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Research shows that people work harder when they enjoy their job. But as a manager or employer, how do you know if your employees like their jobs? And what should you do if they don’t?
That’s where the organizational development process comes in. You can use this process to identify any areas in your company where you can increase employee satisfaction.
Organizational development is often overlooked as a business practice. In this article, we’ll break down exactly what it is and why you should use it to make changes to your organization. We also provide a template you can use to do organizational development on your own.
It will help you create a positive company culture so employees feel valued and excited to do their best possible work.
Jump to any section below:
What is Organizational Development?
Organizational development was first defined in 1969 by Richard Beckhard. He wrote: organization development is “an effort planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization’s ‘processes,’ using behavioral-science knowledge.”
Of course, business practices and the definition of organizational development have both evolved since 1969. Today, org development is thought of as more of an ongoing thing, as continued positive changes made in an organization. It’s action-oriented and empowers managers to create a culture of improvement and helps leaders change and adapt their business practices to build a healthy and positive work environment.
Why Should You Use Organizational Development?
You can use organizational development anytime to make a planned positive change in your company.
As we discussed at the beginning of this article, you can use org development to determine ways to improve your peoples’ job satisfaction. Let’s look at a few additional reasons why you’d work on organizational development:
Conflict management: Organizational development can help identify ways to deal with conflict in your org. You can create an action plan for resolving these conflicts so everyone can work in step toward your company’s common goal.
Strategic planning: Companies often need a strategic plan for future growth, and an org development mindset helps you determine the steps to effectively achieve this plan.
Aligning teams: It can help align different teams toward the same goal, keeping your company running efficiently.
Assessing company culture: A solid org development process can help you understand the strengths and areas for improvement in your company’s work environment, and then tolerate an action plan and work toward improving company culture.
An organizational development process can help create positive changes in your company, but this isn’t a quick fix. It can take a year (or longer) to fully implement this process. Since this is an involved process, you need to make sure you follow the right steps in order to create an effective organizational development process.
Follow These 7 Steps for Effective Organizational Development:
Initial Consultation: Meet with an organizational development consultant (or an expert in your company) to discuss your goals for the process. The consultant will then determine the most effective way to proceed.
Data Collection: The organizational development consultant will use surveys, interviews, and other feedback collection techniques to collect data about the problem. They’ll meet with employees at all levels of the organization. Download Employee Satisfaction Survey.
Data Feedback and Discussion: The data is now made available to the groups involved in the organizational development process. These groups have time to review the data and provide any feedback.
Action Planning and Problem Solving: The groups involved use the data and feedback to create an action plan. This will be used to solve the problem and create a more positive work environment.
Team Building or Team Formation: Conduct team meetings and team-building activities throughout the entire organizational development process to help foster a healthy company culture.
Inter-Group Development: In addition to the traditional small groups, create larger inter-team groups (teams made up of members from different departments). This is a great way to increase communication and collaboration throughout your company. An Org Chart can help you keep track of these new teams.
Appraisal and Follow-Up: Finally, the organizational development consultant reviews the process and determines if a follow-up is needed. It’s common to do another targeted organizational development process after the first is finished if additional work is needed.
How to Plan and Implement Organizational Development Interventions
Organizational development interventions (od interventions) are structured programs designed to recognize and prevent problems within companies. The goal of od interventions is to use their results and feedback to implement changes that improve the company’s running as a whole.
Types of OD Interventions
Diagnostic Activity
This activity involves collecting and evaluating information on the state of your organization by looking through records and having conversations like stay interviews.
Team Building
Team building is used to iron out potential and existing problems between employees who work together in groups, facilitating easy collaboration.
Sensitivity Training
This training increases tolerance for individuals of different backgrounds and increases empathy and awareness in employees.
Organizational Development Template
Rooting your work in organizational development can help your business run more efficiently. Download the organizational development template below. This will help you create a positive culture where your employees feel cared for. Ultimately, an effective organizational development process can result in a happy and productive team.
