We hear it time and time again. Go to most any organization and ask the average person working there what their organization stands for. Ask them what their mission is. Ask them what their organization's values, vision, or beliefs are
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and you will generally get the same response. People will look at you with a blank stare. They might try to make up an answer or be able to even give you a partial answer.
However, generally speaking, they will have no idea what you are talking about. Sure, ask some of the upper
administration (those “in the know”) and they will probably be able to answer most of your questions. However, we would suggest that many of them either don’t understand it or have not bought into it yet.
Defining Organizational Development
It seems that the further from the top of the organization one gets, the less they now, understand, or believe. There is a tremendous disconnect within organizations today regarding what they stand for or where they
are going.
“In the late 1970's I started receiving a number of strange telephone calls. There was one telephone call from a person who introduced himself as being with a major U.S. corporation. He had just been hired as their O.D. consultant. He had no training in O.D. and no experience in O.D. His boss wanted him to do team building with the corporation's top team. And, the caller wanted information on a weekend workshop he could attend in order to learn how to do this. About the same time, I got another call from a professor at a major Midwest university. His dean wanted him to start an O.D. program at their university. He had no training in O.D. and no experience in O.D. and he wanted the name of a good book he could read. A local O.D. academic program had used their students to run a "touchy feelie" T-group in a local manufacturing division of a major U.S. corporation. A member of their personnel department reported to me that almost this entire group had returned from this program engaging in behaviors that company management felt were inappropriate for their company. And, most had been fired or transferred.” (The Organizational
Development Institute, Web Site – Historical Perspective)
Unfortunately, this is how many perceive the field of Organizational Development. An organization simply implements some team development sessions and this is how they define Organizational Development. At Rising Sun Consultants, we believe there is a lot more to Organizational Development. The field has clearly grown and expanded over the last 30 years and will continue to grow as more and more organizations understand the true meaning of Organizational Development. As such, we would define
Organizational Development as:
An organization’s intentional thoughts, actions, and efforts in supporting the growth and development of their organization through investing in their people. Organizational Development requires a holistic or systems approach to the organizations growth and development. It is more about how an organization does what it does than it is about what an organization does. An organization must align and develop its people, resources, systems, processes, policies, etc. in order to truly “develop.”
Rising Sun Consultants firmly believes that in order for any organization to prosper and succeed, they must be continuously changing and growing. This change and growth must be done holistically. Rising Sun Consultants has developed a model (Rising Sun Model) which is designed to support the entire organization.
What Leaders Assume
Dr. William Bridges, a well known authority on change and transition management, clearly articulates the concept that leaders at the top of an organization move through change quickly and easily. It is their responsibility to look at their whole organization and develop meaningful strategies to involve all members of the organization and allow them time to move through the phases of transition. This is where many organizations fail. The leaders move forward and assume because they announced to the organization where they want to take the organization, that everyone automatically jumps on board. We all know this is
simply not true. This is the purpose of Organizational Development. To help organizations move their entire staff closer to the vision and mission.
From our perspective, Organizational Development is more than team building. It involves areas such as:
- Recruitment of staff
- Interviewing and hiring of staff
- New employee orientation
- Pre-service training
- On-going professional development
- Organizational structure
- Policies
- Support Systems
- Communications
Research and Evaluation
Naturally, this is not an exhaustive list, but simply a partial look at the complexity of Organizational Development. All of these areas must be connected and aligned with the ultimate vision and mission of the organization. All employees need to have the opportunity to have input and involvement. An organization’s mission and vision needs to be a living, breathing function. It can not simply be some words placed on posters and displayed around the facilities. It can not simply be leaders announcing the direction and expecting that everyone will simply get on board. Employees need to have clear role definition. They
need to know what is expected of them, and much more (Gallup Organization).
Our Strategy of Purpose
Rising Sun Consultant’s Model is designed to help organizations work through the complexities of developing a healthy organization. It is our purpose to assist organizations in identifying their strengths, determining their weaknesses and developing strategies to enhance and improve them both.
As complex as Organizational Development is, we believe that with Rising Sun Consultant’s support and service we can make it an exciting, fun, and rewarding experience. The ultimate goal is, to see organizations succeed by achieving their individual missions and visions.
What Every Organization Needs
© Rising Sun Consultants 2005
