There are a number of individuals who throughout the history and emergence of Organization Development have made a significant contribution to both the academic theory and practice of the field of OD.
Richard Beckhard was among the pioneer consultants who in the 1950s invented the field of organization development (OD to describe a consulting approach that was an innovative bottoms-up change effort.
Beckhard defined Organization Development as “an effort (1) planned, (2) organization-wide, and (3) managed from the top, to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the organization’s “processes,” using behavioral-science knowledge”
When describing possible intervention strategies Beckhard made several assumptions about the nature and functioning of organizations including:
Along with his colleagues Warren Bennis and Edgar Shein, Beckhard collaborated in the launching of the famous Addison-Wesley Organization Development Series and initiated the Network of Organizational Development.
He pioneered the use of T-Groups for top executives and together with David Gleicher, he is credited with developing a Formula for Change. The formula (D x V x F > R) proposes that the combination of organisational dissatisfaction, vision for the future and the possibility of immediate, tactical action must be stronger than the resistance within the organisation in order for meaningful change to occur.
Three factors must be present for meaningful organizational change to take place. These factors are:
D = Dissatisfaction with the status quo;
V = Vision of what is possible;
F = First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision.
R = If any of these factors are missing or weak, then you’re going to get resistance.
Richard Beckhard – Life and Times
Beckhard’s innovations were legendary: inter-group confrontation meetings; responsibility charting; team building, all in service of large strategic goals for business leaders. For nearly 50 years, Beckhard helped organizations function in a more humane and high-performing manner, and to empower people to be agents of change.
Beckhard wrote eight books and numerous articles, including Organization Development: Strategies and Models; Changing the Essence; and Richard Beckhard: Agent of Change: My Life, My Practice.
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