Need Help with OD Techniques: What Are the Latest Trends and Challenges?

OD Techniques Research Assistance Needed

I am an M.A. HRM student. I have been assigned the topic "OD TECHNIQUES" for my research project. I need help in finding out about the current trends in the field and also about some difficulties faced when an intervention is implemented. I have attached a questionnaire regarding the same, and it would be extremely helpful if I could get some insight on organizational experiences.

Thanks a lot,

Mansi

Good to see your post. Your questionnaire is very subjective. The entire idea of a questionnaire on OD must not be to quiz employees on their knowledge of OD. Rather, formulate questions asking them what OD techniques they have used in the past, the implementation details, etc.

Understanding Organizational Development (OD)

Go through the idea about OD—what it does, why it is applicable, and why any organization would like to implement it, etc. Also, select a couple of sectors of your interest, connect with their OD specialists, and try to find out about their practices. Your questionnaire can be either generic or industry-specific depending on your preference.

If you need more help, feel free to connect with me.

Regards, Mahwish

Thank you, sir, for your reply. My idea was to ask experienced people in their field, irrespective of the industry, just to collect some information about the current scenario in the industry. I wanted to understand if textual concepts like survey feedback and T-groups are used in organizations or if new techniques are created and applied.

I really appreciate your reply, sir, and if you could share an industrial example with me, it would be extremely helpful, sir.

A questionnaire should be designed to elicit opinions rather than simple answers. Opinions can vary from person to person and from organization to organization, whereas answers tend to remain consistent. In a questionnaire, any option can serve as an answer, depending on the individual responding. However, in your questionnaire, many questions seem to have only one correct answer, making all other choices appear incorrect. The questionnaire appears more like an exam question paper.

Avoid creating questions directly from your textbook. Take some time to reflect and craft questions in a way that allows for 4-5 potential answers, giving users the freedom to choose the most suitable one based on their organization.

Regards,
Deepak

Dear Manasi, your questionnaire is good if its purpose is to test someone's textbook knowledge of OD. It is perfect for a university exam on OD! However, your objective, as you mentioned, is 'current trends in OD,' so I assume your survey is targeted at HR professionals.

Example Question

For example, the following is your question:

In T group method, an increased awareness of _______ is created.

• Emotions

• Teamwork

• Loyalty

• Culture

It can be changed to:

Have you employed the T Group approach in your organization? If so, on a scale of 1 to 10, rate its effectiveness.

Now, this question will give you an idea of whether organizations actually use the T Group approach and, if they do, what their success rate is.

After each question, it would also be ideal to include a comments section so that any additional information the respondent wishes to furnish can be recorded.

Open-Ended Questions

You can even use open-ended questions like:

1) What are the common OD interventions used in your company? Please name at least 3.

2) Out of the mentioned interventions, name the one that has been most successful.

I hope this helps. Please write back to us and let us know if you need any help.

Regards