Organizational Development Course

Organizational Development
Organizational Development

The following course inIntroduction to Organizational Development is provided in its entirety by Atlantic International University's "Open Access Initiative " which strives to make knowledge and education readily available to those seeking advancement regardless of their socio-economic situation, location or other previously limiting factors. The University's Open Courses are free and do not require any purchase or registration, they are open to the public.

The course in Organizational Development contains the following:

  • Lessons in video format with explaination of theoratical content.
  • Complementary activities that will make research more about the topic , as well as put into practice what you studied in the lesson. These activities are not part of their final evaluation.
  • Texts supporting explained in the video.

The Administrative Staff may be part of a degree program paying up to three college credits. The lessons of the course can be taken on line Through distance learning. The content and access are open to the public according to the "Open Access" and " Open Access " Atlantic International University initiative. Participants who wish to receive credit and / or term certificate , must register as students.


Lesson 1: Introduction to organizational development

Organization development is an ongoing, systematic process of implementing effective organizational change. OD is known as both a field of science focused on understanding and managing organizational change and as a field of scientific study and inquiry. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on sociology, psychology, particularly industrial and organizational psychology, and theories of motivation, learning, and personality. Although behavioral science has provided the basic foundation for the study and practice of OD, new and emerging fields of study have made their presence felt. Experts in systems thinking and organizational learning, structure of intuition in decision making, and coaching (to name a few) whose perspective is not steeped in just the behavioral sciences, but a much more multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach, have emerged as OD catalysts or tools. Organizational Development is the act, process or result of furthering, advancing, or promoting the growth of an organization

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Lesson 2: Historical background of OD

Four major stems of organizational development

(1) T-group

(2) Survey Feedback Technology

(3) Action research

(4) Productivity & Quality of work life

1. T-Group (Laboratory Training) – participants learn from their own actions and the group‘s evolving dynamics 2. Developing reliable questionnaires, collecting data from personnel, analyzing it for trends, and feeding the results back to everyone for action planning 3. Diagnosing, taking action, re-diagnosing and taking new action 4. Integrate social requirements of employees with technical requirements needed to do work in provided environment.

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Lesson 3: Foundations of OD

Change is a three-stage process:
Stage 1- Unfreezing the old behavior/ situation
Stage 2- Moving to a new level of behaviors
Stage 3- Refreezing the behavior at the new level

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Lesson 4: Managing OD Process

Three basic components of OD programs:

 Diagnosis = continuous collection of data about total system, its subunits, its processes, and it culture

 Action = all activities and interventions designed to improve the organizations functioning

 Program management = all activities designed to ensure success of the program.

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Lesson 5: OD Interventions

KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS:
 Behavioral strategies - places emphasis on human resources.
 OD intervention - actions designed to improve the health of the client system.
 OD strategy - a plan for change using structural, technical, and behavioral methods.
 Parkinson’s Laws - summarizes the problems of inefficient practices in organizations.
 Second-order consequences - indirect consequences that result from change.
 Stream analysis - method useful in planning that plots interventions over period of time.
 Structural strategies - alters framework that relates parts of organization to one another.
 Technological strategies - changes in machinery, methods, and job design.
 Virtual meetings - meetings that occur electronically over telecommunications lines and Internet.

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Lesson 6: Training Experience


 It is a learning process that involves the acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts, rules, or changing of attitudes and behaviors to enhance the performance of employees.
 Training is activity leading to skilled behavior.
 Training is about knowing where you stand (no matter how good or bad the current situation looks) at present, and where you will be after some point of time.
 Training is about the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) through professional development.

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Lesson 7: Issues in Consultant-Client Relations

 Empirical-Rational: rational determination that change is in one’s own interest
 Normative-Reeducative: educating on values in order to change attitudes and establish new norms
 Power-Coercive: compliance to the desires of the powerful

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Lesson 8: Action Research & OD

 Action research is a process, an ongoing series of events and actions.
 Definition:


o Action research is the process of systematically collecting research data about an ongoing
system relative to some objective, goal, or need of that system;
o feeding these data back into the system;
o taking actions by altering selected variables within the system based both on the data and
on hypotheses; and
o evaluating the results of actions by collecting more data.
Wendell L French and Cecil Bell define organization development (OD) at one point as "organization
improvement through action research".

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Lesson 9: Power, Politics & OD

Power defined . . .  The intentional influence over beliefs, emotions and behaviors of people. o Potential power is the capacity to do so o Kinetic power is the at of doing so  One person exerts power over another to the degree that he is able to exact compliance as desired  “A” has power over “B” to the extent that “A” can get “B” to do something that “B” would otherwise not do.  The ability of those who possess power to bring about the outcomes they desire.  The capacity to effect (or affect) organizational outcomes  “Pouvoir” from the French stands for both the noun “power” and the verb “to be able”

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Lesson 10: Future of OD

• Traditional Trends – Wealth is becoming more concentrated – Economy is more globalized – Ideologies are shifting from consumption to coexistence and ecological sustainability

• Pragmatic Trends – Workforce is becoming older, more diverse, more educated – Shift toward contingent employment & change in psychological contract – No careers

• Scholarly Trends – Emphasis on values of understanding, prediction, and control – Search for variables that explain change and effectiveness

• Organization Development Will… – Have more conflict in the short term – Be more integrated in the long term

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