Organizational Development Essay

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

According to the integrative case "B.R. Richardson timber Products Corporation" we will work out a report with theoretical approaches and practical proposals in order to achieve organizational change within this firm.

First we want to suggest a model and a prospect to entering in contract with the Corporation.

For guiding our report work we stick to the General Model of Planned Change. This Model provides 4 steps of granting a Change and Improvement by addressing the tasks of Entering and Contracting, followed by Diagnosing, Planning and Implementing Change and finally Evaluating and Institutionalizing Change. We will begin through suggesting and guiding the Entering Process.

1.

Before both sides the OD practitioners and the Management of the B.R. Richardson Corp. are starting with any measurements or activities they have to clearly clarify the organizational issues. This is useful and important according to the aspects of providing a similar and shared basement for cooperation, exactly defined duties, rules and responsibilities as well as setting common goals. The entering process often means to the client organization a kind of opening, revealing internal issues and weaknesses to strangers. This concerns and attitude of rejection must be unlearned previously in order to build a trustful and strong relationship of working together with the consultants.

The first step is clarifying the organizational issues. Within this task the client organization should present their problem on a concrete but illustrating way in a first meeting. Furthermore the symptoms related to the problem must be revealed and discussed. Applying this to the case their problem seen of the company point of view is:

The main problem is the company's president wanted to solve was the low motivation of his employees, the fatality which happened a few months ago and the authoritative character of the plant manager. Richardson was searching for someone to conduct a "motivation course" for the blue-collar employees.

But in many cases the presenting problem is only a symptom of an underlying problem. The issue facing the organization must be clarified early in the OD process. So here we think the motivation problem is just a consequence of a deeper problem, because this lack must me driven by other factors. Therefore we need to gain a clearer perspective through determining the relevant client. We recommend collecting preliminary data. Here would be a meeting with key persons of the company appropriate. The aim of this measure is to examine record and interviews in order to understand their organization, its context and the nature of the problem. This was done by the OD practitioner jet and helped to negotiate about the issues regarding the contracting process. Furthermore here defining the relevant client is more complex because it cannot readily be addressed in a single unit. The perception of client must include members from different unit and from different hierarchical levels. Regarding this the key persons / members must be sought out, who are important and necessary for the change. Besides that their relationships are critical tool. So we found out that the main people of working power and authority are: Ben Richardson (president), Joe Bamford (Manager), Richard Bowman, Dirk Vorhees, Rolf Dunbar, John Waltson, Ron Baker, Bob Griffith, ...

Concerning the authority we can yet say that the head of the company has a strong autocratic way of leadership and influence / power in the company, to which the others have to adapt.

Actually now an appropriate and experienced consultant, who gets empathy and trust within the company should be selected. In this case this step is superfluous, because the job is already assigned.

Done this steps the elements of an effective contract must be defined and agreed. One piece of content is the goals of the proposed effort. Further components are the recommended action plan, specifications of responsibilities, strategy for achieving the desired state, fees, terms and conditions needed.

Appling this to the case we see following points:

Goal: Unfortunately the objectives are still not clear mentioned and fixed by the management of the company. They just more or less expressed what they want to reach (higher moral in the plant, better motivation, a less authoritative style of leadership) but did not state the overall goals and resulting goals of them. Further in the records it was mentioned that the "board of directors" is not even agreeing about common goals. Their considerations tend to lead in different directions.

Action Plan: motivation course, action research. Additionally a well-prepared project work plan is necessary.

Specifications in Responsibilities: We recommend including the board and leadership members of the organization during the time of change interventions in order to understand and guide the change. Besides that members of the different hierarchical levels and diversions should be involved.

Strategy: All participants should agree on a systematic approach of overall organizational development. The project includes: outcomes, overall activities, work plan, evaluation plan schedule, and role and responsibility plan.

Besides contract issues also interpersonal issues should be taken into consideration. The companies' members and participants should be willing to contribute vulnerable and give up the fear of losing control. Jack Lawler on the other hand should show empathy and identification with the organization.

2.

The next step of the General Model of Planned Change is the Diagnosing Process. Within this task we want to identify the theories or models to make a diagnostic in this company. Pros and cons will give us a clearer "picture" of which approach should be preferred. Then we will suggest what additional information should be collected too.

First there is the medical model of diagnosis, which suggests a model of organization change like a medical model of diagnosis: an organization seeks help from an OD practitioner, who examines the organization, finds causes of the problem and prescribes a solution. But this kind of model is NOT appropriate for a diagnosis in organizational development.

Negative aspects:

* To implement organizational change not necessarily something has to be wrong within the organization. Diagnosis can be problem orientated but also development orientated.

* Both, change agents and organization members should be involved in change process actively.