ORGANIzATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
SHORT HISTORY
The growth of organization development
is a result of the contributions of well known
behavioral scientists and individual in client
organization. Through the years, organization
development has evolved more as a response to
organizational conditions in the context of an
ever-dynamic milieu. It is divided into four
stems.
According to French and Bell, Jr. one stem consists of
innovations in applying LABORATORY TRAINING
insights to complex organization. The second stem is
SURVEY RESEARCH AND FEEDBACK
methodology while the third stem is a fusion of the
first and second stems which is the emergence of
ACTION RESEARCH. Lastly, the fourth stem is the
emergence of the Tavistock SOCIOTECHNICAL
APPROACHES.
LABORATORY TRAINING
An informal and unstructured form of
laboratory training in which the
participants learn from their own
actions and the groups evolving
dynamics.
Kurt Lewin- The father of OD 1898-1947, a theorists,
researcher, and practitioner in interpersonal, group,
inter-group, and community relationships, founded The
Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD) in 1945.
Robert Tannenbaum along with Art Shedlin, led the
first nondegree-training program in organizational
development.
Chris Argyris- He was the first to conduct team
building, he developed this thinking in Overcoming
Organizational Development Defenses in 1990. He’s
also a Teacher.
Douglas McGregor- he’s the contemporary
of Abraham Maslow. His best known Theory
is THEORY X & THEORY Y.
Herbert Allen Shepard- organization
behaviorist & economist who made a
significant contribution to Organizational
Development.
SURVEY RESEARCH AND
FEEDBACK
This approach was developed over
a period of ten years at the Survey
Research Center or SRC of the
University of Michigan.
Rensis Likert- developed a technique for the measurement of
attitudes. This is the five point Likert scale.
Floyd Mann- (August 20, 1920 - January 12, 1996) was born
in Daviston, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, and served as
Director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety between
1959 and 1963. He is particularly notable for his interactions
with the Freedom Riders who passed through Alabama in May
1961.
Baumgartel- stated the results of an experimental study when
discussed can become an effective tool for introducing positive
changes in a business organization.
ACTION RESEARCH
A collaborative and client consultant
inquiry. It is frequently used in organization
development.
William Whyte- William H. (Holly) Whyte (1917-
1999) is the mentor of Project for Public Spaces
because of his seminal work in the study of human
behavior in urban settings.
Edith Hamilton- (August 12, 1867 – May 31, 1963)
was an American educator and internationally
known[2] author who was one of the most renowned
classicists Hamilton's second career as an author
began after her retirement from Bryn Mawr School in
1922 of her era in the United States.
SOCIOTECHNICAL AND
SOCIOCLINICAL APPROACHES
Parallel to the work of the Research Center
Group of Dynamics, the Survey Research
Center and National Training Laboratory,
the Tavistock Clinic in England used
organization development in the context of
child and parent therapy.
W.R. Bion, John Rickman- and others
conducted the Northfield Experiment at a
military hospital where each soldier was required
to join a group that performed said tasks like
handicraft and map reading.
Eric Trist- studied the working scheme of team
miners. Each team ran the job and sold the coal
to earn money for the team members families.
EVOLUTION
They have added financial and economic indicators of
effectiveness to OD is traditional measures of work
satisfactions and personal growth.
Today, the field is being influenced by the
globalization and information technology trends
describes earlier. In addition, OD must adapt its
methods to the technologies being used in
organizations.
Many different organizations have undertaken a
wide variety of OD efforts. In many cases, organizations
have been at the forefront of innovation new change
techniques and methods as well as new organizational
forms. Larger corporations that have engaged in
organization development include General electric, Texas
Instruments, American Airlines, DuPont, Intel Hewlett-
Packard, Microsoft, General Foods and etc. Today,
however, organization increasingly are going public with
their OD efforts, sharing the lessons with others.
OD work also is being done in schools,
communities, and local municipalities, and government.
Several reviews of OD projects were directed primarily
at OD in public administration. Extensive OD work was
done in the armed services, including the army, navy, air
force, and coastguard, although OD activity and research
activities have ebbed and flowed with changes in the
size and scope of the military. Public schools began
using both groups training and survey feedback
relatively early in the history of OD.
OD is increasingly international. It has been
applied in early every country in the world. These
efforts have involved such organizations all over the
world.
Although it is evident that OD has expanded vastly
in recent years, relatively few of the total number of
organizations in the U.S. are actively involved in
formal OD programs. However, many organizations are
applying OD approaches and techniques without
knowing that such a term exists.
THE END
GODBLESS
