One of the foundational definitions in the field of organizational development (aka OD) is planned change:
“Organization Development is an effort planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization's 'processes,' using behavioral-science knowledge.”
-- Richard Beckhard, “Organization development: Strategies and Models”, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969, p. 9.
To understand the practice of OD, some of the key terms, embedded in Beckhard's formulation, include:
- Planned - carefully thought through; based on data; documented
- Effectiveness - as measured by actual organizational performance versus desired organizational performance
- Health - as measured by the organization's ability to respond, grow and adapt in its environmental context
- Intervention - the specific action(s) selected for implementation that are intended to bring about the envisioned change
- Processes - how work gets done in an organization; e.g. delivery of service, billing, repair, etc.
Famous quotes containing the words planned and/or change:
“And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 32:14.
“The Hacker Ethic: Access to computers—and anything which might teach you something about the way the world works—should be unlimited and total.
Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative!
All information should be free.
Mistrust authority—promote decentralization.
Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.
You can create art and beauty on a computer.
Computers can change your life for the better.”
—Steven Levy, U.S. writer. Hackers, ch. 2, “The Hacker Ethic,” pp. 27-33, Anchor Press, Doubleday (1984)