Organization development (OD) has been, and arguably still is, a major approach to organizational change throughout the Western world, and increasingly globally.55 It is also generally agreed that the original core components of OD were T-groups, action research and participative management. The OD approach to change is, above all, a planned change approach that focuses on human dynamics and is based on the idea that people at all levels throughout an organization are, individually and collectively, both the drivers and the engines of change. Nowadays, OD has expanded beyond individual and small-group dynamics and is also applied to multiple stakeholder dynamics with methods based on dialogue sessions and whole-systems approaches such as “large group interventions” (LGIs)
In this article from 2016, we explore a question which is widely recognized in the world of practitioners of change and which seems a problematic issue in any change process, but is badly understood in theory: “What is happening when there is a lot In this essay from 2015, we explore a question which is widely recognized in the world of practitioners of change and which seems a problematic issue in any change process, but is badly understof enthusiasm about a change initiative and a lot of knowledge about the change, but nothing happens?” Why is coming into action so difficult in any change process? We ourselves, being scholars as well as practitioners, are in the middle of trying to understand the answers to these questions. In this essay, we will explore the literature to shed light on this. We discuss that (a) “people consistently act inconsistently,” (b) resistance is a multi-layered and multi-meaning concept that needs reconceptualization, and (c) perception of the change recipient plays a pivotal role in every change process.
Click on the URL for a free download of the article
Van Nistelrooij & De Caluwe (2016)
In november 2010 is er onder redactie van Antonie van Nistelrooij & Harry Sminia een special issue over Organization Development verschenen in The Journal of Change Management. Hieronder zijn het Guest Editorial en enkele van de belangrijkste hoofdartikelen te downloaden: dit zijn naast de artikelen van de redactieleden, artikelen van Renate Werkman over ‘Organization Development & Sense Making’ en het artikel van Fritz Korten, Léon de Caluwé en Jac Geurts over ‘The future of OD’.
The article published earlier in the Journal of Change Management discusses the underlying values of OD and what these mean for a change process in the public sector. The obtained insights are derived from a longitudinal design study conducted by several researchers based on the internationally proven research method Minnesota Innovation Research Program (MIRP) conducted at the newly merged social institute UWV in the Netherlands. The change program was founded by Hans Doodeman, accompanied by Marcel Kuhlmann and Evelien Palland and investigated in collaboration with Harry Sminia, Jiskje Veenstra and Floor Hesselmans.
The research is also published as a chapter in a Routledge publication in March 2009 entitled: Managing Organizational Change in Public Services; International Issues, Challenges and Cases. Edited by Rune Todnem By and Calum McLeod
For a closer look: Routledge.com .
This chapter deals with the specific context of the public sector. What are the specific characteristics of organizational development and change management in this sector? What are the experiences with organizational development (Organization Development) in the public sector? A business case from the Dutch public sector explains which considerations played a role and what experiences it led to. The chapter focuses on the participatory design of the change path and the longitudinal research into the progress and its effects.
General description Book
Forming part of the Understanding Organizational Change series, Managing Organizational Change in Public Services focuses on the organizational dimension of change management in public services. Combining aspects of change management theory with ‘real life’ practice in the form of organizational cases from different regions and sectors, this edited collection identifies and analyzes significant issues regarding the development, implementation and evaluation of public service change initiatives. Featuring contributions from leading authors in the field, this text provides an overview of organizational change management with a focus on leadership, management, and strategies for change.
(Bron:www.routledge.com)
The topics mentioned in the title of this chapter are some of the central topics in the work of dr. Erik Poutsma, my co-promotor in the time I was a phD student. To date, these very same topics are still my main points of interest in my contemporary research which I conduct as a scholar and practitioner in the field of Organization Development and Change.
For more information about the book:
https://www.narcis.nl/publication/RecordID/oai:repository.ubn.ru.nl:2066%2F170030
From the 1980s onwards, constructionist approaches have increasingly influenced the social sciences with ideas about multiple realities and the inherent subjectivity of experience. Part of this movement includes the notion that if there are multiple realities then there can be no transcendent, objective truth to be discovered. Instead the issue becomes how agreements about the reality of a situation are negotiated among contending points of view. In addition to these constructionist orientations, new ideas about change dynamics, including chaos theory and self-organizing systems have begun to influence how people think about change in organizations. Many of these ideas have been incorporated into what Marshak and Grant call a ‘New OD’ as published in a Dutch book in 2008.
Click on the photo for more information.
Order book