Organization development grew out of the human relations traditions of the 1940s and 1950s, and it has had enormous influence on management practices and thinking about how organizational effectiveness can be achieved. Critical manpower and resource shortages faced by all organizations, public and private, during World War II and in the immediate post-war years stimulated a search by social scientist and managers, separately and in cooperation with one another, for effective means to maximize the utilization of existing individual and organizational resources. (Ritcher, I 2007). Organization Development was by tradition about planned change efforts, instituted to enhance organization effectiveness within the context of the traditional, hierarchical, management-as-experts, top-down era. The legacy of leaders and organizations developed in this context remain. Organizational Development is about how organizations and ...view middle of the document...
Organizational transformation is much more directive than participative. Organization Transformation changes are often direct and drastic and can include changes such mergers, downsizing, and plant closures etc. may or may not be developmental, while Organizational development changes happen over a period of time. Although both Organization Development and Organization transformation are top down and management driven methods, in Organization Transformation managers initiate transformational changes Organizational development focuses on characteristic such as quality or customer service and is more supportive of an organization’s values, goals and mission. Organization transformation efforts are often for organizational survival so it may involve changes that do not support these elements. Transformational change requires significant learning and innovation.
Organizational members must learn how to enact the new behaviors required to implement new strategic directions. Change cannot be imposed, it must be generated through people in the course of their everyday interaction. An increasingly common and highly effective strategy for facilitating transformational change is to execute a change work design, organization structure, human resources and management and information systems must all be involved. Organizations are becoming increasingly concerned with their effectiveness within the marketplace. Organization Transformation and Organization Development today is to be reflective enough to recognize the most critical shifts required in their organizations and to be persistent in trying a variety of strategies, tools, and techniques to make change happen. They both may occur at any level in the organization. Their overall goal is to change the entire system. This happens in response to significant internal, technological, and environmental change. After assessing the organizations focus, comprehensive planning, implementation and methods are use to accomplish the organizations goals. As students and professionals our role is to 'transform' the field of Organization Development and Organizational Transformation.
