Practicing Organization Development, 5th Edition

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENComparing Organization Development to Related Fields of Practice

David W. Jamieson and William J. Rothwell

People who think of entering the Organization Development (OD) field often ask predictable questions. One question is how OD relates to such fields of practice as organization design, human resource management, change management, industrial/organizational psychology, and performance consulting. This chapter focuses on comparing OD to these related fields.

It will be a brief overview as this topic as it is very complex, some of the fields are often misunderstood, and there are many overlaps among these fields or disciplines. To begin let’s start with an Organization Development definition (although there are more than 40 that have floated around this field) arrived at after reviewing all that existed. To paraphrase Jamieson and Worley (2008):

• OD is a planned intervention(s) that uses behavioral science concepts to transform a system and increase its efficacy, while adhering to the values of choice, participation, human dignity*, and learning to help the organization and its people progress.

Another more recent one came from the gatherings in Baltimore over 2018–2020 (Smendzuik O’Brien and Gilpin-Jackson 2021 p. 12):

• OD is the interdisciplinary field of scholars and practitioners who work collaboratively with organizations and communities to develop their system-wide capacity for effectiveness and vitality. It is grounded in the organization and social ...