Organisational development in 2008

Consultant Mike Morrison looks ahead to how organisational development will be perceived in the coming year, and asks whether it will lay the groundwork for a true path towards strategic development?

In the past, organisational development (OD) was mainly concerned with the three S's of an organisation - structures, staff and skills.

Specialists and consultants practicing in OD would look at an organisation and identify its stage of growth or maturity. This would form the basis of a 'diagnosis' and an initial plan for change and developmental action.

There are many variants of these models. Many of the growth or maturity models describe the organisation in the way humans grow and develop; the assumption being that organisations are like humans, in that there is an organic order and structure to their 'developmental' needs, and the way they grow and change.