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History of Organizational Development

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HISTORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In the late 1960s organizational development was implemented in organizations via consultants, but was relatively unknown as a theory of practice and had no common definition among its practitioners. Richard Beckhard, an authority on organizational development and change management, defined organizational development as "an effort, planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization's processes, using behavioral-science knowledge" (Beckhard 1969).
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s organizational development became a more established field with courses and programs being offered in business, education, and administration curricula. In the 1990s and 2000s organizational development continued to grow and evolve and its influences could be seen in theories and strategies such as total quality management (TQM), team building, job enrichment, and reengineering.

RATIONALE AND IMPLEMENTATION
Organizational development takes into consideration how the organization and its constituents or employees function together. Does the organization meet the needs of its employees? Do the employees work effectively to make the organization a success? How can the symbiotic relationship between employee satisfaction and organizational success be optimized? Organizational development places emphasis on the human factors and data inherent in the organization-employee relationship. Organizational development strategies can be used to help employees become more committed and more adaptable, which ultimately improves the organization as a whole.
The organizational development process is initiated when there is a need, gap, or dissatisfaction within the organization, either at the upper management level or within the employee body. Ideally, the process

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