Could your organisation benefit from high efficiency and increased productivity?
The obvious answer is ‘yes’. A good way to achieve these outcomes, and a myriad of other benefits, is through dedicated organisational development (OD).
OD is the practice of planned, systemic change in the beliefs, attitudes and values of employees for individual and company growth. The purpose of OD is to enable an organisation to better respond and adapt to industry/market changes and technological advances. This article will focus on five benefits of OD from continuous improvement to increased profits.
1) Continuous Improvement – Companies that engage in organisational development commit to continually improving their business and offerings.The OD process creates a continuous cycle of improvement whereby strategies are planned, implemented, evaluated, improved and monitored. Organisational development is a proactive approach that embraces change (internal and external) and leverages it for renewal.
2) Increased Communication – One of the key advantages to OD is increased communication, feedback and interaction within the organisation. The goal of improving communication is to align all employees to shared company goals and values. Candid communication also leads to increased understanding of the need for change within the organisation. Communication is open across all levels of the organisation and relevant feedback is recurrently shared for improvement.
3) Employee Development – Organisational development focuses on increased communication to influence employees to bring about desired changes. The need for employee development stems from constant industry and market changes. This causes an organisation to regularly enhance employee skills to meet evolving market requirements. This is achieved through a program of learning, training, skills/competency enhancement and work process improvements.
4) Product & Service Enhancement – A major benefit of OD is innovation, which leads to product and service enhancement. Innovation is achieved through employee development, which focuses on rewarding successes and boosting motivation and morale. In this scenario, employee engagement is high leading to increased creativity and innovation. Organisational development also increases product innovation by using competitive analysis, market research and consumer expectations and preferences.
5) Increased Profit- Organisational development affects the bottom line in a variety of ways. Through raised innovation and productivity, efficiency and profits are increased.Costs are also reduced by minimizing employee turnover and absenteeism. As OD aligns objectives and focuses on development, product/service quality and employee satisfaction are increased. The culture shift to one of continuous improvement gives the company a distinct advantage in the competitive marketplace.