What is Organizational Development? - Human Resources Career Series

Summary

In this informative video, the host dives into the realm of Organizational Development (OD), defining it as a systematic approach to enhance organizational effectiveness. They introduce the concept of action research, developed by Kurt Lewin, as a three-step process aligning with Lewin's change model of unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. The host also shares personal experiences, including moving into a senior OD role and engaging with global professionals. The video covers various OD interventions such as training courses, organizational assessments, and team building workshops, emphasizing their impact on both professional and personal growth.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video is part of a series on HR as a career, focusing on Organizational Development (OD).
• 🏥 The presenter recently moved into a role as a Senior Organizational Development Advisor.
• 🌐 The presenter has been connecting with people globally on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, emphasizing the importance of networking.
• 📚 The presenter recommends starting as a generalist in HR before specializing, to have a broad base of experience.
• 🔍 OD is defined as a systematic approach to improve organizations and people for competitive advantage.
• 🔧 OD activities are based on rigorous research and analysis to identify and solve issues within an organization.
• 🔄 Action research, developed by Kurt Lewin, is a fundamental concept in OD involving planning, action, and results, aligning with Lewin's change model of unfreezing, changing, and refreezing.
• 📈 OD interventions are designed to improve organizational or employee experiences and are evaluated for effectiveness.
• 👥 Training courses are a key part of OD, aiming to enhance employee skills and behaviors both professionally and personally.
• 📊 Organizational assessments or engagement surveys are used to gather employee feedback and inform action plans for improvement.
• 💬 Team building and workshops are common OD interventions to improve team dynamics and collaboration.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the fourth video in the series?

The main topic of the fourth video is Organizational Development (OD), including its definition, the concept of action research, and the various activities that fall under OD.

What is the speaker's new role in the field of HR?

The speaker has moved into a role as a Senior Organizational Development Advisor.

What does the speaker recommend for HR generalists before specializing?

The speaker recommends gaining a good grounding in generalist HR before specializing, as it provides a broad experience base to draw from.

What is the purpose of Organizational Development according to the common definition mentioned in the script?

The purpose of Organizational Development is to change organizations and people for the better, helping them contribute more effectively and leading to a competitive advantage.

What is the focus of OD activities in terms of organizational change?

OD activities focus on changing things from a systems perspective, looking at whole departments or structures of an organization and aiming for systemic change.

Who is Kurt Lewin and why is he significant in the field of OD?

Kurt Lewin is considered the founding father of OD. He developed the concept of action research and was instrumental in shaping OD into what it is today.

What are the three steps involved in action research as mentioned in the script?

The three steps involved in action research are planning, action, and results.

What does the acronym 'ITUPAR UCL PRELL DE GFI AF' represent in the context of the script?

The acronym represents a mnemonic device the speaker uses to remember how to draw the action research model.

What is the significance of the feedback loops in the action research model?

The feedback loops in the action research model are significant as they allow for continuous evaluation and adjustment of the process, ensuring the effectiveness of the interventions.

What are some of the interventions that the speaker has experience with in the field of OD?

The speaker has experience with interventions such as training courses, organizational assessments or engagement surveys, and team building and workshops.

How does the speaker describe the impact of training courses on employees?

The speaker describes the impact of training courses as satisfying, noting that they can make a difference not only in an employee's professional life but also in their personal life.

What is the role of OD in the engagement survey process?

In the engagement survey process, OD is generally responsible for analyzing the results, working closely with business leaders, and helping them come up with action plans to improve the results.

What is the purpose of team building workshops in OD?

The purpose of team building workshops in OD is to help team members understand how each other works and to improve teamwork by working on activities together.

What personality profiling tool is the speaker accredited in and what is their opinion about it?

The speaker is accredited in the Facet5 personality tool and considers it one of the best tools they have used as an HR practitioner, being both powerful and easy for employees to understand.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Organizational Development

The speaker begins by greeting the audience and sharing their recent career move to a senior organizational development advisor role. They express excitement about making global connections and encourage viewers to connect on LinkedIn and Twitter. The speaker then outlines the video's content, which includes defining organizational development (OD), discussing action research, and exploring OD interventions. They also share their personal career path, emphasizing the value of starting as a generalist in HR before specializing. The paragraph concludes with a brief mention of Kurt Lewin, considered the founding father of OD, and introduces the concept of action research.

05:00

🔍 Understanding Action Research and Lewin's Change Model

This paragraph delves into the concept of action research, developed by Kurt Lewin, and its significance in OD. The speaker explains the three-step process of action research: planning, action, and results, which aligns with Lewin's change model of unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. The speaker shares their personal learning technique of creating mnemonic devices and provides an example from their academic experience. They then introduce an acronym to remember the action research model and proceed to visually illustrate the model, explaining each stage and its relevance to the change process within an organization.

10:01

🛠 Practical Applications of Organizational Development

The final paragraph shifts focus to practical OD interventions. The speaker discusses the impact of training courses in HR and OD, emphasizing their value in both professional and personal growth. They mention having facilitated courses on unconscious bias, crucial conversations, and crucial accountability. The paragraph continues with a discussion on organizational assessments and engagement surveys, detailing the process and the OD professional's role in analyzing and improving outcomes. The speaker also covers team building and workshops, explaining their purpose and the benefits of understanding personality differences within a team. The paragraph concludes with a reference to a previous video on the FACET5 personality tool, highlighting its effectiveness in the HR field.

Keywords

💡Organizational Development (OD)

Organizational Development (OD) is a systematic approach to improving an organization's effectiveness and efficiency. It is a key theme of the video, focusing on how to change organizations and people for the better, leading to a competitive advantage. The script mentions OD activities that are based on a systems perspective, looking at the whole department or structure and aiming for systemic change. Examples from the script include the speaker's new role as a senior OD advisor and various interventions such as training courses and team building workshops.

💡Action Research

Action research is a method used in OD for diagnosing and solving problems within an organization. It was developed by Kurt Lewin and involves a cyclical process of planning, taking action, and reviewing results. The video script explains action research as having three steps that align with Lewin's change model: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. The script uses a mnemonic device to help remember the action research model, illustrating its importance in the OD process.

💡Kurt Lewin

Kurt Lewin is recognized as the founding father of OD. Born in 1898 and died in 1947, Lewin was instrumental in developing the field of OD through his research and experimentation with organizational improvement. The script pays homage to Lewin's contributions by discussing his development of the action research process and his change model, which are foundational concepts in the video.

💡Generalist HR

Generalist HR refers to a broad role within human resources that encompasses a wide range of HR functions and responsibilities. The speaker in the script recommends gaining a good grounding in generalist HR before specializing, as it provides a comprehensive understanding of HR functions. This approach is suggested to be beneficial for HR professionals, allowing them to draw from a broad experience base when specializing in areas like OD.

💡Intervention

In the context of OD, an intervention is a strategic action or set of actions designed to improve an organization or an employee's experience and ability to perform. The script describes interventions as being based on identified issues, rigorous analysis, and research, rather than on gut feelings. Examples given in the script include training courses, organizational assessments, and team building workshops.

💡Unfreezing, Changing, and Refreezing

These terms are part of Lewin's change model, which the script explains as stages in the action research process. Unfreezing involves exploring different ways of doing things, changing is about implementing new behaviors or processes, and refreezing is about embedding and reinforcing these new behaviors. The script uses this model to illustrate how OD professionals approach change within an organization.

💡Training Courses

Training courses are one of the interventions mentioned in the script that can be part of an OD strategy. They are designed to provide employees with new skills or knowledge that can improve their professional and sometimes personal life. The speaker shares personal satisfaction from facilitating training courses such as unconscious bias and crucial conversations, emphasizing their impact on employee development.

💡Organizational Assessments

Organizational assessments, often in the form of engagement surveys, are tools used to gather employee feedback on various aspects of the organization. The script describes how these surveys can help identify areas for improvement and are typically managed by OD professionals who analyze the results and work with business leaders to develop action plans.

💡Team Building

Team building is an OD intervention aimed at improving collaboration and understanding among team members. The script discusses various team building activities, from fun exercises to more structured workshops based on personality profiling. These activities are designed to help team members work better together by understanding each other's working styles and personalities.

💡Personality Profiling

Personality profiling is a method used in team building workshops to help individuals understand their own and their colleagues' personalities. The script mentions the use of personality assessments to facilitate discussions on how different personality traits can affect team dynamics and work processes. The speaker also refers to the FACET5 personality tool, which they have found effective in their HR practice.

Highlights

Introduction to the fourth video in a series about HR as a career, focusing on Organizational Development (OD).

Definition of Organizational Development as a systematic approach to improve organizations and people for competitive advantage.

Explanation of Action Research, a concept developed by Kurt Lewin, the founding father of OD.

Description of the speaker's new role as a Senior Organizational Development Advisor and networking experiences.

Recommendation for HR professionals to gain a broad generalist HR experience before specializing.

The importance of OD activities being based on research and analysis rather than gut feelings.

Discussion on OD's role in identifying issues, implementing interventions, and reviewing their effectiveness.

The circular nature of Action Research and its alignment with Lewin's Change Model of Unfreezing, Changing, and Refreezing.

Personal anecdote about using mnemonic devices for effective learning and memory retention.

Introduction of the speaker's mnemonic device 'Flintstone' for remembering the Action Research model.

Visual representation and explanation of the Action Research model using a diagram.

Highlighting the importance of feedback loops in the Action Research process for continuous improvement.

Examples of OD interventions such as training courses, emphasizing their impact on both professional and personal life.

Description of Organizational Assessments and Engagement Surveys as tools for understanding employee sentiment.

Insight into Team Building and Workshops, their purpose, and the logic behind their activities.

Personality Profiling as an OD intervention to understand and improve team dynamics.

Encouragement for HR professionals to consider specializing in OD and the opportunities it presents.

Conclusion and thanks to viewers for their engagement and interest in the topic of Organizational Development.

Transcripts

hi everyone welcome back to the channel

i hope that everyone has had a great

break and you're back at work and

getting ready for a big year if you're

still on break i hope that you're

enjoying

time with your family and friends and

staying safe this is the fourth video in

a series that i'm putting together

covering hr

as a career and in this video i'll be

talking to you about organizational

development so i'll talk to you

about a definition of organizational

development

i'll talk to you about a concept called

action research and then i'll also go

through some of the things that

organizational development does just a

quick bit of housekeeping before we get

into that you might notice a rather

unsightly scratch

on my head i went to brazilian jiu jitsu

last night and it seems that i zigged

when i should have zagged

and i ended up getting punched in the

head but it wasn't anything too serious

it was obviously accidental but i just

thought i'd give a quick explanation

regarding that but i'd like to make a

video every week so the show must go on

so i'm filming with that scratch there

but i'm hoping it's not

too distracting for anyone so back to

the content this has been a really

exciting video for me to put together

this week because i've actually just

moved into a role

as a senior organizational development

advisor as some of you

may have seen on linkedin if we haven't

yet connected on linkedin please do add

me and also on twitter as well it's been

really cool making connections and

forming new relationships across the

world

with people from russia and brazil and

new york and even egypt

and it's been really nice to have some

encouraging comments from people i've

only been making videos since

june 2020 and it's been a great

experience so far so i just wanted to

say a quick thank you to everyone who is

watching and commenting

so over the course of my career i have

done different elements of

organizational development i've done

different pieces of od work as part of

my role as a general as business partner

but i've never operated as a true

specialist

my career path coming out of university

has been solely as a generalist which is

something that i recommend for a lot of

hr journalists is to get

a good grounding in generalist hr before

you start to specialize

obviously that's up to you as an

individual but i think once you

specialise it's good to have a a broad

generalist hr

experience base to draw from so what i

wanted to do is just go back to basics

and just update my knowledge a little

bit so that's what this video will be

covering

there are many different definitions for

organizational development but one that

is

common and key that comes through in

terms of the research that i was doing

is that it's a way to change

organizations and people for the better

to help them contribute in a more

effective way and lead to

a competitive advantage to go into a

little bit more detail

organizational development activities

are really focused on changing things

from a systems perspective

so they look at a whole department or a

whole

structure of an organization and they

really want to change things

in a systemic in a in a systems-based

way so od

activities they're not just made up on

the fly based on what an od professional

thinks should happen or a gut feeling

it's often based on the identification

of an issue or a problem that needs to

be solved through research and rigorous

analysis and then once you've identified

that issue then

as an od professional you'll come up

with an intervention which is designed

to

improve the organization or to improve

the employees

experience or their ability to get

things done and then once you've

implemented that it's a case of

understanding whether the intervention

was effective

or whether you need to go back and

review what you did and maybe tweak

things a little bit so it's important to

note like a lot of things in

hr od doesn't actually own the problem

but they help organizations to

essentially help themselves

so you can't discuss od without

discussing action research which is a

concept that was developed by

kurt lewin who is widely thought of as

the

founding father of od so as a little bit

of a history lesson of kurt lewin he was

born in 1898

and he died in 1947. kurt lewin was

instrumental in developing od

to what it is today so back in the early

1940s he was conducting research

in organizations and trying to develop

ways

of doing things and ways of making

organizations better he was

experimenting using a process of

planning

taking action and then looking at

results and then reviewing it and that

process there

is what is now commonly referred to as

action research which has obviously been

built upon

since his research back in the early 40s

and it's something that is used by a lot

of od professionals today

so action research essentially involves

three steps so there's planning action

and

results so those three steps align to

lewin's change model which

is unfreezing changing and refreezing

it's probably best to explain this model

using a bit of a diagram so i'm going to

draw one for you shortly but before i

did that i thought i would explain

why i think drawing things and

recreating things is a great way to

learn

back when i was completing my master of

marketing at university

i used to use mnemonic devices to

remember things so i'd go through each

topic i'd make my notes and then i would

turn those notes into

abbreviations or mnemonic devices which

would summarize an

entire concept into a few words and by

the end of my exam revision i would have

a couple pages double-sided or sometimes

i'd be able to get the whole semester

onto two pages where i would have all

these different acronyms that wouldn't

make sense to anyone but made sense to

me and helped me to remember things so

i'll show you an example of one now so

you can get an idea

of what i'm talking about and that'll

make it easy to understand the

the model that i'm going to show you

shortly so as you can see on the screen

here this is an actual example of one of

my

marketing cheat sheets that i put

together at the end of one of my

subjects when i was preparing for an

exam so i'll just draw your attention to

the one on the top left the consumer

decision making process

so i distilled that down to an acronym

which is

as you can see there pris a p to p m

pale which obviously it doesn't make any

sense at all but i remember at the time

i was able to memorize just that acronym

by itself and then when i'd get into my

exam i'd write all these out

really quickly and furiously so i

wouldn't forget them and i'd write them

out on the

the note paper and then as i was writing

my exam i'd be able to refer to them

obviously everyone is different but i

found this to be a really effective

method to remember things and that's

what i'm going to show you now

when i'm going through the action

research model the acronym that i've put

together to remember the action research

model is

itupar ucr prel de gfiaf

liebus cherdipogem or for short the

flintstone

it does sound a little bit like i'm

having a stroke i am not

but that acronym there is something that

i've put together that will help me to

remember how to draw the action research

model which i'll show you now i am using

good notes now

uh which if you are thinking about

switching from a paper notebook to

an ipad app i highly recommend goodnotes

i have put together a video covering

some tips in terms of making the switch

so i'll include that in the description

as well so i'll just write down the

bottom here

isopar ucr it's probably a bit big so

i'm just going to make it a little bit

smaller

one of the the obvious examples of

writing on an ipad you can just change

things around so easily the next part is

prell der g v app

reapers okay

so i've got the mnemonic device written

out so what i'm going to do now is just

populate the model itself so

i know at the top it's going to be

across the top

input transformation and output

so then i might just change the color

here to red and i'll just zoom in a

little bit

and the first stage is planning next one

is action

and the next one is results the final

part i think i might make this one

a different color again and i'll go with

green is lewin's change model

which is down the bottom here you have

unfreezing

changing and refreezing so in terms of

the unfreezing the planning stage what

i'm going to do

is i might just get rid of this section

here so it's easier for me to see

i'm just going to bring that up here so

the first one is preliminary diagnosis

data gathering then you have feedback on

results

and action planning so those are the

types of activities that you would do

in that first stage that planning stage

where you're starting to

discuss with the organization what is

the issue that we have here and and what

could we

what do we think we could do about it

the next stage is action planning

where you look at learning processes and

then you

look at action planning

and then action steps the final one in

results

is change in behavior where you're

hoping that something has changed and

you're hoping to

re-freeze and reinforce and lock those

behaviors in

and then there is again data gathering

to make sure

that the change that you wanted to

implement was actually effective and

then the final one

is measurement the action research

model is circular innate in nature and

so there are various feedback loops

which i'll just add as well

where you're at each stage in the

process you're

trying to determine whether you're doing

the right thing and you're giving

feedback to the previous stage of the

process

to see whether you need to go back and

change the intervention or change what

you're doing

so now that we have a complete model i

just wanted to highlight the

aspects of lewin's change model in terms

of unfreezing

changing and re-freezing so in

the unfreezing stage here that is the

stage

in which the organization or the

individuals start to explore

a different way of doing things in the

changing stage here that is where

the action planning occurs and where

you're trying to find

a new way of doing something a new

behavior the final stage

refreezing that is where the

organization

embeds the behavior and they try to

reinforce it

so i'm not going to go through the whole

model in detail because i think that

would make

the video too long but i will include

some links in the description

if you'd like to learn more about it and

read some of the things that i was

reading as part of the research for this

video

so in terms of what od does it is going

to be different based on the

organization

that it is operating in but i wanted to

go through

a few interventions that i've had

experience in and ones that i think are

quite powerful as well so i think the

training courses are one of the most

satisfying parts of a career in hr

and od it's really nice to see employees

learn something new

and apply it and then come back to you

later and say oh you know that training

course

it really made a difference in terms of

what i was going through at work

but it also helped me in my personal

life because a lot of the training

courses

that i have facilitated so i facilitated

unconscious bias

i've also taught crucial conversations

and crucial accountability

and those courses they really make a

difference in not only an

employee's professional life but a

personal life as well so i'll include a

link in the description to

some of the books that the training

courses are built from

and if you get the opportunity to have a

read through them they are really quite

powerful and they can make a big

difference in your life the second

intervention that i wanted to talk to

you about is organizational assessments

or engagement surveys as they are most

commonly seen in organizations

so an engagement survey is where an

organization will send a survey to all

of their employees asking them various

questions about

how they feel about different processes

in the organization

is there too much structure are there

too many rules how is decision making

made

what do they think about leaders and

many other different topics

and once the results are finalized od

is generally the custodian of the

engagement

survey process and they're responsible

for analyzing the results

obviously working closely with the

business leaders and helping them to

work through the results and come up

with action plans and ways to improve

the results they've received so the

final intervention that i wanted to talk

about is

team building and workshops so this is

probably one of the most

commonly known interventions from an od

perspective i'm sure that many of you

have been to

a team building day or a team building

workshop where you and your team members

have gotten together and maybe

tried to build a tower out of straws and

sticks to hold a marshmallow i know i've

done a few of those in my time

and whilst they can be a bit of fun the

logic and the theory behind them is that

working on something together as a team

will help you to learn and understand

how each other works and how you can

work better together i've participated

and also facilitated other more

structured team building workshops

one that i've done quite a bit is where

employees complete

a personality profile assessment and

then as a group we come together and

look at how

different aspects of personality work so

during the personality workshop we will

often look at

how one person's personality might have

a different view on things to someone

else's personality

and how can we work together as a team

to work through those different aspects

and to get things done so if you are

interested in personality profiling i

have made another video where i go

through the facet 5

personality tool which is the tool that

i'm accredited in

it's one of the best tools that i've

used as an hr practitioner it's a

pleasure to

debrief as a practitioner but it's also

something that is really powerful

and easy for employees to understand so

i'll include a link in the description

if you'd like to watch that okay so

that's been a quick overview of

organizational development i really hope

that that has been useful for you and

you've learned something about od that

you maybe

weren't aware before if you are new to

hr as a career and you're thinking about

where you want to go in the future and

what you might want to specialize in

i'm hoping that this has given you an

idea of different things that you can do

thank you so much for taking the time to

watch the video

and i will see you in the next one