CLASSIFICATION OF OD INTERVENTIONS

Some OD interventions include Sensitivity Training, Survey Feedback, ProcessConsultation, Team Interventions and Intergroup Interventions, Third Party PeaceMaking Interventions, and Structural Interventions. The most widely used structuralinterventions are parallel learning structures, self-managed teams, Management byObjectives (MBO), Quality Circles, Total Quality Management (TQM), Quality of worklife (QWL) projects, large-scale systems change, organizational transformation, andprocess reengineering.There are many, many different types of OD interventions. These are classified, orgrouped according to:i) The objectives of the interventionsii) The targets of the interventionsSome of the major “families” of OD interventions are as described below:1. Diagnostic Activities: it is a fact-finding activities designed to ascertain the stateof the system or the status of a problem.2. Team Building Activities: Such activities are designed to enhance the effectiveoperation of system teams. These can focus on task-related issues such as the waythings are done, necessary skills and resources, relationship quality between teammembers and between team and leader, and effectiveness. In addition, structuralissues must be addressed (the nature of the team). “Outdoor Adventure” teambuildingprogrammes are currently very popular.3. Intergroup Activities: Such activities are designed to improve the effectiveness ofinterdependent groups, ie those that must cooperate to produce a common output.These focus on joint activities and the output of the groups as a single system ratherthan 2 subsystems.4. Survey Feedback Activities: These are the activities that focus on the use ofquestionnaires to generate information which is then used to identify problems andopportunities.5. Education and Training Activities: These activities are designed to improve skills,abilities and knowledge. Several activities and approaches are possible, dependingon the nature of the need.6. Techno structural or Structural Activities are designed to improve organizationalstructures and job designs. Activities could include either:a) Experimenting with new organizational structures and evaluating theireffectivenessb) Devising new ways to bring technical resources to bear on problems7. Process Consultation Activities are activities that help the client “Perceive,Understand and act upon process events which occur in the client’s environment”.The client gained insight into the human processes in organizations and learns skillsin diagnosing and managing them. Emphasis on communication, leader and memberroles in groups, problem solving and decision making, group norms, leadership andauthority and intergroup cooperation and competition.8. Third -Party Peacemaking Activities: These are the intervention by a skilled thirdparty aimed at helping 2 organizational members manage their interpersonal conflict.Based on confrontation and an understanding of conflict and conflict resolution

processes.9. Strategic Management Activities: It helps key policy-makers reflect on theorganization’s basic mission and goals, environmental demands, threats andopportunities, engaging in long-range planning of both a reactive and a proactivenature. Attention is focused outside of the org. and to the future.10. Sensitivity Training: Sensitivity Training is a form of training that claims to makepeople more aware of their own prejudices, and more sensitive to others. According toits critics, it involves the use of psychological techniques with groups that its critic claimare often identical to brainwashing tactics. Critics believe these techniques areunethical.11. Organisational Transformation Activities: Thses activities focus on largescalesystem changes that will fundamentally transform the nature of theorganization. Virtually every aspect of the org. is changed: structure, managementphilosophy, reward systems, work design, mission, values and culture.12.Force-field Analysis: Force field analysis is an influential development in thefield of social science. It provides a framework for looking at the factors (forces)that influence a situation, originally social situations. It looks at forces that areeither driving movement toward a goal (helping forces) or blocking movementtoward a goal (hindering forces). The principle, developed by Kurt Lewin, is asignificant contribution to the fields of social science, psychology, socialpsychology, organizational development, process management, and changemanagement.