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46 The HR Agenda for 2010It depends what you mean by OD!Unsurprisingly, therefore, people were not always clear what should come under thebanner of OD. From in‐depth conversations with OD practitioners we produced thefollowing model of current OD practice and territory.Current OD practiceSource: IES, 2010At its heart, OD is about organisational change and effectiveness but there is a carefulbalancing act. Along with a keen emphasis on being business focused, often datadriven, the humanistic roots of OD have not been lost on today’s practitioners. Theyhave, however, been translated into current business language. Practitioners talkabout ‘supporting engagement’, ‘making human connections’ and ‘optimising the potentialof people’.Another fine balance is to both facilitate and challenge. ‘It’s like coaching for a wholeorganisation’, explained the head of OD for a city firm. Yet OD is not a soft option, asa former head of OD and HR in a large housing association explains, ‘OD does farmore than just challenge the status quo. It can really uproot the whole lot’.Practitioners describe working with emergent (some call it ‘improvisational’) change;establishing a direction for change and working in a way that is responsive andadapts to fluctuations in the real world.Importantly, it works in partnership through others and with the whole system tosupport organisational strategy and it is this connection to the larger strategic intentthat earmarks interventions as OD.
The role of organisational development (OD) post recession 47OD in tough times: luxury or necessityOur inquiry took place in the early days of the credit crunch as we hovered near theedge of chaos and we wondered how far OD would be seen by its customers, CEOsand other directors, as a luxury.This proved far from the case. In times of change the more enlightened CEs saw ODas essential to embedding strategy and increasing efficiency through behaviouralchange rather than purely cost cutting. They realised that you had to ‘take people withyou’ when you were fighting for survival. The psychology of change is seen as anessential accompaniment to organisation design work and, in some cases, avoids thenecessity for a full restructuring. Changing behaviour might involve rewardingpeople differently such as on service or quality improvement, while ensuringundesirable behaviours such as irresponsible risk taking or short‐termism are notrewarded. It might also come about through revitalising organisational values andengaging employees in striving for a future they want to be part of. In other words,‘OD can start anywhere and go anywhere’.One private sector organisation had been up for sale for two years. During that timethe managing director believes that if they had not done things under an OD bannerthey would have experienced huge attrition in the organisation and disengagement,with people switching off and waiting potentially to lose their jobs. Instead, they hada good understanding of the market and a strategy to get there, giving people a clearvision of where they could participate and benefit.’It is very important in tough times – trying to bring your organisation with youwhen you have rapidly changing market conditions, increased competition, economicuncertainty and you are up for sale – it’s a bit of a challenge and if you don’t take yourorganisation with you it will just die. Yes it [OD] has been important. We can’t affordto lose key people.’The retention strategy has been around engaging people in the future of the business.The managing director believes:‘It is probably more important in tougher times – in good times you get a naturalbuoyancy in an organisation and a feel‐good factor and people are more receptive andeasier to absorb change. When times are tough people get their head down, becomeintrospective.’Re-engaging a post change workforceChange is nevertheless usually a painful process and OD has a strong legacy whichremains as relevant today in tackling worker alienation and lack of trust as it did inthe post‐war years. Employee engagement has been high on the agenda for manyorganisations over the past few years but the underpinning mechanism of
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