Organizational Development

The term organizational development (OD) came into use in the late 1950s and the early 1960s to describe a growing set of methods and approaches for improving [Page 1048]the functioning of organizations. These approaches had been pioneered in a variety of settings in the late 1940s and the 1950s and incorporated emerging ideas and ideals in the behavioral sciences, including action research, survey research, planned change, sensitivity training groups, participatory management, humanistic psychology, and quality of work life, approaches that can be seen variously in contributions by Argyris; Bennis and others; French and Bell; Lewin; Likert; Lippitt, Watson, and Westley; Maslow; and McGregor.

Several definitions of OD have developed over the years. Despite more than 40 years of evolution and practice, these definitions have stayed remarkably similar. Beckhard's 1969 definition of OD—a planned effort that is organization-wide, managed from the top to increase organization effectiveness and health, organized through planned interventions in the organization's processes, and based on behavioral science knowledge—was one that was to be echoed not only in the same year by French but in much later definitions of the field, such as those offered by Burke in 1982, Greiner and Cummings in 2004, and Cummings and Worley in 2005. Despite differences in emphasis, all these definitions draw our attention to the use of the behavioral sciences in OD to plan changes in the functioning of organizations in order to improve their effectiveness. Also underlying most OD approaches are humanistic, democratic, client-centered, and socioecological values that provide a normative orientation to OD change efforts.

As noted in several of the definitions, OD also involves the use of consultants trained in behavioral science to work with organizations to improve their effectiveness. These consultants are expected to possess extensive knowledge and skills pertaining to planned change in human systems. They also are required to play multiple roles when working with an organization on a change effort. The various descriptions of OD consulting roles advanced over the years, such as by Lippitt and Lippitt, emphasize the need to be proficient in many different skills while adopting a client-centered, collaborative relationship with organizational clients. For example, an OD professional needs skills to take on the following roles:

• Consultant, able to initiate, negotiate, and maintain a collaborative consulting relationship with managers, executives, and leaders over the life of a change project. This function requires knowledge of and ability to manage or facilitate the phases and processes associated with an organizational change effort.
• Diagnostician, capable of “reading” and understanding the behavioral dynamics of individuals, teams, organizations, and even larger social systems.
• Social science researcher, capable of designing or employing various data-gathering and data-analysis methodologies, including interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, and so on.
• Interventionist, knowledgeable about a wide range of participative methods and processes that will enable and encourage people to collectively engage or explore important issues and opportunities.
• Educator or trainer, able to communicate new ideas and skills to system members to better prepare them to address their issues, opportunities, and concerns.
• Facilitator of smalland large-group participative processes, capable of dealing with such difficult dynamics as those associated with issues of power, authority, leadership, conflict, and resistance, as well as able to keep participants engaged and on track.
• Coach, able to advise, support, and when appropriate, constructively confront managers, executives, and organization members to encourage and help develop the skills, behaviors, and attitudes necessary for their and the overall change effort's success.

Each of these roles requires a depth of knowledge and skills, and OD practice ideally requires the integration and application of all these roles.

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