User talk:Samantaray

Organisations are living organisms with an ecosystem all of their own. Every element of the organisation, whether positive or negative, has evolved for a purpose and plays significant role. As organizations grow and mature, the level and intensity of their interaction with, and exposure to the changing environment- both external and internal, significantly increases. This could lead to development of unhealthy signs or "symptoms" which, unless "identified" and "treated" in a timely manner, could result in "organization sickness" or, in extreme cases, even lead to "terminal disease" which may ultimately ruin the organization and even the organization may die. The organization may be sick due ill health. The health of an organisation is not just dependent on the physical health of the staff and the working environment. Organisational health is as much psychological as it is physical. Organisations can become sick, just as people do (Gerry, 1998). A great deal about the nature, diagnosis and treatment of organisational maladies can be learned from a study of how individuals can become mentally ill. The diagnosis and treatment of mental illness is much more advanced than the study of organisational ills. Like people, organisations can be structurally sick or behaviourally sick. The various “symptoms” can be studied, hopefully, within a diagnostic framework that would enable an accurate diagnosis to be made and treatments prescribed to bring about a healthy, productive and successful organization (Gerry, 1998). Organisational health is the latest buzzword in the business environment that involves corporate culture, commitment, ethics, employee morale and organisational stress. It has been recognised for decades that organisational culture affects both the employees as well as production. Absenteeism, workers’ compensation, reduced productivity, and poor client service are some of the losses currently being experienced by companies experiencing poor health. It is acknowledged, however, that these losses can be identified, and controlled through appropriate management plans and actions. Therefore, now a day the OD practitioners are more interested to study the health of organization periodically to diagnose the pitfalls of the organizations as well as they have trying to make the organization healthy so that in long run, the organisations could survive in the global race. Thus, the question arise how to make organizations healthy or how to create healthy workplace? I: INTRODUCTION: Organisational health is the latest buzzword in the business environment that involves corporate culture, commitment, ethics, employee morale and organisational stress. It has been recognised for decades that organisational culture affects both the employees as well as production. Absenteeism, workers’ compensation, reduced productivity, and poor client service are some of the losses currently being experienced by companies experiencing poor health. It is acknowledged, however, that these losses can be identified, and controlled through appropriate management plans and actions. Therefore, now a day the OD practitioners are more interested to study the health of organization periodically to diagnose the pitfalls of the organizations as well as they have been trying to make the organization healthy so that in long run, the organisations could survive in the global race. Childers (1983) claims that organizations like the people who compromise them, can be either healthy or sick. The healthy organization is functional, while the sick organization is dysfunctional. The organization may be sick due ill health. The health of an organization is not just dependent on the physical health of the staff and the working environment. Organizational health is as much psychological as it is physical. Organisations can become sick, just as people do (Gerry, 1998). A great deal about the nature, diagnosis and treatment of organisational maladies can be learned from a study of how individuals can become mentally ill. The diagnosis and treatment of mental illness is much more advanced than the study of organisational ills. Like people, organisations can be structurally sick or behaviourally sick. The various “symptoms” can be studied, hopefully, within a diagnostic framework that would enable an accurate diagnosis to be made and treatments prescribed to bring about a healthy, productive and successful organization (Gerry, 1998). Organisations need to be healthy so they can adapt to the pressures of global competition, technological innovation and increasing expectations from all stakeholders. Some bits of the organisation may be thriving and require no attention, while other parts may need radical surgery (Lewis, 2007). Xingqiong and Weizheng (2008) stressed importance to organisational health and its impact in the life of organizations in meeting unprecedented challenges and intense pressure. Organizational health which has long been neglected is being the concern and attention of academics and business people within India and abroad. II: CONCEPT OF ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH: Now a day, importance to health has been felt by each and every one, may be at individual level or organisational level. The traditional concept- mere absence of disease has been replaced. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1998), health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It also defines mental health as a state of well-being in which every individual can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. It is assumed that like individual health, the health of the organization is the out come of several factors. The notion of organisational health was conceptualized by Warren Bennis, the American management guru, wrote on the subject in 1962, essentially arguing that purely financial measures of performance were inadequate ways of assessing the health of an organisation. In some pioneering work, he tried to apply mental health models to organisations to think through what a healthy organisation might look like. The concept of organizational health was first coined by Miles as "the school system's ability not only to function effectively, but to develop and grow into a more fully-functioning system" (Miles, 1965 and Miles, 1969). Miles used human health as metaphor for organizational health. Organisational health is conceptualized as the effective balance between the interests of the organization and the aspirations, skills and requirements of the individual within that organization. Nadkarni, Lovey and Erdelyi (2005) identified six criteria of organizational health: balancing the main objectives of the organization (i.e., the fundamental objectives of satisfying its customers' needs, satisfying its employees' needs, and its economic needs); creating a sense of belonging; minimizing entropy; creating satisfied customers; organizational growth; and harmony with the environment. They defined organizational health as “the holistic condition of these six main criteria being satisfied to a high degree concurrently”. They state that organizations begin to experience problems when too much emphasis is placed on any one of the above areas over the others. A healthy work organisation is one whose culture, climate and organisational practices create an environment which promotes employee mental and physical health, as well as productivity and organisational effectiveness (Murphy, 1998). Deborah (2005) defines organizational health as the well-being of an organization– its productivity, effectiveness, competitiveness and financial health– in addition to the well-being of the employees within the organization. Very recently, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (2009) reported that organisational health needs a balance across four dimensions. Identity: clarity of purpose, shared goals and values; clarity of function of each component and defined contribution to overall goals. Interrelation: the way in which individuals and groups within the organization relate to each other, the flow of resources between them, and the social networks which hold them together. Autonomy: capacity to impact upon the environment and make a difference; the structures which enable effective action. Resilience: adaptability, innovativeness, problem solving; the ability to respond to change without compromising core values. This report conceptualizes organisational health by clubbing various dimensions all together as reported by most of the researches in the field of organisational health studies.