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Apart from broad agreements on values and principles, OD has remained a misty field of practice owing to multiple definitions, approaches, processes, interventions and role overlap with HR. Organisational development is complex and requires planning. It is crucial to map the organisational context within which you are hoping to catalyze change. Associated closely to American society’s increasing concern for the welfare of the worker, OD progressed about 1957 as an attempt to apply some of the values and insights of behavioral scientists to total organizations. Although OD has been in existence for over 30 years, discussions among professionals and laymen alike have led to disagreement as to precisely what it is and what it entails. There is also some question as to its effectiveness. A new ensemble of organization development (OD) practices has emerged that are based more on constructionist, postmodern and new sciences premises than the assumptions of the early founders. These include practices associated with appreciative inquiry, large group interventions, changing mindsets and consciousness, addressing diversity and multicultural realities, and advancing new and different models of change.
Addressing the concept, the process it involves, its effectiveness, and its application, Organizational Development provides students with the organization development tools they need to succeed in today’s challenging environment of increased globalization, rapidly changing technologies, and economic development.
New OD practices, in combination, place increased emphasis on socially constructed realities, transforming mindsets and consciousness, operating from multicultural realities, exploring different images and assumptions about change, and forging common social agreements from the multiple realities held by key constituencies. These emphases tend to lead to interventions and approaches which deemphasize in varying degrees sequential, episodic and developmental change; objective diagnosis; and a focus on material processes, structures and rewards.
There is a wealth of information and literature available on organizational development. This volume is packed with useful frameworks and best practices for organisations looking to achieve strategic goals more effectively and efficiently. It presents insights into how an organization is operating, gathering information and then deciding on the most appropriate action to help that organization change and develop.
This book is ideal for students or practitioners of Organization Development (OD), and managers in the department OD who are contemplating using or who are merely wondering what OD is all about.
