Till the introduction of financial sector reforms in RRBs such as incremental Non-Target Group lending, recapitalization to strengthen their balance sheets, application of prudential norms; extention of functional autonomy and operational freedom, RRBs were highly regulated organizations. They were being regulated by GOI/RBI/NABARD besides their respective sponsor banks and thus by nature they were supply driven organizations. But with the gradual introduction of reforms, the RRBs have become demand/market driven organizations which necessitates a change in their attitude and functioning. As there exists a general tendency to resist change at individual and organizational level, the Organizational Development Initiative (ODI) process was consciously introduced to enable them to cope with the changes in a better manner.

Since ODI is a flexible change management tool, it has to be adapted in conformity with the requirements of each institution. BIRD's intervention is not limited to any one of the above methods. Methodology adopted by BIRD include a combination of methods such as T group Team building-Inter group development, Survey feed back- appreciative inquiry. The intervention is done based on some commonly accepted beliefs such as mutual respect for people, trust, participation and support of people, power equalisation (i.e. least emphasis on hierarchical authority) besides a human process encompassing confrontation and participation. As it is a comprehensive intervention, it is usually conducted over a period of 3-4 years in three distinct phases as per NABARD guidelines, a gist of which is given in the following table (Table 1.1).