Practicing Organization Development (A guide for Consultants) - Part 17. Organization development (OD) is about planned change. As change has turned into the only constant, many managers and other people are pursuing change strategies with vigor. OD is a major strategy for leading and managing change at the individual, group, intergroup, organizational, interorganizational, and large systems levels. This book is about what it takes to be an effective change manager, change leader, and OD consultant | USING THE HRD AUDIT TO BUILD CONVERGENCE BETWEEN HRM AND OD 131 action plan was drawn up which after implementation brought about the following changes A potential appraisal system and a systematic performance appraisal system were established Career planning was done up to the executive level Role clarity was brought about through identification of KPAs A systematic induction and training program was established Mentoring was initiated Employee trust level increased Employees at all levels have become highly involved A human orientation has been injected into the business process with opportunities for growth and development provided to all employees Operators were empowered and efforts were made to improve management-operator relationships and The integration of all HR-related activities was achieved and it is now focused on developmental activities. A subsequent study by Jomon 1998 indicated the following There is a direct relationship between the CEO s commitment toward HRD and the effectiveness of the HRD function There is a direct relationship between the commitment of the HRD chief as assessed by other members of the organization and the effectiveness of the HR function Organizations having senior executives with empowering management styles show a high degree of HR effectiveness. They also tend to have more effective HR systems. These companies had a dominant participative style with a backup professional or organic style. An altruistic management style was found to have an adverse effect on the effectiveness of the HR function and Organizations with staff competencies were also found to be good in implementation. The results of this study by Jomon and the HRD audit failures cited earlier indicate the importance of OD skills in the successful use of the HRD audit. 132 PRACTICING ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT 2ND EDITION Study Conclusions The following can be inferred from the above An HRD audit is essentially a change management tool. Its focus is not limited to
