Developed by Authenticity Consulting, LLC
Organization Development (OD) -- The Field and Resources for OD Professionals
Assembled by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD
NOTE: This site distinguishes the difference between "organizational development" and "Organization Development." The former phrase refers to the nature and scope of change in organizations, i.e., the change is to the entire organization or to a significant portion of the organization. The latter phrase refers to a field of well-trained people with expertise in guiding successful organizational development.
Sections of This Topic Include
Learning About OD
About the Field of Organization Development (definitions, books, educational programs)
Understanding the Territory of OD
Yourself as an Instrument of Change
Organizations,Leadership and Management
Community Organizing
Organizational Performance Management
Consulting (Professionalism, Process,
Contracts, etc.)
Doing OD
Typical Stages of Organization Development
Process
Major Types of Interventions
Additional Resources
Other Business and Management Topics
Other Online Libraries
Organizations Focused on OD
Also see
Related Library Topics
Also See the Library’s Blogs Related to Organization
In addition to the articles on this current page, see the following blogs which have posts related to Organization Development. Scan down the blog's page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog.
Library's Consulting and Organizational Development Blog
Library's Leadership Blog
About the Field of Organization Development
The field of Organization Development (OD) is focused on improving the effectiveness of organizations and the people in those organizations. The nature of organizational change is very much at the core of working in the field of OD. Organizational change and Organization Development are often referenced together. Therefore, the reader might be served by reviewing information in the topic, which includes description of the field, various educational programs in OD, and books to read about OD.
What
is Organization Development?
History of Organization Development (Part 1 of 6) — “Prehistoric OD”
History of Organization Development (Part 2 of 6) — “The Psychologists”
History of Organization Development (Part 3 of 6) — A Timeline of Who Did What and When
History of Organization Development (Part 4 of 6) — Frederick Taylor, the First Modern ‘Change’ Consultant
History of Organization Development (Part 5 of 6) — Wilfred Bion and Eric Trist “The Birth of Self-Managed Work Groups”
History of Organization Development (Part 6 of 6) – “Can People Really Change? The Genius of Kurt Lewin”
People support what they create
30 Years of OD History - 1
30 Years of OD History - 2
Educational
Programs in Organization Development (OD)
Organization
Development (OD) -- Getting Started and Remaining Up-to-Date
Understanding Yourself as an Instrument of Change
Your nature and the way you choose to work has significant
impact on your client's organization. You cannot separate yourself
from your client's organization, as if you are some kind of detached
observer. You become part of your client's system. Thus, it is
critical that you have a good understanding of yourself, including
your biases (we all have them), how you manage feedback and conflict,
how you like to make decisions and solve problems, how you naturally
view organizations, your skills as a consultant, etc. The following
document explains each of these considerations in more detail
and ends with a quick self-assessment.
Understanding
Yourself as Instrument of Change
Understanding Organizations, Leadership and Management
A highly effective OD practitioner has strong understanding
of the systems, structures and processes in an organization --
and how those systems, structures and processes are managed. The
following links (reviewed in the following order) might be helpful
to establish some sense about organizations and their management.
Introduction
to Organizations
Introduction
to Management
Group
Dynamics
Introduction
to Leadership
Supervision
(an introduction)
Chief
Executive Role
Boards
of Directors
Understanding Community Organizing
We OD practitioners sometimes forget that OD has its roots
in community development (through works of Benne, Lewin, etc.).
Community organizers are often deep in the "trenches"
working challenges such as organizational design, organizational
transformation, leadership development, conflict management, etc.
Community
Organizing
Understanding Performance Management
Organizational change should not be conducted for the sake
of change. Organizational change efforts should be geared to improve
performance of organizations and people in those organizations.
Therefore, it's useful for OD practitioners to have an understanding
of what is meant by "performance" and methods to manage
performance in organizations.
Basics
of Performance Management
Group
Performance Management
Employee
Performance Management
Organizational
Performance Management
Understanding Consulting
Principles for Effective Consulting
Ethical Consulting
Boundaries for Consultants
Multicultural Consulting
Minimize Consulting Liabilities and Risk
When to Bail from a Consulting Project
Stages of Organization Development Process
The typical OD process and the consulting process often follow an action research approach. Consequently, there is often an overlap between materials that are useful to both processes. Also, there are many variations of the process, including by combining various phases and/or splitting some into more phases.
Entering and Contracting in Organizations
Consultants
(getting, doing, requests for proposals, proposals, contracts,
etc.)
What Type of OD Practitioner Are You?
Types
of Clients (to answer critical question: "who is current
client?")
Assessing
Client's Readiness for Change
Defining Project "Success"
Example of an Entry Conversation Between Consultant
and Client
Building
Trust
Interviewing
Listening
Non-Verbal
Communications
Questioning
Appreciative
Inquiry
Diagnosing (Discovery in) Systems in Organizations
Planning and Conducting Data Collection
Organizational
Assessments and Analysis (overviews)
Basic
Research Methods (planning, selecting, methods, etc.)
Designing
Assessment and Evaluation Tools
Selecting
from Among Publicly Available Assessments
Some
Common Types of Data to Collect
Some
Sources of Data and Methods to Collect that Data
Analyzing Research Results
Analyzing,
Interpreting and Reporting Results
Systems
Thinking
Critical
Thinking
Problem
Solving
A
Diagnostic Model for For-Profit Organizations
A
Diagnostic Model for Nonprofit Organizations
Generating Findings and Conclusions
Decision
Making
Some
Types of Issues Reported, or Found from Data, in Nonprofits
Some
Types of Issues Reported, or Found from Data, in For-Profits
Writing Reports
Guidelines
for Successful Planning
Communications
(Writing Research Findings and Recommendations)
Sharing Findings and Recommendations in Client's Organization
Meeting
Management
Group
Facilitation
Presenting
Sharing
Feedback
Managing
Group Conflict
Handling
Difficult People
Negotiating
Managing and Evaluating Organizational Change
Note that the kinds of possible activities, or "interventions," that are implemented to address the various findings from the diagnosis or discovery are itemized later on below.
Organizational
Change (understanding where it fits, different types, etc.)
Organizational
Performance Management (many methods)
Planning
(many kinds)
Organizing
(many kinds)
Organizational
Communications
Coordinating
Activities (the management function)
Evaluating
(many kinds)
During this phase, you might repeat some of the assessments that you did earlier in the discovery phase.
Major Types of Interventions
The field of Organization Development uses a variety of processes, approaches, methods, techniques, applications, etc., (these are often termed "interventions") to address organizational issues and goals in order to increase performance. The following partial list of interventions is organized generally in the order presented by Cummings and Worley in their "Organization Development and Change" (West Publishing, 1993).
Human Process Interventions
Guiding Individuals
Coaching
Counseling
Delegating
Leading
Morale
(Boosting)
Mentoring
Motivating
Group-Based
Conflict
Management
Dialoguing
Group
Facilitation
Group
Learning
Self-Directed
Work Teams
Team
Building
Virtual
Teams
Technostructural Interventions
Downsizing
and Outsourcing
Organizing
Tasks, Jobs and Roles
Organizing
Staff
Business
Process Re-Engineering
ISO9000
Total
Quality Management
Human Resource Management Interventions
Employee Performance Management
Establishing
Performance Goals
Performance
Plans
Observation
and Feedback
Evaluating
Performance
Rewarding
Performance
Recognizing
Performance Problems ("Performance Gaps")
Performance
Improvement / Development Plans
Staffing
Firing
Employees
Employee Development
Career
Development
Leadership
Development Planning
Management
Development Planning
Personal
Development
Personal
Productivity
Personal
Wellness
Supervisory
Development Planning
Training
and Development
Employee Wellness Programs
Diversity
Management
Drugs
in the Workplace
Employee
Assistance Programs
Ergonomics:
Safe Facilities in the Workplace
HIV/AIDS
in the Workplace
Personal
Wellness
Preventing
Violence in the Workplace
Safety
in the Workplace
Spirituality
in the Workplace
Strategic Interventions
Business
Planning
Cultural
Change
Large-Scale
Interventions
Organizational
Transformation
Strategic
Planning
Some Combined Types
Some
Types of Capacity Building in For-Profit Organizations (and how
clients choose them)
Some
Types of Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations (and how
clients choose them)
Other Business and Management Topics to Round Out OD Skills
Advertising
and Promotion
Benefits
and Compensation
Computers,
Internet and Web
Crisis
Management
Customer
Satisfaction
Customer
Service
E-commerce
Ethics
in the Workplace
Facilities
Management
Financial
Management (for-profit)
Financial
Management (nonprofit)
Fundraising
(for for-profit)
Fundraising
(for nonprofit)
Insurance
Legal
Information (employee laws, etc.)
Marketing
(all facets)
Operations
Management
Policies
(personnel)
Product/Service
Management
Project
Management
Program
Management
Public
and Media Relations
Risk
Management
Sales
Social
Entrepreneurship
Starting
an Organization (for-profit or nonprofit)
Taxation
Volunteers
(recruiting, managing, etc.)
Other Online Libraries
There are a large number of online libraries with materials in regard to the many aspects of organization development. The following links are to libraries with many materials and are a good start for finding more materials, as well.
Organizations Focused on OD
National
(Thanks to the National OD Network for organizing and posting a great deal of online information about national OD-related information.)
International
Association of Facilitators
International
Society for Performance Improvement
Institute
for Cultural Affairs -- World-Wide
Midwest
Facilitators' Network
National
OD Network
Society for
Human Resource Management
Local (to Minnesota)
Minnesota
Facilitators' Network
Minnesota Organization
Development Network
Twin Cities
Human Resource Association
General Resources
Extensive,
annotated bibliography of books on organizational behavior and
development
For the Category of Organizational Development:
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
Managing Organizational Change
Managing Organizational Change
-
Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in for-profit or government organizations and successfully resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to the next level of performance. This is one of the truly comprehensive, yet practical, books about this complex subject! Includes online forms that can be downloaded. Many materials in this Library's topic about guiding change are adapted from this comprehensive book.
-
Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in nonprofit organizations and successfully resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to the next level of performance. This is one of the truly comprehensive, yet practical, books about this complex subject! Includes online forms that can be downloaded. Many materials in this Library's topic about guiding change are adapted from this comprehensive book.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just click on the image of the book. Also, a "bubble" of information might be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Growing Your Organization
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just click on the image of the book. Also, a "bubble" of information might be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
