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Ben And Jerry's Case Study : Organizational Development Intervention Analysis

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Ben and Jerry’s Case Study: Organizational Development Intervention Analysis

Introduction
Warrick 2014, defines Organization Development (OD) as "the act or process of organizing, state or manner of being organized, which increases an organization’s effectiveness through planned interventions”. In essence, OD is a planned system of change that takes a long range approach to improving organizational performance and efficiency.
This case analysis focuses on the factors that are important in determining whether an organization or team is over or under organized the implications for planning an Organization’s development, and whether team building is a good way to launch an OD effort for the Ben & Jerry Ice cream company. A look at other …show more content…

For team building to be effective, employees and the company must keep pace with growth, have clear roles with great teamwork, and have a common mission and direction for the organization. In the case of Ben & Jerry’s organization, some of these were missing which is why OD is recommended.

Implications Of Planning An OD Intervention
There are concerns however with planning an intervention. The success of the intervention depends upon the organization’s readiness for change, their capability to change, the cultural context of the organization, and the capabilities of the change agent or consultant (Cummings, 2013). In the Ben & Jerry’s case, planning an intervention was necessary as there seems to be a disconnect between, the board, management, and the employees as to what the mission of the company is. Ben and Jerry aimed at creating a fun family work environment and as a result, they had no guidelines or structure to follow. Intervention offers an effective environment to view collective shortcomings and not meant to tear them apart, and in this case, Intervention will succeed as they are committed and honest and are very accepting of change.

Is Teambuilding A Good Way To Launch OD?
As stated by Cumming 2013, the OD consultant in this case, is convinced that team building was the way to commence the OD effort for three reasons. His first reason was that it was crucial for managers to begin to think of themselves as managers and as members of the

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