Group & Organization Management

Is organization development (OD) possible in military organiza tions, where one would think the typical norms and values (openness, participation, etc.) associated with OD are in direct conflict with those found in the system? Whether or not OD is possible under such condi tions, it is most certainly being attempted. Denis Umstot, Lt. Col. USAF, is well qualified to review the extent of OD efforts in the U.S. military, although he remains appropriately cautious regarding out comes. Dr. Umstot was winner of the 1976 dissertation award given by the Industrial-Organizational Psychology division of the American Psychological Association for an experimental study of the effects of job enrichment. He has taught at the Air Force Institute of Technology since 1975 and has been active in Air Force OD efforts.

The authors were part of a group touring the People's Republic of China in the fall of 1978, before the startling news that China and the United States had established diplomatic relations. This provided an opportu nity for them to participate in a number of industrial and business projects and to learn how Chinese management seeks to motivate pro ductivity. Business contacts were made in four major cities, and a number of discussions were held with third-country nationals engaged in busi ness in China on a day-by-day basis. Different facets of the motivation effort were examined: the ideology of hard work, the manner of evaluat ing it, techniques of exerting pressure to increase it, and the approaches used to reward the greater productivity of one person over another. A number of factors are similar to motivational practices in the United States and Western Europe, and some are strikingly different from what would be regarded as acceptable in the Western World.

The authors report problems they experienced during a rigorous evalua tion of an organization development intervention in a military setting. Army internal consultants introduced survey feedback as an intervention to improve work efficiency, general and specific job satisfaction, and working relationships in engineering companies of the U.S. Army. The authors evaluated the success of the consultants' interventions against the goals they set out to achieve. Four recommendations are made to enhance positive outcomes: (1) units should be insulated from externally imposed requirements that tend to disrupt the ongoing process of the survey-feedback program; (2) a standardized instrument needs to be developed to diagnose problems within units accurately; (3) interven tions should be conducted with a team concept in which one person serves as internal consultant to the client system, while a second serves both as an evaluator of the effectiveness of the intervention and as a shadow consultant; and (4) methods need to be developed to ensure the vital commitment of first-line supervisors to the intervention program and to reduce the threat they experience in participatory modes with subordinates.

A series of consultant omissions and errors is traced over the course of a five-month organization development (OD) project that was terminated by top management. Although some positive results were obtained, only the major problems and flaws are examined in detail here. Most of the defects in the OD process could have been avoided had the consultants had a better understanding of the fifteen pitfalls discussed. The primary problems center on diagnosis of the system, the development of client expectations, and effective communication between the consultant group and top managers.

The present paper is part of a larger study to determine problems of concern to consultants; this study focuses on the importance of consultant and client gender. Survey data were gathered from management con sultants in the Los Angeles area. Data indicated that male and female consultants are approximately the same in training, interests, strategies, and other background aspects; despite comparable credentials, women are concentrated in the lower ranks of consulting firms. Some data also suggest that women may have more difficulty establishing their own firms. Women are viewed as performing less credibly with clients than are their male counterparts, although this effect appears to be minimized with female clients. Overall, despite their preparation for management consulting, women appear to be experiencing substantial discrimination when enter ing the field.

College student personnel and mental health workers need psycholog ical-education programs whose effectiveness can be empirically verified. This report describes such a program in sufficient detail to give profes sionals a clear model for study and application to their particular popu lations. Shostrom's (1963) Personal Orientation Inventory, an instrument specifically designed to measure growth during therapy, was used to evaluate pre- to post-training change. Data gathered give strong support of the effectiveness of this program in promoting actualizing behavior.

Hipple's Interpersonal Rating Scale (1972) was administered to graduate students in a counselor education program. The results were factor analyzed and six scales were extracted. The IRRS was then administered to two classes of students in group counseling who had been meeting together for fourteen weeks, both in class and in group experiences. The second group of students rated themselves and other group members on the IRRS. Discrepancy scores were set at ±1. Both groups had significantly more discrepancy scores than would be expected by chance alone.

This study investigated the effects of: (1) task-oriented communication and non-task-oriented communication on group outcome and (2) visual impairment on intragroup and intergroup communication in competitive situations. Forty-eight male and female subjects participated in the Pris oner's Dilemma game. The results showed that the amount of task- oriented interaction was significant in determining goal accomplishment, while the non-task-oriented interaction was not significant in determining the outcome. Also, it was found that the intragroup verbal interaction was significantly impaired by visual barriers. These results are discussed in relationship to group dynamics.