Organization Development Techniques: Their Impact on Change

Abstract

Organization development (OD), as an applied arm of the field of organizational behavior, purports to facilitate organizational change through the use of a variety of change interventions. Its proponents feel that the tools and techniques of OD can improve an organization's problem-solving ability, increase its ability to adapt to rapid societal change, and provide managers an updated set of concepts and methods for managing their organizations. This article reviews and evaluates the research on the impact of organization development interventions. Although there is an abundance of literature on OD, there is very little research on its effects that can withstand the rigorous testing most social scientists would expect. Furthermore, there is research available on only six interventions of the wide variety reported in the literature. Although there is a paucity of research information in this area, what is available does help to identify what is known and what is speculation about OD. More important, the review reported here indicates areas for improved research and directions for future research.Organization development has existed for something more than a decade as a technology that purports to facilitate organizational change and indirectly lead to increased organizational effectiveness. Whether this growing technology has a solid theoretical and empirical base and whether it can produce the changes that the &dquo;field&dquo; claims can and do occur in organizations are questions that both practitioners and academicians are beginning to ask.The objectives of this review are threefold. First, to find research that can answer these questions; second, to identify the problems in existing research studies in order to guide future research; and, third, to summarize the conclusions that may be drawn from the research that does exist on OD.

Following Up on Employee Surveys: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review

“…They summarized ten survey feedback intervention studies and concluded that such can have positive effects on the attitudes of those involved. Shortly after, Margulies et al (1977) summarized six studies relevant to this type of OD intervention and concluded that more research was needed on this technique to understand under which circumstances it produces the most benefits. A few years later, Porras and Berg (1978) and Porras (1979) reviewed four survey feedback intervention studies as one of several different OD techniques, but could not find superiority of this technique over others.…”

Role of process variable in organizational development

“…Margulies etal. [2] analyzed 30 studies and found positive result in over 70% of them. Dunn and Swierczek [3] examined 67 cases and found positive gains in almost 70% of the time.…”

The Effects of an Intergroup Development OD Intervention as Conditioned by the Life Cycle State of Organizations: A Laboratory Experiment

“…Many case studies of successful interventions have been reported in such journals as Group and Organization Studies and the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. Also, a number of empirical studies of OD processes (for reviews, see Porras, 1979;Margulies, Wright, & Scholl, 1977) conclude that a wellrun OD intervention can aid an organization in terms of such variables as member satisfaction, teamwork, communications, conflict resolution, from which to choose (e.g., intergroup development, team building, survey feedback, and structural change), and the development of a model for determining the appropriate intervention strategy to employ in a particular situation has not been forthcoming. Various authors have suggested different variables to consider in the process of selecting an intervention strategy; for example, commitment of top management, existence of slack resources, existence of political support (Beer, 1980), or problem behaviors and their causes or precursors (Bowers, Franklin, & Pecorella, 1975).…”

“…Various authors have suggested different variables to consider in the process of selecting an intervention strategy; for example, commitment of top management, existence of slack resources, existence of political support (Beer, 1980), or problem behaviors and their causes or precursors (Bowers, Franklin, & Pecorella, 1975). Porras (1979), Margulies et al (1977), and Bowers (1973) have reviewed numerous OD studies and attempted to provide generalizations regarding the types of variables affected by various intervention strategies. However, these reviews do not provide a clear model to guide the decision process of selecting an appropriate strategy in a given situation.…”