History of Organizational Development

By : Tedwin Thomas
MBA - HR
 History of OD
Kurt Lewin (18981947) is
widely recognized as the
founding father of OD,
although he died before
the concept became
current in the mid-1950s.
From Lewin came the
ideas of group dynamics
and action research which
underpin the basic OD
process as well as
providing its collaborative
consultant/client ethos.
 History of OD
Institutionally, Lewin
founded the "Research
Center for Group
Dynamics" (RCGD) at MIT,
which moved to Michigan
after his death.
RCGD colleagues were
among those who founded
the National Training
Laboratories (NTL), from
which the T-Groups and
group-based OD emerged.
 History of OD
Douglas McGregor and Richard

Beckhard while "consulting

together at General Mills in the

1950s, the two coined the term

organization development (OD)

to describe an innovative

bottoms-up change effort that

fit no traditional consulting

categories"
 History of OD
1947 National Training

Laboratories Founded NTL in USA

advances the research into applied

behavioural sciences, develops

understand of change agent role and

experiential learning.

1950s Human Relations Movement

Growth of social and developmental

psychology.
 History of OD
1951 Socio-Technical System Thinking

(STS) Tavistock Institute (UK) research

shows that combining social factors with

technological changes increases

effectiveness, efficiency and moral.

1967 Survey Research Methods Likert

and Mann pioneer survey feedback to help

organizational leaders understand the impact

they have on the people and performance of

the organization.
 History of OD
1968 Creation of the T Group Lewin

(USA) and Tavistock Institute develops

unstructured group laboratory training,

and action learning sets.

1974 OD as Planned approach to

Change Friedlander and Brown research

OD as a method of planned change effort

1980s General Systems Theory

Neilsen and Schein promote OD as

activities that influence the social

processes within an organisation. -

 History of OD
1997 Organizational
Effectiveness Linking the
application of OD in planned
development interventions to
the improvement of
organizational effectiveness.
2000s to Present
Complexity Theory OD
continues to be informed by new
insights and research in a
number of disciplines including
natural sciences, biology and
physics as well as developments
in the social and behavioural
sciences.
 Five Stems of OD Practice
Laboratory Training

Current Practice
Action Research/Survey Feedback

Participative Management

Quality of Work Life

Strategic Change

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

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