UNIT 4 FIRST ORDER AND SECOND

ORDER CHANGE IN
ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Objectives
4.2 First Order Change in Organisational Development
4.3 Action Research
4.3.1 Major Theories of Action Research

4.4 Team Building

4.4.1 Team Building Exercises
4.4.2 Communication Exercises
4.4.3 Problem Solving/Decision Making Exercises
4.4.4 Planning Adaptation Exercises
4.4.5 Trust Exercises

4.5 Process Consultation

4.6 The Survey Feedback Process
4.7 Job Design
4.7.1 Human Relations Approach
4.7.2 The Job Characteristic Approach
4.7.3 Socio Technical Systems Approach

4.8 Participative Management

4.8.1 Benefits of Participative Management

4.9 Second Order Change in Organisational Development

4.10 Organisational Development Interventions
4.10.1 Applying Criteria to Goals
4.10.2 Establishing Inter- unit Task Forces
4.10.3 Experimentation with Alternative Arrangements
4.10.4 Identifying Key Communicators
4.10.5 Identifying “Fireable Offences”
4.10.6 Invisioning
4.10.7 Team Building
4.10.8 Inter-group Problem Solving
4.10.9 Management Leadership Training
4.10.10Setting Up Management Systems
4.10.11Total Quality Management

4.11 Let Us Sum Up

4.12 Unit End Questions
4.13 Suggested Readings 49
Introduction
4.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous units we have extensively discussed about the meaning and
significance of organisational development. We also focused on the foundations
and historical development of organisational development. In this unit we will be
highlighting one of the significant aspects of organisational development that is
organisational transformation.
Amir Levy and Uri Merry (1986) give one of the most complete explorations of
this topic in their book, organisational transformation. They define the term as a
multi-dimensional, multi-level, qualitative, discontinuous, radical organisational
change involving a paradigmatic shift. Increasingly, organisational development
professionals distinguish between the more modest or evolutionary, efforts toward
organisation improvement and those that are massive and, in a sense, revolutionary.
For example, Nadler and Tushman refer to “transitions” on the one hand, and
frame bending” on the other. Goodstein and Burke contrast “fine tuning” and
“fundamental, large-scale change in the organisation’s strategy and culture”.
Organisational transformation is seen as requiring more demands on top leadership,
more visioning, more experimenting, more time, and the simultaneous management
of many additional variables.
Hillary utilises a model of First-order Change and Second-order Change, borrowed
from others (Levy, et al), to describe this transformation process. These two
models will now be discussed in detail in this unit, with descriptions of various
techniques that fall under each model, that facilitate organisational transformation.

4.1 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 explain the first and second order change in organisational development;
 describe the elements in first order change; and
 discuss organisational development intervention.

4.2 FIRST ORDER CHANGE IN ORGANISATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
The first order change of organisational development usually refers to socio-technical
aspects in the organisation. According to Hillary, First-order change does not
challenge or contradict the established context of ‘organisation.’ People are not
usually threatened either personally or collectively by this type of change. First-
order change, according to Hillary, happens in the context of “Core Processes”
of an organisation. This is superficial and “does not call into question the existing
culture, mission/purpose, or organisational paradigm.” In education reform language,
“Core processes” referred to the basic operation — the arena of the cafeteria, bus
scheduling, building maintenance, etc. These could be changed without creating a
paradigm shift in the overall structure and function of the local school. Likewise,
First-order change in a church could mean changing the hours for services,
renovating the building, choosing new choir robes, scheduling nursery workers,
etc.
The elements of first order change are:
50
1) Action Research First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
2) Team Building Development

3) Process Consultation
4) The Survey Feedback Process
5) Job Design
6) Participative Management
These elements will be discussed in the following sections.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What is first order change?
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2) Name the elements of first order change.
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4.3 ACTION RESEARCH

Action Research is research on action with the goal of making that action more
effective. Action refers to programs and interventions designed to solve a problem
or improve a condition. The action research model underlying most organisation
development activities is the action research model. In the action research the
three processes are involved i.e. data collection; feedback of the data; and planning
of the action to be taken. Action research involves an approach to problem solving
– a model, problem solving process – a series of activities and events. Action
refers tom programs and interventions designed to solve a problem or improve a
condition. Kurt Lewin believed that research on action programa, especially social
change programs, was imperative if progress was to be made in solving social
problems.
In organisation setting there is a healthy relationship between action research and
organisation development. Action research supplies an approach and a process
for generating and utilising information about the system itself that will provide a
base for the action research. Action research can also be undertaken by larger
organisations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with
the aim of improving their strategies, practices, and knowledge of the environments
within which they practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with
others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its
work practices (Center for Collaborative Action Research). Kurt Lewin, then a
51
Introduction professor at MIT, first coined the term “action research” in about 1944. In his
1946 paper “Action Research and Minority Problems” he described action research
as “a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social
action and research leading to social action” that uses “a spiral of steps, each of
which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result
of the action”.
Action research challenges traditional social science, by moving beyond reflective
knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables to an active moment-to-
moment theorizing, data collecting, and inquiring occurring in the midst of emergent
structure.

4.3.1 Major Theories of Action Research

Chris Argyris Action Science begins with the study of how human beings design
their actions in difficult situations. Human actions are designed to achieve intended
consequences and governed by a set of environment variables. How those governing
variables are treated in designing actions are the key differences between single
loop learning and double loop learning.
When actions are designed to achieve the intended consequences and to suppress
conflict about the governing variables, a single loop learning cycle usually ensues.
On the other hand, when actions are taken, not only to achieve the intended
consequences, but also to openly inquire about conflict and to possibly transform
the governing variables, both single loop and double loop learning cycles usually
ensue. (Argyris applies single loop and double loop learning concepts not only to
personal behaviours but also to organisational behaviours in his models.) This is
different from experimental research in which environmental variables are controlled
and researchers try to find out cause and effected in isolated environment.
Cooperative inquiry, also known as collaborative inquiry was first proposed by
John Heron in 1971 and later expanded with Peter Reason. The major idea of
cooperative inquiry is to “research ‘with’ rather than ‘on’ people.” It emphasises
that all active participants are fully involved in research decisions as co-researchers.
Cooperative inquiry creates a research cycle among four different types of
knowledge: propositional knowing (as in contemporary science), practical knowing
(the knowledge that comes with actually doing what you propose), experiential
knowing (the feedback we get in real time about our interaction with the larger
world) and presentational knowing (the artistic rehearsal process through which
we craft new practices). The research process includes these four stages at each
cycle with deepening experience and knowledge of the initial proposition, or of
new propositions, at every cycle.
Participatory action research has emerged in recent years as a significant
methodology for intervention, development and change within communities and
groups. It is now promoted and implemented by many international development
agencies and university programs, as well as countless local community organisations
around the world. PAR builds on the critical pedagogy put forward by Paulo
Freire as a response to the traditional formal models of education where the
“teacher” stands at the front and “imparts” information to the “students” who are
passive recipients. This was further developed in “adult education” models
throughout Latin America.
The Developmental Action Inquiry is a “way of simultaneously conducting action
52 and inquiry as a disciplined leadership practice that increases the wider effectiveness
of our actions. Such action helps individuals, teams, organisations become more First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
capable of self-transformation and thus more creative, more aware, more just and Development
more sustainable” (Torbert, 2004). Action Inquiry challenges our attention to span
four different territories of experience (at the personal, group, or organisational
scales) in the midst of actions. This practice promotes timeliness, that is learning
with moment to moment intentional awareness among individuals and with regard
to the outside world of nature and human institutions.
It studies the pre constituted internalised and externalised universe in the present,
both as it resonates with and departs from the past, and as it resonates with and
potentiates the future. (Torbert, 2001). Whitehead and McNiff (2006), formulated
living theory of action research. In educational setting they explain that individuals
generate explanations of their educational influences in their own learning, in the
learning of others and in the learning of social formations. They generate the
explanations from experiencing themselves as living contradictions in enquiries of
the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ They use action reflection cycles
of expressing concerns, (saying why you are concerned in relation to values),
imagining possibilities in developing action plans, acting and gathering data, evaluating
the influences of action, modifying concerns, ideas and action in the light of the
evaluations. The explanations include life-affirming, energy-flowing values as
explanatory principles.
Wendell L. French and Cecil Bell define organisation development (OD) at one
point as “organisation improvement through action research”. If one idea can be
said to summarize organisational development’s underlying philosophy, it would be
action research as it was conceptualized by Kurt Lewin and later elaborated and
expanded on by other behavioural scientists. Concerned with social change and,
more particularly, with effective, permanent social change, Lewin believed that the
motivation to change was strongly related to action: If people are active in decisions
affecting them, they are more likely to adopt new ways. “Rational social
management”, he said, “proceeds in a spiral of steps, each of which is composed
of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of action”.
Lewin’s description of the process of change involves three steps:
1) Unfreezing: Faced with a dilemma or disconfirmation, the individual or group
becomes aware of a need to change.
2) Changing: The situation is diagnosed and new models of behaviour are
explored and tested.
3) Refreezing: Application of new behaviour is evaluated, and if reinforcing,
adopted.

53
Introduction

Fig.: Systems Model of Action-Research Process

Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_research

The above figure summarizes the steps and processes involved in planned change
through action research. Action research is depicted as a cyclical process of
change.
The cycle begins with a series of planning actions (the first stage) initiated by the
client and the change agent working together. The principal elements of this stage
include a preliminary diagnosis, data gathering, feedback of results, and joint
action planning.
The second stage of action research is the action, or transformation, phase. This
stage includes actions relating to learning processes (perhaps in the form of role
analysis) and to planning and executing behavioural changes in the client organisation.
As shown in Figure above, feedback at this stage would move via Feedback
Loop A and would have the effect of altering previous planning to bring the
learning activities of the client system into better alignment with change objectives.
Included in this stage is action planning activity carried out jointly by the consultant
and members of the client system. As indicated in the diagram, the planning stage
is a period of unfreezing, or problem awareness.
The action stage is a period of changing that is, trying out new forms of behaviour
in an effort to understand and cope with the system’s problems. (There is inevitable
overlap between the stages, since the boundaries are not clear cut and cannot be
in a continuous process).
The results stage is a period of refreezing, in which new behaviours are tried out
on the job and, if successful and reinforcing, become a part of the system’s
repertoire of problem-solving behaviour.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Define action research.
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54
 First Order and Second Order
2) Discuss any one theory of action research. Change in Organisational
Development
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3) Discuss Lewin’s description of the process of change.
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4.4 TEAM BUILDING

Team Building refers to a wide range of activities, presented to businesses, schools,
sports teams, religious or nonprofit organisations designed for improving team
performance. Team building is pursued via a variety of practices, and can range
from simple bonding exercises to complex simulations and multi-day team building
retreats designed to develop a team (including group assessment and group-
dynamic games), usually falling somewhere in between. It generally sits within the
theory and practice of organisational development, but can also be applied to
sports teams, school groups, and other contexts.
Teambuilding is an important factor in any environment, its focus is to specialise
in bringing out the best in a team to ensure self development, positive
communication, leadership skills and the ability to work closely together as a team
to solve problems.
A focus on intact work teams and other team configurations has been central to
organisational development since the emergence of the field, but recent years have
seen widening and deepening interest in teams, especially what are called high
performance teams, cross functional teams and self-managed teams. Interest has
intensified particularly in self-managed or self-directed teams.

4.4.1 Team Building Exercises

Team building exercises consist of a variety of tasks designed to develop group
members and their ability to work together effectively. The purpose of team building
exercises is to assist teams in becoming cohesive units of individuals that can
effectively work together to complete tasks.

4.4.2 Communication Exercises

This type of team building exercise is exactly what it sounds like. Communications
exercises are problem solving activities that are geared towards improving
communication skills. The issues teams encounter in these exercises are solved by
communicating effectively with each other. The goal of this exercise is to create
an activity which highlights the importance of good communication in team
performance and/or potential problems with communication.
55
Introduction 4.4.3 Problem Solving/Decision Making Exercises
Problem Solving/Decision making exercises focus specifically on groups working
together to solve difficult problems or make complex decisions. These exercises
are some of the most common as they appear to have the most direct link to what
employers want their teams to be able to do. The goal here is to give team a
problem in which the solution is not easily apparent or requires the team to come
up with a creative solution.

4.4.4 Planning/Adaptability Exercises

These exercises focus on aspects of planning and being adaptable to change.
These are important things for teams to be able to do when they are assigned
complex tasks or decisions. The goal of this exercise is to show the importance
of planning before implementing a solution.

4.4.5 Trust Exercises

A trust exercise involves engaging team members in a way that will induce trust
between them. They are sometimes difficult exercises to implement as there are
varying degrees of trust between individuals and varying degrees of individual
comfort trusting others in general. The goal here is to create trust between team
members
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss the concept of team building
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2) Explain communication exercises
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3) Describe trust exercises
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4.5 PROCESS CONSULTATION

Process consulting is a late 20th century practice. Classically espoused in the
works of Edgar Schein (especially Process Consultation Revisited), this model
56 is based on consultation as a “helping relationship”. The mutual nature of this
relationship, with the consultant working with and not for the client is a keynote
of the process consultation philosophy.
Process consultation is generally contrasted with expert consultation and is frequently
seen by its advocates as a superior style of management consulting. In practice,
however, almost all management consulting involves a mix of expert and process
models, with the consultant frequently shifting roles to meet the needs of the
situation. Schein himself notes the need for such fluidity in practice.
Process consultation has the powerful advantage of being by its nature specifically
tailored to any particular situation. As new forms of organisations and new
interactions between organisations occur, process consultation will be applied in
different ways to meet new goals. Basically, one can extrapolate the strengths of
this model to 21st century conditions in the following ways:
1) Orientation toward ongoing ability and learning: The focus of process
consultation is on solving the problem. But in a world of constant change and
development, there will always be problems and particular solutions will never
be lasting. In the second generation form of process consultation, there more
be more emphasis on problem solving ability rather than problem solving.
2) More involvement and participation: It is a whole system world; processes
that look at and employ only one part of the organisation are insufficient. The
new generation of process consultants will increasingly work with internal
consultants, teams, and all levels of the organisation.
3) Building up facilitation and consultation skills in the organisation: There
will be development that means it is able to meet new challenges and conditions,
not just those which initiated the consultancy.
4) Wider application of techniques and methods: As everyone becomes
involved in all phases of the organisation and everyone becomes responsible
for the organisation’s development, there will be a need for more people to
know and to use more principles and more practices in more situations. For
example, dialogue, a staple of the process consultation effort, will be used not
simply in special situations or just for team-building purposes but will be a
tool of organisation and not just of the consultant, resulting in dialogic
communication as part of the organisational culture.
5) Links to mission, values and vision: If a 21st century organisation does
not know its mission, if it does not have strong values, or if it does not have
a compelling vision, it will die. The 21st practice of process consultation will
increasingly make use of these variables in analysis, diagnosis, and prescription
for organisational development. The goal of the consultancy will not simply be
to fix a situation but the creation of a better organisation.
Process consulting is a powerful tool which is used to enhance group effectiveness,
shorten meeting times, and address conflict. It helps teams to work together more
effectively, and its effects can last long after the consultant has departed. The
benefits of process consulting are usually:
 Shorter meetings.
 More productive meetings.
 Better decisions.
57
Introduction  Increased feelings of participation or potency.
 Greater satisfaction with the team or meetings.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain any two strengths of process consulting.
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2) Discuss the benefits of process consultation.
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4.6 THE SURVEY FEEDBACK PROCESS

In globally competitive environments, organisations are seeking information about
obstacles to productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Survey feedback is a
tool that can provide this type of honest feedback to help leaders guide and direct
their teams. Obstacles and gaps between the current status quo and the desired
situations may or may not be directly apparent. In either case, it is vital to have
a clear understanding of strategies for diagnosis and prevention of important
organisation problems. If all leaders and members alike are clear about the
organisational development and change, strengths, weakness, strategies can be
designed and implemented to support positive change. Survey feedback provides
a participative approach and enables all members to become actively engaged in
managing the work environment.
Survey Process Steps:
Following are the steps involved in survey process:
 Identify project plan and objectives
 Brief team leaders and employees about the process
 Administer survey
 Conduct interviews and focus groups
 Train leaders on facilitating team discussions
 Analyse the data and construct a report
 Provide feedback to leaders
 Team leaders conduct feedback action planning and meetings
 Leaders present reports on progress and results to Senior Management
58  Follow-up by senior leadership to ensure progress and accountability
 First Order and Second Order
Self Assessment Questions Change in Organisational
Development
1) Mention the steps involved in survey process.
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4.7 JOB DESIGN

Job design in organisational development is the application of sociotechnical systems
principles and techniques to the humanisation of work. The aim of job design is
to improve job satisfaction, through-put, quality and to reduced employee problems,
e.g., grievances, absenteeism. There are various important approaches to job
design, viz.,
Engineering Approach
The most important single element in the Engineering approaches, proposed by
F.W. Taylor et al, was the ‘task idea’. “The work of every workman is fully
planned out by the management at least one day in advance and each man
receives in most cases complete written instructions, describing in detail the task
which he is to accomplish. This task specifies not only what is to be done but
how it is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it.” The principles
offered by scientific management to job design can be summarized thus: work
should be scientifically studied, work should be arranged so that workers can be
efficient, employees should be trained to perform the job and monetary
compensation should be used to reward successful performance of the job.
These principles to job design seem to be quite rational and appealing because
they point towards increased organisational performance. Specialisation and
routinisation over a period of time result in job incumbents becoming experts
rather quickly, leading to higher levels of output. Despite the assumed gains in
efficiency, behavioural scientists have found that some job incumbents dislike
specialised and routine jobs.
1) Problems with engineering approach: After listening to several complaints
from employees about their highly specialised jobs, Walker and Guest indicated
the problems with job specialisation thus:
2) Repetition: Employees performed a few tasks repeatedly. This quickly led
the employees to become very bored with the job. There was no challenge
to the employees to learn anything new or to improve the job.
3) Mechanical pacing: Assembly line workers were made to maintain a certain
regular pace of work. They could not take a break when they needed to,
or simply divert their attention to some other aspect of the job or another
individual.
4) No end product: Employees found that they were not turning out any
identifiable end product; consequently, they had little pride and enthusiasm in
their work.
59
Introduction 5) Little social interaction: Employees complained that because the assembly
line demanded constant attention, there was very little opportunity to interact
on a casual basis with other employees and share their work experiences,
beliefs and sentiments.
6) No input: Employees also complained that they had little chance to choose
the methods by which they performed their jobs, the tools which they used,
or the work procedures.
This, of course, created little interest in the job because there was nothing which
they could improve or change.

4.7.1 Human Relations Approach

The human relations approach recognised the need to design jobs in an interesting
manner. In the past two decades much work has been directed to changing jobs
so that job incumbents can satisfy their needs for growth, recognition and
responsibility. Herzberg’s research popularised the notion of enhancing need
satisfaction through what is called job enrichment. One widely publicised approach
to job enrichment uses what is called job characteristics model and this has been
explained separately in the ensuing section.
According to Herzberg there are two types of factors, viz. (i) motivators like
achievements, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth
and (ii) hygiene factors (which merely maintain the employee on the job and in
the organisation) like working conditions, organisational policies, inter-personnel
relations, pay and job security.
According to Herzberg, the employee is dissatisfied with the job if maintenance
factors to the required degree are not introduced into the job. But, the employee
may not be satisfied even if the required maintenance factors are provided. Herzberg
feels that the employee will be satisfied with his job and he will be more productive
if motivators are introduced into the job content.

4.7.2 The Job Characteristics Approach

The Job Characteristics Theory of Hackman and Oldham states that employees
will work hard when they are rewarded for the work they do and when the work
gives them satisfaction. Hence, they suggest that motivation, satisfaction and
performance should be integrated in the job design. According to this approach,
any job can be described in terms of five core job dimensions which are defined
as follows:
1) Skill variety: The degree to which the job requires that workers use a
variety of different activities, talents and skills in order to successfully complete
the job requirements.
2) Task identity: The degree to which the job allows workers to complete
whole tasks from start to finish, rather than disjointed portions of the job.
3) Task significance: The degree to which the job significantly impacts the
lives of others both within and outside the workplace.
4) Autonomy: The degree to which the job allows workers freedom in planning
and scheduling and the methods used to complete the job.

60
5) Feedback: The degree to which the job itself provides workers with clear, First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
direct and understandable knowledge of their performance. Development

The entire job dimensions impact workers psychologically. The first three
dimensions affect whether or not workers view their job as meaningful. Autonomy
determines the extent of responsibility workers feel. Feedback allows for feelings
of satisfaction for a job well done by providing knowledge of results. Jobs that
are high on motivating potential must be high at least in one of the three factors
that lead to meaningful work and must be high in both autonomy and feedback
and vice versa.
These three critical psychological states lead to the outcome such as
a) high internal work motivation,
b) high growth satisfaction,
c) high quality work performance,
d) high general job satisfaction,
e) high work effectiveness and
f) low absenteeism and turnover.

4.7.3 Socio Technical Systems Approach

The above theories of job design are all concerned with designing individual jobs.
The approach taken by the sociotechnical systems method is the design or work
systems that foster a meshing of the technical and social aspects of jobs. The term
sociotechnical system recognises that organisations have boundaries and that
transactions occur within the system (and its sub-systems) and between the wider
context and dynamics of the environment. It is an extension of sociotechnical
theory which provides a richer descriptive and conceptual language for describing,
analysing and designing organisations. A sociotechnical system, therefore, often
describes a ‘thing’ as an interlinked, systems based mixture of people, technology
and their environment.
Socio technical systems in organisational development is the term for an approach
to complex organisational work design that recognises the interaction between
people and technology in workplaces.
In order to create jobs, which have this supportive relationship, work teams not
individual jobs, must be studied. Jobs in the traditional sense are non-existent and
instead, each worker plays an assigned role in accomplishing the group’s objectives.
Redesigning work through sociotechnical systems methods requires the combined
efforts of employees, supervisors and union representatives in analysing significant
job operations. Jobs are not necessarily designed to be intrinsically motivating;
rather, they are designed so that the work is accomplished. Using the sociotechnical
approach, the following guidelines have been developed for designing jobs:
A job needs to be reasonably demanding for the individual in terms other than
sheer endurance and yet provide some variety (not necessarily novelty).
 Employees need to be able to learn on the job and to go on learning.
 Employees need some minimum area of decision making that they can call
their own. 61
Introduction  Employees need some minimal degree of social support and recognition at
the workplace.
 Employees need to be able to relate what they do and what they produce to
their social life.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Engineering approach to job design.
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2) Discuss the guidelines developed for designing jobs with regard to the socio
technical approach.
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4.8. PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT

Type of management in which employees at all levels are encouraged to contribute
ideas towards identifying and setting organisational-goals, problem solving, and
other decisions that may directly affect them, also called consultative management.
Participative (or participatory) management, otherwise known as employee
involvement or participative decision making, encourages the involvement of
stakeholders at all levels of an organisation in the analysis of problems, development
of strategies, and implementation of solutions. Employees are invited to share in
the decision-making process of the firm by participating in activities such as setting
goals, determining work schedules, and making suggestions. Other forms of
participative management include increasing the responsibility of employees (job
enrichment); forming self-managed teams, quality circles, or quality-of-work-life
committees; and soliciting survey feedback.
Participative management, however, involves more than allowing employees to
take part in making decisions. It also involves management treating the ideas and
suggestions of employees with consideration and respect. The most extensive form
of participative management is direct employee ownership of a company.
Four processes influence participation. These processes create employee
involvement as they are pushed down to the lowest levels in an organisation. The
farther down these processes move, the higher the level of involvement by
employees. The four processes include:
1) Information sharing: This is concerned with keeping employees informed
about the economic status of the company.

62
2) Training: This involves raising the skill levels of employees and offering First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
development opportunities that allow them to apply new skills to make effective Development
decisions regarding the organisation as a whole.
3) Employee decision making: This can take many forms, from determining
work schedules to deciding on budgets or processes.
4) Rewards: This is generally tied to suggestions and ideas as well as
performance.

4.8.1 Benefits of Participative Management

A participative management style offers various benefits at all levels of the
organisation. By creating a sense of ownership in the company, participative
management instills a sense of pride and motivates employees to increase
productivity in order to achieve their goals. Employees who participate in the
decisions of the company feel like they are a part of a team with a common goal,
and find their sense of self-esteem and creative fulfillment heightened.
Managers who use a participative style find that employees are more receptive to
change than in situations in which they have no voice. Changes are implemented
more effectively when employees have input and make contributions to decisions.
Participation keeps employees informed of upcoming events so they will be aware
of potential changes. The organisation can then place itself in a proactive mode
instead of a reactive one, as managers are able to quickly identify areas of concern
and turn to employees for solutions.
Participation helps employees gain a wider view of the organisation. Through
training, development opportunities, and information sharing, employees can acquire
the conceptual skills needed to become effective managers or top executives. It
also increases the commitment of employees to the organisation and the decisions
they make.
Creativity and innovation are two important benefits of participative management.
In order for participative management to work, several issues must be resolved
and several requirements must be met. First, managers must be willing to relinquish
some control to their workers; managers must feel secure in their position in order
for participation to be successful. Often managers do not realise that employees’
respect for them will increase instead of decrease when they implement a
participative management style.
The success of participative management depends on careful planning and a slow,
phased approach. Changing employees’ ideas about management takes time, as
does any successful attempt at a total cultural change from a democratic or
autocratic style of management to a participative style. Long-term employees may
resist changes, not believing they will last. In order for participation to be effective,
managers must be genuine and honest in implementing the program.
Employees must also be willing to participate and share their ideas. Participative
management does not work with employees who are passive or simply do not
care. Encouragement should be offered in order to accustom employees to the
participative approach. One way to help employees engage in the decision-making
process is by knowing their individual strengths and capitalising on them. By
guiding employees toward areas in which they are knowledgeable, a manager can
help to ensure their success. 63
Introduction Before expecting employees to make valuable contributions, managers should
provide them with the criteria that their input must meet. This will aid in discarding
ideas or suggestions that cannot be implemented, are not feasible, or are too
expensive. Managers should also give employees time to think about ideas or
alternative decisions. Employees often do not do their most creative thinking on
the spot.
Another important element for implementing a successful participative management
style is the visible integration of employees’ suggestions into the final decision or
implementation. Employees need to know that they have made a contribution.
Offering employees a choice in the final decision is important because it increases
their commitment, motivation, and job satisfaction. The key is to build employee
confidence so their ideas and decisions become more creative and sound.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss the four process involved in participation.
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2) Describe any two benefits of participative management.
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4.9 SECOND ORDER CHANGE IN

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Second Order Change is the deeper changes that frustrate leaders and
threaten followers are planned second-order changes. These changes
intentionally challenge widely shared assumptions, disintegrate the context of
‘organisation’ and, in general, reframe the social system. This, in turn, generates
widespread ambiguity, discontinuity, anxiety, frustration, confusion, paramoia,
cynicism and anger as well as temporary dysfunction.
But Hillary’s focus in his article is on Second-order Change, and this is where
“transformation” is happening in the Church. Second-order Change challenges the
existing culture, mission/purpose and organisational paradigm. Hillary stated that:
“Change calls into question the status quo and disrupts the alignment among
organisational attributes.”
The most disruptive changes second order changes call into question the entire
context of organisation. Paradigm change is therefore not only traumatic in and
of itself, but also challenges other attributes and disintegrates the relationship
among all domains. The eventual outcome of such change is a ‘transformed’ or
64 ‘renewed’ organisation.”
Practitioners and researchers are giving considerable attention to emerging concepts, First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
interventions and areas of application that might be called as second generation or Development
second order change in organisational development. The second order change
utilises various organisational development interventions in order to facilitate
organisational transformation. The organisational development interventions will be
discussed in detail in this unit.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Describe second order change.
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4.10 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

INTERVENTIONS
Organisational development interventions refer to the techniques created by
organisational development professionals, coaches and mentors to help solve the
pressing problems of organisations who seek their services. It is a sequence of
activities, actions and events intended to help an organisations improve its
performance and effectiveness. Intervention design, or action planning, derives
from careful diagnosis and its meant to resolve specific problems and improve
particular areas of organisational functioning identified in the diagnosis.
OD interventions vary from standardised programmes that have been developed
and used in many organisation to relatively unique programmes tailored to specific
organisation or department. Interventions purposely disrupt the status quo; they
are deliberate attempts to change an organisation to ward a different and more
effective state. There are three major criteria that describe effective intervention
in OD:
1) The extent to which it fits the needs of the organisation
2) The degree to which it is based on causal knowledge of intended out comes
and
3) The extent to which it transfer change-management competence to organisation
members.
The following are the different kinds of organisational development interventions:
 Sensitivity training
 Survey feedback
 development discussion
 Goal setting and planning
 Team building and management objective.
 Managerial grid
65
Introduction  Job enrichment, participative management and quality circles.
 Process consultation intervention
 Inter-group Team-Building Interventions
 Third-Party Peacemaking Interventions
 Structural Interventions
These kinds of intervention can be used in various settings depending on the need
of the organisation. Survey feedback intervention provides data and information to
all the managers. Information related to the attitude, structure, working conditions
will included in the survey. Managers analyse the data pertaining to each and every
employee and takes appropriate action. They try to analyse the problem, evaluate
the result and correct the problem.
On the other hand, along the consultation process, the consultant meets all
departments, work teams, and observes the interaction and skill levels of those
working in those areas. Goal setting and planning goals are important for the
overall strategic plans for the profitability of the organisation. Managerial grid
identifies management behaviour on different ways. It looks into production-oriented
factors as well as the employee-oriented factors and combines them to interact
with each other. It also gives the structural view of the laboratory training. Managerial
grid interventions also relate to the leadership skills.
The growth of any organisation pulls its peoples to change their thinking toward
organisational development interventions. People with planned and changed
interventions can grow in organisations. An intervention forms the front view of
any developed organisation. So it is important to follow and implement creative
interventions. In implementing organisational development interventions, it is
important to apply criteria to goals, experiment with alternative arrangements,
establish inter unit task force, and identify key communicators and fire-able offenses.
Organisational development practitioners may choose the most appropriate
organisational development Intervention, to create planned change. The following
a few of most common organisational development interventions, that most of the
companies practice are:

4.10.1 Applying Criteria to Goals

Here the leadership establishes objective criteria for the outputs of the organisation’s
goal-setting processes. Then they hold people accountable not only for stating
goals against those criteria but also for producing the desired results.
For example, Organisations are implementing the concept of Balanced Scorecard,
X-Matrix etc., to capture the goals of the employees, which in turn is helpful in
their assessment and mid-term correction of their performance.

4.10.2 Establishing Inter-Unit Task Forces

These groups can cross both functional parts of the organisation (the “silos”) as
well as employee levels. They are ideally accountable to one person and are
appropriately rewarded for completing their assigned task effectively. Then they
disband. For example, Organisations have introduced various schemes for rewarding
their employees for their performance, like, introducing the concept of Variable
66
pay in as a part of CTC, Spot Recognition Award, Project bonus, performance First Order and Second Order
Change in Organisational
bonus etc., Development

4.10.3 Experimentation with Alternative Arrangements

Today organisations are subject to “management by best-seller.” The goal in these
interventions is to create what is being called a “learning organisation,” one that
performs experiments on organisational structure and processes, analyses the results,
and builds on them. For example, Organisations today are targeting at streamlining
the process of Learning and Development and encouraging the culture of Learning
in the organisations.
Targeting achieving mandatory man-days of training for their employees and
Introducing the Competency based practices.

4.10.4 Identifying Key Communicators

This is to carefully determine who seems to be “in the know” within the organisation.
These people often do not know that they are, in fact, key communicators. This
collection of individuals is then fed honest information during critical times, one-
on-one and confidentially. For example, Defining the process of Organisational
Communication policy - Introducing Top – down and Bottom – up Communication
approach - Introducing Employee Forums and Suggestion Box options for employee
interaction - Identifying Critical employees in the organisation and making them the
Brand Ambassadors of their company.

4.10.5 Identifying “Fireable Offenses”

This intervention deepens the understanding of and commitment to the stated
values of the organisation. This facilitates the work of the Top Management to
answer the critical question, “If we’re serious about these values, then what might
an employee do that wouldbe so affrontive to them that he/she would be fired?”
For example, - Publishing and Instilling Values and Beliefs among all employees
Introducing Policies like Whistle Blowing, Sexual Harassment etc.,

4.10.6 Invisioning
This is actually a set of interventions that help to “acculturate” everyone in the
organisation into an agreed-upon vision, mission, purpose, and values. The
interventions might include training, goal setting, organisational survey-feedback,
communications planning, etc.

4.10.7 Team Building

This intervention can take many forms. For example, the most common is interviews
and other pre-work, followed by a one- to three-day offsite session. During the
meeting the group diagnoses its function as a unit and plans improvements in its
operating procedures.

4.10.8 Inter-group Problem Solving

This intervention usually involves working with the two groups separately before
bringing them together. They establish common goals and negotiate changes in
how the groups interface. For example, this is practiced in Product Development
Companies and most of the IT and ITES Companies. – Focused group discussion
are encouraged by the management, for generating better ideasand concepts.
67
Introduction 4.10.9 Management/leadership Training
Many organisational development professionals come from a training background.
They understand that organisations cannot succeed long term without well-trained
leaders. The organisational development contribution there can be to ensure that
the development curriculum emphasises practical, current situations that need
attention within the organisation and to monitor the degree to which training delivery
is sufficiently participative as to promise adequate transfer of learning’s to the job.
For example, most of the organisations today are focusing at Leadership
Management for their employees.

4.10.10 Setting Up Measurement Systems

The total quality movement emphasises that all work is a part of a process and
that measurement is essential for process improvement. The organisational
development professional is equipped with tools and techniques to assist leaders
and others to create measurement methods and systems to monitor key success
indicators. For example, The concepts like Six Sigma, TQM etc. act as
Measurements tools for the process followed in the organisation. Further, second-
generation or second order organisational development, in particular, has a focus
on organisational transformation.

4.10.11 Total Quality Management (TQM)

The past decade has seen a mushrooming of interest in total quality management
worldwide, and then perhaps some decline in application as both successes and
failures have been reported. Applications that have been successful appear to have
some ingredients in common with organisational development efforts.
Ciampa, who acknowledges the pioneering contributions of Joseph Juran,
W.Edwards Deming, and Armand Feigenbaum to the development of TQM,
provides a clear statement on the relationship between TQM and organisational
development. First, his definition: “Total Quality is typically a companywide effort
seeking to install and make permanent a climate where employees continuously
improve their ability to provide on demand products and services that customers
will find of particular value.”
Burke also comments on the contribution organisational development can make to
TQM efforts. Focusing on the organisational development practitioner, he states:
“the quality movement, to be successful, is highly dependent on effective process
and process is the organisational development practitioner’s most important product.”
Self Assessment Questions
1) Discuss management/ leadership training as an organisational development
intervention.
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2) Define Total Quality Management.
68 .....................................................................................................................
 First Order and Second Order
..................................................................................................................... Change in Organisational
Development
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4.11 LET US SUM UP

Wendell L. French, Cecil H. Bell and Robert A. (2006), stated that the pace of
technological innovation, company mergers, acquisition, leveraged buyouts,
bankruptcies, success stories, downsizings and changes in law has been intensified.
At the same time thousands of small companies are born every year. Worldwide
rigorous efforts are going on to move from autocratic societies to democratic
institutions and making more globalize. These changes create opportunities for
organisational development applications but also stretch capabilities of leader and
organisational development practitioners to the utmost. In such a context the second
order change in organisational development is evolving.
The organisational development practitioners still depend upon first order techniques
that are highly relevant to adaptive incremental change, such as action research,
a focus on team, team building, the use of facilitator’s process of consultation,
survey feedback inter-group problem solving, socio-technical system approaches
to job design, and participative management. But the present organisational
development field is far reaching beyond the first order changes in the sense that
many applications of organisational development are now multifaceted. Therefor
the second order change in organisational development can be utilised in order
develop interventions and identify different areas of applications and very particularly
focus on organisational transformation.

4.12 UNIT END QUSTIONS

1) Explain with examples the first order change in organisational development.
2) Explain with the second order change in organisational development.
3) What is action research? Explain its relevance in organisational development.
4) Describe the importance of teams and the process of team building.
5) Explain the concepts such as process consultation, survey feedback, and inter
group problem solving in organisational development.
6) What is job design? Explain the socio-technical systems approach to job
design.
7) Highlight the importance of participative management in organisational
development.

4.13 SUGGESTED READINGS

Amir Levy and Uri Merry, Organisational Transformation (New York:Praeger
Publishers, 1986).
Chris Argyris and Donald Schon, Organisational Learning (Reading MA: Addison-
Wesley, 1976).
69
Introduction Chris Argyris, Overcoming Organisational Defensive Routines (Boston:Allyn
and Bacon, 1990).
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Coye, R.W., and J.A. Belohlav. “An Exploratory Analysis of Employee
Participation.” Group and Organisation Management 20, no. 1 (1995): 4–17.
Edgar H. Schein, Organisational Culture and Leadership (San Francisco:Jossey-
Basss Publishers, 1985).
French, W.L., Bell, C. H., & Vohra, V. (2006) Organisational Development. 6th
Ed. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Greenfield, W.M. “Decision Making and Employee Engagement.” Employment
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Kaner, S., and L. Lind. Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-making.
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Keef, L. “Generating Quality Interaction.” Occupational Health & Safety 73,
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McCoy, T.J. Creating an Open Book Organisation: Where Employees Think
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Robbins, S.P. Essentials of Organisational Behaviour. 8th ed. Upper Saddle
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Sumukadas, N., and R. Sawhney. “Workforce Agility through Employee
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Vanderburg, D. “The Story of Semco: The Company that Humanized Work.”
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Weiss, W.H. “Improving Employee Performance: Major Supervisory
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Wendell L. French, Cecil H.Bell, Jr., and Robert A. Zawacki (2006). Organisational
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McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. New Delhi.

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