flowchart TB A[Artifacts<br/>Visible: dress, layout, rituals] V[Espoused Values<br/>Stated: mission, code, slogans] B[Basic Assumptions<br/>Invisible: taken-for-granted beliefs] A --- V V --- B style A fill:#FFF3E0,stroke:#E65100 style V fill:#E6F4EA,stroke:#137333 style B fill:#F3E5F5,stroke:#6A1B9A
12 HRD Culture, Climate and Interventions
The previous chapter laid out the mechanisms of HRD — appraisal, training, mentoring, OD. The mechanisms only work if the surrounding culture and climate support them. A first-rate appraisal system in a low-trust climate produces inflated ratings; a careful coaching programme in a hierarchical culture produces silence. This chapter examines the soft tissue inside which the HRD mechanisms live, and the family of interventions a firm uses to change it.
12.1 Organisational Culture
Edgar Schein, the most cited authority on the subject, defines organisational culture as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group has learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and is therefore taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems” (schein2010?).
The slogan that has stuck — variously credited to Drucker, Cameron and Ulrich — is: “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
12.1.1 Schein’s Three Levels of Culture
Schein argues that culture sits at three levels of visibility, and that the visible parts are usually the least important.
TipSchein’s Three Levels of Organisational Culture
| Level | What it covers | Visibility | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artifacts | Visible structures, processes and behaviour | High — easy to see, hard to decode | Office layout, dress, slogans, rituals, stories |
| Espoused values | Goals, strategies, philosophies the firm states | Medium | Mission statement, code of conduct, “values posters” |
| Basic underlying assumptions | Unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs about reality, time, human nature, relationships | Low — invisible, hardest to change | “Mistakes mean punishment”; “the boss is always right”; “we never share information across teams” |
A change programme that targets only the artifacts (new posters, new dress code) is cosmetic. Real culture change works at the level of basic assumptions, and that takes years.
12.1.2 Functions of Culture
A working culture does five things at once: it gives identity to members, generates commitment to something larger than the self, enhances stability of the social system, guides behaviour through shared meaning, and signals to outsiders what kind of place this is.
12.2 Organisational Climate
If culture is the slow-moving bedrock, climate is the weather above it — the perceived atmosphere of the workplace at a moment in time. Climate is what employees report when they answer engagement and pulse surveys; culture is what shaped those reports in the first place.
TipCulture vs Climate
| Dimension | Culture | Climate |
|---|---|---|
| Time horizon | Slow, decades | Fast, months to a few years |
| Depth | Deep — values and assumptions | Surface — perceptions and feelings |
| Measurement | Anthropological — interviews, observation | Survey-based — Likert scales |
| Change | Hard, indirect, behavioural | Easier, responsive to managerial action |
| Levels | Multiple — sub-cultures by function, region | Often singular within a unit |
A firm can change its climate (a new boss, a new policy, a new strategy) without changing its culture. Climate is an early indicator of cultural change, not a substitute for it.
12.3 HRD Climate
T.V. Rao and E. Abraham defined the HRD climate as the perceived state of HRD-supporting attitudes and behaviours in the organisation — how strongly employees feel that the firm cares about and invests in their development. Their 1986 instrument identified eight dimensions, captured by the acronym OCTAPACE.
12.3.1 OCTAPACE — Eight Dimensions of HRD Climate
TipThe OCTAPACE Dimensions (Rao & Abraham, 1986)
| # | Dimension | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Openness | Employees express thoughts and feelings without fear; managers are accessible |
| 2 | Confrontation | Problems are faced and tackled, not avoided or pushed around |
| 3 | Trust | A baseline assumption that others mean well and will keep their word |
| 4 | Authenticity | Words match deeds; what people say is what they do |
| 5 | Pro-activity | Initiative — people anticipate problems rather than wait for them |
| 6 | Autonomy | Freedom to act within one’s role; no excessive supervision |
| 7 | Collaboration | Working together rather than in silos; cross-functional teamwork |
| 8 | Experimentation | Willingness to try new ideas; tolerance of honest failure |
A high-OCTAPACE climate makes the HRD mechanisms (appraisal, mentoring, OD) cost-effective; a low-OCTAPACE climate makes them ceremonial. The Rao–Abraham HRD Climate Survey (HRDCS) — 38 items rated on a five-point scale — is the standard diagnostic instrument used in Indian firms.
12.3.2 Why Climate Matters for HRD
- A training programme in a low-trust climate produces compliance, not capability.
- 360-degree feedback in a low-openness climate produces inflated ratings and quiet retaliation.
- Mentoring without psychological safety becomes a place to score political points rather than to learn.
- Career conversations in a low-authenticity climate become ritualised exercises in saying what the boss wants to hear.
The implication for HRD design is direct: diagnose the climate first; design mechanisms with the climate in mind; and treat climate improvement as a deliverable in its own right.
12.4 OD as a Family of Interventions
Organisation Development (OD) is a planned, organisation-wide, top-managed effort to increase organisational effectiveness through deliberate interventions in the firm’s processes, using behavioural-science knowledge. Richard Beckhard’s classic 1969 definition still holds (french2008?).
OD has five identifying features.
TipFive Identifying Features of OD
| Feature | What it means |
|---|---|
| Planned | Deliberate, designed; not spontaneous |
| Organisation-wide | Touches multiple units; not a single-team intervention |
| Top-managed | Senior-leader sponsorship is non-negotiable |
| Intervenes in processes | The how of work — communication, decision-making, conflict — not just the what |
| Behavioural-science based | Draws on psychology, sociology, anthropology — diagnosis precedes prescription |
12.4.1 The Action-Research Model
The classical OD process, due to Kurt Lewin, runs through repeated cycles of diagnosis → action → evaluation. The full action-research model has seven steps.
TipThe Action-Research Model of OD
| # | Step | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Problem identification | A felt-need in the client system |
| 2 | Consultation with a behavioural-science expert | Joint understanding of the problem |
| 3 | Data gathering and preliminary diagnosis | Interviews, surveys, observation |
| 4 | Feedback to the client group | The diagnosis is shared and discussed |
| 5 | Joint diagnosis and action planning | Client and consultant together design the intervention |
| 6 | Action — the intervention | The change is implemented |
| 7 | Data gathering after the action | Evaluate; iterate or institutionalise |
12.4.2 Lewin’s Three-Stage Change Model
Sitting underneath every OD intervention is Kurt Lewin’s classical change model.
TipLewin’s Three Stages of Change
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Unfreezing | Reduce forces that maintain the status quo; create dissatisfaction with the present |
| Moving (Changing) | Introduce new behaviours, structures, processes; learning and experimentation |
| Refreezing | Stabilise the new state through reinforcement, structure, reward |
12.5 Common HRD / OD Interventions
French and Bell’s classification, refined by Cummings and Worley, organises interventions by the level at which they target change.
TipFour Levels of OD Interventions
| Level | Examples |
|---|---|
| Individual | Coaching, counselling, sensitivity training, role analysis, life and career planning, transactional analysis |
| Dyadic / interpersonal | Third-party peace-making, conflict resolution, role negotiation |
| Team / group | Team-building, process consultation, role-analysis technique, responsibility charting |
| Inter-group | Inter-group team-building, organisation mirror, third-party intervention between departments |
| Whole organisation | Survey feedback, grid OD, MBO, large-group interventions (Future Search, World Café, Open Space), restructuring, cultural change programmes |
A working description of the most-tested interventions follows.
12.5.1 Sensitivity Training (T-Groups)
Pioneered by Kurt Lewin and the National Training Laboratories from 1947, sensitivity training places a small group of strangers in an unstructured setting under a trained facilitator. Members observe their own and others’ behaviour, give and receive feedback, and become more aware of their interpersonal impact. T-groups are powerful but psychologically demanding; modern usage is typically embedded in residential leadership programmes.
12.5.2 Survey Feedback
A survey feedback intervention uses a systematic survey (climate, engagement, leadership, processes) followed by structured group meetings in which the unit’s results are returned to its members and used to drive an action plan. Rensis Likert and the Survey Research Center at Michigan are the originators.
12.5.3 Process Consultation
Edgar Schein’s process consultation model has the consultant focus not on the content of the client’s problems but on the processes by which the client deals with them — communication, decision-making, conflict resolution. The consultant’s role is to help the client see her own processes more clearly and to choose better ones.
12.5.4 Team Building
A team-building intervention takes an existing or newly formed team through structured activities to improve goal-clarity, role-clarity, processes and interpersonal relationships. Tuckman’s forming–storming–norming–performing sequence is the classical scaffold.
12.5.5 The Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton’s Grid OD)
Robert Blake and Jane Mouton’s Managerial Grid (1964) plots leadership behaviour on two axes — concern for production and concern for people — each from 1 to 9 (blake1964?). The Grid OD intervention is a six-phase programme that moves managers towards the 9-9 team management style.
TipFive Cardinal Points of the Managerial Grid
| Style | Concern for production | Concern for people | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impoverished management | 1 | 1 | Minimal effort on either |
| Country club management | 1 | 9 | Friendly atmosphere; production secondary |
| Authority–compliance | 9 | 1 | Production at any cost; people are means |
| Middle-of-the-road | 5 | 5 | Adequate balance, no excellence |
| Team management | 9 | 9 | Committed people, common stake, high results |
12.5.6 Large-Group Interventions
Modern OD has produced a family of large-group methods that bring whole systems — sometimes hundreds of stakeholders — into a room for one to three days.
TipThree Large-Group OD Methods
| Method | Originator | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Future Search | Marvin Weisbord & Sandra Janoff | Aligning a whole system around a desired future |
| Open Space Technology | Harrison Owen | Self-organising agenda for complex, ambiguous issues |
| World Café | Juanita Brown & David Isaacs | Cross-pollinating dialogue across multiple small tables |
12.5.7 Quality of Work Life (QWL)
QWL programmes — Walton’s eight conditions, autonomous work groups, redesigned shifts — aim at improving the working environment itself. The QWL movement, born in the Tavistock studies and refined in Volvo’s Kalmar plant, sees the workplace as a unit of design, not just an aggregation of jobs.
12.6 Roles in OD
OD work involves three roles, sometimes carried by one person and sometimes by separate individuals.
TipThree Roles in OD Work
| Role | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sponsor | Senior leader who legitimises and resources the change |
| Change agent (consultant) | Diagnoses, designs and facilitates the intervention |
| Client system | The unit, team or whole organisation undergoing change |
12.7 Resistance to Change
Resistance is not a sign of irrationality on the part of those affected. It is a rational response to perceived costs that the change agent has not addressed. Common sources of resistance — and the corresponding remedy — are summarised below.
TipResistance to Change — Sources and Remedies
| Source | Remedy |
|---|---|
| Fear of the unknown | Information, communication, transparent process |
| Loss of status, power or income | Negotiation, side payments, transition support |
| Habit and inertia | Coaching, practice, role modelling |
| Lack of trust | Visible early wins, leader integrity |
| Poor communication | Frequent, multi-channel, two-way communication |
| Low tolerance for ambiguity | Clear milestones, frequent feedback |
| Group / cultural attachment | Engage opinion leaders early, work with the group |
Kotter and Schlesinger’s classical six-strategy menu — education and communication, participation, facilitation and support, negotiation, manipulation and co-optation, explicit and implicit coercion — covers the practical options.
12.8 Practice Questions
Eight questions to test the chapter. Each card hides the answer — click Show answer to reveal it.
Q1
Edgar Schein's three levels of organisational
Edgar Schein's three levels of organisational culture, from most visible to least visible, are:
ABasic assumptions → values → artifacts
BArtifacts → values → basic assumptions
CValues → artifacts → basic assumptions
DArtifacts → basic assumptions → values
Show answer
Correct answer
B. Artifacts (visible) → espoused values → basic assumptions (invisible).
Q2
Match the OCTAPACE dimension with its
Match the OCTAPACE dimension with its meaning:
| Dimension | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Confrontation | (a) | Words match deeds |
| (ii) | Authenticity | (b) | Problems are faced, not avoided |
| (iii) | Pro-activity | (c) | Anticipating problems before they happen |
| (iv) | Experimentation | (d) | Tolerance for trying new ideas |
A(i)-(b), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(c), (iv)-(d)
B(i)-(a), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(d), (iv)-(c)
C(i)-(c), (ii)-(d), (iii)-(a), (iv)-(b)
D(i)-(d), (ii)-(c), (iii)-(b), (iv)-(a)
Show answer
Correct answer
A. (i)-(b), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(c), (iv)-(d)
Q3
The HRD Climate Survey (HRDCS) was
The HRD Climate Survey (HRDCS) was developed by:
ASchein and Bennis
BT.V. Rao and E. Abraham
CPareek alone
DLikert and Argyris
Show answer
Correct answer
B. Rao and Abraham, 1986.
Q4
Kurt Lewin's three-stage model of planned
Kurt Lewin's three-stage model of planned change is:
APlan → Do → Check
BForming → Storming → Performing
CUnfreezing → Moving → Refreezing
DDiagnosis → Intervention → Evaluation
Show answer
Correct answer
C. Unfreezing — Moving — Refreezing.
Q5
A 9–9 score on the Managerial
A 9–9 score on the Managerial Grid corresponds to which leadership style?
AImpoverished
BCountry-club
CTeam management
DAuthority–compliance
Show answer
Correct answer
C. High concern for both production and people — team management.
Q6
Which of the following is not
Which of the following is not a characteristic of OD?
APlanned
BTop-managed
CBehavioural-science based
DLimited to the HR department
Show answer
Correct answer
D. OD is organisation-wide; HR may sponsor it but it is never confined there.
Q7
Edgar Schein's process consultation model has
Edgar Schein's process consultation model has the consultant focus on:
AThe content of the client's problem
BThe process by which the client deals with the problem
CThe cost of the consulting engagement
DThe consultant's preferred solution
Show answer
Correct answer
B. Schein's distinctive contribution — focus on how the client thinks and decides.
Q8
Which of the following large-group OD
Which of the following large-group OD methods is associated with Harrison Owen?
AFuture Search
BWorld Café
COpen Space Technology
DT-group
Show answer
Correct answer
C. Open Space Technology.
ImportantQuick recall
- Schein’s three levels of culture: Artifacts (visible) → Espoused values → Basic assumptions (invisible).
- Culture is slow, deep, multiple; climate is fast, surface, often singular.
- HRD climate dimensions = OCTAPACE: Openness, Confrontation, Trust, Authenticity, Pro-activity, Autonomy, Collaboration, Experimentation. Rao & Abraham, 1986.
- Five features of OD: planned, organisation-wide, top-managed, process-focused, behavioural-science based.
- Action-research cycle: problem identification → consultation → diagnosis → feedback → action planning → action → evaluation.
- Lewin’s three-stage change: Unfreeze → Move → Refreeze.
- Levels of intervention: individual, dyadic, team, inter-group, whole organisation.
- Common interventions: T-group, survey feedback, process consultation, team building, role negotiation, Grid OD, Future Search, Open Space, World Café, MBO, QWL.
- Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton): 1-1 impoverished, 1-9 country club, 9-1 authority-compliance, 5-5 middle-of-the-road, 9-9 team management.
- Three roles in OD: sponsor, change agent, client system.
- Kotter & Schlesinger’s resistance strategies: education, participation, facilitation, negotiation, manipulation/co-optation, coercion.