Practicing Organization Development (A guide for Consultants) - Part 14. Organization development (OD) is about planned change. As change has turned into the only constant, many managers and other people are pursuing change strategies with vigor. OD is a major strategy for leading and managing change at the individual, group, intergroup, organizational, interorganizational, and large systems levels. This book is about what it takes to be an effective change manager, change leader, and OD consultant | ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS 101 Open System Planning Another process that developed as the impact of the larger environment became of greater concern was a process called Open System Planning a methodology for recognizing and addressing external forces that impacted the organization be they government agencies customers suppliers or clients. The methodology recognized the need to adapt to emerging trends but also the possibility of influencing some of the trends to change or modify potential negative impact. It is not coincidental that much of this has emerged as the external environment has become more competitive and more demanding. After the end of World War II there was such a dearth of consumer goods that companies focused on simply meeting the demand. It was a while before there was awareness of Japanese and German autos as well as other imports that were flooding the market. With the growth of the global economy the need to be continually scanning the environment for important trends at the same time working effectively with the demands of external as well as internal stakeholders placed enormous pressures on both profit and non-profit sectors. Large Group Intervention the methodology of getting the whole system in the room around an issue that is important to the key stakeholder has been an effective way of working with the whole relevant system. See Chapter Seventeen for more on Large Group Interventions. OD started with small groups and action research as a means for creating organizational change. This was followed by an emphasis on changing the individual and leadership. Finally there was recognition that change had to do with taking the whole system into account both internally and externally. This is how the field presents itself today. Early Adopters Organizations had come out of World War II with a need to increase production and improve human relationships within work groups. It was important to train leaders how to work with groups and how to work
