Foundations of OD:

(i) Kurt Lewin’s Model(ii) Action Research

Approach(iii) Appreciative Inquiry

Jayendra RimalMBA, BE

Kurt Lewin’s Model• Kurt Lewin introduced two ideas of change. • What is occurring at any point is the resultant of two

opposing forces ensuing in a status quo. This creates an equilibrium point in a field of opposing forces.

• One force, called the “pushing force”, strives for change while the other force, called the “restraining force”, tries to maintain the status quo (opposes change). When both forces are equal a status called “quasi-state equilibrium” is maintained. To change, the pushing forces need to increase while the restraining forces decrease or use a combination of both.

• Lewin suggested that modifying the restraining forces may produce less tension and resistance (more effective change strategy) than increasing forces for change.

Kurt Lewin’s Model, contd…• Lewin also viewed change process as consisting of three

stages.– Unfreezing: Creating motivation and readiness to change

the behavior through (a) psychological disconfirmation (b) creation of guilt or anxiety and (c) Provision of psychological safety.

– Moving: Changing through cognitive restructuring. This is done by helping people to see things, judge things, feel things and react to things differently based on new point of view obtained through (a) identifying with a new role model/mentor and (b) scanning the environment for new relevant information. This helps in shifting behavior to new levels by developing new behaviors, values or attitudes.

– Refreezing: Helping people to integrate the new point of view into (a) the total personality and self-concept and (b) significant relationship. This helps to stabilize at a new state of equilibrium through the use of supporting mechanism to reinforce the new behavior.

Action Research

• Action research attempts to meet the dual goals of making action more effective and building a body of scientific knowledge around that action.

• It is also a sequence of events and activities within each iteration (data collection, feedback and taking action based on the data) and it is a cycle of iterations of these activities, sometimes treating the same problem several times then moving to a different problem.

• Action research is the application of the scientific method of fact-finding and experimentation to practical problems requiring action solutions and involving the collaboration and co-operation of scientists, practitioners and laypersons.

Action Research & ODIt is a cyclic and iterative process and a problem solving approach that attempts to make action more effective and building a body of scientific knowledge around that action. Research about organization provides information to guide subsequent action. These are then assessed to provide further information to guide further action and so on through collaborative action between client and consultant• Perception of problem• Consultation with OD practitioner• Data gathering and preliminary diagnosis• Feedback to client system• Joint diagnosis of the problem• Joint action planning (e.g. team building)• Action• Data gathering after action (repeat)

As a Process and Approach

• Action research is characterized by (1) problem driven (2) client-centered (3) challenging the status quo and simultaneously concerned with (4) producing empirically disconfirmable propositions that (5) could be systematically interrelated into a theory designed to be (6) usable in everyday life.

• Action research tends to be:– Cyclic and iterative: similar steps tend to occur in

similar sequence– Participative: the client is involved as active

participant in the research process– Reflective: critical reflection upon the process and

outcomes are the important parts of the cycle– PLAN – ACT – OBSERVE – REFLECT – PLAN again

Varieties of Action Research• Diagnostic action research – OD practitioner enters the

problem situation –diagnoses it – makes recommendation for remedial treatment – usually intuitively derived based on the knowledge and experience of the practitioner.

• Participative action research – The people who are to take action are involved in the entire research and action process from the beginning. Higher chances that actions decided upon are carried out.

• Empirical action research – Systematic and extensive records of events and their effects are maintained. Limitations are that situations may be too divergent for comparison, may not permit generalization , employees may lack objectivity in evaluating own performance.

• Experimental action research – Controlled research on the relative effectiveness on various action techniques attempting to find the best way of accomplishing the goal.

Appreciative Inquiry• Appreciative Inquiry (AI) was developed by David

Cooperrider in the 1980s. When he was doing his PhD, he interviewed leading clinicians at the Cleveland Clinic about their greatest successes and failures. He found himself drawn to the stories of success and focused exclusively on them.

• AI views the entire organizational system as a “miracle to be embraced” and not as a problem to be solved. AI is based on the assertion that "problems" are often the result of our own perspectives and perceptions of phenomena, e.g. if we look at a certain priority as a "problem," then we tend to constrain our ability to effectively address the priority.

• For example, one AI-based approach to strategic planning includes identification of our best times during the best situations in the past in an organization, wishing and thinking about what worked best then, visioning what we want in the future, and building from what worked best in order to work toward our vision.

Appreciative Inquiry, Contd…Cooperrider says inquiry into organizational life should have four characteristics. It should be:• Appreciative—AI looks for the ‘positive core’ of the organization

and seeks to use it as a foundation for future growth.• Applicable—AI is grounded in stories of what has actually taken

place in the past and is therefore essentially practical. It is not a ‘pie in the sky’ approach but instead seeks the best of ‘what is’ in order to build the best of ‘what might be’.

• Provocative—AI invites people to take some risks in the way they imagine the future and redesign their organization to bring it about. With the security and energy gained from the exploration of the best in the organization, people feel able to respond with ‘provocative propositions’ about the future.

• Collaborative—AI is a form of collaborative inquiry. It always involves the whole organization or a representative cross-section of the whole organization. In this way all voices can be heard and everyone’s contribution valued.

The 4 – D Model of Appreciative Inquiry

The 4 – D Model, contd…

Discover: • People talk to one another, usually via structured

interviews, to discover the times when the organization is at its best. These stories are told as richly as possible and from them people start to discover the ‘positive core’ of the organization, what gives life to it when it is at its best. People start to appreciate themselves and their colleagues and some quite significant transformations start to occur.

The 4 – D Model, contd…

Dream:• The dream phase is often run as a large group

conference where a cross-section of the organization is encouraged to imagine and co-create the future. They are encouraged to envision the organization as if the peak moments discovered in the ‘discover’ phase were the norm rather than the exception. “What would things be like if…?” Working in small groups, they try to put as much ‘flesh’ as possible on their visions as possible. These are then ‘creatively presented’ to the rest of the group and worked on further.

The 4 – D Model, contd…Design:• In the early days of Appreciative Inquiry the design phase was

delegated to a small team which was empowered to go away and design ways of creating the organization dreamed in the dream conference(s). Although this still happens, it was found that transformational change is more likely to occur if the design phase is undertaken by as wide a group as possible. In this collaborative design approach the group first derive a design possibilities map, which contains, in three concentric circles, the dream for the organization, the key relationships which have an impact on the dream, and key organizational design elements which will be needed to deliver the dream.

• In small groups participants then ‘sign up’ to explore particular design elements which they have energy for and these groups craft ‘provocative propositions’ which challenge the organization to adopt a new and healthier future. These are shared with the large group and further refined.

The 4 – D Model, contd…

Deliver/Destiny:• The final phase is to deliver the dream and the new

design. Because the term ‘deliver’ has a rather mechanical feel to it, the term ‘Destiny’ which continues the future-facing theme, is also used. The final phase is one of experimentation and improvisation, sometimes described as ‘organizational jazz’. Small implementation teams will be formed to follow up on the design elements and to continue the appreciative process. The deliver phase may itself contain more small-scale Appreciative Inquiries into specific aspects of organizational life.

The 4 – I ModelThe 4-D cycle is not the only way of thinking about the process of Appreciative Inquiry. Some writers have offered another way of looking at the process, the 4-I model, which involves:• Initiate: In this phase the principles of AI are introduced;

project teams are formed; the overall project focus is decided; preliminary project details are decided.

• Inquire: Generic interviews are used; customized interview protocols developed; interviewers trained; appreciative interviews conducted as widely as possible throughout the organization.

• Imagine: The key themes from the interviews are collated and shared ; provocative propositions which give a grounded vision of the desired future are developed; propositions with as many people in the organization as possible are validated.

• Innovate: the maximum number of people are involved in conversations which engage with the proposed new ways of organizing; the changes are implemented; the change is reviewed in an appreciative way.

Other Theories of Planned Change• Systems Theory – Views organizations as open

systems in active exchange with their environments.

• Participation and empowerment – Involve all those who are part of the problem or part of the solution.

• Teams and teamwork – Work teams are the building blocks of organizations.

• Parallel learning structure – Vehicle for learning how to change the system and then leading the change process in large bureaucratic organizations.

• Applied behavioral science – How behavioral science knowledge becomes applied behavioral science knowledge.