Organizational Design Diagnosis and Development Session 17 Human

Organizational Design, Diagnosis, and Development Session 17 Human Process Interventions, II

Objectives • To review group level human process interventions: process consultation, team building • To review systems wide human process interventions: organization confrontation meeting, large group interventions, and grid organizational development • To examine the effectiveness for these human process interventions in producing change

Process Consultation • • • Communication Functional roles in groups Problem solving and decision making Group norms Leadership

TYPICAL ORGANIZATIONAL ROLES • Task specialist -Person who because of experience, skill, or knowledge has edge in task competency • Maintenance specialist -- human relations guru

Problems in Group Decision Making • Evaluation • Conflict • Domination

Group-think as a Dysfunctional Norm • The tendency of highly cohesive groups to conform to group pressures and to suspend reality testing and engage in consensus seeking. • Antecedents – High cohesiveness – Group structure – Stressful situations

Group Think Cont • Symptoms – Overestimation of the group – Close-mindedness – Increased pressure for uniformity • Consequences – Defective decision making – High probability of a bad decision • Preventive tactics

Leadership Training • • • Problem stating in an objective manner Providing and sharing relevant information Drawing out group members Preventing domination Avoid moving to evaluation prematurely; Stimulating discussion and clarify points; • Summarizing to mark group progress.

Team Building • Types of Teams: Work teams, task teams, management teams • Family group diagnostic meeting • Team building meeting • Results of team building

Organization Confrontation Meeting • Groups of 10 -15 are convened • The groups discuss problems • There is a plenary session with reports on the problems • The problems are classified • Smaller groups re-form and work on problem solving • Action plans are submitted to management along with a time table • The problem solving groups meet periodically to review what is happening and report to management

Large Group Interventions • • Preparation for the large group meeting Conducting the meeting Follow up on meeting Results

Organizational Grid Development

Leader Behaviors • People orientation -- consideration, the leader is concerned about the well being of employees and being fair. (1, 9) • Production orientation -- initiation of structure, the focus of this leader is on goal attainment (9. 1)

Consequences of Managerial Style • Consequences of 1. 9: This style of works well when the task is intrinsically satisfying, or when the task is extremely structured and clear • Consequences of 9, 1: This style works best with situations where there is pressure due to deadlines, ambiguous tasks, or external

Backwards & Forwards • Summing up: Today we reviewed group and organization wide interventions, including process consultation, team building, organizational confrontation meeting, large group interventions and grid development which is really managerial development. • Looking ahead: Next time we begin to examine techno -structural interventions.