or playing games helps people manage stress. At least, some side effects of exercise such as relaxation and getting one’s mind off the work, for a while, help people cope better with stress.

2. Behavioral self control- a conscious analysis of the consequences and causes of their own behavior helps employees achieve self control. Self control strategy implies the employee controlling his own situation instead of letting the situation control him.

3. Networking- People need and benefit from social support. Developing such support can be used as a strategy for reducing job stress. Good listeners and confidence builders can be engaged to deal with workers. These counselors could be from the coworkers also. Such alliances of coworkers in the organization are called networks.

4. Counseling- Counseling is another strategy widely used in organizations for dealing with stress. Counseling in the matters of career planning helps reduce the uncertainty. In this regard (career goals and opportunities) which is a major source of stress. Employees can also be counseled to identify their own strengths, weaknesses and response patterns for changing their behavior. Such centers are not uncommon in many Indian industries. As an organization. Certain steps can be adopted for combating stress:

(a) Clear objectives should be set. This helps reduce role ambiguity which usually filters down the organization in the form of neurosis.

(b) With clearly defined objectives, the organization must be sincerely committed to effective utilization of its human resources to achieve them. A separate OD department can be started with a responsibility to crate meaningful and enriching jobs for its employees.

(c) The organization must be adaptable to the changing social, economic, political and technological developments. There should be flexibility to accommodate such changes.

(d) The stress is caused by not knowing what the next move is and how to make it. Carefully devised plans for career hike taking into consideration the individual capabilities and aspirations on the one hand and the organizational requirements on the other lead to reduction in employee stress.

Organizational Development Interventions

Intervention involves identification of a set of activities, interaction are initiate that we serves as the most appropriate means for reaching the stated goals and objectives of the change strategy in the organization development. These interventions are also used to foster the ability to learn on the part of the target group. Furthermore, it includes all activities that take place between planning and evaluation stages of program development. These intervention may include executing coaching and counseling, team building restructuring of the organization training and development of the members of the organization etc. choice of intervention has to be made at every stage of the change process from and unfreezing and refreezing.

Various phases of intervention

The initial phase of unfreezing involves assessment of the current status, problem identification, diagnosis, and choice of appropriate change strategy. For achieving this, the OD consultants make use a variety of interventions like survey feedback, administration of specially designed instruments, brainstorming sessions, focused group discussion and interviews, besides accessing information from secondary sources. Based on diagnosis of the problems, the suitable change strategy is selected and adapted. The change strategy may involve the target group such as total organization, its units, individual employs or other internal stakeholders. The strategy would also include a set intervention targeted at enabling the target group move towards a desirable features state of the organizational change.

In the moving phase appropriate intervention to implement the change strategy are decided upon. That target group or groups are actively engaged in choosing the intervention as they are better informed about the feasibility and ease of exhaustion. The choice of intervention would largely depend upon a variety of factors like the problem being encountered, change goals that have been set and the target group’s level of commitment to the change.

The refreezing phase focuses on helping members of the target group internalize the changes through attitudinal restructuring, behavioral modification and developing appropriate mental models. Supportive mechanism for reinforcement of change paradigms, attitudes and behaviors are developed. These reinforcement mechanisms may involve restructuring of policies, systems, processes and structure of the organization. Unexpected problems and unintended consequences of intervention are identified and adequately dealt with. It is also essential to evaluate the effectiveness of change strategy which may lead to design of further intervention.

This model is known as kurt Lewin’s three step change model intervention.

Decision Criteria of OD Interventions

Choice of interventions will depend on the extent to which they fit the needs of the client organizations, the degree to which they are based on the intended outcomes and the extent to which change management competencies can be transferred to organization members. The target group of change –individual group or organization will also have to be considered for the feasibility and relevance of particular set of interventions. More specifically, the decision criteria to be considered will include the following:

• Result – driven:
T0 what extent the intervention is directed towards achievement of change goal? What will be the potential results of the intervention?

• Problem- centric:
Will the intervention solve the problem already identified?

• Consequences:
Are there additional positive outcomes that are likely to result? What are the likely positive and? Or negative fallouts in terms of consequences.

• Implementation Potential:

To what extent the intervention in question can be implemented smoothly? Can it head to its logical conclusion? What are the constraints likely to be encountered in the implementation process? Is that a plan for dealing with the constraint set?

• Cost Benefit Analysis:
What are the central costs and human costs involved? What will be the impact of costs on the client system? To what extent will the benefits in terms of expected results and their consequences outweigh the direct and indirect costs?

• Acceptability:
To what extent is the client organization likely to accept the intervention? Will it have a wider acceptance among the target group members?

• Credibility:
Does the intervention enjoy high credibility? Has it been adequately tested and validated? How well has it worked in other organization in achieving change goals without causing undue disturbance in the system.

• Shard Ownership:
Has the intervention been adequately explained and communicated to members of the client organization? Is there a shared ownership of the intervention by the consultant and the client target group?

Implementation of Intervention

After having made a choice of intervention, it is important to develop appropriate implementation strategy to ensure its successfully execution. Implementation strategy must have built-in flexibility to accommodate any variation in the change plan, bee adaptable to changed conditions, extent of goal attainment and unanticipated consequences, if any. Implementation of intervention is a learning experience subject to continuous refinement. Interventions can take many forms depending on the problem that the client group is trying to solve. Effective implementation will depend on the following factors:

A. An intervention strategy must be formulated with clearly stated long – term and short – term goals and objectives of change.

B. Activities to promote learning and change should be structured effectively, this is achieved by keeping the following point in mind:

• All relevant people should be included. Client groups should identify problems and opportunities themselves and generate solutions to their own problems and utilize the potential inherent in their own opportunities. The goals and strategies for goal attainment must be clearly stated and shared with very client group.

• Activities should be structured in such a way that there is a high probability of success. Goals therefor must be manageable and attainable. Positive feedback regarding success in goal attainment can work as powerful motivation for the client group.

• The existing climate in the organization should be such as to facilitate the implementation of a particular intervention. In case, the client group is defensive and anxious, additional interventions for creating a climate conductive to achievement of changed goals must be through of.

• The focus should not only b on learning how to solve one particular problem but on “learning how to learn.” This is achieved by helping the client groups acquire and sharpen such skills and knowledge as are desirable for solving future problems and managing change. The intervention should involve not only the process that is how of the problem but also the content that is, what of the problem.

• It is necessary to engage the “whole person” in intervention not just the rational/ logical part of him but also his emotional and spiritual self. It is important that the intervention facilitates members of the client group to openly express and confront their thoughts, feelings, concerns, beliefs, assumptions and the paradigm.

• Conceptual mode of learning as also experiential learning should be included in the intervention.

C. Intervention activities and their sequencing must be don carefully based on the following criteria.

• Interventions must be based on sufficient diagnostic data representing the full facts from multiple perspectives. Insufficient data can lead to inappropriate interventions. Multiple sources of data are often used to ensure in depth- analysis of the problems. • Interventions used in the initial phase of the change programme should enhance the effectiveness of subsequent intervention. The interventions aimed at building motivation, preparedness, knowledge and competencies required for future change should come first. Experiential learning to sensitize members of the target group with different needs, attitudes and behavior with each other should precede other interventions for conflict resolution between individuals and groups. Sequencing of interventions should be done to maximize efficiency by conserving time, energy and money.

• Delay in achieving organizational improvement could lead to loss of momentum and motivation. There is a need therefor to maximize the speed of intervention programs so that pre-specified milestones could be achieved.

• The related interventions to immediate problems should be taken up first so as to establish relevance to organization issues.

• Sequencing of interventions should be done to provide psychological safety to members of the target group. The choice of intervention should be such that it reduces anxiety and disillusionment likely to arise due to uncertainties, inherent in any change effort.

Results of OD intervention

OD interventions are designed to accomplish specific change objectives. However, in the process of achieving these objectives, the interventions also contribute to inculcation of certain values in the client organization. Thus the possible results of OD interventions are as follows:

• Greater degree of transparency in the system coupled with open exchange or feedback
• Enhanced awareness of changing socio- cultural milieu and dysfunctional nature of norms currently prevalent in the organization
• High interchange of ideas, opinions and information through increased interaction and communication
• A culture that encourages science based knowledge , concepts, competencies and attitudes derived from OD values
• Increased participation in goal setting, problem solving and brainstorming
• Heightened sense of accountability through responsibility allocation, authority delineation and performance monitoring
• Increased optimism regarding desirable regarding desirable futures and release of energy in pursuit of its attainment

Categories and techniques of Interventions

Several OD interventions, also called techniques, have evolved over time. The most successful of them possess three key characteristics:

(i) They are based on valid information about the functioning of the organization, usually collected by the employees;

(ii) The intervention (under the guidance of the change agent) provides employees with opportunities to make their own choices regarding the nature of the problems and their preferred solutions; and

(iii) Interventions are aimed at gaining the employees personal commitment to their choices.

The number and variety of OD techniques have substantially increased over the past decade. A wide range of intervention is now available to the managers. The four categories of interventions available for the organizational development are:

a. Human Processes Interventions:

The OD techniques in this category are aimed at improving the employees’ interpersonal skills. The purpose is to provided them with the inside and skills needed to analyze effectively their own and other’s behavior so that they can intelligently solve interpersonal and inter group problems. Perhaps the most widely used technique is called sensitivity training. This sensitivity training is also called the T-Group training. This is one of the earliest techniques and is still in use. The objective of this training is to provide the employees with increased awareness of their own behavior and how others perceive them. Greater sensitivity to the behavior of others and the increased understanding of the group processes are fundamental to this technique. Specific results sought from sensitivity training include:

• Increased ability to empathize with others.
• Improved listening skills.
• Greater openness.
• Increased tolerance of individual differences.
• Improved conflict resolution skills.

Being highly personal in nature this has become a controversial technique and has diminished in use in the last 20 years. This can definitely be a dangerous exercise if led by an inadequately prepared trainer.

b. Team building Intervention:

Team building is a process of diagnosing and improving the effectiveness of a work group with particular attention to work procedures and interpersonal relationships within it, especially, the role of the leader in relation to other group members. Both the group’s task procedures and its human interaction are the subjects of study in team building. The basic assumption of tam building is that increasing effectiveness of tams will improve the organization’s overall effectiveness.

Team building can be directed at two different types of teams of working groups: first, an existing or permanent team made up of manager and his subordinates, often called family group; and second, a new group which may have been created through a merger or other structural change in the organization, or formed to solve a specific problem, which may be called the special group. For both kinds of groups, tam building activities aim at diagnosing barriers to effective team performance, improving task accomplishments, improving relationships among team members, and improving processes operative in the team such as communication and task assignment. It will suffice for the student to know the simple description of this intervention. Details of team building concepts have already been dealt elsewhere in this book to which the student can refer to enrich the understanding of the team building exercise.

c. Grid Training:

Grid organizational development, an extension of the managerial grid concept developed by Blake and Mouton (also rad chapter on Leadership), is usually carried out on an organization wide basis. Grid training seeks to promote organizational excellence by fostering concern for production and concern for people. Working on the premise that most organizational problems stem from poor communication and inadequate planning, Blake and Mouton proposed a multistep process for improving organizations by attempting to cultivate these skills.

This is given to briefly explain the intervention to the student. The details of grid training and its ramifications are being separately given in one of the subsequent units of this book material. The student will have to read that to have a complete inside into this technique.

d. Techno - Structural Intervention:

Experts in OD are increasingly relying on efforts to change the structures, methods, and job designs of organizations. As compared with human process interventions, such techno- structural interventions ( as well as the human resource management interventions and strategic interventions described later) generally utilize the traditional OD action research approach, but focus more directly on productivity improvement and efficiency.

OD practitioners use a variety of techno structural interventions. For example, the formal structure change involves having the employees collect data on existing formal structures and analyze the details. The purpose is to jointly redesign and implement new organizational structures. OD experts also use the employee involvement programs like quality circles, TOM, and quality of work life programs.

It is interesting to understand the TOM- Total Quality Management – approach to develop customer centric cultures as the organizational response to changing expectation of the customers. The objective of the TQM is to create a total quality organization and not nearly provide quality products and service to its customers. Total quality thus applies to all those who affect and are affected by the organization which includes suppliers, employees, wholesalers, retailers, shareholders and so on. The quality should become a way of life reflected in all of the activities of the organization. All members of the organization and groups should exhibit its manifestation. TQM dries and ongoing continuous process which requires radical change in the organization design and day-to-day operations.

To that end, wide variety of interventions and organization improvement techniques and approaches like statistical process control, statistical quality control, quality circles, self- management team and task forces are employed.

1. Customer-driven. Methods, processes, and procedures are designed to meet both internal and external customer expectations.

2. Leadership. Top management fully understands the quality process and supports the strategy through both words and deeds.

3. Full participation. Everyone in the organization is provided quality training. From top to bottom, everyone has the perspective, goals, and the necessary tools and techniques for improving quality.

4. Reward system. There is a system in place that rewards quality to ensure continual support for the overall effort.

5. Reduced cycle time. There is a strong effect to reduce the cycle times, in product or service output as well as support functions, following the maxim “if it cannot be done any better, focus on doing it faster.”

6. Prevention, not detection. Quality is designed into the product or service, so that errors are prevented from occurring rather than being detected and then corrected.

7. Management by fact. Managers use data- based feedback to measure progress; intuition and gut feel are put on the back burner.

8. Long-range outlook. There is a constant monitoring of the external environment in order to answer the question: what level of quality or service will have to be provided to customers over the next 12 to 36 months, and how can this goal be attained?

9. Partnership development. The organization promotes cooperation with vendors as well as customers, thus developing a network system that helps drive up quality and hold down costs.

10. Public responsibility. Corporate citizenship and responsibility are fostered by sharing quality- related information with other organizations and by working to reduce negative impacts on the community by eliminating product waste generation and product defects or recalls.

Thus, it is obvious that, to implement TQM the organization needs to bring about change in its organizational culture. TOM is a philosophy of management encompassing virtually all aspects of management policies, systems, structures and practices. It requires active support of the top management as also high degree of employee involvement. This intervention has been used extensively in practically all lading public and private sectors and organizations in India with varying degree of success.

e. Quality of Work Life Program Intervention:

QWL programs have been designed by OD practitioners to create work situations that enhance employee’s motivation, satisfaction and commitment factors that may contribute to high levels of organizational performance. Collectively called quality of work life programs, this intervention is designed to remove drudgery associate with any work situation. In other words, this attempts to humanize the work place.

Simply, a definition of QWL has been given here as the same subject will be dealt in detail in a subsequent chapter of this book.

f. Human Resource Management Interventions:

Human resource management practices such as hiring, training, and performance appraisal can mould employee commitment, motivations, and productivity. OD practitioners are , therefore, increasingly involved in using action research to enable employees to analyze and change their firm’s personnel practices. Targets of change include the firm’s appraisal system, reward system, and workforce diversity programs.

g. Strategic Interventions:

There have been constant additions to the basket of OD techniques. The newest addition is the integrated strategic management. This approach consist of four steps:

(i) Analyzing current strategy and organization design. Managers and other employees utilize models such as SWOT matrix to analyze the firm’s current strategy, as well as its organization design.

(ii) Choosing a desired strategy and organization design. Based on the OD consultant- assigned analysis, senior management formulates a strategic vision, strategic objectives, a strategic plan, and an organization structure for implementing them.

(iii) Designing a strategic change plan. The group designs a strategic change plan, which is an action plan for moving the organization from its current strategy and design to the desired future strategy and design. It explains how the strategic change will be implemented, including thee specific activities involved as well as the costs and budgets associated with them.

(iv) Implementing a strategic change plan. The final step involves actually implementing the strategic change plan and measuring and reviewing the results of the change activities to ensure that the process is proceeding as planned.

Summary

It is evident from the description of various interventions presented about that OD adopts a multidimensional approach to plant change in any organization. It encompasses a wild range of tools and techniques derived from behavioral sciences theories and research to address the concerns all kinds of organization irrespective of their stages of growth, size, volume, complexity. Large group inventions like search conferences, learning organizations and appreciative inquiry are being adopted to enable organization develop changeability, and preparedness to activities in turbulent and often chaotic environment. OD makes use of a variety of interventions to achieve change goals. Choice of intervention has to make at every stage of the change process. The valuation of effectiveness of OD intervention is carried out on a containing basis for mid- course correction.

The subject of OD interventions is vast and unending. The information given in this chapter will be sufficient to enable student to face any examination question. However for a very through and total understanding of the subject the students will have to refer a number of reference books to sharpen their own knowledge of this subject.

Process Focus and Process Consultation

According to Edgar Schein, “Process consultation includes a set of activities on the part of a consultant which helps the client to perceive, understand and act upon process events which occur in the client’s environments”. Process consultation assumes that Organizations effectiveness depends upon how well its people relate to one `another’. Being not a member of the organization, the external consultant is in a better position to suggest remedies to the problems being faced by the organization by adequately diagnosing the same on the basis of better understanding of the external environmental factors affecting the organization. Major concern areas of process consultations are:

• Inter group processes
• Group problem solving and decision making
• Communication
• Group norms and growth
• Functional roles of group members
• Leadership and authority

The assumption underlying the process consultation model are:

1. Managers often need special diagnostic help in knowing what is wrong with the organization.

2. Most managers have constant desire to increase organizational effectiveness, but they need help in deciding how to achieve it.

3. Managers can be effective if they learn to diagnose their own strengths and weakness without exhaustive and time- consuming study of the organization.

4. The outside consultant cannot learn enough about the culture of the organization, to suggest new reliable courses of action. He should therefore, work jointly with the members of the organization.

5. The client must learn to see the problem for himself, understand the problem and suggest a remedy. The consultant should provide new and challenging alternatives for the client to consider. However, the decision making authority on these alternatives about organizational changes remain with the client.

6. It is essential that the process consultant is an expert in diagnosing and establishing effective helping relationships with the client. Effective process consultation involves passing those skills to the client.

The various stages, suggested by Schein in the process consultation technique are explained as follows.

1. Initiate Contract:
This is where the client contracts the consultant with a problem that cannot be solved by normal organizational procedures or resources.

2. Define the relationship:
In this step the consultant and the client enter into both a formal contract, spelling out services, time and fees and a psychological contract. The latter explains the expectations of results on both the clients and consultant’s sides.

3. Select a Setting and a Method:
This stage involves an understanding of how and where the consultant will do the job that needs to be done.

4. Gather data and Make a diagnosis:
Through a survey, using questionnaires, observations and interviews, the consultant makes preliminary diagnosis. This data gathering occurs simultaneously with the entire consultative process.

5. Intervene:
Agenda setting, feedback, coaching and/or structural interventions can be made in the process consultation approach.

6. Reduce Involvement and Terminate:
The consultant disengages from the client organization by mutual agreement but leaves the door open for future involvement.

This technique help a lot in solving inter group and interpersonal problems faced by the organization. Though the help is taken from external consultant, it is indirect. Generally, the organizations help themselves.

The biggest drawback of this method is that the participant’s involvement in the process is not that sharp and important and more, a span of 2-3 years is required which needs lot of commitment and cost.

Communication

Meaning and Definition
Like any other topic on OB, communication too has been defined by several authors. One researcher uncovered as many as 95 definitions, none of them being widely accepted. For our purpose communication may be understood as the process of exchanging information and understanding between people.

This simple definition of communication directs our attention to the three important issues.

1. Communication involves transmission and reception of messages. As communicators’ people use symbols to create messages. They cannot literally communicate to other individuals a meaning, attitude, perception, belief, or feeling. Rather, thy use a message or messages to represent what they see, feel, or experience. Just as an artist uses a brush and paint to depict a beautiful sunset or landscape, so too, do communicators use messages to represent their perceptions, thoughts and feelings.

2. Communication involves people, at last two- one to transmit the message (sender) and another to receive the message (receiver). Traditionally, the focus was on the sender and his communication skills for effective communication. Of late, the role of the receiver, and the art of listening are being underlined as requisites for making communication effective.

3. The definition refers to the process of communication. Communication is best described as a process because it is active, continuous reciprocal, and dynamic. For convenience, we can discuss separate elements of the communication process such as senders, receivers, or messages as if they were static and discrete. However, any model that portrays communication as beginning what a sender and proceeds until it reaches a receiver inadequately represents the dynamics of communication.

Nature of and Need For communication

The nature of communication flowing from above definitions may be outlined as follows:

1. Communication involves two parties, one who transmits and one who received the message.
2. The two respective parties must have ability to convey and listen to what the sender has to communicate.
3. Communication includes sending the message and also receiving the response to the message.
4. The message may be conveyed verbally, in writing, by mans of signs, gestures or symbols.
5. Communication is a continuous process. It pervades the entire organization.

The need for communication is best explained by the fact that an idea, no matter how great, is useless until it is transmitted and understood by others. The need for communication is also felt for the following reasons:

1. Adequate and timely communication helps managers discharge their functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.

2. Effective contribution ensures willing cooperation of others. This, in turn, contributes to higher efficiency in job performance.

3. A good communication system communicating quality information contributes positively to the quality of decisions.

4. Communication flowing information throughout the organization maintains coordination of activities across departments in the organization.

5. Effective communication also helps in moulding attitudes and building up employee morale. It also helps in developing harmonious labor- management relations.

Process of Communication

The process of communication includes the following seven elements:

1. Communicator
2. Encoding
3. Message
4. Medium
5. Decoding
6. Receiver and
7. Feedback

Communication
The communication process begins with the “who” has an intended message to communicate. The characteristics of the communicator influence the communication process. For example, while a sensitive communicator will look at the communication process from the receiver’s perspective, an insensitive on will be primarily concerned with his / her own interest.

Encoding
It refers to converting a communication message into symbolic form. Encoding is necessary because information can only be transmitted from communicator to receiver through symbols or gestures.

Messaging
The message is the actual physical product from the source of encoding. When we speak, the speech is the message. When we writ, the writing is the message. When w gesture, the movement of our arms, the expressions on our face art h messages. Thus, message is what is communicated.

Medium
Medium is a channel through which a communication message travels. Medium is the link that connects thee communicator (sender) and the receiver. Face – to –face verbal communication, use to telephone, use of memorandum, notice, circulars, statements, etc. are the various means available as media of communication. Besides, non-verbal media like signals, symbols, gestures etc. May also be used. The choice of medium assumes significance as the use of proper medium also determines the effectiveness of communication.

Decoding Translating the sender’s message by the receiver is called decoding. Decoding is the process by which the receiver draws meaning from the symbols encoded by the communicator or sender. One’s knowledge, attitude, and cultural background influence one’s ability to encode or receive, just as they do ability to send.

Receiver
The person who receives the message is called receiver. The communication process is incomplete without the existence of receiver of message. Communication to be effective needs to be receiver-oriented.

Feedback
The actual response of the receiver to the message communicated to him is known as “feedback”. In other words, if a communicator or sender decodes the message that he encodes, if the message is put back into his system, we have feedback. Feedback enables the communicator to check whether or not the message received has been properly understood by the receiver.

Barriers to communication
Barriers to communication are factors that com in the way of effective communication. Some barriers to communication are filtering of the message, language, physical separation, status difference, and motions. A brief discussion of ach follows.

Filtering Barrier
In formal organizations, the message travels through many layers or levels of hierarchy. It is found that the message tends to be distorted or impaired while passing through intermediate levels in upward and downward communication. This is because the message is passed on to suit the convenience or serve the interest of the ultimate receiver of the message.

Language Barrier
Language is a central element in communication. It may pose a barrier if its use obscure meaning and distorts intent. The receivers of the message with their different educational and cultural backgrounds find it hard to understand the message with their different educational and cultural backgrounds find it hard to understand the message in the senders’ senses due to jargons used in the message language. The word may be attributed different meanings by the sender and the receiver of the message. This is known as the problem of semantics.

Physical Separation Barrier
The physical separation of people in the work environment poses a barrier to communication. Physical distance between the sender and the receiver of any message serves an obstacle to effective communication. This is because the difficulty involved in evaluating whether the receiver has understood, accepted, and acted upon the message sent to him when his workplace is far away from that of the sender of the message.

Status Barrier
Status differences related to power and the organizational hierarchy pose another barrier to communication among people at work, especially within manager- employee pairs. It is due to the status difference that subordinates often suppress or withhold information which may not be liked by their superiors, or pass on distorted information to please their superiors. On the other side, status consciousness of the superiors prevents them from fully communicating information to their subordinates.

Educational Barrier
When people are eloquent with motions, it influences their undertaking of the message accordingly. Psychological barriers do also impair effectiveness of communication. When the subordinates hold favorable image of the superior, they become psychologically more inclined to accept and respond positively to the message sent by the superior. Obviously, it does not happen so when they have an unfavorable image of their superior. The image is built on the basis of experience and interaction between the superior and the subordinate. Any change when its effects are uncertain also creates psychological barriers to effective communication in an organization.

How to make Communication Effective

a) Language:
While preparing the communication, its language should be relatively simple and the ability of receiver to interpret the message accurately should be kept in view. It should contain no vague expressions.

b) Regulating the Flow of Communication:
The message received should be edited and condensed to the extent possible to reduce a chance of overlooking or ignoring important messages.

c) Feedback:
Communication is complete when it receives feedback. The two way communication is considered to be more helpful than one way communication in establishing mutual understanding.

d) Repetition:
Repetition of message helps improve effectiveness of communication. It also helps to avoid the problem of forgetting.

e) Restraint Over Emotional:
Strong feeling and motions either of the sender or the receiver of the communication district the meaning of the message. Therefore one should respond to the communication with a composed mind.

f) Mutual Trust and Faith:
Communication becomes effective if the sender and receiver of the message have mutual trust and faith.

g) Listening carefully:
Misunderstanding and confusion are often caused by the halfhearted attention to the communication. Therefore, the receiver--- listener needs to be patient and well composed. Listening to questions and responding to them is the essence of listening.

The following ten commandments of good communications have been advanced by American Management association and found useful:

• Clarify before attempting to communicate.
• Examine the purpose of communication.
• Understand the physical and human environment when communicating.
• In planning communication, consult others to obtain their support, as well as the factors.
• Consider the content and overtones of the message.
• Whenever possible, communicate something that helps, or is valued by the receiver.
• Communication, to be effective, requires following up.
• Communicate message that are of short-run and long–run importance.
• Actions must be congruent with communication.
• Be a good listener.

Innovation

The last decade of the 20th century has been marked by unprecedented pace of change in technology, economy and society world over. The sender of economic activities has shifted from developed world to the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America. Indian economy is on man upward swing. Public and private sector enterprises have responded to the challenges of competition by making innovations in the global economic order.

IT enabled support services, BPO/KPO, Hospitality and retail sectors are in the process of harnessing the growth potential of the economy largely driven by a demographically formidable labor force in India.

An increasing number of organizations try to gain competitive advantage through disruptive innovation. A disruptive innovation is a business model that aims at significantly transforming the demands and needs of a mainstream market thereby disrupting its former key players. It involves introduction of products or services to meet unfulfilled needs of a merging niche market. The product has performance attributes that are not appreciated by the mainstream market. After successfully testing the product performance the organizational creates new niche markets and expands the customer base.

In response to far reaching changes in the contextual factors affecting businesses, a number of organizations have been experimenting with innovative approaches to structure, systems, strategy, resource allocation and human resource management. These experiments however have not culminated in a definite form applicable to organizations striving to find ways and means to grapple with increasing disturbances in the environment. These forms are evolving as organizations which explore viable options to withstand pressure of change. This has led to the development of at least new perspectives on management necessitated by paradigms shift in the world of business. These innovations in the organizational design will affect various aspects of the organizations and management as shown below:

		Conventional		Emergent Principles
Vision/Mission		Stable over a longer time span		Shifting over a shorter time span
Strategy		Planned/ top down		Evolving/ bottom- up
Systems		Control focused		Responsiveness focused
Structures		Pre- determined		Emergent/ flexible
Culture		Strong/ monolithic		Weak/ pluralistic
People		Organization/ whole- oriented		Individual/ part- oriented

The innovative principles of organizational design would involve the following characteristics:

• The organization model of the future will go beyond functional, divisional, matrix and network organization and involve alliances, spin- offs and federation operating more in virtual structures with large degrees of self-management and self directing teams.

• Organization will be heavily dependent on information management. Supply chains will be characterized by cooperative relations between companies through joint ventures, strategic alliances and partnership alliance.

• In the work place of the future the employees will have few expectations of long- term careers and will tend to regard employment contracts as short- term negotiated arrangement.

• Bigger and more complex company demand new tools to run and manage them. Indeed, improved technology and statistical- control tools have given rise to new management approaches that make even mega-institutions viable.

• Scientific management `is moving from skills that create competitive advantage to an ante that gives company the right to play the game.

• Organizations have to respond two concerns-meeting the short-term goals of efficiency and the longer- term growth initiative. The professional groups in the organization should focus on long – term growth initiative with clear accountability.

• The hierarchical structures may be retained, but many important decisions will be delegated with relatively little operational supervision. Performance measurements rather than supervision to get the most from self directed tams of professionals will be emphasized.

In an environment of ever increasing uncertainty, organization cannot limit itself only to managed change but it needs to stay ahead of change. As organization cannot limit itself only to managed change, but it needs to stay ahead of change. As organizations strive towards creating futures for the continued extensions the established the organizational process need to be flexible enough. To accommodate the new innovative changes, the adoption of following innovative procedures will help the organization.

1. Incorporate future into the present
Change is facilitated when organization members are able to incorporate future concerns are often incorporated into the present products, rather than developing new ones.

2. Continuous Learning
In organizations that are increasingly becoming knowledge base. Accessing knowledge from variety of internal and external sources and managing it enables them to respond and innovate at greater speed. Organizations must create and reinforce a learning and information sharing orientation.

3. Support day-to-day innovation and change
Many innovations and changes occur on day-to-day basis in terms, on shop floors or in the field. Change-friendly organizations actively support these efforts so that employs are encouraged to think and adopt innovate practices in their products, work processes and services.

4. Leverage Diversity
When people with diverse experiences collect together, synergizing the conflicting ideas and the views of team members to achieve a common purpose is however a challenge that team members must address collectively.

5. Encourage mavericks
The mavericks stand for radical change and thus are not part of the mainstream. They are risk takers and often experiment with new ideas and approaches .They are usually sidelined and ignored as they disturb the status quo and question the existing system. They are therefore change champions who must be encouraged to create an environment of entrepreneurship in the organization thereby facilitating organizational transformation.

6. Shelter breakthroughs
As the existing organization is design deal with problems in a conventional way it may be necessary to create a new organizational to provide shelter to the break through innovations. Change friendly organization encourages the processes by crating small independent units with their own budgets, suppliers, markets and cultures.

8. Develop trust
Employees are likely to accept changes when they have trust in their change agents. The change leaders should demonstrate their credibility by their actions and behaviors. Trust has to be built and nurtured as it provides the right basis for people to respond readily and positively to change efforts.

The innovation in organizational design is the order of the day and no organization can ignore innovative measures if they have to ultimately succeed in their goals.

The emerging realities of business necessitate reexamination of the very concepts of organization and organizing. While organizations have no well-delineated boundary; organizing becomes an ongoing adaptive process through self- organizing and adjustment. Thus conventional design principles based on command and control are no longer consistent with the emerging image of the organization. A set of new design principles based on consensus and commitment will need to be adopted to survive in the future. Flexibility, responsiveness, pluralism, and multi- directionality will replace designs based on rigidity, control, monolithism and uni-directionality.

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