“Field of practice” – OD is a
practice rather than a scientific
discipline, a social movement, or an
occupational category.
“People and organizations” – OD
may deal with individual
considerations but only in the context
of the organizations that they belong
to.
“Collective outcomes” – OD is
concerned with meeting goals and needs
as opposed to simply inculcating
values or behaviors.
“Organizational and individual
interests” – OD does not support
manipulating people toward an end but
rather promotes methods for mutually
achieved results.
OD
Differentiated
OD is not management science.
The latter includes areas such
as business strategy, product
development,
and financial planning, whereas
OD’s core concerns are people
oriented.
OD is not human resource
development.
These two practices are related
but have different outlooks and
approach people issues differently.
OD is not psychological science.
Although
it may be said to have originated
from, and draws from the findings of,
applied psychology, industrial
psychology, organizational psychology,
and social psychology, OD is concerned
with practice, not with theory or
research.
OD is not organization science.
The latter is an academic
discipline, whereas OD is a field of
work.
OD is not action research.
OD may be said to include
action research as a school of thought
or movement, but the field of practice
of organizational development is more
comprehensive.
Why
You Need OD
To
meet your organizational goals
Unless your
organization employs modern management
techniques, it cannot be successful.
Unless you
promote the happiness of your
employees, you cannot achieve
operational aims.
Unless you treat
employees as internal customers, you
will not have the customer service
ethic that you need to improve your
market share.
If you don’t
treat employees well, you will have
excessive turnover and won’t be able
to hire the best people.
Teamwork is the
key organizational need today, and OD
has the answers as to how to make
teams work.
Change is the
constant principle of today, and you
need OD to help people accept and
promote change.
Quality is consideration number one,
and without OD-driven quality
management you can’t have quality
products or services.
So the bottom line is:
OD raises your profits,
increases your share of the market,
enhances your corporate image, and
raises the value of your stock.
To
make your organizational a good place
to work
We all spend most
of our lives at work – so use OD to
make work a good experience.
Why listen to
people complain every day – use OD
to keep people happy and productive.
You have the
power to help or hurt people – use
OD for the former.
Free yourself
from the burden of management – use
OD to create a democratic workplace.
Good people have
a better time in life – good people
use OD.
Certain values
are fundamental to a good life – OD
shows how to apply them to
organizations.
What’s the
point of it all if we can’t have a
good time – so let’s apply OD and
be happy.
So the bottom line is:
OD helps use you have a good
time, enjoy your work, create a good
organization, and make your whole
organization into a unified wonderful
team.
To
go in the direction that the world is
going
People are more educated and are
demanding different workplaces; OD can
provide these.
Control and
command is dead; use OD for the new
management style.
Workplaces have
to become democratic or go the way of
the dinosaur; OD is needed for this
transition.
Everyone else is
doing it – you have to use OD, too.
Don’t be a bad
practice organization – catch the
trendy waves that OD creates.
Technology is
driving changes in communication,
operations, and management – you
need OD to handle this.
It is obvious
that best practices are the best –
you need OD to discover and implement
these
