Organizational development

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Industrial & Organisational : Introduction : Personnel psychology : Organizational psychology : Work environment

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Organization development, according to Richard Beckhard, is defined as:

• (1) a planned effort
• (2) organization-wide
• (3) managed from the top
• (4) to increase organization effectiveness and health
• (5) through planned interventions in the organization's 'processes', using behavioural-science knowledge"

(Smith, 1998, p261. Training and Development in Australia.)

According to Warren Bennis, organization development (OD) is a complex strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organizations so that they can better adapt to new technologies, markets, and challenges.

Warner Burke emphasizes that OD is not just "anything done to better an organization"; it is a particular kind of change process designed to bring about a particular kind of end result. OD involves organizational reflection, system improvement, planning, and self-analysis.

Contents 1 Definition 2 Important figures 3 OD topics 4 Milestones 5 OD in context 6 External links 6.1 Professional associations for OD practitioners

[edit] Definition

At the core of OD is the concept of an organization, defined as two or more people working together toward one or more shared goals. Development in this context is the notion that an organization may become more effective over time at achieving its goals.

[edit] Important figures

The OD field, which emerged in the first half of the 20th century, has been influenced by many figures including:

• William J. Rothwell
• Richard Beckhard
• Robert R. Blake
• Peter Block
• William Bridges
• W. Warner Burke
• Don Cole
• David Cooperrider
• Kathie Dannemiller
• Peter Drucker
• Fred Emery
• Roger Harrison
• Dee Hock
• Elliott Jaques
• Kurt Lewin
• Rensis Likert
• Jane Mouton
• David Nadler
• Edgar Schein
• Peter Senge
• Robert Stringer
• Eric Trist
• Marv Weisbord

[edit] OD topics

Topics in OD include:

• Action research
• Diversity management
• Employee research
• Group process
• Knowledge management
• Leadership development
• Managing change
• Meetings
• Organizational communication
• Organizational culture
• Organizational learning
• Organizational performance
• Performance improvement
• Process improvement
• Storytelling
• Strategic planning
• Succession planning
• Systems thinking
• Team building
• T-groups
• Quality

[edit] Milestones

• Hawthorne studies
• Human Relations Movement
• Appreciative Inquiry

[edit] OD in context

OD is related to:

• Coaching
• Facilitation
• Human resources
• Industrial and organizational psychology
• Training & Development
• Change Management

[edit] External links

• An overview of OD tools
• www.odinstitute.org — The most frequently cited OD publication in the world
• www.theodcompany.com — An intro to OD
• www.orgdct.com — reading list
• Is OD still relevant? by Chris Worley
• Research on Organizations: Bibliography Database and Maps
• Website of Global Dharma Center, an not-for-profit organisation providing (free) articles, research publications and training modules on Culture Development, Individual/Organisation Transformation and, Serving and Leading from a spiritual context.

[edit] Professional associations for OD practitioners

• The Organization Development Network
• The Organization Development Institute
• The American Society for Training & Developmentes:Desarrollo organizacional

This page uses content from the English-language version of Wikipedia. The original article was at Organization development. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Psychology Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.