Organizational Development Intervention

Posted: August 25th, 2021

Organizational Development Intervention

Name of Student

Institutional Affiliation

Organizational Development Intervention

            Organizational culture plays a critical role in determining the success of any institution. It implies the behavior and the manner in which the employees conduct their business. The attitudes of different stakeholders also influence an organization’s ability to meet its core mandate. Therefore, a good organizational culture would be very beneficial to the management and the owners of the business. One important aspect of organizational culture is that it is dynamic. The management can manipulate it through organizational development interventions to suit the needs of the business (Awasthi, 2012). The institution that will form the basis of discussion in this paper is a school that has suffered dire consequences due to poor organizational culture. The school management has come up with a plan of involving trainers from a partner organization in an effort to change the culture amongst the teachers. The intervention will, therefore, entail behavioral modeling and leadership development. The partner organization will be a local university which will send representatives who are well trained in leadership and human resource development. The duration set for the intervention is one month from the start to finish. The participants will be the school teachers and the top-level management including the headteacher. It has been discovered that the most appropriate time will be during the school holidays to ensure that all the teachers are involved. In addition, this will not interfere with normal school learning activities.

Summary of Accomplishments

            The school’s board of directors had proposed that behavioral modification and leadership training to take place within a month. It was delighting to note that the partner organization managed to achieve the set objectives with the deadline set. There was a smooth flow of the training services partly because the venue was appropriate, and the trainers had mastered their content. In addition, the participants were willing to learn and improve on the areas in which they were deficient. The budget allocated for the entire exercise was also well planned. Therefore, there were no technical hitches in terms of the delivery of the services required by both the trainers and the trainees.

            The success of every intervention is measured on the basis of the output. In our case, the training exercise was carried out in several ways. The participants were required to attend some lectures in the first phase. In the second phase, they would do some fieldwork which would be supervised by the trainers provided by the partner organization. This was followed by feedback sessions in which they would provide feedback on the issues they had learned. Finally, there was a post-intervention assessment which would also serve as a guide on the effectiveness of the intervention. The trainers also conducted surveys on some of the issues that could be ailing the school and presented the results at the end of the training. Manuals on the proper conduct of business for the normal functioning of the organizations were developed and filed for reference. In addition to the guidelines, the chairman of the board also received an analysis of the post-intervention evaluation results which will be useful for decision-making. The timeliness of the provision of the outputs was well appreciated. It only took two weeks after the training or these results to reach the relevant stakeholders.

Effectiveness of Activity Implementation

            The workplace development objectives of the school provide a clear outline of the anticipated professional development of anyone working for the organization. The intervention targeted several areas of professional development including leadership and management, human resource management, knowledge management, performance improvement, and stakeholder relation. As a result of some of the competency areas in which the employees would receive a boost included but not limited to what is indicated above. In addition, the participants would receive training in administration and planning. The intervention was intended to introduce a paradigm shift in the organizational culture to promote a better level of awareness of an individual’s role in the organization.

            The school discussed in this essay has been performing dismally for the last three years. The poor performance cuts across the sphere of academic and co-curricular activities. It was decided that there was a need to take the employees through a training program to try and reverse this trend. In addition, the level of motivation of the students as depicted in a survey conducted before embarking on this program was very low. The theory was that the teachers are not doing enough to motivate the students. A holistic approach to most of these challenges would be to take the teachers through a well-planned intervention. The targeted post-intervention situation of the school would be characterized by all the features of a well-performing school. The first measure would be the school’s performance in national examinations and other activities such as games and sports. Moreover, surveys would be conducted in the school to gauge the morale of the students and the teachers. Other parameters would include the presence of a vibrant learning environment characterized by innovation. The intervention is expected to create a workforce of teachers who are committed to the achievement of the organization’s objectives. One of the biggest challenges that the school has been facing is absenteeism on the part of teachers. It was also discovered that most of the teachers were not teaching the full syllabus on time. Therefore, the intervention will go a long way in increasing competency in the cited areas and increase the school’s capacity to provide quality education to many students.

            In the past three years, the pass rate of students in the national exams has been 89%, 86%, and 80% respectively. This is an indication of a school that is not making progress. One of the school’s objectives has been to achieve a 100% pass rate. The best performance was a 97% pass rate five years ago. With the changes that the intervention is hoped to introduce, there is no impediment to the surpassing of this target. The participant’s view of the intervention is that it will go a long way in helping them achieve their set objectives. On the day of the post-evaluation assessment, one of the teachers had this to say. “We have had a very fruitful time with our trainers. We have been equipped with an important set of skills which if applied in our jobs will achieve significant results”. The board of directors was also convinced that the program had been conducted in a very effective manner. The decision to always get stakeholders’ views before embarking on any significant project received support from all the trainers and the participants.

            As it had been indicated previously, organizational culture is a dynamic concept (Iljins, Skvarciany, & Gaile-Sarkane, 2015). The period following the intervention has been characterized by a healthy corporate culture. One of the attributes of a healthy organizational culture in the school is the appreciation of diversity. The workers have embraced working with people of different cultures and races. The effect has trickled down to the students. Consequently, the school has experienced an increase in the number of enrollments from minority ethnic groups in the country. There have no complaints of unfair treatment of an employee by either their colleagues or the top-level management. That notwithstanding there has been an increase in the employee morale which is in keeping with the tenets of a healthy organizational culture. The level of absenteeism or late coming has significantly reduced. This is another indication of the increasing levels of motivation among the employees. They also appear to be taking pride in the work they do, which is a striking contrast from the trend prior to the intervention. Pride in the organization has also emerged as an important factor in increasing the productivity of each employee. The result has also been an increase in the level of satisfaction in so far as the students in the school are concerned.

             The post-intervention state of the school speaks volumes about the relevance of the above changes. Other interventions tried previously did not achieve this level of success. It would, therefore, be appropriate to conclude that these changes would not have been achieved without the intervention. The best evidence of the results of the intervention would be the report of the post-intervention evaluation. Each of the participants participated in the evaluation. The aim was to provide an overview of the participant’s competency in the areas indicated in the objectives. It was demonstrated that there was a remarkable improvement in the employees’ sense of leadership and management. They also showed great skills in administration. In the aftermath, most of the teachers have enrolled in further education, which is a clear indication that they took the training on professional development seriously. The students’ performance in tests and evaluations has also improved. Most students also cite a significant improvement in the quality of teaching provided in their classrooms.

            A successful organization carries out a benchmark of its performance based on other companies in the same industry (Castro & Frazzon, 2017). The partner organization is this case was a local university. It was a good choice since its mode of operation bears a close resemblance to our school. In addition, both organizations are in the same industry. Therefore, it would be easy to do a comparison of the two organizations in several parameters. The partner organization carried out a similar intervention to change the organizational culture of its staff. Although the intervention was not carried out at the same time, the results also indicate a remarkable improvement. The partner organization also introduced major changes to the intervention since their students were different from those in our school. In addition, the university relies on its own examination structures as opposed to our school which has to participate in national examinations.

            A risk management plan was put in place in the organization to mitigate the consequences of foreseeable events such as unrests and natural disasters (Aven, 2016). The plan outlined the specific actions that would be put in place to reduce the risks to individuals. It mentioned the people at the highest risks and outlined the measures to be put in place. It also set a contingency fund that would the organization to respond to unforeseen challenges. The recovery measures in the event of disasters were also described in detail. The school has set up a risk management committee headed by a manager. The team will meet monthly to discuss the state of the school affairs and suggest measures to reduce risks to individuals and to the school community in general. The risk management plan will be an evolving document that will constantly be updated to include new risks and ways of dealing with them. It is a process that will require organizational commitment and assigning of tasks to people with the ability to perform them. The mitigating measures put in place are effective since they are written by people who understand the organization and are constantly in touch with the affairs of the school. In addition, the school management made a considerable allocation to the risk management plan allowing the school to hire some of the best talents in risk management. The implementation mainly followed what was in the plan but some alterations were made due to the evolving nature of risk management. The plan had indicated that all the members of the committee should come from the school. However, the school board decided that it was prudent to include a professional in risk management.

            Challenges often hinder the implementation of plans such as the one planned for the school’s human resource. The first challenge was that some of the stakeholders viewed this as a publicity stunt. However, this was overcome after a proper explanation was provided in the stakeholders’ meeting. The program also faced some resistance from some of the workers and it some convincing for them to agree to take part in the exercise. Based on the post-intervention survey amongst the staff in our school, one can confidently say that the intervention was effective. It had been stated earlier that other metrics also speak volumes concerning the success of the intervention. The intervention has allowed a smooth transition from an era of chaos to one of calm and institutional commitment to the set organizational goals.

            Many lessons were learned from the implementation of organizational development intervention. The recommendation is that organizations should periodically engage in exercises that promote the professional development of their staff to ensure they keep up with the emerging trends in their field. Organizations should also have a plan in place to take care of unforeseen risks such as disasters. In addition, their way of doing business should be in line with benchmarks from key players in the industry. Some of the best features of this intervention were the facts that it was timely and conducted in an environment which the professionals understood. In addition, the learning service providers were people who understood the ways in which the industry works.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, organizational culture determines the way of doing business in an organization. Therefore, organizations should invest heavily in ensuring their employees have the right organizational culture for their line of business. It is this understanding that prompted the use of organizational development intervention in a school whose aim was to change the organizational culture. The intervention entailed behavioral modification and leadership development. As evidenced in this discussion, there were positive developments in the organizational culture of the organization involved.

References

Aven, T. (2016). Risk assessment and risk management: Review of recent advances on their foundation. European Journal of Operational Research, 253(1), 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2015.12.023

Awasthi, S. (2012). Impact of Organizational Culture on Employee Attitude. International Journal of Scientific Research, 2(3), 271-275. doi:10.15373/22778179/mar2013/83

Castro, V. F., & Frazzon, E. M. (2017). Benchmarking of best practices: an overview of the academic literature. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 24(3), 750-774. doi:10.1108/bij-03-2016-0031

Iljins, J., Skvarciany, V., & Gaile-Sarkane, E. (2015). Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational Climate During the Process of Change. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 213, 944-950. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.509