Write a reflection based on the reading.

Session 5 Discussion Board Paper Exemplar

Exemplar 1

OD Problems

Organization Development practitioners are often referenced as “change agents,”

as their primary goal is to implement interventions for client organizations who seek a

solution to their presenting problem. For a change agent to determine the underlying, or

root cause, of a client’s problem, they must use data gathering to collect relevant

information, diagnose the present condition, and provide feedback. Data gathering is

the most effective way that a practitioner can learn about an organization’s problem and

provide a valuable intervention (Anderson, 2017, pg. 160).

There are five data gathering methods change agents may use depending on the

client’s present situation: interviews, focus groups, surveys, observations, and

unobtrusive measures. The methodology selected will be dependent upon the cost to the

company in respects to time and money, the ease of accessibility, the relevance to the

problem, the accuracy of the data gathered from the method, and the overall flexibility

of the chosen method (Anderson, 2017, pgs. 157-159). One of the more common

methods used is surveys, as it allows practitioners to target a larger audience. For

smaller groups, practitioners may opt to use interviews if they seek personal

perspectives or focus groups geared towards group discussion. Practitioners can also

participate in intrusive (observations) or unobtrusive measures, like researching

historical data, official documents, and client databases. Regardless of what method is

used, OD practitioners must maintain the integrity of the data collected and ensure that

all responses remain anonymous when submitting findings to their client to avoid any

ethical dilemma (Anderson, 2017, pg. 160).

Depending on the scope of work, an OD practitioner can end up collecting

exceedingly large amounts of information that they then must analyze and interpret for

their client, before finally providing feedback. A diagnosis is a description of how the

organization is currently functioning, as well as provides the information necessary to

design change interventions (Foster, 2013). It is important to remember that some data

is more useful than other when designing change interventions. Data should be relevant,

influential, descriptive, selective, sufficient, and specific (Anderson, 2017, pgs. 181-182).

When a practitioner provides feedback to their client, it is important for them to not

omit or doctor any data, as well as be prepared for client resistance.

When there are presenting problems in my organization, the data gathering

process is often spear headed by our Human Resource department. The department will

engage with organizational members by sending our organization-wide surveys. All

participants remain anonymous and it allows HR to collect data that will hopefully aide

in locating a solution to the underlying issues. The surveys are well crafted and remain

neutral in tone, which makes them more reliable when analyzing the results. I think the

only issue with this program is that the company handles this process internally, where

there can be biased or “tired” perspectives. Ideally, it would be nice for them to

implement an outside consultant who can gather information and provide the entire

(unbiased) picture to our organization.

Resources:

Anderson, D. L. (2017). Organization development: the process of leading

organizational change. Los Angeles: SAGE

Foster, C. (2013, August 05). The Diagnostic Phase. Retrieved October 01, 2017, from

http://organisationdevelopment.org/about-od/the-od-cycle/the-diagnostic-

phase/

Exemplar 2

Chapter 7 touches on the importance of collecting valuable, useful, and correct

client data by eliminating non-factors and focusing on the important issues. An idea

discussed by Nadler (1977) “First, good data collection generates information about

organizational functioning, effectiveness, and health.” (Andersen, 2016, p 137)

Organizations can get bogged down with useless information and suffer from focusing

on unnecessary data that will only hinder them from success. Assembling, analyzing,

adjusting, and integrating correct data and executing a correct plan of attack can

galvanize the organization and inspire innovative ideas in change and direction an

organization needs. Noolan (2006) recommends a five-step process for data gathering:

Determine approach to be used, announce project, prepare for data collection, collect

data, do data analysis and presentation” which encapsulates the idea on importance of

proper data collecting. OD Practitioners use five common methods of data gathering to

explore problems: “Interviews, focus groups, surveys/questionnaires, observations,

unobtrusive measure.” (Andersen, 2016, p 139) Each of these methods thoroughly

demonstrated their importance to data gathering. Starting with Interviewing: “The

primary advantages of interviewing as a method for data gathering include the ability to

understand a person’s experience and to follow up on areas of interest.” (Andersen,

2016, p 140) Interviewing must be examined from multiple perspectives because of the

information being provided is from only one perspective. To alleviate this problem

there is a 6-step system of guidelines in interviewing to follow which are: Prepare an

interview guide, select participants, contact participants and schedule interviews, begin

the interview and establish rapport, conduct the interview by following the interview

guide, close the interview.” (Andersen, 2016, p 140) Preparing an interview guide with a

semi-structured format using open-ended questions will allow the interviewer to probe

and explore areas that were not originally predicted. Selecting interviewees can be done

at random or using a snowball sampling however you have to be aware of the

interpretation and the individuals values when choosing for the interview. When

contacting an interviewee, it is important to be appreciative of the time and opportunity

they have presented you with. Alleviate interviewee’s stressors initially with broad

general subject questions in effort to gain authentic responses throughout the interview

process. “Conduct the interview by following the interview guide, straying from it when

appropriate.” (Andersen, 2016, p 143) All interviews should conclude with asking the

interview if they have any questions and what the following procedure will be. Strong

interview tips discussed where listening, avoiding disagreements, and take notes. Focus

groups where then expanded upon demonstrating small groups of personnel who

discuss questions and collaborate on an answer. They invite innovation and diverse

ideas discussed within the group that help to expand ideas on the certain situations.

Conducting a focus group should follow a similar process to interviewing: prepare an

interview guide, select participants, hold the focus group, and conclude the meeting.

Some tips for successful focus groups are listening, maintaining objectivity, strategic

abilities for combative issues, and to have multi-interviewers in effort to obtain the most

information possible. The next method of surveys and questioners explore the wide

range of issues. They are typically instrumental in promoting change. (Andersen, 2016)

Do to technological advances, they are easy to distribute and administer when executed

properly and efficiently. Observing personnel in the field can also yield valuable

information. Observations allow for better understanding of environment and culture

of the employees. However, data that is gathered is usually filtered through the observer

and the observation itself could change the behavior of the employees themselves.

While performing observations some successful approaches that were touched on were

showing interests, getting permission, deciding on the structure, taking notes, and using

multiple observers at multiple locations. Unobtrusive measures method is data that

already exists and is readily available. These types of data are historical, official

documents, data bases, online and physical environments, and language use. Some

downfalls with implementing unobtrusive measures is it is resource intensive, intrusive,

overanalyzed, and misinterpreted. Each of these methods have their advantages and

disadvantages but with the proper execution on determining the correct approach can

lead to valuable improvements. Sometimes a balance of the methods based on the

organization will be the correct approach.

Chapter 8 discussed the importance of the proper diagnosis and feedback stages

from the data gathered in chapter 7’s interviews, focus groups, surveys/questionnaires,

observations, and unobtrusive measures methods. Here is where the diagnosis and

feedback stage typically turns to the consultants do to the tunnel vision of managers.

Similar to observations mentioned in chapter 7, different situations and interactions are

viewed differently and typically only from one perspective. An exterior consultant can

diagnose and see multiple perspectives that can help with the communication gaps

between employees. At the same time however, there are a couple mistakes they

mentioned that consultants often make by trying to tackle the issue single-handedly as

well as not looking at the issue as a process and only as an event. Some activities to

avoid such an error mentioned are: Analyze the data by sorting them into key themes,

interpret the data, select and prioritize the right issues that will “energize” the client.

Data is typically separated into two methods those being deductive and inductive

analysis. Deductive analysis explores integrating a model into the consultants skill set

to make coding data easier, aid data interpretation, as well as contribute to better

communication with the clients. Inductive analysis has fewer constraints on the data to

try and get a “feel” for the organization. Like anything evolving, i.e. an organization,

there is no absolute correct approach and developing a balance in analyzing the data

needs to be adjusted accordingly to the situations. Statistical analysis can be extremely

useful but overwhelming at the same time. I for one use statistical analysis in estimating

on a regular basis. The results I receive for a few examples are: are we competitive with

our bids, who and when are we winning work with certain clients, and how many

projects we secure in comparison to how many bids we put out to clients. What I have

learned from these results like the chapter mentions, my boss frequently does not need

the data during analyzing, but simply what my approach to certain clients will be and

the end results. The statistics are there for me to better be able to explain the reasoning

and hopefully positive results for our approach to situations. A few steps we can take to

authenticate proper data are mentioned as a three step process: Re-sort, get help, and

ask the client. Following these three steps can keep the consultant from following

inaccurate or useless data for an organization. Moreover, the five step process of what

data to present to the client are as follows: relevant, manageable, descriptive, selective,

and sufficient and specific once the data is analyzed. Once the analytics are complete,

the delivery of feedback is an important skill to develop. From my studies, feedback

seems to be an underutilized as well as misused by organizations consistently.

Communication transparency within an organization is a necessity and undervalued

skill in keeping employees motivated, secure with their job, and removing any doubts

that may creep into mind when it is just status quo around the organization. We all

know nothing last forever right? This I believe is the driving force for speculation and

insecurity which could be eliminating with proper feedback exercises. Structured

meetings and understanding the environment were stated as having a huge impact on

either the acceptance or resistance of the information in the feedback process. Tailoring

the correct information to the client’s needs based on the data collected is the most

important issue in the feedback process. A few examples listed in the delivery of

feedback the correct way might be the choice of language, reemphasis on strengths, and

provide quantitative data to justify the feedback given. Like all information in business,

a practitioner should act ethically with the information collected and fulfill their

fiduciary duty of transparency with the client’s information. Lastly, resistance was

discussed in great detail about how implementing change can affect the organizations

personnel. Putting a political like spin on resistance, they demonstrated how resistance

can be a good thing by clarifying the purpose for the change, reemphasizing the

importance of the change in conversations, elevate awareness in the quality for the

change, and provide valuable observations. Resistance can be displayed in 14 ways as

the chapter mentions by clients with “Give me more detail, flood you with detail, time,

impracticality, I’m not surprised, attack, confusion, silence, intellectualizing, moralizing,

compliance, methodology, flight into health, and pressing for solutions.” (Andersen,

2016, p 191) Managing this resistance to change is an ability successful managers are

able to provide to keep employees focus on the correct path of the desire direction of the

organization.

Reference:

Anderson, Donald L. Organization development: The process of leading organizational change. Sage

Publications, 2016.