Organizational Development is a valuable tool to achieve the integration of a work team and therefore an organization.
Taking into account the speed of change of the environment situation, the personality differences for genetic reasons coupled with the past and present experiences of each individual; It represents a great challenge to achieve synergy in the teams of an organization and with this achieve a healthy organizational climate.
Let us suppose that a company is within its comfort zone, that everything runs in a pleasant, organized way and its members are accustomed to routine, because they know their activities and these do not represent an additional effort or mentally not physically; of course in practice this cannot be, there is no "status quo", it is a utopia. We live in a changing world full of forces that push all organizations to change, to modernity, and whoever does not adapt disappears from the market, it's that simple.
For this adaptation requires greater organizational efficiency, being at the level or above the competition; reducing costs, providing a better product or service. The organizational climate is decisive for the productivity and efficiency of the company's people and also determines its image.
The DO seeks to achieve a planned change in the individuals of the company; seeks a better personal interaction between its individuals that allows them to work together with the mission and objectives of the organization
The human resources of an organization are the core of it and therefore will determine the success or failure of it.
In this essay we will talk about the growth of a common cleaning company that we will call "company" Z "and the decision to change by incorporating a new product into its service portfolio, adapting it to market needs to offer a competitive advantage.
For this it was necessary to work with a team within the organization that, so to speak, was in its comfort zone, the team members never imagined that they would be part of this project. Although it is true that it was a great challenge in the past, today it is a great satisfaction for the team and for the organization as a whole.
The aforementioned does not mean that the challenges are over; rather, DO is required every day to maintain the integration of the organization's work teams, for the realization of individuals and the organization itself; in such a way that the company "Z" must be prepared to adapt to future situations in this changing world.
Company Z and its mission
The order and cleanliness in every place is essential since it allows us to work in a healthy and relaxed environment, which increases productivity (Miguel, 2009), avoids waste, helps to avoid accidents, which reduces costs and increases profitability.
Cleaning on a personal level, either in our body or in our house contributes to our health and prevents the spread of disease; But not only our body and our house matter, our entire environment must be a clean place. How about work, be it the company, the office or the warehouse where we work? It should also be a clean and tidy place.
Some companies hire others that specialize in this field and leave this activity in their hands, for this reason cleaning companies play a fundamental role in the business environment and in caring for the environment.
The company Z has the mission of providing clean and pleasant spaces to its clients through a comprehensive service.
Today in the market there are many similar companies, we can say hundreds of them and for this competitive world it is necessary to offer a differentiation, a competitive advantage to get out of the common denominator. This advantage could be the key to the existence or subsistence of a company. (Díaz de Santos SA, 1996)
This motivated the managers of this organization to increase their service portfolio with a new service.
The company "Z" and an area of opportunity
The company "Z" offers comprehensive cleaning service, floor washing, carpets; polishing of surfaces such as marble, granite and others; These services are provided to shopping malls, businesses, offices, etc. Jobs that for several years offered so it had the trained staff to do it.
In the past, when a potential client applied for a job outdoors several meters high; This represented an impediment to carry out the activity, offering the excuse: we did not carry out high-risk work. Which resulted in losing that job or that potential client.
Company "Z" did not have the personnel or equipment necessary to carry it out. Shareholders consider the possibility of doing it in the face of the dilemma of hiring personnel specialized in handling rappelling equipment or training part of the cleaning staff. Determining the second option, personnel are selected who, due to their performance, could have the necessary characteristics to carry out work in buildings of various levels, who are provided with training in the use of rappelling equipment to carry out work at heights of up to 70 or 80 meters.
It was necessary to propose this job to the personnel who were already within the organization, who were known for their responsibility and seriousness in their performance as well as for their skills and abilities in low-risk cleaning tasks.
Another challenge was obtaining the equipment for descent; the market was monopolized by a single company and it was impossible to obtain them in the local market; they had to be obtained in Mexico, DF and once they were obtained, the adventure began and the fresh air of a new challenge for the team.
Although it seemed an adventure, it could also be seen as something of great risk and therefore difficult to implement or perhaps impossible for some of the guests to participate in the project, as we will see later.
The "horror" of inviting change, analyzed through DO
Making an analysis of the initial situation with the novice team, we can perceive the "horrors" rather than errors in the approach of the new service for those who had to execute it.
Organizational development theory is a complex strategy that aims to change the beliefs, attitudes, values and structure of organizations so that they can better adapt to new technologies, markets and challenges. (Financial Encyclopedia, 2015)
A blunder was the way to put it. It is more than logical to tell the workers that they washed maximum windows with a 24-step ladder that they now washed suspended by a rope at… not to say 80 meters high but 20 meters above the mainland, they made their hair stand on end; the overwhelming answer was to say a few examples: "I'm not crazy", "I don't want to die", "I'm going to break my bones", "I have family", etc. Today is fun for the high-risk team to remember those anecdotes.
So it's not just about implementing change lightly; This should be a planned, well-structured and planned change, in this case the team that would make it up. The members of the team had to understand well the benefits and obligations that this new task contained, the change had to be attractive to the degree that motivated them to get out of their comfort zone and, of course, this change would take place within a framework of safety.
Applying the DO to reduce resistance to change
DO is a valuable tool to reduce or eliminate resistance to change; Kurt Lewin claimed that achieving positive change requires sufficient positive forces to motivate it. (Infoamerica, 2015)
So the correct methodology in DO is to present the advantages of this change, the positive reasons that motivate the team to learn and perform this new task.
Lewin stated that it is possible for behavior to change when there is enough positive force and it is unlikely if you have enough negative force.
This change must be carried out through a three-stage process according to Lewin's planned change model; unfreezing of things, movement to a new state and refreezing. (Robbins, 2004)
Defrosting
It is necessary to unfreeze the equilibrium state of individuals when they are in their comfort zone
To achieve thawing behavior and motivate change, it is necessary to increase the driving forces and reduce the restrictive forces, or to combine both.
Applied to boys performing common cleaning; as driving forces they could be a better income, a better status within the company and as restrictive forces, it could be fear of an accident or loss of life.
To increase these driving forces, immediate salary increases were offered to those who agreed to learn this new service even in their learning stage; But it is not enough to tell someone, you are going to earn more and you will be able to have a better standard of living, not when the person's life or physical integrity is at risk; What good would it do to earn more for a person who thinks they are going to die?
As part of defrosting it is necessary to reduce this fear -restrictive force- In advance, human beings have fear of the unknown, therefore it was necessary to know the working instruments, their specifications, see others use it and verify the safety of the tool. job.
We mentioned earlier that there were errors at this stage, due to the abrupt way in which the information was transmitted; Fortunately, the situation gradually settled.
The change to a new state
It consists of modifying the situation of the organization establishing and adopting new values, attitudes and behaviors, trying to get the members of the organization to identify with them. At this stage, it is common at first that a decrease in productivity is observed since the new activity is unknown.
In the “Z” company, the members of the high-risk work team, in the process of changing to a new state, no longer only needed to hear that their work tool is endorsed by the best security institutions and that these had passed without problem, stress tests or that it was the best equipment on the market; of course not, they needed something tangible, physically seeing its use, seeing others use it was also a positive point; they received the training that allowed them to obtain the necessary state of security and confidence through the repetitive use of personal protective equipment. The members of the group were already in the process of change, internalizing with this new modality of service. Productivity was reduced because this work group was barely training.
As a feedback mechanism, an important step in this stage of the change process; During the training activities videos were recorded to see the performance and then the coach or trainer reviewed with the rest of the group how to improve techniques in monitoring the implementation process of work at heights. A situation similar to what is known as T training groups (Monterrey, 2012)
Although there was no planned change and attached to the DO; These activities were fundamental during the process in strengthening the integration of the group and its training for the new task.
Freezing.
Once the change is achieved, it is necessary for the Organization to achieve stability that allows it to operate with the new implementation, making this achievement permanent. In this stage there is an increase in productivity as we can see in the company "Z"
We will again apply this to our high risk working group. Already trained in the use of safety equipment for work at heights and knowing the cleaning work as it was their usual activity, we had a team ready to offer this service. The team is adapted and there is good interaction between them.
Today Company “Z” provides high risk services such as; wall washing, glass and door washing, façade cleaning, wall sealing, and other work at heights to various condominiums and hotels in the region. This service is currently a normal work activity.
Intervention techniques
Intervention is an intentional act with the aim of achieving something or achieving a goal. Richard Beckhard (1918-1999) defined it as "a top-down effort involving the entire organization to increase its efficiency through investments in specific sectors that are determined by knowledge of behavioral science." (Managemen Journal, 2011)
Therefore it must be planned and worked together with the parties involved. It is also necessary as part of the intervention to follow up on the results, analyze them and feed back regularly to stay on the same line or objective if it has already been achieved or to make the necessary adjustments to achieve the desired purpose.
We have already commented that in company Z, although it was something that was thought to increase profitability and stay within the market, it was not a well-planned change; Fortunately, good results were obtained.
The challenge today is to maintain the unity of the team. Sometimes there are certain conflicts in the work group; competition to do things from a personal point of view and overconfidence has led to some misunderstandings at work.
T groups can be an excellent tool to reduce group tension; It is an effective method for the improvement of interpersonal competence, in the reduction of anxiety and in the reduction of intergroup conflict. Analyzing your own behavior through the point of view of others could increase sensitivity to other people's behavior and improve group interaction. (Mello, 2004)
A well-integrated group will be more efficient since its members will work at ease and with a good disposition, feeling like part of a work team, not an isolated individual.
Conclusions
In most companies, the change process can be painful, but its effect can translate into greater efficiency and productivity.
For company “Z” to apply the DO Tool in its planned change approach; applying the stages carefully this productivity and efficiency would have given better results and a shorter term; at least in less time than the change and freeze period occurred.
We could say that some defrosting techniques were applied in part but not in the proper way; Today, company Z has an additional tool: the experience of this change.
Intervention techniques are an effective tool to achieve the interaction of team members and will result in greater efficiency for the group and for the organization.
Today the company has the experience and knowledge of the change process that we have talked about. The application of the DO will allow the Company to continue in the market successfully adapting to new challenges, which will ensure its existence in the changing market.
Sources
- Managemen Journal. (April 8, 2011). Retrieved on October 28, 2015, from http://www.managementjournal.net/top-management/gurues/Richard-Beckhard Financial Encyclopedia. (2015). Retrieved on 10/10/2015, from www.enccyclopediafinanciera.com/organizaciondeempresas/desarrollo-organizacional.htmInfoamerica. (16 of 10 of 2015). Retrieved on 16/10/2015, from http://www.infoamerica.org/teoria/lewin1.htmDíaz de Santos SA. (nineteen ninety six). The competitive advantage. Madrid, Spain: Diaz de Santos SAJiménez, JG (1998). Internal communication. Spain: Ediciones Díaz de Santos SA. Mello, f. A. (2004). Organizational Development, comprehensive approach. Mexico: Limusa. (2009). In P. A. Miguel, Calidad (pp. 153-156). Spain: Paraninfo.Monterrey, T. d. (2012). TecVirtual University. Mexico Robbins, SP (2004). Organizational behavior. Mexico:Pearson.Sanchez, D. (January 31, 2015). Corpoemprende. Retrieved on October 22, 2015, from
a state of behavior within which a person acts under a neutral anxiety condition, using a limited set of behaviors that cause the person to have a non-variable level of performance, generally omitting the sense of risk. (Sanchez, 2015)
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