Main Content
Lesson 2: Organizational Development and the Impact on Communication
Definitions of Organization Development
Organization development is a planned process of change in an organization's culture through the utilization of behavioral science technology, research, and theory. Warner Burke, Organization Development: Principles and Practices (Boston: Little Brown, 1982).
Organization development refers to a longrange effort to improve an organization's problemsolving capabilities and its ability to cope with changes in its external environment with the help of external or internal behavioral scientist consultants or change agents, as they are sometimes called. Wendell French, Organization Development: Objectives, Assumptions, and Strategies, California Management Review 12,2 (1969): 2334.
Organization development is an effort (1) planned, (2) organization-wide, and (3) managed from the top to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the organization's "processes", using behavioral science knowledge. Richard Beckhard, Organization Development: Strategies and Models (Reading, Mass: AddisonWesley, 1969).
Organization development is a system-wide process of data collection, diagnosis, action planning, intervention, and evaluation aimed at (1) enhancing congruence among organizational structure, process, strategy, people, and culture (2) developing new and creative organizational solutions and (3) developing the organization's self-renewing capacity. It occurs through the collaboration of organizational members working with a change agent using behavioral science theory, research, and technology. Michael Beer, Organization Change and Development: A Systems View (Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear Publishing, 1980).
List adapted from Cummings/Worley. Organization Development and Change, 7th edition, © 2001 SouthWestern, a part of Cengage Learning Inc.