6_Human process interventions

Semester 4Organization Development

Human Process InterventionsPresented by

Dr. Prabath Karunanayake MBBS, MBA in HRM, PGDipPsych, PGDipOHS

Director HR, China Harbour Engineering CompanyLead Consultant, Prabath Karunanayake Associates

[email protected]/prabath2014

Cummings & Worley, 9e (c) 2009 South-Western College Publishing

MASTERS INHUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.facebook.com/prabath2014

Lesson plan

• Group process• Process interventions• Teams and teambuilding• Conflict and inter-group interventions• Large group interventions• Activity – Conflict resolution



Group Processes

• How organization members interact with each other

• Directly and indirectly affect work

• Includes:– Communications among group members

– Functional roles of group members (task-related and group-maintenance)

– Problem solving and decision making (positive and negative outcomes)

– Group norms

– Leadership and authority


Process consultation

• Process consultation– Creation of a relationship that permits the client to

perceive, understand and act on the process events that occur in his/her internal and external environment in order to improve the situations as desired by the client

• Process consultant– Who helps managers, employees and groups assess

and improve human processes


Principles of process consultation

• Always try to be helpful• Always stay in touch

with the current reality• Access your ignorance• Everything you do is an

intervention• Client owns the problem

and the solution

• Go with the flow• Timing is crucial• Be constructively

opportunistic with confrontive interventions

• Everything in usable information

• When in doubt, share the problem


Process Interventions

• Individual interventions– To be more open with others– To disclose views, opinions, concerns, emotions– To give feedback to others

• Group interventions– Process interventions (internal processes)– Content interventions (what team works on)– Structural interventions (methods to accomplish

tasks)


Teams

• Two or more individuals with a high degree of interdependence geared toward the achievement of a goal or the completion of a task.

• Team success depends on:– Team norms – standards for conduct that help

individuals judge what is right/wrong or good/bad – Team roles – set of behaviors and tasks that a group

member is expected to perform – Team processes – how the group works, including

communication, decision making and problem solving


Types of Teams

• Groups reporting to the same manager• Groups involving people with common goals• Temporary groups formed to accomplish a

specific, one-time task• Groups consisting of people whose work roles

are interdependent• Groups with no formal links but whose

collective purpose requires coordination


Team development

FORMING

STORMING

NORMING

PERFORMING

ADJOURNING

Much uncertainty

Concerned with wrapping up and moving on

Good close relationships and cohesiveness

Inter-groupconflict

Fully functional


Team Building

• Improve the way a team accomplish tasks, help members enhance their interpersonal and problem-solving skills and increase team performance

• Can facilitate other OD interventions• Applicable in many situations:

– Starting a new team– Resolving conflict– Revitalizing a complacent team


• Outcome depends on:– Length of time the team has been working together– Stage of team development– Team’s performance– Type and duration of team building activity

• Team building will not work if problem is:– Structural or technical– Intergroup issues– Conflict between two individuals


Types of team-building activitiesLevel of activity Diagnostic Developmental

One or more individuals

Instruments, interviews, and feedback to understand style and motivations of group members

Coaching360-degree feedback

Group operations and behaviours

Surveys, interviews, and team meetings to understand the group’s processes and procedures

Role clarificationMission and goal developmentDecision-making processes

Relationship with the organization

Surveys and interviews to understand how the group relates to its organizational context

Strategic planningStakeholder analysis


Conflict

• Expression of disagreement over something important to both (or all) sides of a dispute.

• Can occur at various levels – intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, organizational, community, inter-state or international

• Some can be minimized and there are some that should not be suppressed or smoothed over.

• Resolution of conflict does not have to result in a win-lose situation.

Level of Conflict

Low

Hig

h

Per

form

ance

MaximumMinimum Average

Optimum level of conflictLeads to reflective decision

making and high performance

Too little conflictCauses performance

to suffer

Too much conflictCauses performance

to suffer

Conflict and performance



Causes of conflict

• Vertical conflict - Occurs between hierarchical levels.

• Horizontal conflict - Occurs between persons or groups at the same hierarchical level.

• Line-staff conflict - Involves disagreements over who has authority and control over specific matters.

• Role conflicts - Occur when the communication of task expectations proves inadequate or upsetting.

• Work-flow interdependencies - Occur when people or units are required to cooperate to meet challenging goals.


• Domain ambiguities - Occur when individuals or groups are placed in ambiguous situations where it is difficult to determine who is responsible for what.

• Resource scarcity - When resources are scarce, working relationships are likely to suffer.

• Power or value asymmetries - Occur when interdependent people or groups differ substantially from one another in status and influence or in values.


Strategies for Conflict Resolution

• Prevent the conflict through mandate or separation of the parties

• Set limits on the timing and extent of the conflict

• Help the parties to cope differently with the conflict

• Attempt to eliminate or resolve the basic issues in the conflict


Resolving Intergroup Conflict

• Groups and consultant convene to address issues• Groups are asked to address three questions

– What qualities/attributes best describe our group?– What qualities/attributes best describe their group?– How do we think the other group will describe us?

• Groups exchange and clarify answers • Groups analyze the discrepancies and work to

understand their contribution to the perceptions• Groups discuss discrepancies and contributions• Groups work to develop action plans on key areas


Large Group Interventions

• Future Search Conference (Weisbord)• Open-Space Meeting (Owen)• Open System Planning (Beckhard)• Real-Time Strategic Change (Jacobs)• The Conference Model (Axelrod)


Application Stages

• Preparing for the large-group meeting– Identify a compelling meeting theme– Select appropriate stakeholders to participate– Develop relevant tasks to address meeting theme

• Conducting the meeting– Open Systems Methods– Open Space Methods– Positive methods

• Following up on the meeting outcomes


Open System Methods

• Map the current environment facing the organization. • Assess the organization’s responses to the

environmental expectations. • Identify the core mission of the organization.• Create a realistic future scenario of environmental

expectations and organization responses. • Create an ideal future scenario of environmental

expectations and organization responses. • Compare the present with the ideal future and prepare

an action plan for reducing the discrepancy.


Open Space Methods

• Set the conditions for self-organizing– Announce the theme of the session– Establish norms for the meetings

• The ‘Law of Two Feet’• The ‘Four Principles’

• Volunteers create the agenda• Coordinate activity through information

postings


Positive methods

• Discover the organization’s positive core• Dream about and envision a more desired and

fulfilling future• Design the structure and systems arrangements

that will reflect and support the vision or dream

• Create the specific action plans that will fulfill the organization’s destiny

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Documents

6_Human process interventions