Md. Musharrof HossainHead- HRM, icddr,bPresident - BSHRM

CHAPTER: 18

Contextual trends and their effect on OD’s Future

ECONOMYMore concerned with cultural diversityMore concentrated wealthMore concerned ecologically

WORKFORCEIncreasing diverseIncreasingly educatedIncreasingly contingent 

Contextual trends and their effect on OD’s Future

TECHNOLOGYMore E-commerceFaster organizational processMore productivity

ORGANIZATIONSMore networkedMore Knowledge, learning, and innovation

based

Contextual trends and their effect on OD’s Future

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOMENT will be:

More embedded in the organization's operationsMore technologically enabledShorter OD cycle timesMore interdisciplinaryMore diverse in clientMore cross –culturalMore concerned with organization

Traditionalist argue that OD should be driven by long –established values of human potential, equality, trust, and collaboration. It is proposed that OD should do what is right by assuring that organizations promote positive social change and corporate citizenship.

Traditional

PragmaticRelated to increasing demands for  professionalization

of the field and an emphasis on relevance. Championed by change management practices at large consulting firms and some OD professional associations, pragmatists argue that OD practitioners should be certified like most other professionals. OD should require certification of members, create a common body of knowledge, define minimum levels o f competencies, and institute other regulatory infrastructure.

ScholarlyFocuses on understanding, predicting an

controlling change. Unlike traditionalist and pragmatist, scholars are concerned with creating valid knowledge, and with generalizing conclusions about how change occurs, how it is triggered, under what conditions it works well and so on

Scholars proposed a research agenda w/c includes

How multiple context and levels of analysis affect organizational change

The inclusion of time, history, process and action in theories of change

The link between change processes and organization performance

The comparative analysis of international and cross-cultural OD interventions

The study of receptivity, customization, sequencing, pace, and episodic versus continuous change processes

The partnership between scholars and practitioners is studying organizational change

OD will have more conflicts in the Short termTraditionalist fear that OD is becoming too

corporate and may unwittingly get together with powerful stakeholders to promote goals inconsistent with OD’s social responsibility and humanistic values

Pragmatist on the other hand worry that relying too heavily on traditional values will reinforce OD’s touchy feely orientation.

Implication of OD’s Future

Implication of OD’s FutureOD will have more conflicts in the Short term

The debate over values demonstrates how difficult it will be to gain agreement about standards, competencies, enforcement mechanisms, and oversight.

Implication of OD’s FutureOD will become more integrated in the long

term There is a considerable common ground

among the diverse trends within the OD, and the emergence f a more integrated view of the field seems likely in the long term

The EconomyIncreasing concern over social and ecological consequences

Cultural diversity – Governments face the difficult choice of  preserving their culture ant the risk of being left out of the global economy.

Income distribution – globalization of the economy is closely related to an increasing concentration of wealth in relatively few individuals, corporation and nations.

Ecological sustainability – there are increasingly clear warnings that the ecosystem no longer can be treated as a factor of  production and that success cannot be defined as the accumulation of wealth and material goods at the expense of the environment

The WorkforceThe workforce is becoming more:Diverse – organizations, whether they

operate primarily in their home country or abroad, will need to develop policies and operating styles that embrace the changing cultural, ethnic, gender and age diversity of the workforce.

Educated – the workforce is becoming more educated. A more educated workforce demands higher wages, more involvement in decision making and continued investment of knowledge and skills.

The Workforce--------The workforce is becoming more:Contingent – the continued high rate

of downsizings, re-engineering efforts, and mergers and acquisitions is forcing the workforce to become more contingent and less loyal.

TechnologyInternet – the backbone of global economy.E-commerce – an economy that knows

no boundaries. It involves buying and selling products and services over the internet. Two types of E-commerce relevant to OD’s FutureBusiness-to-consumer – garners much

attention and awareness because it is how the public participates in E-commerce.

Business-to-business – more complex

Organization Organization - involves increasingly networked and knowledge based nature of organizations. The interventions help organizations become more streamlined and flexible, more capable of improving themselves continuously in response to economic and other trends and more effective. Networks – are highly adaptable and can disband and reform along different task or market lines as the circumstances demand.

OD will be more embedded in the organization’s Operations

this suggest that OD practices will become more embedded in the organization’s normal operating routines. OD skills, knowledge, and competencies can and should become the daily work of managers and employees.

OD process will be more technologically Enabled

Information technology is pervasive and will have a significant affect on OD practice. First, it will enable OD to be synchronous and asynchronous (anytime, anywhere) as well as virtual and less face to face. Second, information technology will provide much more data about the organization to a greater number of  participants in a shorter period of time.

OD Cycle Times will be Shorternew information technologies will expedite

certain steps in the change process. Incoming years, new technologies such as groupware and video conferencing, will increasingly be used to bring more people together faster than ever before. There is areal potential to reduce dramatically the time required to perform many OD practices.

OD will be more InterdisciplinaryOD will continue to become more

interdisciplinary and rely on different perspectives and approaches to develop and change organizations. It will balance human fulfillment and economic performance, provide a fuller recognition of the systemic and dynamic nature of organizations and develop improved techniques for managing large scale, and change w/n and across natural cultures.

OD will be Applied to More Diverse Organizations

In the future planned change will be applied to amore diverse client base. Types of organizations that are target of planned change

Small entrepreneurial start-ups – important underserved market for OD.

Governments – increasingly applying OD interventions such as strategic planning, employee involvement, and performance management.

Global Social Change Organizations--------

the increasing concentration of wealth and globalization of the economy will create a plethora of opportunities for OD to assists developing countries, disadvantage citizens and ecology.

As organizations and the economy become more global, the recent growth of OD practice in international and cross-cultural situations will continue. The current trends of OD clearly point to the need for OD applications that work across cultures.

OD will become More Cross-Cultural

OD will Focus more on Ecological Sustainability

Limits to the world’s ecosystem, including its capacity to absorb population growth, function with a depleted ozone layer, and operate with polluted waters, provide serious challenges to the traditional business model.