Summary:
Today, society is transforming dynamically, changes are increasingly far-reaching and more frequent, which means that organizations, both productive and service, find before them new demands and challenges that demand agile and dynamic organizational development (DO), as a formula to successfully face the growing and complex competitiveness that appears in its environment; not doing so would mean losing effectiveness, efficiency and even disappearing from the organizational environment. The problem then arises of specifying what DO is and how to carry it out. This work specifies the need to conceive it from the strategic importance of human resources for the organization and what this implies in terms of promoting individual development (ID) that allows for the necessary human resources,when necessary, to facilitate organizational development.
Introduction.
"The almost unbelievably accelerated rate of change taking place in society has profoundly affected our social institutions, which are facing not only innovations in science and technology, but also changes in the principles and concepts of the nature of man. Convergence has brought about certain enormous changes in the functioning of organizations… ». (Margulies and Raia, 1974)
These conditions characterize today's world, with different dimensions appearing in the analysis of economic, political, cultural, social, psychological aspects, etc. The communications system, trade mechanisms, the international financial system and the economic role of transnational corporations are substantially modified; Increasingly appearing new technologies, new markets, new businesses.
All this describes the society at the beginning of the 21st century, which is constantly restructuring and diversifying.
Organizations must develop their capacity for perception, sensitivity and adaptation, as a basic condition for their survival in this changing, unpredictable and turbulent environment; as a dynamic and lively system that must be willing to change in favor of adaptation and adjustment, allowing it to face these changes successfully.
Margulies and Raia (1974) recognize that: «every organization is a system of coordinated human activities, a complex« whole »that contains a certain number of elements or subsystems that act and relate to each other. It is necessary to take into account the potential impact on all the elements of the system, when one of them or a subsystem undergoes a change ».
It is necessary to clarify that we must not only accept the internal dynamics of the system, but also recognize that the context in which it develops is an integral part of the organism. Recognizing, then, that organization and environment are in continuous and intimate interaction, being in an indissoluble relationship and understanding that both are in constant change, evolution, movement and adaptation, leads us to think that the development category can and should be focused on the field of the organizations.
Many authors refer their conceptions about the problem of development in organizations and many of them relate it to concepts such as change and adaptive capacity of the organization to new realities. From these reflections, certain questions arise: what are the concepts of development studied in the business world ?; Is it possible to speak of development in all organizations ?; Do all changes in organizations involve development?
Development
More than a category of analysis in the business world, the topic of development in organizations has been worked as an intervention methodology, it has become the instrument par excellence for change in search of achieving greater organizational efficiency, an indispensable condition in the world current, characterized by intense national and international competition.
For Chiavenatto: «It is a planned process of cultural and structural modifications, which visualizes the institutionalization of a series of social technologies, so that the organization is empowered to diagnose, plan and implement those modifications with the assistance of a consultant. It is a very complex educational effort, aimed at changing the organization's attitudes, values, behaviors and structure, so that it can better adapt to the new situations, markets, technologies, problems and challenges that constantly arise ».
The incipient set of concepts, means of help and technical procedures aimed at improving the efficiency of organizations and their ability to cope with change, has been called Organizational Development (OD). According to Margulies and Raia (1974), organized development is essentially a systems approach with a view to the total set of functional and interpersonal relationships in organisms, so this organizational development endorses numerous disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, psychology and political economy.
There are, however, different positions regarding the conceptualization of DO, finding numerous positions among the authors who treat it. The following aspects are highlighted below when addressing DO:
1. Organizational development is a response to change and is, at the same time, a process that stimulates long-term, planned organizational change with the assistance of consultants, facilitators, or change agents.
2. It promotes modifications in the cultural and structural levels of the organization, studies its culture: values, behaviors, attitudes, ideals, shared beliefs and promotes the creation of a culture that allows the achievement of efficiency, effectiveness, well-being, improvement of quality of life and health of the organization, in addition to the search for a participatory management structure.
3. It recognizes the interaction between the organization and the environment, its constant and rapid mutation and, therefore, the need for continuous adaptation.
4. It is based on the behavioral sciences, it seeks the institutionalization of social technologies, including action research.
5. Recognizes the interaction between the individual and the organization, states that human resources are decisive for the success or failure of any organization. Consequently, its management is key to business and organizational success. It promotes the reorientation of thought and the optimal use of its potential towards the analysis of organizational problems, seeks a balance between individual objectives and organizational objectives, promoting humanistic and democratic values in organizations. Seek the correct understanding of the true essence of human nature.
6. Seeks to apply group dynamics in the planned change processes of the organization and the behavior of groups and intergroups.
7. It acquires various dimensions of action such as: diagnosis, planning, research, experimentation, intervention and the educational dimension that allows the organization to acquire certain tools for achieving self-management of change and self-development.
This is how DO is constituted as a technique intended to help organizations successfully face the challenges that are presented to them in the current socioeconomic context; although Margulies and Raia (1974) warn that social institutions learn, perhaps too slowly, that they are unable to understand or cope with the "sweeping" rhythm of internal and external changes, without the help of certain fundamental modifications in administration and technology.
It is important, then, to recognize that we live in times when organizational power based on coercion and threats gradually recedes, while that based on collaboration and reason advances, imposing the need to give way to an administrative authority based on delegated rights, over the basis of organizational principles based on humanistic and democratic ideals that gradually displace and replace the bureaucratic principles of organizational systems.
However, it is necessary to keep in mind that the only way to bring about true changes in organizations is through changing their "culture", which means modifying: meanings, representations, and imaginary, which consequently leads to changing systems. of life, beliefs, values and accepted forms of relationships between people.
For the DO, the core of development is usually found in change and is aimed at improving the efficiency of organizations. Progress and change are in contradiction to traditional beliefs, systems, and procedures. It is essential to look for other ways and uses that adapt it to the current situation, naturally different from that of the past and allow it to respond to the growing demands for change, typical of the current social-historical context.
In this process of transformation of organizations, its fundamental actors, that is, human resources, «… in addition to learning new ways of managing complex relationships in organisms, they learn to consider changes as a natural process and not as a special phenomenon. The process of change, therefore, can join and merge with the many other processes in the life of organisms. (Margulies and Raia, 1974)
An essential aspect in human relationships is the degree to which members identify themselves as part of the organization (sense of belonging), are committed to it and achieve, or at least are in a position to achieve satisfactions in them. The leadership styles of the organization's managers also converge in this problem. Not infrequently this important aspect is left to the intuition, common sense and personal conditions of those who operate at the levels of authority (power).
Obviating that to properly direct it is necessary to have knowledge in the area and its appropriate application.
The efficiency of the organization, which is required in terms of achieving the objectives for which it has been structured, depends fundamentally on the human resources that comprise it. Therefore, it is a first requirement of efficiency to have the human resources required to face the remains of the organization at all times.
Conceiving OD from this angle therefore implies refocusing the culture of the organization from its basic assumptions, its values and architectural elements, considering that in order for the organization to succeed and develop it is essential to specify the following aspects: mission, understanding she what must be fulfilled at the present moment; objectives, what it must achieve to fulfill its mission, clearly establishing which are the keys and which are complementary; tasks, to fulfill to achieve the objectives; vision, projection of the organization's movements to act proactively in relation to the expected changes in its environment and the challenges that it represents.
In order to achieve the above, the fundamental thing is the human resources that are available and how these should be developed through proper management of the same that fosters the individual development (ID) necessary to face the changes; in addition, the recruitment of those human resources that will be required according to the needs that the organization will present in its development process. As can be seen, it is an organizational "new philosophy", which focuses on obtaining high efficiency and competitiveness based on the adaptation to the requirements of both the external environment (demand for the organization) and the internal environment (demands emanating from its own organization, in which human resources are key) acting proactively regarding changes in the environment.
Queremos destacar, además, uno de los elementos de la cultura que en esta «nueva filosofía» organizacional tiene un papel esencial, hacemos referencia a los valores, para lo cual nos apoyaremos en algunas reflexiones que realizan Margulies y Raia (1974), quienes reconocen que los valores ejercen una influencia poderosa en la forma en que se encauce el DO (una vez que se admita esto) es posible hacer frente a los conflictos presentes en los organismos contemporáneos: entre el individualismo y la actuación en grupos; entre la libertad individual y la reglamentación de las organizaciones, entre las necesidades individuales y las demandas de los organismos. Los autores citados con anterioridad ofrecen un conjunto de valores o principios fundamentales relativos a la índole del hombre y de su trabajo en el contexto de la organización, los cuales compartimos y mostraremos a continuación, admitiendo la influencia que tienen los mismos en el proceso y en la tecnología para crear organizaciones más funcionales:
Provide opportunities for people to function as human beings and not as elements of the production process.
Provide opportunities for each member of the organization, as well as the organization itself, to develop their potential.
Seek to increase the efficiency of the organism according to all its goals.
Try to create an environment in which it is possible to find stimulating work, which offers the interest of a test to overcome.
Provide opportunities to members of the organization that influence the way they carry out their work in the organization and in the environment.
Treat each human being as a person with a complete set of needs, all of which are important to their work and life.
Conclusions
The development of society implies that the organizations that act within it must achieve a high degree of efficiency and competitiveness to respond to the changing and complex demands that appear before them. This requires a dynamic DO, for which the development of your human resources becomes a cornerstone for success.
Interpretar adecuadamente el momento actual y las demandas que implica para la organización, es la forma de cumplir la misión de la misma; lograr descifrar cuáles serán los movimientos de cambios y las demandas que aparecerán es imprescindible para proyectar el movimiento de la organización y concebir su visión. El papel estratégico que en ello juega el contar con los recursos humanos necesarios a cada momento, concebir el desarrollo de estos mediante programas de gestión y desarrollo individual, es básico para lograr el DO.
Social scientists must become the vanguard of those who promote changes in people, groups, organisms and collectivities, studying the links and interactions that these establish, build and develop. They must assume their role as managers of these profound changes that mediate the development of new attitudes and modes of behavior.
Bibliographic references
Margulies, N, Raia, AP (1974). Organizational development. Values, process and technology. Mexico: Editorial Diana, SA
Chiavenatto, I., quoted by Durán Acevedo, Paulo, DO Organizational Development.
At: http: //www.gestiopolis.com/recursos/documentos/fulldocs/ger/doorganizacional.htm online, Wednesday March 28, 2007.
