The field of organization

development
Organization development is about how people
and organizations function and how to get
them to function better.
It is based on knowledge from behavioral
science disciplines such as Psychology,
sociology, anthropology, systems theory,
organizational behavior , organization theory
and management.
OD practitioners are consultants trained in the
theory and practice of organizational
development with knowledge of behavioral
sciences.
Organization development as
distinctive consulting method
Fundamental difference between organization development
and other organizational improvement programs is found in
the ODs consultant role and relationship to clients. OD
consultants establish a collaborative relationship of relative
quality with organization members as they together identify
and take actions on problems.

OD consultants co-learners and collaborators, work with

people in the organization to discover what needs to be
changed and how to go about it.
 The role of OD consultants is to structure activities to
help organization members learn to solve their own
problems and learn to do it better over time.

OD consultants are experts on organizational change

and organizational dynamics and on structural learning
situations for problem solving and decision making.
 Organizational culture is defined as the values, assumptions
and beliefs held in common by organization members that
shape how they perceive, think, and act.

Culture strongly influences individuals and group behavior-

how they act depends on how they perceive and think
about things which is often embedded in the organizations
culture.

Warner Burke considers culture change to be the hallmark

of OD. OD is a process of fundamental change in an
organizations culture.
 Peter vail believes that genius of OD is its focus on
organizational processes.

OD is a process for improving organizational processes.

A major thrust in organizational development is improving

organizational effectiveness by improving organizational
processes.
 Organizational structure refers to overall design of
organization, that is, wiring diagram for how the parts are
connected.

Structure also refers to how individual work tasks are

designed and how these tasks are integrated in a coherent
manner.

A number of OD interventions help leaders redesign the

organizations structure to make it function better.
 Organizations are complex social systems interacting
with the environment and OD efforts usually focus on
improving the total organization.

The target of the change is the organization as a system

not its individual members, even though individuals are
instruments of change.
 A system perspective directs OD practitioners to be aware
of interdependencies, interrelatedness, multiple causes and
multiple effects.

For example, systems theory suggests that a change in one

element of the system , say, strategy, will require changes
in other elements such as structures , processes and
culture if the change in strategy is to be effective.
 Action research is essentially a mixture of ingredients:

The highly participative nature of OD

The consultant nature of OD
The consultant role of collaborator and co-learner
The iterative process of diagnosis and action
 The action research model as applied in OD consists of:
A preliminary diagnosis
Data gathering from client group
Data feedback to the client group
Exploration of the data by the client group
Action planning by the client group
Action taking by the client group
Evaluation and assessment of the results of the actions by
the client group-with OD practitioner acting as a facilitator
throughout the process.