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Abstract
Twenty years ago, there was considerable concern that O.D. needed to become more strategic. This article reviews the evolution of O.D. from the concerns voiced decades ago to today's reality. In this article, we review definitions of what it means to be strategic and we review key changes in the field that reflect the key characteristics of strategic O.D.. These key areas include references in the literature to strategic O.D., international and global O.D., the role of HRM, organization design, information technology, ethics and positive change.
Introduction
The nature and content of the field of Organization Development has clearly changed over the years. It has become more corporate, more global, and yes, more strategic. It seems like only yesterday when such icons in the field such as Larry Greiner, Mariann Jelinek and Joseph A. Litterer, along with numerous others were calling for O.D. to become more strategic -- a partner with management. This call for O.D. to become more strategic was illustrated by Jelinek and Litterer's (1988) article, which appeared almost twenty years ago in Woodman and Pasmore's Research in Organizational Change and Development, in an article entitled "Why O.D. must become more strategic."
In 1989, in the fourth edition of Cummings and Huse's introductory text in the field, strategic change was represented by seven pages entirely based on Noel Tichy's classic work on strategic change focusing on managerial tools (mission and strategy, organizational structure, and human resources management) and managerial areas (cultural systems, political systems and technical systems). Tichy's work continues to provide a valuable roadmap for today's strategic O.D. In the 1989 edition, there was also no reference to either global or international organization development.
Today in Cummings, and now Worley's textbook, there are almost 100 pages devoted to strategic change interventions and 35 pages devoted to global and international O.D..
What is Strategic O.D.?
In the Jelinek and Litterer's article, strategic O.D. is defined in terms of group process, job design, team building, group decision, helping teams cope with stress, and an emphasis on socio-technical all mainstream interventions at that time. Now almost 20 years later, we have a number of additional approaches, which can be considered as strategic. Some of these approaches include, for example, Worley's Integrated Strategic Change...