Organizational Change and Development

A) Review and understanding of the present state: Logical first step is to understand the present status of the organisation in terms of its work culture, values and motivation patterns. For this, interviewing of key or randomly selected personnel in all the heirarchical strata , questionnaire survey if required and study of previous management reports on the subject will be done with full concurrence of the management.
Expected Time for the activity: Five to Six Mandays

B) Presentation to Top Management the status based on step A, our diagnosis and intervention strategies: Based on the above work, a detailed analysis and presentation of the present status will be done for top management. The presentation will include our diagnosis of the situation, alternative intervention strategies to move forward and management's views on the same.
Expected Time for the activity: One to two mandays

C) Detailed formulation of Organisation Development Plan in consultation with top management: This is a crucial step and involves high level of interaction with the management. A pilot project may be taken up initially and based on its feedback organisation wide interventions can be then implemented. The interventions can be any of the following: training programmes, system changes such as reward/recognition programmes, communication patterns changes, feedback surveys, structural suggestions, individual counselling, career development plans, Role clarity workshops and so on.
Expected Time for the activity: Four mandays for formulation and undetermined for pilot project and detailed implementation.

D) Implementation strategies and plan including periodic reviews of progress: A very crucial component of the implementation strategy is development of Internal Change Agents who will be trained as the flag bearers of this progressive initiative organisation wide. This step is also necessary to make the organisation not depend on our expertise forever and be independent within suitable timeframe that may vary from organisation to organisation depending on factors such as size, support of top management, and success of various interventions.
The details of the above plan will be worked out in due course.
Expected Time for the activity : Can not be determined at this stage.

E) Gradual reduction and exit programme of consultation : It is our value, as stated above, not to make the organisation dependent on us. It will be our endeavour to gradually reduce our involvement and finally exit at an appropriate time. Final exit may mean very nominal involvement and not complete termination. This timetable can be set up with mutual agreement depending on the status on the ground. We expect our involvement to be anywhere between 18 to 36 months.

Organization is a group of people who have come together to deliver services and/or products which meet some need of the consumers. Organization survives, grows and prospers when revenues are much more than the cost of producing and delivering these products and services.

Since organizations have to perform many tasks to deliver the products and services, these tasks are performed by employees in collaboration with each other and the outside system of markets and government. Besides, these tasks have a hierarchy of difficulty and complexity and hence the employees have to have the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) or competencies to deliver the same hence there is likely to be hierarchy in power structure and distribution of rewards (both economic and social/political). In the modern capitalistic society that we operate in, there are huge hierarchies with large disparities in distribution of power and rewards. In different economic structures, this may vary but hierarchies in terms of power will most likely remain.

Now let’s look at the group dynamics of the organization. The various behavioural processes of groups are: communication, decision making, leadership, conflicts, cliques, interpersonal relationships & intimacies, power plays between members and subgroups. All these can be categorized under task-based processes and maintenance-based processes.

All the above occur in the context of Culture, Systems and Strategies followed by the organization.

1. Each group/organization has a culture with its norms, rituals, ways of doing things, which is the context under which the entire group dynamics operates.

2. Similarly, for performance of the tasks of the group there have to be systems and processes, both lose and highly disciplined.

3. And finally, there has to be robust process of making strategic choices to invest various resources of men’s time, money and materials in the pursuit of the organizations’ objectives, vision and mission.

The best results can be expected:

● When all of the employees are motivated and give their best. That is, their competencies are being fully put to use in the service of organization tasks delivery;

● When, as a team or group, their energies and actions are synergized;

● When there is a competent leadership to give direction of the above energies in the choices of kinds of services and products the organization wants to deliver ( Strategies);

● When the group or team has the resources, either internal or external, to self-correct or heal or rectify the organization systems, processes, culture, strategies whenever there is derailment in attaining objectives of the organization

Since employees are thinking-feeling human beings, they come to meet variety of needs during their working with organizations. There may be many processes operating in the organization that blocks them from building and using their competencies to the full extent. Also there might be many internal processes within an employee that may block him or her as well as other employees from doing so. Thus intra, inter and group dynamics may alone or in combination be responsible for the derailment in attaining organization objectives.

Ability to diagnose above issues and take corrective action is where a Behaviour Science or Organization Development Expert maybe required. So, for diagnoses, what all has to be seen?

1. Leadership: their values and competence in leading the organization, for instance, setting its goals, vision and mission, their commitment and motivation and competence for setting & executing strategies for the organization for instance, lack of synergy or dispersion of energies of employees in diverse directions due to improper leading;

2. Culture I: Achievement, Power, Affiliation or Extension model to understand where the energies are focused

3. Culture -II: Values of the organization which will determine the flavor of various important systems like reward and punishment, communications, decision making, conflict resolution, grievances management and other systems

4. Competencies of the employees at top and second (team leads, department heads) level of the management

5. Management Structure, Systems and Processes: whether they are facilitating or hindering the task performance

6. Blocks at feelings level in employees: Fear, Authority Issues, Hurts, Marginalization, Locked in dysfunctional power conflicts, etc.

7. Resource (Finances, Human Resources etc.) Constraints in meeting essential requirements leading to conflicts between subgroups for resources etc.

8. ‘Group Maintenance Issues’ management which relates to blocks due to conflicts and undealt feelings which may hinder inter group collaboration

OD competencies of diagnoses and interventions to deal with the same are required if the organization has to perform optimally. OD competencies involve deep understanding and skills of Group Dynamics, Personal Psychology, Leadership and other behavioural processes. In sum, how to make an organization team perform to its potential, most of the time, as well as build its muscle power for greater achievement of its objectives is an enormous task which a leader without OD expertise (inhouse or outside consultant) may not be able to deliver. No wonder, most of the large and small organizations perform sub-optimally primarily due to their ignorance of OD competencies requirement in managing organizations.

Research paper title: Power of Behavioural Science Based Interventions to Transform Organisations

Author’s Name: Pradeep Prakash, our chief consultant

Lessons learned in Institution Building- A Case Study

Power of Behavioural Science Based Interventions to Transform Organisations

The following paper has been prepared to share my learning of an OD experience. It is focussed on the practical aspects getting consulting assignment to acceptability of consultant to final impact on the team. There is no formal research based experiments or data collection involved. It does not purport to be a rigorous paper in terms of research. However its practical utility from the standpoint of practitioner is high.

This is about my experience of a one of the top five Biotechnology companies in India. I came to know about MD’s mobile number and informed him about our services. He was open to our communications wherein we introduced via email about our variety of training programmes. This was followed by a quiet period and then suddenly one day after about two weeks email arrived giving me appointment. In our meeting, he wanted to know and judge my depth while I wanted to tell him the benefits of our services and training programmes. He found our offerings of interest and wanted to try it out. One can guess his view from this particular statement: “Proof of the pudding is in eating”. Meeting lasted about 15 minutes and this was followed by his referring me to his R & D Plant head. From then on R & D head interacted with me. His attitude was that one can always learn, “Nobody is a chikna ghada”. However, he himself being a scientists’ trainer he thought that after one training they can see what it is and then do the same themselves. I chose the training path of entry rather than survey and interviewing because of following reasons:

1. One gets to know each other better during the informal atmosphere created during training;
2. Better rapport is formed with all the executives who can then share more honestly and frankly about the state of affairs;
3. This builds the credibility of the consultant and later on also executives relate better which helps the OD effort;
4 If the programme succeeds, it makes for an excellent entry into the organisation for the consultant. He is accepted as someone who is there to help executives and not harm them.
5. Consultant gets to know variety of group processes operating in the team including cliques, informal groups and issues bugging the group or subgroups.

Training Programmes:

Design considerations and learning agenda:

1. Empowerment through Responsibility
2. Emotional intelligence
3. Interpersonal relations: Feedback based learning as the team members know each other well
4. Here and Now generated data for learning and changing

Why I chose these themes? People succeed by taking responsibility and blaming is the major human drawback which affects performance and relationships. Emotional coping and management is the major effectiveness dimensions in learning, growth and change. Thirdly, at work setting interpersonal relations effectiveness is the chief source of job performance and satisfaction. Lastly ‘here and now’ is the most potent change methodology.

1. Since the leader of the team was secure and very intelligent, the programme was a great hit. If the leader is insecure like the one in an International Organisation we had consulted, even if the programme is hit it does not proceed further due to fears and insecurities awakened during the experiential programme as one’s weaknesses come out in the open. Hence secure leader is a must for OD process to move deeper and wider.

2. Interpersonal issues are important but they do not get their due recognition formally in day to day management. When such issues are brought out in the open and thrashed with frankness and authenticity, it leads to group catharsis releasing enormous amount of goodwill and closeness creating a cohesive group.

3. People realised the value of human relations processes work.

4. Many group processes operating in the team became clear. For instance: Task orientated leadership, leadership style ( leader led group- leader dependence), presence of cliques and its membership, in-group and out-group members, second rung leadership, decision making processes, and culture in terms of OCTAPACE dimensions etc.

5. Individual’s issues, strengths and weaknesses were apparent during the training process. That is executive’s basic personality profile is assessed.

6. Motivational profile comes out in the open. In this case team is primarily achievement oriented followed by power and affiliation orientation respectively.

7. In terms of demographic profile, majority of scientists are in the age group of 25 to 30 and hence settling down in their careers. They are motivated to build their careers and at the same time need to hone their team skills. They do require proper mentoring in technical and management aspects. A proper mentoring programme needs to be build up for them;

8. Performance management through stress management is another intervention that can be designed for them. How exactly this can be operationalised needs to be worked out.

9. Measurement parameters of progress in terms such as number of interpersonal conflicts, productivity & initiative , absenteeism & turnover, innovations and patents etc have to be documented;

10. Female workforce is about 35 to 40%. Some of them have low achievement drive due to cultural factors which can be taken up as a group issue and resolved.

11. Development of Emotional literacy is another important agenda for group growth and individual’s growth for the benefit of the organisation.

The entire team is relating and behaving as if some catharsis has happened. About one third of the team is totally devoted to the change process and is fully involved with the initiatives. About 50 percent are experiencing the difference but emotional engagement is not yet 100%. Rest are indifferent or even antagonistic.

Overall the team is spreading the word around in other divisions about these programmes and leadership is experiencing positive changes in initiative, responsibility taking, emotional engagement, belongingness and productivity. Though these parameters have not been quantified in data. This seems to be an area of improvement; how to measure the results quantitatively?

It made me realise the power of behavioural science based training and intervention for the transformation of organisations as well as individuals’. Though the interventions were of two to three days duration, despite that the impact has been phenomenal. My faith in the cultural dimensions of openness, confrontation, trust, proactivity, autonomy, authenticity, collaboration, and experimentation has gone up.

Introduction:

Every organisation, whether new or old, acquires a particular climate which can be felt by anyone who comes in contact with the organization. Climate affects most deeply the people who work for it. The smell and flavour of mountains is different from the sea beach or the desert. One starts experiencing the same as soon as one is coming near the mountains or beaches or deserts. Same holds true for organisation climate.

Here are few concrete experiences from my consulting experience which give some flavour of the climate in these organisations:

This is a semi government organisation in Madhya Pradesh under the control of a ministry in the state. It has a strength of about 200 persons of which about 50 are executives and rest is staff. As soon as one enters the office premises there are clearly two well demarcated areas. One area that has offices of Director General (DG), Executive Director(ED), reception and conference. This area is neat and clean with floor tiles and good light fittings. Another area is of old world dilapidated partitions full of dust and grime that houses rest of the executives and staff. There is an air of ease and unhurried pace all around the place. People walk in for office from 10.30am till 12.00pm whereas the office opening time is 10am.DG and ED are both holding additional charge therefore they come for one to three hours only in a day. Some of the executives have been waiting for their promotions for more than ten years. Most of their time is spent in socialising within the office in their small subgroups/cliques where office politics and service benefits remain the principal agenda of discussion. In my personal interview with these executives their promotions, rivalry and backbiting was on top of their mind. Few of the court cases against each other and against the managements are pending. Many applications under RTI Act are filed to get routine information. Most of the people have been with the organisation for almost twenty years and are likely to retire from here only in another few years .Some of them shared that they feel miserable on getting up in the morning as they dread coming to the office where the work experience is totally unrewarding and office politics energy sapping. In their perception, situation seems to be in control of some people at the top while the rest of the people are victims of their fates. Yet they are going to work here only as it provides them a job security and monthly income to keep their home fires burning. This is a painful example of alienation of people at work places! I am not sure I have captured the agony of these people the way I have experienced it but suffice it to say that climate of an organisation has direct bearing on the well being of the employees. Here is the irony: young university pass outs working on temporary assignments were too eager to get permanent job here!

Take another case: This is a private enterprise involved in training of children and adults based out of Gurgaon. It has a strength of 50 persons spread at all levels and mostly between 25 and 45 years of age. The entire place has a modern look and employees are in the office before the official opening time of 9am. Each one is seen busy with his/her work and one gets a sense of belonging, courtesy and respect for each individual in the climate. They get a healthy lunch in a neat cafeteria which again is a place of lively discussions about work as well as social and personal issues. Each one is continually given opportunity to extend their boundaries in professional spheres. Employee turnover is about 5% which is below industry standards. Achievements counts more than empty status symbols and their market share is constantly growing. Top management is bullish about their future. This is in absolute contrast with the example above.

Take a third case: This is an educational institute of higher learning in New Delhi. This illustrates how with the change of Director the climate of the work place changed. Before the new director took over, promotions were long overdue, no new recruitment had taken place in last 12 years, office politics had totally vitiated the atmosphere. Actually it was very similar to the case one above. After the new director took over, the climate is steadily changing from non-caring to caring attitude towards staff and faculty. People are moving away from status orientation to achievement orientation in terms of paper publications in journals & starting new courses as well as revising of syllabus. Open and authentic communication is replacing fearful and suspicious atmosphere where information sharing was avoided. Quick grievance handling processes are in place. Once again one can sense enthusiasm and energy in people for their work.

Wide variations in work climate are possible depending o variety of factors that we shall discuss here. This paper focuses on various human processes that influence organization’s climate and what makes for a conducive work climate. Objective is to understand and learn about these and then apply them to enhance work climate whenever we have an opportunity to do so.

Climate Influencing Factors:

A simple model to understand climate focuses on four fundamental factors that influence it. These are as under:

1. How people are treated: the attitude of management towards employees: A good climate will come about when employees feel respected and cared for, have growth and development opportunities, feel fairly rewarded and treated, and can be their real selves without having to put up masks. Management and staff treat people with respect and dignity. People are considered most important assets of the organisation. This may lead to greater sense of belonging with the organisation and pride in being its employee. There will be much less stress due to cliquing and politicking and petty quarrels. Employees are part of decision making that affects their lives and feel empowered to influence decisions and policies. People are not afraid to make mistakes because mistakes are hard knocks of lessons to be used and learnt from. People can raise issues as problems are confronted and not escaped from. Healthy conflict amongst employees is not only tolerated but encouraged so that issues are resolved and not brushed under the carpet. Good climate is also engendered when management makes sure that integrity is an important value and ensures that people behave ethically. When such climate exists here is no need for people to be defensive and this enables a game free interpersonal relationships amongst employees based on authentic interactions. All the above build high level of trust and support amongst people which makes an environment very light, healthy and conducive to high achievements.

2. Motivational Orientation ( Power, Achievement, Extension, Affiliation) : Organisational climate is also distinguished by its motivational orientation. For instance the climate in an Indian government office is one of power, influence, status symbol based and control as seen by styles of offices and behaviour of officers. Contrast this with that of a high performing business enterprise where achievement, business shares and excellence is the theme of all interactions and decisions. And if we look at climate in social organisations like Rotary Club, the main theme is fellowship, networking and affiliation. Or take the case of a service oriented organisation like UN. They are focussed on welfare for the world. Depending upon the motivational orientation, the climate develops and affects the people who are its employees, customers or stake holders.

3. Values ( Rational, Traditional, Opportunistic): Different organisations can also be distinguished from the flavour of their values. Whether they are adapting a rational, modern, progressive, open to change values or are traditional in their approach. Or contrast this with the climate of an unethical setup where their only concern is following their vested interests irrespective of its impact on the society. For instance Military Dictatorships.

4. Norms and beliefs: Last , but not least, norms are the small rules of behaviour that affect climate drastically. For instance, how mistakes are treated, how rewards and punishment is given, how dishonesty is dealt with, how deviant behaviour is confronted and set right, how decisions are taken, how easily approachable the bosses are, how conflicts are managed , what are the common modes of communication and so on. All these norms ultimately affect the favourableness of the climate.

Moving from simple fundamental factors, let’s understand how we actually experience climate. Following dimensions of human processes indicate the climate of an organisation:

1. Level of trust and support
2. Manner of dealing with feelings of individuals and group
3. Absence of defensive behaviour in people
4. Authentic relationships amongst people
5. Dispensation of rewards and punishment
6. Ethical Behaviour
7. Opportunities for growth and development of employees
8. Easy accessibility of people in general and top management in particular
9. Levels of experimentation and innovation or risk taking
10. The way in which conflicts and problems are handled
11. Participation in decision making and sense of empowerment
12. Mistake management
13. Motivational orientation
14. Interpersonal relationships amongst employees
15. Openness and transparency in actions and communication
16. Openness to change

It is not easy to implement and it requires high level of leadership and commitment to bring about such a climate. However, if we understand and value it, it is possible to achieve it by bringing about growth in the people who work in the organisation. It is a win-win for people: they grow as well as the organisation grows.