Creating an Organizational
Development Proposal
Organizations hire organizational development (OD)
consultants when they need to make an organizational change. Each organization
has unique needs and consultants also have their own set of skills, background,
values, and knowledge, so it is crucial for the company to select a suitable
consultant for the project and for a consultant to know which projects are a
good fit. An OD consultant uses their skills to select an appropriate
intervention for the projects that facilitates acceptance and adoption of the
new changes. There are several factors that contribute to the success of an
intervention. First, an intervention requires organizational support to make it
a success. CEOs, stakeholders, department heads, employees, managers, and
supervisors are at the backbone of that support. Secondly, an OD consultant
should add substantial value to an organization (Middleton, 2008). The
consultant achieves this by thoroughly researching the organization’s current
position, gaining a comprehensive understanding of where the company wants to
go, and helping the company get there. The following OD intervention proposal
will make the requested improvements and changes within City Center Hospital by
strengthening the leadership skills of the management team.
Background
City Center
Hospital is an outpatient surgery center in Kansas. The company wants the
organization’s culture to be more profit-driven and patient-centered. The
company believes the poor relationships between the physicians, nurses, and
unit managers is hindering the organization’s mission. The organization is
concerned with the morale and stress levels of the nursing staff. The unit
managers blame the nurses’ stress on the doctors’ behavior, but the CEO is
concerned with potentially losing physicians.
Morale and
stress are issues that can affect job satisfaction. Turnover is a common
concern because companies invest time and money into hiring and training new
employees. A high turnover rate creates a low morale for other employees who
remain with the company due to lost relationships and increased workload (Staden,
2017). The organization may find meeting its patient-centered goals
unachievable with insufficient staffing. A low morale could create employees
who are not focused on delivering a high quality of care to the patients.
Workplace climate and engagement-levels are positively associated with work
environments that value, encourage, and reward their employees (Shuck &
Reio, 2014). To improve these issues leadership
needs to understand what makes the employees feel appreciated, engaged, and
accomplished.
The leadership within an organization is an influential
position. Managers and supervisors support and advance the organization’s
values and missions. Leaders build relationships and trust with their employees
through authentic, open communication and providing opportunities for employee
development. Effective leadership can increase employee engagement and reduce healthcare worker
burn-out (Rollins et al., 2021). Companies lacking strong leadership and
management will have issues meeting goals and tackling problems (Bierema,
2020). Sometimes an organization’s
issues are resolved by leadership development.
City Center Hospital’s planned changes are group changes
because they must be adopted by the nurses, doctors, and leadership team. Group
changes alter the employees’ perception of the company, create the culture
experienced by the employees, and bridge and define relationships within the
organization (Bierema, 2020). The company’s goals involve developmental change
because the leadership will learn problem-solving, communication, and
engagement skills to advance these changes in group dynamics and conflict
management. Leadership
development teaches people how to hire appropriately, communicate effectively,
and support the organization’s vision and mission. (Bierema, 2020). The
consultant will use the action research model for this project because it is an
effective method for developing, implementing, and monitoring developmental
group interventions.
Section
1: Action Research Model
The action
research model involves planning, doing, and analyzing. Problem identification
occurs during the planning stage, when an OD consultant diagnoses the
organization’s problem, collects and analyzes data pertinent to the issue,
provides the client with feedback, and creates a plan of action (Bierema,
2020). The doing phase is when the new interventions or changes are put into
action. Learning and changing takes place during the doing stage (Bierema,
2020). During the checking stage, the plan in action is evaluated. If the
intervention does not work as intended then the process is adjusted or ended
(Bierema, 2020). If an intervention is terminated, then the consultant and
organization may revisit the planning and action stages to find another solution.
Planning Phase
Problem identification and
information gathering occurs during the planning stage. During the planning
stage the consultant will focus on improving the organization and proving the
benefits of the intervention. The consultant will consider all necessary
perspectives like how many people are impacted by the proposed changes, how the
changes will effect the organization’s culture, what information does the
organization want evaluated, and who will the consultant report the results to (Cady
& Kim, 2017). The consultant can issue a questionnaire (Figure 1) to the
entire organization to obtain employee engagement information. The employees will
answer the questions according with a seven-point Likert scale (0 = Not at all
or 6 = absolutely yes) (Reissova & Papay, 2021). This collected data can be
statistically analyzed and compared to future collected questionnaire data.
Figure 1: Questionnaire
Question Example
Absorption
To understand the employees’
perception of their job and the organization, the consultant will distribute a
survey with open-ended questions to the nurses, surgeons, and unit managers.
The results will provide a quantitative measurement of employee satisfaction
(Cady & Kim, 2017). The consultant
can reissue the survey and questionnaire quarterly to determine if the
intervention is effective. The consultant will use observation to gather
information about how the employees, unit managers, and other departments
relate and communicate and notate when the desired or undesired action takes
place. The consultant can conduct interviews with previous employees to
determine the reasons they left the organization to help select the appropriate
intervention. The consultant can obtain employee turnover records to gauge the
severity of the problem and use to compare statistics after the intervention. As
stated in the background, the company wants the culture to be more patient and
profit driven. Collecting financial information and patient satisfaction
surveys can help the consultant establish a baseline for improvement that can
be assessed again.
Action Phase
The action phase is where the information in the planning
stage in put into action. City
Center Hospital’s CEO, DON, and HRM request an intervention that will develop
stronger leadership skills for the unit managers, with noticeable improvement
over the next year. The consultant will lead a one-day development workshop to improve
interdepartmental unity, problem-solving skills, and communication. Rather
than explicitly telling the unit managers how their job function as direct
orders from the organization heads, the workshop will be one of group
participation and collaboration. Together the group will discuss the issues
they face and find a solution together. The consultant will lead the workshop,
listen, and counsel where necessary. Encouraging the group to be involved in
the design of the intervention, the group will have less resistance to change
through ownership of the solution and engagement to the intervention. The group
will decide and discuss how to unify their teams and how to measure
improvement. The consultant can also provide training on the management issues
that are occurring. Once the group and consultant have created a plan, then the
consultant will deliver the feedback and workshop results back to the
organization’s leadership team for approval. This intervention will also
provide the unit managers with the tools to potentially address similar issues
going forward.
The Intervention
A group
leadership development intervention will strengthen the managers’ skills
through team bonding, problem-solving departmental division together, and
completing a physical obstacle course as a team. The consultant will introduce
different activities as the group goes through the four stages of team building: forming, storming,
norming, and performing. A team does not form until the group members
understand and agree on the team’s shared purpose (Sutherland, 2012). The
consultant will order a customizable snack package from Snack Nation with a
personalized item for each attendee which they will receive upon their arrival.
This will make the attendees feel appreciated, acknowledged, and encourage
engagement. During the forming stage, the consultant will have the group toss
around a Thumball, a ball from
Trainers Warehouse that has several question prompts for the catcher to answer,
to encourage ice-breaking and team bonding.
Storming is the stage
when the team has to solve or pinpoint a problem and reach a consensus
(Bierema, 2020). At this stage someone has to take the lead of creating a
dynamic team. . A worst-case scenario for this stage is that the team dissolves
to every man for himself (Sutherland, 2020). Therefore, the consultant may need
to help resolve conflict and keep the team focused since time is limited for
the workshop. To encourage teamwork and to move to the norming stage, the
consultant will take the team outside to participate in a Ropes Course. The
Ropes Course is an obstacle course that encourages “interpersonal communication,
creative problem solving, goal setting, risk taking, trust, self-esteem, and
group dynamics” (Daniels, 1994, p. 243). This activity will build trust and
group cohesion that will create the right dynamic to proceed into the next two
stages.
During the norming
stage the team must establish a clear objective (Sutherland, 2020).
After the Ropes activity, the team will reconvene inside to discuss the
concerns raised by the leadership team and define the ways that unit managers
can support and improve those issues. At this point the tea, will design a
blueprint for how to best reach these goals. The team may assign a lead manager
for the team, and establish accountability measures and create procedures
(Bierema, 2020). In the norming stage every team member should understand what
their role is and what is expected (Sutherland, 2020). After all the important
questions are asked, answered, and clarified, the team can move to the
performing stage where the necessary changes are made.
Checking Phase
The checking phase involves
assessing the design, theory, and need for the intervention (Bierema, 2020). The
leadership team wants provable results over the following twelve months and the
consultant will need to provide information to support the effectiveness of the
intervention. Prior to the scheduled
intervention the consultant will send the staff the questionnaire (Figure 1) and
survey and issue it every six months or more frequently post-workshop. One way to compare the
morale and engagement of the nurses a year later is to use the feedback from
the previous focus group with the nurses as a benchmark. A summative evaluation
is appropriate for this OD project. A smile sheet is an effective tool for the
consultant to measure engagement during the workshop. The consultant can
request feedback from the workshop attendees after its completion. The
consultant may also conduct a formative review to understand how the workshop
impacted the organization by looking for profit changes and improved patient
evaluations.
Section 2: Consultant Competencies
For organizational
development to be a success, organizations must choose the right consultant for
the job and consultants need to assure that they have the skills for the
project. Some of the necessary soft skills for a consultant to have include the
ability to engage, influence, and communicate with clients with awareness and
control of their own reactions (Bierema, 2020). Essential social skills for the
position are listening, demonstrating empathy, building a rapport, and asking
the correct questions to get insight into what the core issue is and what is
the driving force of resistance to change (Le Gendre, 2015). OD interventions
involve interpersonal skills like managing conflict and effective
communication. Enterprising skills are crucial to this position because the
consultant will often take ambiguity, create structure from that, and help
design processes that are missing (Le Gendre, 2015). Being authentic as a core competency for OD
consultants. Authenticity entails communicating the truth with respect and tact
(Bierema, 2020). Teamwork, the ability to train and teach, and problem-solving
are core competencies for consultants. Other helpful skills are a consultant’s
experience or education in other areas like banking, accounting, healthcare,
sales or the organization’s specific field.
Ethical
Behaviors
Consultants want to improve organizations and help them
achieve their goals, with the consideration of the employees. Humanism is at
the center of organizational development. Guided by humanitarian principles,
consultants act in fairness and choice. Consultants refrain from initiating
changes by themselves, but rather are receptive to feedback and collaboration
from employees to create inclusion and engagement (Bierema, 2020). Honesty,
transparency, and integrity are core ethical values.
Section 3: Outcome Hypothesis
A team involved in
decision-making that impacts them their commitment to the organizational and
strengthens its goals (Daniels, 1994). Leadership development programs create
trust between individuals and departments. Many attendees see the programs as a
safe space to discuss organizational issues (Leonard & Goff, 2003). The
intervention will improve the leadership skills of the unit managers, while
promoting teamwork and problem-solving skills to the current employee morale
and satisfaction issues as well as changing the unit managers’ dynamic.
Improving the communication and teamwork of the unit managers will improve the
current lack of interdepartmental teamwork and organizational cohesion. Leadership
development programs that encourage co-creation, engaging leadership, and
creating effective dialogue across leadership teams improves organizational
alignment (Tuin et al., 2020). Leadership contributes to the work atmosphere
which is positively associated with employees’ engagement levels (Shuck &
Reio, 2014).
Conclusion
Research has shown that engaging leadership interventions
can improve certain KPIs (key performance indicator) like employee absenteeism
(Tuin et al., 2020). Social support from leadership in the healthcare field
reduces turnover, increases employee satisfaction, improves patient care, and
boosts morale. Social support from an organization is necessary for positions
like nursing that demand a lot because, “When the team can stand together and
support each other after a difficult day, this can be like glue holding the
team together” (Staden, 2015, p. 55). The managers communicating effectively
and sharing a unified goal will create a culture of comradery and that is
conducive to more engaged and satisfied employees in all departments. This
will, in turn, improve patient satisfaction and advance the organization’s
goals.
A comparison of the future and past metrics
from the questionnaire, the employee engagement survey, and the patient
satisfaction surveys will reflect improvement over the next year.
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