This week I think I have finally realized that I am ready to start living
my life, not just merely surviving. It’s too short and I overcomplicate too
much, but that is typical due to the frame in which I see others in juxtaposition
to where I see myself.
This week we reviewed various ways in which OD is often scrutinized; some
see it as an effective way to managing change, while others deem it as an irrelevant
group of impractical ideas supported by a mere fad. The future of OD lies in our ability to
successfully send the consistent message that change is going to happen
regardless of what we do, or do not do; those whom are armed with a variety of
tools and processes stand a greater chance in success of becoming a reconfigurable
organization that takes change in stride and provides the tools, guidance,
leadership and resources our organizations need to remain relevant in the future
(Brown, 2011, p. 420) . Those who deem it
just mushy psychobabble most likely will attempt to remain authoritarian, bureaucratic,
and rigid reactive organizations that ignore the stability that OD has to offer
our leaders and our teams, subsequently leading them to miss out on the ability
to retain a workforce of innovative thinkers and an empowered stabilized teams
working in unison and harmony.
As with any field, there is going to be varied opinions. I can see how people
tend to gravitate towards sciences that are provable and concrete; whereas OD
tends to constantly be an emerging science, where developments and new
approaches are constantly being added and subtracted as new information becomes
available, and therefore is in constant renewal and evolution (Brown, 2011, p. 425) . OD is subject to
the change in organizational climates, and therefore requires more latitude
than say a clinical trial of a cancer drug. With the drug, it either stops the
cancer from spreading, or it doesn’t; with OD we are constantly being thrust
towards a “…world that is rapidly changing and that our…” organizations “…must
follow suit” (Brown, 2011, p. 425) . It is the equivalent
of thinking one type of cancer drug can cure all types of cancer…it is just not
realistic.
Where I see the largest challenge for the future of OD is embedded in our
westernized ways; our culture values speed. Mostly, OD, in order for it to be
effective, takes place over a period of time using multiple phases, integrations,
and interventions. Today’s leaders don’t tend to have a great deal of spare
time to react, implement, and reflect. We lack the ability and the luxury of
having a balanced vision, leading to myopia and thinking on the fly. We tend to
forget that leaders do make mistakes, and often times unknowingly make
decisions that do in fact get the job done, but ultimately conditions us to do
so in waves of adrenaline, emotions, and fear of missed opportunities (Hoch, Kunreuther, & Gunther, 2001, p. 93) .
I see the future of OD in people like myself; it is not so much about the
future of the discipline, but in more so in the ways like people who study it
will keep the fire alive by applying the practical applications in everyday
life situations. What students of OD have the joy in knowing is that we remember
we don’t know everything! Therefore, over the past two semesters, I have been
building a lifelong toolkit to pull from that can be applied not only in my
professional life, but my personal one as well. The fact that there is a formal
education accessible in OD tells me this isn’t something that is a fly-by-night
science. Just because our objectives may seem like “moving targets” doesn’t make
that a reality to those embedded in the foundation of our work (Brown, 2011, p. 426) . I would bet money
that most leaders use some form of OD application in everyday life and never
would realize it; I can’t prove that I love my husband, or my dogs, or even my
job. Love isn’t seen as a tangible item to some people. That doesn’t mean we
cannot find pragmatic ways in which to prove that OD works; when is the last
time being innovative like Steve Jobs didn’t work? How many companies have you
known that said areas such as employee empowerment, trust, reengineering what doesn’t
work, and understanding what change and conflict can do to the morale of the organization,
your employees, and your future was for the birds and lead to catastrophic consequences?
Although we never know what the future holds for any of us, “Organization
development has been…a process…to increase organization effectiveness by
integrating the needs of the individual members for growth and development with
the organization’s goals” (Brown, 2011, p. 429) ; if you ask me, OD
is something that we simply don’t have enough visibility in, and programs such
as this will likely gain it momentum in the future.
Until we blog again!
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An Experiential Approach to
Organizational Development, Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice
Hall.
Hoch, S. J., Kunreuther, H. C., & Gunther, R. E.
(2001). Wharton on Making Decisions. Danvers: John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.
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