Page 130 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

110 organizational design and organizational development
With regard to the last problem area listed above, it is important to take into account
that the extensive changes in the department, the training of new employees, and the further
trainingofexistingemployeesallledinitiallytoconstraintsonperformanceandquality.This
resulted in critical evaluations by some “clients”. That fundamental restructuring frequently
results in an initial period of reduced performance is a well-known phenomenon that was
not sufficiently anticipated and communicated in this case. These deficits of quality could
be balanced after a while and were transformed into goal-oriented improvements.
Accordingly, when the results of the evaluation were presented, additional measures were
discussed that could contribute to a higher degree of professionalism.
In the time since, the department has undergone some further change. The fact that the
newly defined personnel work did not find the necessary acceptance with the highest level of
management in the organization led to a change in management. A new head now manages
the department. With this, an additional hierarchical level was introduced. Otherwise, the
organization concept as outlined, and the expanded work roles of staff members, were
retained. When a new IT system was implemented, the area of payroll administration was
also integrated into the department. This further increased the functional integration—
independence, task relatedness, and unity—of product and organization. However, as a
result of the changes in management, some employees have since left the department or the
institute.

CONCLUSIONS

The experience gained in the course of the above and similar cases of change processes
shows that the forms of organization design and development selected are significant
predictors of individual and company performance levels. In such processes, it is crucial
that issues such as strategic goals and the organization, management and, in particular,
the design of individual work activity and work roles be worked through progressively
and together with the employees. In summary, some of the most important findings on
the design of such processes are the following:

Value-oriented change concepts that are well-founded in theory and practice support

integrated redesigns.
Integrated approaches require interdisciplinary thinking and acting.

Effective and sustainable changes require fundamental considerations.

The success of changes is widely determined by professionalism and consistency on

the part of management.
Externally, change processes must necessarily involve, in balanced form, both valuing

and empathy on the one hand, and confrontation and irritation on the other.
On principle, these processes require an image that relies on the employee’s potential
and willingness to achieve. These important prerequisites have to be combined with the
idea of an organization that meets the outlined criteria, fulfills the objectives, and allows
scope for individual autonomous decision making. Furthermore, these processes demand
a certain time constraint, which must not only be realistic but be based on the principle
that a sustainable dynamism and stability of performance—together with performance-
oriented action—needs to be monitored continuously and professionally to ensure that
implementation of the redesign provides the expected results from both technology and
staff.