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The nature of organization 

development

Organization  development  in  its  original  version  

as OD was based on behavioural science concepts, 

ie  the  field  of  enquiry  dedicated  to  the  study  of 

human behaviour through sophisticated and rigor-

ous methods. OD was practised through what were 

called ‘interventions’.

However, during the 1980s and 1990s a number 

of other approaches were introduced. Further changes 

occurred  in  the  following  decade  during  which  a 

more  strategic  focus  was  adopted  and  more  

business-focused  activities  such  as  smart  working 

and  high-performance  working  came  to  the  fore.  

It is these changes that led to the broader definition 

produced by the CIPD.

Organization  development  used  to  be  the  pro-

vince  of  specialized  consultants  who  tended  to 

practise it as a mystery, with HR playing a support-

ing role if it played any role at all. But HR Magazine 

spelt  out  the  close  relationship  between  HR  and 

organization development as follows.

HR and organization development –  

HR Magazine (2007: 1)

To remain competitive in today’s global 

marketplace, organizations must change. One of 

the most effective tools to promote successful 

change is organization development (OD). As HR 

increasingly focuses on building organizational 

learning, skills and workforce productivity, the 

effective use of OD to help achieve company 

business goals and strategies is becoming a broad 

HR competency as well as a key strategic HR tool. 

While there are variations regarding the definition 

of OD, the basic purpose of organization 

development is to increase an organization’s 

effectiveness through planned interventions related 

to the organization’s processes (often company-

wide), resulting in improvements in productivity, 

return on investment and employee satisfaction.

Source review

The CIPD (2010: 3) stated that: ‘We place consider-

able importance on OD, seeing it as one of the ten 

professional  areas  within  the  HR  profession  map 

which emphasizes its importance as a HR skill.’ The 

CIPD also commented that:

OD is not a new discipline and has always had  

a focus on people but has only relatively recently 

become considered as a mainstream discipline of 

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