Introduction Organization development (OD) is any process or activity, based upon the behavioral sciences that either in the short term period or the long term period have the potential to develop in an organizational setting. Enhanced knowledge, expertise, productivity, satisfaction, income, interpersonal relationships, team spirit, and other desired outcomes such as goodwill are the factors that are meant to prove to be advantageous to the individual, group, team, society, region, nation or the whole humanity. Organization development’s primary emphasis has been laid upon the relationships between individuals and groups, so that there is cooperation and mutuality between them so that they can work together in harmony towards the progress of the organization.

1. 1 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
THE NEED TO UNDERSTAND ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT
YOU NEED THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE
Prof. Paul Allieu Kamara
Introduction
Organization development (OD) is any process or activity, based upon the
behavioral sciences that either in the short term period or the long term period have
the potential to develop in an organizational setting. Enhanced knowledge,
expertise, productivity, satisfaction, income, interpersonal relationships, team
spirit, and other desired outcomes such as goodwill are the factors that are meant to
prove to be advantageous to the individual, group, team, society, region, nation or
the whole humanity. Organization development’s primary emphasis has been laid
upon the relationships between individuals and groups, so that there is cooperation
and mutuality between them so that they can work together in harmony towards the
progress of the organization.
The meaning and the definition of organizational development is very
comprehensive, hence from the definitions of organizational development desired
outcomes have been identified which are as follows: (McLean, 2005).
1. Advanced organizational renewal
2. Engage organization culture change
3. Enhance profitability and competitiveness
4. Ensure health and well being of organizations and the employees
5. Facilitate learning and development
6. Improve problem solving
7. Increase effectiveness

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8. Initiate and/or manage change
9. Strengthen system and process development
10.Support adaptation to change.
All these above stated factors add involvedness and intricacies to the field of
organizational development, making the jobs of the organizers and the practitioners
more convoluted and creative. The environmental conditions, internal and external
to the organization always demand for progress, innovation, novelty and
productivity.
Organization development is a planned effort, which is organization wide, it
is managed from the top most level in the hierarchy with the main aim to increase
organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the
organization’s processes using behavioral sciences knowledge, set of values that
are largely humanistic, and open systems theory. Overall organization
effectiveness is aimed at improvement by way of improving the organizational
dimensions such as the external environment, mission, strategy, leadership, culture,
structure, information and reward systems, and work policies and procedures (OD,
n.d.).
Characteristics of Organization Development
1. OD is an approach that has been drawn from various areas such as
organization behavior, management, business, psychology, sociology,
anthropology, management, economics, and education, counseling and
public administration. Its main aim is to improve organizational
effectiveness.
2. OD recognizes the significance of top management’s commitment,
support and contribution. The target is to enhance the whole organization,

3. 3 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
individuals, departments, work groups and it may get extended to region,
nation and the whole of humanity.
3. OD is a planned and long term strategy to bring about change and
development not only within the organizational structure, but also its
interdependent parts.
4. OD is an education based program designed to develop values, attitudes,
norms and management practices that lead to a healthy organizational
climate and healthy behavioral traits on the part of the personnel.
5. OD is a data based approach to understanding and diagnosing
organizations. It is guided by a change agent, change team, or line
management whose primary role is that of a facilitator, coach and a
teacher. The task involves planned interventions and improvements in an
organization’s processes and structures and requires expertise and skills
in working with individuals as well as the groups (McLean, 2005).

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Organization as System and Living Organism
An organization is a kind of complex configuration, comprising of many
interrelated components and elements. In the organizational structure there
are several departments such as production, finance, accounts, secretarial,
clerical and so forth, all the departments are directly or indirectly correlated
with each other, hence it can be stated that organizational structure is a
system which means to combine, to set up and to place together (Gazaryan,
2006). There have been some concepts and principles which are important to
be aware of for understanding the organizational development. These have
been stated as follows: (Gazaryan, 2006).
Chaos - Chaos theory describes the performance of certain nonlinear
dynamical systems that under assured conditions exhibit a phenomenon known as
chaos, which is characterized by sensitivity to initial conditions. As a result of this
feeling, the actions of systems that exhibit chaos appear to be random, even though
the model of the system is well defined and contains no random parameters.
Chaotic behavior is considered to be more stable, structured and deterministic;
chaos in an organization is what management and the members influences
everyday but find no means to control.
Coherence – Coherence is always a mode of coordinated behavior, oriented
in a single direction, harmonized, or associated in any other sense of elements.
Coherence comes directly from both freedom and interdependence. Where no
elemental freedom exists – there is no opportunity for correlated behavior. Where
interdependence does not exist – there is similarly no possibility for connection.
Each element does not see and does not need to see or feel others, and does

5. 5 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
whatever it wants on its own. Elements interact in this case also, but casually, and
such an interaction causes a causal effect. In such systems, elements may be kept
together only by some third external force.
Structure - It is also reasonable to state the structure of processes, or the
dynamic structure of an organization. In contrast to the static structure that usually
defines formal subordination in work relations, the dynamic structure defines how
elements interact in a widespread process and generate a common result. The
correlation of behaviors and attitudes of interrelated components means that their
independence is limited and bounded by acceptable models of coordinated actions.
These models depend on results that are expected to be achieved. In this way, the
providence of an organization determines the structure of the organization.
Emergent features - Some features of a system may directly shoot from the
separate features of the system’s components; in this respect the system may be no
more than the calculation of its parts. But some other features are specific to the
entity itself and do not exist within the separate components; then the system is
more than the calculation of its parts. A radio set can receive a broadcast, but no
individual resistor or capacitor can do so alone. Any part of machinery may not
have the ability to be self-moving, but some set of parts, properly assembled, may
have this quality. Such emerging properties were called emergent features.
Substructures - Substructures are often seen as informal relations between
members of an organization and/or with outsiders. The formal relations and means
of communication are not always particularly strong or defined within the
organizational structure. When some formal relations are weak and apparent only
in particular circumstances, they should be considered as a part of substructure. On
the other hand, some informal relations may be obviously crucial for
organizational survival and may determine the basic qualities of an organization.

6. 6 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
Therefore – substructures should be viewed not in terms of formal versus informal,
but in terms of essential versus non-essential.
Synergy - Synergy or synergism most often refers to the phenomenon of two
or more discrete influences or agents acting in common to create an effect which is
greater than the sum of the effects which each are able to create independently.
Thus, synergy is the evolving superiority of a system. In Greek, synergy means
collective action, working together and team work. Synergy also means that the
actions and performance of the whole organization structure may not necessarily
be predicted by the actions of their parts taken independently. Synergetics as a
discipline that addresses self-organizing processes within the organizational
structure and society has been in existence for 35 years and has become extremely
accepted.
Self-emerging Order - The basic preconditions for a particular self-emerging
order to appear in a group are: 1) interdependence, and 2) unpredictable
interaction. The unpredictability supposes a certain freedom of interaction. At the
same time, if elements are not interdependent – meaning each one depends on
another – there is no clue to build a system. The group will remain a set of odd,
isolated pieces without any communication between them; hence for the effective
functioning of the organization, interdependence is essential (Gazaryan, 2006).
Diagnosing Organizations
Diagnosis is the process of understanding a system’s current functioning. It
involves collecting significant information about current operations, analyzing the
data, and drawing conclusions for potential change and improvement. Effective
diagnosis provides the systematic knowledge of the organization needed to design
appropriate interventions. Thus, OD interventions derive from diagnosis and
include specific actions intended to improve organizational functioning (Worley,
2008).

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Diagnosis is the process of understanding how the organization is currently
functioning, and it provides the information indispensable to design change
interventions. It generally follows from successful opening and contracting, which
set the stage for successful diagnosis. Those processes help OD practitioners and
client members jointly determine organizational issues to focus on, how to collect
and analyze data to understand them, and how to work together to develop action
plans from the diagnosis. In another sense, diagnosis is occurring all the time.
Managers, organization members, and OD practitioners are always trying to
understand the drivers of organization effectiveness, and how and why change is
proceeding in a particular direction (Worley, 2008).
In organization development, diagnosis is used more broadly than a medical
definition would suggest. It is a collaborative process between organization
members and the OD consultant to collect relevant information, analyze it, and
draw conclusions for action planning and intervention. Diagnosis may be aimed at
revealing the causes of specific problems, focused on understanding effective
processes, or directed at assessing the overall functioning of the organization or
department to determine the areas for future development. Diagnosis provides a
systematic understanding of organizations so that appropriate interventions may be
developed for solving problems and enhancing effectiveness (Worley, 2008).
Organization Change
Organization change is defined as the state of transition between the current
state and the future one, towards which the organization is directed. Changes come
about within the processes, policies and functioning of the organization; changes
come about in the techniques, practices, resourcefulness and productivity of the
organization. The final objective of organization change is accomplishment which

8. 8 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
is to bring about effectiveness and efficiency in all the operations that the
organization is carrying out (Tripon, n.d.).
Types of Organization Changes
Organization changes may be categorized in various ways; change has been
described in three main dimensions which are origin, result and process. The origin
of change means the way that change appears in an organization, the internal as
well as the external environmental conditions, the way the organization has been
established, the ways in which its policies, norms, rules, procedures and operations
have been framed and the ways in which tasks are carried out. Changes do get
influenced by outside controls and external forces which are taking place in the
environment, external to the organization. There have been different types of
changes that have been described as follows: (Tripon, n.d.).
1. Tectonic Change – It is described as the major difference between the
existing organizations and the ideal ones. It depicts the need for a change but
does not show any pressure as compared to other types of changes; this type
of change is interesting and useful.
2. Planned Change – It is a formal type of change which is imposed within an
organization; it is a proactive change initiated by the members of the
organization, they are engaged in the implementation process with the view
to anticipating the environmental changes or responding to new
opportunities with the purpose of making an improvement.
3. Random or Emerging Change – This change occurs from the activities that
are carried out continuously from the organization members, as they
gradually address the problems and the opportunities; this change is

9. 9 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
implemented from the external forces, leaders create the vision of change,
and the employees apply the execution which is done progressively.
Organization Development Functions
The following steps are the components of making a successful change and
transition
from training and development to organization development: (CC, 2010).
Step 1: Clearly identify the work of the OD unit - First step in building a
team is to determine what will be the job assignments for the new unit. Thinking
about the levels within an organization that can benefit from OD interventions.
Will the OD practitioners focus on individual, team, or whole system solutions?
Will the OD practitioners lead change projects, or develop tools and methodologies
to educate others in leading change? Will the OD practitioners coach or shadow
consult on important organization-wide projects? In essence, how will the
organization view this team: as leaders, doers, coaches, teachers, or consultants?
Will the range of services change over time?
Any of these are appropriate roles and work assignments for an OD team.
However, it can be overwhelming to commit to everything at once. Spending time
in planning for what the OD team will engage in and then determining how the
group’s services and roles might evolve over 1 to 5 years. This upfront planning
will help in determining what skill sets are needed on the team, and what
development plans to put in place for team members selected for these roles.
Step 2: Determine what the jobs will be in the new OD unit - Once the work
of the unit is clear, it should be much easier to determine how to break up the work
and what type and number of jobs will be required. Creating job profiles that
specify the knowledge, experience, competencies, and attributes needed for

10. 10 ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES
success; these will prove useful for any subsequent staffing or selection processes
and decision making.
What kind of personnel should be employed? For example, is it mandatory
that staff members with a training and development or HR generalist background
will be figured into OD roles? Is it assumed that all the necessary competencies for
OD work can be trained? Will there be different types of roles on the OD team,
such as analysts, project managers, and senior consultants? If so, what are the
differences in roles and responsibilities between these jobs functions?
Step 3: Determine the Team Mechanics - The type of work that OD
practitioners perform can be immeasurable and multifaceted. Even after narrowing
down the work of the unit, it is important to determine the basic viewpoint of the
team. For example, some OD departments purposefully develop staff members to
be specialists in delivering different types of interventions. There may be a few
team members focused on coaching, leadership development, guidance and
mentoring programs, all of which are aimed at the individual, while others are
more practiced at facilitating large scale change processes across the enterprise.
When a customer need arises under this model, the team members assemble a
consulting team with the right blend of specialties to assist in that particular
condition.
Step 4: Start Re-branding and Marketing the Services of the OD Function –
The OD functions in this area are building an assistant and advocate network,
create an advisory council, influence all the available data, access your ignorance
by communicating and demonstrating curiosity, facilitate key organizational
initiatives, identifying the weaknesses, communicating effectively, and checking
the progress and improvement that has taken place (CC, 2010).

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Discussion
Organization development is a very wide-ranging term, that covers number
of elements and components; the changes that take place within the organizational
setting with respect to norms, policies, procedures, methods, rules and regulations
can be positive which may be seen as developmental changes, whereas some of the
changes are also viewed as undesirable changes by the managements and the
members which are termed as deterioration. In order to bring about organization
development in a positive manner, the management needs to effectively look at the
characteristics of the organization, the diagnostic procedures, all the concepts and
principles those are necessary for organizational change, types of changes and the
functions of organization development.
The management needs to control the factors that are complicated and
tedious and ensure that the organizational process goes in the direction that best
controls the effective and efficient fulfillment of the goals and objectives. In the
competitive market, it becomes difficult for the organization to exist if it is not
implementing its tasks and operations in a useful manner. In order to survive, the
organization must carry out the right procedures in a right way at the right time; in
order to accomplish the tasks in a right approach; the personnel and the OD
practitioners are required to organize all the tasks and functions in a right way in
order to achieve the desired objectives.
Organization development is termed as the process of development applied
to an organization; it refers to any effort made by the management, supervisors,
personnel and OD practitioners to improve the organization. The individuals
involved need to develop the actual knowledge and skills that are required to meet
the challenges that occur within the organization development process. Changes

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that occur within the development process may be technological, cultural,
psychological, social, environmental etc, and the individuals should be aware about
how to carry out these changes in order to meet the developmental goals more
efficiently.
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