What is Organizational Development? Over View and Definition.

There is no single definition of "Organizational Development." If we were to break it

into its parts we can discover one meaning: "Organization" has come to mean the
coming together of people and resources to form a unit. "Development" in its simplest
form suggests change and growth. So OD could be defined as "the practice of changing
people and organizations for positive growth."
Organization development is the process through which an organization develops the
internal capacity to most efficiently and effectively provide its mission work and to
sustain itself over the long term. This definition highlights the explicit connection
between organizational development work and the achievement of organizational
mission. This connection is the rationale for doing OD work.
Organization development, according to Richard Beckhard, is defined as: a planned
effort, organization-wide, managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness
and health, through planned interventions in the organization's 'processes', using
behavioral science knowledge.
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 selfanalysis.
Organization development is a "contractual relationship between a change agent and a
sponsoring organization entered into for the purpose of using applied behavioral science
and or other organizational change perspectives in a systems context to improve
organizational performance and the capacity of the organization to improve itself".
Organization Development is a dynamic values-based approach to systems change in
organizations and communities; it strives to build the capacity to achieve and sustain a
new desired state that benefits the organization or community and the world around
them.
OD is a long range effort to improve organization's problem solving and renewal
processes, particularly through more effective and collaborative management of
organizational culture, often with the assistance of a change agent or catalyst and the use
of the theory and technology of applied behavioral science. 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 known. Experts
in systems thinking, leadership studies, organizational leadership, and organizational
learning (to name a few) whose perspective is not steeped in just the behavioral sciences,

but a much more multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach have emerged as OD

catalysts. These emergent expert perspectives see the organization as the holistic interplay
of a number of systems that impact the process and outputs of the entire organization.
More importantly, the term change agent or catalyst is synonymous with the notion of a
leader who is engaged in doing leadership, a transformative or effectiveness process as
opposed to management, a more incremental or efficiency based change methodology.
Organization development is an ongoing, systematic process to implement effective
change in an organization. Organization development is known as both a field of applied
behavioral 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, and theories of motivation, learning, and personality.
WHY IS ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT IMPORTANT?
Profitability, productivity, morale and quality of work life are of concern to most
organizations because they impact achievement of organization goals. There is an
increasing trend to maximize an organization's investment in its employees. Jobs that
previously required physical dexterity now require more mental effort. Organizations
need to "work smarter" and apply creative ideas.
The work force has also changed. Employees expect more from a day's work than simply
a day's pay. They want challenge, recognition, a sense of accomplishment, worthwhile
tasks and meaningful relationships with their managers and co-workers. When these
needs are not met, performance declines. Today's customers demand continually
improving quality, rapid product or service delivery; fast turn-around time on changes,
competitive pricing and other features that are best achieved in complex environments by
innovative organizational practices. The effective organization must be able to meet
today's and tomorrow's challenges. Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to
survive and thrive.
Values and Assumptions of OD
Values Underlying OD
Dealing with individuals: - Most individuals want to develop their potential and have
drives towards personal growth and development if provided with supportive and
challenging environment Most people desire to make, and are capable of making, a
higher level of contribution to achieving organizational goals than is normally permitted.
Implication for managers: - Ask, listen, support, challenge, encourage risk-taking,
permit failure, remove obstacles and barriers, give autonomy and responsibility, set high
standards, reward success.
Dealing with groups
One of the most relevant reference groups for individuals is the work group, including
peers and boss.

 Most people desire to be accepted, and interact with one or more small reference
groups.
Most people are capable of making greater contributions to the and groups
effectiveness development
Implication for managers: - Let teams flourish; leaders should invest in groups/teams;
adopt a team leadership style rather than a one-on-one style; actively engage group
members to help leader in decision-making and problem-solving, by training them up
suitably; help group members to deal with both positive and negative feelings; solve
problems through mutual interactions.
Designing and running an organization
Traditional bureaucratic organization structures to give way to newer organizational
designs.
Needs and aspirations of employees to be addressed.
Putting people first can result in organizations that are humane, developmental and
empowering, as well as high performing in terms of productivity, profitability and quality
of output.
There are underlying assumptions which should be the basis of OD
approach. These underlying assumption or values are for the success of the
efforts of OD and there are number of such values. They are as follows:
1. OD movement believes in the assumptions of theory Y of McGregor and
emphasizes supportive and creative opportunities for growth. It further
emphasizes on providing personal responsibility and self control to the
employees rather than using controls and punishment. It believes in making
an individual more independent and autonomous.
2. A new appointed employee needs confirmation and support of other
organisational members. It is important that when the new employee is
appointed then he has to be taken into confidence and invited to work place
for discussion on his personal and work-related issues in the private
meetings.
3. The organisations are benefited by the differences in background,
personality and view points of employees. It is important to accept the
contrasts and conflicts of individuals as reality.
4. Full range of expression of feelings result in enhancing high motivation,
commitment and creative ability among employees in the organisation.
5. Positive factors like honesty and directness allow people to put their
energies together into the real problems and improve effectiveness.
6. The executives in the organisation should create and develop cooperation
among employees for effectiveness and should abstain from wasting human
and other resources.
7. The closeness among people can be enhanced by giving attention to
process activities at the time of assigning activities and also at the later
stages.
8. The containment or suppressing the conflicts has long run effect on
employee morale. It is important to identify the root cause of the problem

and then working out it with a satisfactory solution rather than suppressing
the conflict.
9. The commitment of people can be ensured through their participation all
the way through the progress of OD.
10. Every individual objective is his personal growth and it should be
directly related with the organisational growth.
The efforts should be directed to implant these underlying values or
assumptions as they form the basis of OD culture in an organisation.
Benefits of Organizational Development: There are several benefits of OD they are.
1. Environmental impact Organizational development aims to create job
satisfaction, which is equals life satisfaction. We all know that the
workplace environment plays a role on how we execute our set of
responsibilities. In the same way that employment is important for the
employees, job satisfaction directly influences life satisfaction as well.
2. Reduces absenteeism According to recent findings, satisfied employees
tend to be present often. Some cases of absenteeism might be due to
medical reasons. However, organizational development helps to predict
involuntary absenteeism like surgery, and is done away with through
physical exams.
3. Improves quality and productivity The major benefit of organizational
development is that it helps improve productivity, as well as quality.
Improving quality means your business has a competitive edge over other
competitors. Additionally, it increases productivity which helps in making
quality products; thereby there is no need for rework.
4. Encourages self-improvement There are numerous benefits associated to
personnel training. For this reason, it is essential to consider organizational
development as a training tool for business and individual selfdevelopment and improvement.
5. Helps in conflict resolution With organizational development, conflict is
resolved constructively in such a way that promotes innovation, and does
not interfere with productivity. Additionally, employees are compensated
for success to improve their productivity.
6. Encourages open communication: - Communication is open, vertically
and laterally, and all feelings and facts are shared. This proves to be an
effective strategy since it allows employees to learn from personal
experience. Apart from having numerous benefits, organizational
development also has its share of disadvantages as well. It is expensive
and time consuming since every employee has to undergo extensive
training.