One of the valuable studies that shed light on the evolution of the concept of development organization was the project of Kurt Lewin and his team in 1964. Cummings and Worley (2015) describe this study and explain that, firstly, feedback was rated as a significant element in enhancing the effectiveness of learning in the process of work, and secondly, group activity was shown to have a positive effect on strengthening productivity. As a significant perspective related to the evolution of the concept of organization development, one can also pay attention to the cultural context of any teamwork. According to Cummings and Worley (2015), when identifying potential areas for intervention, the individual characteristics of a team are essential to take into account, for instance, employees’ ethnic or religious characteristics, to eliminate bias and address the interests of all participants in the work process. Finally, after reviewing research in organizational development, Cummings and Worley (2015) concluded that the emotional needs perspective was an important aspect to analyze for achieving high team performance. Problem-solving skills, rational thinking, and some other essential attainments were regarded as those associated with emotional intelligence.
The three models of planned change differ from each other in special nuances. For instance, as Cummings and Worley (2015) argue, Lewin’s model does not address specific organizational activities, unlike the other two, but focuses on overall transformation, which is its value. At the same time, the advantage of the action research model lies in the fact that this framework does not offer optimization solutions but rather addresses immediate organizational problems by setting the goal of correcting them (Cummings & Worley, 2015). The positive model, unlike the other two, allows for attracting a wide range of participants, which is a strength and is relevant to large teams (Cummings & Worley, 2015). The general model of planned change combines the elements of the aforementioned frameworks. Firstly, it involves phase interventions; secondly, it includes research activities as an integral element; and thirdly, it facilitates obtaining feedback from a wide range of participants involved. The strengths of this model are the phasing of all procedures and the evaluation of the results obtained, but the lack of an algorithm for the distribution of roles in the change process can be considered its weakness.
The considered situation differs from those addressed in formal systems by the lack of coherence among the participants and the inability to act in a coordinated direction. The case reported by Cummings and Worley (2015) underscores the importance of team participation to quickly and effectively address identified issues. In this situation, for the organization development practitioner, the difficulties lie in the rational planning of interventions and the lack of data from the audience involved to meet the set goals. A specialist of this type is required to rely solely on personal experience, which may not be sufficient in the face of members’ distinctive needs. However, in the case of continuous work to identify the overall potential of the team, positive results can be achieved. Such situations associated with poorly prepared changes increase the frequency of organization development consulting. Faced with the inability to complete tasks productively and timely, group leaders are forced to turn to third parties for help to avoid further difficulties caused by the incompetent distribution of roles and inadequate resource allocation.
Reference
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2015). Organization development & change (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.