Organisation Design and Organisation Development - Essay Example

Organization development is the process by which the individuals of an organization develop themselves by learning and applying new ideas to develop the business. It is a systematic and planned organizational effort to improve the operational efficiency and strategic effectiveness to reach the short term goals. Researchers and practitioners of this area of strategic human resource management says that organizational development is the advanced learning and development process which is practiced to make changes in the basic attitude, beliefs, values policies and structure of the organization to adopt advanced technology, grab new market opportunities, minimize the external threats and challenges and have an effective control on all the stakeholders of the business. Therefore, organizational development is one of the most important practices that any organization needs to follow. But, it is very for the management to understand what OD is not because it is not practice of training and development, human resource development, group or team building. It is an organizational perspective but not any individual perspective. Therefore, main objective of organizational development policies is develop the organization as whole but not to develop an individual staff or to develop a specific division or team within the organization. The term organizational design is used to configure the structure, reward systems with the aim to create an effective organization and achieve the laid out business strategies. It can be stated as a continuous process and not as an acute event. An effectively designed organization contributes in keeping the work environment healthy and job can be done within a structured framework. Organizational development helps an organization to have improved performance on a sustainable basis. The OD practitioners should have strong democratic and humanistic approach to any change in the organization. A collaborative work environment and work culture is the key drive for OD intervention in an organization. Organizational development process involves a number of major interventions that include strategic diagnostic, evaluation of current and proposed strategies, critical thinking, change management, cultural changes, performance management, talent management, learning and development, customer service and sales effectiveness. Finally, organizational development practice believes that each and every areas of an organization is essential to build an advanced system that has strong impact on all internal and external environments where the organization functions. Literature Review According to Cummings and Worley (2014), organizational developments are significantly dependent on the various interventions. Interventions are highly required to eliminate any kind of limitations as far as the organizational developments are concerned. The authors have stated that organizational developments and interventions go side by side. Without interventions, OD initiatives are not possible. They have added that organizational development is a crucial factor for any organization and it is perfectly suitable for this case also. The authors have also stated that OD initiative is an effort to increase the organizational effectiveness and performances. They have categorically stated that planned interventions are the fundamental requirements for the OD initiatives. They have commented that OD initiatives are generally being taken for the long term business perspectives and for getting competitive business advantages (Cummings and Worley, 2014). According to Brown (2006), organizational development focuses towards the overall developments of the organization. According to the author, it requires OD interventions. He has stated that OD interventions intentionally discontinue the present statuesque of the organizations and tries to bring changes for the organizational betterment. He has commented that this intentional disruption in the present statuesque of the organization can bring positive or negative resistances. He also added that positive resistances are significantly productive for the OD initiatives while on the other hand negative resistances can be significant barriers for the OD interventions. According to the author, OD interventions have definite impacts on the organizational cultures. He also added OD interventions are being done according to needs and demands of the organizations and in most of the cases these two factors vary (Brown, 2006). According to McLean (2005), interventions are the starting points of the OD initiatives. The author has stated that OD initiatives are significantly important for the organizational profitability and long term business sustainability. He also added that with the help of OD initiatives various organizations across the world try to create competitive advantages. He also stated that this initiative over the years have gained significant popularity in the business world. He further added that behind successful OD initiatives there must be suitable OD interventions. It is being observed by the author that OD interventions are comprehensively dependent on the several factors. Competency of the organizational members is an important factor for OD initiatives. The author has also stated that organizational development initiatives and OD interventions are closely related with each other (McLean, 2005). According to Rothwell, Stavros, Sullivan and Sullivan (2009), intervention is a planned effort for brining any kind of changes in the organizations. The authors also have stated that with the help of this intentional disruption organizational development and organizational restructuring are being done. They also added that implications of the OD interventions are generally pre-planned. They also have added that OD is a continuous process which is highly dependent upon organizational intervention. They have also added that in case of organizational developments, stakeholders of the organizations play important roles (Amos, Ristow, Pearse and Ristow, 2009). They have stated that in case of OD initiatives, interventions are must and in those interventions participations of the stakeholders is significantly important. They have categorically stated that without the participation of stakeholders OD cannot be achieved (Rothwell, Stavros, Sullivan and Sullivan, 2009). According to Yaeger and Sorensen (2009), in the present business world continuous organizational development is highly required. There is no substitute of organizational development and organizational structuring. They have also stated that organizational development requires changes in the organizations. Without changes effectiveness and productivity of the organizations cannot be increased. But the authors have stated that often the OD initiatives face significant negative resistances from the stakeholders of the organizations. They have added that all these resistances must be handled strategically for the betterment of organizational health. They have categorically stated that if all the stakeholders are convinced about the requirements of the OD initiatives and interventions then, organizations can bring changes easily (Yaeger and Sorensen, 2009). According to Jones and Brazzel (2014), OD initiatives are the integral parts of the HRM. This kind of planned initiative is generally being taken for the betterment of the organizations. The authors have reinforced that, OD is being achieved with the help of some changes and those changes are called OD initiatives. They have also added that OD initiatives are fulfilled with the help of planned interventions. The authors have categorically stated that, OD initiatives are bound to face resistances because fear of unknown is there related with changes. They also added that handling organizational resistances is also an important and unavoidable part of OD initiatives (Jones and Brazzel, 2014). According to Lombadi each individuals’ combined effort results in the achievement of the organization .When each individual performs its best then it drives the organization to its success. According to Geneen, a company has two kinds of organizational structures. One is written rules and regulations and another one is everyday relationship with the individuals of the organizations. If the relationship among the employees is good then they get a motivation for work. According to Blanchard the productivity of a group of people depends on how the group member sees their own goals in relation to their organizational goal. If their goal and organizational goals are same then their work will help the organization to achieve success. According to Welch the organizational ability to learn and translate that learned things into actions are the most competitive advantage for the organization (McGuire, 2014). The more the employee will apply the things they have learned more it will help them to grow. Analysis In what ways does this intervention represent an OD initiative? Organizational development is a wide effort for increasing organizational effectiveness to achieve its strategic goal and success. It is a practice of planned changes in attitude, belief, and value of the employee through some training programs. This development starts with the analysis of current situations and future requirements. (Schein, 2010) Some of the organizational development strategies are as follows: a) To develop clear & standard job role for the employee which are flexible and allowing responsibility & autonomous with the aim to provide training to the employees for improving their performance. b) Develop the system of success management for retaining performing employee and organizing different employee engagement program. c) Identifying the need to change. Communicate the change to the staff and implementing that change. d) Facilitating the employee for giving new ideas and suggestions for improvement of the organization. The West Bravenhurst NHS Trust developed an action learning program for nurses. They named it as ‘Leading Change in Nurse Practice’. This intervention was done with 14 nurses, for six days, over a period of 5 months. By using their experience the nurses analyzed and identified the area of their improvement an accordingly developed the action plans. Facilitator was also there who assisted in the thought process by introducing small tools like stakeholder analysis to the nurses for indentifying their relationships, influences with other stakeholders. This analysis involves the process of identifying the person who can affect or can be affected by proposed actions and solving them according to the impact on actions .The outcome of all these outcomes resulted in improving patient benefits, reductions of cost for the NHS Trust in terms of dressing etc, increase in confidence, sense of empowerment, influential skills among the nurses. This helped the nurses to address their sense of powerlessness in medical hierarchy. They also suggested some changes in hospital policies and structure .This program helped the stakeholders to know the worth of nurses. The result of these initiatives helped the organization to do the personal development of the nurses which will help the organization to achieve its goal. This expanded the knowledge and effectiveness of the nurses to achieve more successful performances. What impact has the intervention likely to have had on organization culture? Organization culture defines the behavior of individuals, which contributes in the social and psychological environment of the organization. It includes organizations values, norms, systems, believes, language etc which collectively holds an organization together. Types of Organizational culture (Ashkanasy, Wilderom and Peterson, 2011) Clan – This culture is like a family. It focuses on nurturing, mentoring and working together. Adhocracy – This culture is entrepreneurial and dynamic, innovative, focused, take risk and do things first. Market – This culture is result oriented, believes in getting work done and focused towards competition.  Hierarchy – This culture is controlled and structured, focused on efficiency, to do the right things and is stable. NHS had a Clan culture. It is a family like society. Here employee engagement and commitment are done to increase the employment and loyalty which will help in business success & productivity. This culture is less competitive. The impact of clan culture on NHS is that a learning program was organized for 14 nurses for making some changes in the practice of nurses. They learned to analyze and identify the area they need to improve. They learned to develop actions plans. Nurses gained confidence, influential skills and sense of empowerment (Cameron and Quinn 2011). The stakeholders of the trust also realized the importance of the nurses. NHS did not face any resistance for implementing this learning program. A set of 14 nurses participated in that program and made it a successful one. The facilitators were also there to assist the nurses in their thinking process. Handy’s Typology Power – In some organizations power remains on the hands on few people and only they are authorized to take decision. Their subordinates have to strictly follow their orders and have no liberty to express their ideas. Task Culture – Here teams are formed for achieving targets and solving problems. Individuals of same interest and specialization work together in a team consisting of 4-5 members. Person culture – Here employees feel that they are more important than the organization. So they are more concerned about themselves than the organization as a whole. Role culture – Here every employee has a definite role & responsibility. They decide their best ability and accordingly accept challenges. What implications might there be for organization design and structure arising from the outcomes of the intervention? Organizational design – Organizational design is a design by following which an organization combines different operations and puts it in a framework by which it develops the business process and utilizes its core qualities for offering its product and services (Schabracq, 2009). NHS must be following a organizational design to perform its business framework. Business strategy – The strategies involved in the business for achieving its goal is defined as business strategies. These strategies also help in the formation of the design of the organization. NHS followed the strategy of collaborative agreement with the nurses to reach at the ultimate outcome. Internal Design – It involves in hiring of employees, their learning process, work feedback, award and recognition, process of information flow, employee power and authority. NHS follows the internal design in the process of recruitment and hiring. External Design – NHS involves the external links of the company, its geographic location, its links and tie ups with other companies and environmental factors influencing the business. Organizational culture – Individuals behavior, beliefs, values, norms, language etc which contributes in the psychological and social environment of the organization to hold things together for achieving success is called organizational culture (Armstrong, 2006). Bureaucratic Organizational Structure – It have two characteristics. It has hierarchical structure where the order level of management is clear. The lower levels are answerable to the higher levels. Second is a set of law, rules and objectives to govern the organization. Dynamic model It describes the behavior of distributed parameter system. It explains the process of turning one qualitative state into another. Static model describe a qualitative state. The qualitative field’s intersection & distribution occurs at particular time interval. This model is inspired by the process based on ontology of OPT. Trust – The employees and employer should have faith in one another to perform the work in the organization. Since NHS has faith on the nurses they reprimanded the opportunity to present themselves on the meeting and put forward their opinions. The resultant is a positive organizational culture. Psychological Contract – It is a set of promises which is exchanged between the employees & employer for employment relationship (Sims, 2007). It is tent to be unspoken, assumed, and invisible. Laissez Faire – It is a declarative kind of leadership where the group member takes decisions. It is an off leadership style. It can easily be stated that in case of NHS power was not confined and rather distributed among all group members. Loss of control – For some disputes in the organization the employer or the employees face loss of control on some situations or which needs to be handled so that the organization does not face problems for it. Shifting blame of risk – Individuals in the organization often blames other person for failure of some work or projects. Turnover / dissatisfaction – Individuals in an organization can face dissatisfaction in the organization when their expectations related with the company are not fulfilled. What lessons can be drawn from the experience of this case for HR professionals? Action learning – It is an approach to solve real problem which involves in taking action and showing its results. This process uses skills, knowledge, of a group of people to generate fresh ideas (Baker and Doran, 2007). Save time money – The set of nurses found the ways to reduce cost related to dressing and drugs. They saved time by spending less time in clinical inputs. Employee engagement – A set of 14 nurses worked together for 5 days over a period of 6 months for achieving one goal. Turnover – Those nurses learnt a good number of things from that training which made them confident and developed their sense of empowerment. Strategy cost cutting – Nurses found the way of cutting the cost for dressing & drugs. Feedback & employee involvement – NHS got feedback from the nurses for changing some policies or structures of the organizations. Good work life – The stakeholders understood the worth of the nurses and valued their work. The nurses also got opportunity to give their ideas to the higher level. Relationship cultivation – For these learning programs the employees had a good interaction with each other which helped to develop good relationship. Motivation Maslow - According to motivation of Maslow the nurses achieved esteem level. Implementation – The implementation of this learning process will help the organization to grow. Profitability – The organization found the ways of cost cutting which will increase the profitability. The nurses were also satisfied with the program and they had learned many things which will increase their contribution in the organization. Theory X & Y – These are the theory of human motivation developed by Douglas McGregor. These are the basic characteristics of human being. Theory X assumes that individuals don’t like their career. They need any supervision. Theory Y states that individuals like their carrier. They don’t need any supervision. In case of NHS, theory Y is justified since the nurses were capable to arrive at a decision although there were facilitators present at the meeting. Bath model This model links people and performance and solves problems for which people cannot perform. NHS was concerned to increase the performance level coupled with reducing the cost of treatments and so they began to find out the factors to achieve it. The diagram above shows that factors will lead to thought process and same is the case with NHS. They are willing to find out the issues accordingly solve them for their purpose. Conclusion and recommendations West Bravenhurst NHS Trust learning program for nurses helped the nurses to develop their confidence and power. The nurses learned many things from this program. They benefitted the organization by giving suggestions for changing policies and structure of the organization. They also gave ideas regarding cost cutting. From this learning program the nurses had a good experience of employee engagement .14 nurses together worked for same purpose which united them to work for the same goal. Even they had interaction with persons of different level of the organization. The superior persons of the organization also became aware of the value of the nurses. The nurses got very much motivated as they realized that their opinions are important for the development of the Trust. It has been discussed above that organizational development aims to focus upon the development or up-gradation of the organizations. Organizational developments are being aligned with the demands of the companies. To sum up the strategies mentioned above it must be said that the aim of organizational development is to provide a clear and standard job role which will sharpen the skills of the employees and proper training will guide them to become more skilled. It also aims to organize different employee engagement programs which will contribute to retain the employees. The strategies of organizational development will identify the demand for change and apply the same by communicating with the staffs. The term organizational culture has been used to define the behavior of individuals and identifies the contribution of them on organizational values and other related activities. The various types of organizational culture have also been discussed above. The impacts of various cultures upon NHS have formed the discussion parts. The clan culture has helped the nurses to identify the areas where further improvements are needed. Organizational development has also been described with the help of Handy’s Typology. It has been stated that power is confined to few in case of some organizations but in case of NHS power is not confined to few. The nurses collectively took the initiatives and resultant being the outcome described on the case study. Several other theories have also been discussed in this paper which collaboratively describes various aspects of organizational development and organizational design. References Amos, T., Ristow, A., Pearse, N. J. and Ristow, L. 2009. Human Resource Management. Cape Town: Juta and Company Ltd. Armstrong, M. 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. New York: Kogan Page Publishers. Ashkanasy, N. M, Wilderom, C.P.M. and Peterson, M. F. 2011. The Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate. London: SAGE. Baker, J. R. and Doran, M. S. 2007. Human Resource Management: A Problem-solving Approach Linked to ISLLC Standards. London: R&L Education. Brown, D. R. 2006. An Experiential Approach to Organization Development. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Cameron, K. S. and Quinn, E. R. 2011. Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Cummings, T. and Worley, C. 2014. Organization Development and Change. London: Cengage Learning. Jones, B. B. and Brazzel, M. 2014. The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change: Principles, Practices, and Perspectives. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. McGuire, D. 2014. Human Resource Development. London: SAGE. McLean, G. 2005. Organization Development: Principles, Processes, Performance. California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Rothwell, J. W., Stavros, J. M., Sullivan, L. R. and Sullivan, A. 2009. Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading Change. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Schabracq, M. J. 2009. Changing Organizational Culture: The Change Agents Guidebook. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Schein, E. H. 2010. Organizational Culture and Leadership. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Sims, R. R. 2007. Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities. New York: IAP. Yaeger, T. F. and Sorensen, P. F. 2009. Strategic Organization Development: Managing Change for Success. New York: IAP. Read More