Evaluating and Institutionalizing OD Interventions

Chapter Eleven:
Evaluating and Institutionalizing OD Interventions
Learning Objectives for Chapter Eleven
1. To understand the issues associated with evaluating OD interventions
2. To understand the process of institutionalizing OD interventions and the factors that contribute to it

Evaluation and institutionalization  final stage of the organization development cycle

Issues in Evaluating OD Interventions

Evaluation: is concerned with providing feedback to practitioners and organization members about the Progress and impact of interventions. Such information may suggest the need for further diagnosis and modification of the change program,

Institutionalization: is a process for maintaining a particular change for an appropriate period of time.

EVALUATING ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS:-

Did Intervention have been implemented as intended?
Did we reach to the desired results?

There are two distinct types of OD evaluation: one intended to guide the implementation of interventions “implementation Feedback “

And another to assess their overall impact “evaluation feedback “

The key issues in evaluation are measurement and research design.

Measurement

Selecting Appropriate Variables

Designing Good Measures

Operational definition.

A good measure is operationally defined; that is, it specifies the experiential data needed, how they will be collected and, most important, how they will be converted from data to information

Reliability.

Reliability concerns the extent to which a measure represents the “true” value of a variable—that is, how accurately the operational definition translates data into information.

Validity.

Validity concerns the extent to which a measure actually reflects the variable it is intended to reflect.

For example, the number of cars leaving an assembly line might be a reliable measure of plant productivity, but it may not be a valid measure. The number of cars is only one aspect of productivity; they may have been produced at an unacceptably high cost.

Research Design

How to design the evaluation to achieve valid results

internal validity

To design the assessment to show whether the intervention did in fact produce the observed results

External validity

Whether the intervention would work similarly in other situations

Elements of Strong Research Designs in OD Evaluation

1. Longitudinal measurement

Change is measured over time  this involves measuring results repeatedly over relatively long time periods.

2. Comparison unit.

It is always desirable to compare results in the intervention situation with those in another situation where no such change has taken place.
Appropriate use of “control” groups

3. Statistical analysis.

Whenever possible, statistical methods should be used to rule out the possibility that the results are caused by random error or chance.

Alternative sources of variation have been controlled

INSTITUTIONALIZING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES

Once it is determined that changes have been implemented and are effective, attention is directed at institutionalizing the changes—maintaining them as a normal part of the organization’s functioning for an appropriate period of time

Institutionalizing an OD intervention concerns refreezing. It involves the long-term persistence of organizational changes

Organization Characteristics

1. Congruence.

This is the degree to which an intervention is perceived as being in harmony with the organization’s managerial philosophy, strategy, and structure;

2. Stability of environment and technology.

This involves the degree to which the organization’s environment and technology are changing
The persistence of change is favored when environments are stable. Under these conditions, it
Makes sense to embed the change in an organization’s culture and organization design processes.

3. Unionization.
Diffusion of interventions may be more difficult in unionized settings, especially if the changes affect union contract issues, such as salary and fringe benefits, job design, and employee flexibility.

Intervention Characteristics:-

1. Goal specificity.
This involves the extent to which intervention goals are specific rather than broad.

2. Programmability.

This involves the degree to which the changes can be programmed or the extent to which the different intervention characteristics can be specified clearly in advance to enable socialization, commitment, and reward allocation. For example, job enrichment specifies three targets of change: employee Discretion, task variety, and feedback. The change program can be planned and designed to promote those specific features.

3. Level of change target.

This concerns the extent to which the change target is the total organization, rather than a department or small work group

4. Internal support

This refers to the degree to which there is an internal support system to guide the change process. Internal support, typically provided by an internal consultant, can gain commitment for the changes and help organization members implement them. External consultants also can provide support, especially on a temporary basis during the early stages of implementation.

5. Sponsorship.

This concerns the presence of a powerful sponsor who can initiate, allocate, and legitimize resources for the intervention. Sponsors must come from levels in the organization high enough to control appropriate resources, and they must have the visibility and power to encourage the intervention and see that it remains viable.

Institutionalization Processes

1. Socialization.

This concerns the transmission of information about beliefs, preferences, norms, and values with respect to the intervention.
Organization members must focus attention on the evolving nature of the intervention and its ongoing meaning. They must communicate this information to other employees, especially new members of the organization. Transmission of information about the intervention helps bring new members onboard and allows participants to reaffirm the beliefs, norms, and values underlying the intervention.

2. Commitment.

This link people to behaviors associated with the intervention. It includes initial commitment to the program, as well as recommitment over time.
Commitment should derive from several organizational Levels, including the employees directly involved and the middle and upper Managers who can support or frustrate the intervention

3. Reward allocation

This involves linking rewards to the new behaviors required by an intervention.

4. Diffusion.

This refers to the process of transferring changes from one system to another. Diffusion facilitates institutionalization by providing a wider organizational base to support the new behaviors.

5. Sensing and calibration

This involves detecting deviations from desired intervention behaviors and taking corrective action.

Indicators of Institutionalization

1. Knowledge.
This involves the extent to which organization members have knowledge of the behaviors associated with an intervention

2. Performance.
This is concerned with the degree to which intervention behaviors are actually performed. It may be measured by counting the proportion of relevant people performing the behaviors.

3. Preferences.
This involves the degree to which organization members privately accept the organizational changes

4. Normative consensus.
This focuses on the extent to which people agree about the appropriateness of the organizational changes.

5. Value consensus.
This is concerned with social consensus on values relevant to the organizational changes. Values are beliefs about how people ought or ought not to behave. They are abstractions from more specific norms. Job enrichment, for example, is based on values promoting employee self-control and responsibility.