The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change

Principles, Practices, and Perspectives

Brenda B. Jones, Michael Brazzel

• Publisher: Pfeiffer
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118836163
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Gestión de recursos humanos

The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change, Second Edition

The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change is a vital tool for anyone who wants to know how to effectively bring about meaningful and sustainable change in organizations—even in the state of turbulence and complexity that today's organizations encounter. Featuring contributions from leading practitioners and scholars in the field, each chapter explores a key aspect of organization development. In this new edition, each of the 34 chapters has been revised in response to recommendations from the contributors and NTL members.

"These 34 chapters articulate exactly what grounds organization development! Issues and perspectives involving training, groups, practice, and the global world are current and thought provoking."

— Therese F. Yaeger Ph.D., professor, OB/OD Department, College of Business, Benedictine University

"There is no other source that offers such a rich array of the most current and future-thinking topics from so many leaders in the field."

— Robert Gass, Ed.D., co-founder, Rockwood Leadership Institute

"The editors accomplish the difficult task of including theory, concept, and method that will appeal to the academic community as well as those who are focused on being an effective practitioner."

— John D. Carter, Ph.D., president, Gestalt OSD Center

PART ONE
ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT AS A PROFESSION AND FIELD OF PRACTICE

CHAPTER ONE
ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT AS AN EVOLVING FIELD OF PRACTICE

Robert J. Marshak

Organization development (OD) has been a recognized field of practice since the early 1960s with many of its origins in the 1940s, but it still proves difficult to explain what it is, what it does, and why you might want it or need it. The reasons for this seem twofold. First, it requires an understanding of an integration of several sets of knowledge united by an underlying philosophical belief and value system. Second, it is a field of practice that is continually evolving and expanding. Consequently, the range of definitions offered over the years all sound somewhat similar, and they also seem to miss the mark in explaining to outsiders, “So what exactly is OD?”

Consider these definitions:

• Organization development is an effort (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 (Beckhard, 1969, p. 9).
• Organization development refers to a long-range effort to improve an organization’s problem-solving capabilities and its ability to cope with changes in its external environment with the help of external or internal behavioral-scientist practitioners, or change agents, as they are sometimes called (French, 1969, p. 24).
• Organization development is a planned process of change in an organization’s culture through the utilization of behavioral science technology, research, and theory (Burke, 1982, p. 10).
• Organization development is the process of increasing organizational effectiveness and facilitating personal and organizational change through the use of interventions driven by social and behavioral science knowledge (Anderson, 2012, p. 2).

Now, at this point in most discussions of “what is OD?” the author offers his or her or their definition of OD intended to make clearer what it is and what it does. No such effort is expended here. Instead, the intention of this discussion is to go behind the words to the underlying ideas and values that not only give definition to organization development but make it distinct from other forms of management and organizational consulting. First, the underlying knowledge and philosophical systems that help define what is and is not OD are described. Next, how the knowledge bases that support OD practices have evolved from the 1940s until the present is outlined. Finally, some of the tensions and dilemmas confronting OD at this point in its evolution are described.

The Field of Organization Development

There are some who would not describe OD as a field, partly because it draws from many academic disciplines and partly because it is a field of practice more than a field of academic inquiry. Nevertheless, over the years OD practices have been informed and defined by more or less integrated sets of theories, ideas, practices, and values and therefore qualify as a field of applied knowledge. Consequently, to understand what OD is and what it does, we must first understand the dimensions of knowledge and values that in combination produce practices that are labeled as organization development.

There are three primary sets of knowledge and an underlying value system that leads to what is called organization development. The discussion that follows errs on the side of attempting to simplify and present essential characteristics. No attempt is being made to elucidate the full characteristics and nuances involved. In this sense, the discussion aspires to make clear some of the fundamentals for understanding organization development at the risk perhaps of appearing to be too simplistic or leaving some important dimension(s) out of the discussion.

Understanding Social Systems

The first set of knowledge, at its simplest level, is understanding the potential subject(s) of an intended development or change effort. Because OD seeks to foster the improved effectiveness of organizations and other social systems, a range of knowledge pertaining to the functioning of individuals, groups, organizations, and communities—separately and as integrated systems—is required. Thus organization development draws on theories and ideas predominantly from the behavioral or social sciences, but also physics and biology. However, as is explained in more detail later, OD does not draw equally from all types of theories and ideas about human behavior in organized social settings. Instead it tends to be based in those theories and ideas that are consistent with its underlying, and sometimes unarticulated, philosophical value system. So, for example, most organization development practices are predicated on the assumption that people are motivated by factors beyond purely economic incentives.

Understanding the Hows and Whys of Change

A central aspect of OD is fostering development and change in social systems. This means that the bodies of knowledge that help explain how individuals, groups, organizations, communities, and even societies change are all pertinent to organization development. How do we go about inducing, supporting, and/or accelerating change in a team, an organization, a community, a network of organizations? The range of ideas about change and development coming from, for example, education, training, economics, psychology, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, biology and physics is all potentially relevant to OD practice. Again, however, not all ideas about change are embraced by the underlying OD value system. For example, we might be able to force or coerce people to make certain changes, but this would not be considered organization development (and would in fact be refuted by OD practitioners).

Understanding the Role of a Third-Party Change Agent

The final set of knowledge helping define OD pertains to the role of the OD practitioner. When working with an organization to help bring about a desired change, the OD practitioner is not the person in charge. Instead the OD practitioner is a third-party change agent aiding the person or persons in charge as well as the system itself to bring about or encourage the desired changes. An OD practitioner, whether internal or external to the subject system, must understand the issues, politics, psychological processes, ethics, and other dynamics associated with being a third-party change agent working with people called clients in complex social systems. Here too, not all theories and ideas about the third-party role are endorsed or embraced by organization development. Once again, it is those ideas and practices that are consistent with the underlying values and philosophy of OD that become part of the theories and practices associated with the role and responsibilities of an OD practitioner. For example, a third-party role wherein an expert tells people what they should do is an accepted if not essential part of a great deal of management consulting but is rejected in organization development as a general mode of practice.

These three sets of knowledge about (1) social systems, (2) how to change social systems, and (3) third-party change agent roles are the essential areas of expertise for an effective organization development practitioner. They are also insufficient to fully understand the theory and practice of OD as distinct, for example, from other forms of consulting intended to foster or induce development or change in organizations or other social systems. To make this distinction requires understanding the underlying philosophical value system of organization development and how it links and integrates selective aspects of each of the main bodies of knowledge making up various OD practices.

Understanding the Underlying Values and Philosophy of Organization Development

Organization development is often referred to as a values-based or normative field of practice. This has been true since its early beginnings in the 1940s with Kurt Lewin, as will be discussed below. While it has proven difficult to precisely enumerate the exact values that are the essential ingredients making OD more or less uniquely OD, it is possible to describe some of the broad characteristics of the underlying value system. At some considerable risk of oversimplifying, four key value orientations have helped to form the underlying philosophy of organization development:

• A humanistic philosophy
• Democratic principles
• Client-centered consulting
• An evolving social-ecological systems orientation

A Humanistic Philosophy

Organization development not only accepts but also promotes a humanistic orientation to social systems and the positive potential of people. This includes beliefs that people are inherently good, not evil; that they have the capacity to change and develop; and that through the exercise of reason and judgment they, not outside forces or inner drives and emotions, are capable of empowered action in the best interests of the collective enterprise. This orientation also affirms the value and dignity of each person. Furthermore, to be effective, social systems should not restrict, limit, or oppress people regardless of their role in the organization or their demographic background. In organization development the human side of enterprise is always a central consideration, along with other aspects such as economics, technology, and management practices and principles. Historically, this orientation in OD has been expressed by the assertion that an organization that empowers its people will also be a more effective organization.

Democratic Principles

Partly because of its humanistic philosophy, Lewin’s strong belief in democracy, and the roots in World War II of many of its founders, organization development also advocates democratic principles...