20 OD Interventions Every HR Practitioner Should Know
If you’re a business that wants to improve, learning to design effective OD interventions is essential. Organizational Development interventions can make an organization more efficient, boost the happiness of your employees, and help you leverage rapidly advancing technology.
Every organization strives to be a little better each day, which is what OD interventions are made for. A survey by McKinsey showed that the more steps a company takes to transform, the higher its chances of success. But with many different types of OD interventions, how do you know which one is right for your unique goals?
In this article we’ll explore what OD interventions are, why every organization needs them, examples, plus how to design effective OD interventions. For a quick reference to implementing these strategies, download our Organizational Development Process Cheat Sheet and start driving meaningful change in your organization.
Contents
What are OD interventions?
Why does your company need organizational development (interventions)?
What are examples of organizational development interventions?
– Diagnostic interventions
– Human process interventions
– Technostructural interventions
– Human Resource Management interventions
– Strategic change interventions
How to design effective OD interventions
FAQ
What are OD interventions?
Organizational development (OD) interventions are programs and processes designed to improve an organization’s effectiveness by creating actions that change leadership styles, organizational culture, structures, or behavioral patterns. Successful development projects require specific planning to maximize the effectiveness and potential of both people and businesses.
Organizational development interventions are not the same as ad hoc transformation efforts, for example, when a company makes change decisions once a problem arises and on the go. Instead, an OD intervention strategy is a systematic, research-based sequence of steps that attempt to make proactive organization-wide changes.
Types of OD interventions
Organizational development is very complex, and the interventions are equally as intricate. According to Cummings and Worley (2009), there is no way to know how many different kinds of interventions exist. We can generally categorize OD interventions into five groups:
- Diagnostic interventions are systematic processes used to assess an organization’s current functioning, identify areas for improvement, and provide data-driven insights to guide effective change strategies.
- Human process interventions are organizational development interventions related to interpersonal relations, group, and organizational dynamics. These were the earliest form of interventions and are often aimed at improving communication within the workplace.
- Techno-structural interventions are targeted toward structural and technological issues such as organizational design, work redesign, and employee engagement.
- Human resource management interventions impact areas such as performance management, talent development, DEIB, and wellbeing in the workplace.
- Strategic change interventions revolve around transformational change, restructuring, and uniting two or more organizations together during a merger.
There are different types of OD interventions that target various aspects of the organization on different levels. This will largely depend on the issues being addressed, the number of people who need to be involved in the change, and the solution being used. However, an OD intervention strategy needs collaborative management and employees at different levels of the hierarchy to cooperate for the change to be successful.
Let’s take a more detailed look at this categorization:
- Issues being addressed: OD interventions help companies solve a problem related to a root cause. An example is a high number of employees leaving a company. The present issue is a high employee turnover rate, but OD interventions look to solve the cause of high turnover. In the case of employees leaving, you can expect that a small organization will be impacted entirely on all levels by this issue. In contrast, a multi-national company will only be affected in the locations where turnover is high.
- Number of people involved: The more people involved in an OD intervention, the longer it takes to make a change. For example, a human process intervention with a small team will go through quicker than techno-structural interventions in a tech organization.
- Solution: Solutions are created to address the root cause of an issue. But they might not be immediate. A solution can also refer to change efforts intended to create an ideal future for the organization. In the latter case, upper management and decision-makers are generally impacted more than the staff until the change has happened.
Why does your company need organizational development (interventions)?
There are many benefits to organizational development, but if we give it one central goal: businesses must change as often as technology, consumer preferences, and cultural needs require to stay competitive. What’s working extremely well for you today is not guaranteed to be a success tomorrow. OD interventions pinpoint areas in your business that can be improved and aim to bridge that gap while tailoring to the unique set of challenges of each organization.
The right OD interventions will make you more efficient and competitive, boost the happiness of your employees, improve customer satisfaction, and help you adapt to a world of work that increasingly leans on technology and automation. Ultimately, OD interventions have the potential to improve your business at every level and drive growth and success.
What are examples of organizational development interventions?
When implemented properly, OD interventions help businesses meet specific goals, enable management, and improve the organization’s overall functioning.
Let’s dive into organizational development intervention examples:
1. Diagnostic interventions
A diagnostic intervention is the start of any OD intervention process. It’s about collecting various sets of data on the organization, for example, through employee surveys and feedback, operations records and a SWOT analysis. The aim is to detect organizational issues, and pair each one with a targeted intervention to resolve it.
Human process interventions
Human process interventions are the earliest and most well-known OD intervention types related to interpersonal relations, group, and organizational dynamics. It is important to note that, though concerned with improving workforce performance, organizational development strategy should not be mistaken for human resource development.
HR development focuses more on an employee’s personal growth, whereas human process interventions focus on developing the organization’s processes to improve organizational effectiveness. Here are some examples of human process OD interventions.
2. Individual interventions
These interventions are targeted at the individual employee, often around improving communication with others. During this intervention, the individual will be given direction to better understand their own and others’ emotions, motivations, and behaviors. The employee may also have support to identify their career needs, set complementary career goals, and resolve conflict.
A real-world example of individual OD interventions is Walmart’s initiative to cover 100% of college tuition and book costs for its associates through its Live Better U (LBU) program. This investment highlights a growing trend of companies investing in this type of individual intervention to develop their workforce, improve skills, and stay competitive in a rapidly changing economy.
3. Group interventions
OD group interventions help teams and groups within a company become more effective. These interventions are usually aimed at the group’s content, structure, or processes.
For example, to understand more about the group, the department responsible for OD will ask team members to analyze their group’s performance, what the team needs to do to improve, and discuss possible solutions to any challenges they have.
Analyzing Organizational Behavior (OB for short) is also a good way to gain insights to improve efficiency and productivity in your organization. OB helps you understand how employees behave in the organization, and how you can influence these behaviors to create a better workplace and achieve the organizational goals.
Check out our Learning Bite to learn everything you need to know about Organizational Behavior!
4. Team building
Team building is one of the best-known organizational development interventions. It refers to activities that help teams improve productivity, communication, performance, and employee engagement.
For example, according to an article by Harvard Business Review, when call center managers revised their employees’ coffee break schedules so that the team could socialize together, employee satisfaction increased by 10%, and lower-performing teams increased their productivity by 20%.
5. Intergroup relations interventions
Inter-group interventions are incorporated into OD strategy to facilitate collaboration and efficiency between different teams within a business towards a common goal. You can generally see these interventions in larger companies when departments need to fight for limited resources or are unaware of each other’s needs.
How does this work in an organization? First, different team leaders/managers are brought together to make sure they are committed to the intervention. Then, the teams make a list of their feelings about the other team. After, the groups will meet to share their lists with each other. And lastly, the teams meet to discuss the problems and to find possible solutions that will help both squads.
6. Third-party interventions
Third-party OD interventions are typically used when there are conflicts between employees. The aim is to control the conflict and resolve it quickly. The third-party used will often be the OD consultant, who acts as a mediator to facilitate communication, identify underlying issues, and develop strategies for resolution.
These interventions focus on improving interpersonal relationships and creating a positive work environment to enhance overall organizational effectiveness.
7. Organizational confrontation meeting
The aim of an organizational confrontation is to pinpoint problems, set targets and prioritize them in order of importance. It’s a great place to start if you’re unsure of the main problems in your organization.
An organizational confrontation meeting typically involves gathering key stakeholders to collaboratively identify and discuss current problems, set actionable targets, and prioritize them based on importance. This structured approach helps clarify the main issues and aligns the team on a plan for addressing them effectively.
Technostructural interventions
The significance of technology in business cannot be understated. Organizations worldwide rely on new technologies to help improve their competitive advantage and drive growth. Technostructural interventions aim to improve organizational effectiveness and employee performance by focusing on technology and the structure of the organization.
8. Organizational (structural) design
Organizational design refers to how an organization is structured to achieve its strategic plan and goals. This structure is essential to how the company will operate. There are many different classifications of organizational structure, such as:
- Hierarchical
- Divisional
- Matrix
- Process
- Customer-centric
- Network.
According to Deloitte, nowadays, “companies are decentralizing authority, moving toward product- and customer-centric organizations, and forming dynamic networks of highly empowered teams that communicate and coordinate activities in unique and powerful ways.”
Within OD strategy, organizational design is about reengineering and rightsizing. Therefore, an organization needs to rethink how it works and restructure it around the new business methods.
9. Total quality management
Total quality management (TQM) is also known as continuous process improvement, lean, and six-sigma. It seeks to improve quality and performance by placing customer satisfaction at the center. To achieve this, there is a strong focus on complete employee involvement in the ongoing improvement of products, processes, and workplace culture.
Ford Motor Company is one of the best-known companies to practice TQM. They had a vision of developing better products, having a more stable environment, effective management, and increasing profitability. Ford’s Chief Engineer at the time, Art Hyde, used the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) process to detect problems before selling the product to the consumer.
10. Work design
Work design impacts an organization’s outcomes, with well-designed work contributing to improved productivity and financial growth. It can also affect how an employee feels about their job, including if they feel motivated, engaged, bored, or stressed at work.
Sometimes, an organization needs work redesign to achieve its goals. That’s where the techno-structural interventions come in. However, redesigning work doesn’t necessarily require company-wide changes. Instead, small changes to the way tasks are completed, or the way employees communicate at work can have substantial outcomes for both staff and the organization.
11. Job enrichment
According to American psychologist Frederick Herzberg, job enrichment aims to enhance job efficiency and employee satisfaction by creating a more significant scope of more challenging work, greater autonomy, better professional achievement, and recognition, as well as more opportunities for advancement and growth.
Examples of job enrichment that you can implement in your business are:
- Variety of tasks: Give your employee new tasks or ones that go beyond their everyday duties.
- Giving autonomy: Empower employees to make decisions about their work and avoid micromanaging.
- Employee feedback: Make sure your team receives input regarding their performance, skills, and ability to work within a group.
- Assigning meaningful work: Help employees make sense of their work by showing them how it benefits the company and how they contribute to overall organizational goals.
- Creating incentive programs: Create recognition for a job well done through incentive programs like bonuses or extra days off.
12. Large-group interventions
The aim of large group interventions is to bring together a big group consisting of employees, customers, and internal and external stakeholders and have them collaborate. The aim is to address problems across the business and implement structural and directional changes.
13. Business process reengineering
Business process reengineering redesigns business processes to improve productivity, quality, and satisfaction. Processes are analyzed to determine how they can be improved or whether they can be removed altogether. This type of OD intervention also reimagines third-party roles and outsourcing.
Human Resource Management interventions
Human Resource Management interventions aim to improve an organization’s performance and efficiency through improving the team members (individual & group) performances, dedication, and flexibility. This is done primarily through methods that focus on managing the individual.
We can break this down into four categories.
14. Performance management
Companies use performance management (reviews) to support employee training, career development, compensation decisions, and promotions, among other things. Generally, the performance management process includes setting clear expectations for each employee and providing frequent formal/informal feedback.
Adobe is one of the best-known business cases related to performance management revamps. The company estimated that managers were spending about 80,000 hours on performance reviews per year, but their employees still felt undervalued. That led to a significant number of employees leaving. So decision-makers at Adobe decided to start training managers on conducting more regular check-ins and offering actionable direction. One of the consequences was a 30% decrease in involuntary turnover.
Check out our Learning Bite to learn everything you need to know about HRM interventions!
15. Developing talent
According to a study by McKinsey and Company, 87% of companies across the globe know that they have a skills gap or expect to have one in the next few years. As a result, your organization needs strong talent management practices to stay relevant and competitive in the changing landscape.
Here are some effective ways to develop talent in your organization:
- Individualized career planning
- Internal or external coaching
- Task/job rotations
- Educational budget
- Mentorship programs
- Internal or external workshops
- Conferences
- On-the-job training
- Leadership training.
16. Diversity interventions
Diversity in the workplace refers to a company comprised of people of different races, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, physical ability, sexual orientation, and other characteristics. Because diversity drives innovation, productivity, and overall revenue, OD intervention strategies aim to increase diversity in businesses.
Examples of diversity interventions in the workplace include implementing unconscious bias training to raise awareness and reduce prejudices, creating mentorship programs to support underrepresented groups, establishing diversity and inclusion councils to guide policy and practices, and setting measurable diversity hiring goals.
17. Wellness interventions
A focus on total wellbeing continues to be a priority, as organizations realize that ensuring employee wellness is the right thing to do, and it helps business continuity. Research by Randstad shows that 57% of employees wouldn’t accept a role if they thought it would negatively impact their work-life balance.
A wellness intervention combines strategies developed to create behavior changes or improve health status and wellbeing among individual employees or the entire staff. Organizations need to understand their teams’ specific needs. It is vital to pinpoint which wellness interventions would best serve their needs and allow the individual to learn to manage their own health and wellbeing.
Many companies implement wellness interventions, and many more companies offer wellness to other businesses. Some examples of mental and physical wellbeing services include:
Strategic change interventions
Strategic change interventions are processes a company takes to move away from its present organizational structure and way of operating towards another one to increase its competitive advantage. The organizational development department plays an essential part in executing these changes. There are many strategic change interventions but let’s discuss the three broad classifications.
18. Transformational change
Transformational changes are those you make to thoroughly reshape your business strategy and processes, which often results in a shift in work culture. Here are some examples of transformational change:
- Restructuring: Changing your business’s structural chart by adding, removing, or combining departments.
- Retrenchment: Decreasing employee headcount by closing an office or division of the company.
- Turnaround: Replacing all top management within a failing business to turn things around.
- Outsourcing: Hiring another company to complete tasks for your own company. This is common in customer service departments.
- Spin-off: Breaking up a company into distinct, smaller companies. Google is well-known for this when it created its umbrella organization, Alphabet Inc., and now owns many household name companies such as Nest and YouTube.
19. Continuous change
This intervention encourages companies to improve gradually over time by making small changes. The best-known example of continuous change is a learning organization. Businesses that shift from the top-down hierarchical structure to a learning model have a higher chance of collaboration, risk-taking, and growth and are more competitive in the ever-changing work environment.
In addition, this technique places importance on experimentation and learning from mistakes and failures rather than punishing them.
20. Transorganizational change
Transorganizational change involves interventions that include two or more organizations. This can be in the form of mergers or acquisitions but also businesses working together to achieve their objectives.
Allied companies can be an effective way to boost product awareness and break into new markets without taking 100% of the risk. Some examples of this transorganizational change are:
- Starbucks & Spotify: Starbucks and Spotify partnered to give all Starbucks employees a free Spotify Premium subscription, which they were encouraged to use to help generate playlists from two decades of Starbucks’ soundtracks. These playlists were also made available via Starbucks’ mobile app.
- GoPro & Red Bull: GoPro partnered with Red Bull and became their exclusive provider of imaging technology, capturing sensational footage at hundreds of annual events across 100 countries.
- Apple & MasterCard: Apple and MasterCard partnered to give Apple Pay users all the benefits of MasterCard, but through their Apple device. A user’s card information is replaced with a ‘token’ every time a purchase is made, which protects their personal details.
- Taco Bell & Doritos: In 2012, Taco Bell introduced the Doritos Locos Taco to their menu – a shell made out of Doritos chips in Nacho Cheese, filled with your usual taco fillings. It was so popular that Taco Bell had to hire 15,000 more employees and start four new production lines to meet demand. It remains one of their top selling items today.
How to design effective OD interventions
Here are some simple steps to help you design effective OD interventions in your organization.
- Start with thorough diagnostics: Conduct an in-depth assessment of your organization to understand your biggest challenges. You can do this through a diagnostic intervention, for example, by collecting employee feedback, performance data, and carrying out organizational culture evaluations.
- Set clear objectives and KPIs for what you want to achieve: Ensure that you define clear, quantifiable metrics that align with your goals so that you can track your progress. For instance, employee engagement scores, productivity rates, and turnover rates.
- Engage stakeholders: Get key stakeholders involved from all levels of the organization for the planning and implementation. This is essential to ensure buy-in and address diverse perspectives.
- Customize interventions: Adapt OD intervention to the unique needs and context of your organization, Be sure to consider factors like your culture, structure, and any industry-specific challenges you face.
- Evaluate and iterate: The final step is to continuously monitor your interventions so you can assess the impact they’re making through the KPIs that you set. Use your findings to make adjustments and improvements for sustained success.
A final word
No matter how well your organization is performing, there’s always room to make things better. Tailor appropriate OD interventions to your unique needs and challenges and you’ll create long-lasting change for your employees and customers.
FAQ
All OD interventions can be effective depending on the core issues and context of the organization. This is why it’s important to select the right interventions for the unique challenges you’re facing.
The first step in an OD intervention is diagnosing the problem in your organization. You can do this by conducting employee surveys, collecting one on one feedback, and carrying out a SWOT analysis.
Some examples of OD interventions are team building, organizational design, wellness interventions, diversity interventions, performance management and developing talent.
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