flowchart LR U[Unfreeze<br/>Create motivation;<br/>discomfort with status quo] --> C[Change / Move<br/>Adopt new behaviour;<br/>learn new skills] C --> R[Refreeze<br/>Stabilise the change;<br/>institutionalise] style U fill:#FFEBEE,stroke:#C62828 style C fill:#FFF8E1,stroke:#F9A825 style R fill:#E8F5E9,stroke:#2E7D32
30 Organization Development and Change
30.1 What is Organisation Development?
Organisation Development (OD) is a planned, systemic, long-range effort to improve an organisation’s effectiveness and health through interventions in its processes, using behavioural-science knowledge. The discipline grew out of the human-relations movement, the T-group work of Kurt Lewin and the National Training Laboratories (NTL) at Bethel, Maine in the 1940s and ’50s.
Wendell French and Cecil Bell, who wrote the standard OD textbook, define OD as “a long-term effort, led and supported by top management, to improve an organisation’s visioning, empowerment, learning, and problem-solving processes, through an ongoing, collaborative management of organisation culture — with special emphasis on the culture of intact work teams and other team configurations — using the consultant–facilitator role and the theory and technology of applied behavioural science, including action research” (frenchbell1999?).
Richard Beckhard’s classic compact definition: OD is “a planned, organisation-wide effort, managed from the top, to increase organisation effectiveness and health, through planned interventions in the organisation’s processes, using behavioural-science knowledge” (beckhard1969?).
TipThree Working Definitions
| Author | Definition | What it foregrounds |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Beckhard | “A planned, organisation-wide, top-led effort to increase effectiveness and health, through interventions in processes, using behavioural science.” | Planned, system-wide |
| Warren Bennis | “A response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values and structure of organisations so that they can better adapt to new technologies, markets, challenges and the dizzying rate of change itself.” | Adaptation |
| French & Bell | “Long-term, top-led effort to improve visioning, empowerment, learning and problem-solving — with special emphasis on team culture, action research, and a consultant-facilitator role.” | Process |
30.1.1 Characteristics of OD
TipSix Characteristics of OD
| Characteristic | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Planned change | OD is intentional, not reactive |
| System-wide | The whole organisation, not a single department |
| Long-range | Months to years, not weeks |
| Top-management supported | Cannot succeed without sponsorship |
| Behavioural-science based | Draws on psychology, sociology, anthropology |
| Action-research method | Diagnose → act → evaluate → re-diagnose |
30.2 Lewin’s Foundations: Force-Field and Three-Step Model
Kurt Lewin is the father of OD and planned change. Two of his contributions are the most-tested ideas in this topic.
30.2.1 Force-field analysis
Every situation is a quasi-equilibrium held in place by two opposing sets of forces — driving forces pushing for change and restraining forces resisting it. To produce change, raise the driving forces and / or reduce the restraining forces — and prefer the second (lewin1947?).
TipDriving and Restraining Forces
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Driving forces | Competition, technology, regulation, leadership push, financial pressure |
| Restraining forces | Fear of unknown, loss of comfort, sunk learning, group norms, vested interests |
30.2.2 Three-step model — Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze
TipLewin’s Three-Step Model
| Step | What it does | Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Unfreeze | Create motivation to change; reduce restraining forces | Communication, burning platform, involvement |
| Change / Move | Develop new attitudes, behaviours, skills | Training, role-modelling, structural change |
| Refreeze | Stabilise the change so it sticks | Reward systems, new norms, formal policies |
A modern critique — Schein’s contribution — added that unfreezing itself involves survival anxiety + learning anxiety, and the leader’s job is to make survival anxiety greater than learning anxiety (schein2010?).
30.3 Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model
John Kotter’s Leading Change (1996) is the most-cited modern change framework (kotter1996?):
TipKotter’s Eight Steps for Leading Change
| # | Step | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Establish a sense of urgency | Make the case for change vivid |
| 2 | Form a guiding coalition | A cross-functional, credible leadership team |
| 3 | Develop a vision and strategy | Clear, brief, sticky |
| 4 | Communicate the vision | Repeatedly, in many channels |
| 5 | Empower broad-based action | Remove obstacles, change systems |
| 6 | Generate short-term wins | Visible early results to build momentum |
| 7 | Consolidate gains and produce more change | Don’t declare victory too soon |
| 8 | Anchor new approaches in the culture | Make the change “the way we do things” |
Steps 1–4 unfreeze, 5–6 change, 7–8 refreeze — Kotter is the operationalisation of Lewin.
30.4 Other Change Frameworks
TipFive More Change-Management Frameworks
| Framework | Authors | Idea |
|---|---|---|
| 7-S | McKinsey (Pascale, Athos, Peters, Waterman) | Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared values, Style, Staff, Skills must align |
| ADKAR | Prosci (Hiatt) | Awareness → Desire → Knowledge → Ability → Reinforcement (individual-level) |
| Bridges’ Transition Model | William Bridges | Change is external; transition is internal: Ending → Neutral Zone → New Beginning |
| Burke-Litwin | Burke & Litwin (1992) | Causal model linking 12 factors of change |
| Beckhard’s Change Formula | Beckhard | C = D × V × F > R: change happens when Dissatisfaction × Vision × First-steps > Resistance |
The Beckhard formula is a useful diagnostic — if any of D, V, or F is zero, change will not happen.
30.5 Resistance to Change
Resistance is normal and frequently productive. Robbins lists individual and organisational sources (robbinsjudge2018?):
TipSources of Resistance to Change
| Family | Examples |
|---|---|
| Individual | Habit, security, economic factors, fear of the unknown, selective information processing |
| Organisational | Structural inertia, group inertia, threat to expertise, threat to power relationships, threat to resource allocations |
Kotter and Schlesinger’s classic six tactics for managing resistance:
TipKotter & Schlesinger — Six Tactics for Resistance
| Tactic | Use when |
|---|---|
| Education and communication | Lack of information; misinformation |
| Participation and involvement | Initiator lacks key information; resisters have power |
| Facilitation and support | Adjustment problems |
| Negotiation and agreement | A group with significant power will lose out |
| Manipulation and co-optation | Other tactics will not work or are too costly |
| Explicit and implicit coercion | Speed essential; resistance must end quickly |
30.6 OD Interventions
OD interventions are the tools OD practitioners use. French and Bell classify them by target — individual, dyad, team, intergroup, organisation (frenchbell1999?).
TipOD Interventions — by Target
| Target | Common interventions |
|---|---|
| Individual | Coaching, T-group / sensitivity training, life and career planning |
| Dyad / Triad | Third-party peace-making (Walton); role analysis technique |
| Team | Team building, role negotiation, role analysis, gestalt OD |
| Intergroup | Confrontation meetings, intergroup team building |
| Organisation-wide | Survey feedback, large-scale interactive events, Search Conferences (Emery & Trist), Future Search (Weisbord), Open Space (Owen), World Café, Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider) |
| Structural | Quality of Work Life (QWL), MBO, job redesign, total quality management, parallel structures |
30.6.1 Action research
The action-research model is the most-tested OD process model. Originally Lewin’s, refined by French and Bell:
- Problem identification
- Consultation with a behavioural-science expert
- Data gathering and preliminary diagnosis
- Feedback to client / group
- Joint diagnosis
- Joint action planning
- Action
- Data gathering after action
- Feedback → next cycle
Action research is cyclical — diagnose, act, evaluate, re-diagnose — which makes OD an ongoing effort rather than a one-shot project.
30.6.2 Appreciative Inquiry
David Cooperrider’s Appreciative Inquiry (1987) — a positive-psychology variant of OD that asks “what is working?” rather than “what is wrong?” The 4-D cycle: Discovery → Dream → Design → Destiny (cooperrider1987?).
30.7 OD vs Change Management
TipOD vs Change Management
| Feature | OD | Change Management |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Long-term, systemic, cultural | Specific change project / programme |
| Approach | Behavioural-science based, participative | Project-management based |
| Time horizon | Months to years | Weeks to months |
| Owner | OD consultant + line | Project manager + sponsor |
| Tools | Interventions, action research | PM toolkit + people-side tools (ADKAR) |
In practice, the two converge — modern change management programmes draw heavily on OD interventions.
30.8 Practice Questions
Q 01
Lewin
Easy
Lewin's three-step change model consists of:
View solution
Correct Option: B
Lewin's classic three-step: Unfreeze → Change / Move → Refreeze.
Q 02
Kotter
Medium
In Kotter's eight-step model, the first step in leading change is:
View solution
Correct Option: B
Kotter's first step is establishing a sense of urgency. The eighth and final is anchoring in culture.
Q 03
Beckhard Formula
Medium
Beckhard's change formula C = D × V × F > R says change occurs when:
View solution
Correct Option: A
Dissatisfaction with the present, Vision of the future, and First steps in that direction must together exceed Resistance. If any term is zero, change won't happen.
Q 04
7-S
Medium
The McKinsey 7-S framework includes which of the following soft elements?
View solution
Correct Option: B
The hard 3-S: Strategy, Structure, Systems. The soft 4-S: Shared values, Style, Staff, Skills.
Q 05
Action Research
Medium
Action research, the foundational OD process model, is:
View solution
Correct Option: B
Action research, originally Lewin's, is the cyclical diagnose-act-evaluate-re-diagnose process — what makes OD ongoing.
Q 06
Appreciative Inquiry
Medium
Appreciative Inquiry, a positive-psychology approach to OD, is associated with:
View solution
Correct Option: B
David Cooperrider's 1987 work; the 4-D cycle is Discovery → Dream → Design → Destiny.
Q 07
Resistance
Medium
Kotter and Schlesinger's six tactics for managing resistance to change include:
View solution
Correct Option: D
Their six tactics: education & communication, participation & involvement, facilitation & support, negotiation & agreement, manipulation & co-optation, explicit & implicit coercion.
Q 08
ADKAR
Medium
The ADKAR change-management model — focused on the individual's transition — stands for:
View solution
Correct Option: A
Prosci's ADKAR: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement — the five sequential phases an individual must move through for change to stick.
ImportantQuick recall
- OD = planned, system-wide, top-led, behavioural-science-based effort to improve effectiveness through interventions in processes (Beckhard).
- Lewin: father of OD. Force-field analysis; three-step model Unfreeze → Change → Refreeze.
- Kotter’s 8 steps: urgency → coalition → vision → communicate → empower → short-term wins → consolidate → anchor.
- Other models: McKinsey 7-S, ADKAR (Prosci), Bridges’ transitions, Burke-Litwin, Beckhard’s formula C = D × V × F > R.
- Resistance: individual + organisational sources. Tactics (Kotter & Schlesinger): education, participation, facilitation, negotiation, manipulation, coercion.
- OD interventions by target: individual / dyad / team / intergroup / organisation / structural. Process: action research cycle.
- Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider): 4-D — Discovery → Dream → Design → Destiny.