2. Defining Organizational Development
• There is no standard definition of OD
• Organization = two or more people moving toward a common goal
• Development = 1) event causing change; 2) process of change; or, 3)
incomplete state
• Behavioral sciences are core to the practice of OD, including psychology,
sociology, economics, and anthropology, among others
• OD involves changing people, processes, or technology
3. Defining Organizational Development
• Organization Development (OD) concerns system wide planned change,
uses behavioral science knowledge, targets human and social process of
organizations, and intends to build the capacity to adapt and renew
organizations (Cummings & Worley, 2001).
• Richard Beckhard (1969) - defined OD as “an effort [that is] (1) planned, (2)
organization-wide, and (3) managed from the top, to (4) increase
organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in
the organization’s processes, using behavioral-science knowledge”
4. Overview of Organization Development
• Organization Development (OD) focuses on three domains:
• People
• Process
• Technology
• While a major portion of OD is people oriented, Life School Leadership
must understand business and business strategies in order to support change
5. Conceptual Framework of Organization
Development
• Action Research
Data based
Action derived from data
“No Action without Research, No research without Action” Kurt Lewin
6. Perspectives of Organization Development
• 3 Perspectives of OD
Individual Perspective - Motivation, Needs, Job Satisfaction, Positive
Reinforcement
Group Perspective - Group norms and values, Interpersonal
competence, Changing Values, Organizational
Learning, Group Process
Total System perspective Participative, consensus management, Contingency
Theory, Strategy, Inter-unit relations, Employee-
organization “contracts
7. Elements of Organization Development
4 Core Elements of OD:
Goal Setting
Employee Development
Restructuring
Change Management
8. Metaphors of Organization Development
8 metaphors of OD:
Machine:
Organism
Brain
Cultural System
Political System
Psychic Prison
Instrument of Domination
Flux and Transformation
9. Models of Organization Development
4 metaphors of OD:
3 Stage Model
Action Research Model
The Appreciative Inquiry Model
The General Model of Planned Change
10. Words of the day
“Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be
planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same
worn out soil. My children [students or staff] have had other
birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control,
shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Custom House
