Page 81 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Organization Change and Development

Notes
3. What are the implications of these assumptions on the consultants behaviour?
4. Identify the issues that need to be considered while developing the effective client –
consultant relationship.

5.5 Summary

 In nutshell, OD process involves number of steps which are usually taken in the process of
bringing about change. It starts from recognition of need to the final evaluation and
improving the organisation to renew and restructure.

 This would be only possible with the culture of formal work teams and with the assistance
of change agent and technology of applied behavior science including action research.
 The philosophical and pragmatic values underlie action research.

 The first is that programs designed to solve real problems should be based on valid public
data generated collaboratively by clients and consultants. This belief calls for actions to be
based on diagnostic research-an action-should-follow-research mode of thinking.

 Or, to state it, another way, diagnose the problem situation and base actions on that
diagnosis.

 The second value is that action in the real world should be accompanied by research on
that action in order to build a cumulative body of knowledge and theory of the effects of
various actions directed to solving real-world problems-a research-should-follow-action mode
of thinking. Only if we systematically evaluate (do research on) actions can we know the
real effects of these actions. And only if we systematically build a body of knowledge can
we build better social science theories.
 Thus actions to solve real-world problems offer a unique opportunity for both the scientist-
researcher and the administrator-layperson if they approach the problems from the
standpoint of the action research model: the administrator’s problems will be solved, and
the scientist’s quest for theory and empirical validation of theory will be solved.
 Thus we conclude that the applied behavioral science discipline of organisation
development is fertile ground for action research projects.

5.6 Keywords

Appreciative Inquiry: A contemporary approach to planned change.
Change Agent: A person who attempts to alter some aspect of an organisation or an environment.
Evaluation Feedback: Information about the overall effects of a change programme.

Intervention: Any action on the part of a change agent.
5.7 Review Questions

1. Discuss the various activities involved in the diagnostic and action plan in managing the
OD process.

2. How do organisations undergo modifications with the help of the feedback about the
changes introduced?
3. What is action research? What are its processes? How does it help in making organisations
more effective?

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