COMPREHENSIVE
OD INTERVENTIONS
INTRODUCTION
• Comprehensive interventions are those in which
the total organization is involved and depth of
the cultural change Is addressed.
• Phrases like “getting the whole system in the
room” are appearing in greater OD practice.
• Beckhard’s confrontation meeting and
Strategic management activities involving top
management, in the case of smaller organizations
,the entire management group like survey
feedback is an important and widely used
interventions for OD.
Whole system can be described
as• Managers of all of the functional areas in a
business.
• Representatives of top management, a
cross section of employees from all levels,
and supplier and customer representatives.
• Directors of all of the social service
agencies in a community.
BECKHARD’S CONFRONTATION
MEETING
• The confrontation meeting is developed by Richard
Beckhard, is a one day meeting of the entire management
of an organization, in which they take a reading of their
own organizational health.
• In a series of activities, the mgt group generates
information about its major problems, analyzes the
underlying causes, develops action plans to correct the
problems, and sets a schedule foe completed remedial
work.
• This intervention is an important one in OD. It is quick,
simple, and reliable way in which to generate data about
an organization and to set the action plans.
Contd…
The steps involved in confrontation meeting are as follows:
1. Climate setting (45-60 min). The top manager
introduces the session by stating his or her goals for the
meeting, citing the necessity for free and open
discussion of issues and problems, and making it clear
that individuals will not be punished for what they say.
2. Information collecting (1 hour). Small groups of 7-8
members are formed on the basis of heterogeneity of
composition that is maximum mixture of people from
different functional areas and working situations
compose each team. The only rule is that bosses and
subordinates cannot be put together on the same team.
Contd..
3. Information sharing (1 hour). Reporters from
each small group reports the group’s complete
findings to the total group, which are placed on
newsprint on the walls. The total list of items is
characterized usually by the meeting leader, into
few major categories that may be based on type of
problems (e.g.. Communication problems), type of
relationships (e.g.. Troubles with top management),
or type of area (e.g. problems with the accounting
deptt.)
Contd..
4. Priority setting & Goal Action Planning (1 hour and 15
min.). This step typically follows a break during which time
the items from the lists are duplicated for distribution to
everyone. In a 15 min general session, the meeting leader
goes to the list of items. The groups are asked to do three
tasks. First they are to identify the problems they think
should be the priority issues for top mgt. Second to find the
solutions to the problems. Third, they are to determine
how they will communicate the results of the confrontation
meeting to their subordinates . This activity completes the
confrontation meeting for all the managers except for the top
mgt. group.
Contd..
5. Immediate follow up by top team (1 to 3 hours). The top
mgt team meets the rest of the participants have left to plan
the first follow-up actions steps and to determine what
actions should be taken on the basis of what they have
learned during the day. These follow up action plans are
communicated to the rest of the mgt group within several
days.
6. Progress Review (2 hours). A follow up meeting with the
total mgt group is held 4-6 weeks later to the report progress
and to review the actions resulting from the confrontation
meeting.
Strategic Management Activities
• It is defined as the development and implementation of the
organization’s grand design or overall strategy for relating to
its current and future environmental demands.
• The concept is described by Schendel and Hofers as- It
comprises of six major tasks as:
i. Goal Formulation- Defining Mission & purpose
ii. Environmental analysis- SWOT Analysis
iii. Strategy formulation
iv. Strategy evaluation
v. Strategy implementation
vi. Strategic control
Stream Analysis
• Developed by Jerry Porras is a valuable model for thinking
about change and for managing change.
• It is a system for graphically displaying the problems of an
organization, examining the interconnections between the
problems, identifying core problems and graphically tracking
the corrective actions taken to solve the problems.
• Porras categorized organization work in four classesa) Organizing arrangements- goals, structure, policies etc.
b) Social factors- Culture, mgt style, interaction process etc.
c) Technology- tools, equipment, job design, technical systems.
d) Physical Setting- space configuration, physical ambience,
interior design etc.
Contd..
• A thorough diagnosis of the organization’s problems and
barriers to effectiveness is performed via brainstorming
sessions, interviews, questionnaires and other methods.
• Each problem is categorized in one stream.
• The interconnections between the problems are noted.
Problems that have many interconnections are identified
as core problem.
• Action plans are developed to correct the core problems.
• In stream analysis, OD programs change the work setting,
which leads to organizational improvement.
Survey Feedback
• Collecting data about the system and feeding back the
data for individuals and groups at all levels of the
organization to analyze, interpret meanings, and design
corrective action steps.
• These are having two components- the use of Attitude
Survey and the use of Feedback workshops.
• Survey feedback has been shown to be an effective
change technique in OD.
• A well designed survey helps organization members to
develop valid models of how organizations work and also
provide feedback about progress towards goals.
Steps of Optimal survey
• Organization members at the top of the hierarchy are
involved in the preliminary planning.
• Data are collected from all organizations.
• Data are fed back to the top executive team and then
down through the hierarchy is functional teams.
• Each superior presides at a meeting with their
subordinates in which the data are discussed.
• Most feedback meetings include a consultant who has
helped prepare the superior for the meeting and who
serves as a resource person.
Grid Organizational
Development
• Designed by Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton.
• Six phase program lasting about 3-5 years.
• An organization can move systematically from the stage
of examining managerial behavior and style to the
development and implementation of an ideal strategic
corporate model.
• It enable individuals and groups to assess their own
strengths and weaknesses.
• Based on two dimensiona) Concern for people
b) Concern for production
Phases in Grid OD
Phase 1: The Managerial Grid- Grid seminar is conducted
by the company manager. Attention is given to assessing an
individual’s managerial styles; problem solving; and
communication skills etc.
Phase 2: Teamwork Development- The goal is perfecting
teamwork in the organization through analysis of team
culture, traditions etc.. Feedback given to each manager
about their individual team behavior .
Phase 3: Intergroup Development- The goal is to move
groups from their ineffective ways towards an ideal model.
The phase includes building operational plans for moving
the two groups.
Cont..
• Phase 4: developing an ideal strategic corporate model- the
focus shifts to corporate planning. Top management design an
ideal strategic corporate model that would define what the
corporation would be like.
• Phase 5: Implementing the Ideal Strategic Model- the
organization implement the model developed in phase 4. Each
component appoints a planning team whose job is to examine
every phase of the component’s operation . After the planning
and assessment steps are completed, conversion of the
organization to the ideal condition is implemented.
• Phase 6: Systematic Critique- Systematic critiquing,
measuring, and evaluating lead to knowledge of what progress
has been made, what barriers still exist and must be overcome.
Large scale change and High
Performance systems
• When a number of OD and other interventions are
combined to create major changes in the total culture of
an organization, the term large scale is used.
• The creation of high-performance systems, highperformance organizations, high- involvement
organizations, or self designing organizations- usually
involve a broad array of interventions, and typically
extensive member participation and involvement.
• Changes in areas as job design and work flow, staffing
procedures, training, and compensation are usually
combined with such interventions.