Organizational Development (OD) Intervention in a Company that Changed Its Management

Title of the Case:

OD Intervention in a Company that Changed Its Management’s Paternalistic Style to a Participative Management Style

Problems:

1. What practices in the case would be helpful to apply in your organization?
2. How might you modify the practices in the case to better suit your organization?
3. What did you learn overall from the case?

Answer:

1. There is only one practice that I like in the case although a lot were taught but I already mentioned it in my previous cases.   The thing that struck me in this case is that the President admitted to himself that he could not handle the situation and seek outside help through an OD Consultant.

2. Indeed, it is true that familiarity breeds contempt.  Our head in the organization also accepted that she could not introduce change in our organization even if she wanted to because of the high resistance from the subordinates.  I think it is a good idea to seek outside help that could look at our own organization objectively.  We will supply the information needed and all will be done by the Consultant.  It will save time, effort and focus from our head who would love also to be part of the intervention which she could not handle and need to be taught and guided like the subordinates.

3. The important realizations I discovered from the case is that if you could not handle the situation then seek help before it is too late.