A Historical Overview of Organisation Development (OD)
Summarized from article taken from Journal of Applied Behavioural Science – Wanted: OD
more alive than dead! – Greiner & Cummings, 2004
• roots of OD, began to take shape without the
formal title of OD
• scholars from schools (Harvard, UCLA) were
1940/19
concerned about developing a better and more
positive understanding of the dynamics of
change involving people and organizations
• intellectual foundation - Lewin (application of
50
participative methods to small groups was found
to lead to attitude change, higher performance
and greater commitment to individual action.
• 1954 - Psychological side represented by Maslow
(inherent potential)
• Rogers - UPR
• Arguris (1957) - focus - what can orgs. do to
liberate individuals with higher-order needs
• the name (OD) became more frequently used
as advocates led it into a movement intended
to "democratize" life in organizations
• slowly took on fadish quality
1960 • met by backlash of critics
• Likert (1961) - advocated organization-wide
participation as a means to motivate
individuals and therefore achieve greater
performance
• McGregor (1960) - Theory X, Theory Y
• criticism gained attention
• OD movement began to fade
1970/19 • OD virtually disappeared from being a title of
departments in many organisations
• 1970 constructive crit: putting the individual
80
before the organization, informal before formal
organization, behaviour before disgnosis,
process before task, experts before the
manager, package before the situation
• signs of life still remain today
• changing organizational conditions
• Cummings: Organization development is a
-present system-wide process of applying behavioural-
science knowledge to the planned change and
development of the strategies, design
components, and processes that enable
organizations to be effective."
• Trust and quality of human relationships are
more important than ever in predicting both
career and organizational success.
Summarized from article taken from Journal of Applied Behavioural Science – Wanted: OD
more alive than dead! – Greiner & Cummings, 2004
• roots of OD, began to take shape without the
formal title of OD
• scholars from schools (Harvard, UCLA) were
1940/19
concerned about developing a better and more
positive understanding of the dynamics of
change involving people and organizations
• intellectual foundation - Lewin (application of
50
participative methods to small groups was found
to lead to attitude change, higher performance
and greater commitment to individual action.
• 1954 - Psychological side represented by Maslow
(inherent potential)
• Rogers - UPR
• Arguris (1957) - focus - what can orgs. do to
liberate individuals with higher-order needs
• the name (OD) became more frequently used
as advocates led it into a movement intended
to "democratize" life in organizations
• slowly took on fadish quality
1960 • met by backlash of critics
• Likert (1961) - advocated organization-wide
participation as a means to motivate
individuals and therefore achieve greater
performance
• McGregor (1960) - Theory X, Theory Y
• criticism gained attention
• OD movement began to fade
1970/19 • OD virtually disappeared from being a title of
departments in many organisations
• 1970 constructive crit: putting the individual
80
before the organization, informal before formal
organization, behaviour before disgnosis,
process before task, experts before the
manager, package before the situation
• signs of life still remain today
• changing organizational conditions
• Cummings: Organization development is a
-present system-wide process of applying behavioural-
science knowledge to the planned change and
development of the strategies, design
components, and processes that enable
organizations to be effective."
• Trust and quality of human relationships are
more important than ever in predicting both
career and organizational success.
