Implications of OD Values and Assumptions

_{Some of the implications of OD assumptions and values for dealing with individuals,}

_{groups and organizations are as follows:}

_{Implications for Dealing with Individuals The two basic assumptions about dealing with individuals in organizations to execute organizations development are as follows:}

_{The first assumption states that most individuals want to work towards personal growth and development if provided with the right environment that has both supportive management and challenging work. Most people want to fully utilize their potential and excel at their work place.}

_{The second assumption states that most people aspire to make and are capable of making, a greater contribution towards attaining organization goals than most organizational environments permit. The organizations can gain tremendously if they work on this assumption and workout means to tap this energy constructively. The employees usually know a lot about their work and only need the right amount of push from the organizations and better working environment to excel. The implications of these two assumptions are straightforward: Ask, listen, support, challenge, encourage risk taking, permit failure, remove obstacles and barriers, give autonomy, give responsibility, set high standards and reward success.}

Objectives of OD

_{The objectives of Organizational Development are as follows:}

_{·        Effective Organizational Development leads to improved organizational performance which can be indicated through profitability, market share, innovativeness etc.}

_{·        Helps in making organization more adaptable to the dynamic environment.}

_{·        Makes the employees more receptive to organizational changes.}

_{·        Improvement in internal behavior patterns such as interpersonal relations, inter group relations, level of trust and support among role members.}

Values, Assumptions and Beliefs

_{A set of values, assumptions and beliefs constitutes an integral part of organizational development. They are the three pillars on which the whole field of Organizational Development is standing. Thus identifying and developing the goals and methods for organizational effectiveness help in distinguishing Organizational Development from other improvement strategies. A belief is a proposition about how the world works that the individual accepts as true; it is a cognitive fact for the person. Values are also beliefs and are defined as: “Beliefs about what is desirable or ‘good’ (e.g. free speech) and what is an undesirable or a ‘bad’ (e.g. dishonesty).” Assumptions are beliefs that are regarded as so valuable and obviously correct that they are taken for granted and rarely examined or questioned.}

_{OD values are humanistic, optimistic and democratic by nature. Humanistic values main focus is on the importance of the individual: it focuses on respecting the whole person instead of dividing him/her into compartments as done till now by the management, stresses on treating people with respect and dignity, is built on the fundamental that everyone has intrinsic worth, and views all people as having the probability for growth and development if provided the right environment and opportunities in the organization. Optimistic values stresses that people are basically good by nature who believe in personal growth thus progress is possible and desirable in human affairs and that rationality; reason and goodwill are the tools for making progress. Basically it believes in Theory Y of Motivation. Democratic values asserts that the integrity of the individual, the right of people to be free from submission and arbitrary misuse of power by them and their bosses, the importance of fair and equitable treatment internally and externally for all and the need for justice through the rule of proper grievance handling machinery, employee empowerment, sound industrial relations.}

Evolution of Organization Development

_{Organization Development gained prominence as an established field in 1960s although nobody can clearly identify how and who was behind its origin sequentially with absolute certainty. But it is said to have been coined to compile the works of behavioral scientists such as Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, Herbert Shepard, Douglas McGregor and Richard Beckhard who were working in different organizations around the same period on the behavioral aspects of employees and the effect of organizational structure on them leading to personal and organizational effectiveness. The name was propounded to distinguish the relative importance of OD from other contemporary approaches.}

_{However Organizational Development has taken a lot from the various principles of Fredrick W Taylor who in 1911 gave ‘Principles of Scientific Management’ which are considered as the backbone of modern management field. He emphasized on the adoption of scientific methods to improve work efficiency and employee productivity and started the process of streamlining the production process. He proposed “time and motion studies” and “focused on specialization and standardization of work”, to correct the problems related to the employees everyday work among the employees and develop the best methods of doing every job leading to optimum results. Its application illustrated the positive impact of examination and deliberate intervention by external experts in the work processes of organizations on human efficiency and productivity.}

Scope of the Act

_{The objects of the industrial relation's legislation in general are to maintain Industrial peace and, to achieve economic justice. The prosperity of any industry very much depends upon its growing production. Production is possible when the industry functions smoothly without any disturbances. This means industrial peace through harmonious relationship between labour and management is essential. Therefore every industrial relations, provisions and legislations necessarily aims at providing conditions congenial to the industrial peace. Economic justice is another objective of industrial legislation. Almost all industrial interruptions in production are due to industrial disputes. Dissatisfaction with the existing economic conditions is the root cause of industrial disputes. The labour demands for fair return is expressed in varied forms; e.g. increase in wages, resistance to decrease in wages and grant of allowance and benefits etc. If a labourer wants to achieve these gains individually, he fails because of his weaker bargaining power against the strong economic management. Therefore, the economic struggle of labour with capital can be fought collectivity by organized labours. It is with this object to provide economic justice by ensuring fair return to the labour, the State, being the custodian of public interest, intervenes by 'State legislation' Economic justice has also been ensured to the people of India by our Constitution.}

Socio Technical Approach to Job Design

_{The socio-economic approach emphasizes the need for integrating the social consequences of work with the traditional cost versus quantity consideration of production. The concept of sociotechnical system was first elucidated by Eric Trist and his colleagues at the Tavistock Institute of Social Research in London. The approach attempts to develop jobs that adjust the need of the production process technology to the needs of the worker and work group. The social technical approach has been applied in many countries- often under the heading of “autonomous work groups”, “Japanese style work groups”, or employee involvement teams. The American manufacturing companies use work teams as the building block of employee involvement teams.}

Exploratory Research

_{Exploratory research in general is unstructured, informal research undertaken with an objective to gain background information about the general nature of the research problem. Major emphasis is on converting broad, vague problem statements into small, precise sub-problem statements. It has a great amount of flexibility and does not offer any clear hypothesis about problem. It is generally followed by confirmatory research because it gives a “feel” of various relevant issues. The results of research can give some indication as to the “why”, “how” and “when” something occurs, but it cannot explain “how often” or “how many”.}

Benefits of Research Design

_{Given below are a few benefits of Research Design}

_{1.                A researcher realises the objectives of the   study with the help of research design which helps to bridge between what has been established and what is to be done.}

_{2.                Research design facilitates the researcher to understand and decide what data are needed to achieve the objectives.}

_{3.                A written design helps the researcher exactly in clear terms, what is to be done and why.}

_{4.                It helps the researcher to keep the computations and thinking on the path to solutions and recommendations.}

_{5.                It guides the researcher how to conduct the research.}

Research Process

_{Research process is the main content of any research. It defines the research and describes the skills required to identify the problem, the decision alternatives, and the research needs which are critical components of a research activities. It involves a dedicated system of scientific methodology that can be used by researchers to arrive at the right conclusions.}

_{Research process involves a number of inter-related activities which overlap and do not rigidly follow a particular sequence. A researcher is often required to think a few steps ahead, because various steps in research process are inter-woven into each other and each step will have some influence over the other steps. In research, even though our focus is on one particular step, other inter-related steps of operations are also being looked into simultaneously. As we complete one activity or operation, our focus naturally shifts from it to the subsequent one, i.e. the focus is not concentrated exclusively on one single activity or operation at any particular point of time. The research process provides systematic, planned approach to the research project and ensures that all aspects of the research project are consistent with each other.}

How is Life Full of Compromises

Life is not just party and pleasure; it is also pain and despair. Unthinkable things happen. Sometimes everything turns upside down. Bad things happen to good people. Some things are beyond control, such as physical disability and birth defects. We cannot choose our parents or the circumstances of our birth. So if the ball bounced that way, sorry. But what do we do from here; cry or take the ball and run? That is a choice we have to make.

 

On a clear day, there are hundreds of boats sailing in all different directions in a lake. How come? Even though the wind is blowing in one direction, the sailboats are going in different directions. What is the difference? It depends on the way the sail is set, and that is determined by the sailor. The same is true of our lives. We can't choose the direction of the wind, but we can choose how we set the sail.

We can choose our attitude even though we cannot always choose our circumstances. The choice is either to act like a victor or a victim. It is not our position but our disposition that determines our destiny.

 

It takes both rain and sunshine to create a rainbow. Our lives are no different. There is happiness and sorrow. There is the good and the bad ; dark and bright spots. If we can handle adversity, it only strengthens us. We cannot control all the events that happen in our lives, but we can control how we deal with them.

 

Richard Blechnyden wanted to promote Indian tea at the St. Louis World fair in 1904. It was very hot and no one wanted to sample his tea. Blechnyden saw that all the other iced drinks were doing flourishing business. It dawned on him to make his tea into an iced drink, mix in sugar and sell it. He did and people loved it. That was the introduction of iced tea to the world.

 

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, we can react responsibly or resentfully. Human beings are not like an action which has no choice. An action cannot decide whether to become a giant tree or to become food for the squirrels. Human beings have choices. If nature gives us a lemon, we have a choice: either cry or make lemonade.