The Impact of an Organizational Development Program on Perceptions of Interpersonal, Group, and Organization Functioning

There are two central tasks today in the ever-widening field of organizational development. One is the application of and experimentation with behavioral science knowledge and methods to improve process in different kinds of organizations.2 The second is to gather systematic data which will allow us to choose among alternatives and to sort out factors which seem to make a difference in the change process.3 In trying to contribute to the latter effort, this paper will present some of the findings of a study of an organization change effort in a large research and engineering company employing more than 2,000 persons and having five levels of authority represented in its managerial hierarchy. The president was acquainted with both Managerial Grid laboratories and unstructured T-Group laboratories. About a year and a half before this research was started, the president and his vice presidents had been meeting periodically with behavioral science consultants. At these meetings interpersonal relationships among the top executives were analyzed. One outcome of these meetings was a decision that the vice presidents would attend stranger T Group laboratories. After the vice presidents had participated in these laboratories, they, with the concurrence of the president, decided to initiate an extensive organization change effort.