Organizational change and development

Organizational change and development
 Organizational development (OD) is a field of study that addresses change and how it
affects
organizations and the individuals within those organizations. Effective organizational
development can assist organizations and individuals to cope with change.
Strategies can be developed to introduce planned change, such as team-building
efforts, to improve organizational functioning. While change is a “given,” there are a
number of ways to deal with change -- some useful, some not.
Organizational development assists organizations in coping with the turbulent
environment, both internally and externally, frequently doing so by introducing planned
change efforts.
Organizational development is a relatively new area of interest for business and the
professions.
While the professional development of individuals has been accepted and fostered by a
number of
organizations for some time, there is still ambiguity surrounding the term organizational
development.
The basic concept of both professional development and organizational development
is the same, however, with an essential difference in focus. Professional development
attempts to improve an individual’s effectiveness in practice, while organizational
development focuses on ways to improve organization’s overall productivity, human
fulfillment, and responsiveness to the environment
 These goals are accomplished through a variety of interventions aimed at dealing
with specific issues, as well as through ongoing processes.

Change in Organizations
Organizational development efforts, whether facilitated by an outside expert or
institutionalized and conducted on an ongoing basis, bring about planned
change within organizations and teams.
However, they are but one type of change that occurs in organizations, for
change can be both planned and unplanned and can occur in every dimension of
the universe. A change in chief justice , appropriations, or staff support can
dramatically alter the character of a judicial education organization.
Institutional alignment of the state bar, local law schools, area colleges and
universities, and judicial professional associations may yield similar impacts.
Change will not occur unless the need for change is critical. Because individuals
and organizations usually resist change, they typically do not embrace change
unless they must.
 One OD consultant describes how “pain” drives change (Conner, 1990). Pain
occurs when people pay the price for being in a dangerous situation or for
missing a key opportunity. As such, change is needed to relieve the pain.

The Process of Change
 A method such as force-field analysis is the beginning step of any planned change. There are
many different models for the change process in the literature; the following is a simple,
straightforward one proposed by Egan (1988, p. 5). He delineates three steps:
• The assessment of the current scenario.
• The creation of a preferred scenario.
• Designing a plan that moves the system from the current to the preferred scenario.
Once the need for change has been determined, one follows the steps of the model in
sequence.
While these steps could each be examined in detail, only step three will be discussed
in an in-depth manner here. The first step, “assessing the current scenario,” can be
accomplished through a mechanism such as force-field analysis.
 It provides the necessary information on the forces that can facilitate the desired
change and the forces that will resist and deter the change. Step two, “creating a
preferred scenario,” is often accomplished through team effort in brainstorming and
developing alternative futures.
 While the need that precipitates the change is clearly compelling, there may be
several ways in which the change could actually occur within the organization. It is
important to examine the various alternatives thoroughly.

The third step of the process, “devising a plan for moving from
the current to the preferred scenario,” includes the strategies
and plans that educators and managers must develop to
overcome the restraining forces in an organization.
 This is a political process, requiring individuals to harness and
utilize power. Power is necessary for change to occur. It is neither
inherently good nor bad; it simply assists individuals in
accomplishing their goals.
In his recent book Mastering the Politics of Planning , Benveniste
(1989) notes that even well-thought-out plans for change can be
derailed when the politics of implementation are not
considered.
Change masters must gather support for the desired change
throughout the organization, using both formal and informal
networks.
The multiplier or “bandwagon” effect, he notes, is often
necessary to rally enough support for the change.

Key Roles in the Change Process
During this stage of planning, it is useful to distinguish the different
roles associated with the change process. These roles must remain
distinctive in order to implement planned change effectively.
However, within different settings or systems, a judicial educator
may play more than one role. The various roles that individuals can
play, as described by Conner (1990), are:
Change Sponsor: Individual or group who legitimizes the change.
Change Advocate: Individual or group who wants to achieve a change
but
does not possess legitimization power.
Change Agent: Individual or group who is responsible for implement-
ing the change.
Change Target: Individual or group who must actually change

Future of OB
The international economy has taken on added importance in organizational
behavior circles in recent years, as international companies have special
requirements and dynamics to contend with. Researchers currently are studying
such things as communications between and among foreign business
operations, cultural differences and their impact on individuals, language
difficulties, motivation techniques in different cultures, as well as the
differences in leadership and decision-making practices from country to country.
Today, organizational behavior scientists are dealing with a wide range of
problems confronting the business world. For instance, they continue to study
downsizing, career development in the global economy, social issues such as
substance abuse and changes in family composition, and the global economy.
They are trying to determine just what effects such factors are having on the
workplace and what can be done to alleviate associated problems.
•

Organizational change and development

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