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118 Organization Development Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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Organization development is a crucial aspect of any business or company, as it focuses on improving the overall effectiveness and efficiency of an organization. It involves various strategies and techniques that aim to enhance the organization's performance, productivity, and overall success.

One key aspect of organization development is the ability to identify and address various issues and challenges within the organization. This can range from improving communication and teamwork among employees to implementing new technologies and processes to streamline operations.

To help guide organizations in their development efforts, it is important to have a clear understanding of the key topics and ideas that can be explored. Below are 118 organization development essay topic ideas and examples that can serve as inspiration for further research and discussion.

• The importance of organization development in today's fast-paced business environment
• Strategies for developing a strong organizational culture
• The role of leadership in driving organization development
• Implementing change management initiatives in an organization
• The impact of technology on organization development
• Building effective teams within an organization
• Developing a diverse and inclusive workplace
• Strategies for managing conflict in the workplace
• The importance of employee engagement in organization development
• Implementing performance management systems in an organization
• The role of coaching and mentoring in organization development
• Creating a positive work environment for employees
• The impact of globalization on organization development
• Implementing strategic planning initiatives in an organization
• The role of HR in organization development
• Developing a learning organization
• Implementing continuous improvement processes in an organization
• The impact of organizational structure on organization development
• Implementing knowledge management systems in an organization
• The role of emotional intelligence in organization development
• Developing effective communication strategies within an organization
• Implementing leadership development programs in an organization
• The impact of organizational politics on organization development
• Strategies for managing organizational change
• The role of ethics in organization development
• Implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives in an organization
• The impact of mergers and acquisitions on organization development
• Developing a talent management strategy within an organization
• Implementing performance appraisal systems in an organization
• The role of teamwork in organization development
• Strategies for managing organizational conflict
• The impact of organizational culture on organization development
• Implementing employee engagement initiatives in an organization
• Developing a strategic planning process within an organization
• The role of organizational development consultants
• Implementing organizational learning initiatives in an organization

In conclusion, organization development is a complex and multifaceted process that requires careful consideration of various factors and strategies. By exploring the above essay topic ideas and examples, organizations can gain a better understanding of the key principles and practices that can help drive their development efforts and ultimately achieve long-term success.

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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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Organizational Development: An Easy Introduction

Organizational Development is a planned effort to change the culture, behaviors, ways of working and other “people” factors of an organization to enable it to effectively meet its strategic objectives. Summary by The World of Work Project

Organizational Development

Organizational development, often referred to as “OD”, is a broad phrase that captures many things. Fundamentally though, organizational development can be thought of as intentional work designed to change and improve an organization so that it is better at what it does.

Most of the time this work focuses on the human factors at play in an organization. After all, organizations are complicated systems of intertwined processes and streams of work. And at their cores lie people.

In many instances the social systems, ways of working, cultures, methods of communication, relationships, human knowledge and behaviors within organizations determine how effective and competitive they are. They also determine what those organizations are like to work for and how fulfilling and rewarding the individuals who work for them find them to be.

The fundamental premise of organizational development, which derives many of its roots from organizational psychology, sociology and change management, is that by designing and delivering “interventions” that change the social systems, ways of working and cultures within organizations, it’s possible to both improve their competitiveness, and make them better places for people to work.

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A Brief History of Organizational Development

Organizational development evolved in roughly the 1930s, primarily from the world of Psychology.

The founding father of Organizational Development is considered to be Kurt Lewin, an MIT professor who worked across a wide range of areas including organizational psychology and change as well as group dynamics. In fact, he set up MIT’s Research Center for Group Dynamics in 1944, shortly before his death in 1947. Kurt Lewin contributed hugely to the world of business and merits further research if you have time, we certainly regularly reference him and his work throughout what we do.

While Kurt is considered the founding father of Organizational Development, he never actually used that phrase himself. Instead, the phrase was formed by another giant of the profession, Richard Beckhard, who coined the term in the 1950s while working at Bell Labs. He later published a seminal work on the subject, “Organization Development: Strategies and Models”. He too was a professor at MIT.

From the 1960s on-wards, Organizational Development really started to take off, though perhaps not by that name. Management sciences became more professional and important as organizations searched for increasing competitive advantages and focused more on the engagement and productivity of their employees. In this period things like employee surveys were introduced and organizations started to deliver specific interventions designed to increase engagement. This ability to quantify and evidence changes in in employee opinion or engagement helped move these practices into the mainstream.

The Rise of the Term “OD”

While Organizational Development has grown significantly in recent decades, the term has only really become popular in the near past.

Prior to this, various areas of HR delivered Organizational Development initiatives under different names, wrapped up in learning and development, personnel, organizational change and performance and engagement teams.

Why Organizational Development Matters

Focusing on the people within an organization is an effective way to increase competitiveness.

Creating great places to work is important for improving competitiveness in all industries, but it’s particularly important in industries that require people to be creative, innovative, solve problems, manage complexity or otherwise perform more complex mental tasks. In these industries, being a great organization to work for really is a significant competitive advantage.

Organizational Development is one of the few fields of work in which it is really possible to create great outcomes for both individuals and organizations. To create lasting change though, organizations need to ensure that the benefits of organizational development programs are shared with employees, not simply captured as cost savings for the organization.

Learning More

Organizational development is a form of organizational change . These programs are often focused on changing a culture , improving employee engagement or changing the employee experience . Many successful organizational development programs have similarities.

As with much change, co-creation is helpful in OD programs and we should consider the emotional impacts of change on people. It might also be worth using Force Field Analysis to assess how likely it is for an OD program will succeed.

You can listen to a podcast we’ve recorded on the role of story-telling in organizational change and development:

The World of Work Project View

In our view, organizational development is one of the most important things that leaders can do.

We don’t really care about the name OD, or the fact that it changes a lot. But we do care about the conscious effort to understand and improve how people feel and work together in an organization.

We genuinely believe that improving the human aspect of work leads to better outcomes for organizations and individuals involved, and think this is important and powerful.

In our view, all leaders should have an understanding of organizational development.

Our Podcast . 

Our Podcast is a great way to learn more about hundreds of fascinating topics from around the world of work.

In this instance we’re talking about a field of work and not a theory. Given this, we think a good starting point for reading might be Richard Beckhard’s book. Beckhard, R. (1969). Organization development: strategies and models. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.  

The World of Work Project: Organizational Development: An Easy Introduction

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The Participative Model of Organizational Development

Today’s rapidly growing business segment makes all the enterprises stand out in order to remain relevant in a certain market and keep target audience engaged in the service supply. For this reason, organizational development, which stands for the concept of constant improvement and innovation within the enterprise, has become one of the primary concerns of the top management. In fact, researchers claim that modern approaches to organizational development reflect the overall social hierarchy, emphasizing the necessity of collectiveness, participation, relevance, and intelligence within the unit (Achterbergh & Vriens, 2019). Thus, the efficient combination of the aforementioned approaches to address the issues of development and environment within the company might ensure the overall positive development tendencies.

To begin with, the correlation between participation and collectiveness should be established in order to define its value to the enterprise. Thus, the participative model of organizational development is primarily focused on allowing employees to take an active part in the life of a company despite their professional status (Chan, 2019). As a result, the enterprise’s staff begins to feel like a team, feeling responsible for their own contribution to the business’s development and establishment in the market. Moreover, while everyone is involved in the process, it becomes easier to outline every slight problem tackling the organization, making it possible to be more solution-oriented in terms of the work process. Finally, when every employee participates in the decision-making process, he or she feels extremely responsible for the area of individual influence, and, as a result, ensures constant development in terms of expertise and competence in the field. Taking everything into consideration, it might be concluded that absolutely all organizations are to pay much attention to the aspects of development within the company while making sure that all of them work in symbiosis to secure even better results in the future.

Achterbergh, J., & Vriens, D. (2019). Organizational development: Designing episodic interventions . Routledge.

Chan, S. C. (2019). Participative leadership and job satisfaction. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 40 (3).

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Essay on Organizational Development | Management

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.

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.

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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• Essay on Sociology

Essay On Organizational Development

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Sociology , Leadership , Organization , Workplace , Theory , Human Resource Management , Employee , Development

Words: 1200

Published: 02/14/2020

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An organization is a social entity with different people that managed and structured to meet an objective or aim at a particular goal. All organizations have different administrative structures that give different roles to different departments within the organization. It has the duty to assign roles, subdivide responsibility to the members and authority to undertake various tasks. Organization are termed as open system, they are affected and affect by the environment in which it operates (Argyris and Schon, 1978). Organizational development can be as improving a business performance and the development of individual staff members. Each organization can be looked at as logical system comprising of different parts or departments. Organizational growth as a process consist of methodologies and planning, leadership design, diversity, organizational design, coaching and balance between life and work. The main reason of having organization development is to deal with recurrent needs of any successful organization; it involves a centralized co-relation of internal and external experts at hand to find out the process through which a business can use to be become much more attractive to stakeholders. Organizational development is continuous process that a company has to undergo with time. It is always done through help by catalysts or agents and the use of legal appropriate theories and methods from anthropology, applied behavioral science, phenomenology and sociology. Most notably, the change is brought by the leader who is deeply involved in the leadership – an effective process or a transformative leader as opposed to incremental and management based (Rother and Mike, 2009). While people believe that the techniques and concepts of organization development has become part of any manager because it provides them with the knowledge of marketing, accounting and finance. It is predicted that the management with its departmental heads will develop a boundaries within the organizations development. Organizational development gives a set of management theories that are available to members of the workplace to who feel like they need to improve on the organizational goal achievement. It is advised on what organizational development is and how it can be used to develop an organization.

With organization development there are various intervention and techniques that are planned and put into practice so that they could facilitate or assist in the implementation of certain programmed and result oriented change in the composition, human resources and the various processes within the organization (Argyris and Schon, 2008). The organizational development is systematic plan, as it needs diagnosis, mobilization of resources (which could be technical, financial or human), program development in the entire organization or in the departments within the organization. According Carter and Louis (2004) organizational development is the approach that applies effort to improve different activities in a business. It involves strategy analysis, culture and structure of the organization; it analyzes both formal and informal departments of the organization. According to Frederick Taylor's theory of motivation, it explains that most staff members are motivated exclusively by the way they are paid and their working capability is therefore work in equivalent to what they are paid. He postulated that staff members or employees are not satisfied with the kind of work they do and only perform better in that particular job when given a direct motivation or reward such as monetary payment. Henry Ford adopted some ideas of Taylor's theory of scientific management and paid their workers considering the production made in a period. The main reason of having organization motivation is to deal with recurrent needs of any successful organization; it involves a centralized co-relation of internal and external experts at hand to find out the process through which a business can use to be become much more attractive to stakeholders. Organizational development is a continuous process that a company has to undergo with time. It is always done through external support by catalysts or agents and the use of legal appropriate theories and methods from anthropology, applied behavioral science, phenomenology and sociology. Most notably, the change is brought by the leader who is deeply involved in the leadership an effective process or a transformative leader as opposed to incremental and management based (Rother, 2009).

According to Marx Weber's theory of bureaucracy, he held that psychological forces can drive human beings to act in a certain way. Their theory proposes a graduated scale of human needs ranging from basic requirements, to physical needs such as thirst and hunger to high expectations such as the need for self-fulfillment and the want to feel loved. They greatly believed employers would get greater outcome from their employees if they acknowledged the different individual needs of the employees and give out rewards in accordance to the individuals needs. The theory that applies in this social issue is based on Marxist social theory, which advocates for a better societal order. The theory argues that individuals or groups of people or a social class in the society have different capabilities and material and non-material resources. Some group takes advantage of others by not allowing them to be at certain positions. This process gives the staff members chance to do the decision making of the organization by use of informal and formal means. This could be done by having formal meeting with the staff members to have discos on the decision that have impact on the employees’ lives. The main idea behind participative management is to improve staff members working conditions (Carter, 2004). If employees can be motivated and presented with opportunities to be involved in the in the company’s decision making then their individual performance would rise or improve. This will also push the performance of the company to move high hence leading to increased profits accompanied by workers boost in morale. The theory established that the social needs of the employers should be the center of focus by an organization. Mayo believed that by just paying the workers is not a complete way to motivating the staff members in a company. He says that the social needs of employees ought to be put into consideration if an organization has to perform well. He recommended that employers should show their employees that they care about their about their social needs and they should also demonstrate interest in every workers abilities to have them perform at their best.

Argyris, C. and Schon, D. (2008), Organizational Learning: A theory of action perspective, Reading MA: Addison-Wesley Louis L. (2004), Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change, Jossey Bass, ISBN 0-7879-7625-3 Carter, L. (2004), Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change, Jossey Bass, ISBN 0-7879-7625-3 Rother, M. (2009). Organization development: strategies and models. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. p. 114. ISBN 0-87620-540-6. OCLC 39328. Verma, V. (2007). Managing the Project Team. Upper Darby, PA: Project Management Institute Shukul, M. (2013). A Compendium of Research in Home Management. Authors Press.

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• How to structure an essay: Templates and tips

How to Structure an Essay | Tips & Templates

Published on September 18, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction , a body , and a conclusion . But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body.

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Table of contents

The basics of essay structure, chronological structure, compare-and-contrast structure, problems-methods-solutions structure, signposting to clarify your structure, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about essay structure.

There are two main things to keep in mind when working on your essay structure: making sure to include the right information in each part, and deciding how you’ll organize the information within the body.

Parts of an essay

The three parts that make up all essays are described in the table below.

Order of information

You’ll also have to consider how to present information within the body. There are a few general principles that can guide you here.

The first is that your argument should move from the simplest claim to the most complex . The body of a good argumentative essay often begins with simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves towards more complex and contentious ones.

For example, you might begin by describing a generally accepted philosophical concept, and then apply it to a new topic. The grounding in the general concept will allow the reader to understand your unique application of it.

The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay . General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body.

The third principle is that everything in your essay should be relevant to the thesis . Ask yourself whether each piece of information advances your argument or provides necessary background. And make sure that the text clearly expresses each piece of information’s relevance.

The sections below present several organizational templates for essays: the chronological approach, the compare-and-contrast approach, and the problems-methods-solutions approach.

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The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go.

A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a series of events. Don’t rule out other approaches, though—even when the chronological approach is the obvious one, you might be able to bring out more with a different structure.

Explore the tabs below to see a general template and a specific example outline from an essay on the invention of the printing press.

• Thesis statement
• Discussion of event/period
• Consequences
• Importance of topic
• Strong closing statement
• Claim that the printing press marks the end of the Middle Ages
• Background on the low levels of literacy before the printing press
• Thesis statement: The invention of the printing press increased circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation
• High levels of illiteracy in medieval Europe
• Literacy and thus knowledge and education were mainly the domain of religious and political elites
• Consequence: this discouraged political and religious change
• Invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg
• Implications of the new technology for book production
• Consequence: Rapid spread of the technology and the printing of the Gutenberg Bible
• Trend for translating the Bible into vernacular languages during the years following the printing press’s invention
• Luther’s own translation of the Bible during the Reformation
• Consequence: The large-scale effects the Reformation would have on religion and politics
• Summarize the history described
• Stress the significance of the printing press to the events of this period

Essays with two or more main subjects are often structured around comparing and contrasting . For example, a literary analysis essay might compare two different texts, and an argumentative essay might compare the strengths of different arguments.

There are two main ways of structuring a compare-and-contrast essay: the alternating method, and the block method.

Alternating

In the alternating method, each paragraph compares your subjects in terms of a specific point of comparison. These points of comparison are therefore what defines each paragraph.

The tabs below show a general template for this structure, and a specific example for an essay comparing and contrasting distance learning with traditional classroom learning.

• Synthesis of arguments
• Topical relevance of distance learning in lockdown
• Increasing prevalence of distance learning over the last decade
• Thesis statement: While distance learning has certain advantages, it introduces multiple new accessibility issues that must be addressed for it to be as effective as classroom learning
• Classroom learning: Ease of identifying difficulties and privately discussing them
• Distance learning: Difficulty of noticing and unobtrusively helping
• Classroom learning: Difficulties accessing the classroom (disability, distance travelled from home)
• Distance learning: Difficulties with online work (lack of tech literacy, unreliable connection, distractions)
• Classroom learning: Tends to encourage personal engagement among students and with teacher, more relaxed social environment
• Distance learning: Greater ability to reach out to teacher privately
• Sum up, emphasize that distance learning introduces more difficulties than it solves
• Stress the importance of addressing issues with distance learning as it becomes increasingly common
• Distance learning may prove to be the future, but it still has a long way to go

In the block method, each subject is covered all in one go, potentially across multiple paragraphs. For example, you might write two paragraphs about your first subject and then two about your second subject, making comparisons back to the first.

The tabs again show a general template, followed by another essay on distance learning, this time with the body structured in blocks.

• Point 1 (compare)
• Point 2 (compare)
• Point 3 (compare)
• Point 4 (compare)
• Advantages: Flexibility, accessibility
• Disadvantages: Discomfort, challenges for those with poor internet or tech literacy
• Advantages: Potential for teacher to discuss issues with a student in a separate private call
• Disadvantages: Difficulty of identifying struggling students and aiding them unobtrusively, lack of personal interaction among students
• Advantages: More accessible to those with low tech literacy, equality of all sharing one learning environment
• Disadvantages: Students must live close enough to attend, commutes may vary, classrooms not always accessible for disabled students
• Advantages: Ease of picking up on signs a student is struggling, more personal interaction among students
• Disadvantages: May be harder for students to approach teacher privately in person to raise issues

An essay that concerns a specific problem (practical or theoretical) may be structured according to the problems-methods-solutions approach.

This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution.

The tabs below show a template for this structure and an example outline for an essay about the problem of fake news.

• Introduce the problem
• Provide background
• Describe your approach to solving it
• Define the problem precisely
• Describe why it’s important
• Indicate previous approaches to the problem
• Present your new approach, and why it’s better
• Apply the new method or theory to the problem
• Indicate the solution you arrive at by doing so
• Assess (potential or actual) effectiveness of solution
• Describe the implications
• Problem: The growth of “fake news” online
• Prevalence of polarized/conspiracy-focused news sources online
• Thesis statement: Rather than attempting to stamp out online fake news through social media moderation, an effective approach to combating it must work with educational institutions to improve media literacy
• Definition: Deliberate disinformation designed to spread virally online
• Popularization of the term, growth of the phenomenon
• Previous approaches: Labeling and moderation on social media platforms
• Critique: This approach feeds conspiracies; the real solution is to improve media literacy so users can better identify fake news
• Greater emphasis should be placed on media literacy education in schools
• This allows people to assess news sources independently, rather than just being told which ones to trust
• This is a long-term solution but could be highly effective
• It would require significant organization and investment, but would equip people to judge news sources more effectively
• Rather than trying to contain the spread of fake news, we must teach the next generation not to fall for it

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Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows.  It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas.

The essay overview

In longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section.

The overview allows the reader to immediately understand what will be covered in the essay and in what order. Though it describes what  comes later in the text, it is generally written in the present tense . The following example is from a literary analysis essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

Transitions

Transition words and phrases are used throughout all good essays to link together different ideas. They help guide the reader through your text, and an essay that uses them effectively will be much easier to follow.

Various different relationships can be expressed by transition words, as shown in this example.

Because Hitler failed to respond to the British ultimatum, France and the UK declared war on Germany. Although it was an outcome the Allies had hoped to avoid, they were prepared to back up their ultimatum in order to combat the existential threat posed by the Third Reich.

Transition sentences may be included to transition between different paragraphs or sections of an essay. A good transition sentence moves the reader on to the next topic while indicating how it relates to the previous one.

… Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others.

However , considering the issue of personal interaction among students presents a different picture.

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!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

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The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to.

The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

• The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
• The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

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Designed for trade government officials, policymakers and the public at large, this new series provides essential tools and concepts for improving participants' knowledge of digital trade. It will comprise a total of five courses, to be rolled out consecutively over the coming months. The first course gives a general overview of how the digital revolution is transforming trade, as well as the benefits and challenges of the digital economy.

Topics covered by the four other courses will include policy issues and WTO rules and discussions, the role of new technologies in international trade, especially artificial intelligence and blockchain, and provisions in members' regional trade agreements that relate to trade and the digital economy.

Also speaking at the launch ceremony was WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang who stated: “During the 13th Ministerial Conference, many of you expressed concerns about the digital divide and the need to build developing economies' capacities so that they may seize the benefits of digital trade. The WTO Secretariat is well aware of these challenges, which is why we have been stepping up our technical assistance activities related to digital trade to help bridge the digital trade gap between WTO members.”

Rwanda's WTO Ambassador, James Ngango, said: “I sincerely hope that this capacity-building opportunity will attract many participants from across regions and contribute to further unlocking the potential of digital trade.”

Singapore's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO, Hung Seng Tan, said: “Singapore recognises the critical importance of capacity-building and sharing of technical knowledge on digital trade for developing and least-developed country  members. Singapore is committed to continue working with partners, including the WTO, to deliver on the development dimension of digital trade.”

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Organizational Change Management: Culture, Development and Innovation Research Paper

Executive summary.

Team building is very critical in organizations, because it greatly facilitates the realization of set goals and objectives. In the modern world, many organizations have restructured their human resource departments in a way that promotes team work and cooperation.

This is what has made team building activities to become synonymous with organizations that want to leverage their employees’ output for mutual success. This paper extensively covers the role of cross-functional teams, in facilitating strategic innovation of an organization.

The importance of effective teams within an organization is a well known fact, especially in current day progressive organizations, that value the critical role played by their employees in the realization of set goals and objectives. It is with this knowledge that team building activities have become synonymous with organizations, that want to leverage their employees’ output for mutual success.

In line with this, the current environment, both internal and external to the organization, calls for constant preparation for imminent changes which are essential. Cross-functional teams and their role in aiding the strategic innovation of an organization are extensively discussed in this paper.

Introduction and Thesis

Team building can broadly be defined as the activities that are carried out within a group of people either in a corporate set-up, in a school or institution, in sports, or any other setting that is aimed at developing the cohesiveness, unity, and most of all, the performance of the group.

The activities comprising of team building could be simulation games, simple bonding activities like games, and even retreats coordinated by team-building professionals that last for a number of days. Team building has a bigger aim of bringing together people, to improve positive communication, leadership building, self development of members of the team, and even improve the ability to solve problems as a team (Beitler, 2005).

Organizational Development and Teams

In efforts to develop the organization and its people to better meet its objectives and goals, there is need to have deliberate and effective teams in place. Effectiveness of teams can be measured by carrying out self-assessments of teams with the aim of identifying current strengths and weaknesses. It could also be a process that allows the team members to identify training and development options to take so as to strengthen the team, and also how to harness the already existing strengths for better results.

In effective organizational development, there is need for focus to be directed at the following factors; the organization leadership has to make clear the expectations in relation to results, the teams are supposed to be working on. Team members need to understand why the team was created and what its mandate is (Bert, 2010).

Organizational Change Management

There is nothing as constant as change, and organizations have to be prepared to deal with inevitable changes in their environment both internally and externally. Needless to say, change brings with it a lot of shake-up and impact in the way things are done; this is mostly for the better even though in the initial periods, this may not appear to be so. Organizations need to be well prepared for any eventuality and for change that is always around the corner (Boot, 2001).

Communicating Change to Employees

Organizations need to understand that new innovations and technologies, which affect the way things are done, and the way people behave, are always in the offing. It is therefore imperative that any one organization needs to find ways of communicating to their teams on changes that will come as a result of certain shifts in the environment.

This is where well structured team building activities are bound to work wonders, so that the people are prepared psychologically for things to come, and to be well aware of their role and importance in moving to the next level. In order for change to be effectively carried out, the change communication has to be carried out in a timely and precise manner.

There is need to identify the business unit or department that owns the particular change or process, identify the interlinked departments that will assist with the change communication and implementation, and choose management levels that will be involved, not forgetting to include Information Technology and Finance departments.

At the lower end of the chain and most important are the front office staff who will be dealing directly at first contact with clients and who will be required to communicate and do things in a manner to reflect the changes.

Resistance to Change

The above processes are especially important because there is bound to be some resistance to change which may drag implementation further, and cause more problems for the organization in the long run. This is the reason management needs to anticipate the challenges likely to be faced, well in advance, and put in place measures to mitigate this.

Depending on the target groups for the change, the effects this will have on a personal level and whether or not there is room for negotiations, depends on the various styles of change that managements may employ including collaborative, consultative, directive or even coercive.

Collaborative and consultative styles are lengthy and involve the feedback by recipients of the change, while directive and coercive are mostly communications by management to the staff maybe through memo or notices, informing them that certain changes will be taking place on a certain date, and why such changes are necessary, and urging them to comply and cooperate.

Communication

Communication is vital in all change management processes, the reason why collaborative and consultative styles would be favoured over directive or coercive, though, it also depends on the nature of the work being done and the people involved. Change management is a process that should be well thought through and planned in good advance, so that all parties involved come out unscathed and well prepared for the next phase of their jobs, careers and life in general.

The people likely to be affected by the change due to redundancies, relocations, acquiring new skill sets, training and many other situations, all need to get the necessary support mechanism for success to be realized. Preparing the people through thoughtful advance communication is just one step of supporting their adoption to the change(s).

Organizational Redesign and Restructuring

After the change management process, comes the organizational redesigning and restructuring. This basically means that, the organization now becomes a new brand with new ways of doing things. It now has in place people who understand this new brand and the direction of the organization, as they have been trained and prepared for the changes. It therefore becomes imperative that a new strategy that is aimed at more innovations and development of the organization as a whole is launched.

Restructuring within an organization shapes processes, ways of thinking, and even behaviors of the people. What is important to note here is that organizations should desist from copying what other successful organizations in the industry have done when redesigning and restructuring.

Culture Change

Perhaps, it is important to point out that organizational culture change is the most difficult kind of change to implement. This is because normally, culture is deeply rooted, and it provides consistency, stability and meaning to those within the organization. Attempting to change what people believe and have worked with for ages can be very frustrating and difficult (Beitler, 2005).

Organizational culture is historically rooted, implicit (unquestionable and complet), woven in every day activities, guides all decision making, leads to uniform thinking and behavior, and is used to socialize new staff members. It has not been reviewed or questioned for ages, and most people prefer to remain with what they know (status quo) as opposed to moving towards the unknown, making it difficult to change.

Strategic Innovation and Cross-Functional Teams

Change does not necessarily mean an innovation though innovations bring about change and improvements in the way things are done. Innovation is defined as going first where no one else has been, leaving the comfort zone and being a leader in a purely new concept and new way of doing things.

Innovation is not part of the business as usual annual plans of an organization; rather, research shows that successful innovation depends on the level of strategic alignment; that is alignment of corporate strategy, corporate culture and innovation strategy (Boot, 2011).

For innovation to be successful, it requires a specific innovation strategy and culture; it is all about how organizations deal with competencies and qualities to create innovation, how they deal with trial and error, how they deal with failure, how they use available resources, how teams are managed and many other factors.

In organizations, strategic innovation calls for cross-functional teams to work together in identifying new revenue streams, create breakthrough growth strategies, define innovative new products, services, processes and business models (Strategic Innovation Group, 2002). These cross-functional teams aim at taking the road less travelled in the normal business of the organization. They look beyond what they know to see how else business can be carried out in an open-minded and creative scenario.

The essence of building teams and the connection between teams and organizational change management, culture change management and even strategic innovation within an organization cannot be overemphasized. The stronger the teams in an organization are, the stronger its growth, development and innovation will be. The stronger the teams are, the easier it will be to go through change management and culture change management, as cohesiveness and unity already exists.

As much as culture change is a giant initiative, it is imperative that it is achieved, for realization of change management and innovation. Management in organizations should make it their priority to put in place strong functional teams and where necessary cross-functional teams, which will be instrumental in carrying out change initiatives required.

Strong and effective teams are pertinent within an organization, if it is to realize its objectives and strategy, be it in cultural change initiatives or when harnessing skills and competencies for innovation.

It is only when the people who make up teams are empowered and their potential utilized, that the organization will make strides towards realization of goals. Resistance to change is bound to take place at some levels, which may be contained through effective communication, restructuring and training.

Beitler, M. (2005). Organizational Culture Change: Is it Really Worth the Effort . Web.

Bert, S. (2010). Implementing Organizational Change: Theory into Practice” 2. Web.

Boot, A. (2011). Leading Change: Three Major Misconceptions That Hinder Innovation . Web.

Strategic Innovation Group. (2002). A Framework for Strategic Innovation: From Breakthrough Inspiration to Business Impact . Web.

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Organizational Change Management: Culture, Development and Innovation." January 9, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-change-management-culture-development-and-innovation/.

1. IvyPanda . "Organizational Change Management: Culture, Development and Innovation." January 9, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-change-management-culture-development-and-innovation/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Organizational Change Management: Culture, Development and Innovation." January 9, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-change-management-culture-development-and-innovation/.

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