University Of Manchester,
Institute For Development Policy and
Management
Course Title : Organization Development
Course Code : IDPM70461
Lecturer : Christopher Rees
Date Due : 7 January 2011
Title : “ Review of the article: ‘ Change in Afghanistan:
Contrasting Values and What is Essential About O.D.’ ”
Student ID : 7680680
Word Count : 2998
Student ID: 7680680
Section A : Change in Afghanistan: Contrasting values and what is
essential about O.D.
Introduction
In her article, ‘Change in Afghanistan: Contrasting values and what is essential about
O.D.’, published in Summer 2010, issue of the Organization Development Journal, Zaldivar (2010)
identifies the impact of culture on organization development practices. To support her argument,
Zaldivar (2010) compares the cultural values of Afghanistan and O.D. as a profession, to explain
the way culture impacts on the ‘change consulting process’.
The author further argues that the research rests with those who want to apply change in
complex environments as the practice of O.D. is globally applied to different cultural contexts (Lau
et al. 1996; Murrell 1981; Head & Sorensen 1993). As resistance to change is an important issue in
the change process (Pardo del Val & Fuentes 2003), Zaldivar (2010) correctly puts forward the
main reasons of resistance to change which are the inability of consultant to understand the
client’s environment, and ‘lack of self-awareness’. Moreover, the author proposes that O.D. is able
to overcome the difficulties of multicultural environments by focusing on two techniques: use of self
and action research. To support her argument, Zaldivar (2010) analyzes the concept of Afghan
culture as discussed by Entezar (2007) who used the Hofstede’s four dimension model of culture,
to explain the impact of norms of Afghans to foreign people who wish to work in Afghanistan.
Additionally, she compares Entezar’s Afghan national culture ‘values’ with Jaeger’s (1986) ‘values’
of O.D. to assert the influence of the four dimensions on the consulting process. The author
underlines the importance of usage of self technique which made self-awareness possible, and
action research technique which maximized the consultants’ knowledge of the client system.
Finally, Zaldivar (2010) concludes by noting the implications for the practice of O.D. in the Afghan
environment.
Following the brief summary of the article, the critical view section appraises the main
topics, advantages and disadvantages of the author’s arguments by drawing on literature relevant
to O.D. theories and issues. Last section is the conclusion of the review paper.
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Critical Evaluation
The article by Zaldivar (2010) gives a description of two approaches of O.D.
implementation in Afghanistan and describes the way local culture influences O.D. values in
practice using Hofstede’s four dimension model of culture. In the background section, the author
gives some important information about the environment in which O.D. took place. Zaldivar and
her colleague are well-educated, and worked for consulting companies which employs both men
and women. As clients were mostly men , diplomatic action research was used.
In the section of expectations about equality, the article presents the important role that
personal power plays in high power distance cultures during consulting process. Power distance is
defined as the degree to which people within societies or organizations can tolerate the power
differentials (Crotts & Erdmann 2000). Although African national culture is characterized by high
power distance and there is inequality in society (Entezar 2007), Jaeger (1986) recognizes that
O.D. is of low power distance and participation should be used. Using this contrast, the author
explains that there have been noted significant differences in her work in Afghan organizations. In
the high power distance society, Zaldivar and her colleague earned unexpectedly high position in
the hierarchy because of their origin, as US forces invaded in Afghanistan in 2001, but they faced
some phenomena of resistance. Practically, consultants had to do with people in low position of
hierarchy, and had to insist in order to overcome negative reactions. Resistance to change
affecting O.D. practice has been a critical issue for many researchers (Erwin & Garman 2010). In
this direction, Esper (1990) argues that O.D. practitioners need to be competitive and flexible to
overcome resistance. Although Zaldivar and her colleague with respect to the O.D. values, tried to
promote participation in the changing process, individual’s power was more important. Moreover,
they had to express their power by intimidating people showing self-confidence simultaneously.
Finally, as external consultants, they correctly focused on appraising people relationships and not
the system itself.
Also, in the section of anxiety about the unknown, the author points out the importance for
documented rules in societies with high score of uncertainty avoidance. Uncertainty avoidance
reflects the degree to which people are able to tolerate risks and anxiety (Crotts & Erdmann 2000).
Afghan people have placed their life in God’s hands and they focus on present rather than the
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future. Values of O.D. regarding the uncertainty avoidance are in contrast to Afghan culture which
has high score of uncertainty avoidance. Zaldivar (2010) explains that there was a need for details
in short terms, as no one could predict the future, in an unstable environment such as Afghan. On
the other hand, researchers such as French & Bell (1999) consider future orientation as a critical
part of the O.D. process. However practitioners chose not to get lost in details and to give value to
conversations with clients which made the situation better and bridged the ‘cultural gap’. In this
particular case, Zaldivar (2010) followed the Missionary value-based approach of O.D. practitioner
(Rees 2011) and attempted to change Afghan values to match the O.D. values. Moreover, in the
uncertainty avoidance direction, the article explains that Afghan people respect experts to make
the important decisions whereas O.D. reflects the importance of consulting process over
‘expertise’. Though consultants earned the title of ‘experts’ because of the degrees they hold, they
chose to give emphasis on the procedure, creating some problems in the consulting process.
Using as an excuse past unsuccessful experience, Zaldivar and her colleague tried to persuade
clients for their process approach through dialogue spending more time and effort.
Additionally, in the section titled ‘The individual and the collective’, the author using
Hofstede’s third dimension: individualism compares O.D. and Afghan values. Individualism is
defined as the ‘degree to which’ well-being of individual is more important than the group’s (Crotts
& Erdmann 2000). Entezar (2007) suggests that Afghan culture has low score of individualism
meaning that Afghan people tend to care more about the group they belong to rather than their
selves while Jaeger (1986) considers O.D. in the middle of ‘spectrum’. Zaldivar (2010) explains
that strong relationships between O.D. practitioner and clients and active listening lead to trust and
better results. Many practitioners acknowledge the importance of building trust in order to motivate
participants (Ali 1996; Nair & Vohra 2010; Kenton 2011), otherwise some conflicts could occur
during the consulting process (Nair & Vohra 2010). The author goes on to say that the fact that she
was a consultant of a well-known company helped a lot to the direction to build her status. Besides
that, because of their power in hierarchy, Zaldivar and her colleague had to keep a balance
between their behavior and their reputation. The author further states that because of the fact that
‘verbal communication’ is more important for Afghan people than written communication,
consultants preferred to use mostly ‘verbal’ communication.
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Finally, in the “Masculine and Feminine” section, Zaldivar (2010) using Hofstede’s fourth
dimension: masculinity, compares O.D. and Afghan cultural values. Masculinity is related to
‘achievement orientation, competition and materialism’ (Crotts & Erdmann 2000). In the article, the
writer presents the differences between Afghan culture, which has high score of masculinity
Entezar (2007), and O.D. culture, which promotes gender equality (Jaeger 1986). The author
begins with a brief analysis of the Afghan culture where men are the dominant genders and women
are pushed to stay in home and serve the family. In case , women want to be in public, they must
be accompanied by male and wear chadar and burkha to cover their whole body. Although O.D.
consultants fully respected the particular Afghan value by walking in the streets wearing traditional
women clothes, they chose to reach a balance between high score of Afghanistan in masculinity
and low score of O.D. in masculinity. During the consulting process, in front of male clients, they
tended to have a confident behavior which created mixed feelings to some Afghans whereas the
process was eased with others.
Having discussed the differences between the culture of Afghanistan and the culture of
the O.D. practice as well the way these gaps affected consulting process, the author goes on to
present the methodologies which she used and explains the reasons why she believes that use of
self and action research are the most appropriate methods of O.D. in the environment of
Afghanistan.
The writer begins with the definition of use of self method. According to many researchers
the self is an important tool for a practitioner to diagnose an organization (Hanson 2000). Edgerton
& Campbell (1994) argue that the self is “the psychophysical totality of a person, including both
conscious and unconscious attributes” (cited in Hanson 2000). Hanson (2000) further explains that
the self as the instrument for change is the summary of those necessary elements which
consultants use that will influence other people to be open to them. To this direction, Zaldivar
(2010) indicates that the use of self practice was essential tool to navigate in the Afghan culture in
which power and influence were essential (high score of power distance). The author further notes
that the use of self helped O.D. practitioners to acknowledge the Afghan environment and the
‘biases’ that O.D. practice brought about. Additionally, use of self made consultants be aware of
their feelings and ‘concerns’. Block (1981) formulated an interesting theory about consultant’s
emotional reactions. Specifically, he observed that the consultant ‘resembles a meat
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thermometer’ (cited in McCormick & White 2000). If someone put a meat thermometer in a roast,
he/she will get meat’s inside condition. Similarly, the internal responses of O.D. consultants within
an organization ‘will reflect the organization’s condition. On the other hand, some phenomena of
arrogance could arise in case the consultant considers use of self as the only tool in the consulting
process (McCormick & White 2000). Lack of numerical research on the use of self effectiveness,
could make it unreliable method.
Zaldivar and her colleague correctly did not use one method of O.D. consulting (use of
self), and they also used action research. Action research is a critical method which an
O.D .consultant can follow to diagnose, implement and appraise a ‘change process’ (Cady &
Caster 2000). Action research is basically about change as it generates information which is used
by the organization to ‘manage change’. It is based on data and involves feedback which helps to
the implementation of results. The author correctly mentions the stages that were followed during
action research. which helped a lot in the difficult Afghan environment. It is noted that action
research bridged the gaps between consultants and clients by ‘raising assumptions’. Cady &
Caster (2010) mention that action research allows O.D. consultants and clients to collaborate
during the process in order to understand the situation. Zaldivar (2010) says about the situation in
Afghanistan that action research needed some adaptations because of socio-political reasons.
Specifically, the hierarchic system of organizations led practitioners to contrast collected data more
times than they would need in a bottom-line organization in West. Finally, although action research
raised many issues, some cultural differences stopped the investigation of the causes of these
problems.
In the last section ‘Summary and Implications for O.D.’, the author concludes by
mentioning the importance of client’s environment awareness. Finally, Zaldivar (2010) argues that
adopted approaches of O.D. practice can lead to effective solutions and reduce implications in
complex environments.
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Conclusion
Zaldivar (2010) made useful contribution to the O.D. practice by offering valuable thoughts
about some issues, limitations and challenges to O.D. consultants which can be used by theorists
for further study. Her arguments can also be used by O.D. practitioners to improve their skills and
adjust some of them to be successful in a world that becomes more challenging and difficult every
day. On the other hand, Zaldivar failed to mention some implications that could arise from the use
of self and action research methods. Although Zaldivar and her colleague did not face problems
during consulting process, it does not mean that in other developing countries O.D. practitioners
will not face more difficult challenges. Generally the article presents an important case of O.D. in a
complex environment and undoubtedly Zaldivar pushes O.D. community to further its research
across cultures.
Section B: Identify and discuss the organisational and national issues
which you feel are relevant to the practice of OD in a setting with which
you are familiar.
The organization “3Data” is an IT company and it is located in the capital of Greece,
Athens. It was founded in 2000 and belongs to the private sector. Two powerful Greek
businessmen own the company and they sponsor it using their own funds. The organization
provides computer services to both private sector with computer product sales such as personal
computers and public sector with information systems development in ministries and schools.
When 3Data joined the Greek marketplace, it has faced strong competition from multinational
organizations with great experience. Annual revenue is approximately 5 million euros and employs
40 people in 3 job positions: service, sales and HR management departments. During the summer
of 2008, when i was employed in the service department, two chief executives have engaged a
consulting company to assist with human resources and organization development processes.
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The project that the consulting firm led had 4 objectives: firstly, begin a process to provide
employees with state-of-the-art equipment to work more effectively, secondly provide employees
with extra motives thirdly begin and establish training of personnel annually and finally begin a
process of cultural change that would help the organization to overcome workforce difficulties and
conflicts. Chief executives proved their commitment to the consulting project and gave the funding
budget of it. They also allowed external consultants to take as much time as they wanted and have
access to any kind of documents relevant to the organization. As the objectives of the organization
development in 3Data were a matter of human resources, consultants chose as their main client
the human resource director of the company. The team that led the project included the two
external consultants and the human resource director. Before they begin to apply the changes they
reached to the following agreements: the team would not try to conduct cultural changes because
it would meet resistance and failure in short time; instead the technology development and human
resources issues would be resolved directly while cultural change would be conducted
simultaneously in slower tempo.
Human resource director and the two external consultants agreed to assign the
development of equipment (hardware & software) to the service department of the organization.
Furthermore, they asked chief executives to fund hardware and software development. The half of
employees in service department were assigned to install the new hardware and software
equipment. After the installation, the organization was equipped with high-technology personal
computers with powerful characteristics for each one of the employees. They installed the last
version of software programs in each one of the new personal computers including programming,
system and application software. They also installed a newer version of data backup software as
the organization have faced some problems in the past.
Additionally the consulting team decided to provide the following motives to the
employees: health and safety services and free adsl service. To ensure the safety and health
conditions in the workplace, the consulting team added to organization’s personnel an
occupational doctor and a safety engineer. This change aimed to minimize occupational hazards
and prevent employees from occupational accidents and diseases by taking the necessary
precautions. Consulting team took some measures to improve working conditions pursuant to the
recommendations of external consultants in cooperation with the whole personnel of the
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organization. Furthermore, the consulting team added an additional function in the company
statute according to which, all employees since then will be informed about working precautionary
measures at regular basis by technician and doctor during their work.
Moreover, consultants helped to the direction of installing an educational program for the
organization’s staff which includes participation in training seminars and international conferences.
As part of the training program implemented for the first time in 2008, there were educational
activities in the innovative technologies topic which included training in new technologies and in the
modern information systems topic that included training of employees in management systems and
applications. The long-term purpose of training was the implementation of an integrated and
flexible information system to serve organization’s needs. The long-term purpose of employees’
training helped to build feelings of confidence to the employees and they felt part of the process.
This process made a contribution to the broader target of consulting team which was to change
organizational culture.In addition, after the suggestion by the consulting team, the organization
gives free home ADSL connections to all employees. In this way, employees will use the modern
methods of internet access to enjoy the benefits of using broadband internet in terms of
information search and information and communication.
Regarding organizational culture, the structure of the company was hierarchical and
autocratic which meant that the departments of the organization could not participate in
organization’s strategy and final decisions were made by chief executives. The consulting team
targeted organizational culture to change it into democratic and participative. This process faced
some difficulties because Greek culture has high score of power distance and employees expect
there to be inequality in the workplace. Simultaneously, the consultants tried to bring gender
equality in the workplace as women used to work fewer hours than men. They proposed that the
whole staff should work equally in order to increase organization’s effectiveness and formed a new
flexible work timetable which is followed since 2008. Prior to the consulting process, there was not
collaboration between the departments of the organization, and external consultants in a team
meeting showed to human resource director the advantages of departments collaboration through
communication.
With the assistance of external consultants, employees felt that they were “playing equally
on the field” , and also benefited by the human resource developments (health service, adsl). The
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structured methods of work eased significantly, and every employee treated one another with
respect. The willingness of chief executives to fund the consulting process helped a lot to the
improvement of the organization in order to be able to survive within a competitive environment.
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References
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