Will business consultants be able to integrate WHAT should be done in an Intervention with HOW to do it? Clients have ALREADY learned enough to evaluate Consultants.
It is fascinating that with such a comprehensive body of knowledge on Organizational Development, Behavior and Organizational Change, we are still groping when we engage in consulting interventions in companies and organizations.
Therefore the questions that we now ask ourselves are the following:
1. Why is it that we did not achieve the expected results as a consequence of an intervention of change and organizational development?
2. Why is it that many of the consulting interventions - such as “re-engineering” - have not been successful, and when they eventually had some significant degree of success, they have not always been sustained in the future? weather?
Eric Gaynor (“Organization Development Institute” - World Congress in Dublin, 1999 and Mexico, 1998), suggests that the contributions of academics, researchers and consultants have not always managed to be integrated with each other, and especially with regard to integrating effectively the best organizational arrangement with the way to modify it in search of greater and better efficiency and effectiveness.
- Organizational Behavior - Organizational Theories
A review of notable authors and experts in Organizational Behavior includes a list of over 60 of them. Each of these experts has dedicated most of their years and also of their energies in the search for the best organizational arrangement and a very important number of them have found empirical evidence to support their conclusions.
They are (Eric Gaynor: Organizational Development Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2001):
Alfred D. Chandler: "Strategy and structure", MIT Press, 1962.
Alfred P. Sloan: "My years with GN", Sidgwick & Jackson, 1965.
Alvin W. Gouldner: "Patterns of industrial bureaucracy", Routledge & Kegan, 1955.
Amitai Etzioni: "Modern Organizations", Prentice Hall, 1964.
Arnold S. Tannenbaum: "Control in organizations", Mc Graw-Hill, 1968.
BF Skinner: "The behavior of organisms"; Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1938.
C. Northcote Parkinson: “Big business”, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1977.
Carl Frost & R. Ruh, J. Wakely: “The Scanlon plan for OD”; MSU, 2001
Charles E. Lindblom: “The policy-making process”, Prentice May 1968.
Charles Perrow: “Organizational Analysis: a sociological view”, Brooks / Cole, 1970
Chester I. Barnard: "The functions of the executive", Harvard University Press, 1938.
Chris Argyris: "Personality and Organization" - Harper & Row, 1957; & Schon, D.: "Organizational Learning: A theory of action perspective", Addison-Wesley, 1978.
D. Katz & R. Kahn: "The social psychology of organizations", NY, John Wiley, 1978.
DA Mc Clelland: “Toward a theory of motive acquisition”, American Psychologist, 1965.
Daniel Goleman: “The emotional intelligence”, Bantam Books, 1995.
David Silverman: “The theory of organizations”, Heinemann, 1970.
Derek Pugh and DJ Hickson: “Organizational structure in its context: The Aston program ”, Gower Publishing, 1976.
Douglas McGregor:“ Leadership and motivation ”, MIT press, 1966.
E. Fritz Schumacher: "Small is beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered", Blond & Briggs, 1973.
E. Wight Bakke: "Bonds of Organization", Archon Books, 1966.
Edgar H. Schein: "Organizational psychology ", Prentice-Hall, 1980.
Edward E. Lawler III:" Pay and organization development ", Addison-Wesley, 1981.
Elliot Jaques:" A general theory of bureaucracy ", Heinemann, 1976.
Elton Mayo:" The social problems of an industrial civilization ", Routledge & Kegan, 1949.
Eric Trist & others:" Organizational choice ", Tavistock, 1963.
Fred E. Fiedler:" A theory of leadership effectiveness ", McGraw Hill, 1967.
Frederick Herzberg:" Managerial choice: to be efficient and to be human ”, Dow Jones - Irwin, 1976.
Frederick W. Taylor: "Scientific Management", Harper & Row, 1947.
Geert Hofstede: "Cultures and organizations: software of the mind" Mc Graw-Hill, 1991.
Geoffrey Vickers: "Value systems and social process", Tavistock publications, 1968.
Harry Braverman: "Labor and monopoly capitalism", Monthly review press., 1974.
Henri Fayol: "General and industrial management", Pitman, 1949.
Henry Mintzberg: "Structures in fives: designing effective organizations", Prentice-Hall, 1983.
Herbert A. Simon: "The new science of management decision", Harper & Row, 1960.
James Burnham: "The managerial revolution", Penguin, 1962.
James D. Thompson: "Organizations in Action", Mc Graw-Hill, 1967.
James G. March: "Decisions & organizations", Blackwell, 1988.
Jeffrey Pfeffer & Gerald, R. Salancik: "The external control of organizations: a resource dependency perspective", Harper & Row, 1978.
Joan Woodward: "Industrial organization: theory and practice ”, Oxford U.Press, 1965.
John Kenneth Galbraith: "The new industrial state", Penguin, 1969.
Karl E. Weick: "The social psychology of organizing". Addison-Wesley: 1969.
Kenneth E. Boulding: "The organizational revolution", Harper, 1953.
L. Festinger: "" A theory of cognitive dissonance "; Row-Peterson, 1957.
Lawrence P. & Hull; R.: "The Peter principle", William Morrow, 1969.
Lyndall Urwick & Edward Brech: "The making of scientific management", Pitman, 1950.
Mary Parker Follett: "Creative experience", Longmans, 1924.
Max Weber: The theory of social and economic organization ", Free Press, 1947
Michael T. Hannan & John H. Freeman:" Organizational Ecology "Harvard University Press, 1988.
Michel Crozier: “The bureaucratic phenomenon”, Tavistock publications, 1964.
Oliver E. Williamson: “Economic organization”, Wheatsheaf books, 1986.
Paul R. Lawrence & Jay W. Lorsch: “Organizations & Environment”, Harvard, 1967.
Peter F Drucker: "The practice of management", Harper & Row, 1954.
Philip Selznick: "TVA and the grass roots"; Berkeley, 1949.
Raymond E. Miles & Charles C. Snow: "Organizational strategy, structure and process", Mc Graw-Hill, 1978.
Rensis Likert: "New patterns of management", Mc Graw-Hill, 1961.
Robert Michels: "Political parties", Dover, 1959.
Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton: "The managerial grid III", Gulf Publishing, 1985.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter: "The Change Masters: Corporate entrepeneurs at work", Allen and Unwin, 1984.
Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman: "In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America 's best-run companies, " Harper & Row, 1982.
Tom Burns: "Industry in a new age", New society, 1963.
Victor H. Vroom: "Organization Theory", Penguin Books, 1990.
Victor Thompson: "Modern Organization". New York: Knopf, 1967
Wilfred Brown: "Exploration in management", Heinemann educational books, 1960.
William H. Whyte: "The organization man" Penguin, 1960.
William Ouchi: "Theory Z: How American business can meet the Japanese challenge", Addison-Wesley, 1981.
The list includes notable academics, researchers, consultants, managers, and practitioners interested in organizational performance. They refer to a selection of independent and intervening variables that have a decisive impact on corporate results, and in most cases also show empirical evidence of this, whether through field work, various investigations, practical evidence, or a case study. study. The seasoned reader must recognize that regardless of a “different” selection of variables, the authors can differentiate each other by the different unit of analysis they focus on, be it the individual, the group, the organization or the context. What we can be sure of is that in this list there is no place for beginners or laymen.
Definitely, if each of the notable people had been in a situation of introducing organizational improvements, they would surely choose different aspects in what should focus and direction. These distinctive "What" are the ones that really show differences between them.
Let us now go on to explore those authors who have been particularly interested in the “How”, that is, in the processes of change and transformation that are implicit in Organizational Development.
- Organizational Development - Organizational Theories
In his book "Practicing Organization Development - A guide for consultants" (edited by William J. Rothwell, Roland Sullivan & Gary N. McLean, Pfeiffer, 1995) a series of definitions of Organizational Development are included, making specific mention of
the statements of:
- Beckhard, 1969 ("Organization Development: Strategies And Models"; Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley); Bennis, 1969; ("Organization Development: its nature, origin and prospects"; Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley); Burke, 1982; ("Organization Development: Principles and Practices"; New York: Little, Brown & Co.); McLagan, 1989; ("Models for HRD practice"; Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development); French & Bell, 1990; ("Organizational Development: Behavioral science interventions for organization improvement"; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall).
In an attempt to summarize these definitions and link them together through a common thread, William J. Rothwell, Roland Sullivan & Gary N. McLean, Pfeiffer (in the 1995 edition cited) point out four main aspects:
1. Organizational development has a long-term perspective, which implies that it does not represent a strategy of making “quick fix” arrangements something that has already been noted by Kilmann, 1984 (“Beyond the quick fix: Managing five tracks to organizational success "; San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass) and Naisbitt, 1982 (" Megatrends: Have new directions transforming our lives "; New York: Warner Books).
2. Despite the fact that a process of organizational change and development can be carried out at any level as suggested by Beer, 1980 (“Organization change and Development: A systems view”; Santa Monica, Ca: Goodyear) the three authors highlight the need to receive support and sponsorship from the top of the organization.
3. The educational and learning process is central to the process of organizational change and development. The learning and application of new ideas, beliefs, behaviors and attitudes on the part of the different organizational members is required.
4. Unlike other consulting approaches, Organizational Development especially takes into account the participation of the organization's own staff in the different stages of diagnosis, search for solutions and selection, identification of objectives to change, implementation of planned change, and evaluation of results.
In this way William J. Rothwell, Roland Sullivan & Gary N. McLean (1995) help us identify a common thread through different definitions, appreciations and approaches to organizational development.
Dr. Donald Cole (“Organizational Development Congress”, Buenos Aires, Argentina - 1997) points out that the profession of organizational development emerges as a consequence of the greater organizational complexity that is required to face changes in context, and that it takes the form of "matrix organization". Robert Blake & Jane Mouton, 1985 (The managerial grid III ”, Gulf Publishing) coined the term matrix organization before the end of the 1960s. Thereafter - Dr. Donald Cole, 1997 - organizations that adopt a matrix arrangement imply that each person responds to more than one, a task that has not been present in traditional organizational forms.
We can point out that Organizational Development arises in the early sixties when there is no longer any doubt that the classical school of thought, human relations, human resources and bureaucracy, have manifested their diminishing returns, to say the least. Wendell, F. and Bell, C. - 1995 (already mentioned) emphasize four different applications related to the behavioral sciences, and how they have impacted organizational development, being them:
- Laboratory training, survey research & feedback, action research, and the Tavistock socio-technical school.
Organizational development (OD) arises in the early sixties of the last century as a consequence mainly of the diminishing returns of the four management philosophies to which we have mentioned (classical school of thought, that of human relations, that of human resources and bureaucratic).
It is also remarkable how the emergence of Organizational Development coincides with what we have called “decline in the importance of the Profession”.
Indeed, professions in the 1960s began to decline in importance (in the United States of America). Various field and research works are beginning to show evidence where "the profession" helps to move up the organizational pyramid to managerial positions, but they have difficulties to consolidate at the top of the company. New skills emerge - intra and interpersonal - that are usually not learned, and generally are not taught either, in the best study centers and universities on the planet.
The climax of the “scope of the professional role” and how your professional career may be “interrupted” within companies is highlighted by Dr. Donald Cole, 1981 (“Professional Suicide”; New York, Mc Graw Hill) which has been edited in Spanish and is co-authored by Eric Gaynor, 2002 (“Suicidio Profesional”, Buenos Aires, Editor: The OD Institute International). In the USA, they quickly identified that “professional” knowledge, although necessary, was not sufficient for an organization to be competitive and to sustain such competitiveness over time. This is particularly true for the Administration and Engineering professions, among others; Henceforth, professionals should also focus their efforts, resources and energies on learning to know themselves and others a little more.Something that "traditional" professions have not been used to.
Organizational Development is then directly related to organizational participants, and "How" they can change their beliefs, values, behaviors and attitudes. Something common to all of them - unlike many of the notable experts mentioned under "Organizational Behavior" in the section above, is the focus on changes and processes above "What" is what brings us closer to greater and better organizational performance.
We have to quote some of the experts in Organizational Development:
Argyris, Chris, 1962: "Interpersonal competence and organizational effectiveness". Belmont, CA: Dorsey Press.
Argyris, Chris, (1970): "Intervention theory and method: a behavioral science view". Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Beckhard, R., 1969: “Organization development: Strategies and models”. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Beckhard, R. & Harris, R. (1987): "Organizational transitions". Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Beer, M. (1980): “Organization change and Development: A Systems view”. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear.
Bennis, W. (1969): “Organization development: Its nature, origin and prospects”. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Bittel, LR (1972): "The nine master keys of management". NY, McGraw-Hill
Bradford, L., Gibb, J., & Benne, K. (1964): "T-group theory and laboratory method: Innovation in re-education". NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Burke, W. (1982): "Organization Development: principles and practices", NY: Little, Brown & Co.
Dyer, W. (1977): "Team Building: Issues and alternatives". Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Gibb, Jack (1991: “Trust: a new vision of human relationships for business, education, family and personal living.” North Hollywood, CA: Newcastle Publishing.
Ginzberg, E. (1958): “Human Resources: the wealth of a nation. "NY: Simon & Schuster.
Golembiewsky, Robert (1990):" Ironies in Organizational Development. "New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Golembiewsky, Robert (1990): "Renewing organizations: the laboratory approach to planned change". Itasca, IL.: FE Peacock.
Greiner, Larry & Schein, V. (1988): "Power & Organization Development". Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Hackman, J. (as editor) - 1990: “Groups that work and those that do not”: creating conditions for effective teamwork ”. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Herzberg, Frederick & others (1959): "The motivation to work". NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Huse, EF (1980): “Organization development and change”. St. Paul, MN: WEst G
Jamieson, D. (1991). "You are the instrument" in the OD Practitioner.
Jaspers, K. (1957): "Kant". NY: Harcourt Brace.
Kirkpatrick, D. (1959): "Techniques for evaluating training programs" in Journal of the American Society of Training Directors - number 13.
Levinson, H. (1962): "A psychologist looks at executive development" in Harvard Business Review, number 40.
Lewin, Kurt (1951): "Field theory in social science". NY: Harper & Row
Lippitt, E. and others (1958): "The dynamics of planned change". San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
Lippitt, GL & Lippitt, R. (1978): “The consulting process in action”. San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer & Co.
Maslow, Abraham (1954): "Motivation and Personality". NY: Harper & Row.
McClelland, D. (1976): "Power is the motivator" in Harvard Business Review, number 54.
McGregor, Douglas (1960): "The human side of enterprise". NY: Mc Graw-Hill
Nadler, D. (1977): “Feedback and organization development: using data based methods”. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Rogers, Carl (1942): "Counseling and Psychoteraphy". Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin.
Schein, Edgar (1985): "Organizational culture and leadership". San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Schein, Edgar (1969): "Process Consultation: its role in organization development". Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Senge, Peter (1990): "The fifth discipline". New York: Doubleday.
Shaw, M. (1981): "Group Dynamics: the psychology of small group behavior". NY: McGraw-Hill.
Vroom, Victor (1964): "Work and Motivation". NY: John Wiley & Sons.
The vast majority of the newly appointed people differ from the vast majority of those who were cited in the section on organizational behavior due to the fact that they focus on the process of "How" performance improvement can be achieved within the organizational world. That is, instead of defining "Which" is the most successful company and describing "What" is what they do, specifying their profile to some extent - as is the case with the authors, managers, consultants, academics and expert researchers included in the section on organizational behavior - we find that experts in organizational development privilege the "How", that is, the process by which performance improvement can be achieved.
The reader must be dimensioning the magnitude of complexity that anyone who tries to “Change” or modify a current organizational structure faces, something that Macchiavello warned the Prince many centuries ago. Integrate thoughts on organizational behavior (more than 60 notable experts) with those of more than 30 proven experts in organizational change. It does not turn out to be a simple task.
In an effort to effectively integrate the contributions of Organizational Behavior experts with those of Organizational Development the authors R. Schmuk & M. Miles, 1971 (“Improving schools through OD: An overview”; Palo Alto, CA: National Press Books), created a model based on three main dimensions, being they:
- The diagnosed problems, the types or modes of intervention; yThe privileged unit of analysis.
The scheme of these last two authors takes into account some seven main aspects in terms of the unit of analysis: organization as a whole, intergroup relations, groups or teams, meetings of two or three, roles and a particular person. On the other hand, in relation to the diagnosed problems, the following components are mentioned: Objectives, communication, culture, leadership, problem solving, decision making, conflict, definition of roles. And regarding the types and modes of intervention, the following stand out: training, data feedback, process consulting, coaching, problem solving, information feedback, confrontation and planning, among others. Rothwell, Sulllivan &McLean (1995) make mention of an important number of types of intervention with their respective description from which those familiar with it will surely benefit.
In this work we have tried to share with the reader the dilemmas that every person interested in making an organizational change - such as company advisers and consultants - must live within a company in its attempt to improve organizational performance. Many times consultants are pushed into a position that results from a limited focus… which naturally leads to limited results. Treating a complex situation in a complex way represents a very good starting point for any intervention.
For more than three decades The Organization Development Institute has been working on the development of the “Required Competences on the part of a Consultant” for the exercise of the profession of Organizational Development. Those interested readers interested in these contributions can contact Eric Gaynor Butterfield, via email: [email protected]. As we have stated on numerous occasions: "Clients should not pay a higher price than professional fees when they receive professional advisory services" (Organizational Development Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2003).
Thank you very much for sharing, dear reader.
