21725 Organisation Development

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

This subject develops an understanding of strategies, methodologies, and intervention techniques and skills in managing planned or adaptive organisational change. It consists of two components: a knowledge component and a skills component. The former is presented through normal lecture discussions. The skills component is covered through group involvement in an ongoing or potential organisational change problem, through which a group acts as a team of change agents. The results of their efforts are presented in a two-day non-residential workshop at the end of the semester.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to manage complex organisational change programs
2. understand specific strategies, methodologies and intervention techniques that have been developed to improve total organisation performance and to facilitate the progress of development and change
3. apply critical judgments to those who may have the responsibility of advising on, or committing organisations to change.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to gain relevant knowledge and skills to contribute to the design and implementation of purposive change programs for complex contemporary organisations.

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject consists of two components — a knowledge component and a skills component. The former will be presented over ten lectures for the sequential mode. These sessions will cover the topics listed below. The skill component involves an investigation of an ongoing or potential organisational change program by groups of students who act as teams of change agents.

Content

• Introduction to organisation change and development
• The organisation development practitioner
• Diagnosing organisations
• Collecting, analysing and using data
• Models and theories of planned change
• Managing the change process
• Organisation transformation
• Structural interventions
• Interpersonal and group process approaches
• Employee involvement approaches / work design.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Case study (Individual)

Assessment item 2: Cast study (Individual)

Assessment item 3: Project (Group)

Required text(s)

Dianne M Waddell, Thomas G Cummings and Christopher G Worley, 2007, Asia Pacific 3rd edn, Organization Development and Change, Nelson Thomson Learning

Organisation Development (21725) — book of readings (the book of readings provides the core reading for each topic. Please ensure that you read this prior to class. Supplementary material is also listed under each topic in this subject outline in order to help in writing essays and assignments. You may draw on other material which you come across which is relevant to the topics covered in this subject).

Indicative references

Bradford, David and Burke, W Warner (eds), 2005, Reinventing organization development: new approaches to change in organizations, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Brown, Donald R, 2006, An experiential approach to organization development, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall

Burnes, Bernard, 2004, Managing change: A strategic approach to organizational dynamics, 4th edition, Pitman Publishing

Carter, David and Goldsmith, Marshall (eds), 2001, Best practices in organization development and change: culture, leadership, retention, performance, coaching: case studies, tools, models, research, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer; Lexington, MA: Linkage, Inc.

Collins, David, 1998, Organizational change: sociological perspectives, London and New York: Routledge

Cummings, Thomas G and Worley, Christopher G, 2001, Organization development and change, 7th edn, South-Western College Publishing

Dawson, P, 2003, Reshaping change: A processual approach, London: Routledge

Galbraith, Jay R, 1995, Designing organizations: An executive briefing on strategy, structure and process, San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers

Garvin, David, 2000, Learning in action: a guide to putting the learning organization to work, Harvard Business School Press

Gallos, J. (ed) with a foreward by Edgar Schein, 2006, Organization development: A Jossey-Bass Reader, San Francisso, CA: Jossey-Bass

Genus, Audley, 1998, The management of change: perspectives and practice, International Thompson Publishing

Golembiewski, Robert, 2003, Ironies in organizational development, New York: Marcel Dekker, Hamel, Gary and Prahalad CK, 1996, Competing for the future, Harvard Business School Press

Kotter, John P, 1996, Leading change, Harvard Business School Press, Boston MA

Oswick, Cliff and Grand, David, 1996, Organisation development: metaphorical explorations, Trans-Atlantic Publications

Rothwell, William and Sullivan, Roland (eds), 2005, Practising organization development: a guide for consultants, San Francisco: Pfeiffer

Stace, Doug and Dunphy, Dexter, 2nd edition, 2004, Beyond the boundaries: leading and re-creating the successful enterprise, McGraw Hill

Wendell, G, 1999, Organization development: behavioral science interventions for organization improvement, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Websites

This is the Academy of Management website which contains information about list servers, other management websites and discussion groups www.aom.pace.edu

This contains a search engine for accessing a range of organisational topics, including new forms of organising etc. www.brint.com