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Organization Development: a Jossey-Bass Reader

Organization Development: a Jossey-Bass Reader

This is the third book in the Jossey-Bass Reader series. Organization Development is the one-stop guide to the world of planned change. Newcomers to the field can read the book cover to cover and explore organization development’s foundation, scope, focus, purpose, and methods. Experienced consultants and change agents will find chapters that capture best thinking on key topics like resources for fine-tuning skills, learning about intervention options, envisioning organization development’s future, or reflecting on the larger issues in growth and change. Leaders and managers will find the resources they need to understand the route to organizational health and effectiveness, and to develop, launch, and nourish successful change efforts. Organization development has a powerful and influential heritage, solid core, evolving applications and approaches, and a vital role to play in today’s global, fast-paced world of constant change. This volume immerses readers deeply in OD’s power and possibilities.  Find on Amazon,  Barnes and Noble.   Click here for the Instructor’s Companion site.

The book includes classic and original chapters from a rich and diverse sampling of contributors: Billie Alban, Chris Argyris, Ron Ashkenas, John R. Austin, Jean M. Bartunek, Franklin Becker, Richard Beckhard, Beth Benjamin, Peter Block, Gene Boccialetti, Lee G. Bolman, David L. Bradford, Barbara Bunker, W. Warner Burke, Bernard Burnes, Jay Conger, David L. Cooperrider, Terrence E. Deal, Linda Dickens, Peter F. Drucker, Jane E. Dutton, the late Peter J. Frost, Marshall Goldsmith, Jay Galbraith, Joan V. Gallos, Marc S. Gerstein, Louis “Tex” Gunning, Phil Harkins, Stuart L. Hart, Todd Jick, Jason M. Kanov, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Steve Kerr, John Kotter, James Kouzes, Edward E. Lawler, Jacoba M. Lilius, Sally Maitlis, Robert J. Marshak, Keith Merron, Philip H. Mirvis, Howard Morgan, David A. Nadler, Glenn M. Parker, Barry Posner, Joseph A. Raelin, Michael J. Sales, Edgar H. Schein, Roger Schwarz, Leslie E. Sekerka, Peter M. Senge, Fritz Steele, David A. Thomas, William R. Torbert, Dave Ulrich, Karen Watkins, Marvin Weisbord, Alan Weiss, Monica C. Worline. Foreword by Edgar H. Schein.

FROM THE AUTHOR

This is a book about the power and possibilities of organization development and planned change. It celebrates OD’s proud legacy of embracing the social and behavioral sciences in service to individual and organizational growth. It acknowledges OD’s contributions to theory and practice: understanding how organizations work and developing methods for their improvement. It charts the evolution and impact of a field that set out more than half a century ago to release human potential at work and foster the role of learning and renewal in organizations.

The book is intended as a resource for both newcomers and experienced practitioners. It is intentionally inclusive in content: it identifies not-to-be-missed classics in the OD literature (and provides a full listing of original source materials for those who want to read more), as well as pieces that stretch the field’s traditional boundaries. It applauds an approach to planned change that has expanded in scope and possibility along with the changing nature of organizations, the environment, and theoretical advances in the organizational and social sciences.

The chapters in this volume promote an understanding of OD as a diverse set of approaches to organizational health and effectiveness in an increasingly competitive, diverse, and complex world. Taken together, they remind readers that organization development is more than tools and techniques. OD’s core values – participation, openness to learning, equity and fairness, valid information, informed choice, shared commitment – foster processes that engage people in useful and significant ways to address a wide range of operational, technical, and strategic concerns. OD artfully weds process with content in a search for lasting solutions to tough challenges.

FROM THE BACK COVER

This is the third book in the Jossey-Bass Reader series. The collection of chapters will introduce you to the key thinkers and contributors in organization development including Ed Lawler, Peter Senge, Chris Argyris, Richard Hackman, Jay Galbraith, David Cooperrider, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Bolman & Deal, Kouzes & Posner, and Ed Schein, among others.  The editor’s interludes and organization of the book will help you appreciate the foundations and the growth of OD as a field and as a method of planned change.

PRAISE FOR ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT

“Notable Book for 2006” — Training and Development (a publication of the American Society for Training and Development), December 2006

“Without reservations I will recommend this volume. This volume is prodigious, well edited. I urge the reader to acquire this book for his or her professional library.”
– PsycCritiques (APA), 2007

“This volume immerses readers deeply in organization development’s power and possibilities.”
– Organization Development Journal, August 2007

“Without reservations I recommend this volume to students of organizational behavior who want an encyclopedia of OD to gain a perspective on the past, present, and future.”
– Jonathan D. Springer, American Psychological Association.