What is Organization Development and Why is it Important?

Organization development is a process that involves planned and systematic efforts to improve the overall performance and effectiveness of a business. It typically involves a range of strategies and techniques aimed at enhancing organizational culture, communication, and productivity. The goal of organization development is to help businesses adapt to changing market conditions, improve their bottom line, and create a more positive work environment for employees.

Defining Organization Development

“Organization Development is an effort 1) planned, 2) organization wide, 3) managed from the top, 4) increase organizational effectiveness and health, 5) interventions in the organization’s “processes” using behavioral-science knowledge”

— Richard Beckhard (1969)

“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”

— Donald Anderson (2020)

Purpose & Objectives of OD Work

Purpose: The purpose of OD is to initiate and facilitate individual and organizational change. Objectives:

Make an organization more effective/productive

• Improved customer experience

• Improved employee engagement

• Lower operational costs

• Improved product/service quality

• Better collaboration across departments/units

• Improved cycle-time to bring new product to market

• Organizational alignment with corporate strategy

Make work more satisfying at individual level

• Engagement/happiness/growth

OD vs. Organizational Design; OD vs. Organizational Change

• OD = organizational change; Organizational Design is one manifestation of organizational change

• OD = organizational change; Organizational Change is another way to characterize OD work

Foundations of OD

Organization Development is a highly interdisciplinary field representing an amalgamation of several synergistic, interdependent intellectual disciplines.

Scope of Work

The scope of OD work can be at individual-level, team/group level, or enterprise-level.

A Brief History of Organization Development (OD)

Real-Life Examples of Organization Development (OD) Work

Enterprise

• Redesign operating model to adapt/respond to changing external conditions

• Helping leadership team draft new mission/vision/values statements

• Conducting scenario planning exercises to adapt to multiple potential futures

• Broad cultural change campaigns (often enterprise-wide)

• Redesign performance management systems

• Integrating recent acquisition to align with acquiring organization practices

• Facility redesign to increase and enable collaboration and innovation

• Large-scale business transformation

• Diversity-based interventions

Team/Group

• Improving working conditions/culture of a department (or broader organization)

• Design and facilitate large-group process work (in support of a specific goal)

• Process redesign and improvement (departmental to end-to-end processes)

• Training and development of staff (departmental to enterprise level)

Individual

• Increasing staff engagement and improvement

• Design and conduct leadership training

Related Reading

• Organization Development vs Change Management: Differences

• What is Organization Development?

• Understanding What Organization Development Is All About

Facing a complex change challenge in your organization? Book an OD consultation with Henosis Partners.