CHAPTER ONEORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT AS AN EVOLVING FIELD OF PRACTICE
Robert J. Marshak
Organization development (OD) has been a recognized field of practice since the early 1960s with many of its origins in the 1940s, but it still proves difficult to explain what it is, what it does, and why you might want it or need it. The reasons for this seem twofold. First, it requires an understanding of an integration of several sets of knowledge united by an underlying philosophical belief and value system. Second, it is a field of practice that is continually evolving and expanding. Consequently, the range of definitions offered over the years all sound somewhat similar, and they also seem to miss the mark in explaining to outsiders, “So what exactly ...
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