Organization Development and Change
Mondays, October 17 – December 5, 2005, 5:30 – 9:00
Professor:
Melinda Howard, Ph.D.
e-mail: dr-howard@cox.net
Work phone: 604-4579
Home phone: 751-3722
Office Hours: 15 minutes before and after class or by arrangement
Required Text:: Cummings, Thomas and Worley, Christopher. Essentials of Organization
Development and Change. Southwest-Western College Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-324-02399-5.
Course Description
Organization development is a blending of research, theory and practice, using behavioral
science knowledge to improve the effectiveness of the organization and its subsystems through
planned change efforts. If you are an employee of an organization, whether a leader, a member
of a staff function, or a line employee, you can benefit from understanding how effective
development and change occurs in an organizational setting. This course will cover various
organizational change models and intervention approaches with specific emphasis on the use of
systems thinking as a tool to analyze and describe organizational dynamics. You will be actively
involved in a review of the theory of organization change and development as well as case
studies and other exercises to apply the concepts, models, and methods. You will also learn and
practice skills that will enhance your ability to diagnose performance problems and identify and
implement appropriate solutions. The outcome for you will be the ability to use systematic
processes and a variety of practical tools and methods to effectively identify appropriate
interventions and plan and manage change within your own area of influence.
Course Objectives
During this course, you will:
1. Review and discuss the history and theory base of organization development.
2. Review and discuss various models and principles of change in organizations.
3. Practice applying organizational development concepts, models and processes, including
systems thinking and performance consulting, to case studies.
4. Participate in a simulation that follows the organization development process.
5. Prepare an analysis, including diagnosis and interventions, for an individual, team or
organizational performance issue with which you are familiar.
Grading Criteria:
Three assignments
25 points each
Team activity
25 points
Attendance:
An essential component of this course is the learning that occurs while interacting with others in
the analysis and discussion of assigned reading as well as participation in the group activities.
Therefore, regular attendance and class preparation is very important. Three points will be
deducted for each absence and for each late assignment unless there are extenuating
circumstances.
Class Schedule (Tentative)
Date
Chapter
October 17
Topic
Assignments
Class Introduction
Discussion and practice of
“systems thinking”
October 24
October 31
November 7
November 14
November 21
November 22
December 5
Chapter 1
General Introduction to
Organization Development
Chapter 2
The Nature of Planned Change
Chapter 3
Entering and Contracting
Chapter 4
Diagnosing Organizations,
Groups and Jobs
Chapter 5
Collecting, Analyzing, and
Feeding Back Diagnostic
Information
Chapter 6
Designing Interventions
Chapter 7
Leading and Managing Change
Chapter 8
Human Process Intervention
Chapter 9
Restructuring Organizations
Chapters 10
Employee Involvement
Chapter 11
Work Design
Chapter 12
Human Resource Management
Interventions
Chapter 13
Organization and Environment
Relationships
Chapter 14
Organization Transformation
Chapter 15
Organization Development in
Global Settings
Chapter 16
Future Directions in Organization
Development
Presentations based on the final
papers.
Interview someone in a leadership role or in a human
resources/training position in an organizational unit, e.g.
department, division, unit, etc., using the “Diagnostic
Interview Guideline” (to be handed out in class). If
possible, interview both. Turn in a 3-4 page (typed,
double spaced) paper summarizing the interview and
identifying (synthesize and categorize) the issues for
which organization development interventions might be
helpful. Keep in mind that these issues don’t necessarily
need to be problem focused but may be due to changes in
the mission, strategies, and/or environment. Avoid
making any recommendations for interventions—you will
do this for your final paper.
Turn in a 2-3 page analysis and recommended
interventions for a case study to be handed out in class.
You will be part of a team that will facilitate discussion of a
case study and/or lead a learning activity based on one of
six “Organization Development Interventions.” I will help
you with ideas and resources for this.
Continue team activities.
Turn in a 4-5 page paper describing the intervention(s)
that you would recommend for the organizational
situations described in your previous paper and the
process you would use for implementing the
recommended changes. Justify your recommendations
from a systems perspective. Include the process you
would use for implementing the recommended changes.
Academic Misconduct: All policies set forth in the University Academic Handbook regarding
plagiarism and other academic misconduct will be followed.
Equal Opportunity: Any student requiring special physical or academic assistance needs to
notify me as soon as possible.
MELINDA M. HOWARD, Ph. D
Melinda Howard is the Manager of Organization and Clinical Development at Deaconess Hospital
in Oklahoma City. Her areas of responsibility include leadership and employee development,
employee orientation, performance consulting, and team building. Prior to joining Deaconess four
years ago, Melinda was a Consultant for Personnel Decisions International, providing training and
consulting services in leadership development, management assessment, and organization
effectiveness.
Melinda’s other internal positions have included Director of Learning Resources for Integris
Health, Senior Consultant with The Support Center of Oklahoma, a training and consulting firm for
non-profit organizations, and Training Coordinator for the Human Resource Development Division
of the Oklahoma Office of Personnel Management.
As an external consultant, Melinda has conducted workshops and classes and facilitated
teambuilding and planning processes for business, government, education, financial, and health
care organizations for over twenty-five years. Melinda has also been an adjunct instructor for
several universities and colleges. She is currently an adjunct associate professor in the Masters in
Human Relations program at the University of Oklahoma, for the Management Department at the
University of Central Oklahoma and for the P.L.U.S. program at Oklahoma City University.
Melinda has a B.A. in Sociology from Oklahoma City University, a M.Ed. in Counseling
Psychology from the University of Central Oklahoma, and a Ph.D. in Adult and Community
Education from the University of Oklahoma. Her special areas of emphasis in her doctoral
program were organizational training systems, organizational communications, and management.