Organizational Development

2010-10-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

Organizational development is a complex methodology that applies behavioral science towards structural change. It encompasses a wide array of activities, processes and theories, all of which are mainly oriented towards enhancing individual entities.
Organizational development basically stresses on planned approaches to improving or changing organizational processes to maximize effectiveness and minimize negative side effects.
Background and Description
Organizational development takes its roots in behavioral research which cropped up in the states following the Second World War. This led to the evolution of behavioral development strategies in the forties and fifties which included quality management, survey feedback and sensitivity training.
Another factor contributing to the growth of organizational development were socio technical system models originating from England's Tavistock institute and developed during the fifties. These were basically developed to fulfill social needs and sustain meaningful interaction in the run up to technological change.
These were thereafter adapted to aid organizational turbulence, caused by several other factors, such as layoffs or restructuring and creating highly efficient management structures. In modern OD context, the socio-technical approach usually included work teams.
Evolution in Present Context
Domestic and global economic influences bolstered interest in operational development in the United States during the eighties. Rise in competition and slowdown in domestic market forced many entities to impose extensive organizational change.
For instance, in their pursuit of productivity and quality, many entities introduced new technology, slashed payrolls, altered worker incentive systems and adopted new management structures. Many entities utilized organizational development techniques in an effort to effect change.
Fundamentals of organizational development
Though organizational development is a broad field, it can be differentiated from other organizational change systems, thanks to its additional emphasis on process, rather than problems.
While conventional group change systems have focused on identification of problems in an organization and then alter the nature of the problem, initiatives have focused on identifying behavioral patterns and interactions sustaining and causing problems.
Usually, organizational programs share numerous basic characteristics. For instance, in most cases, they are considered long-term efforts of at least three years. Additionally, operational development stresses on collaborative management, whereby workers and managers at various hierarchy levels co-operate to resolve issues.

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