Progress in Organization Development Research

Abstract

Despite the frequent criticisms of OD in the behavioral science literature, there are four major areas ofprogress in OD: progress in operationalizing the concept of change; progress in improving measurement processes and procedures; and progress in designing statistical procedures used to analyze OD intervention data. The authors are encouraged by recent developments in OD research which point to a more solid base on which to build OD practice and theory.Criticisms of OD are frequent in the behavioral science literature (Kahn, 1974;Strauss, 1976); OD lacks definition and a theoretical base

OD Interventions for Employer Branding: An Roi-Based Approach

“…According to Richard Beckhard (1969), OD is defined as a planned effort, organizationwide, managed from the top, to increase organizational effectiveness and health, through planned interventions in the organization's 'processes', using behavioral science knowledge. The growth of the body of literature documenting the efficacy of OD interventions has been paralleled by increased concern with problems of evaluating OD (Armenakis, Bedein, and Pond 1983;Nicholas, 1979;Roberts and Porras 1982). A review of 65 organizational studies employing 'Hard criteria' measures reveals a clear trend towards more rigorous Measures help categorize data into scorecards, dashboards etc, within the framework which is utilized to compute the effectiveness of an organization.…”

Beyond testimonials: Learning from a quality circles programme

“…intervention such as a quality circles programme is not a well-specified independent variable. Qualitative case-analytic techniques are appropriate for understanding what actually went on during the intervention while quantitative and (hopefully) quasi-experimental techniques can be used to measure impact (Roberts and Porras, 1982). This study combines a non-equivalent pre-and post-control group design with a detailed qualitative case study of the experimental unit.…”