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Discuss:

Is this true that organizations have to be constantly changing in order to remain stable? Comment in favor or against with solid arguments. Take into consideration the turbulent environment overall and Pakistani context specifically.

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If an organisation is an outcome of organising, then ‘organisational development’ refers to the developmental processes in organizations. It is important to recognise that whilst an organization refers to the outcomes of organising, there is never a static organization, a final organizational product as they are constantly in flux, constantly renewing, self-organising and being organised. To remain in any sense stable, an organisation is always changing, to quote the old proverb “ you cant step into a river twice” meaning that whilst a river looks stable and like a river, it is actually constantly in motion and changing. In the short-term the water itself is different each time we step in, and the river rises and falls pending on the sun, rain and season. In the long-term the shape of the river changes as it erodes the bank. Organisations are no different, we might imagine them as fixed, but actually they are in constant motion and often unstable. As social change and globalisation speeds up organizations are even less stable (note that the most stable of all organizations our banks collapsed with great speed in the financial crisis of 2009).

Organizations have to be constantly changing in order to remain stable, as Karl E. Weick says “what produced the stable outcome was continuous change not continuous repetition... the more things change the more they stay the same” (Karl E. Weick 2001:366). Because organizations are extremely diverse, OD consultants must learn that there is no magic formula, no single approach which covers everything. The first lessons to learn are (a) organizaitions are different and within organizations there is a lot of difference too, (b) Change is not something you introduce to a static organization, it is something to be understood, harnessed, influenced and directed.

Organisational Development means to work developmentally within organizations and to create a culture of developmental activity in organizations. This means to understand how change is happening in this organisation and then to influence it in a way in which the organization becomes a ‘learning organization’. To achieve this the OD consultant/manager needs to apply people skills with an understanding to organizational dynamics. Organizational dynamics involves people and technology, systems and processes, cyber space and physical space. Organizational development means to work in complex systems and networks which are self regulating, self-organizing but also rely on development activity. This takes place at meta-level and micro-levels. Small changes lead to big changes, and strategic and structural changes are all part of OD work.

Each organisation, and each part of an organization has particular characteristics and yet some organising principles are universal. For example, all workplace organisations consist of individuals, teams, cultures and organizing factors such as communication and IT systems, technology and humans and other business/organizational procedures and processes. There are both explicit and hidden processes in organizations, tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. The art of an OD consultant is to be skilled at working across these boundaries, to take a holistic position, to think systemically, to work above and below the surface.