Models for Implementing
Organizational Development
A Presentation by 2nd Lieutenant Christian Sorbie
1. The Action Research Model
2. Organization Development Process (ODP) Model
3. Appreciative Inquiry
4. Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Model
The Action Research Model
From early on in OD, the Action Research Model (ARM) has been the organizing approach for doing OD.
A precursor to the development of ARM was the PDCA cycle, which will be shown on the next slide,
which was developed as an explanation of the importance for continual organizational improvement. It
is represented by four stages: the Plan stage, where ideations are generated to improve an organization.
The Do stage, an implementation of ideations in a trial period. The Check stage, where the implemented
ideations did in fact create the desired change, and Finally the Act stage where the changes are in fact
implemented.
Anderson, D. L. (2016). What is organizational development. In Organizational development: The power of
leading organizational change. Sage Publications.
McLean, G.N. (2006). Organization development: principles, processes, performance. Berrett-Koehler.
The Action Research Model
Whether successful or unsuccessful, due to the ARM
being cyclical in design, the process begins all over
again, this however has been criticized due to the
unidirectional arrows seen in the image suggests a
much more linear model, and there is no overlap of
the stages.
Anderson, D. L. (2016). What is organizational development. In Organizational development: The power of
leading organizational change. Sage Publications.
McLean, G.N. (2006). Organization development: principles, processes, performance. Berrett-Koehler.
Organization Development Process (ODP) Model
The ODP model consists of 8 Steps as follows;
1. Entry (Consultant and Organization meet to evaluate if the organization is ready for change)
2. Start up (agreement to work together has been made and a team is put in place)
3. Assessment and Feedback (assessment of culture, weaknesses, or specific areas in need of change)
4. Action plan (Plans are developed on how to move forward and reach the predetermined goals)
5. Implementation (Plans are implemented, Also known as intervention)
6. Evaluation (this phases asks the question, how well was the change and was the objectives reached)
7. Adoption (if implementation achieves the desired results, the change becomes institutionalised)
8. Separation (the consultant withdraws from the intervention process)
Anderson, D. L. (2016). What is organizational development. In Organizational development: The power of
leading organizational change. Sage Publications.
McLean, G.N. (2006). Organization development: principles, processes, performance. Berrett-Koehler.
Organization Development Process (ODP)
Model
The purpose of this model is that the process may continue
with or without the ‘consultant’ with the idea that the
organization will be able to continually improve. The criticism
to this model is that it takes to long to be able to complete
every step however it is countered by, if you skip a step and the
process fails, the consultant will have to begin all over again.
Anderson, D. L. (2016). What is organizational development. In Organizational development: The power of
leading organizational change. Sage Publications.
McLean, G.N. (2006). Organization development: principles, processes, performance. Berrett-Koehler.
Appreciative Inquiry
The appreciative inquiry model is very similar to the previous ODP model in that it uses nearly
the same steps however it has a major change to one of the steps. Instead of researching all of
the negatives and the positives. The assessment phase uses a more narrative approach for the
identification of positives attributes of an organization. Research has suggested that there is
difficulty in convincing organizations of the validity of the process.
Anderson, D. L. (2016). What is organizational development. In Organizational development: The power of
leading organizational change. Sage Publications.
McLean, G.N. (2006). Organization development: principles, processes, performance. Berrett-Koehler.
Appreciative Inquiry
Other research has also suggested that this
model is more beneficial to organizations that
have suffered significant losses, constantly
near bankruptcy or have severely downsized.
Anderson, D. L. (2016). What is organizational development. In Organizational development: The power of
leading organizational change. Sage Publications.
McLean, G.N. (2006). Organization development: principles, processes, performance. Berrett-Koehler.
Cooperrider, D., & Srivastva, S. (1987). Appreciative Inquiry.
Kurt Lewins’ Change management Model
The change management model as introduced by Kurt Lewin, has three main steps; Unfreezing,
which is creating the idea that a change is needed, Changing, which is moving/changing the
organization to the new desired level of behavior and finally, Refreezing, which solidifies that
new behavior as the norm of the organization. Lewin originally referred to the last step as
“freezing” however it has been changed to “refreezing” to symbolize that the change is being
reinforced, solidified and stabilized.
Teaching. (2014, April 27). Lewin, stage module of change unfreezing changing refreezing part 5 [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kerDFvln7hU
Kurt Lewins’ Change management Model
Teaching. (2014, April 27). Lewin, stage module of change unfreezing changing refreezing part 5 [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kerDFvln7hU
Online, V. P. (2020). Understanding Lewin's Change Management Model.
Thank you for listening
A Presentation by 2nd Lieutenant Christian Sorbie