Part III.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION

OD targets the total enterprise—from the organizational Community to the
individual, as the fundamental unit of the Organization. The center of its efforts is
change through planned interventions in the organizational processes. Ideally,
this should be introduced with an understanding of its implications, acceptance,
and sanction from the top level of the
organization. Its activities should be at that level, since top management sets the
style for the organization.
A. OVERVIEW OF OD INTERVENTIONS
OD interventions refer to the range of planned programmatic activities
participated in by clients and consultants during the course of an OD program. A
more universal definition of OD intervention is that it is any process or technique
relevant to the development of organizational effectiveness.
The foundation and characteristics of the OD process are as follow:
1. It is data- and experience-based with emphasis on action, diagnosis, and
goal-setting.
2. It frequently utilized work teams as target groups.
3. It rest on a systems approach to organizations.
4. It is a normative, red active strategy of changing.
5. It is an ongoing process.
Any OD intervention should be structured according to the following guidelines:
1. Structure the activity so that the relevant people are there.
2. Structure the activity so that it is problem- or opportunity-oriented, thus,
it is oriented to the Problems and opportunities generated by the clients
themselves.
3. Structure the activity so that the goal and how to reach it are clear.
4. Structure the activity so that there is a high probability of a successful
goal attainment
5. Structure the activity so that it contains both experience and
conceptual/theoretical-based learning.
6. Structure the climate of the activity so that individuals are “free up”
rather than anxious or defensive
7. Structure the activity so that the participants learn both how to solve a
particular problem and “learn to learn” at the same time.
 8. Structure the activity so that individuals can learn about both task and
process.
9. Structure the activity so that individuals are engaged as whole persons,
not segmented persons.
A. GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF OD INTERVENTIONS
OD interventions are generally classified according to:
A. Levels of OD Intervention
1. Level I type of intervention focuses on the organizational structure.
2. Level II type focuses on functional policies and practices and its primary
objective is to develop more rational planning and control.
Example: Management by objectives (MBO), job enrichment
3. Level III type focuses on personnel policies and practice; the nature and
effectiveness of the policy procedures system and the management of its
human resource. This is often called the organizational reward/punishment
mechanism (the R/P system).
4. Level IV type focuses on task performance appraisal and improvement for
better task effectiveness. This is to enhance performance by appraising it
based on publicly observable measurements established in advance.
Example: time and motion studies, work flow studies, formal
communication network analysis
5. Level V type focuses on management development aimed at directly
helping the individual manager by upgrading his conceptual
understanding.
Example: requisition of skills in delegation, communication, time
management, control
6. Level VI type focuses on job enrichment aimed at a direct and international
satisfaction of the individual worker’s needs. This answers that task
changes are best made in accord with the psychological needs of the
employees affected.
7. Level VII type focuses on intergroup behavior which aims to change
attitudinal and behavioral factors contributing to functional or
dysfunctional working relationships among groups in an organization. This
is to help the groups develop greater effectiveness by concentrating on
 their intergroup working relationship and improving their ability to deal
with issues.
Example: managerial grid approach
8. Level VIII type focuses on the intergroup behavior. This aims to effect
change in the actual behavior of members within a functional work group
and to improve the interactions necessary to facilitate the group’s effective
joint activity and problem-solving activity. Likewise this targets to develop
each group member’s internal capacity to base his about the group’s
behavior.
Example: action research creating data which can be incorporated into
learning
and resulting into social change
9. Level IX type focuses on non-group behavior or individual sensitivity. It
targets the un- programmed, open, and social situation rather than
either a person’s behavior within his work group or the behavior
between two or more groups.
10. Level X type focuses on family group behavior family
These ten levels of OD intervention must be understood and considered
as separable parts of a total process and its single application must be
systematically applied within the context of the outcome possible with other
kinds of intervention.
Moreover, OD intervention is not limited to these ten levels. Any
intervention that can be used to produce organizational effectiveness can be
called OD intervention.
B. Depth of Penetration into Organizational Performance
1. Change strategies which confront the hidden aspects of the individual
and his interpersonal relationships are viewed as falling toward the
deeper end of the continuum. The development efforts deal more
specifically with the organization’s social/psychological aspects critical
to interpersonal behavior.
2. Change strategies which deal with the more structural and external
aspect of the individual and focus upon his more formal and public
relationship are sent at the shallow end of OD activity. Technical per
 operational, task-oriented interventions are conducted. These are
cognitively-based and influenced more by reason than by feelings.
C. Maintenance/Improvement of Organization’s Health
1. Sensing. This is an OD practice where management monitors the
feelings and modes of its people, and remains in touch with the degree
of frustration or contentment characterizing its critical subgroups It
involves mobilizing representative subgroups of the work force by
passing intervening levels of supervision to responsible managers who
can understand the social dynamics their employees.
2. Mutual Coaching. It is an individually oriented OD technique commonly
done professional employees so that good things are encouraged,
doubtful things are questioned, and wrong things are corrected.
3. Organizational Display. Through this intervention, organizational
deficiencies are searched for and then displayed. Likewise, it displays
indication of health to map the territory, illuminate the problems, and
reinforce the participants’ assets which permit
them to make internally motivated choice on their development course.
D. Underlying Themes
1. Discrepancy Intervention. It calls attention to a contradiction in action or
attitude which leads to exploration.
2. Theory Intervention. Behavioral science knowledge and theory are used to
explain present behavior and assumptions underlying the behavior.
3. Procedural OD Intervention. It studies how things are being done today
determine whether the best methods are being used.
4. Relationship Intervention. It focuses attention on interpersonal
relationships (particularly where there are strong negative feelings) and
bring out issues that need to be resolved.
5. Experimentation Intervention. Two different action plans are tested for
their consequences before a final decision is made
6. Dilemma Intervention. It uses an imposed or emergent dilemma to force
close examination of the possible choice involved and the assumptions
underlying them.
7. Perspective Intervention. It draws attention away from immediate actions
and demands and allows a look at historical background context, and
 future objectives in order to assess whether or not the action are “still on
target”
8. Organization Structure Intervention. This calls for examination and
evaluation of structural cause organizational ineffectiveness.
9. Cultural Intervention. It examines traditions, precedents, and practices in a
direct focus approach.
E. Activities/processes
1. Diagnostic Activities are fact-finding activities such as projective devices,
interviews, questionnaires, survey which are designed to ascertain state of
the system and the ways things are.
2. Team-Building activities are related to task issues and quality of
relationship among team members or between members and leader.
3. Intergroup activities are focused on joint activities and the group’s output.
4. Survey-Feedback activities are centered around survey data and designing
action plans based on the data.
5. Education and Training activities aim to improve skills and knowledge of
individuals.
Examples are T-groups, human relation, leadership, decision-making,
problem-solving, and other related activities
6. Techno structural activities are activities such as experimentation with
new organizational structure or devising new ways to bring technical
resources to improve the effectiveness of the technical or structural
input.
7. Process Consultant activities are activities such as communication
processes on the part of the consultant which help the client understand
the events occurring in his environment.
8. Grid Organizational Development activities comprise several phase
change model involving the total organization.
9. Third-Party Peacemaking activities such as intervention of a mediator
consultant I a labor-management problem are conducted by a third
party (e.g., a skilled consultant).
10.Coaching and Counseling activities involve the consultant or
organization members working with individuals to help them define
learning goal and learn new modes of behavior.
 11.Life and career planning activities enable individuals to focus on their
life and career objectives.
12.Planning and goal setting activities include theory and experience in
planning and goal setting, problem-solving models, and the like to
improve skills of employees.
F. Target Groups
1. OD interventions designed to improve effectiveness individuals are:
 Life and career planning activities
 Role analysis technique
 Coaching and counseling
 Sensitivity training
 Education and training to increase skills and knowledge in the
areas of technical task needs, relationship skills, process skills,
decision-making, problem-solving, and planning.
2. OD intervention designed to improve the effectiveness of DY
ADS/TRIADS (OD intervention exercises) are:
 Process consultant
 Third-party peacemaking
3. OD interventions designed to improve the effectiveness of teams and
groups are:
 Team building which is task and process directed
 Family T-group
 Survey feedback
 Process consultation
 Role analysis technique
4. OD interventions designed to improve the effectiveness of intergroup
relations are:
 Intergroup activities which are process- and task directed
 Organizational mirroring
5. OD interventions designed to improve the total organization are:
 Confrontation meetings
 Strategy planning activities
 Grid OD phases
G. Principal Emphases in Relation to Different Hypothesized Change
Mechanisms
1. Feedback
 Survey feedback
 T-group
 Process consultation
 Grid OD instruments
2. Awareness of changing socio cultural norms
 Team-building
 Intergroup interface sessions
3. Increased interaction and communication
 Intergroup interface sessions
 Third-party peacemaking
 Management by Objectives (MBO)
 Techno structural changes
4. Confrontation and resolving differences
 Third-party peacemaking
 Intergroup interface sessions
 Coaching and counseling individuals
 Confrontation meetings
5. Education through new knowledge and skill practice
 Career and life planning
 Goal setting
 Decision making
 Other planning activities
 Process consultation
B. TECHNO STRUCTURAL INTERVENTION IN PHILIPPINES COMPANIES
In OD, technostructural interventions are activities designed to improve
effectiveness of the technical or structural input and constraints in the
organization affecting individuals or groups. These activities may take form of
experimenting with new organization structure and evaluating their effectiveness
in terms of specific goals. They can also take the form of devising new processes
or ways to bring technical resource to bear on problems previously identified.
 A classic example of an experiment I structure is prevalent in project-
oriented companies where the matrix type of organization is popular. Companies
have created project organizations designed to be solely functioning and
responsible for each contract or project site. In each case, the goal se their
respective profitability by considering them as separate profit centers. The tax
angle is also one of the major considerations.
New processes, new practice and procedures, and other technical
interventions have been introduced by Philippine companies to improve
organizational health as in the case of a telephone company who shifted from
manual billing system to computerized system when it expanded operations and
realized that the manual billing system was unable to service the needs of the
company.
Technostructural changes are dictated by the current problems
experienced by organizations and are inherent and unavoidable in the process of
organizational growth.