Included in the portfolio of the Establishment Division is the task of undertaking audits aimed at improving the effectiveness and performance of public sector organizations (i.e. ministries and departments). By virtue of this mandate the Division has focused this aspect of its function in the form of Organizational Development (OD) intervention.

OD is a process of developing an organization to be more effective in accomplishing its desired goals. It is about how people and organizations function and how to get them to do so more competently.

OD deals with the range of 'people problems' and 'work systems problems' in organizations such as: poor morale, low productivity, poor quality; interpersonal conflict, inter group, unclear and inappropriate goals, inappropriate leadership styles, poor team performance, inappropriate organization structure, poorly designed tasks; inadequate alignment among the organization’s strategy, culture, processes and the like. Thereafter, it provides the scope for structuring activities to help organizations learn to solve their own problems and learn to do it better overtime. In effect, it optimizes the system by ensuring that its elements including human are harmonious and congruent.

METHODOLOGY

OD provides a setting for involvement of the client Ministry to initiate and participate in the whole change and transformation activities. The OD focus is on moving the organization from 'what it is' to 'what it should be' and this requires continuous generation of system data. In so doing, there must be active collaboration between the OD Team and the client ministry.

1. The first step to an OD intervention is the diagnostic or fact finding activity. This step must be designed to ascertain the state of the client ministry, the status of the problem or to identify underlying problems.
2. From the diagnosis should come the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the client ministry.
3. On the basis of the comprehensive diagnosis or analysis an action plan must be developed to correct problems, seize opportunities, improve and maintain areas of strength, and deal with threats which could jeopardize the stability of the organization.
4. An implementation plan will then be prepared for the plan of action. This implementation plan should include time frame and cost of completing certain actions and the resources available for pursuing the plan.
5. Evaluation and corrective action should be instituted, since this phase consists of fact-finding concerning the results of the actions taken.

• Did the action have the desired effect?

• Was the problem solved or the opportunity achieved?