What is OD?

What is Organization Development?

Today's organizations must change frequently to keep up with rapid changes in the world around them and the people within them. Any change carries risk, especially if it is haphazard. That is why the keys to organizational change are attention to process and focus on goals and organizational values. And that is what organization development is all about: planned change.

“Organization development is the planned process of developing an organization to be more effective in accomplishing its desired goals. It is distinguished from human resource development in that HRD focuses on the personal growth of individuals within organizations, while OD focuses on developing the structures, systems, and processes within the organization to improve organizational effectiveness.”

A successful OD process can result in the following:

• effective strategic and operational plans
• team development and effectiveness
• leadership development
• added value, quality, competitive products, or services.

Change is the intended goal. Development--increased capacity and potential for effectiveness--is the purpose.

Organization Development is concerned with change that will "more fully integrate individual needs with organizational goals; lead to greater organizational effectiveness through better utilization of resources, especially human resources; and provide more involvement of organization members in the decisions that directly affect them and their working conditions."

Not all change is organization development. Organization development:

• responds to an actual and perceived need for change on the part of the client
• involves the client in the planning and implementation of the change
• leads to changes in the organization's culture or systems.

While no panacea, OD functions as an enabler, establishing systems or removing obstacles to increase the organization's potential for effectiveness and success in achieving its desired outcomes.

Training and OD

So, what does OD have to do with training? Plenty. Because organization development is an education-based process, it relies heavily on training to enhance the organization's awareness and knowledge required for a successful change process.

As trainers become more experienced, they begin to see that many of their organizations' problems cannot be resolved simply by training. Trainers see problems as part of a total system--problems such as poor communication between managers and staff, poor quality control, and low productivity. Once a trainer starts to take a holistic view, he or she begins to move from trainer to problem identifier, to evaluator, to system developer, to system integrator, to problem solver. The trainer, then, needs to understand the OD process in order to position training in the total system, and to learn how training can support OD processes as well as become an OD intervention itself.