1   CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION  

1.1  Background to the Study Today’s  business  organizations  are  characterized  by  increasingly  dynamic technological and communications networked environment, continuous challenges such as  competition,  development,  general  instability,  mergers  and  reengineering  of  work processes. These forces challenge organizations to re-evaluate their strategies, structure, policies, operations, processes, and culture. Sustained organizational success in such kind of a highly turbulent business environment is a function of intense proactive abilities of employees  to  aspects  of  change,  combined  with  conceptual  comprehension  of organizational  issues  and  goals.  Organizations  insensitive  to  changes  in  political, economical, social and technological environment lack grit and determination to cope up with  internal  and  external  changes  when  required  and  hence  lack  sustenance  and longevity.         It will come as no surprise to any observer of today’s organizations that change is a significant part of organizational life. Change is required at the organizational level as customers demand more, technologies are developed with a rapidly changing life cycle, especially  high-tech  products,  and  investors  demand  results.  These  require  that organizations develop new strategies, economic structures, technologies, organizational structures,  and  processes.  As  a  result,  change  is  also  required  of  individuals.  The 

 2  management  tool  for  managing  change  effectively  is  organization  development. Organizational development applies behavioural science knowledge and practices to help organizations  change  to  achieve  greater  effectiveness.  It  seeks  to  improve  how organizations relate to their external environments and function internally to attain high performance and high quality of work life.        Organization  Development  emphasizes  change  in  organizations  that  is  planned and  implemented  deliberately.  Organizational  development  as  a  practice  involves  an ongoing,  systematic  process  of  implementing  effective  organizational  change. Organizational  development  is  known  both  as  a  field  of  applied  science  focused  on understanding and managing organizational change and as a field of scientific study and inquiry. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on sociology, psychology, particularly industrial  and  organizational  psychology,  and  theories  of  motivation,  learning,  and personality. Although behavioral science has provided the basic foundation for the study and practice of organizational development, new and emerging fields of study have made their presence felt.         The  Nigerian  telecommunications  industry  has  suffered  setbacks  which  are largely attributed to  ineffective and inefficient management, challenge from  the  global environment,  inability  to  meet  the  increasing  technological  change  demand,  etc.  The general poor service delivery of telecoms organizations can be attributed to the inability of these organizations to develop proper organizational development strategies that would assist them refocus on their core mandates in this present age of globalization. In today’s 

 3  business  environment,  nothing  remains  still.  The  rate  of  change  which  business organizations face continues to increase more and more in the last five decades. This is as a  result  of  advances  in  information  and  communication  technology,  increasing democratization of economies and liberalization of economies across the globe.         Going  by  the  increasing  volatility  of  the  business  environment,  organizational development has become inevitable. This is  to  address any or  all of these issues; poor performance,  adapting  to  changes  arising  from  the  external  environmental  pressures, achieve or maintain a competitive advantage (in  terms of better price and high quality), explicit innovation, etc.      From  the  foregoing,  organizational  development  is  seen  as  a  broad,  loosely defined  field  of  practice  and  inquiry  that  espouses  the  noble  goal  of  improving organization s and making them more effective. This study therefore seeks to examine the effects of organizational development on the organizational performance in the Nigerian telecommunication iindustry.    

1.2  Statement of the Problem. The Nigerian telecommunication  has  suffered large  setbacks, which are  largely attributed  to  ineffective      and  inefficient  management,  challenge  from  the  global environment, inability to meet the technological change demands, general poor service delivery, high tariffs, the rece

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