The professionalization of organization development: The next step in an evolving field

Abstract

Although the field of organization development (OD) has been in a seemingly eternal state of evolution and flux, the highly competitive nature of the contemporary business and consulting environment has reached a point where the future of OD is arguably in serious jeopardy. The field lacks consistency in its core theories, skills, values, ideologies, and interventions. It is time to professionalize and parameterize the field of OD or ultimately accept its relegation to being a faded approach of the past. This chapter focuses on the need for and importance of professionalizing OD, and the subsequent implications and complexities of such an approach for the future of the field. Building on prior research, theory, reviews, and calls for change, a compelling argument is made for why it is finally time to force the next step in the evolution of the field, and what has, can, and should be done about it.

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