Organization Development Essay Example for Free

Organization Development Essay Organization Development is a type of strategy wherein the underlying goals and principles is to increase the effectiveness of a certain company or organization, so that it will be able to compete with other companies, regarding its performance and outputs. It is through carefully planned moves and actions that these goals are met, since attaining it requires careful planning and mastery. This is usually through the efforts of the head or the leader of the organization. It is a totality of the organization’s policies and procedures in order to attain a certain goal. Organization Development is a planned action since it looks at it and deals with it as a long range approach so as to improve the organizations turnouts; its outputs and performances. It is considered to be organization-wide since it focuses on the total system. It is also a system that is managed and taken-care of from the top, from the heads of the organization, wherein it is being modeled properly so that it will achieve its long term goals. Ownership from workers of the organization could also be a buy-in. The effectiveness and the health of the organization are also being considered by Organization Development because it is its main goal, to achieve an improvement, something concrete wherein they could base their performances in the future. It is also about planned interventions, wherein Organization Development calls for the interference and involvement of the people so that it could achieve permanent changes in the whole aspect of the organization. Also, Organization Development uses or utilizes the concept of behavioral-science knowledge, wherein it combines research and experience so that it will understand or take the view of the people themselves in the case of business systems, and other interactions. The article by Padraig Healy shows how Organization Development was applied in the Public Sector, considering the various important approaches so that it will be successful. One is the performance of the workers, wherein most of the employed people are the natives of their place, wherein the quality of work done is substandard. In order to solve this problem, rigorous training has been done in order to improve the quality of work, thus increasing the outputs and the level of performance from the workers. In this part, training is considered to be a series of events, wherein it includes various workshops, seminars and study visits. It is comparably different than just adjusting the knowledge and skills of the employees in order to meet the demands of the organization, since it is a change being observed in a time bound manner. Training people is an investment that would really require time and money, and it is obviously a luxury that most developed countries could achieve. The theory and practice of development is not necessarily rooted to the concept of development studies, as well as the practice of development itself. Considering the local situation, the organization development done in the public sector is basically a show of their approach on the problems of development itself, may be a product of rigorous planning and visualizing of the situation. There is also a need for CEOs of councils that will be able to own problems and their causes, since the organization they grew up to was associated with weak organizational systems, wherein the CEOs are expected to manage. There is also an increasing need to have key policy makers and heads that will be able to reexamine the important roles at play, wherein it is usually at the district level. The concept of change is given great importance, emphasizing it all throughout the organization. Organization Development is very important at the public sector level because it deals with various concerns, including human resources, changing the nature of the workplace, global markets and the accelerated rate of change. In the aspect of human resources, we take in consideration the most important player in the organization, the people who does the work. They are seen to be a large fraction of the costs of doing business, wherein they may spell success or failure for the organization. The last consideration would be the accelerated rate of change, wherein we are taking an approach that embraces open systems. Through this approach, we are able to identify certain competitions, local or international, competing for human resource or the people, capital, physical resources and information. The weakness shown by the Organization Development is the concern about short term effectiveness. The real effect or outcome of Organization Development is evident especially during a longer period of time, and if it is done in a shorter period of time, the results would probably not be good. But for long-term organizations, Organization Development is really essential. With time as the capital, it is a good investment so that you could achieve the success that the organization aims for. Conclusion This article is essential in the field of Organization Development because it showed the various factors that are at play in the organization and how it really affects it. Organization Development is not a simple term that requires the training of leaders, the careful planning of things, the setting of goals, and other concepts that usually come in our minds. It is the interplay of all the factors that play a role in running an organization. It is a totality of all the efforts that is exerted starting from the working groups, to division heads, to the organization leaders. What is Organizational Development? When we talk about Organizational Development, we are pertaining to a course of action done to a certain organization or work group so that it will be able to attain a certain level of effectiveness, so as increasing its efficiency as well. Organizational Development pertains to the careful planning and management of the organization, thus requiring the expertise and experience of a good leader, a head that will elicit change for the good of the group. It is also a well planned course of action, wherein every aspect necessary for the development is being thought of, to the extent that every problem that could be encountered is solved before it even arises. It is all done to promote the health and success of the organization, and to solve the current problems it is and will be facing in this globally competitive world. This entails investing on things that could lead to an increase in the effectiveness and productivity of the organization and that includes good leaders, expert workers, and good working conditions. That is why it is considered to be a concerted effort not only from the leaders, but also from the workers. It is a totality of the organizations effort in order to attain excellence. The Case of Petroleum Development Oman. Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) is considered to be the biggest oil explorer and producer in Oman. It is a national company that has the biggest share in the country’s oil production, accounting to about 90% of Oman’s crude oil and almost all of the country’s natural gas supply. PDO can be considered as a large organization, wherein other companies share in its interests, not only the country of Oman. But analyzing the situation, could we see clearly whether Organization Development is being applied in the case of a multinational company like Petroleum Development Oman? Looking closely at what Organization Development has to offer to PDO, the notion of an organization is said to be a conglomeration of efforts from two or more people which are working together towards a common goal, and that is usually the issue of productivity and effectiveness. On the other hand, development is said to be the actual goal of the organization, and that is moving towards being effective as the time goes by and meeting all the goals that you have set. It is a set course towards the increase in productivity, efficiency and improved quality of products or services that the company or organization offers. On the Case of Petroleum Development Oman, it is managed and owned by separate entities which include the Government of Oman, having a 60% share of interest, Royal Dutch Shell which has a 34% interest, Total, who poses a 4% share of interest and Partex who has a 2% interest. Because of this, the leadership and management is not fully unified, so as to say that this factor poses an important effect in the case of PDO’s Organization Development. First off, Organization Development could help in the renewal process that PDO could encounter when it focuses on the efficiency and collaboration of the administration. When we talk about efficiency, it is undeniable that many organizations lack on this aspect and they just supplement this deficiency with a large number of the working force, thus putting strength in numbers. Culture also plays a role in this set-up, where work teams could work efficiently if they are under a certain condition of the people that will be in the work group. This is where OD comes into the scene. Leadership When it comes to the concept of leadership, the case of Petroleum Development Oman doesn’t seem any different as compared to that of other multinational organizations. PDO is headed by various leaders, since there are a lot of people holding a spot in the organization. The big part of the company is held by the government and other organizations hold the other remaining parts. These leaders dictate that will run the organization will run. Unified or not, they are still the ones that handle the business, since they have the power to cease supplying a large part of the country. The transformation of the country depends on how these leaders would go about with their tasks in hand. There are a lot of changes that an organization undergoes, especially for the bank owners who are particular with what they are getting into. Major organizational change occurs, for example, wherein an organization changes its general strategy for achievement, adds or deletes a major section or practice, and/or wants to transform the very nature by wherein it operates. It also occurs when an organization advances through various life cycles, just like people must successfully evolve through life cycles. For organizations to develop, they often must undergo important major changes at certain varying points in their development. Thats why the topic of organizational change and development has become widespread in communications about business, organizations, leadership and management. Leaders, managers, and company heads, the people who has control of the establishment itself, continually make labors to achieve successful and noteworthy change its inherent in their jobs. Some are very good at this aspect, wherein they excel at almost any aspect of leadership, while others continually resist and fail. There are many schools with educational programs about organizations, business, leadership and management, schools which train hard these budding personalities with leadership qualities. Unfortunately, there still are not sufficient schools with programs about how to investigate groups, identify critically important priorities to address (such as systemic troubles or thrilling visions for amendments) and then embark on successful and noteworthy change to address those priorities. To really get a grasp of what organizational change is and start guiding thriving change efforts, the change mediator should have at least a wide acceptance and understanding of the context of the change effort. This includes understanding the basic systems and structures in organizations, including their typical terms and roles. This requirement applies to the understanding of leadership and management of the organizations, as well. The following links (broadly reviewed in the following order) might be helpful to establish some sense about organizations, and their leadership and management. Organizational change should not be conducted for the sake of change. Organizational change efforts should be geared to improve the performance of organizations and the people in those organizations. Therefore, its useful to have some understanding of what is meant by performance and the various methods to manage performance in organizations. The past few decades have seen an explosion in the number of very useful tools to help change agents to effectively explore, understand and communicate about organizations, as well as to guide successful change in those organizations. Tools from systems theory and systems thinking especially are a major breakthrough. Even if the change agent is not an expert about systems theory and thinking, even a basic understanding can cultivate an entire new way of working. Nowadays, with the complex challenges faced by organizations and the broad diversity of values, perspectives and opinions among the members of those organizations, its vital that change agents work from a strong set of principles to ensure they operate in a highly effective and ethical manner. There are different overall types of organizational change, including planned versus unplanned, organization-wide versus change primarily to one part of the organization, incremental (slow, gradual change) versus transformational (radical, fundamental), etc.. Knowing which types of change you are doing helps all participants to retain scope and perspective during the many complexities and frequent frustrations during change. Group Collaboration A typical planned, systemic (and systematic) organizational development process often follows an overall action research approach (as described below). Note that the more collaborative you are in working with members of the organization during the following process, the more likely the success of your overall change effort. Clarifying Expectations and Roles for Change Process This phase is sometimes called the Contracting and/or Entry phase. This phase is usually where the relationship between you (the initial change agent) and your client starts, whether you are an external or internal consultant. Experts assert that this phase is one of the most if not the most important phases in the organizational change process. Activities during this stage form the foundation for successful organizational change. Joint Discovery to Identify Priorities for Change The more collaborative the change agent is in working with members of the clients organization, the more likely that the change effort will be successful. Whether you are an external or internal change agent in this project, you and your client will work together during this phase to understand more about the overall priority of the change effort and how you all can effectively address it. It might be a major problem in the organization or an exciting vision to achieve. Other times, the effort is more extensive, for example, evaluating an entire organization and developing a complete plan for change. The nature of discovery also depends on the philosophy of the change agent and client. For example, subscribers to the philosophy of Appreciative Inquiry (referenced above) might conduct discovery, not by digging into the number and causes of problems in the organization, but by conducting interviews to disover the visions and wishes of people in the organization. Sometimes, people minimize the importance of or altogether skip this critical discovery phase, and start change management by articulating an ambitious and comprehensive vision for change. Many would argue that it is unethical to initiate a project for organizational change without fully examining (or discovering) the current situation in the clients organization. Focusing most of the change efforts on achieving a robust vision, without at least some careful discovery, often can be harmful to your clients organization because your project can end up dealing with symptoms of any current issues, rather than the root causes. Also, the project could end up pushing an exciting vision that, while initially inspiring and motivating to many, could be completely unrealistic to achieve especially if the organization already has many current, major issues to address.