Introduction
Organizational development is of value to any company that wants to achieve the best quality of service, customer satisfaction, and high competitiveness. One of the main aspects of this activity is the definition of a plan to be followed by the leaders and managers of the organization. The barriers to the implementation of such a plan can be the professional stress experienced by the employees, which means that every effort must be made to minimize such barriers in order to achieve commercial and organizational success. Thus, in selecting a particular strategy, the executive leadership team must evaluate the interventions. Moreover, learning from the organizational development process helps to create a continuous learning cycle.
The primary purpose of this report is to provide information and analysis of the organizational development project. The report will consider such essential points as the central issue in the chosen organization, what solution should be applied, providing a plan for evaluation, defining a continual learning approach, and justifying a change leadership plan and best practices. It will give a clearer idea of where the organization needs to go and what measures are most effective.
Overview
The case study center for this report is Global View, located in Arizona in the United States. It operates in the production industry and has yet to become the market leader. The organization faces many problems, such as low productivity, turnover, disconnection between workers, cultural diversity, and environmental pollution. These appear to be significant issues, as they require a comprehensive approach that will help to limit these negative aspects quickly and productively. The main reason for so many problems is the fact that the company has not paid enough attention to the study of its employees. Aiming to fulfill their mission to improve the quality of services, managers of the company should have addressed human resources, which directly affects the quality.
Based on the analysis of existing problems in Global View, I proposed a solution that can help effectively manage them and reduce their impact to a minimum. First of all, it is necessary to apply the problem-oriented approach, which will allow studying the essence of the problems in detail, organizing them, and finding the most effective solutions. Analysis of the causes and possible solutions, along with the implementation of a plan for practical problem-solving, is the cornerstone of this approach. Second, to monitor the adequacy of the implemented changes and the degree of agreement with them by employees, it is necessary to conduct a survey of employees’ opinions, which allows for assessing the level of approval of the plan in Global View (Ribeiro-Navarrete et al., 2021). Third, for process literacy and effective delegation of responsibilities, it is necessary to address contracting, which will relieve internal operational processes in the short term.
Evaluation Plan
The implementation of any change in the company should be based on a specific mechanism for evaluating its impact. Before Global View goes into a changed organizational mode, such impacts and effects can only be predicted, which is a necessary step in change planning. Forecasting can be based on statistical methods in order to have an idea of the quantitative impact of change on metrics in the company (Singh, 2020). Simultaneously, forecasting can be based on consensus assumptions about how employees at different levels of authority might encounter change. Tools for performing such evaluative forecasting include checklists that would identify the primary barriers a company may face in implementing change. This information is critical even in the planning stages, as it allows us to effectively identify the main barriers Global View may encounter during OD and proactively address them before they demonstrate their disruptive effects on the company.
The target audience for opinion and attitude surveys are employees of different authority levels. This includes both line employees performing individual tasks and managers responsible for them. In general, it is worth understanding that a sy andstematic approach to OD should be based on the desire to maximize the data on which the decision is ultimately based (Singh, 2020; Anderson, 2019). The actual mechanics of such surveys and consensual discussions should include not only determining their levels of approval for the proposed changes but also identifying the project’s strengths and limitations, sustainability, and scalability. Once all the necessary information is collected, it is subjected to a thorough analysis. This analysis is done by summarizing all qualitative data, including using thematic analysis tools, as well as using statistical analysis to identify patterns in the quantitative data.
Learning
When introducing OD practices into a company, it is necessary to build a cyclical philosophy that recognizes the importance of continual change, safely impacting the corporate culture and organizational metrics. Hence, the specific effects of implementing the first intervention become the foundation for the formation and implementation of the second, which creates a cycle of change in the company. It is this philosophy that should be part of the continuous training of employees for continued long-term success. It is necessary to ensure that all parties involved recognize and endorse the importance of change in the company (Niati et al., 2021). Situations in which some employees resist restructuring and are disruptive to the implementation of such changes should be eliminated.
Employee training is an integral part of the process of endorsing the OD philosophy, and the procedures for such training should be workshops, coaching sessions, and diagnostic sessions. This approach seeks to develop the ability of individuals and teams to learn and adapt to change, and it emphasizes the importance of involving stakeholders in the learning and improvement process. It is essential that training is not a one-time event but has a regular basis: this will not only teach but also reinforce the necessary results for employees. The benefits of this approach are increased adaptability in Global View, improved real-world problem-solving skills, better communication between employees and increased involvement in operational processes, and an overall increased level of innovativeness in the company by adopting a philosophy of regular change (Anderson, 2019). Nevertheless, a company can face significant disadvantages while attempting to implement continuous learning. These should include a significant investment of time and resources in the learning processes, the possibility of resistance from individual employees or limited support for the proposed changes, followed by the need for HR restructuring and the possibility of low effectiveness if the initial goals of the entire project have not been clearly defined.
Leadership Plan
For the most productive and practical problem-solving, Total Quality Management needs to be applied. It is of value because it targets companies that want to achieve the best quality of service and customer satisfaction. At the same time, an essential part of this intervention becomes the focus on the employees of the organization and their training as the most important resource. Another positive characteristic of this approach is that it focuses on initiating change in the upper layers of the company. This will provide the opportunity for reasonably rapid but non-traumatic changes for employees. Moreover, it promotes communication between employees and managers, which is necessary for the company under study. To deal effectively with encountering resistance, a leader must adhere to several rules. These include the importance of open and transparent communication, preventive removal of any obstacles, importance of accountability, and stakeholder involvement in decision-making processes (Errida & Lotfi, 2021; Gul Abbasi, 2018). Continuous employee training technology is part of this work with resistance because it creates a foundation for providing resource support.
Best Practices
For a successful OD at Global View, it is necessary to implement changes that will find support among employees and can be unmistakably implemented by elements of the corporate culture. To do this, the company needs to employ business practices aimed at maximizing results. First, careful planning for change and predicting the effects of implementing such changes. Organizational transformation can lead to favorable results in conditions of adequate management, but it can cause more serious problems in the company. It is precisely preventive planning that provides the foundation to carefully assess all the risks and identify in advance the barriers that employees and managers will face during OD. In order to deal more effectively with such barriers and generally increase the leel of support for change in the company, a second business practice must be implemented, namely continuous learning. Training based on a systematic approach and recognition of employee opinions will significantly smooth out potential OD corners and, in addition, increase the level of innovation in the company by providing a more competent, trained workforce (Bozer & Jones, 2020). More broadly, competent training will also increase the company’s competitiveness in the industry market, as it will create a stronger foundation for regular changes supported by employees.
Finally, a third practice should be contracting, which implements mechanisms for delegating responsibility. In companies faced with the need for operational transformation, it is critical to clearly lay out responsibilities and authorities in case the plan encounters resistance. Any deviations and discrepancies from the initial planning schedule should have responsible individuals who, under ideal conditions, proactively detect errors and take action to eliminate them. Vendor contracting also has the advantage of offloading internal company personnel, some of whose tasks are shifted to other departments (Ahuja et al., 2020). Moreover, a formal contract clearly delineates the rights and responsibilities of the contracting parties, which improves the ability to understand intra-organizational roles and functions clearly.
Conclusion
This project sought to explore the Global View in the context of the organizational challenges facing the firm. The five-week project differentially examined different facets of these barriers and proposed appropriate solutions to maximize resource support for change ultimately. During this project, I learned about the many facets associated with OD in firms, including a closer look at potential barriers and errors that lead to undesirable outcomes. At the same time, I was able to formalize thoughts that I had had before regarding OD, but for which there was no way to articulate them. By now, I feel that I have significantly developed my ideas about organizational development through the execution of this project. However, I am not ready to limit myself to this, so I clearly understand for myself in which areas I need further development. These include the study of specific tools that companies can use to process data, as well as the importance of time-management mechanisms in the context of organizational transformation.
References
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