OD Techniques and Their Results in 23 Organizations: The Michigan ICL Study

Abstract

Data collected by the Michigan Inter-Company Longitudinal Study from more than 14,000 respondents in 23 organizations are analyzed in terms of the organizational development treatments that intervened between pre and postmeasures. Four "experimental" treatments (Survey Feedback, Interpersonal Process Consultation, Task Process Consultation, and Laboratory Training) and two "control" treatments (Data Handback and No Treatment) are compared to determine their relative association with improved organizational functioning as measured by the Survey of Organizations questionnaire. The results indicate that Survey Feedback was associated with statistically significant improvement on a majority of measures, that Interpersonal Process Consultation was associated with improvement on a majority of measures, that Task Process Consultation was associated with little or no change, and that Laboratory Training and No Treatment were associated with declines. In addition, organizational climate emerges as a potentially extremely important conditioner of these results, with Survey Feedback appearing as the only treatment associated with substantial improvement in the variables of this domain.