This question has two parts; be sure to answer both. First, which four factors are essential to successful implementation of an OD program? Briefly explain each. Next, assume that you manage the U.S. office a multinational corporation that has offices in Europe, Asia, and South America. You are having difficulty with your company's product receiving many negative reviews on Amazon, Yelp, and other online review sites. Explain how you will improve the situation through awareness of each of the four factors.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Multiple interventions: Combined interventions such as goal setting, feedback, training, participation, and challenging job designs have been found to work better than single interventions. To address the problem of negative online reviews, you might hire a person to monitor online reviews and respond to them, in an effort to improve customer service and get better reviews. At the same time, you might begin a quality-assessment program in which you closely evaluate the quality of each of your company's products, with a goal of dropping low-quality products and improving the quality of moderate-quality problems.

Management support: OD is more likely to succeed when top managers give the OD program their support and are truly committed to the change process and the desired goals of the change program. Using employee feedback during the change process is one way to demonstrate this support. As the manager of the U.S. office, you must express your support for the OD program, and it would be beneficial for you to gather feedback from a wide variety of employees (not just managers) regarding the diagnosis, intervention, and evaluation of your program.

Goals geared to both short- and long-term results: Change programs are more successful when they are oriented toward achieving both short-term and long-term results. Managers should not engage in organizational change for the sake of change. Change efforts should produce positive results. For example, you might set a short-term goal of contacting everyone who wrote a 1-star review and asking them for suggestions on how to improve your product. A long-term goal would be to ensure that more than 60 percent of all your reviews are 4- or 5-star reviews.

OD is affected by culture: OD effectiveness is affected by cross-cultural considerations. Thus, an OD intervention that worked in one country should not be blindly applied to a similar situation in another country. You manage the U.S. office; it is important to understand that what works in the United States may not work in South America or Europe.