Beckhards confrontation meeting

1. Beckhard’s Confrontation Meeting
Organization wide and structural
interventions

2. Beckhard’s Confrontation
meeting
 Developed by Richard Beckhard
 Is a one day meeting of the entire management of
an organization in which they take a reading of their
own organizational health
 The management group generates information
about its major problems, analyzes the underlying
causes, develops action plans to correct the
problems and sets a schedule for completed
remedial work.
 One of the important intervention in OD
 It is quick, simple and reliable.

3. Beckhard says it is appropriate
where…
 There is a need for the total management group
to examine its own workings.
 Very limited time is available for the activity.
 Top mgt wishes to improve the conditions quickly.
 There is enough cohesion in the top team to
ensure follow-up
 There is real commitment to resolving the issue
on the part of top mgt.
 The organization is experiencing or has recently
experienced, some major change.

4. Steps involved in the confrontation
meeting are as follows…
 Step- 1 : Climate setting (45 to 60 minutes) the
top mgr introduces the session by stating his
goals for the meeting, citing the necessity for free
and open discussion of issues and problems and
making it clear that indiviudals will not be
punished for what they say. (this statement from
the consultant regarding the importance of
communication within organizations, the
practicatbility of organization problem solving and
the desirability of addressing and solving
organizational problems.)

5. Steps involved in the confrontation
meeting are as follows…
 Step 2: Information collecting (1 Hour) Small groups
to seven or eight members are formed on the basis of
heterogeneity of composition; ie. Max mixture of
people from different functional areas and working
situations compose each team. The only rule is that
bosses and subordinates not be put together on the
same team. The top mgt group meets as a separate
group during this time. The charge to all the groups is
as follows:
 Think yourself as an individual with needs and goals.
Also think as a person concerned about the total
organization. What are the obstacles, “ demotivators”,
poor procedures or policies, unclear goals, or poor
attitudes that exist today? What different conditions, if
any, would make the organization more effective and
make like in the organization better?”

6. Steps involved in the confrontation
meeting are as follows…
 Step – 3: Information Sharing( 1 Hour)
Reporters from each small group report the
group’s complete findings to the total group,
which are placed on newsprint on the walls. The
total list of items is categorized, usually by the
meeting leader, into a few major categories that
may be based on type of problem
(eg. Communiation problem), type of relationship
(eg. Troubles with top mgt), or type of area(eg.
Problems with the accounting dept).

7. Steps involved in the confrontation
meeting are as follows…
 Step -4 : Priority Setting and group action
planning( 1Hour and 15minutes)
 This step typically follows a break during which time the
items from the lists are duplicated for distribution to
everyone. In 15 min. general session, the meeting
leader goes thru’ the list of items and puts a category
assignment on each one so that everyone has his copy
of categorized items.
 Next the participants form into functional, natural work
teams reflecting the way they are organized in the
organization. Each group is headed by the top mgr in the
group. The groups are asked to respond to a three part
charge, that is to do three tasks.
 First, they are to identify and discuss issues and problems related to their area, decide
on the priorities of these problems and determine early action steps to remedy the
problems that they are prepared to commit themselves to work on.
 Second they are asked to identify the problems they think should be the priority issues
for top mgt.
 Third they are to determine how they will communicate the results of the
controntation meeting to their subordinates

8. Steps involved in the confrontation
meeting are as follows…
 Step – 5: Immediate follow-up by Top team( 1 to 3
Hrs.)
 The top mgt team meets after the rest of the
participants have left to plan first follow up actions
steps and to determine what actions should be
taken on the basis of whay they have learned
during the day. These follow-up actins plans are
communicated to the rest of the mgt group within
several days.

9. Steps involved in the confrontation
meeting are as follows…
 Step 6: Progress Review (2 hrs)
A follow up meeting with the total mgt group is
held four to six weeks later to report progress and
to review the actions resulting from the
controntation meeting.

10. Beckhard believes that this exercise
provides…
 A quick and accurate means for diagnosing
organizational health
 Promotes constructive problem identification and
problem solving
 Enhances upward communication within the
organization
 Increases involvement and commitment to action
on the part of the entire managerial group.