Page 9 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Organization Change and Development

Notes 7. Change Agent: A change agent in the sense used here is not a technical expert skilled in
such functional areas as accounting, production, or finance. He is a behavioral scientist
who knows how to get people in an organisation involved in solving their own problems.
His main strength is a comprehensive knowledge of human behavior, supported by a
number of intervention techniques. The change agent can be either external or internal to
the organisation. An internal change agent is usually a staff person who has expertise in
the behavioral sciences and in the intervention technology of OD.

Notes Beckhard reports several cases in which line people have been trained in OD and
have returned to their organisations to engage in successful change assignments. In the
natural evolution of change mechanisms in organisations, this would seem to approach
the ideal arrangement.
Qualified change agents can be found on some university faculties, or they may be private
consultants associated with such organisations as the National Training Laboratories
Institute for Applied Behavioral Science Washington, or University Associates (San Diego,
California), and similar organisations.
The change agent may be a staff or line member of the organisation who is schooled in OD
theory and technique. In such a case, the “contractual relationship” is an in-house agreement
that should probably be explicit with respect to all of the conditions involved except the
fee.
8. Sponsoring Organisation: The initiative for OD programs comes from an organisation
that has a problem. This means that top management or someone authorized by top
management is aware that a problem exists and has decided to seek help in solving it.
There is a direct analogy here to the practice of psychotherapy: The client or patient must
actively seek help in finding a solution to his problems. This indicates a willingness on the
part of the client organisation to accept help and assures the organisation that management
is actively concerned.
9. Applied Behavioral Science: One of the outstanding characteristics of OD that distinguishes
it from most other improvement programs is that it is based on a “helping relationship.”
The change agent is not a physician to the organisation’s ills; he does not examine the
“patient,” make a diagnosis, and write a prescription. Nor does he try to teach organisational
members a new inventory of knowledge which they then transfer to the job situation.
Using theory and methods drawn from such behavioral sciences as psychology, sociology,
communication, cultural anthropology, organisational behaviour economics, and political
science, the change agent’s main function is to help the organisation define and solve its
own problems. The basic method used is known as action research. This approach, which
is described in detail later, consists of a preliminary diagnosis, collecting data, feedback of
the data to the client, data exploration by the client group, action planning based on the
data, and taking action.
10. System Context: OD deals with a total system — the organisation as a whole, including its
relevant environment — or with a sub-system or systems — departments or work
groups — in the context of the total system.

Example: Parts of systems such as individuals, cliques, structures, norms, values, and
products are not considered in isolation; the principle of interdependency, that is, that change in
one part of a system affects the other parts, is fully recognized.

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