A Critical Review of Organization Development

Citation

Burnes B (2013) A Critical Review of Organization Development. In: Leonard H, Lewis R, Freedman A & Passmore J (eds.) The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Leadership, Change and Organizational Development. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 381-404. http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-111997657X.html

Abstract
This chapter provides a critical review of organization development (OD) by chronicling the major stages, disjunctures, and controversies in its history. It begins with the origins of OD in the 1940s and 1950s. The chapter examines the contribution of Kurt Lewin and the growth of T-groups. In the 1960s, driven by the popularity of T-groups, OD expanded rapidly and established itself as the major approach to change in the USA; however, by the end of this period OD found itself under attack, and enthusiasm for T-groups began to decline. The chapter closes by arguing that OD is the dominant and most widely-applicable approach to organizational change, but that there are significant issues which it must address if it is to achieve both rigor and relevance.

Keywords
Lewin; organization development (OD); organizational change; T-groups