Organisation Design and Development

Understand, analyse and critically evaluate the methods and procedures of organisation development and review their strategic impact.

Indicative content: Measuring and managing performance outcomes; setting and managing key performance indicators; data collection through employee surveys and consultation procedures; using outcomes from performance reviews; applications of the balanced scorecard; the links to continuous improvement strategies; the links to learning and development; towards a learning organisation.

Organisational Development (OD) is an approach that has systematically been planned and that intentionally involves people to ensure that they support improved organisational performance. OD specialists take responsibility to understand organisational complexities, evaluate the underlying issues that impact organisational performance, and develop suitable approaches to ensure that the organisation can move forward and continue engaging in the business s operations. OD focuses on creating value to organisation resources by focusing on people’s capabilities to support the organisation achieve the goals and objectives. OD seeks to enhance good management of organisation strategy, ensures that goals are achieved, and works to achieve business core purpose. OD focuses on developing people’s knowledge and practices, influencing people’s behaviours towards promoting improved organisational performance. OD also focuses on ensuring that change is effectively managed, which contributes to continuous organisational improvement (Green, 2020). The relations between OD and strategic HRM evaluate the degree to which both should promote organisational sustainability and ensure that the organisation performs in a more strategic and better way. HR is involved in supporting the organisation by providing administrative functions and supporting effective business operations. OD supports change by effectively managing peoples’ behaviours. HR works to support the legal constraints and ensures that administration technicalities are effectively enhanced to support the organisation in achieving the organisational goals. OD reviews organisational goals and identifies practices effective to ensure that the goals are effectively achieved. OD practitioners do not replace HR professionals, but they instead take approaches effective to ensure that organisational disciplines are enhanced to bring about the right or desired organisational change (CIPD, 2020). Long, Ismail, and Amin (2020) argue that HR professionals understand business strategies in the most appropriate manner. OD practitioners have to be involved to ensure that they deliver the appropriate activities and create changes that will support organisations to a deeper level.  According to CIPD (2020), the approaches to organisational development are identified from the organisational review perspective, evaluating the extent to which organisational and stakeholder needs are met and the evaluation of the interventions effective to support organisational change.  One of the methods from organisational review is the use of SWOT analysis. This is an approach that organisations use to identify the internal business strengths and weaknesses, which originate from within the organisation. SWOT also measures the opportunities and threat factors that originate from outside the organisation but impact the organisation’s development. According to Weeks (2020), SWOT helps identify the supportive and the unfavourable factors that impact business performance and helps professionals in making the right organisational decisions. The second approach to enhancing organisational development focuses on diagnosing the extent to which the organisational and stakeholder needs are met. An example of a framework used for this is the use Galbraith 5 Star model from organisational design framework. According to Galbraith (2011), the model seeks to identify the policies, practices, and skills that shape organisation behaviours and structures. The model consists of five elements, including the organisational strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and the people. From this model, modern organisations have been paying close attention to people and taking less interest in the organisational structure. With this, the organisations identify barriers to organisational success and deliver the right policies to support organisation development. The balanced scorecard is another approach developed by Kaplan and Norton (1996). OD practitioners have used to evaluate four business perspectives that include internal business processes, customer value, organisational financial performance, and the opportunity to support people’s growth and learning. NHS Trusts is an organisation that has used the approaches to diagnose the main problems associated with discrimination realised in the workplace. According to Kline (2019), staff members at NHS experience systematic discrimination, which is an aspect that causes the organisation to experience challenges in helping the employees and other organisation stakeholders. The organisational development approaches identified may help NHS identify the reasons why there is discrimination, evaluate strategies to manage the problems, and develop structures that support inclusivity, fairness, and transparency to enhance improved organisational performance. When the right actions to change are identified, organisations benefit from the reduced rate of absenteeism, development of employee wellbeing, and improved employee performance and productivity. Stouten, Rousseau, and De Cremer (2018) acknowledge that HR professionals are responsible for ensuring that they provide the necessary support to people, redesign their thinking, and ensure that positive change is introduced to support people and resources.

Understand, analyse and critically evaluate possible change management strategies and activities, through the application of organisation development strategies, which might support organisation design and realignment outcomes.

Indicative content: Working with organisation development as a change methodology; origins and applications of change management; concepts and models of change; the process of change; analysis of the organisation as a precursor to change; environmental scanning; the concept of stakeholder analysis; the role of the change agent; the role of the HR specialist in supporting the introduction of strategic change, for example downsizing, redundancy, new employment relationships; external and internal change strategies through the application of government initiatives, for example Investors in People, Train to Gain; applying quality standards, for example ISO, EFQM; becoming a learning organisation; resourcing and management of programmes.

OD is highly related to change, especially with the significant developments experience in the workplace. Changes are introduced in organisations to support continuous organisational development. According to CIPD, Change is considered a core knowledge element that supports people professionals and should thus be identified as a concept that effectively creates positive organisational transformations. Changes are meant to make businesses more effective, and OD interventions support organisational capabilities in promoting change. OD practitioners with HR to identify areas of change and develop practices aligned to positive organisational change. Change alters the usual way of doing things in the business, brings uncertainty, and enhances a new culture that businesses and people have to relate to. Change is fundamental in creating organisational value and should be considered an issue of great interest to the organisation and people (Green, 2020). In 2019, John Lewis Partnership announced the first stage of organisational restructure where a third of the senior management jobs would be cut. According to BBC News (2019), the business partnership aims to merge the High Street departmental stores and the Waitrose grocery chain into one business. Decisions would be made to affect the whole partnership business. Seventy-five of the top-level personnel were fired in the restructuring process. Since the restructure, John Lewis Partnership has been going through phases of change in the head office to ensure that the right personnel are placed in the correct positions. The global Covid-19 pandemic led to major organisational disruptions that affected business and people relations within the company. Nevertheless, the business has been striving to ensure that they move at a pace that supports organisational performance improvement and where people are valued and engaged in providing support in the partnership business (Wynn, Henderson, and Lochhead, 2020).  Following the example of John Lewis, as the business engaged in restructuring the executive team, it is essential to identify and evaluate the impact of change on the business and people. Lewin’s Force Field Analysis developed by Kurt Lewin is explained. The change analysis model identifies the evaluation of factors forcing a person or an entity to or away from a particular state. The forces determine the decisions made to determine whether they are acceptable or unacceptable. People have different attitudes to change, and when change is introduced, they develop different emotions, ideas, and opinions to accept or reject change. Swanson and Creed (2014) argue that developing self-awareness and understanding the value of emotional intelligence are the main attributes that determine whether it is possible to drive change or restrain people from accepting change. Connelly (2020) identifies the steps followed to determine the effectiveness of change in the business. In this case, it would be to define the change needed in the organisation. For John Lewis Partnership, the change was to restructure the top position by firing 75 senior-level personnel to save on business costs. The second step is to brainstorm the driving forces to change. These evaluate the degree to which factors favourable to change are evaluated and considered before a change is effectively implemented. Brainstorming on the restraining forces is the third step to which factors that would become unfavourable after the change are identified. The fourth step is evaluating both driving and restraining forces to ensure that a holistic approach to managing change is enhanced. The fifth step is reviewing the forces to help practitioners make the right decisions on whether to adapt to the change propositions. The sixth step is strategizing, to build on the driving forces and work on the restraining forces to avoid recording low scores to change. The final step is prioritising the suitable actions needed to ensure that change brings in significant impact to the people and organisation. HR works with OD practitioners to effectively manage change. D’Souza (2020) identifies the drivers of change as the factors supporting technological development, organisational growth, learning and growth, and creating an organisational competitive advantage. HR considers the drivers of change and works to ensure that change does not negatively impact the organisation and the people. HR in managing change has to be committed to people before the change, during change implementation, and after a change has become a new norm to organisation. HR also supports organisation to enhance their continuity and success in competing for the business operations. Wiedner, Barrett, and Oborn (2017) argue that it is HR’s responsibility to ensure that in cases of uncertainties, change is managed to support people and become aware of the influences and impacts that the change would have on people and the organisation. Therefore, HR at John Lewis Partnership should have taken responsibility to provide support to the whole senior management team. This was important s it would prepare them to accept change. After change implementation, HR should have identified strategies to support the remaining employees, give them morale, and assure them of job security. Failure to achieving this would have resulted in the organisation losing some of the best senior management personnel because of job insecurity. HR should also follow the legal laws and guidelines relating to redundancy. Suff (2020) acknowledge that HR professionals are likely to be involved because of the high number of employees who are made redundant. HR should work with them and ensure that they follow the legal redundancy procedures. The employees should also be legally compensated, and all the employment and legal EU laws such as Equality Act 2010 should be followed in making redundancy decisions.

Understand, analyse and critically evaluate organisation culture norms and behaviours.

Indicative content: Measuring and analysing organisational culture; the application of the cultural web; identifying and managing resistance to change; determining organisational values and ethics; translating these into strategy; identifying required behaviours; the identification of competencies.

Young (2020) defines organisational culture as the concept that delivers values and success to the organisation. Culture identifies with the systems, processes, structures, and strategies that determine the nature of work and people behaviours in an organisation. Culture identifies with the workplace norms, traditions, beliefs, behaviours, and values developed in an organisation. These are aspects considered to be essential in determining organisational performance. Organisations that have effectively developed their cultures benefit from a workforce that effectively understands the nature of business. Employees in such an organisation can effectively voice their concerns and develop connections between them and the organisation. Shenoy and Uchil (2018) acknowledge that culture determines employee engagement in the delivery of organisational goals and objectives. Culture also promotes increased levels of talent retention, which are considered significant attributes to reporting improved organisational performance. Johnson and Scholes (1999) developed a cultural web tool effective to analyse and alter the assumptions made regarding a particular environment or culture in the workplace. The tool analyses the practices and beliefs of people and helps professionals develop ways to ensure that the practices are aligned to the preferred culture in the organisation. The web elements include organisational structures, the organisational control systems, the power structures developed in the workplace, symbols, stories and myths, and the rituals and routines followed by people in a particular environment. Having worked at John Lewis for a few years now, I can confidently analyse the organisational culture using Johnson and Scholes (1999) cultural web.  On stories and myths, John Lewis engages in an activity to decorate cakes to celebrate EID every year. On rituals and routines, employees are expected to be honest and ethical, failure to which disciplinary action is taken to prevent a repeat of the same by other employees. On symbols, John Lewis Partners has a logo well recognised in the UK. The logo has the company’s name, and it advertises itself to inspire the business stakeholders to relate to organisational success. Control systems are actions carried out by the senior management, with specialised experts in different organisational departments. The organisation has a hierarchical structure with lower-level managers expected to report to their seniors on the structure. Information and organisational decisions that come from the top are passed down to the junior staff.  On power structures, the CEO holds the overall power and is the final decision-maker. For example, when the company decided to restructure the executive team, as explained above, the CEO was the final decision maker on this. McDonalds and Foster (2013) argue that organisations’ privileges by acknowledging the cultural web elements determine the development of positive culture. Therefore, organisations should strive to ensure that they understand all the perspectives from the cultural web to shape their cultures.  Young (2020) defines culture change as moving from a current known organisational state to an unknown state. OD practitioners take significant responsibility in managing culture change to prevent business failures and promote organisational successes. To manage change, therefore, HR and OD professionals should come up with a clear vision to understand the direction that the organisation would take after changing its culture. Professionals should also take responsibility to identify the stakeholders involved in the process of responding to change. Senior and line managers in organisations should be involved in selecting teams that develop people capabilities to adapting to culture change. John Lewis has been changing its culture by restructuring ad altering positions in the head office. The intention is to follow the vision of reducing organisational costs and ensuring that they adapt to the new way of doing business after the pandemic. Ethical considerations are significant in any situations when change is introduced into the business. Being ethical means that organisations and people have to strive to do the right thing, follow the proper procedures, and deal with challenges and dilemmas in the most ethical way, following the code of conduct. Ethics in culture change means that organisational stakeholders have to take responsibility for delivering value and organisational success. Organisations also have to follow the standards that promote a culture that highly supports people and organisational growth (Vitolla et al., 2021).

Understand, analyse and critically evaluate the importance of the HR role in advising on these design and development choices and supporting their implementation.

Indicative content: The HR role in supporting the design and implementation of new ways of working; improving organisational and individual performance through job design, job enlargement and job enrichment; the HR role in organisation development; the use of internal and external consultants; facilitation styles; the concept of business partnering; managing cultural change programmes.

Changes in organisations result in new job designs where employees are given new job roles and responsibilities, where functions and systems of work are different, and where work processes are optimised to create organisational value. Change alters the previous or known way of work and enhances new work routines and techniques. Gifford (2020) states that change becomes successful only when employees’ attitudes and behaviours are linked to change and the new culture of doing things. This also relates to improved employee motivation levels, commitment to change, the effort they take to uphold the new responsibilities, and the gains they receive in terms of high job satisfaction. HR takes responsibility for managing change and ensuring that the right actions are developing new ways of doing things. Therefore, JR has to work collaboratively with OD specialists to ensure that they create positive changes and an environment to support the organisational stakeholders. As organisations change, HR may change the approaches taken to manage change. In some instances, HR may form partnerships with other specialists to ensure that they nurture people, create a culture where learning is highly supported, and develop programmes that effectively manage business challenges and bring about solutions effective to maintain change (O’Halloran and Haden, 2020). George (2020) further argues that HR professionals may take responsibility to outsource or acquire services from an external service provider to help in the completion of some of HR activities and responsibilities. Professionals providing outsourcing services provide advice on the essential information needed to support people and businesses in making the choices that come out due to organisational change. In getting support from more experienced specialists, HR becomes more effective and efficient in completing their duties and responsibilities. They, therefore, become confident in implementing their duties and responsibilities to support change in the workplace.  Lopez-Cabrales, Bornay-Barrachina, and Diaz-Fernandez (2017) explain HR role in developing people skills and job roles to ensure that organisations perform according to expectations. The prominent roles played by HR determine the outcomes realised from the organisation and the significant contributions to people and organisational success. Organisational development practitioners should not work alone to maintain performance but should work with HR to identify areas that need to be addressed to bring about overall organisational development. In this case, OD professionals should collaborate with HR experts, each taking responsibility to ensure that they participate in managing change and creating an environment where continuous business development and growth is enhanced. When HR and OD work together, they can analyse the business environment and identify the future business capabilities. Through this, they can identify the platforms to change the culture of the business and develop strategies effective to ensure that a positive organisational culture is developed. Failure to integrate and collaborate OD to HR may reduce levels of business accountability, minimise chances of effectively managing people, resulting in having an unmotivated workforce, non-committed personnel, and high rates of employee absence and turnover. To ensure the implementation of design and development choices, organisations should ensure that they keep providing training and development opportunities to HR. the organisation should consider this as an investment to secure the organisational future. Training and continuous professional development increase the skills, knowledge, and competencies of HR in delivering value to organisation. Training also makes HR professionals understand people’s behaviours and attitude towards change. The outcomes are that HR can make the right choices on how to support other people and support the whole business in adapting to change. The second recommendation is that HR should take advantage of data from the previous organisational and people encounters to change. The data would help provide insights on the people’s trends to adapting to new organisational choices. HR collaboration and engagement to OD professionals use data to make decisions that they are aware will positively impact the employees and other stakeholders depending on the previous encounters that they might have had in carrying out their different roles and responsibilities. HR adds value as it enhances improvement in the decision-making process. This contributes to the team and organisational efficiency, which also translate to improved organisational performance. HR professionals have the skills and knowledge to deal with people and circumstances that they find themselves in daily. HR adds value to people by helping them solve problems and develop solutions to manage the different challenges that people experience.

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