A631.7.4.RB – Future of OD
Throughout
the two courses in leadership, learning about organizational development has
shown me how important it is to have the opportunity to place this vision with
the success of any organization. Today, with our generation it is an obvious
need to apply organizational development specially when we live in a fast paced
world. While some leaders need some degree of guidance and be told how to do
“thing” to successfully lead and make the company grow; others, show some
degree of criticism in disagreement or disbelieve about the OD discipline being
a trend or an ongoing resource to organization leaders. Nevertheless, it is
very clear that organizational development is a growing approached that will
continue to do so and will in fact make organizations better in the long run.
Therefore,
how can we define organizational development? Donald R. Brown suggested that OD
encompasses a variety of efforts and programs, which are focused on improving
the overall company’s ability to resist challenging situations where change is
inevitable and renewal is an expected process. The OD system consists of moving
forward to an adaptive organization and achieving corporate excellence by
mixing and integrating development with organizational goals and individual’s
desires (Brown, 2011, p. 4). Having this in mind, in order to produce a
positive growth, organizations are in need goals, strategies, resources, and
people with the necessary power to make such growth. With these four
components, leaders can start implementing OD processes within their
organizations. The OD process is based on the action research model, which
begins with an identified problem and or need for change. Proceeding with the
assessment, planning an intervention, implementing the intervention, gathering
data to evaluate the intervention results, and determining a positive progress
has been reached or if further intervention is needed. The process is cyclical
and ends when the desired developmental result is obtain (HRpeople, 2014).
The
implementation of organizational development can also bring challenges as the
leaders lack of knowledge or time to do these implementations. However,
assistance can be reached from experts OD practitioners. According to Brown, people
who do organizational development, OD practitioners come primarily from two
areas. The first area consists of organizational development specialists,
who are professionals that have specialized and trained in organization
development and related areas, such as organization behavior, applied social
sciences, interpersonal communications, and decision-making. These
specialists are often referred to as OD practitioners or consultants. They
may be members of the organization, internal practitioner, or come from outside
the organization, external practitioners (2011, p. 9). Organizations from all
sizes can very well benefit from the use of OD practitioners since plans and
process can be tailor made to fit the goals and strategy of the individual
organization. Additionally, experienced OD practitioners can apply several
methods, which are available and can vary from inner office team meetings,
organizational and individual goal setting to outer office retreats that foster
team building and trust within the organizational members.
Furthermore,
it is very likely to hear good ending stories on how organizational development
has helped these organization reach successful growth but there will always be
criticism regarding OD practices being another industry trend or gimmick that will
turn old with time and other methods will followed as time progresses.
Nonetheless, a continuing appearance of trends indicates that OD plays an
imperative role among organizations as we move into the future. One of these
trends is adoption of OD in many aspects of management (Worley, 2011, para. 4).
Today the concept of OD development is being adopted in different organizations
and in different industries. Education institutions, manufacturing
organization, financial organization and other service organization are
adapting the OD concept in managing their organizations (Custom Writing Tips,
2013). It is undeniable that the future of OD will continue to be a necessary
component for many organizations.
In
conclusion, organizational development is an evolving process and practice that
will continue to grow for years to come. When organizations are not able to
maximize their opportunities, experts on this matter should be implemented to
reach organizational success and facilitate opinions about the organization, make
recommendations, and implement new processes. All in all, OD even with some
critics, is an implementation that will and could save many organizations from
failing.
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to
organization development (8th edition.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
Customwritingtips.com (2013). Is OD an Emerging Discipline
or Only a Passing Fad? Retrieved from http://customwritingtips.com/component/k2/item/12292-is-od-an-emerging-discipline-or-only-a-passing-fad
HRpeople.com (2014). The Organizational Development Process.
Retrieved from http://hrpeople.monster.com/training/articles/142-the-organization-development-process
Worley C. (2011). A Positive Vision of OD’s Future. Retrieved from http://odcanada.org/site/future_of_OD.pdf/
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