Organizational Development Paper Essay

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Organizational development (OD) as a technique helps to effect change in a company to improve its effectiveness. It contributes to a change process, and establishes long-term activities, including operation of self-managed or autonomous teams as well as problem solving opportunities (Anderson, 2011, p.2).

OD applies to scientific knowledge on behavioral development that embraces a number of concepts, including work design, leadership skills, team building and international design. The system is a flexible scheme that entails implementation of changes. Furthermore, it should adapt quickly to changes and, when the new data is introduced or experienced, it should be ready to process it (Cummings and Worley, 2008, p. 50).

Indeed, it involves a long range of efforts that will improve problem-solving strategies, as well as its ability to face various challenges within an organization (Cummings and Worley, 2008, p. 2). Organizational development considers change a process that involves a set of such activities as planning, diagnosing, assessing, and implementing (Jex and Britt, 2008, p. 477).

The organizational development process assures the establishment of favorable relationship within a work environment and outside it and provides groups with the possibility to initiate and manage change. Further, organizational development is considered a set of core values, such as respect and commitment, genuineness and cooperation, self-awareness and improvement, democracy and feeling of justice. The process is made up of the four main activities.

These are introducing, analyzing, planning, and implementing (Anderson, 2011, p. 42). The process involves an action research scheme which allows to define the problem and analyze the reasons for introducing changes. Further, it is purposeful to plan an intervention, evaluate and implement it.

The next step will involve collecting information to assess the intervention and define whether progress has been reached or whether further interventions are needed. Furthermore, it begins when a leader envisions relevant approaches and strives to enhance organizational performance (Jex and Britt, 2008, p. 473).

Organization development relies on open systems methods and schemes so as to get a better idea of organization’s goals. Therefore, a shift occurred to one department of an organization cannot be supported without introducing shifts to other departments (Cummings and Worley, 2008, p. 50).

Organization development stems basically from three psychological theories for an organization to understand and motivate its employees. They include need theory, job analysis model, and expectancy theory that provide a deep insight into personal differences among the team members, as well as different kinds of organizational aspects that influence behavior (Jex and Britt, 2008, p. 478).

Need theory as a strategy considers motivation as a means to meet people’s needs and concerns. Need theory is strongly associated with organizational development because it is based Maslow’s theory introducing a hierarchy of needs (Jex, Britt, 2008, p. 480). It starts from the bottom with physical needs, as the basic concerns, and followed up by needs of self-esteem and actualization (McLean, 2005, p.32). Job characteristic model analyzes the way the personnel work.

It also demonstrates how an employed environment influences employees’ motivation with regard to three psychological states (Jex and Britt, 2008, p. 483). Expectancy theory focuses on motivation with regard to decisions that members make concerning the effort they will take to perform organizational tasks.

It suggests that choices about work effort are premised on particular beliefs or values that members uphold. The model is used to introduce effective techniques for an organization to enhance employee incentives, which is also possible through introducing reward systems (Jex and Britt, 2008, p. 486).

The factors that introduce organizational change and development include performance challenges, competition, organizational challenges, and technological advances. Many change strategies are more effective in reducing restraining forces and, therefore, will allow the driving conditions to provide change and decrease resistance (Jex and Britt, 2008, p. 497).

Participative management entails involving members directly in realizing the need for shifts, developing corresponding changes, and putting those into practice. It is also imperative to analyze the need for change and make significant external stakeholders believe that these changes are urgent (Anderson, 2011, p. 100).

A vision will present future perspectives allowing an organization to communicate effective ideas to their employees and provide a healthy work environment. Course of action strategy needs to be developed as well to implement change. This will act as the algorithm for an organization offering directions to present an appropriate final state while defining challenges (Jex and Britt, 2008, p. 499).

Leaders should be able to provide sufficient internal support and create a solid platform for introducing changes. In such a way, they can reduce resistance for employees to take an active part in the process of organizational change. By ensuring full commitment to an organization, leaders will play a crucial role in increasing organizational performance (Anderson, 2011, p. 150).

However, lack of effective leadership skills heightens the challenges for public institutions. In this respect, organization should be provided with sufficient resources to manage change effectively. At this point, introducing planned organizational change can foster a rational distribution of resources within an organization. In addition, the public provides a stronger force for altering their interest in products (Jex, Britt, 2008, p. 501).

In conclusion, in order to effect organization change, there is the need to resort to such stages as change identification, implementation planning, implementation, evaluation of the results, and seeking feedback. It is also important for a leader to understand the potential of the organization with regard to employees’ experience and motivation.

Anderson, L. D. (2011). Organization Development: The Process of Leading Organizational Change. California : SAGE.

Cummings, G. T., & Worley, G. C. (2008). Organization development & change . Vancouver: Cengage Learning.

Jex, M. S., & Britt, W. T. (2008). Organizational psychology: A scientist – practitioner approach. New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons.

McLean, N. G. (2005). Organization development: Principles, processes, performance. California: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

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Patterns of Organization and Methods of Development

Patterns of organization can help your readers follow the ideas within your essay and your paragraphs, but they can also work as methods of development to help you recognize and further develop ideas and relationships in your writing. Here are some strategies that can help you with both organization and development in your essays.

Major Patterns of Organization

Read the following sentences:

  • Now take the pie out of the oven and let it cool on the stovetop.
  • Mix the dry ingredients with the liquid ingredients.
  • Set the pie crust aside while you make the filling.

How did it feel to read the above list? A bit confusing, I would guess. That’s because the steps for making a pie were not well organized, and the steps don’t include enough detail for us to know exactly what we should do. (Like what are the dry and liquid ingredients?) We all know that starting instructions from the beginning and giving each detailed step in the order it should happen is vital to having a good outcome, in this case a yummy pie! But it’s not always so simple to know how to organize or develop ideas, and sometimes there’s more than one way, which complicates things even further.

First, let’s take a look at a couple of ways to think about organization.

General to Specific or Specific to General

It might be useful to think about organizing your topic like a triangle:

a diagram that shows a triangle with the point at the bottom to represent "general to specific" organization and a triangle with a point at the top to represent "specific to general" organization

The first triangle represents starting with the most general, big picture information first, moving then to more detailed and often more personal information later in the paper. The second triangle represents an organizational structure that starts with the specific, small scale information first and then moves to the more global, big picture stuff.

For example, if your topic is air pollution in Portland, Oregon, an essay that uses the general-to-specific organizational structure might begin this way:

Many people consider Portland, Oregon, to be an environmentally friendly, pollution-free place to live. They would be shocked to know how many pollutants are in the air causing a multitude of health problems in Portland’s citizens.

An essay that uses the specific-to-general structure might start like this:

When Nancy moved to Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids, she expected to find a clean, pollution-free city. She was shocked and angered when her daughter was diagnosed with asthma caused by air pollution.

What’s the difference between these two introductions? And how might they appeal to the intended audience for this essay (Portland voters) in different ways? The first introduction is looking at the big picture of the problem and mentions pollution’s impact on all citizens in Portland, while the second introduction focuses on one specific family. The first helps readers see how vast the problem really is, and the second helps connect readers to a real family, making an emotional appeal from the very beginning. Neither introduction is necessarily better. You’ll choose one over the other based on the kind of tone you’d like to create and how you’d like to affect your audience. It’s completely up to you to make this decision.

Does the Triangle Mean the Essay Keeps Getting More Specific or More Broad until the Very End?

The triangle is kind of a general guide, meaning you’re allowed to move around within it all you want. For example, it’s possible that each of your paragraphs will be its own triangle, starting with the general or specific and moving out or in. However, if you begin very broadly, it might be effective to end your essay in a more specific, personal way. And if you begin with a personal story, consider ending your essay by touching on the global impact and importance of your topic.

Are There Other Ways to Think about Organizing My Ideas?

Yes! Rather than thinking about which of your ideas are most specific or personal or which are more broad or universal, you might consider one of the following ways of organizing your ideas:

  • Most important information first (consider what you want readers to focus on first)
  • Chronological order (the order in time that events take place)
  • Compare and contrast (ideas are organized together because of their relationship to each other)

The section on Methods of Development, below, offers more detail about some of these organizational patterns, along with some others.

Choose one of the following topics, and practice writing a few opening sentences like we did above, once using the general-to-specific format and once using the specific-to-general. Which do you like better? What audience would be attracted to which one? Share with peers to see how others tackled this challenge. How would you rewrite their sentences? Why? Discuss your changes and listen to how your peers have revised your sentences. Taking in other people’s ideas will help you see new ways to approach your own writing and thinking.

  • Facing fears
  • Safety in sports
  • Community policing
  • Educating prisoners
  • Sex education
  • A book or movie that impacted you
  • One thing you would change about your community
  • Beauty standards
  • Toxic masculinity
  • How the media affects identity formation
  • Gender roles
  • Race in America
  • The value of art in society
  • Travel as part of a well-rounded education
  • Drugs and alcohol
  • Advice to new parents
  • Advice to teachers
  • The value of making mistakes
  • How you’d spend a million dollars
  • What a tough day at work taught you about yourself or others.

Methods of Development

The methods of development covered here are best used as ways to look at what’s already happening in your draft and to consider how you might emphasize or expand on any existing patterns. You might already be familiar with some of these patterns because teachers will sometimes assign them as the purpose for writing an essay. For example, you might have been asked to write a cause-and-effect essay or a comparison-and-contrast essay.

It’s important to emphasize here that patterns of organization or methods of developing content usually happen naturally as a consequence of the way the writer engages with and organizes information while writing. That is to say, most writers don’t sit down and say, “I think I’ll write a cause-and-effect essay today.”  Instead, a writer might be more likely to be interested in a topic, say, the state of drinking water in the local community, and as the writer begins to explore the topic, certain cause-and-effect relationships between environmental pollutants and the community water supply may begin to emerge.

So if these patterns just occur naturally in writing, what’s the use in knowing about them?  Well, sometimes you might be revising a draft and notice that some of your paragraphs are a bit underdeveloped. Maybe they lack a clear topic, or maybe they lack support. In either case, you can look to these common methods of development to find ways to sharpen those vague topics or to add support where needed. Do you have a clear cause statement somewhere but you haven’t explored the effects?  Are you lacking detail somewhere where a narrative story or historical chronology can help build reader interest and add support?  Are you struggling to define an idea that might benefit from some comparison or contrast?  Read on to consider some of the ways that these strategies can help you in revision. And if you want to learn more, check out what the New York Times has to say in their learning blog article, “ Compare-Contrast, Cause-Effect, Problem Solution: Common ‘Text Types’ in The Times .”

Cause and Effect (or Effect and Cause)

Do you see a potential cause-and-effect relationship developing in your draft?  The cause-and-effect pattern may be used to identify one or more causes followed by one or more effects or results. Or you may reverse this sequence and describe effects first and then the cause or causes. For example, the causes of water pollution might be followed by its effects on both humans and animals. You may use obvious transitions to clarify cause and effect, such as “What are the results? Here are some of them…” or you might simply use the words cause , effect , and result , to cue the reader about your about the relationships that you’re establishing.

Here’s an example article from the New York times, “ Rough Times Take Bloom Off a New Year’s Rite, the Rose Parade ,” that explores the cause and effect relationship (from 2011) between Pasadena’s budgetary challenges and the ability of their Rose Parade floats to deck themselves out in full bloom.

Problem-Solution

At some point does your essay explore a problem or suggest a solution? The problem-solution pattern is commonly used in identifying something that’s wrong and in contemplating what might be done to remedy the situation. There are probably more ways to organize a problem-solution approach, but but here are three possibilities:

  • Describe the problem, followed by the solution.
  • Propose the solution first and then describe the problems that motivated it.
  • Or a problem may be followed by several solutions, one of which is selected as the best.

When the solution is stated at the end of the paper, the pattern is sometimes called the delayed proposal. For a hostile audience, it may be effective to describe the problem, show why other solutions do not work, and finally suggest the favored solution. You can emphasize the words problem and solution to signal these sections of your paper for your reader.

Here’s an example article from the New York times, “ Monks Embrace Web to Reach Recruits ,” that highlights an unexpected approach by a group of Benedictine monks in Rhode Island; they’ve turned to social media to grow their dwindling membership. Monks on Facebook?  Who knew?

Chronology or Narrative

Do you need to develop support for a topic where telling a story can illustrate some important concept for your readers? Material arranged chronologically is explained as it occurs in time. A chronological or narrative method of development might help you find a way to add both interest and content to your essay. Material arranged chronologically is explained as it occurs in time. This pattern may be used to establish what has happened. Chronology or narrative can be a great way to introduce your essay by providing a background or history behind your topic. Or you may want to tell a story to develop one or more points in the body of your essay. You can use transitional words like then , next , and finally to make the parts of the chronology clear.

Here’s an example article from the Center for Media Literacy (originally published in the journal Media & Values ): “ From Savers to Spenders: How Children Became a Consumer Market .” To encourage his readers to think about why and how children are being marketed to by advertisers, the author uses a historical chronology of how the spending habits of children changed over a number of decades.

Comparison and Contrast

Are you trying to define something? Do you need your readers to understand what something is and what it is not? The comparison-and-contrast method of development is particularly useful in extending a definition, or anywhere you need to show how a subject is like or unlike another subject. For example, the statement is often made that drug abuse is a medical problem instead of a criminal justice issue. An author might attempt to prove this point by comparing drug addiction to AIDS, cancer, or heart disease to redefine the term “addiction” as a medical problem. A statement in opposition to this idea could just as easily establish contrast by explaining all the ways that addiction is different from what we traditionally understand as an illness. In seeking to establish comparison or contrast in your writing, some words or terms that might be useful are by contrast , in comparison , while , some , and others .

Here’s an example article from the New York times: “ Who Wants to Shop in a Big Box Store, Anyway? ” The author explores some interesting differences between the average American and average Indian consumer to contemplate the potential success of big box stores in India and also to contemplate why these giant big box corporations, like Walmart or Target, might have to rethink their business model.

These four methods of development—cause and effect, problem-solution, chronology or narrative, and comparison and contrast—are just a few ways to organize and develop ideas and content in your essays. It’s important to note that they should not be a starting point for writers who want to write something authentic—something that they care deeply about. Instead, they can be a great way to help you look for what’s already happening with your topic or in a draft, to help you to write more, or to help you reorganize some parts of an essay that seem to lack connection or feel disjointed. Look for organizational patterns when you’re reading work by professional writers. Notice where they combine strategies (e.g a problem-solution pattern that uses cause-and-effect organization, or a comparison-contrast pattern that uses narrative or chronology to develop similarities or differences). Pay attention to how different writers emphasize and develop their main ideas, and use what you find to inspire you in your own writing. Better yet, work on developing  completely new patterns of your own.

The Word on College Reading and Writing Copyright © by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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7.2: Use patterns of organization and development

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Patterns of organization can help your readers follow the ideas within your essay and your paragraphs, but they can also work as methods of development to help you recognize and further develop ideas and relationships in your writing. Here are some strategies that can help you with both organization and development in your essays.

Major Patterns of Organization

Read the following sentences:

  • Now take the pie out of the oven and let it cool on the stovetop.
  • Mix the dry ingredients with the liquid ingredients.
  • Set the pie crust aside while you make the filling.

How did it feel to read the above list? A bit confusing, I would guess. That’s because the steps for making a pie were not well organized, and the steps don’t include enough detail for us to know exactly what we should do. (Like what are the dry and liquid ingredients?) We all know that starting instructions from the beginning and giving each detailed step in the order it should happen is vital to having a good outcome, in this case a yummy pie! But it’s not always so simple to know how to organize or develop ideas, and sometimes there’s more than one way, which complicates things even further.

First, let’s take a look at a couple of ways to think about organization.

General to Specific or Specific to General

It might be useful to think about organizing your topic like a triangle:

Patterns_of_Organizaiton_Triangles.png

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)

The first triangle represents starting with the most general, big picture information first, moving then to more detailed and often more personal information later in the paper. The second triangle represents an organizational structure that starts with the specific, small scale information first and then moves to the more global, big picture stuff.

For example, if your topic is air pollution in Portland, Oregon, an essay that uses the general-to-specific organizational structure might begin this way:

Many people consider Portland, Oregon, to be an environmentally friendly, pollution-free place to live. They would be shocked to know how many pollutants are in the air causing a multitude of health problems in Portland’s citizens.

An essay that uses the specific-to-general structure might start like this:

When Nancy moved to Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids, she expected to find a clean, pollution-free city. She was shocked and angered when her daughter was diagnosed with asthma caused by air pollution.

What’s the difference between these two introductions? And how might they appeal to the intended audience for this essay (Portland voters) in different ways? The first introduction is looking at the big picture of the problem and mentions pollution’s impact on all citizens in Portland, while the second introduction focuses on one specific family. The first helps readers see how vast the problem really is, and the second helps connect readers to a real family, making an emotional appeal from the very beginning. Neither introduction is necessarily better. You’ll choose one over the other based on the kind of tone you’d like to create and how you’d like to affect your audience. It’s completely up to you to make this decision.

Does the Triangle Mean the Essay Keeps Getting More Specific or More Broad until the Very End?

The triangle is kind of a general guide, meaning you’re allowed to move around within it all you want. For example, it’s possible that each of your paragraphs will be its own triangle, starting with the general or specific and moving out or in. However, if you begin very broadly, it might be effective to end your essay in a more specific, personal way. And if you begin with a personal story, consider ending your essay by touching on the global impact and importance of your topic.

Are There Other Ways to Think about Organizing My Ideas?

Yes! Rather than thinking about which of your ideas are most specific or personal or which are more broad or universal, you might consider one of the following ways of organizing your ideas:

  • Most important information first (consider what you want readers to focus on first)
  • Chronological order (the order in time that events take place)
  • Compare and contrast (ideas are organized together because of their relationship to each other)

The section on Methods of Development, below, offers more detail about some of these organizational patterns, along with some others.

pencil_white_bkgr.png

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)

Choose one of the following topics, and practice writing a few opening sentences like we did above, once using the general-to-specific format and once using the specific-to-general. Which do you like better? What audience would be attracted to which one? Share with peers to see how others tackled this challenge. How would you rewrite their sentences? Why? Discuss your changes and listen to how your peers have revised your sentences. Taking in other people’s ideas will help you see new ways to approach your own writing and thinking.

  • Facing fears
  • Safety in sports
  • Community policing
  • Educating prisoners
  • Sex education
  • A book or movie that impacted you
  • One thing you would change about your community
  • Beauty standards
  • Toxic masculinity
  • How the media affects identity formation
  • Gender roles
  • Race in America
  • The value of art in society
  • Travel as part of a well-rounded education
  • Drugs and alcohol
  • Advice to new parents
  • Advice to teachers
  • The value of making mistakes
  • How you’d spend a million dollars
  • What a tough day at work taught you about yourself or others.

Methods of Development

The methods of development covered here are best used as ways to look at what’s already happening in your draft and to consider how you might emphasize or expand on any existing patterns. You might already be familiar with some of these patterns because teachers will sometimes assign them as the purpose for writing an essay. For example, you might have been asked to write a cause-and-effect essay or a comparison-and-contrast essay.

It’s important to emphasize here that patterns of organization or methods of developing content usually happen naturally as a consequence of the way the writer engages with and organizes information while writing. That is to say, most writers don’t sit down and say, “I think I’ll write a cause-and-effect essay today.” Instead, a writer might be more likely to be interested in a topic, say, the state of drinking water in the local community, and as the writer begins to explore the topic, certain cause-and-effect relationships between environmental pollutants and the community water supply may begin to emerge.

So if these patterns just occur naturally in writing, what’s the use in knowing about them? Well, sometimes you might be revising a draft and notice that some of your paragraphs are a bit underdeveloped. Maybe they lack a clear topic, or maybe they lack support. In either case, you can look to these common methods of development to find ways to sharpen those vague topics or to add support where needed. Do you have a clear cause statement somewhere but you haven’t explored the effects? Are you lacking detail somewhere where a narrative story or historical chronology can help build reader interest and add support? Are you struggling to define an idea that might benefit from some comparison or contrast? Read on to consider some of the ways that these strategies can help you in revision. And if you want to learn more, check out what the New York Times has to say in their learning blog article, “ Compare-Contrast, Cause-Effect, Problem Solution: Common ‘Text Types’ in The Times .”

Cause and Effect (or Effect and Cause)

Do you see a potential cause-and-effect relationship developing in your draft? The cause-and-effect pattern may be used to identify one or more causes followed by one or more effects or results. Or you may reverse this sequence and describe effects first and then the cause or causes. For example, the causes of water pollution might be followed by its effects on both humans and animals. You may use obvious transitions to clarify cause and effect, such as “What are the results? Here are some of them…” or you might simply use the words cause , effect , and result , to cue the reader about your about the relationships that you’re establishing.

Here’s an example article from the New York times, “ Rough Times Take Bloom Off a New Year’s Rite, the Rose Parade ,” that explores the cause and effect relationship (from 2011) between Pasadena’s budgetary challenges and the ability of their Rose Parade floats to deck themselves out in full bloom.

Problem-Solution

At some point does your essay explore a problem or suggest a solution? The problem-solution pattern is commonly used in identifying something that’s wrong and in contemplating what might be done to remedy the situation. There are probably more ways to organize a problem-solution approach, but but here are three possibilities:

  • Describe the problem, followed by the solution.
  • Propose the solution first and then describe the problems that motivated it.
  • Or a problem may be followed by several solutions, one of which is selected as the best.

When the solution is stated at the end of the paper, the pattern is sometimes called the delayed proposal. For a hostile audience, it may be effective to describe the problem, show why other solutions do not work, and finally suggest the favored solution. You can emphasize the words problem and solution to signal these sections of your paper for your reader.

Here’s an example article from the New York times, “ Monks Embrace Web to Reach Recruits ,” that highlights an unexpected approach by a group of Benedictine monks in Rhode Island; they’ve turned to social media to grow their dwindling membership. Monks on Facebook? Who knew?

Chronology or Narrative

Do you need to develop support for a topic where telling a story can illustrate some important concept for your readers? Material arranged chronologically is explained as it occurs in time. A chronological or narrative method of development might help you find a way to add both interest and content to your essay. Material arranged chronologically is explained as it occurs in time. This pattern may be used to establish what has happened. Chronology or narrative can be a great way to introduce your essay by providing a background or history behind your topic. Or you may want to tell a story to develop one or more points in the body of your essay. You can use transitional words like then , next , and finally to make the parts of the chronology clear.

Here’s an example article from the Center for Media Literacy (originally published in the journal Media & Values ): “ From Savers to Spenders: How Children Became a Consumer Market .” To encourage his readers to think about why and how children are being marketed to by advertisers, the author uses a historical chronology of how the spending habits of children changed over a number of decades.

Comparison and Contrast

Are you trying to define something? Do you need your readers to understand what something is and what it is not? The comparison-and-contrast method of development is particularly useful in extending a definition, or anywhere you need to show how a subject is like or unlike another subject. For example, the statement is often made that drug abuse is a medical problem instead of a criminal justice issue. An author might attempt to prove this point by comparing drug addiction to AIDS, cancer, or heart disease to redefine the term “addiction” as a medical problem. A statement in opposition to this idea could just as easily establish contrast by explaining all the ways that addiction is different from what we traditionally understand as an illness. In seeking to establish comparison or contrast in your writing, some words or terms that might be useful are by contrast , in comparison , while , some , and others .

Here’s an example article from the New York times: “ Who Wants to Shop in a Big Box Store, Anyway? ” The author explores some interesting differences between the average American and average Indian consumer to contemplate the potential success of big box stores in India and also to contemplate why these giant big box corporations, like Walmart or Target, might have to rethink their business model.

These four methods of development—cause and effect, problem-solution, chronology or narrative, and comparison and contrast—are just a few ways to organize and develop ideas and content in your essays. It’s important to note that they should not be a starting point for writers who want to write something authentic—something that they care deeply about. Instead, they can be a great way to help you look for what’s already happening with your topic or in a draft, to help you to write more, or to help you reorganize some parts of an essay that seem to lack connection or feel disjointed. Look for organizational patterns when you’re reading work by professional writers. Notice where they combine strategies (e.g a problem-solution pattern that uses cause-and-effect organization, or a comparison-contrast pattern that uses narrative or chronology to develop similarities or differences). Pay attention to how different writers emphasize and develop their main ideas, and use what you find to inspire you in your own writing. Better yet, work on developing completely new patterns of your own.

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Organization Development: Theory, Research, and Practice

To him who devotes his life to science, nothing can give more happiness than increasing the number of discoveries. But his cup of joy is full when the results of his studies immediately find practical application. There are not two sciences. There is only one science and the application of science, and these two activities are linked as the fruit is to the tree. Louis Pasteur Organization Development (OD) is the practical application of organization science. Drawing from several disciplines for its models, strategies, and techniques, OD focuses on the planned change of human systems and contributes to organization science through the knowledge gained from its study of complex change dynamics. The field follows Kurt Lewin’s two dicta, “In order to truly understand something, try changing it.” and “There is nothing as practical as a good theory.” The interplay between scientific theory development and its application makes OD an exciting and vibrant part of organization studies. Although a substantial number of important contributions have been made, the field has had its problems, some of which have plagued it from the beginning. Many of OD’s problems relate to its relative newness as an academic field; it has been in existence slightly more than three decades. Some derive from the enormous complexity that exists in the processes OD attempts to map. Consequently, OD’s theoretical base is unsettled; there are blurred conceptualizations of the OD process and inadequate understandings of its underlying change mechanisms. In add ion, significant questions about the robustness of OD research methods cast doubt on the validity of many research findings. Moreover, the tendency to emphasize action over systematic evaluation of OD’s — effects results in a less than desired data base for the field. Finally, the field has, for some, a “messianic” rather than scientific flavor because of its normative humanistic value-based roots. These factors make the field a difficult as well as challenging arena for both research and practice. The purpose of this chapter is to capture some of the vitality and complexity of OD and to present its theory, practice, and research in such a way that the reader can better comprehend the essence of the field, where it is now, and where it is headed. We begin with brief introductory comments on organizational change as a construct and a definition of Organization Development. We expand on this definition by presenting a perspective on organizational change based on Porras’ (Porras, 1986, 1987; Porras & Silvers, 199 1) organizational framework. A discussion of OD theory follows, concentrating on two types, change process theory and change implementation theory. Next, we broadly describe the vast array of intervention techniques currently popular in the field and discuss a few in depth. Then, we describe research findings on the effects of OD, and discuss what OD does and does

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  • How to conclude an essay | Interactive example

How to Conclude an Essay | Interactive Example

Published on January 24, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The conclusion is the final paragraph of your essay . A strong conclusion aims to:

  • Tie together the essay’s main points
  • Show why your argument matters
  • Leave the reader with a strong impression

Your conclusion should give a sense of closure and completion to your argument, but also show what new questions or possibilities it has opened up.

This conclusion is taken from our annotated essay example , which discusses the history of the Braille system. Hover over each part to see why it’s effective.

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

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Table of contents

Step 1: return to your thesis, step 2: review your main points, step 3: show why it matters, what shouldn’t go in the conclusion, more examples of essay conclusions, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay conclusion.

To begin your conclusion, signal that the essay is coming to an end by returning to your overall argument.

Don’t just repeat your thesis statement —instead, try to rephrase your argument in a way that shows how it has been developed since the introduction.

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See an example

organizational development essay conclusion

Next, remind the reader of the main points that you used to support your argument.

Avoid simply summarizing each paragraph or repeating each point in order; try to bring your points together in a way that makes the connections between them clear. The conclusion is your final chance to show how all the paragraphs of your essay add up to a coherent whole.

To wrap up your conclusion, zoom out to a broader view of the topic and consider the implications of your argument. For example:

  • Does it contribute a new understanding of your topic?
  • Does it raise new questions for future study?
  • Does it lead to practical suggestions or predictions?
  • Can it be applied to different contexts?
  • Can it be connected to a broader debate or theme?

Whatever your essay is about, the conclusion should aim to emphasize the significance of your argument, whether that’s within your academic subject or in the wider world.

Try to end with a strong, decisive sentence, leaving the reader with a lingering sense of interest in your topic.

The easiest way to improve your conclusion is to eliminate these common mistakes.

Don’t include new evidence

Any evidence or analysis that is essential to supporting your thesis statement should appear in the main body of the essay.

The conclusion might include minor pieces of new information—for example, a sentence or two discussing broader implications, or a quotation that nicely summarizes your central point. But it shouldn’t introduce any major new sources or ideas that need further explanation to understand.

Don’t use “concluding phrases”

Avoid using obvious stock phrases to tell the reader what you’re doing:

  • “In conclusion…”
  • “To sum up…”

These phrases aren’t forbidden, but they can make your writing sound weak. By returning to your main argument, it will quickly become clear that you are concluding the essay—you shouldn’t have to spell it out.

Don’t undermine your argument

Avoid using apologetic phrases that sound uncertain or confused:

  • “This is just one approach among many.”
  • “There are good arguments on both sides of this issue.”
  • “There is no clear answer to this problem.”

Even if your essay has explored different points of view, your own position should be clear. There may be many possible approaches to the topic, but you want to leave the reader convinced that yours is the best one!

  • Argumentative
  • Literary analysis

This conclusion is taken from an argumentative essay about the internet’s impact on education. It acknowledges the opposing arguments while taking a clear, decisive position.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

This conclusion is taken from a short expository essay that explains the invention of the printing press and its effects on European society. It focuses on giving a clear, concise overview of what was covered in the essay.

The invention of the printing press was important not only in terms of its immediate cultural and economic effects, but also in terms of its major impact on politics and religion across Europe. In the century following the invention of the printing press, the relatively stationary intellectual atmosphere of the Middle Ages gave way to the social upheavals of the Reformation and the Renaissance. A single technological innovation had contributed to the total reshaping of the continent.

This conclusion is taken from a literary analysis essay about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . It summarizes what the essay’s analysis achieved and emphasizes its originality.

By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Your essay’s conclusion should contain:

  • A rephrased version of your overall thesis
  • A brief review of the key points you made in the main body
  • An indication of why your argument matters

The conclusion may also reflect on the broader implications of your argument, showing how your ideas could applied to other contexts or debates.

For a stronger conclusion paragraph, avoid including:

  • Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the main body
  • Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion…”)
  • Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g. “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

The conclusion paragraph of an essay is usually shorter than the introduction . As a rule, it shouldn’t take up more than 10–15% of the text.

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McCombes, S. (2023, July 23). How to Conclude an Essay | Interactive Example. Scribbr. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/conclusion/

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organizational development essay conclusion

  • What is Organizational Development? A...

What is Organizational Development? A Complete Guide

OD

What is organizational development? A definition

  • Critical and science-based process . OD is an evidence-based and structured process. It is not about trying something out and seeing what happens. It is about using scientific findings as input and creating a structured and controlled process in which assumptions are tested. Lastly, it is about testing if the outcomes reflect the intention of the intervention.
  • Build capacity to change and achieve greater effectiveness. Organizational development is aimed at organizational effectiveness . It, therefore, has a number of (business) outcomes. These can differ between organizations, but usually, they do include financial performance, customer satisfaction, organizational member engagement, and an increased capacity to adapt and renew the organization. These are not always clear-cut. Sometimes it is about building a competitive advantage, in whichever way we define that. We will explore these outcomes later in this article
  • Developing, improving, and reinforcing strategies, structures, and processes. The last part of our definition states that organizational development applies to changes in strategy, structure, and/or processes. This implies a system-approach, where we focus on an entire organizational system. This can include the full organization, one or more locations, or a single department.

Organizational development definition

The goals of organizational development

Organizational Development Pricess

18 examples of OD interventions

Human process interventions, technostructural interventions.

JDS Diagnostic Profile

Human Resource Management Interventions

Strategic change interventions, how human resources and od relate.

The organizational development process

1. entering and contracting, 2. diagnostics.

Comprehensive model for diagnosing organizational systems

3. Data collection and analyzing

4. feedback, 5. designing interventions, 6. leading and managing change.

Kotter Change Model

7. Evaluation and institutionalization of change

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How Leaders Get in the Way of Organizational Change

  • Ron Carucci

organizational development essay conclusion

Three common mistakes to avoid.

Despite the vast body of knowledge available to leaders on how to effect lasting, positive organizational change, too many executives continue reaching for the same comfortable levers that consistently miss the mark. Thus, the oft-cited failure rate of organization transformations continues hovering around 70%. If you’ve got a major change on the horizon, here’s how to avoid three of the most common saboteurs of company transformation. First, understand that significant change will be harder than you think it will be to achieve. Next, be realistic about your organization’s capacity to implement changes. Finally, make sure your organization understands how and why the transformation is important to you.

I received a call from the chief transformation officer of a midsize financial services company. Their company-wide change effort to shift from a product company to a services company was in shambles after being underway for nearly two years. “We thought we’d done everything we needed to do to keep this transformation from derailing,” he told me. “We communicated relentlessly, held virtual town halls to engage people, and resourced dozens of initiatives to support the vision for change. But we’ve ended up with nothing but hamsters running on wheels. We’ve made no measurable progress, cynicism is setting in as people are mired in activities that feel futile, and we’ve long lost sight of the vision for why we started this journey in the first place.”

Our in-depth diagnostic revealed derailers I’ve seen ensnare change efforts for decades, no matter how well intended the efforts were. Leaders frequently underestimate the amount of work required for the change, overestimate the organization’s capacity to make the change, and misjudge how the organization views their connection to the change.

Despite the vast body of knowledge available to leaders on how to effect lasting, positive organizational change, too many executives continue reaching for the same comfortable levers that consistently miss the mark. Thus, the oft-cited failure rate of organization transformations continues hovering around 70%. If you’ve got a major change on the horizon (or have one stuck in a ditch), here’s how to avoid (or extract yourself from the grips of) three of the most common saboteurs of organizational change.

Scope naiveté: Underestimating the work

Simply put, most leaders want transformational change to be easier than it is. There’s not a first-time change leader who hasn’t said, “This is so much harder than I expected.” In response, I commonly ask, “On what did you base those expectations?” I usually get an agape look and silence in response.

By its nature, transformational change creates discontinuity because it touches the entire organization. In the case of the financial services company, shifting from product to service centricity meant every aspect of the organization, from sales to operations, was going to be touched by the need for change.

By contrast, incremental change — for example, implementing a new technology platform or launching a new product — touches discrete aspects of the organization. My client made the mistake many companies do: Assuming that a larger volume of incremental changes would add up to transformation. So, they sprayed the organization with disconnected initiatives whose efforts weren’t coordinated, that were actually under-resourced for what they were expected to deliver, and whose project leaders lacked the authority to make material decisions or impose consequences on those unwilling to cooperate. Instead of accelerated change, the result was obstructed change — a system clogged with an overload of disparate efforts that everyone stopped caring about.

When you mix this with a barrage of glitzy one-way communication campaigns, many naturally conclude that the change is “all sizzle, no steak.” Pep-rally town halls attempting to hype the potential benefits of the transformation are met with cynical disbelief as those dealing with the disconnected, competing, under-resourced, and poorly led initiatives wonder how leaders could be so out of touch.

Multifaceted transformational change needs to be appropriately scoped, resourced, and most importantly, integrated. Every initiative must be linked to every other initiative. In the case of my client, efforts to market the benefits of newly positioned services needed to be synched with the efforts of operations people to actually deliver those services. Messages to customers needed to synch with new skills those delivering the services needed to acquire. Centralized services from corporate needed to dovetail with local branch offices’ ability to customize services. And it all needed to be sequenced and paced in a way the organization could productively absorb. Though the need for all of this was foreseeable, none of this work had been considered when the transformation was conceived. Once these efforts were appropriately integrated, means and ends began to match, and real change eventually aligned with the messages.

Change laziness: Overestimating the organization’s capacity

What many executives responsible for declaring change forget is that those who have to deliver the change still have day jobs. They neglect to calculate the capacity those impacted by change will need to make it successful while still carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities. Many executives set change in motion and get distracted by the next shiny object that excites them soon after. Instead of working on changes needed in their personal leadership, they make videos reminding people of the “strategic importance” of change, have their communications people write newsletter articles with their byline, and inadvertently declare premature victory by citing early progress on efforts that don’t actually amount to tangible change. Transformation lazily gets reduced to nothing more than a campaign.

With the financial services company, we viewed no less than 17 beautifully produced videos featuring many senior executives, read scores of newsletter articles touting examples of early adopting customers of the company’s new services, and read through hundreds of emails from the 23 initiative leaders updating the organization on their various activities. The open rate of these emails was around 18%.

Despite so much information “communicated” about the change, our assessment revealed widespread confusion about its purpose and a slew of misperceptions about what was actually going on. Worse, since the inception of this transformation, the organization had layered on multiple additional changes that leaders claimed were connected to the transformation, but in reality, were not. For example, human resources began implementing a new HR information platform across the whole company that they’d put off for years. They labeled it “People Service” to create the illusion of a connection to the broader transformation in hopes to garner greater buy-in.

Transformational change starts with an honest acknowledgement of how hard the work will be, how much capacity and discipline the organization actually has, and the personal commitments of sponsoring executives to change first . Further, communicating change effectively requires listening to the organization twice as much as telling the organization about the change.

First, we recommended pausing a number of efforts. Leaders shut down initiatives the company had neither the capacity nor resources to implement successfully. Then, they instituted listening circles in which leaders were only allowed to ask questions, and not get defensive while hearing employees talk about the mess that had been made. We helped identify aspects of people’s day jobs that could be paused in order to redeploy needed capacity toward change. And we identified six critical leadership capabilities that executives leading a service company must all have, assessed the company’s top 45 leaders against these capabilities, and put development and coaching plans in place for each of them. Their updates to the organization now included acknowledgement of the capabilities they assessed low on and what they were doing to improve. This gave the transformation an instant boost of credibility as the organization could now see these leaders put their own skin in the game. Public commitments to personal change are a leader’s signature of integrity on changes they commission.

The perceived pet project: Misjudging how others see you

It’s no secret that many transformation efforts are born of a leader’s personal convictions and interests. The success of such projects often leads to the advancement of that leader’s career. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That is, unless the leader tries to hide it behind lofty spin about “the greater good” or downplays the grueling sacrifice required by others to make change happen. Sponsors of change fear that acknowledging their personal connection to a transformation might hinder gaining the organization’s commitment. And if leaders only want the benefits with none of the personal cost, lost commitment will indeed be the result.

But leaders who are willing to roll up their sleeves and do their part to advance an arduous transformation are smart to let the organization know how and why the change is personal to them. (Leaders for whom a major change is nothing more than smokescreen behind which they hope to advance their career shouldn’t be foolish enough to think the organization doesn’t see right through it.)

In the case of my client, the transformation was conceived largely by an executive who had joined the company as head of strategy about a year prior. She had come from another financial services company that failed to make the same migration to selling services. She knew the industry was shifting and would mercilessly leave companies behind that neglected to stay ahead of growing customer trends. And if she could succeed at leading that change here, it would set her up as a likely successor to the CEO. Being relatively new to the company, she feared people would assume she was exclusively out for the top job, so she overcompensated by depersonalizing the change, which backfired. What people concluded was that she was only there for the short-term stock bump but would eventually give up, cash out, and move on.

Ironically, her story of past failure revealed deep personal convictions that gave the change greater merit, and her public ownership of wanting to stay at the company long term (obviously not specifying in what capacity) quickly put her in a more trustworthy light. Through a series of virtual town halls, she expressed her passion for the transformation and why she believed the organization could be successful  and acknowledged her insecurity about being new to the company and wanting to be accepted. By owning her story, she helped people to stop ascribing the self-interested motives she assumed she was avoiding and instead double down on their own motives for why the change would be good for everyone.

Transformational change must become personal for every employee if it’s going to stick. With her story as a foundation, we conducted a series of virtual workshops that invited employees to connect their own sense of purpose to the aspirations of the transformation. In small groups, employees got to share their vision for how their role would shift and the impact their work could eventually have on customers, the company, and their careers.

If you’re in the throes of or about to start a major transformation, I trust you have a sense for how hard it will be. The unforeseen obstacles you’ll face will test your endurance and optimism. Do the necessary work to prepare yourself and your organization for the journey. The one obstacle you can best prevent from derailing transformation is yourself .

organizational development essay conclusion

  • Ron Carucci is co-founder and managing partner at  Navalent , working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change. He is the bestselling author of eight books, including To Be Honest and Rising to Power . Connect with him on Linked In at  RonCarucci , and download his free “How Honest is My Team?” assessment.

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Organization Development and Its Future

OD (Organization Development) is mainly the practice and theory of planned, methodical change in the values, beliefs, and attitudes of the employees through creating and reinforcing long-term training programs. It is paramount to note that OD is action-oriented and it begins with a thorough organization-wide investigation of the current situation as well as future requirements. OD mainly employs various behavioral sciences techniques such as transactional analysis, sensitivity training, and behavior modeling. The fundamental objective of OD is to enable an organization adopt better to fast-changing external environments of new technologies, regulations, and markets (Foster, 2014).

In addition, Organizational development is a field of theory, practice, and research devoted to knowledge development. As well, OD is also dedicated to the efficiency of employees or people to achieve a more flourishing performance and change in an organization. OD is also a process of evaluation, action planning, and continuous diagnosis. Its major objective of transferring skills and knowledge to organizations so that they can effectively improve their capacity required for managing future change and solving problems (Foster, 2014).

The history of OD began in the 1950s when human relations studies were conducted. There were reputable psychologists who conducted these studies and they concluded that organizational processes and structures influenced the employee’s motivation and behavior. Currently, the growth of OD has its aim focused on efficiently bringing into line organizations in handling the complex and rapidly changing environment. In order to achieve this, organizational values and norms transformation, organizational learning, and knowledge management has to be aligned effectively. There are various key concepts in OD, and they include the organizational climate, organizational culture, and organizational strategies (Foster, 2014).

OD has been able to change effectively the perception of how people think regarding an organization’s work effectively. OD has continued to change rapidly due to the technological changes, which has ensured that practitioners and leaders are abreast with these changes in achieving organizational success. OD consists of a valuable heritage, which will continue to assist organizations to tackle their challenges. In addition, there will be innovation of new tools and ideas that will enable organizations to handle effectively tougher challenges in organizational and change dynamics particularly in this diverse, complex world. This is the paramount reason OD should be strengthened so that it can maintain its fundamental core values effectively through the establishment of innovative solutions (Foster, 2014).

The future of Organization development is dependent on two main aspects and they include E-change and O-change. The two aspects must go hand-in-hand because OD is an equal and strong supporter of E-change. On the other hand, there are five approaches, which can be utilized in leading a successful organizational change. These five approaches include education, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation, and straight talk. However, for these approaches to be effective, leaders should not resist resistance. Since they lead a successful organizational change and this change should start with the leader changing first so that the other employees can follow (O’Brien, 2008).

In conclusion, OD is indeed the game-changer in predicting the future of many organizations, and it should be able to overcome leadership, strategy, and competency barriers. OD will always continue to be an integral aspect to the HR professionals so that they can be able to support their organizations in the current turbulent, competitive, and rapidly changing world effectively. OD major focus is to assist in building healthy organizations, which contribute, to the society (Foster, 2014).

Foster, C. (2014). Organization Development. Web.

O’Brien, M. J. (2008). 5 approaches to leading successful organizational change. Leadership and Management. Healthcare Financial Management.

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Essay on Organizational Development | Management

organizational development essay conclusion

Read this essay to learn about organisational development. After reading this essay you will learn about:- 1. Meaning of Organisation Development 2. Objectives of Organisational Development Efforts 3. Strategies 4. Effectiveness 5. Promise.

List of Essays on Organisational Development

Essay Contents:

  • Essay on the Promise of Organisational Development

1. Essay on the Meaning of Organisation Development:

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Managing change in individuals and organisations is a continuous process. If this is done, a good organisational climate can be maintained. Some organisations may make a thorough analysis of organisational problems and then implement a long-range programme based on it. Such an approach goes by the name Organisational Development.

Although organisational change and development are related, organisational developmental activities are principally directed at improving the process or interpersonal side of organisational life. In fact, several organisations seek to cope with changes by developing innovative ways not only to deal with change but also to promote it.

One such innovative method is organisational develop­ment. It shows great promise for helping organisations go through a process of change, renewal, and revitalisation.

Definition :

Organisational development is a broad term referring to all the activities engaged in by managers, employees and helpers which are directed toward building and maintaining the health of the organisation as a total system. It is a comprehensive long-term plan, rather than one undertaken by an individual manager.

Organisational development is concerned with changing attitudes, perceptive, behaviour and expectations.

To be more specific, organisational development can be defined as “an effort planned, organisation-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organisation effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organisation’s ‘process’, using behavioural science knowledge”.

This means that any attempt to use organisational development in an organisation needs to be systematic, must be supported by top management and should be broad in its application.

Assumptions:

The theory and practice of organisational development are based on some very important assumptions:

(1) Firstly, employees must have a desire to grow and develop;

(2) Secondly, they must have a strong need to be accepted by other group members;

(3) And, the total organisation and the way it is designed will influence the way individuals and groups within the organisation behave;

(4) Moreover, some form of collaboration between managers and employees is necessary to take advantage of the skills and abilities of the employees and eliminate aspects of the organisation that retard employee growth, development and group acceptance.

2. Essay on the Objectives of Organisational Development Efforts :

According to Gene E. Burton, the “primary purpose of organisational development is to bring about a system of organisational renewal that can effectively cope with environmental changes.In doing so organisational development strives to maximise organisational effectiveness as well as individual work satisfaction.”

The other objectives of organisational development are the following:

1. To increase the level of trust and support among the people in an organisation.

2. To create an environment in which the authority of an assigned role is enhanced by personal authority based on expertise and knowledge.

3. To increase the level of permanent and group-responsibility in planning and implementa­tion.

4. To increase the openness of communication among the members of the organisation.

5. To search out or identify synergistic solutions to problems with greater frequency.

3. Essay on the Organisational Development Strategies :

Organisational development is perhaps the most comprehensive strategy for managers. It involves all the activities and levels of management in ongoing programmes that respond to internal and external forces. The organisational development process can be pictured as a cyclical process as in Fig.15.7.

Model for the Organisational Development Process

Organisational development strategies consist of various tools, devices, and methods for intro­ducing changes. W.L. French and C.H. Bell, Jr., have identified 12 kinds of interventions or activities that are performed in the service of organisational development. These are listed in Table 15.4.

Categories of Organisational Development Interventions

1. Diagnostic Activities:

As in medical profession, diagnostic organisational development activities analyse the current conditions of an organisation. Diagnostic techniques include various methods such as questionnaires, opinion or attitude surveys, interview, archival data and meetings. The diagnosis is likely to generate profiles of the organisation’s operating procedures and growth patterns, which can be used to identify problem areas — i.e., areas which need correction.

2. Team Building:

Team-building activities seek to enhance the effectiveness and satisfaction of individuals who work in groups, or teams. Project teams in a matrix organisation seem to be suitable candidates for such activities. And organisational development commitment might interview team members to determine their feeling about the group on the basis of which an off-site meeting could be held to discuss the issues that surfaced and to iron out any problem areas or member concerns.

3. Survey Feedback:

In survey feedback, each employee responds to a questionnaire intended to measure perceptions and attitudes (for example, satisfaction and supervisory style). The results of such survey are feedback to anyone involved, including the supervisor. Work­shops are then conducted to evaluate results and suggest constructive changes.

4. Education:

In the context of organisational development, educational activities typically focuses on ‘sensitivity skills’. That is, it teaches employees to be considerate and understand their peers and subordinates better.

5. Intergroup Activities:

The focus of such activities is improving the relationships between two or more groups. As a general rule, as group interdependence increases, so do co-ordination difficulties. Intergroup organisational development activities are designed to pro­mote cooperation or resolve conflict that may have arisen as a result of interdependence.

6. Third-Party Peacemaking:

Third-party peacemaking may proceed on the individual, group or organisational level. In this context, the third party is usually an organisational develop­ment consultant. He uses various mediation or negotiation techniques to resolve any problems or conflicts between individuals or groups.

7. Techno-Structural Activities:

Such activities are concerned with the design of the organisa­tion and its technology. Examples of techno-structural organisational development activi­ties are a structural change (such as an increase in decentralisation), a job design change (such as an increase in the use of automation), and a technological change (such as a change in work). The common objective of such activities is to improve group and interpersonal relationships within the organisation.

8. Process Consultation:

In process consultation an organisational development consultant observes groups in the organisation to develop an understanding of their communication pattern, decision-making and leadership process and methods of cooperation and conflict resolution. The consultant then provides feedback to the involved parties about the proc­esses he(she) has observed.

9. Life and Career Planning:

This technique helps employees formulate their personal goals and evaluate strategies for properly integrating these goals with those of the organisation. Such activities could include specification of training needs, plotting a career map and similar life and career-related ideas.

10. Coaching and Counselling:

This technique provides non-evaluate feedback to individuals. The objective is to help people develop a better sense of how others see them and to help people learn behaviours that are likely to assist othersin achieving their work-related goals.

11. Planning and Goal Setting:

This technique helps individuals and groups integrate them­selves better into the overall planning process. This technique is more pragmatic than others.

12. Grid Organisatio nal Development:

The grid approach to organisational development is based on the Managerial Grid.

It may be recalled that the Managerial Grid provides a means for evaluating leadership styles and then training managers to move toward an idea style of behaviour.

Two important points may be noted in this context. Prima facie, receptiveness of organisational members is crucial to the success of organisational development efforts. Secondly, consent of the governed is required before any implementation of strategies. Usually a long time is required to pave the way for changes as well as to implement them.

4. Essay on the Effectiveness of Organisational Development :

Since organisational development is an on-going, long-term effort to introduce permanent — as opposed to transitory — changes and to reshape an organisation’s technology, structure and people, its successful implementation depends on huge investments of money and time.

Both are equally vital to accurately diagnose problems, select strategies and evaluate the effectiveness of the organ­isational development programme. Given the diversity of activities encompassed by organisational development, manufacturers report mixed results from various organisational development inter­ventions.

Some companies have trained many individuals in organisational development processes and techniques. These trained experts have subsequently become internal organisational develop­ment consultants to assist other managers in applying the techniques. By contrast, many other organisations report that they have tried organisational development but then discarded it.

Results of the organisational development evaluation do provide the necessary feedback to redirect and improve programmes, strategies and change agents. In the ultimate analysis, the effectiveness of organisational development, like any other managerial effort, depends on the quality of its expected outcomes.

It has to be based on solid research, clear goals, appropriate methods and effective change agents. Most organisations employ outside consultants as change agents because they are supposed to bring unique and specialized skills and knowledge to their tasks. Moreover, these people are objective in their approaches and may be better equipped to sell their ideas, approaches and management’s goals.

However, organisational development is not a panacea that is likely to solve all organisational problems. It requires top management support. It has worked well in organisations where the work environment favours a participative, problem-solving approach to achieve effective results.

Although organisational development appears to be so promising, very few groups and organi­sations are practising it at present. There are various reasons for this. Firstly, managers have started learning within the organisations. Secondly organisational development is a complex process and requires a large organisation for its success. Thirdly, it has not always been successful even in large organisations.

Empirical research has shown that efforts to introduce a change succeed in the following areas:

1. Profit-seeking organisations.

2. Task environments that are stable in the long run and unstable in the short run.

3. When the parties involved voluntarily collaborate in the endeavour.

4. When the change agent has a participative orientation.

5. If the solution is focused on a mix of organisational relationships.

6. If change efforts are directed at the total organisation.

7. If change efforts employ standardised strategies that involve high levels of participation.

5. Essay on the Promise of Organisational Development:

Organisational development is an outward expression of management’s effort to say flexible. It recognises that events inside and outside the organisation can happen quite suddenly and create pressures for change. Organisational development provides the personnel and mechanisms to deal with those changes and to control the evolution of change and its impact on the organisational structure, technology and people.

However, the ultimate promise of organisational development is that, when successfully applied, organisational development efforts enable the organisation to remove obstacles to individual and organisational development and renewal.

What about the future? The speculation is that organisational development will remain an important part of management theory and practice. Of course, there are no “sure things” when dealing with social systems such as organisations, and the effectiveness of many organisational development techniques is difficult to evaluate.

Since all organisations are open systems interacting with their complex external environments, an improvement in an organisation may be attributable to an organisational development intervention — but it may also be attributable to changes in economic conditions, luck or other factors.

Related Articles:

  • Essay on Management Development
  • Organizational Effectiveness: Top 4 Approaches | Management
  • Organisational Development (O.D): Meaning, Objectives and Steps
  • Training and Development of Employees | Essay | Personnel Management

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1.7 Conclusion

This chapter is designed to familiarize you with the concept of organizational behavior. We have covered methods organizations might use to address issues related to the way people behave at work. In addition, you should now be familiar with the large number of factors, both within an individual and within the environment, that may influence a person’s behaviors and attitudes. In the coming years, society is likely to see a major shift in the way organizations function, resulting from rapid technological advances, social awareness, and cultural blending. OB studies hope to enhance an organization’s ability to cope with these issues and create an environment that is mutually beneficial to the company as well as its employees.

Organizational Behavior Copyright © 2017 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Examples on these pages illustrate the details of reference formats. We make every attempt to show examples that are in keeping with APA Style’s guiding principles of inclusivity and bias-free language. These examples are presented out of context only to demonstrate formatting issues (e.g., which elements to italicize, where punctuation is needed, placement of parentheses). References, including these examples, are not inherently endorsements for the ideas or content of the works themselves. An author may cite a work to support a statement or an idea, to critique that work, or for many other reasons. For more examples, see our sample papers .

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The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value

If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI (gen AI) , 2024 is the year organizations truly began using—and deriving business value from—this new technology. In the latest McKinsey Global Survey  on AI, 65 percent of respondents report that their organizations are regularly using gen AI, nearly double the percentage from our previous survey just ten months ago. Respondents’ expectations for gen AI’s impact remain as high as they were last year , with three-quarters predicting that gen AI will lead to significant or disruptive change in their industries in the years ahead.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Alex Singla , Alexander Sukharevsky , Lareina Yee , and Michael Chui , with Bryce Hall , representing views from QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and McKinsey Digital.

Organizations are already seeing material benefits from gen AI use, reporting both cost decreases and revenue jumps in the business units deploying the technology. The survey also provides insights into the kinds of risks presented by gen AI—most notably, inaccuracy—as well as the emerging practices of top performers to mitigate those challenges and capture value.

AI adoption surges

Interest in generative AI has also brightened the spotlight on a broader set of AI capabilities. For the past six years, AI adoption by respondents’ organizations has hovered at about 50 percent. This year, the survey finds that adoption has jumped to 72 percent (Exhibit 1). And the interest is truly global in scope. Our 2023 survey found that AI adoption did not reach 66 percent in any region; however, this year more than two-thirds of respondents in nearly every region say their organizations are using AI. 1 Organizations based in Central and South America are the exception, with 58 percent of respondents working for organizations based in Central and South America reporting AI adoption. Looking by industry, the biggest increase in adoption can be found in professional services. 2 Includes respondents working for organizations focused on human resources, legal services, management consulting, market research, R&D, tax preparation, and training.

Also, responses suggest that companies are now using AI in more parts of the business. Half of respondents say their organizations have adopted AI in two or more business functions, up from less than a third of respondents in 2023 (Exhibit 2).

Gen AI adoption is most common in the functions where it can create the most value

Most respondents now report that their organizations—and they as individuals—are using gen AI. Sixty-five percent of respondents say their organizations are regularly using gen AI in at least one business function, up from one-third last year. The average organization using gen AI is doing so in two functions, most often in marketing and sales and in product and service development—two functions in which previous research  determined that gen AI adoption could generate the most value 3 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023. —as well as in IT (Exhibit 3). The biggest increase from 2023 is found in marketing and sales, where reported adoption has more than doubled. Yet across functions, only two use cases, both within marketing and sales, are reported by 15 percent or more of respondents.

Gen AI also is weaving its way into respondents’ personal lives. Compared with 2023, respondents are much more likely to be using gen AI at work and even more likely to be using gen AI both at work and in their personal lives (Exhibit 4). The survey finds upticks in gen AI use across all regions, with the largest increases in Asia–Pacific and Greater China. Respondents at the highest seniority levels, meanwhile, show larger jumps in the use of gen Al tools for work and outside of work compared with their midlevel-management peers. Looking at specific industries, respondents working in energy and materials and in professional services report the largest increase in gen AI use.

Investments in gen AI and analytical AI are beginning to create value

The latest survey also shows how different industries are budgeting for gen AI. Responses suggest that, in many industries, organizations are about equally as likely to be investing more than 5 percent of their digital budgets in gen AI as they are in nongenerative, analytical-AI solutions (Exhibit 5). Yet in most industries, larger shares of respondents report that their organizations spend more than 20 percent on analytical AI than on gen AI. Looking ahead, most respondents—67 percent—expect their organizations to invest more in AI over the next three years.

Where are those investments paying off? For the first time, our latest survey explored the value created by gen AI use by business function. The function in which the largest share of respondents report seeing cost decreases is human resources. Respondents most commonly report meaningful revenue increases (of more than 5 percent) in supply chain and inventory management (Exhibit 6). For analytical AI, respondents most often report seeing cost benefits in service operations—in line with what we found last year —as well as meaningful revenue increases from AI use in marketing and sales.

Inaccuracy: The most recognized and experienced risk of gen AI use

As businesses begin to see the benefits of gen AI, they’re also recognizing the diverse risks associated with the technology. These can range from data management risks such as data privacy, bias, or intellectual property (IP) infringement to model management risks, which tend to focus on inaccurate output or lack of explainability. A third big risk category is security and incorrect use.

Respondents to the latest survey are more likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider inaccuracy and IP infringement to be relevant to their use of gen AI, and about half continue to view cybersecurity as a risk (Exhibit 7).

Conversely, respondents are less likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider workforce and labor displacement to be relevant risks and are not increasing efforts to mitigate them.

In fact, inaccuracy— which can affect use cases across the gen AI value chain , ranging from customer journeys and summarization to coding and creative content—is the only risk that respondents are significantly more likely than last year to say their organizations are actively working to mitigate.

Some organizations have already experienced negative consequences from the use of gen AI, with 44 percent of respondents saying their organizations have experienced at least one consequence (Exhibit 8). Respondents most often report inaccuracy as a risk that has affected their organizations, followed by cybersecurity and explainability.

Our previous research has found that there are several elements of governance that can help in scaling gen AI use responsibly, yet few respondents report having these risk-related practices in place. 4 “ Implementing generative AI with speed and safety ,” McKinsey Quarterly , March 13, 2024. For example, just 18 percent say their organizations have an enterprise-wide council or board with the authority to make decisions involving responsible AI governance, and only one-third say gen AI risk awareness and risk mitigation controls are required skill sets for technical talent.

Bringing gen AI capabilities to bear

The latest survey also sought to understand how, and how quickly, organizations are deploying these new gen AI tools. We have found three archetypes for implementing gen AI solutions : takers use off-the-shelf, publicly available solutions; shapers customize those tools with proprietary data and systems; and makers develop their own foundation models from scratch. 5 “ Technology’s generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide ,” McKinsey, July 11, 2023. Across most industries, the survey results suggest that organizations are finding off-the-shelf offerings applicable to their business needs—though many are pursuing opportunities to customize models or even develop their own (Exhibit 9). About half of reported gen AI uses within respondents’ business functions are utilizing off-the-shelf, publicly available models or tools, with little or no customization. Respondents in energy and materials, technology, and media and telecommunications are more likely to report significant customization or tuning of publicly available models or developing their own proprietary models to address specific business needs.

Respondents most often report that their organizations required one to four months from the start of a project to put gen AI into production, though the time it takes varies by business function (Exhibit 10). It also depends upon the approach for acquiring those capabilities. Not surprisingly, reported uses of highly customized or proprietary models are 1.5 times more likely than off-the-shelf, publicly available models to take five months or more to implement.

Gen AI high performers are excelling despite facing challenges

Gen AI is a new technology, and organizations are still early in the journey of pursuing its opportunities and scaling it across functions. So it’s little surprise that only a small subset of respondents (46 out of 876) report that a meaningful share of their organizations’ EBIT can be attributed to their deployment of gen AI. Still, these gen AI leaders are worth examining closely. These, after all, are the early movers, who already attribute more than 10 percent of their organizations’ EBIT to their use of gen AI. Forty-two percent of these high performers say more than 20 percent of their EBIT is attributable to their use of nongenerative, analytical AI, and they span industries and regions—though most are at organizations with less than $1 billion in annual revenue. The AI-related practices at these organizations can offer guidance to those looking to create value from gen AI adoption at their own organizations.

To start, gen AI high performers are using gen AI in more business functions—an average of three functions, while others average two. They, like other organizations, are most likely to use gen AI in marketing and sales and product or service development, but they’re much more likely than others to use gen AI solutions in risk, legal, and compliance; in strategy and corporate finance; and in supply chain and inventory management. They’re more than three times as likely as others to be using gen AI in activities ranging from processing of accounting documents and risk assessment to R&D testing and pricing and promotions. While, overall, about half of reported gen AI applications within business functions are utilizing publicly available models or tools, gen AI high performers are less likely to use those off-the-shelf options than to either implement significantly customized versions of those tools or to develop their own proprietary foundation models.

What else are these high performers doing differently? For one thing, they are paying more attention to gen-AI-related risks. Perhaps because they are further along on their journeys, they are more likely than others to say their organizations have experienced every negative consequence from gen AI we asked about, from cybersecurity and personal privacy to explainability and IP infringement. Given that, they are more likely than others to report that their organizations consider those risks, as well as regulatory compliance, environmental impacts, and political stability, to be relevant to their gen AI use, and they say they take steps to mitigate more risks than others do.

Gen AI high performers are also much more likely to say their organizations follow a set of risk-related best practices (Exhibit 11). For example, they are nearly twice as likely as others to involve the legal function and embed risk reviews early on in the development of gen AI solutions—that is, to “ shift left .” They’re also much more likely than others to employ a wide range of other best practices, from strategy-related practices to those related to scaling.

In addition to experiencing the risks of gen AI adoption, high performers have encountered other challenges that can serve as warnings to others (Exhibit 12). Seventy percent say they have experienced difficulties with data, including defining processes for data governance, developing the ability to quickly integrate data into AI models, and an insufficient amount of training data, highlighting the essential role that data play in capturing value. High performers are also more likely than others to report experiencing challenges with their operating models, such as implementing agile ways of working and effective sprint performance management.

About the research

The online survey was in the field from February 22 to March 5, 2024, and garnered responses from 1,363 participants representing the full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. Of those respondents, 981 said their organizations had adopted AI in at least one business function, and 878 said their organizations were regularly using gen AI in at least one function. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP.

Alex Singla and Alexander Sukharevsky  are global coleaders of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and senior partners in McKinsey’s Chicago and London offices, respectively; Lareina Yee  is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, where Michael Chui , a McKinsey Global Institute partner, is a partner; and Bryce Hall  is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office.

They wish to thank Kaitlin Noe, Larry Kanter, Mallika Jhamb, and Shinjini Srivastava for their contributions to this work.

This article was edited by Heather Hanselman, a senior editor in McKinsey’s Atlanta office.

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organizational development essay conclusion

Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work

Mar 16, 2023 | Jared Spataro - CVP, AI at Work

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Screenshot Microsoft 365 Copilot

Humans are hard-wired to dream, to create, to innovate. Each of us seeks to do work that gives us purpose — to write a great novel, to make a discovery, to build strong communities, to care for the sick. The urge to connect to the core of our work lives in all of us. But today, we spend too much time consumed by the drudgery of work on tasks that zap our time, creativity and energy. To reconnect to the soul of our work, we don’t just need a better way of doing the same things. We need a whole new way to work.

Today, we are bringing the power of next-generation AI to work. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot — your copilot for work . It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.

“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “With our new copilot for work, we’re giving people more agency and making technology more accessible through the most universal interface — natural language.”

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today we’re also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat . Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and your data — your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — to do things you’ve never been able to do before. You can give it natural language prompts like “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” and it will generate a status update based on the morning’s meetings, emails and chat threads.

With Copilot, you’re always in control. You decide what to keep, modify or discard. Now, you can be more creative in Word, more analytical in Excel, more expressive in PowerPoint, more productive in Outlook and more collaborative in Teams.

Microsoft 365 Copilot transforms work in three ways:

Unleash creativity. With Copilot in Word, you can jump-start the creative process so you never start with a blank slate again. Copilot gives you a first draft to edit and iterate on — saving hours in writing, sourcing, and editing time. Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further ahead. You’re always in control as the author, driving your unique ideas forward, prompting Copilot to shorten, rewrite or give feedback. Copilot in PowerPoint helps you create beautiful presentations with a simple prompt, adding relevant content from a document you made last week or last year. And with Copilot in Excel, you can analyze trends and create professional-looking data visualizations in seconds.

Unlock productivity. We all want to focus on the 20% of our work that really matters, but 80% of our time is consumed with busywork that bogs us down. Copilot lightens the load. From summarizing long email threads to quickly drafting suggested replies, Copilot in Outlook helps you clear your inbox in minutes, not hours. And every meeting is a productive meeting with Copilot in Teams. It can summarize key discussion points — including who said what and where people are aligned and where they disagree — and suggest action items, all in real time during a meeting. And with Copilot in Power Platform, anyone can automate repetitive tasks, create chatbots and go from idea to working app in minutes.

GitHub data shows that Copilot promises to unlock productivity for everyone. Among developers who use GitHub Copilot, 88% say they are more productive, 74% say that they can focus on more satisfying work, and 77% say it helps them spend less time searching for information or examples.

But Copilot doesn’t just supercharge individual productivity. It creates a new knowledge model for every organization — harnessing the massive reservoir of data and insights that lies largely inaccessible and untapped today. Business Chat works across all your business data and apps to surface the information and insights you need from a sea of data — so knowledge flows freely across the organization, saving you valuable time searching for answers. You will be able to access Business Chat from Microsoft 365.com, from Bing when you’re signed in with your work account, or from Teams.

Uplevel skills. Copilot makes you better at what you’re good at and lets you quickly master what you’ve yet to learn. The average person uses only a handful of commands — such as “animate a slide” or “insert a table” — from the thousands available across Microsoft 365. Now, all that rich functionality is unlocked using just natural language. And this is only the beginning.

Copilot will fundamentally change how people work with AI and how AI works with people. As with any new pattern of work, there’s a learning curve — but those who embrace this new way of working will quickly gain an edge.

Screenshot Microsoft 365 Copilot

The Copilot System: Enterprise-ready AI

Microsoft is uniquely positioned to deliver enterprise-ready AI with the Copilot System . Copilot is more than OpenAI’s ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft 365. It’s a sophisticated processing and orchestration engine working behind the scenes to combine the power of LLMs, including GPT-4, with the Microsoft 365 apps and your business data in the Microsoft Graph — now accessible to everyone through natural language.

Grounded in your business data. AI-powered LLMs are trained on a large but limited corpus of data. The key to unlocking productivity in business lies in connecting LLMs to your business data — in a secure, compliant, privacy-preserving way. Microsoft 365 Copilot has real-time access to both your content and context in the Microsoft Graph. This means it generates answers anchored in your business content — your documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, contacts and other business data — and combines them with your working context — the meeting you’re in now, the email exchanges you’ve had on a topic, the chat conversations you had last week — to deliver accurate, relevant, contextual responses.

Built on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to security, compliance and privacy. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company’s valuable security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes. Two-factor authentication, compliance boundaries, privacy protections, and more make Copilot the AI solution you can trust.

Architected to protect tenant, group and individual data. We know data leakage is a concern for customers. Copilot LLMs are not trained on your tenant data or your prompts. Within your tenant, our time-tested permissioning model ensures that data won’t leak across user groups. And on an individual level, Copilot presents only data you can access using the same technology that we’ve been using for years to secure customer data.

Integrated into the apps millions use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot is integrated in the productivity apps millions of people use and rely on every day for work and life — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more. An intuitive and consistent user experience ensures it looks, feels and behaves the same way in Teams as it does in Outlook, with a shared design language for prompts, refinements and commands.

Designed to learn new skills.  Microsoft 365 Copilot’s foundational skills are a game changer for productivity: It can already create, summarize, analyze, collaborate and automate using your specific business content and context. But it doesn’t stop there. Copilot knows how to command apps (e.g., “animate this slide”) and work across apps, translating a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation. And Copilot is designed to learn new skills. For example, with Viva Sales, Copilot can learn how to connect to CRM systems of record to pull customer data — like interaction and order histories — into communications. As Copilot learns about new domains and processes, it will be able to perform even more sophisticated tasks and queries.

Committed to building responsibly

At Microsoft, we are guided by our AI principles and Responsible AI Standard and decades of research on AI, grounding and privacy-preserving machine learning. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and policy experts reviews our AI systems for potential harms and mitigations — refining training data, filtering to limit harmful content, query- and result-blocking sensitive topics, and applying Microsoft technologies like InterpretML and Fairlearn to help detect and correct data bias. We make it clear how the system makes decisions by noting limitations, linking to sources, and prompting users to review, fact-check and adjust content based on subject-matter expertise.

Moving boldly as we learn  

In the months ahead, we’re bringing Copilot to all our productivity apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, Power Platform, and more. We’ll share more on pricing and licensing soon. Earlier this month we announced Dynamics 365 Copilot as the world’s first AI Copilot in both CRM and ERP to bring the next-generation AI to every line of business.

Everyone deserves to find purpose and meaning in their work — and Microsoft 365 Copilot can help. To serve the unmet needs of our customers, we must move quickly and responsibly, learning as we go. We’re testing Copilot with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve our models as we scale, and we will expand to more soon.

Learn more on the Microsoft 365 blog and visit WorkLab to get expert insights on how AI will create a brighter future of work for everyone.

And for all the blogs, videos and assets related to today’s announcements, please visit our microsite .

Tags: AI , Microsoft 365 , Microsoft 365 Copilot

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organizational development essay conclusion

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  19. Reference examples

    More than 100 reference examples and their corresponding in-text citations are presented in the seventh edition Publication Manual.Examples of the most common works that writers cite are provided on this page; additional examples are available in the Publication Manual.. To find the reference example you need, first select a category (e.g., periodicals) and then choose the appropriate type of ...

  20. Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab

    Mission. The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives.

  21. The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to

    The average organization using gen AI is doing so in two functions, most often in marketing and sales and in product and service development—two functions in which previous research determined that gen AI adoption could generate the most value 3 "The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier," McKinsey, June 14 ...

  22. Learn what all you can do with Acrobat Reader.

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  23. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot

    Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today we're also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat.