Some History

Abstract

Organizational development is the generic field of research and practice concerned with structural organizational changes that can have a positive impact on competitiveness. It is about changing organizations in order to make them more competitive, chiefly through modifications in their organizational structure. Historically, most organizational development efforts have aimed at improving productivity (i.e., cycle time and cost reduction) and quality (i.e., boosting customer satisfaction). Organizational development encompasses procedural and policy changes within firms in order to adapt to external factors. External factors include competitive pressures, as well as economic and government regulation changes.