Learning Organizations & Organizational Transformation

1. Learning Organizations & Organizational Transformation

2. Effective Teams • Informal atmosphere • Clear purpose; tasks understood and accepted • Task-relevant discussions; good listening • Participation: free expression of ideas & feelings • Open communication • Civilized disagreement/conflict around ideas • Self-assessing • Consensus decision-making • Shared leadership • Clear roles and work assignments

3. Team Building Activities • Activities related to one or more individuals • Activities oriented to the group’s operations and behaviors • Task accomplishments • Team relationships • Organization processes • Activities affecting the group’s relationship with the rest of the organization

4. Types of Teams • Groups reporting to the same manager • Groups involving people with common goals • Temporary groups formed to accomplish a specific, one-time task • Groups consisting of people whose work roles are interdependent • Groups with no formal links but whose collective purpose requires coordination • All teams are groups, not all groups are teams.

5. TTypes of Team Building • Family group diagnostic meeting • A set of activities designed to understand the current structure, process, and effectiveness of the team • Family group team-building meeting • A set of activities designed to address and improve a specific aspect of team functioning

6. Groupthink • Exercise

7. Roles • Role Analysis Technique • Role Negotiation (Go to Word Example)

8. Comprehensive OD Interventions

9. Large Group Interventions • Future Search Conference (Weisbord) • Open-Space Meeting (Owen) • Open System Planning (Beckhard) • Confrontation Meeting (Beckhard) • Real-Time Strategic Change (Jacobs) • The Conference Model (Axelrod)

10. Future Search Conferences • 4-6 committee members plan • ~50-60 reps of whole system/~10 groups • (Environmental Appreciation) • Changes; Probable future • **System Analysis: Self, company, society • History (patterns and meaning) • Present (ext. & int. factors shaping future) • Future • *Integration of system and environment • Constraints • Strategies & action plans

11. Large-Group Meeting Assumptions • Organization members’ perceptions play a major role in environmental relations. • Organization members must share a common view of the environment to permit coordinated action toward it. • Organization members’ perceptions must accurately reflect the condition of the environment if organizational responses are to be effective. • Organizations cannot only adapt to their environment but also proactively create it.

12. Large-Group Method Application Stages • Preparing for the large-group meeting • Identify compelling meeting theme • Select appropriate stakeholders to participate • Develop relevant tasks to address meeting theme • Conducting the meeting • Open Space Methods • Open Systems Methods • Following up on the meeting outcomes

13. Open Space Methods • Set the conditions for self-organizing • Announce the theme of the session • Establish norms for the meetings • Volunteers create the agenda • Coordinate activity through information postings

14. Open Systems Methods • Map the current environment facing the org. • Assess org’s responses to environ. expectations. • Identify the core mission of the organization. • Create a realistic future scenario of environmental expectations and organization responses. • Create an ideal future scenario of environmental expectations and organization responses. • Compare the present with the ideal future & prepare an action plan for reducing discrepancy.

15. Confrontation Meeting • 1-day meeting • cross-section of management; high cohesion and trust • Step 1: Climate setting – Goals, ground rules • Step 2: Data gathering – heterogeneous group of 6-8 people (bosses and subordinates separate) • Step 3: Information sharing • Step 4: Prioritizing & Action Planning (regroup by functional team) • Step 5: Follow-up by top management • Step 6: Progress Review

16. Grid OD- A Normative Model • Organization-level approach that advocates a “one best way” to develop organizations • Built on research exploring organization effectiveness • Cornerstone of the model is a belief that the best managerial style emphasizes both a ‘concern for people’ and a ‘concern for task/production’ • 5-10 years to implement • Improved performance; reduced costs; managers rated more highly

17. Grid OD program • Prephase 1: select managers who will become instructors • Phase 1: Grid Seminar to all managers of the org; self-awareness (mgrl style, p-s, comm. skills) • Phase 2: Teamwork development: analyze team culture • Phase 3: Intergroup development: analysis of ideal intergroup relationships and share • Phase 4: Developing Ideal strategic corporate model: Defining excellence at the top • Phase 5: Implementing Ideal Strategic model • Phase 6: Systematic Critique: Measure results

18. Real Time Strategic Change • 3-day large-group event • New strategic direction • Leadership team developed draft strategy • Leadership team receives feedback • Key ingredients: • Identify/clarify important issues • Agree on purpose of change effort • Who needs to be involved • Influence over strategy development • Info. needed to do quality work • Processes for supporting real-time strat. changes

19. Stream Analysis • Based on Porras & Robertson model: • Social factors • Technology • Physical setting • Organizing arrangements • Actions are OD interventions directed at solving core problems • Changes in the above lead to beh. changes & org. improvements

20. Survey Feedback • Step 1: Top mgmt involved in planning • Step 2: data collected from all members • Step 3: Data fed back to top execs and then down through the hierarchy (“interlocking chain of conferences”) • Step 4: recipients of feedback (a) interpret results, (b) plan constructive changes (c) plan how to introduce results to next lower level

21. Effective Feedback Session • Accept data as valid • Accept responsibility for problems identified • Commit to solving problems

22. Cultural Analysis Artifacts Values Assump-tions

23. Corporate Culture • Strategy-Culture Fit (strategic alignment) • Strategy: actions to achieve major objectives • Culture: provides shared values, norms; answers “why things are done the way they are.”

24. Learning Organizations • Reduce organizational layers • Involve all employees in continuous self-directed learning • Create knowledge for action • Constant readiness for change (some org. change, without considering why) • Continuous planning (up-down; bottom-up) • Improvised Implementation (experiment) • Action Learning

25. Third-Wave Organizations • Flexible • Creative • Innovative

26. Organization Transformation • Abrupt, drastic change to total structure • Directive not participative