Page 136 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Unit 9: Comprehensive Intervention

The whole system refers to: Notes
 Managers of all of the functional areas in a business.
 Representatives of top management, a cross section of employees from all levels and
suppliers and customer representatives.
 Directors of all the social service agencies in a community.

Search Conferences and Future Search Conferences

Search conferences largely emerged with consulting practices in Great Britain, Europe and
Australia while future search conferencing have been largely an American phenomenon. The
basic design of the search conference has three following phases:
Phase 1: Environment Appreciation.
Phase 2: System analysis.

Phase 3: Integration of system and environment.
The search conference is normally a two and a half day event, twenty to thirty people are
selected to participate based on such criteria as their knowledge of the system and their potential
for taking responsibility for implementation.
Future search conferences are the one that integrates ideas from Ronald Lippit. Lippit and
Lindman finding says that when people plan presents action by working backwards from what
is really desired, they develop energy, enthusiasm, optimism and high commitment.
According to the Weisboard’s future search conference model consists of following steps:

 The consultants.
 50-60 people are invited.
 The conference has four or five segments each lasting up to half a day.

 The first major activity focuses on the past.
 The second major activity focuses on the present factors.
 The third major activity focuses on the future.

9.2 Beckhard’s Confrontation Meetings

The confrontation meeting developed by Richard Beckhard, is one day meeting of the entire
management of an organisation in which they make reading of their own organisational health.
This intervention is an important one in organisation development; it is a quick, simple and
reliable way in which to generate data about an organisation and to set action plan for
organisational improvement.
The steps involved in the confrontation meetings are:

 Climate setting (duration is 45 to 60 min).
 Information collecting (duration is 1 hr)–Small group of 7-8 members are formed on the
basis of heterogeneity of composition.

 Information sharing (duration is 1 hr)

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