Organizationl Development

Organizational Development Paper

Lance Harris

PSY 428 - Organizational Psychology

February 21, 2011

Kevin Burke

Organizational Development

“Organizational development is a process by which organizations use the theories and technology of the behavioral sciences to facilitate changes that enhance their effectiveness” (Jex & Britt, 2008, p.473). The proper use of organizational development will benefit an organization and help it to run more efficiently. This paper in will examine the concept of organizational development by addressing a few items of interest. First, the paper will explain the process of organizational development. Then the paper will identify the theories associated with organizational development and conclude by describing the conditions necessary for successful organizational change and development.

Process

The process of organizational development begins when an organization identifies a problem which will affect the organization’s mission or well being of the organization and some type of change is needed. This process may also begin if management identifies a more beneficial way of doing business and just wants to see improvements in the organization. The next steps of the organizational development process are basic change management principals. Another factor that is important in the change process is the motivation of the employees. Since the employees are the people who implement and ensure the change, it is important that they stay motivated and focused on the vision and goals of the organization. This leads to two theories used in the organizational-change process.

Theories

The two theories that “provide some insight into the general processes involved in organizational change and development, but they do not describe the specific organizational factors that are involved in the change process” (Jex & Britt, 2008, p.482) are Burke’s Theory of Organizational Change and Porras and Robertson’s Model of the Organizational...