This document discusses different classifications of organizational development (OD) interventions: 1) Team-building activities focus on enhancing team effectiveness through improving tasks, skills, relationships, and performance. Different types of teams require different interventions. 2) Intergroup activities improve effectiveness between interdependent groups through joint activities and considering groups as a single system. 3) Third-party peacemaking interventions involve a consultant helping two individuals in an organization manage interpersonal conflict through confrontation and understanding conflict processes and resolution. The interventions have potential to control or resolve conflicts.

1. B Y
D R . K I R A N K U M A R T H O T I
Module 3- OD

4. CLASSIFYING OD INTERVENTIONS
 The inventory of OD interventions is quite extensive.
We will explore several classification schemes here to
help you understand how interventions "clump"
together in terms of
(1) the objectives of the interventions and
(2) the targets of the interventions.

5. Contd..
 Becoming familiar with how interventions relate to
one another is useful for planning the overall OD
strategy.
 As we see it, the following are the major "families" of
OD interventions.

7. Team-Building Activities
 Activities designed to enhance the effective operation
of system teams.
 These activities focus on task issues such as the way
things are done, the skills and resources needed to
accomplish tasks, the quality of relationship among the
team members or between members and the leader,
and how well the team gets its job done.
 In addition, one must consider different kinds of
teams, such as formal work teams, temporary tasks
force teams, newly constituted teams, and cross-
functional teams.

8. Intergroup Activities.
 Activities designed to improve the effectiveness of
interdependent groups-groups that must work
together to produce a common output.
 They focus on joint activities and the output of the
group as considered as a single system rather than
as two subsystems.
 When two groups are involved, the activities are
designated intergroup or interface activities; when
more than two groups are involved, the activities
are called organizational mirroring.

10. Third party
peacemaking
interventions

13. Third-Party Peacemaking Activities.
 Activities conducted by a skilled consultant (the third party,
designed to help two members of an organization manage
their interpersonal conflict.
 These activities are based on confrontation tactics and an
understanding of the processes involved in conflict and
conflict resolution.

14. Third party peacemaking interventions
 It have the potential to control the conflict or
resolve it.
 Its basic feature is confrontation: the two
principals must be willing to confront the fact that
conflict exists and that it has consequences for the
effectiveness of the two parties involved.

15. Walton’s approach to third party peacemaking
The diagnostic model:
The model is based on four elements:
 The conflict issues.
 Precipitating circumstances.
 Conflict relevant acts.
 The consequences of the conflict

16. It is also important to know the source of
the conflict.
Sources:
 Substantive issues, which is conflict related to
practices, scarce resources, and differing
conceptions of roles and responsibilities.
 Emotional issues, involve feelings between the
parties, such as anger, hurt, fear, resentment, etc

17. Walton has outlined the ingredients of a productive
confrontation( the process of addressing conflict), they
are
1. Mutual positive motivation
2. Balance of power
3. Synchronization of confrontation efforts
4. Differentiation and integration of different phases of
the intervention must be well paced
5. Conditions that promote openness should be created
6. Reliable communicative signals
7. Optimum tension in the situation