Organizational development steps

OD Steps
OD experts acknowledge that changes in corporate culture and human behavior are tough to ac- complish and require major effort. The theory underlying OD proposes three distinct stages for achieving behavioral and attitudinal change: (1) unfreezing, (2) changing, and (3) refreezing.95
The first stage, unfreezing, makes people throughout the organization aware of prob- lems and the need for change. This stage creates the motivation for people to change their attitudes and behaviors. Unfreezing may begin when managers present information that shows discrepancies between desired behaviors or performance and the current state of af- fairs. In addition, managers need to establish a sense of urgency to unfreeze people and create an openness and willingness to change. The unfreezing stage is often associated with diag- nosis, which uses an outside expert called a change agent. The change agent is an OD spe- cialist who performs a systematic diagnosis of the organization and identifies work-related problems. He or she gathers and analyzes data through personal interviews, questionnaires, and observations of meetings. The diagnosis helps determine the extent of organizational problems and helps unfreeze managers by making them aware of problems in their behavior. The second stage, changing, occurs when individuals experiment with new behavior and learn new skills to be used in the workplace. This process is sometimes known as intervention, during which the change agent implements a specific plan for training managers and employees. The changing stage might involve a number of specific steps.96 For example, managers put to- gether a coalition of people with the will and power to guide change, create a vision for change that everyone can believe in, and widely communicate the vision and plans for change through- out the company. In addition, successful change involves using emotion as well as logic to per- suade people and empowering employees to act on the plan and accomplish the desired changes. The third stage, refreezing, occurs when individuals acquire new attitudes or values and are rewarded for them by the organization. The impact of new behaviors is evalu- ated and reinforced. The change agent supplies new data that show positive changes in performance. Managers may provide updated data to employees that demonstrate positive changes in individual and organizational performance. Top executives celebrate successes and reward positive behavioral changes. At this stage, changes are institutionalized in the organizational culture, so that employees begin to view the changes as a normal, integral part of how the organization operates. Employees may also participate in refresher courses
to maintain and reinforce the new behaviors.
The process of unfreezing-changing-refreezing can be illustrated by efforts of managers at ENSR to create a high-performance, employee-focused culture.