Organization: Organizational Effectiveness and Development

OED Interventions

"Structured activities" (sometimes involving multiple action) focused on the same objective, to improve organizational performance. Include the tools to examine the issue and the change/solution that will be implemented.

Intervention Objectives

-Define the expectations. -Help to avoid conflicts and disappointments. -Must be related to the needs of the organization, intervention stakeholders, and the OED team. -Should conform to the SMARTER criteria: S-Specific M-Measurable A-Attainable R-Relevant T-Timebound E-Evaluated R-Revised

Leader's Role: Communicating Change

-Explain the change and why it is needed. -Be truthful about its benefits and challenges. -Listen/respond to employees' reactions/feedback. -Ask and work for employees' commitment.

Problem-Solving Approach

-Explore the decision to be made fully: all influences need to be understood. -Generate multiple options, define criteria for an effective choice, and analyze each. -Select the best solution and implement it. -Evaluate the decision and the decision-making process when outcomes are clear.

Mechanistic vs. Organic Organizations

-Highly specialized, hierarchical, and formal organization. Vs. -Flexible approach to structure with less distinct job boundaries and fewer decision makers.

Talent Development Interventions

-Identify talent needs: review job descriptions, clarify performance standards, compare skill set inventories, identify competency deficiencies. -Develop existing staff: determine if adequate staffing exists, coordinate selection processes, develop workforce development initiatives to grow internal technical/functional and management capabilities and behavioral practices. -Build talent pool: establish a comprehensive performance management program, measure performance objectively and regularly; develop coaching/mentoring programs, identify key positions for succession planning.

OED Strategy Components

-Include the correct number and type of interventions: may require multiple, different interventions. -Aimed at the correct audiences: managers, teams, individual employees, etc. -Sequenced and scheduled for maximum effectiveness: may be staged over an extended period of change.

Supporting Change: HR's Role

-Involve everyone: People are more likely to accept what they have participated in creating. -Use the Communication competency. -Recognize emotional reactions to change. -Create a vision: provide specific examples of how the change will improve the organization. -Making sure that the change is fair. -Building required performance: through employee behaviors and building confidence in the change.

Communication Pitfalls

-Leadership does not get involved: news trickles down to employees vs. a clear, universal, and consistent message to everyone. -The wrong messengers are used: employees trust information from managers; the organization's culture will indicate the best messenger; middle and front-line managers are the primary communicators. -Communication is too sudden: prepare employees for change, allow time for the message to sink in, and give an opportunity for feedback. -Communication is too late: HR needs to be involved early to help motivate employees to participate in the change and manage anxieties. -Communication is not aligned with organizational realities: messages must be honest and include the "why" behind the change. -Communication is too narrow: must link change to the organization's goals or it will not resonate with employees.

Sustaining Change Principles

-Maintain continuous vigilance and reinforcement of the new behaviors. -Model a positive approach to problem solving. -Identify and resolve unanticipated conflicts with existing systems and processes.

OED Metrics

-Metrics should be used to measure the effectiveness of the OED change effort itself. -Eventually, the impact of the change should be noted in the metrics the organization uses to measure performance (financial, quality, time to market, innovative practices, customer satisfaction).

Sustaining Change: Tactics

-Periodic team meetings: support problem solving; reinforce initiatives. -"Sensing" meetings: monitoring reactions and attitudes throughout the organization. -Periodic intergroup meetings: evaluate/improve new collaborative processes. -Dedicated renewal conferences: leaders come together to evaluate interventions from a strategic perspective. -Goal-directed performance reviews: clarify expectations; institutionalize change in performance expectations. -Periodic third-party assessments: objective assessment of the effectiveness of the change. -Rewards: align rewards and recognition with new performance goals.

Organizational Design: HR Role

-Provide leaders within structural diagnosis by identifying root-causes of performance issues. -Help leaders evaluate a range of clear design options. -Ensure leaders align design decisions with short and long-term strategic goals. -Help leaders understand their roles and responsibilities as it relates to implementation. -Continually monitor the structure for alignment with the organization's strategy. -Plan for internal/external resources to deliver short or long term development interventions and activities.

Managing Group Dynamics

-Recognize the need for both task and social roles. -Quickly identify and correct dysfunctional roles. -Understand the usefulness of certain roles at certain points in the group process; make sure they are present when needed and managed when they obstruct progress.

OED: ROI

-Returns: average value of increased production or service units; increased quality of units, proficiency; reduced occurrence of errors/accidents/waste/damage/repetition/downtime; reduced absenteeism; improved customer relationships. -Investments: costs of delivery and lost opportunities; invested vs. time spent; reputation; relationships.

Presenting Feedback

-Review research findings and recommendations with a few key, internal individuals before presenting to the entire group. -Prepare for different audience reactions: denial, anger, bargaining (someone else's problem), depression/doubt, and acceptance. -Help the audience move through the stages of grief by acknowledging/validating their reactions, providing the necessary information, and emphasizing (with optimism) what can be done to achieve the goal.

Group Decision Making Tools

-SWOT Analysis: identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. -Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA): identify critical characteristics of a successful decision; matrix used to score alternatives and compare results. -Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA): quantifiable and non-quantifiable benefits are divided by direct and indirect costs of implementing each alternative. -Force-Field Analysis: analyze the forces favoring and opposing a particular change.

Analyzing Data

-Sort data into categories: affinity diagrams are useful - used to gather a large amount of data and group into similar themes. -Plot statistical data: to identify common issues and data that appears to be a statistical "outlier". -Conduct root-cause analysis: for each significant issue identified, using a cause-effect diagram to identify problem areas. General causes relate to work environment, the process, and the people involved. -Determine if data is trending in a certain direction: look for frequency and severity of events against time; emerging or rapidly growing issues take priority. -Obtain multiple perspectives: internal colleagues that have not been assigned to the intervention, third-party consultants, and/or HR's networks (if the intervention is not sensitive or confidential).

Providing Feedback

-Stakeholders involved/impacted by the OED intervention need to understand the problem as well as the OED specialists. -Data must be summarized and made available in an oral presentation and/or written report. -Provide expert advice about the significance of the data and directions for action.

Effective OED Interventions

-Strategically aligned. -Collaborative.* -Supported by top management.* -Produce sustainable results. -Support continuous improvement. -Use common tools. -Use common language. -Explicit assumptions. -Fact-based. -Oriented toward systems and processes. -Flexible. -Multiple perspectives.

Culture Intervention Steps

1-Describe the current culture: observe language (expressions/metaphors) used and leadership/decision-making styles; map communication paths and choices, identify meaningful behaviors (rituals), and gather evidence of values in action. 2-Identify the aspirational culture: research existing data and interview key leaders to define the desired cultural traits. 3-Identify gaps and conflicts: in performance, employee engagement, and employer brand. 4-Develop change initiatives: correcting managers, aligning rewards systems with desired behaviors, create new cultural rituals and identify new heroes, place greater emphasis on leader behavior.

Planning an OED Project

1-Identifying and involving stakeholders: involve those involved in, or affected by changes of the intervention; include them in data gathering and designing solutions to get their "buy-in". 2-Defining achievable intervention objectives: critical to maintain organization's confidence in the process and show HR's value. 3-Plan appropriate ways to gather information: data set must be large enough to support reliability and reflect multiple perspectives to avoid bias.

5 Characteristics of Data Analysis

1-Relevance: focus only on the issues related to the original direction of the intervention. Significant issues that aren't relevant can be described as items for future consideration. 2-Influenceable or Manageable: target conditions that can realistically be changed based on the organization's environment, resources, and receptiveness to change. 3-Fact-based and Objective: describe the problem neutrally, referring to examples and statistics to avoid blame. 4-Selective: recommend areas of focus based on data findings by frequency and impact on strategic performance; avoid too many points of action. 5-Sufficient and Specific: provide information that is specific enough to support action; avoid generalities.

Team Building

A series of activities designed to help team members examine how they function now and how they could function better. Addresses (1) what they do or create together and (2) how they work together. Goal is on early identification and solution of problems.

RACI Chart

A type of responsibility assignment matrix that describes the resources needed for the task and their role for that task using the following descriptors: R-Responsible: employee(s) performing the task. A-Accountable: employee in charge of the task and answers to management. C-Consult: employee(s) providing advice or information necessary to perform the task. I-Inform: employee(s) informed about the task, but do not perform or consult. Used to define roles and responsibilities of each member in the organizational structure.

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)

Approach to determining the financial impact of an organization's activities and programs on profitability, through a process of data or calculation comparing value created against the cost of creating that value.

Change Readiness

Before developing OED plans, consider and assess the organization's, group's, or individual's readiness to change. Questions to consider: -What is the nature of the change and expected duration? -Key milestones associated with the change? -What language and cultural factors will impact the change? -What fears might people have about the change? -How much resistance is anticipated, and from whom? -How will the organization deal with a temporary drop in productivity that may results from the change?

Four Stages of Group/Team Development

Bruce Tuckman 1-Forming: individuals come together around a common activity/shared goals; low levels of trust, commitment, and communication. 2-Storming: individuals move past politeness; higher levels of conflict and dissent, but more communication. 3-Norming: build trust and establish relationships; growing sense of common direction, defined responsibilities and processes. This stage can lead to "groupthink" where members adopt the same positions and reject views from "outsiders". 4-Performing: group becomes fully productive and self-directing.

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)

Decision-making tool in which a team determines critical characteristics of a successful decision; a matrix is used to score each alternative and compare results.

Work Specialization

Degree to which tasks are performed as separate jobs. -Can result in boredom and lack of quality and hamper collaboration/innovation.

Organizational Design

Elements that support an organization's functioning, including: -Mission and vision; strategies it's pursuing. -The way decisions are made. -The way information is communicated. -The processes used to perform work. -The systems used to align the organization's needs with the resources required to fill those needs (HR, physical/financial assets, knowledge/expertise).

Formalization

Extent to which rules, policies, and procedures govern the behavior of employees in the organization. -Effective when uniformity is an imperative, for reasons of compliance or when there is low tolerance for variations. -Become ingrained in an organization's culture and can be difficult to change. -Restricts employees' ability to respond to unusual situations; stifles creativity/innovation.

Team Building Activities

Focus on the following: -Goals and priorities of the team and engaging stakeholders. -Role and responsibility of each team member. -Processes for team activities: inputs-requirements-outputs. -Interpersonal relationships within the team.

OED Process Model

Four-step process, managing change throughout: 1-Define the Problem: Information gathering; collect data (from all who are affected by the issue) to define the gap between desired and actual performance and identify possible causes for the gap. 2-Design and Implement Solution: define objectives and an appropriate tactic for development, involving those affected by the change. Utilize traditional project management skills to direct/control the initiative. 3-Measure Effectiveness: determine if the objectives have been met and if the change has had the desired strategic impact; make plans for improvement. 4-Sustain Improvement: monitors activity and provides guidance on how the changes can be reinforced/become institutionalized.

Decision-Making Authority

How decisions are made within an organization. -May be centralized (at headquarters) or decentralized (delegated to other parts of the organization).

Proactive OED Interventions

Identify and correct potential problems before they begin affecting performance, and/or prepare the organization to take advantage of anticipated opportunities.

Three Types of Roles in Groups

Kenneth Benne and Paul Sheats proposed: -Task Roles: help get the work done; propose solutions or collaborate in group problem solving. -Social Roles: maintain relationships and positive group function. -Dysfunctional Roles: weaken the group and reduce productivity by attacking others, dominating conversations, resisting ideas and overall negativity.

Layers of Hierarchy

Layers of an organization ranging from the CEO the employee in a function. -Trend is to reduce the number of layers and waste within organizations; flatter, more efficient organizations with fewer staff support positions. -Key metric of organizational efficiency: ratio of direct to indirect employees.

Organizational Interventions

Look at how the structure of the organization is helping or hindering its strategic progress. Required when the organization: -Fails to meet it strategic objectives because of an inefficient/ineffective structure. -Has changed its competitive strategies and needs to develop new skills and traits.

Remedial OED Interventions

Make changes that bring an organization back on course toward its strategic goals.

Team/Unit Interventions

OED interventions focused on processes and interactions within and between teams; often triggered by reports of poor performance (unresolved conflict, poor leadership, poor communication).

Functional Structure

Organizational structure in which departments are defined by the services they contribute to the organization's overall mission, such as marketing and sales, operations, and HR. -Most common organizational structure. -All employees - no matter what products they are working on - report to a single location. -Good for economies of scale; easy to understand. -Weaker grasp of broader organizational issues.

Product Structure

Organizational structure in which functional departments are grouped under major product divisions. -Each division reports to headquarters and has its own marketing, sales, manufacturing, HR, and finance functions. -Good for economies of scale and cross-functional communication. -Requires employing more staff; weak customer focus.

Geographic Structure

Organizational structure in which geographic regions define the organizational chart. -Each geographic division reports to headquarters and has its own marketing, sales, manufacturing, HR, and finance functions. -Allows for cross-functional communication, localization, and quicker response time. -Requires employing more staff; potential for quality control issues.

Matrix Structure

Organizational structure that combines departmentalization by division and function to gain the benefits of both; results in some employees reporting to two managers rather than one, with neither manager assuming a superior role. -Form of a hybrid structure. -Balances standardization and localization; good for global organizations -Complex structure with unclear lines of authority.

Front-Back Structure

Organizational structure that divides an organization into "front" functions, which focus on customers or market groups, and "back" functions, which design and develop products and services. -Form of a hybrid structure. -Provides high level of customer service and organizational flexibility. -May create conflicts between front and back functions.

Hybrid Structure

Organizational structure that mixes elements of the functional, product, and geographic structures.

Organizational Development (OD)

Process of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization and the well-being of its members through planned interventions. Focuses on the performance of the entire organization, assessing: 1-Efficiency in using resources to create value. 2-Effectiveness in achieving its strategic goals.

Span of Control

Refers to the number of individuals who report to a supervisor. -Flat organizations have many subordinates reporting to a few supervisors; decisions are communicated/implemented more quickly. -When too large, can slow the decision-making process.

Greiner's Five Phases of Organizational Growth

Size of organization moves from small to large through each phase. Age of organization moves from young to mature at each phase. Phase 1: Creativity: Leadership; emerge from the chaos to provide direction the the young company. Phase 2: Direction: Autonomy; organization becomes larger/more complex; delegation of responsibilities. Phase 3: Delegation: Control; having delegated power, loss of control. Decide to centralize authority or coordinate centers of power. Phase 4: Coordination: Red Tape; processes discourage action/innovation; headquarters may be out of touch with local conditions. Phase 5: Collaboration: implement new organizational culture, processes, and policies/structures.

Chain of Command

The line of authority within an organization. -Growing less distinct in many organizations today; can appear lateral or web-like as decision-making authority moves downward.

Organizational Structure

The way in which work groups are related.

Force-Field Analysis

Type of analysis in which factors that can influence an outcome in either a negative or positive manner are listed and then assigned weights to indicate their relative strengths. -Analyzes the forces favoring and opposing a particular change.

Departmentalization

Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work.

Staff Units

Work groups that assist line units by providing specialized services, such as HR.

Line Units

Work groups that conduct the major business of an organization. Examples: production or marketing.