The purpose of organization development (OD) is to improve an organization's effectiveness in making decisions and changes and to reach the full potential of its personnel. Objectives of OD and essentials for successful programs are listed. Definitions of essentials and how they add to the effectiveness of OD are presented. (Author/BEF)

Effects of organizational development interventions depend on type of product organization is concerned with (end vs process), type of organization (input vs output), and field of forces in situations (driving vs restraining). OD results depend on accuracy of system analysis, intervening correctly, and encouraging belief of positive effects.…

Reports a team development intervention with a squadron at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Results indicated that the intervention positively influenced both climate and performance variables. Discusses results in the context of current skepticism about the utility of process interventions for effecting lasting improvement in organizational…

Measured the impact of a six-month organization development (OD) effort with a top management group in a large state government organization. The data demonstrated that OD in the public sector can result in mild to moderate improvement in role clarity, collaboration, and communication effectiveness among participants. (Author)

Organization development (OD) purports to facilitate organizational change through the use of a variety of change interventions. This article reviews and evaluates the research on the impact of organization development interventions. Research is available on only six interventions. The review indicates areas for improved research and directions…

Evaluated the effectiveness of a U.S. General Accounting Office communications training program. Employees who underwent training reported more positive attitudes about communication skills and performed better on knowledge and recognition assessments, otherwise the relative amount of change on the measures was not very large. (Author)

Examines a confrontation team-building intervention that was highly successful in building the supervisors into a unified group. Evaluation indicated the team became the most important variable with little consideration given to the rest of the organization, resulting in the whole organization being severely crippled and having to be rebuilt.…