Organizational Development Paper
Organizational development involves change at the organization level. Changes in individuals and groups typically are a part of this process, but the goal is to bring about changes that are widespread, extending beyond the individual group to the organization as a whole, or a major portion of it. Many changes occur naturally as organizations pass through their life cycles. Generally, these changes are initiated and directed by those who hold power, such as top management in the bureaucratic organization. Organizational development, however, is a process of data collection, diagnosis, action planning, intervention and change, and evaluation of results applied to a whole organization or a large component of it. Although there has been continuing uncertainty as to what methods and procedures should be included in the concept of organization development, in general its aims are to:
• Increase the degree of integration or fit among structures, processes, strategies, people, and culture in the organization.
• Develop new and creative organizational solutions.
• Develop the organization 's capacity to renew itself so that it continues to cope effectively with environmental forces.
Some organization development efforts encompass only one or two of these aims. While the process is guided almost always by a change agent, organization development always is collaborative in form, involving organization members at varied levels (Beer, 1990). The following points amplify this definition:
• In order to bring about self-directed change to which all company members are committed, as many people as possible are expected to collaborate in the change.
• The assumptions is that organizations are complex, interacting systems, so that if a change is made in one component, such as structure, other changes will reverberate through the organization.
• The organization development process may concentrate on short or long-range problems.
• In comparison with other approaches
• Increase the degree of integration or fit among structures, processes, strategies, people, and culture in the organization.
• Develop new and creative organizational solutions.
• Develop the organization 's capacity to renew itself so that it continues to cope effectively with environmental forces.
Some organization development efforts encompass only one or two of these aims. While the process is guided almost always by a change agent, organization development always is collaborative in form, involving organization members at varied levels (Beer, 1990). The following points amplify this definition:
• In order to bring about self-directed change to which all company members are committed, as many people as possible are expected to collaborate in the change.
• The assumptions is that organizations are complex, interacting systems, so that if a change is made in one component, such as structure, other changes will reverberate through the organization.
• The organization development process may concentrate on short or long-range problems.
• In comparison with other approaches
References: Beer, Michael, (1990). Organizational Change and Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Morgan, Marilyn, A., (2000), Managing Career Development. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.