You are doing OD if you are…
1. Bringing planned change to align the structure, culture, strategy, and
individual jobs of people in an entire organisation (not accidental)
2. Applying behavioral science knowledge to diagnose, to facilitate and to
evaluate organisational change (evidence-based)
3. Analyzing the effectiveness of an organisation and how to improve that by
involving members of the organisation(interviews, focus groups): Gather
evidence on the change needed and the course to take (not intuitive)
4. Supporting increase of organisational effectiveness on all levels (high
quality and productivity, financial performance, optimizing teamwork, improving
well-being/health of workers)
5. Facilitating organisations’ response to change in a flexible, adaptive and often
participative way
6. Developing sustainable change that continues (not tactics or short-term)
Why do organisations need continuous development?
- Organisations have to adapt to the environment
o General and task (specific) environment
Important trends in the general environment
- Economic
o Globalization
- Demographic
o Diversification of labour force
- Technological
o IT revolution and AI
o Increased automation
, - Political/Legal
o Tightened (financial) supervision
o Governmental changes (taxes, regulations)
- Sociocultural
o Increased focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (people, planet,
profit)
Types of change
- Magnitude of change (incremental fundamental) (from Nokia to
smartphone)
- Degree of organisation (overorganised “loosen up” underorganised
“tighten up”)
- Setting of the change (local global)
organisational culture
Alignment: changes have to affect the whole organisation
Boundaries: e.g. department that is not included in new policy
Organisational culture: the pattern of artifacts, norms, values, and basic
assumptions which describes how the organisation solves problems and
teaches newcomers how to behave
, Artifact: visible part of the culture (suit, building)
Norms: how people typically behave (wearing a business suit)
Values: how it should be
Basic assumptions: “if you dress formally, you dress for success”
*organisational culture has a small visible part
Why study culture?
- It is highly predictive of…
o …(financial) performance
o …employee well-being
o …organizational effectiveness
o …innovation
- And more important than formal control systems, procedures, structure,
and strategy
Ethical and Inclusive culture
- Two types of culture
o An ethical culture is the shared belief that one should behave
morally sound
o An inclusive culture is the shared belief that everyone should be
included irrespective of their communalities or differences
- Different, but overlapping
- Why these forms?
o Urgent: Adapt to environmental trends
o Important: Highly predictive of well-being and effectiveness
Ethical culture: Ethics are the moral principles, norms and values governing the
behaviors of individuals or groups with respect to what is right or wrong
Ethical vs. illegal behavior at work
- Unethical behavior: any organisational member action that violates
widely accepted societal moral norms
, Examples of unethical behavior within organizations
- Deceiving customers or investors
- Exploiting employees
- Putting customers at risk
- Firing whistleblowers
- Poisoning the environment
- Cheating the government
Predictors of (un)ethical behavior
- Individual characteristics
- Intensity of the moral issue
- Organisational environment
5 types of ethical cultures
1. Instrumental
a. Ethical decisions are made based on egoistic concerns
2. Caring
a. Ethical decisions are made based on an overarching concern for the
well-being of others
3. Independence
a. Ethical decisions are made based on deeply held, personal moral
convictions
4. Law and code
a. Ethical decisions are made based on external codes such as the
law, the Bible, or professional codes of conduct
5. Rules
a. Ethical decisions are made based on a strong, pervasive set of local
rules or standards such as internal codes of conduct
The importance of ethical culture
The importance of an ethical culture for organizational effectiveness
- Happier and more productive workers
- Corporate social responsibility improves financial performance
o Reduces costs and risks
o Gains competitive advantage
1. Bringing planned change to align the structure, culture, strategy, and
individual jobs of people in an entire organisation (not accidental)
2. Applying behavioral science knowledge to diagnose, to facilitate and to
evaluate organisational change (evidence-based)
3. Analyzing the effectiveness of an organisation and how to improve that by
involving members of the organisation(interviews, focus groups): Gather
evidence on the change needed and the course to take (not intuitive)
4. Supporting increase of organisational effectiveness on all levels (high
quality and productivity, financial performance, optimizing teamwork, improving
well-being/health of workers)
5. Facilitating organisations’ response to change in a flexible, adaptive and often
participative way
6. Developing sustainable change that continues (not tactics or short-term)
Why do organisations need continuous development?
- Organisations have to adapt to the environment
o General and task (specific) environment
Important trends in the general environment
- Economic
o Globalization
- Demographic
o Diversification of labour force
- Technological
o IT revolution and AI
o Increased automation
, - Political/Legal
o Tightened (financial) supervision
o Governmental changes (taxes, regulations)
- Sociocultural
o Increased focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (people, planet,
profit)
Types of change
- Magnitude of change (incremental fundamental) (from Nokia to
smartphone)
- Degree of organisation (overorganised “loosen up” underorganised
“tighten up”)
- Setting of the change (local global)
organisational culture
Alignment: changes have to affect the whole organisation
Boundaries: e.g. department that is not included in new policy
Organisational culture: the pattern of artifacts, norms, values, and basic
assumptions which describes how the organisation solves problems and
teaches newcomers how to behave
, Artifact: visible part of the culture (suit, building)
Norms: how people typically behave (wearing a business suit)
Values: how it should be
Basic assumptions: “if you dress formally, you dress for success”
*organisational culture has a small visible part
Why study culture?
- It is highly predictive of…
o …(financial) performance
o …employee well-being
o …organizational effectiveness
o …innovation
- And more important than formal control systems, procedures, structure,
and strategy
Ethical and Inclusive culture
- Two types of culture
o An ethical culture is the shared belief that one should behave
morally sound
o An inclusive culture is the shared belief that everyone should be
included irrespective of their communalities or differences
- Different, but overlapping
- Why these forms?
o Urgent: Adapt to environmental trends
o Important: Highly predictive of well-being and effectiveness
Ethical culture: Ethics are the moral principles, norms and values governing the
behaviors of individuals or groups with respect to what is right or wrong
Ethical vs. illegal behavior at work
- Unethical behavior: any organisational member action that violates
widely accepted societal moral norms
, Examples of unethical behavior within organizations
- Deceiving customers or investors
- Exploiting employees
- Putting customers at risk
- Firing whistleblowers
- Poisoning the environment
- Cheating the government
Predictors of (un)ethical behavior
- Individual characteristics
- Intensity of the moral issue
- Organisational environment
5 types of ethical cultures
1. Instrumental
a. Ethical decisions are made based on egoistic concerns
2. Caring
a. Ethical decisions are made based on an overarching concern for the
well-being of others
3. Independence
a. Ethical decisions are made based on deeply held, personal moral
convictions
4. Law and code
a. Ethical decisions are made based on external codes such as the
law, the Bible, or professional codes of conduct
5. Rules
a. Ethical decisions are made based on a strong, pervasive set of local
rules or standards such as internal codes of conduct
The importance of ethical culture
The importance of an ethical culture for organizational effectiveness
- Happier and more productive workers
- Corporate social responsibility improves financial performance
o Reduces costs and risks
o Gains competitive advantage
