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Organization Development

History of Organizational Development (OD)


Kurt Lewin(1898-1947)
He is widely recognized as the founding father of OD, although he died before the concept
became current in the mid-1950s. From Lewin came the ideas of group dynamics, and Action
Research which underpin the basic OD process as well as providing its collaborative
consultant/Client ethos.
He founded the Research Center for Group Dynamics(RCGD) at MIT, which moved to Michigan
after his death.
Kurt Lewin played a key role in the evolution of the organization development as it is known
today. As early as World War 2 (WW2), Lewin experimented with a collaborative change process
based on a three-step process of planning, taking actions and measuring results. This was the
forerunner of action research, an important element of OD.
Action Research
Wendell L. French and Cecil Bell define organization development (OD) at one point as
Organizational improvement through actions research
Action Research is a cyclical process of change. The cycle begins with a series of planning
actions initiated by the client and the change agent working together. There are 3 stages(steps) of
process of change in Lewins description these are;
First stage (Input)
Preliminary diagnosis
Data gathering
Feedback results
Joint action planning
Second stage (Transformation)
Learning processes
Action planning
Action steps

(Feedback at this stage would move via Feedback Loop)

Third stage (Output)


Changes in behaviour
Data gathering (to be able to determine if theres necessary adjustments)
Measurement
OD interventions
Interventions are structured activities used individually or in combination by the members of a
client system to improve their social or task performance.
structured activities means such diverse procedures as experiential exercises, questionnaire,
attitude surveys, interviews, relevant group discussions, and even lunchtime meetings between
the change agent and a member of the client organization.

INTRODUCTION
Need for the Organizational change

Managing organizations has become an increasingly complex and demanding task.


The impact of foreign competition in the economy.
The exponential growth of our technology base.
Changing lifestyle of our workforces.
One reaction by U.S. Management has been to study Japanese techniques and emulate
them as much as possible.
U.S. managers are focusing on themselves at their styles of management, their values,
organizational cultures they create, the role of the employees in decision making and the
pattern of excellence in U.S. companies.

What is Organizational Development

As a field, defies precise definitions. In general, it consists of values, assumptions,


theories, and techniques all oriented towards the planned change of organizations.
Drawn from the behaviorial sciences, the conceptual foundations of OD guide actions
designed to improve both the long term performance of the organization and the quality
of working life for the individual organizational member.

OD is planned, systematic process in which behavioral science principles and practices


are used to improve organizational functioning.
OD is a process that affects the organization as a whole as well as its individual members.
It involves the application of behavioural sciences to process the functioning and the
management of the organization, especially its response to changes in the environment.

Organizational Framework: Open System

A System can be defined as a set of objects, each of which possesses certain attributes
and certain interconnections with other parts of the system.
An Open system, a special kind of system, is open to its environment; that is, it has
boundaries that are permeable to inputs from environment such as materials, people and
other information needed to sustain itself.
Any system can be usefully analyzed by looking at three(3) things:
1. Target system
2. Subsystem (the larger system in which the target system is embedded.)
3. Major subsystem (one of the key component parts that make up the whole world.)

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