Organization Development

Master the Modern Discipline of Organization Development (OD) and Use It to Achieve Effective Change

• The definitive guide to OD, fully updated with new techniques for new environments
• Covers all stages of the OD project lifecycle, from identifying clients through measuring results
• Introduces the powerful Burke-Litwin model of organizational performance and change and includes covert processes beneath the surface of the model that influence organizational dynamics

Organization Development is today's complete overview of the OD discipline for all managers, executives, administrators, consultants, and students. Fully updated to reflect major changes since the classic second edition, it explains how OD is now practiced and how it is continuing to evolve.

W. Warner Burke and Debra A. Noumair illuminate key theories in the field, providing all the insights and knowledge you need to translate theory into action, make choices, help your organization learn, and lead change. They cover all essential issues associated with defining clients, diagnosing organizational problems, identifying options, selecting techniques, assessing performance, and more.

Throughout, this edition introduces many new perspectives and techniques, including integrating covert processes into organization diagnosis, consulting to loosely coupled systems, linking coaching with OD, and successfully promoting OD in modern organizational environments.

Organizational culture is the single greatest barrier to change for any system, whether profit-making or nonprofit, government, educational, or religious institution. This book is the definitive guide to consulting about change by responding to a clients need for change, collaborating to plan and implement change, and actually achieving lasting change in an organizations culture.

W. Warner Burke and Debra A. Noumair begin by offering a clear and usable definition of OD and explaining how the discipline continues to evolve. Next, they introduce proven techniques for understanding any organization, diagnosing its problems, and accounting for the covert emotional forces that shape it.

Building on this foundation, Burke and Noumair show how to plan and manage change in organizations of all types and sizes, including loosely coupled organizations with less hierarchy and fewer interdependencies.

The authors carefully assess empirical research on ODs effectiveness, offer up-to-date guidance on building an OD consulting career, and present new insights into the role of coaches. They conclude by identifying trends likely to reshape OD in the future and outlining ways to prepare.

Previous editions of Organization Development have proven invaluable to managers, executives, administrators, organizational consultants, and students entering the field. For todays practitioners, this extensively revised edition will be equally i...