Entering and Contracting

Entering and contracting

Entering and contracting are the initial steps taken in the OD process,

and is considered by many as one the most important steps of the process. The entering and contracting step will be utilized to set the pace and lay the foundation for the practitioner client relationship. They involve a preliminary evaluation of the organization's opportunities for development, while

establishing a collaborative relationship between the OD practitioner and the members of the client system. A major component of entering and contracting is to make a good decision about how to carry out the OD process. The contract allows the parties involved to explicitly set the direction of the project and how the process will take place. The OD contract will generally address three key areas: setting mutual expectation or what each party expects to gain from the OD process; the time and resources that will be devoted to it; and the ground rules for working together and the stating of what are the proper roles of all the parties involved including the practitioner.

In this process, a mutual agreement is established between the OD practitioner and the members of the client system in how the OD consultant will work on the problems within the organization. Hence, during entering and contracting, the organization's problems and opportunities for growth and improvement are discussed between these two parties. During this process, the limitations are set on how the consultant can execute the different phases of the OD process.

The entering and contracting step is extremely significant because it constitutes the initial activities of the OD process. It sets the parameters for the phases of planned changed that follow: diagnosing, planning and implementing change and evaluating and institutionalizing it. Developing the OD contract focuses on making sound decisions that establish the groundwork for the future success of the project.

Data collection

Data Collection is the process of collecting information that will be utilized in the diagnostic process and eventually used to make business recommendation. In this data collection process, it is critical to ensure the highest quality of data possible. In the data collection component, the information is gathered on the specific department or organization such as inputs, design components, and outputs. The practitioner collects information within the organization and can do this by conducting interviews, focus groups, surveys as well as the any other data collection methods. In order to effectively carry out the collection duties, the OD practitioner must have already established a foundational relationship

Data collection is important because it is one of the initial opportunities for the OD practitioner to interface and work with the entire client system. This will also be where the OD practitioner begins to personally experience the organizational problems.

Diagnostic

Diagnosing organizations is the first major milestone on the road to organizational recovery. When done well, it clearly points the organization and the OD practitioner toward a set of appropriate intervention activities that will improve organization effectiveness. Diagnosis is the process of understanding a system's current functioning and taking the pertinent data collected about the current operations, analyzing it and drawing conclusions for potential improvement. When done effectively, diagnosing provides a systematic knowledge of the organization needed to design the needed interventions. In the diagnostic and data phases, we get justification on behalf of the OD practitioner for the in following areas:

1. The reasoning behind why colleting, analyzing diagnosing data is mission critical

2. Clarification of who hire the OD practitioner and why we should trust each other.

3. How we can help each other usher in solutions to organizational problems

4. Who will have access to confidential information and how the OD practitioner will keep information confidential.

There is a high level of significance in properly diagnosing an organization because it lends to the effectiveness and the efficiency, and more importantly, the creditability of the OD practitioner. This step could directly effect future referrals or gained contracts by the OD practitioner.

Feedback

Feedback is the process of feeding back the diagnostic information to the client. In order to get the highest return on their investment, the feedback must possess the following nine characteristics:

1. The feedback must have organizational relevance. This is because this information will be used to institute change.

2. The feedback must be understandable

3. The feedback must be descriptive and show a clear link to the organizational members and organizational problems

4. The feedback must be valid, accurate and most importantly verifiable.

5. The feedback must be timely

6. The feedback must be precise and limited to avoid information overload.

The significance of the feedback process is that this is what the client organization will use to bring about organizational change. There is the possibility that improper feedback that doesn't posses the listed characteristics could derail the efforts for change.

Elton Mayo's Hawthorne Experiments

Suppose you've taken a management trainee and given he/her specialized training in management skills she doesn't now possess. Without saving a word, you've given the trainee the feeling that she is so valuable to the Organization that you'll spend time and money to develop her skills. She feels she's on a track to the top, and that motivates her to work harder and better. The motivation is independent of any particular skills or knowledge she may have gained from the training session. That's the Hawthorne Effect at work.

The Studies

The Hawthorne Studies (or experiments) were conducted from 1927 to 1932 at the Western Electric Hawthorne