Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

or involved in the implementation process - had a better chance to be implemented in a way that
guarantees expected results.
However, there is no single recipe for making decisions in an organization. The decision as a
process also creates a trajectory, usually one of many available. It is better, in general, if the
decision-making process is rational - but humans are not very rational creatures, are they?
In any case, a decision may be rational or not only with respect to the visible trajectories that are
under consideration, and in relation to the data available, or to the set of assumptions that were
taken in account. Certain decisions may seem to be ‘wrong’ because things happen to turn in an
unfavourable direction (this possibility may be understood at the time the decision was made, but
the corresponding probability seemed low); or, something entirely unpredictable might happen.
However, a rational decision remains rational even in the face of loss, and an irrational decision
remains irrational even if it turns out well. Rationality works as a general rule for decision making.
In principle, it provides more chances to survive than any other alternative; of course, there are no
guarantees. Rationality relates to a controllable part of causality. This part is to a certain degree in
the hands of the manager. Another part remains in the hands of fate. That is why it is never
enough to make a seemingly rational decision - nobody knows what will actually happen during
implementation.
Implementation
Implementation is a course of actions and related events. Actions should be organized in time –
first as an action plan, then as an implementation process.
To elaborate and optimize an action plan one should figure out ‘a battle field’ – a whole landscape
of development on a given level and in a given respect. Two commonly used and helpful practices
at the preliminary planning stage are: force field analysis, and stakeholders’ analysis.
Any external or internal factors may be considered as vectors with a certain direction and strength
(or value). The direction of each vector may coincide with the trajectory that is to be followed to
reach a goal, or not. In any case, the projection of the vector to the trajectory will be positive,
negative or neutral. Vectors with positive projection on the given trajectory are called driving
forces. Vectors with negative projection are constraining forces. See Picture 20.
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