Week 1 Reflection Paper

Elizabeth Armstrong

Week 1 Reflection Blog

July 9, 2017

Reflection Blog, Week 1

Summary-

In the beginning, organization development as we know it today began with a man named Kurt Lewin in the 1940’s. Lewin’s contributed to the understanding of group dynamics, experiential learning, field theory, action research theory, and many other matters. These ideas became the bedrock for the foundation of organizational development. Those who continued the exploration into these concepts built upon them. Team building and sensitivity training were two of the ideas that came from this period. In every orientation that I have attended for a new job opportunity there have always been team building exercises. It is amazing to me to learn that this is so new to the world considering the industrial revolution took place almost a full century before this. To know that ideas for organizational development are always evolving was also intriguing to me.

The 1950’s saw the continued development of Lewin’s Theories by others in his field. It became widely accepted that internal and external forces are constantly working on people. I believe that this assisted the amount of progress with action research. This type of research uses the employee to figure out a solution to the problem of a current situation. The findings from the research should have direct and indirect observations so that propositions on how to change this problem can be made. This allows the employee(s) to figure out how to impact or change their own situation for the better. This “action research” is something that I was taught as a young Airman. If I ever had an issue with another person in my unit, my supervisor would ask me to figure out what my part was in all of it and to try and figure out a solution to the matter. I was told to try to solve my problems at the lowest level possible.

Meaningful Ideas-

I found the reading to be particularly interesting because I had no idea that organizational development could be so in depth. There are so many areas that should always be looked over to ensure that all parties involved are being as effective as possible. One area grabbed my attention in the feedback section. It states, “An effective organizational development practitioner can prepare leadership for the truth.” This reminded me that without attaining the truth we cannot expect to be able to finding a solution to the underlying problem. Leadership, in any aspect of life, must have all the facts to make an appropriate choice. Sugar coating the truth can backfire and make circumstances worse than what they already were.

Another piece of the reading that stuck out to me was with planning. A person with organization development skills can, “mentally rehearse adverse consequences, mentally rehearse potential gains…(and) consider creative alternatives.” Without knowing what the pros and cons are to a situation we cannot make a proper judgement call. If the consequences outweigh the potential gain then it would be foolish to go forward with say, a business deal. A bad business deal can make or break a person’s career and a slew of bad decisions can ruin a company. If a pizza company decides to expand because there are more profits than there are expenses, that could be a respectable move. However, if there isn’t enough research done in marketing as to where to build the new business premises, there could be potential closure to those locations. This is where it is convenient to know what the potential gains and consequences are. Then, if needed, one can consider alternatives such as building one pizza parlor the first year and going from there.

Personal Connecting –

In my everyday life, I must make decisions based upon the facts that I have. If I am missing some of these truths, then the outcome of my decision will potentially be affected. I may not be able to figure out the pros and cons to a situation I am faced with. For instance, if I miss too many classes I will be dropped from a class. If that was all the information, then I might not care as much about being dropped from a class. There is more to it than that in my case though. I am receiving education benefits through Veterans Affairs (VA) and I must be enrolled as a full-time student to receive my housing allowance. If I am not taking enough classes than I cannot pay my bills. Therefore, it would be a poor decision for me to skip classes or not show up to my lectures.

Changes-

I recently learned about the VA’s stipulations in detail this semester. I dropped a class during the first block and was unaware that I would not be receiving my housing allowance. If it were not for my fiancé, I would probably not be in my current living situation. So, from now on I intend on going over my class schedule with a guidance counselor at Wilmington University so that I can prevent this negative outcome from happening again. I know that this goal is achievable because I accomplished it for the second block of this semester. I will set up appointments to go over my schedule within one or two weeks of signing up for classes. This will also help to prevent this from reoccurring. It’s amazing to think that we use some of this material on an everyday basis.