Given
what I have learned during the past two courses of Organizational Development
(OD), I don’t see OD as a fad. I mainly see it as a rapid changing field that
adapts with the current times and future challenges, which is essentially what
OD teaches. OD has been around since the 1970s, so it is not a new practice per
se. The practice may sound new as organizations are now noticing and feeling
the strong need to change due to the rapid change of the business environment.
In the past, leaders did not always count with real-time information of the
market. There had to be someone dedicated to watching the market trends, which
would then test the market, verify the information, and if proven correct, it
would then pass the information to the next chain of command. Now, with so many
organizations in the market and information being so rapidly available,
organizations are seeing the need to quickly adapt and become proactive instead
of reactive in the market place. This is now the new norm and if the
organization plans on being around for the next few years it must find ways to
quickly adapt in order to stay ahead of the competition.
According to Garrow (2009), mergers
are already happening between HR and OD, as OD is more of a field practice than
as a functional discipline of the organization. Meaning, instead of developing
a department in which its sole focus is OD, OD practices are being taught to
employees of the HR department to ensure continuous and long-term success of
the organization. As a result, Brown teaches us that everyone should be part of
the OD system when implementing it and this will include the HR department. The
HR department is mainly there to help individuals learn new skills among many
other things and roles that the HR department has. But, since OD is more of a
practice, by teaching HR employees about OD techniques the organization can
continue to develop its employees even after the OD practitioner is no longer
active with the organization.
Reflecting
on what I have learned in this course and throughout the MSLD program, I see
the future of the OD discipline as the new way of organizations ensuring their
place in the long-term race of market competition. Many major corporations and
organizations are beginning to change their old habits and practices for ones
that will ensure the quick responsiveness, adaptation, and success of the
organization. In the recent years, organizations that have refused to change
have faced bankruptcy, the closure of its business, or had to merge with other
big companies to survive. In the other hand, other organizations are
reengineering, restructuring, and flattening the hierarchy to meet market
pressures (Brown, 2011). Overall, I see the OD discipline as one that will
continue to stick around for the next 10 years or so. Eventually, technology
will change (we may get replaced in the workplace with robots) and a new
practice will emerge. But for the time being and for the current generation,
the OD discipline is the answer for organizations facing the need to change.
Reference:
Brown, D.
(2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.).
Boston: Prentice Hall.
Garrow, V. (2009).
OD: Past, present and future. Retrieved December 5, 2014, from http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pdflibrary/wp22.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment