Organizational Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organizational Development - Essay Example Two definitions that more aptly represent the thrust of organization development today are: "Organization development is a system-wide application of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development and reinforcement of organizational strategies, structures, and processes for improving an organization's effectiveness." (Cummings et al, p.2) An astute organization development practitioner would carefully evaluate the working systems with set targets to identify pitfalls and suggest holistic changes for improved effectiveness. One of the key components of organization development is change management. Change management is a complex system which involves judicious and intelligent application of a range of ideas from the fields of business, engineering, sociology, and psychology. As organizations face stiff competition, changes in the organizations become imperative for survival. It becomes more and more necessary for the organization to implement a robust change management system to help the organization grow and sustain and meet the challenges that it faces from within and without. A change management system in its broad outline may be regarded as a "structured process that will cause proposed changes to be reviewed for technical and business readiness in a consistent manner that can be relaxed or tightened to adjust to business needs and experiences." (Indiana University, 2009) A robust change management practice would involve the convergence of two predominant fields of thought: the mechanical focus to change and the human focus on change. Till recently, a lot of companies had likened the different functions of their business to a mechanical clock made up of individual mechanical pieces which they could alter or change to suit a specific situation and produce the desired results. This change could be radical or gradual as was deemed necessary. The need for change management concepts was not realized till their projects faced serious hurdles to implementation or encountered stiff resistance. Change management has now come to mean "the process, tools and techniques to manage the people-side of business change to achieve the required business outcome, and to realize that business change effectively within the social infrastructure of the workplace." (Change Management Learning Center, 1996-2008) The foundation stone to the human side of change management was laid by William Bridges in his book named Transitions. (Ed Batista, 2008) Though he relates human behavior to change in a workplace only a few times in his book, this work brought a new perspective to change management and resulted in two schools of approach to business practice, measurement of success and perspectives of change: the engineer's approach or the mechanical approach and the psychologist's approach. The table below summarizes the major differences in the two approaches: Engineer Psychologist Focus Processes, systems, structure People Business practices BPR, TQM, ISO 9000, Quality Human resources, OD Starting point Business issues or opportunities Personal change, employee resistance (or potential for resistance) Measure of success Business performance, financial and statistical metrics Job satisfaction, turnover, productivity loss Perspective on change "Shoot the stragglers, carry

Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Management - Assignment Example The manager will be efficient but if the program had no relevance with the organization’s objective, then he or she would be efficient but not effective. If the program costs more, the manager would be effective but not efficient. Manager of an organization can improve both simultaneously by introducing the emergent technology. In busy offices, time wasting can cost the company immensely. For instance, the manager can introduce a printer that can print data from computers and this can improve efficiency and effectiveness within the workplace (Ehman). Good reputation is the most important thing as it adds value to an organization. Being ethical and socially responsible is part of having a good organization. For instance, Aflac is an insurance company that has had recognition for being among the most ethical companies in the world. They have made this successful by treating shareholders with integrity and honesty. Wal-Mart is almost the largest retailer and private company employer in the world. Despite the huge profits, it has faced stiff allegations from employees that they are not treating the right. First, the company employs illegal immigrants so that they can cut down costs. Sometimes they go unpaid when they work overtime. Many workers also complain of sexual discrimination and denial to medical care plans. Social account is an imaginary account built by being helpful to people and it is measurable by the strength of one’s relationship within a network. We can earn, save, and spend this capital. It takes time and investment to earn social capital and the best way is to use attitudes and behaviors, which will build social capital (Townsend 24). Social capital can be of use in critical situations of an organization in order to improve its reputation. It is essential to propose a leadership process that can work passably with performance appraisal of Management by Objective. This is in the view of