Practicing Organization Development: Leading Transformation and Change, 4th Edition

Chapter Thirty-Three

Authors' Insights on Important Organization Development Issues

D. D. Warrick

For each new edition of the Practicing Organization Development book, I survey the contributing authors in the book to find out what they think about important issues in organization development (OD). The process generates valuable information for those interested in OD. The issues addressed in this edition are:

1. The relevancy and future of OD as compared with the 2010 survey
2. The most important OD concepts that should be taught to leaders and students
3. The keys to successful OD
4. The most important competencies OD practitioners should have
5. Favorite tasks for generating important information
6. Lessons learned in practicing global OD
7. The greatest challenges OD practitioners face in practicing OD

Each issue will be addressed with an overall perspective of the authors' comments followed by a summary of the major themes presented by the authors.

The Relevancy and Future of Organization Development

You will see in Table 33.1 the results of how the current authors rated questions on the relevancy and future of OD as compared with ratings from the authors of the 2010 edition. The current authors are more optimistic about the relevance of OD and slightly less optimistic about the future of OD.

Table 33.1 The Relevance and Future of OD

How Relevant Is OD for Today's Organizations?			How Bright Is the Future of OD?
Responses of Authors	2010 Edition	2015 Edition	Responses of Authors	2010 ...