Objective | Operationalization approach: OD activities | Client-system assumption | Role of the researcher-intervenor-consultant |
Action Research ( | |||
OD aims to change the organization’s culture by constantly questioning its structure and functioning. | 1) diagnosis of the situation; 2) development and implementation of corrective actions; 3) providing feedback. | The intervention base unit is the “work team”, comprising a line manager and his or her staff. | He or she must participate in the evolution of the phenomenon under study and step back to better grasp its nature and direction (see |
Process-Consultation ( | |||
Help the client-system to better understand and solve its operating problems, by enabling individuals and groups to carry out a lucid diagnosis of their strengths and weaknesses, and to make the appropriate changes.
| A seven-step process: · Initial contact between consultant and customer system; · Definition of the relationship, the formal contract and the psychological contract; · Choice of working environment and method · Diagnosis: data collection and interpretation; · Intervention; · Decreased commitment on the part of the advisor; · End of relationship | The customer needs to perceive the problems for himself, to take on the diagnosis and to be involved in developing the solutions (cf. the assumptions of the helping relationship).
| The Consultant must make an exhaustive study of the organization, and work together with the members of the organization to suggest new actions in a meaningful way. Drawing on the sciences of organizational behavior, the Consultant’s help can focus on human processes where interpersonal relationships play a key role, such as: decision-making; communications; leadership; conflict management; inter-group relations. |
Socio-Technical Systems ( | |||
Aims for better harmonization of the major variables that influence individual and group behavior, so as to create a work environment that enables individual growth and the achievement of organizational performance objectives.
| · Global diagnosis of the organization, taking into account its socio-cultural and technological context. · The diagnosis must take into account the transactions taking place between the organization and its external environment, in line with the notion of an open system in a systemic perspective. · Designing a change strategy · Such an approach will necessarily combine different models of organizational change, such as those in Appendix A. | The entire organization is involved (line managers and staff), with the overall diagnosis focusing on variables such as: organizational culture; organizational structure; workgroup functioning; and the introduction of new technology. | Examine the impact of the social system, technology and the external environment on the behavior of individuals and groups within the organization, using for example a model based on Kurt Lewin’s principle that all behavior of individuals and groups within an organization is a function of the individual’s personality and the characteristics of the organization’s internal environment. |
Relational or transactional approach ( | |||
Following a logic that borrows from the metaphor of | - Diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses and development of corrective measures based on an | By responding to and balancing basic human needs, according to the | Reflect on four areas: a) the overall organization and its interaction with the environment; |