Inform Yourself

The following is a six-step model (The Weisbord Model) Organizational Development (OD) professionals utilize in understanding organizations:

1. Purposes: The organization’s members are clear about the organization’s mission and purpose and goal agreements. The key factor here is whether members support the organization’s purpose.

2. Structure: How does an organization divide up the work? The question is whether there is an adequate fit between the purpose and the internal structure. Does the structure support achievement of the organization’s mission?

3. Relationship: Relationship here is critical! It must be defined between individuals, between units or departments that perform different tasks, and between the people and requirements of their job. Are the relationships healthy relationships?

4. Rewards: The Organizational Development (OD) professional should diagnose the similarities between what the organization formally rewards or punishes its members for doing. Is the organization sending mixed messages? Is the organization rewarding less useful behaviors?

5. Leadership: Leadership here means to watch for blips among the other boxes and maintain balance among them. How effective is the organization in providing leadership for its members? Is the organization active or passive in leadership?

6. Helpful Mechanism: These are the tools that organizations must attend to in order to survive such as planning, control, budgeting, and other information systems that help organization member accomplish the organization’s mission. Does the organization have helpful mechanisms in place? If so, how effective are those mechanisms in assisting the organizational members achieve the organization’s mission?

This six step model enables the Organizational Development (OD) professional to clearly understand and define the organization as it truly exists today, before any Action Research or Organizational Development (OD) interventions are performed on the organization.

Next we cover Action Research and Organizational Development (OD) interventions.