Through change and development, human service organizations can promote the well-being of their clients more effectively. This important book describes and analyzes recent research on organizational change and development in the social and human services. It is particularly relevant in light of the significant changes in these organizations during the last decade and the lack of literature in the area. Organizational Change and Development in Human Service Organizations brings together the work of scholars who deal with social welfare administration and change in human services, combining research studies with theoretical approaches to change and development. It helps readers better understand the process of change and the role of the environment in creating change. Insightful chapters encourage practitioners, scholars, and students to plan change in organizations, utilize models of change and organizational development in real life, and evaluate change and its results and impacts. This much-needed book addresses a variety of topics, including: the uses of force field analysis in assessing prospects for organizational change planned change in voluntary and government social service agencies interorganizational coordination of services to children in state custody early stages in the creation of self-help organizations organization and community transformation organizational development in public social services strategic and structural change in human service organizations a developmental approach to program evaluation Many readers will find the information in Organizational Change and Development in Human Service Organizations to be extremely beneficial in their daily work. Covering the important issues, it gives readers a deeper insight into the processes of change and development so they can provide better services to their clients. This book is a vital resource for social workers, professionals in public administration, individuals involved in MSW programs, and students in the social sciences, including sociology and political science.

A Dynamic New Approach to Organizational Change Dialogic Organization Development is a compelling alternative to the classical action research approach to planned change. Organizations are seen as fluid, socially constructed realities that are continuously created through conversations and images. Leaders and consultants can help foster change by encouraging disruptions to taken-for-granted ways of thinking and acting and the use of generative images to stimulate new organizational conversations and narratives. This book offers the first comprehensive introduction to Dialogic Organization Development with chapters by a global team of leading scholar-practitioners addressing both theoretical foundations and specific practices.

Designed for use in undergraduate and graduate programs in organization development, management, human resource development, and industrial and organizational psychology, Organization Development provides readers with an overview of the field and acquaints them with the basic principles, practices, values, and skills of OD. Covering every aspect of the work of an OD professional and featuring numerous illustrative case studies, it shows how OD professionals actually get work and what the first steps in any OD effort should be. Author Gary McLean surveys different ways to assess an organizational situation—including a comparison of the Action Research and Appreciative Inquiry models—and provides forms for devising an action plan based on that assessment. He then looks at how to choose and implement a range of interventions at different levels, as well as how to evaluate the results of an intervention. Organization Development goes beyond the organizational level to look at the application of OD on community, national, regional, and global levels. And it successfully combines theory and practice; process and outcomes; performance and affective results; effectiveness and efficiency.

The purpose of this book is to address one of the most rapidly growing and important areas in the field of organization development. Despite its importance, relatively little is known about international and global organization development. This book is designed to summarize and apply the existing knowledge in international and global organization development in such a fashion as to provide insight, knowledge, and application in a way that is most helpful to the organization development professional who is interested in, or working in, the field. The book incorporates models of cultural differences, which are identified and expanded in terms of the implications for the practice of organization development. (1) It explores cultural values in terms of differences in resistance to change, the nature of leadership roles, organizational structure and the application of such organization development techniques as team building, survey feedback, job redesign, and large group methods. (2) It explore successes in both developed and developing countries. (3) It provides a list of competencies both for basic knowledge and skills and their extension to international work. It explores the match between organization development interventions and national cultural values. (4) It explores the role of economic development and legal and political structures for global organization development practitioners. It deals with the issue of culture specific versus universal organization development techniques. (5) It incorporates stories from pioneers in the field as well as more recent members of the organization development community. (6) It uses illustrations from award-winning international projects. (7) It draws on a substantial amount of work undertaken by the authors including over one hundred interviews with leading organization development professionals, surveys of organization development professionals, articles and books on international/global organization development and the authors’ own international research including an award winning international case.

This engaging and accessible textbook shows the importance and role of organizational development around the world, within the context of organizational change. Fostering an analytic approach to organizational issues, it charts the evolution of the field and shows how today OD fosters organizational effectiveness and individual wellbeing. Firmly grounded in a global perspective, it provides a contemporary analysis of OD and highlights the key diagnostic and intervention techniques that can be used to build organizational effectiveness. With a range of critical perspectives, skills development exercises, and practitioner insight, this book blends theory and practice to show OD's conceptualization and its application to contemporary issues faced by organizations. Suitable for upper undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA level, this is the ideal textbook for anyone studying organizational development.

This is the third book in the Jossey-Bass Reader series, Organization Development: A Jossey-Bass Reader. This collection will introduce the key thinkers and contributors in organization development including Ed Lawler, Peter Senge, Chris Argyris, Richard Hackman, Jay Galbraith, Cooperrider, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Bolman & Deal, Kouzes & Posner, and Ed Schein, among others. "Without reservations I recommend this volume to those students of organizational behavior who want an encyclopedia of OD to gain a perspective on the past, present, and future...." Jonathan D. Springer of the American Psychological Association.

Cultural, economic and political trends are changing the way public administrations are organized and this book examines the new challenges managers face, with the need for a shift from a traditional bureaucratic model to a competency-based approach to organizational design and management in the areas of recruitment, training, career development and assessment. Through the analysis of an experimental project launched jointly by the Italian National School for Administration (SNA) and the Prime Minister’s Office, this book showcases how a competency-based system can be a key tool in reforming HR in the public sector, with significant effects on the organization and management of public administration.

Organization Development provides a forum for the ideas and experiences of a researcher and consultant concerned with change in organizations. It shows how choice and change can be guided in a world now characterized by what the author terms "permanent temporariness." The book is at heart an approach to increasing the amount of responsible freedom at work. In this respect, the volume responds to an avalanche of social criticism that has been directed at bureaucracy, "organizational America," and the "organizational ethic." The field at organization development is informed by such criticisms but transcends it via technology and values that drive change and choice alike.