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Burke and Litwin (1992) praised many of the models of organizational change that had been developed up to the early 1990s, but they also saw them as overly simplistic. Many of these models had real-world proven utility and had been developed from practitioners’ own experiences. Some prior models could not, however, predict the impact of an organizational change with certainty on other elements of the organization, and other models lacked empirical testing. Burke and Litwin developed their model of organizational performance and change as a causal model that could be empirically tested, that would specify the variables that would be affected by a given change, and that would take into account both first-order (transactional) and second-order (transformational) change (see Figure 4.4). Theirs is explicitly a model of organizational change based in systems theory that is intended to follow from its basic tenets.

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Figure 4.4 The Burke-Litwin Model of Organizational Performance and Change

Source: Burke, W. W., & Litwin, G. H. (1992). A causal mode of organizational performance and change. Journal of Management, 18, 523–545. Reprinted with permission from SAGE Publications, Inc.

Many observers have remarked on the complexity of this model and express confusion about the number and direction of the arrows. Burke and Litwin acknowledge that the model is complex but state that change is such a complex phenomenon, the model is still likely a simplified version of what actually occurs during change. Similar to systems theory, the external environment at the top of the model represents inputs, the individual and organizational performance box at the bottom of the model represents the output, and all other boxes between these represent the throughput processes. Arrows indicate the greatest directions of influence among the variables, but the downward arrows, they believe, have greater influence on lower boxes than do the upward arrows to the variables above them. Burke and Litwin write that all boxes generally affect all others, but the arrows in the model represent the most important causal links. They define each component as follows:

 External environment. Any outside condition or situation that influences the performance of the organization

 Mission and strategy. What employees believe is the central purpose of the organization and how the organization intends to achieve that purpose over an extended period of time

 Leadership. Executive behavior that provides direction and encourages others to take needed action

 Culture. “The way we do things around here”; culture is the collection of overt and covert rules, values, and principles that guide organizational behavior and that have been strongly influenced by history, custom, and practice

 Structure. The arrangement of functions and people into specific areas and levels of responsibility, decision-making authority, and relationships

 Management practices. What managers do in the normal course of events to use the human and material resources at their disposal to carry out the organization’s strategy

 Systems. Standardized policies and mechanisms that are designed to facilitate work

 Climate. The collective current impressions, expectations, and feelings of the members of local work units

 Task requirements and individual skills/abilities. The behavior required for task effectiveness, including specific skills and knowledge required for people to accomplish the work assigned and for which they feel directly responsible

 Individual needs and values. The specific psychological factors that provide desire and worth for individual actions or thoughts

 Motivation. Aroused behavioral tendencies to move toward goals, take needed action, and persist until satisfaction is attained

 Individual and organizational performance. The outcomes or results, with indicators of effort and achievement; such indicators might include productivity, customer or staff satisfaction, profit, and service quality (Burke, 1993, pp. 130–132)

Burke and Litwin write that the model attempts to integrate notions of transformational and transactional change. The factors most influential in transformational change are due to environmental causes, so the top four boxes (external environment, mission and strategy, leadership, and organization culture) have the greatest influence on performance. During transactional change, the other boxes below this level (structure, management practices, and so on) are the major factors of interest. Burke (2002) has described several cases in which applications of the model have been successfully tested.

Profiles in Organization Development

W. Warner Burke

E. L. Thorndike Professor of Psychology and Education

W. Warner Burke, Ph.D., is the E.L. Thorndike Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he has been since 1979. He teaches leadership and organization change and development. His research focuses on learning agility, multi-rater feedback, and leadership. He has authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited 21 books and written over 200 articles and book chapters. He has received several lifetime achievement awards and NASA’s Public Service Medal, The Outstanding Civilian Service Medal from the U.S. Army, the Distinguished Scholar-Practitioner Award from the Academy of Management, and the Distinguished Professional Contributions Award from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

1 What kind of OD work do you do?Large-scale organization change such as the transition of British Airways (BA) from a government owned and operated airline to a private enterprise. The change, including the culture of BA, took five years starting with a costly drain on the British government, i.e., hemorrhaging money, to the most profitable airline in the world by 1990. A primary intervention was multi-rater feedback followed with coaching. I worked closely with the head of HR and the CEO.Another example would be the merger of Smithkline Pharmaceuticals based in Philadelphia and Beecham, Ltd based in London. Two primary interventions were teambuilding with the newly formed C Suite of the merged companies and application of the Burke-Litwin Model and survey—time 1 compared with time 2 about 18 months later showed significant performance increases.

2 Why do you find it a compelling profession of research and/or practice?With more than a 70% failure rate regarding organization change efforts—defined as not accomplishing the goals established for the change—OD is highly relevant and a much-needed profession of applied research and practice. Few endeavors in the so-called “real world” are more compelling. Yes, medical practice saves lives, yet OD saves the livelihood of work life. Moreover, OD is a way to humanize capitalism and augment democracy.

3 What first drew you to the field of OD?In the summer of 1965 I was awarded an NIMH scholarship to attend the “Applied Behavioral Science Intern Program” of eight weeks in Bethel, Maine, sponsored by the National Training Laboratories (NTL) to learn about the T-Group (T for training) and how to conduct one. The T-Group is all about becoming more interpersonally sensitive and thereby increasing one’s self-awareness and emotional intelligence. The vehicle for this training comprises having adults in a small group combined with a trainer/facilitator. My learning objective was to become a proficient T-Group facilitator. This form of training, later perfected by Edgar Schein, became known as “process consultation,” a bedrock of OD work. I had become so enamored with this form of adult learning that when offered a full-time job with NTL (then an arm of NEA, the National Education Association), I never looked back and stayed for eight years, the most significant learning and growth period of my life. NTL also spawned the beginnings of OD built heavily on process consultation. Thus I was involved in OD almost at its beginning. I consider myself as “2nd generation.”

4 What do you think are the most important skills for a student of OD to develop?The most important skills for a student of OD to develop include first and foremost the self-awareness aspects of interpersonal sensitivity, that is, empathy, superb listening abilities, being comfortable at expressing one’s own and accepting others’ emotions, e.g., helping to resolve conflicts, and providing feedback to others, being open yet kind in so doing. The second most important set of skills begins with understanding organizational dynamics and theory and then applying that understanding to interventions for change, e.g., the use of a framework like the Burke-Litwin model for diagnosis followed by data-driven interventions.A third set of skill development is learning how to “see” what is not obvious, that is, feelings, attitudes, and motives that are unspoken and perhaps not entirely at a conscious level, such as beneath the surface, and this covert rather than overt, yet drive behavior in the organization, behavior that is often not understood and puzzling. These covert processes largely compose the organization’s culture, and it is “just the way we do things here” but cannot be explained as to why. The skill for development is therefore helping people to raise to the surface for discussion the “undiscussables.” Think of the iceberg and the volume of ice that is below the surface compared with how much is above the surface. Thus, OD begins with the development of oneself and continues with agile learning—experimenting, being flexible, taking risks, seeking feedback, and being far more collaborative than competitive.

5 What advice do you have for students wishing to get started in the field?Part of the “break-in” problem is that many places in the country especially the east and west coasts have more aspirants than there are positions to fill. Also, there are many independent, lone practitioners competing for work. In any case, my advice is the following: (a) Find an experienced mentor who will allow you to “shadow” her or him and learn from observations; (b) go to professional meetings, especially the OD Network (ODN) meetings. Besides the national network, there are a number of local networks such as the one in the NYC area; (c) rather than “go it alone” in the early stages, look for job opportunities with some of the big firms to gain quick experience such as Accenture, Deloitte, E&Y, etc. and be willing to travel; (d) continue with your education and get a Master’s degree in OD or a broader approach such as organizational psychology; and (e) find a friend and colleague or two that you can share your failures and frustrations with. In the early days of the ODN when I was the executive director, at meetings we would set aside time to discuss our failures as practitioners—what went wrong and why? These discussions, and admissions, were fertile ground for learning quickly.Remember the bedrock of the field is process consultation. This fundamental practice comes from research and theory concerning group dynamics. As soon as feasible learn about group dynamics and how to apply the learning to work groups and teams in organizations. Learn about the corporation. OD grew up on work (training, group facilitation, team building, conflict resolution) conducted in business enterprises. An MBA degree is not necessary, but knowing how business operates at the organizational level, e.g., the important strategy of and what it entails, and two additional and critical functions—information technology and human resources particularly talent management—is necessary. For now and in the immediate future the organizational area that needs the most help that OD can provide is health care. There will be job and learning opportunities in this organizational domain, for sure, and what an important array of organizational types to make a difference.