Business leaders apply evidence-based strategies to identify effective processes and initiatives that can transform less profitable operations. The concept of organizational development (OD) guides managers to improve business practices and eventually maximize overall performance. This discussion defines and describes OD as a critical concept for strengthening a company’s culture, processes, and structure. The concepts of action planning and problem solving are presented as powerful strategies that have the potential to make the work environment more admirable.
Organizational Development ad Action Research
Competent entrepreneurs identify and implement superior practices that can influence performance in a positive manner. Asumeng and Osae-Larbi (2015) define OD as a scientific process that allows organizations to strengthen their capacities, implement desirable changes, and eventually deliver the intended effectiveness by reinforcing, improving, upgrading, or developing the existing processes and structures. As a business entity grows, leaders can rely on this model to make appropriate adjustments and managerial improvements and introduce superior procedures that resonate with the demands of all key stakeholders. Most of the workers will acquire new ideas and resources that can make it easier for them to achieve the intended organizational goals.
Leaders in a company following the OD path should apply the best theoretical concepts, promote desirable beliefs, and engage in actions that can promote a collective behavior or culture. New norms, ideologies, and actions plans will emerge to influence business operations positively (Singh, Darwish, & Potocnik, 2016). Managers will enhance the level of cohesion, solve existing changes, and rely on the OD concept to implement meaningful change. The end result is that the targeted organization will achieve its goals much faster.
Action research has emerged as an effective strategy for strengthening a company’s culture, process, and structure. According to Mkheimer and Mjlae (2020), this initiative revolves around the adoption of an interactive inquiry whereby organizational leaders balance the needs of all partners. They also rely on data-driven models and research analyses to monitor some of the underlying problems. The acquired insights guide them to make accurate predictions about the future and consider the best approaches to identify and implement change successfully. This transformation is applicable at the organizational and personal level depending on the existing challenges and the targeted outcomes.
Within the business context, the involved professionals will identify the major weaknesses and challenges that could be affecting the recorded performance. This knowledge will guide every stakeholder to propose and implement the best action to improve the recorded culture. New processes for completing tasks and meeting the demands of the identified clients will emerge. The leaders will monitor the effectiveness of the existing organizational structure and make the relevant deliberations to change it when necessary (Cheung-Judge, 2017). The primary objective of action research is, therefore, to gather adequate statistical evidence and apply it to transform the processes, structures, and cultural attributes of the identified organization.
Applicable Illustration
One of the identifiable illustrations capable of supporting the wider concept of OD is that of action planning and problem solving. Azhimuratova, Tulekbayeva, Sabyrhanov, Shakkaliev and Meshcheryakova (2016) identify action planning as a powerful strategy whereby leaders translate the outlined approaches and objectives into powerful actions. The involved individuals will permit new ideas, resources, and concepts that can support the realization of a given goal. The professionals can consider the power of budgets and timelines to ensure that all intended actions resonate with the wider goals.
Professionals relying on this strategy will come up with desirable actions that can deliver the targeted aims. They will identify specific steps that all participants should take into considerations. The key stakeholders will outline various actions and initiatives to support the delivery of positive results. In most of the cases, a detailed plan characterized by specific steps is necessary. Such actions will be in accordance with the OD model or theory (Asumeng & Osae-Larbi, 2015). The problem identified at the very beginning will become the guiding principle for ensuring that a befitting action plan is put in place that can deliver the targeted objectives.
The groups involved in the action plan will use feedback and data to create the most appropriate model. The leaders will use the recorded statistical evidence to identify the major barriers to effective performance. The beneficiaries will find a reason to establish a positive culture that is capable of transforming the work environment. Data analytics and models are also effective in identifying the challenges affecting organizational processes and propose appropriate actions to improve performance (Singh et al., 2016). The combination of these elements will amount to OD and eventually improve the levels of profitability and productivity.
Conclusion
The above discussion has revealed that OD is an effective strategy that relies on the power of action research to identify areas that require continuous improvement. Some of them could include existing culture, processes, and structure. The combination of effective problem solving and action planning will support the use of feedback and data to implement the best action plan that will eventually make the organization more profitable.
References
Asumeng, M. A., & Osae-Larbi, J. A. (2015). Organization development models: A critical review and implications for creating learning organizations. European Journal of Training and Development Studies, 2(3), 29-43.
Azhimuratova, A. S., Tulekbayeva, A. K., Sabyrhanov, D. S., Shakkaliev, A. A., & Meshcheryakova, E. V. (2016). The model of organizational development and people management based on the concept and principles of the “investors in people” standard. IEJME – Mathematics Education, 11(7), 2087-2098.
Cheung-Judge, M. (2017). Future of organizations and implications for OD practitioners. OD Practitioner, 49(1), 8-19.
Mkheimer, I., & Mjlae, S. A. (2020). Factors of employee engagement and organizational development: Are they linked? International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(5), 788-797.
Singh, S., Darwish, T. K., & Potocnik, K. (2016). Measuring organizational performance: A case for subjective measures. British Journal of Management, 27(1), 214-224.