An Organisational Development Programme Can Drive Business Success

While the business world has always been competitive, its nature remained reasonably consistent until the late twentieth century. Although steam and electrical power, born during the first two industrial revolutions, led to mass production and new products, advertising and marketing remained limited, and competitors were only a mild threat. However, the fourth revolutionary episode and its advanced technologies have proved far more disruptive, forcing businesses to focus on their organisational development (OD) to survive and grow in the face of unprecedented competition.

A well-designed OD programme should aim to improve a company’s capacity to achieve its goals by ensuring its people, processes, and structures are fully aligned. It should also encourage a more resilient and agile organisation and significantly boost employee engagement, productivity, and overall business performance.

What is Organisational Development?

Think of OD as a selection of systematic and planned tactics designed to increase an organisation’s effectiveness and health. The process comprises a range of strategies and interventions to enhance a company’s overall functioning. Ideally, these interventions should be data-driven and designed to improve targeted aspects that determine an organisation’s efficiency and competitiveness, such as its culture, leadership, structure, and current operating procedures.

Any organisation whose management and staff are sufficiently determined can learn to adapt and grow with the help of a well-structured organisational development programme such as that offered by Orgro, a leading South African specialist in human behaviour and performance. By focusing on the human side of an enterprise, an Orgro OD programme can help to create a more dynamic and productive work environment in which management and employees are motivated and aligned to pursue business success.

The Key Elements of an Organisational Development Programme

An effective OD programme comprises four steps as follows:

• Assessment and diagnosis: The first step in an OD programme is to assess the organisation’s current status by gathering data from surveys, interviews, and personal observations. The process will expose strengths that can be leveraged and weaknesses that must be rectified. This stage ensures a thorough understanding of the organisation’s culture, structure, processes, and people.

• The action plan: Based on the assessment findings, the Orgro industrial psychologists work with the organisation’s leaders to compile a detailed action plan defining the interventions and strategies needed to address identified issues and achieve the desired outcomes.

• Intervention: These are the specific activities and initiatives necessary to promote organisational change. These include leadership development, team building, process improvements, and cultural changes. All agreed interventions should be tailored to the organisation’s unique needs and designed to generate positive, sustained changes.

• Evaluation and Adjustment: Once the planned interventions have been actioned for a while, it’s time to check their effectiveness. An Orgro consultant will assess the impact of the agreed interventions on the client company’s performance and employee satisfaction, gather feedback and use it to make any necessary adjustments to the OD programme. This step is not the end but should be repeated at regular intervals until all the planned goals are achieved or exceeded, and especially in response to changing market forces.

If you are struggling to compete and grow your business, contact Orgro for more information about our organisational development services and their many valuable benefits.