Trace the evolution of Organization Development—how it came into existence and its present significance both at the practitioner and academic levels.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is to become aware of the history of Organization Development (OD), how its definition has changed over the years, how the field has changed in terms of its historical roots. This would allow us to understand the practice of OD as it is right now, in terms of the functions and responsibilities of  OD as a profession—the tools, interventions and methods which are available for an OD consultant to use to resolve problems within the organization.

This assignment fulfills the course objective of enabling students to understand the issues and challenges that a change agent must keep in mind when designing and developing organizations. And the learning objective that students will be able to interpret and use OD theories and strategies by the end of the course.

Task:

The assignment should briefly summarize the nine strands of OD research and practice, starting from Laboratory training and T-groups to collaboration and organizational agility.

The entire essay should consist of at least three paragraphs:

Paragraph 1: Define OD and the plan of your essay.

Paragraph 2: write 2-3 lines on each of the nine strands—laboratory training, action research, survey feedback, sociotechnical systems, management practices, quality and employee involvement, organizational culture, change management, organizational learning, organizational effectiveness, employee engagement and finally collaboration and agility.

You could divide Paragraph 2 into smaller paragraphs.

Paragraph 3: conclude with current importance of OD.

References: use 7 edition APA style referencing.

Use 12 font, Arial, 1 ½ line spacing. Make sure you have a title page with your name, class, and section, with the assignment question.

All assignments should be uploaded as doc files.