Organizational development is moving an organization toward change with action-oriented practices, and it’s rooted in a company’s core goals or purpose. It’s basically anything strengthening an organization from the inside out or motivates people to do so.
You may not think you know what organizational development is if you weren’t a business major, but if you’ve rolled out a new project-management software system, created a vision statement, implemented lean management practices, or set up a compensation program at your organization, you’re in the midst of it. Organizational development is moving an organization toward change with action-oriented practices, and it’s rooted in a company’s core goals or purpose. It’s basically anything strengthening an organization from the inside out or motivates people to do so.
It’s a great way to lure and keep talent, says Entrepreneur.com Contributor Aytekin Tank. With Millennials and Gen Z employees expected to comprise 58% of the workforce in the next decade, we need to pay attention to how they best function. Younger workers expect more training from their employers than previous generations, such as organizational development offers.
It highlights areas needing attention within your company. Problems in your organization become front and center, which is the first step toward finding solutions. “For example, you may discover that productivity declines at your workplace after lunch, which jeopardizes projects with imminent due dates. To resolve this issue, you can front-load projects with important timelines at the beginning of the day, and backload projects with greater timeline flexibility to the second half of the day,” writes Sampson Quain at SmallBusiness.chron.com. Effective change management programs would have difficulty getting off the ground without organizational development.
It makes your firm more money via higher profit margins, which can then be re-invested into your organization to power more organizational development, says Andrew Greenberg at ContractRecruiter.com. These higher profit margins are built with a combination of higher productivity, lower expenses, and higher sales.
