The document summarizes a talk given by M.P. Sriram on organizational development strategies. Some key points:
1. Sriram discusses an example of Virgin Group introducing an unlimited paid leave policy to encourage responsibility and trust in employees.
2. Organizational development requires defining a desired future state, assessing change needs, understanding factors that enable or inhibit change, and planning employee involvement.
3. Change strategies range from "telling" employees what to do, to "co-creating" changes collaboratively, and the right approach depends on leadership and employee capabilities.
Give your employees freedom within a frameworkAlex Clapson
Imagine starting your first day of work at a new company. During your on boarding, someone called the Chief Culture Officer (CCO), tells you the usual things such as: employees live our company values and purpose; the company wants people to take risks and be responsible for the outcomes; it’s okay to fail, just learn from the mistake; blah, blah, blah. At the end of thirty minutes, with semi-glazed over eyes, you stand up to leave the meeting room. Just as you are about to go out the door, the CCO stops you and says, “Oh, I also forgot to mention that we have no dress code or vacation policy. Just wear clothes and take the time you need to re-energize.”
In order to realize the importance of the psychology of management it is necessary to consider the following five points:
1. Management is a life study of every man who works with other men. He must either manage, or be managed, or both; in any case, he can never work to best advantage until he understands both the psychological and managerial laws by which he governs or is governed.
2. A knowledge of the underlying laws of management is the most important asset that one can carry with him into his life work, even though he will never manage any but himself. It is useful, practical, commercially valuable.
3. This knowledge is to be had now. The men who have it are ready and glad to impart it to all who are interested and who will pass it on.The text books are at hand now. The opportunities for practical experience in Scientific Management will meet all demands as fast as they are made.
4. The psychology of, that is, the mind's place in management is only one part, element or variable of management; one of numerous, almost numberless, variables.
5. It is a division well fitted to occupy the attention of the beginner, as well as the more experienced, because it is a most excellent place to start the study of management. A careful study of the relations of psychology to management should develop in the student a method of attack in learning his selected life work that should help him to grasp quickly the orderly array of facts that the other variables, as treated by the great managers, bring to him.
Neuroscience shows why numbers-based HR management is obsolete. And watch the video “How Your Brain Responds to Performance Rankings”: http://youtu.be/XrnfSeMXSO0
Organizational Development (OD)- Meaning, Definition, Need for OD, Organizational Development Techniques, Traditional Techniques, Sensitivity Training, Grid Training, Survey Feedback, Modern Techniques - Process Consultation, Third Party, Team Building, Transactional Analysis (TA), Work Stress - Meaning, Reasons for Stress at Workplace, Causes of Stress, Individual Stressors, Group Stressors, Organizational Stressors, Environmental Stressors, Impact / Consequences / Outcome of Stress, Stress v/s Burnout, Managing Stress at Individual Level, Role of Organizations in Managing Stress
Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement a literature reviewIJLT EMAS
An organization always focuses on getting success day
by day. And employees are the major resources of it. Manpower
is now no longer taken as resources , but the capital or asset to
the company . Therefore it is only possible to gain success if it is
having its employees engaged to the company. This study focuses
on various aspects of employee engagement. A descriptive study
is carried on to find out the key drivers to engagement and also
some outcomes of the concept were found out and accordingly a
model is proposed. Results demonstrate that Reward System ,
Job enrichment , Effective leadership ,Scope of advancement &
self-development, Employment security, Self-managed team &
decision making authority are the primary factors that brings
commitment towards the organization. The consequences can be
briefed as increased productivity , profitability and improved
employee turnover. The company where employee are engaged
and satisfied, gains a good perception and attention in the
market.
Principal of Management Report : Pharmaplex CompanyShahzeb Pirzada
Shahzeb Pirzada and his group partners make a report on a survey of a company "Pharmaplex".....
Course: Principal of Management
Details:
The organization is truly product based organization, the task provided to us is to know hierarchy of the organization the way they deal along with their products the management levels of their organization, the shareholders, the profit loss of the organization, the distribution of their products in market, to know their policy of leading their business to the peaks of the sky.
The purpose of this research paper is to identify why Human Resources (HR) is a change agent in any organization to drive organizational excellence. HR practitioners, as change agents, are responsible for easing the impact of changes in their organization and to empower employees against the consequences of these inevitable changes. Sometimes, the change helps to produce a significant increase in performance excellence and the company can boost sales and production without major additional cost.
Several vital competencies that are reviewed in this paper include how HR practitioners are path creators amongst the path breakers of organizational culture, by being change drivers and business focused. HR practitioners who are unable to function as change agents will inevitably create a barrier against their becoming a well-integrated strategic partner. Therefore, the role of change agent also mediates the relationship between certain HR competencies and organizational performance. This involves monitoring employee engagement and keeping levels high, developing strategies to retain top performers, and continuing to provide value-added services to employees.
Give your employees freedom within a frameworkAlex Clapson
Imagine starting your first day of work at a new company. During your on boarding, someone called the Chief Culture Officer (CCO), tells you the usual things such as: employees live our company values and purpose; the company wants people to take risks and be responsible for the outcomes; it’s okay to fail, just learn from the mistake; blah, blah, blah. At the end of thirty minutes, with semi-glazed over eyes, you stand up to leave the meeting room. Just as you are about to go out the door, the CCO stops you and says, “Oh, I also forgot to mention that we have no dress code or vacation policy. Just wear clothes and take the time you need to re-energize.”
In order to realize the importance of the psychology of management it is necessary to consider the following five points:
1. Management is a life study of every man who works with other men. He must either manage, or be managed, or both; in any case, he can never work to best advantage until he understands both the psychological and managerial laws by which he governs or is governed.
2. A knowledge of the underlying laws of management is the most important asset that one can carry with him into his life work, even though he will never manage any but himself. It is useful, practical, commercially valuable.
3. This knowledge is to be had now. The men who have it are ready and glad to impart it to all who are interested and who will pass it on.The text books are at hand now. The opportunities for practical experience in Scientific Management will meet all demands as fast as they are made.
4. The psychology of, that is, the mind's place in management is only one part, element or variable of management; one of numerous, almost numberless, variables.
5. It is a division well fitted to occupy the attention of the beginner, as well as the more experienced, because it is a most excellent place to start the study of management. A careful study of the relations of psychology to management should develop in the student a method of attack in learning his selected life work that should help him to grasp quickly the orderly array of facts that the other variables, as treated by the great managers, bring to him.
Neuroscience shows why numbers-based HR management is obsolete. And watch the video “How Your Brain Responds to Performance Rankings”: http://youtu.be/XrnfSeMXSO0
Organizational Development (OD)- Meaning, Definition, Need for OD, Organizational Development Techniques, Traditional Techniques, Sensitivity Training, Grid Training, Survey Feedback, Modern Techniques - Process Consultation, Third Party, Team Building, Transactional Analysis (TA), Work Stress - Meaning, Reasons for Stress at Workplace, Causes of Stress, Individual Stressors, Group Stressors, Organizational Stressors, Environmental Stressors, Impact / Consequences / Outcome of Stress, Stress v/s Burnout, Managing Stress at Individual Level, Role of Organizations in Managing Stress
Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement a literature reviewIJLT EMAS
An organization always focuses on getting success day
by day. And employees are the major resources of it. Manpower
is now no longer taken as resources , but the capital or asset to
the company . Therefore it is only possible to gain success if it is
having its employees engaged to the company. This study focuses
on various aspects of employee engagement. A descriptive study
is carried on to find out the key drivers to engagement and also
some outcomes of the concept were found out and accordingly a
model is proposed. Results demonstrate that Reward System ,
Job enrichment , Effective leadership ,Scope of advancement &
self-development, Employment security, Self-managed team &
decision making authority are the primary factors that brings
commitment towards the organization. The consequences can be
briefed as increased productivity , profitability and improved
employee turnover. The company where employee are engaged
and satisfied, gains a good perception and attention in the
market.
Principal of Management Report : Pharmaplex CompanyShahzeb Pirzada
Shahzeb Pirzada and his group partners make a report on a survey of a company "Pharmaplex".....
Course: Principal of Management
Details:
The organization is truly product based organization, the task provided to us is to know hierarchy of the organization the way they deal along with their products the management levels of their organization, the shareholders, the profit loss of the organization, the distribution of their products in market, to know their policy of leading their business to the peaks of the sky.
The purpose of this research paper is to identify why Human Resources (HR) is a change agent in any organization to drive organizational excellence. HR practitioners, as change agents, are responsible for easing the impact of changes in their organization and to empower employees against the consequences of these inevitable changes. Sometimes, the change helps to produce a significant increase in performance excellence and the company can boost sales and production without major additional cost.
Several vital competencies that are reviewed in this paper include how HR practitioners are path creators amongst the path breakers of organizational culture, by being change drivers and business focused. HR practitioners who are unable to function as change agents will inevitably create a barrier against their becoming a well-integrated strategic partner. Therefore, the role of change agent also mediates the relationship between certain HR competencies and organizational performance. This involves monitoring employee engagement and keeping levels high, developing strategies to retain top performers, and continuing to provide value-added services to employees.
Organizational Change Consulting In unit one the discussio.docxalfred4lewis58146
Organizational Change Consulting
In unit one the discussion centered around the reinvention and culture of the
organization, the way business is conducted. This unit shifts the focus to what people
do by examining the role of an organizational development consultant, the diagnostic
process, and peoples’ resistance to change.
The OD Consultant
A change agent is a person or team responsible for beginning and maintaining a change
effort. Change agents may come from inside an organization, in which case they are
called internal consultants, or they may come from outside an organization, in which
case they are called external consultants. The role of the organizational development
(OD) consultant is to initiate, stimulate, and facilitate change. William Bridges
explains that things change but people transition (as cited in Montgomery, 2009). The
OD consultant is therefore concerned primarily with the people aspect of the change
events.
One of the basic roles of the consultant is to facilitate and teach the client how to
identify the problem, diagnose and solve the problem. This reduces the dependency of
the client on the consultant but also empowers the client and is associated with higher
corporate buy-in rates.
Clearly, OD consultants must have a number of skills in order to be successful. In
particular, consultants need to possess both leadership and management expertise. In a
leadership role, consultants should be able to facilitate rather than direct, keep
information flowing, and use multiple methods on a consistent basis.
Problem solving is another skill an effective consultant hones. He or she has to be able
to identify and focus on the next set of problems. Organizations and processes
experience flux, which often results in new and unanticipated problems, which cannot
be ignored. Inherent to the skill of problem solving, however, is valid diagnosis. So
how does an organizational consultant accurately decipher root problems?
The Diagnostic Process
The diagnosis is a two-fold process: an assessment of the variables, and a report on
possible corrective interventions. Diagnosis involves gathering data, interpreting the
data, identification of problem areas and options for solutions. Diagnostic tools consist
of interviews, surveys, instruments, observation and review of public records. To
many, diagnosis is the most important stage. Success or failure of change strategies is
dependent on several things but accurate diagnosis is critical. Failure to address the
root cause or intervening in processes that were previously fully functional is
inappropriate and costly change, but if the problem is properly diagnosed and the
intervention strategy appropriate, why can change still be so difficult for organizations
to enact smoothly?
Resistance to Change
Change is often problematic unless the cause and solution are readily transparent.
Generally speaking, change is.
Flevy Author Spotlight: Our Interview with World-recognized Change Leader and...Flevy.com Best Practices
Original article from the Flevy business blog can be found here:
http://flevy.com/blog/our-interview-with-world-recognized-change-leader-and-flevy-author-ron-leeman/
In 2012, Ron Leeman was awarded the distinguished title of Change Leader by the World HRD Congress. He has led numerous global Change and Project Management initiatives. Ron has also published numerous frameworks on Flevy related to Change, Process, and Project Management . These frameworks are his own, developed through his extensive experience of over 40 years as a Change, Process, and Project professional.
We recently interviewed Mr. Leeman to better understand his approach to Change and how it differs from established Change Management frameworks, such as Prosci’s ADKAR and Kotter’s 8 Steps to Change.
How did you first get started in Change Management?
That’s a good “starter for 10.”
It was in 1974–goodness me that was a long time ago!–when I worked for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the UK. I attended various courses related to RM Currie’s Work Study, including Method Study, Work Study, Work Measurement, and Organisation & Methods, at what was then the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham, UK (now the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom). Following the successful completion of these courses, I went back to work for the MoD to apply my trade. I can hear you say “but that’s nothing to do with change?” Well, actually, it was because they all involved observing the way people went about their work, mapping their processes, critically examining them, and coming up with a better way of doing things. This then had to be sold to managers and their teams and to implement the new ways of working!
Following my time with the MoD, I went to work at Abbey National (which became Abbey and is now Banco Santander) first as a Business Analyst and then as a Productivity Consultant and Profit Improvement Consultant, but, again, all to do with “change.”
In 1996, I started work as an Independent Consultant and, if my memory serves me well, I first called myself a Change Manager when I was contracted to work for, what was then, the Bank of Scotland on a Core Banking Implementation, which had a far reaching impact on changing the way people did their job.
If you want to know more about me, take a look at my LinkedIn profile and I am happy to accept connection requests from you.
You have pioneered your own practical approach to Change Management. Can you describe it and explain how it differs from other established Change frameworks?
Organisational Development Effective Strategies MP Sriram Transcript
1. Transcript of the talk given by M.P. Sriram , Partner ,Aventus Partners at the “National Seminar on
Innovation and Strategic Business Practices” conducted by SNGIST on 15.10.14
Introduction
Good Morning. I have been asked to speak on “Organizational Development - An effective strategy “.
I have however taken the liberty of modifying the topic to “Organizational development -Effective strategies” as I don’t think there is one single strategy which will help us effectively deliver on all Organizational Development (OD) initiatives.
When I was invited by the institute I was told to speak on “Innovations in HR”. I am therefore going to take a few minutes to share with you an illustration of how a small innovative action taken by an organization can potentially have a significant impact in terms of the culture that it is trying to build.
HR - Innovation in Action
The organization that I am going to talk about is the Virgin Group which was founded by Richard Branson.
Two or three weeks back the founder of the group Richard Branson announced a new “No caps on leave policy”. He said Employees henceforth would be allowed to take as many days of leaves as they required in a year without any ceiling. The policy is being piloted with a group of 170 people who report directly to Mr Branson.
The philosophy behind the entire initiative is a belief that people will be responsible to the organization, responsible to their teams and responsible to their own self and their careers. The broad cultural
2. implication is a message that clearly says that the organization views people as responsible individuals. While this might be a small action that has been taken by the founder of the organization it can have profound implications in terms of the culture that the organization is trying to build or change.
I also see two very clear collateral benefits emerging. One a strong reinforcement of the employer brand . Two an interesting analysis which says that there is a huge financial implication for the organization mainly because they don’t have to provision any more for “leave in cash credits”. This is a significant issue with lot of old and large organizations, because when employees resign or retire they need to provision for cash out of accumulated leaves if they have a policy of leave accumulation ( Typical policies permit up to 180 days of accumulation and encashment). Imagine the amount to be provisioned for by a company with 10000 people with a employee turnover of 20 percentage annually.
Organization Development (OD)
Organizational development is a planned process of helping an organization move to the next level. It’s a planned process which
1. Clearly defines the Desired state and what it will look like
2. Systematically assesses the extent of change that will be required ( The Gap between current and Desired State)
3. Understands the factors that will facilitate and inhibit this change
4. Assesses and defines the role that people will play in this change process
3. In my experience this part of the process is extremely critical, because you can have different ways of involving people in a change process. Popular management literature would have us believe that collaboration/co-creation i.e. involving everyone in the process of change is the most ideal way of managing change. I don’t believe it is that simple. One will have to decide on the level of proposed involvement of people depending on the actual facts and circumstances of the situation. As organizational development initiators assessing this effectively and planning a strategy around it would be critical.
5. Creation and implementation of systems and processes that will institutionalize the desired end state
When we are talking about OD we are also referring to creating systems and process that will ensure that the desired state is “institutionalized “. All of us have seen enough examples of changes being brought about by very strong leaders but disappearing over a period of time when the leader moves away from the organization. This is because the leader has not been able to put systems and process that will ensure the institutionalization of the changes.
6. Assessing impact on employee behaviors and taking necessary action
The other key element of an organization development initiative is the extent to which we are able to assess the impact of the initiatives on employee behavior. To my mind this is a critical determinant of trying to see how an organizational development initiative is progressing. We need to see whether employees are exhibiting the desired behaviors that we intended them to exhibit .Not just in their
4. interaction with each other but more critically in their interactions with external stake holders both customers and partners.
Innovation
In the first session we had a lot of speakers share various examples of innovation and I am sure you will be exposed to various definitions and interpretations to innovation over the next two days.
I have a very simple way of defining innovation. Innovation to me is practical creativity. Innovation is meant to solve a problem. It is not creativity for the sake of being creative. While that might be true in the world of creative arts I am talking about innovation in the context of management science and as applied to real problems which are there in an organization or which are confronting a group. “Innovation in this context is practical problem solving”.
I also would like to make a subtle distinction between “innovation” and “inventing “. Inventing is doing /creating something which is absolutely new, which did not exist earlier. Innovation doesn’t necessarily have to been doing something which has never been tried and tested anywhere. It can just be doing something which has not being tried or tested in that particular organization context.
5. Organizational development –Alternate Approaches
I will quickly take you through a framework which I have found to be extremely effective. I don’t claim any intellectual copyright over this framework. It is an adaptation from the book “The Fifth Discipline – Field Book “by Peter Zenge. I don’t know how many of you have read it. For those who have not I would
encourage you to read it. It gives a lot of live examples in terms of how organizational change can be actually implemented. Dr. Pothuval in the morning session talked about a lot of initiatives where change did not stick because of non acceptance by people. The book will give you enough number of real life examples in terms of how it has actually been done.
There are five broad ways in which we can look at institutionalizing any change that is envisaged by an organizational development initiative (Illustration below)
6. On one end you have the “Telling” method which is effective when “the leader knows what needs to be done tells the followers what to do and they follow “.
When I am using the word leader in this context I am using it in to refer to any person who is responsible and accountable for addressing the situation at hand. So whether it is a person designated by the organization or a committee or group or an external person or a group which is been brought in to handle a situation “leader” refers to the person/entity responsible for addressing the situations at hand.
And on the other end you have what is called “Co-creating” which is a collaborative process of co creation.
In the middle you have three broad different approaches which vary in terms of the involvement of people.
“Selling” is effective when the leader knows what to do but needs a buy in of the people. He has a thought/ an idea/ a solution but is trying to ensure that people buy in to these thoughts/ideas and solutions.
“Testing” is where the leader has thoughts but wants members reactions because he is not very sure whether the solution is the most ideal solution.
“Consulting” is where leaders are putting things together and went creative ideas and “Co-creating is a process of true collaboration between all the people involved.
This model has been validated to an extent by my own experiences of having worked in multiple organizational contexts.
7. How do we choose the right approach and process?
There are three broad variables which will help us determine the right process.
1. The capacity and capability of the leadership of they set direction. Are we as leaders very clear in terms of the end state that we want to move to and the direction that we want to move in.
2. The ability of the leadership group to listen learn and synthesize because that is the most critical ability that one needs to engage in co creation and collaboration.
Many a time it is quite possible that the leaders don’t have the ability to do anything meaningful with the vast amount of energy and data that is getting generated through this process. Let’s say you go through a process of co creation, you involve 500 people in the organization in an elaborate process spanning 6 to 12 months. At the end of the process you have no clue in terms of how to use or you don’t have the ability to make meaningful use of all the energy and the data that is getting generated through this process. It might actually because you more harm than good.
3. The third variable is the capability of people to assume leadership.
Evaluate your organization and context on these three factors and you will be able to determine whether you need to use a process of selling, telling, testing, consulting or co- creating while managing an organizational development initiative.
The process designed can also be subject to a lot of innovation. As people who are responsible for the transformation process we have to give ourselves a lot of liberty in terms of determining the right process.
8. A few Practical tips
I have found the following attitudes very handy and useful while undertaking any organization development initiative.
1. Non attachment to the past and known ways of doing thing. We need to understand that something which might have worked in the past in a different context need not work in the current context.
2. We need to make a very conscious attempt to understand underlying assumptions and question the assumptions. When all of us start working in organizations tomorrow I would request you to not take things for granted if a superior tells you this is the way to run a process. I would urge you to make an effort to understand why that process is being run that way. Unless you have that understanding and question the reason behind why the particular process is running in a particular way you will have no way of knowing whether that process is actually appropriate to the situation at hand.
3. Embrace counterpoints of view as an opportunity for refinement and improvement. Do not be defensive when there is a counter point of view .Be open to the thought process; be open to the ideas which have been raised by others even if those ideas might be uncomfortable to you as an owner of that process. I go back to what Dr Poduval mentioned in the morning “Only when there is conflict would something creative and useful emerged out of that “ . I think that is one useful learning that I will carry back with me today.
4. While you might have designed a particular process to drive an organizational development initiative I would urge you to be non attached even to that process. You might have designed the
9. process after having undertaken a detailed analysis. And you would have designed something which you think is workable for that situation. But it is quite possible that as you go through the implementation that there is a lot of data that emerges which might give you pointers to course correct. Embrace these opportunities.
A real Life Example
Let me try and show you how we can use this approach in a live situation. This is an organization which is the business of analytics a growing discipline as all of you know. The organization has grown from a three member to a 400 member organization over a 10 year period. It has been very open to embracing innovation practices. It had defined a set of values which it wanted all its employees to live by.
While they had communicated these values across all the locations and offices they realized that the challenge lay in getting all the people to actually live these values in their day to day interactions.
Stage 1- They decided to go through a limited participate process to refine these existing values. Respect, integrity, passion and customer focus were the five values. They said let’s try and figure out what these words actually means to employees. If we say respect what does respect means for us in our context, if we say passion for relentless excellence what does it mean in our context and so on. They involved around forty people (Ten percentage of the population) in this initiative and defined each of these values.
Stage2 - They said now that the values have been articulated we want to start encouraging people to demonstrate these values. They took a very bold step, one which not too many organizations take. They decided to include these values in the performance management process. They redefined the
10. performance management process and provided a 20 percent weightage for performance against demonstration of these values with the balance 80 percentage weightage given to performance against key performance indicators that was derived from a strategically constructed score card . They implemented this for a year. At the end of one year they realized that for this 20 percentage component on values 390 out of 400 people assessed got a rating of 3/5. Every manager was very happy to rate everyone on a mid point scale because no one wanted to take a call in terms of saying someone had demonstrated very poor manifestations of the core demonstrational values or viceversa.
Having said that when they had promotion discussions for example, you would see a lot of managers saying no I don’t think this person is suited for moving to next level because he is not a true role model of the values that we uphold as an organization. But you look at the performance management ratings wouldn’t have anything negative on the person as far as demonstrational values is concerned.
Stage 3 - They decided to refine the process further. They embarked on a process where in they engaged most of the 400 employees through focus group discussion to articulate how each of these values will actually manifest. For E.g. How will the value “Respect” be manifested across the organization? They also distinguished behaviors that will be demonstrated by people at different levels of the organization. They defined the positive behaviors and the negative behaviors which should be reflective of respect in different interactions, with the external customers/clients, with each other and with their external partners. This was done for all the five values and consolidated in the form of a values dictionary.
Stage 4 -The organization is experimenting once more to take this process to the next level. It has now mandated that in every formal monthly review meeting that is conducted at an organizational
11. /departmental and team level the demonstration of values by the employees will be necessarily reviewed along with a review of the business/unit performance. All individual cases of exceptional demonstration of values both positive and negative will be highlighted and discussed . This data will be cumulated at the end of the year to feed into the performance appraisal process for a more accurate distinction in demonstration of values and consequent reward for standout performers. The intent is to have a more robust system which will ensure that the desired behavioral manifestations become way of life right in the organization.
Their journey in taking the organization to the next level continues.
I thank you once again for inviting me and hope I have been able to do justice to this theme.