AUGUST 2021HR TECH OUTLOOK8Chris Forando, VP, Organization Development, L'Oreal USAByORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT (OD) AS DIAGNOSTICIAN: THE EMERGENT ROLE OF OD AND TECHNOLOGY TO MANAGE WORKPLACE STRESS AND DRIVE BUSINESS PERFORMANCEAn increasingly disruptive and hypercompetitive business environment, compounded by a pandemic, social unrest, and ever shifting consumer demands, has created unprecedented change for organizations, and subsequently, chronic stress for employees. With mounting pressure for improved financial performance, organizations are engaged in an incessant drive to achieve more with less, at great cost. Organizations must confront the impact that workplace stress has on human and business performance, and take action to restore the health and wellness of employees.This article offers a brief overview of an example on how OD and HR, in close partnership with business leaders, can play a strategic role in strengthening business performance by leveraging technology and integrated data analysis to isolate root cause issues that cause harmful stress.Organizations often become immersed in a mindless pursuit of resolving symptomatic issues rather than addressing root cause origins, leading to a recurring pattern of futile, and wasteful, solutions that offer nothing more than temporary relief. Further, problems may be separated into business and `people' issues, with different teams committed to each, unintentionally exacerbating the situation. For progressive companies, Organizational Development (OD), enabled by technology and data analytics, is emerging as the `tip of the spear' to objectively guide leaders and teams into and through the change void by means of systemic analysis and diagnosis of root cause issues that erode both human performance and the execution of strategic imperatives.In this case example, an opportunity for OD originated when a review of employee engagement survey comments by HR suggested an unacceptable level of team stress. The problem was postured as "business performance impacted Chris Forando
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