Chapter 1: A Brief Look at the Past,Present, and Future of Strategic Organization Development

The nature and content of the field of organization development (OD) has clearly changed over the years. It has become more corporate, more global, and yes, more strategic. It seems like only yesterday when such icons in the field such as Larry Greiner, Marianne Jelinek and Joseph Litterer, along with numerous others were calling for OD to become more strategic, and a partner with management. This call for OD to become more strategic is illustrated by Jelinek and Litterer’s article which appeared more than 20 years ago (1988) in Woodman and Pasmore’s Research in Organizational Change and Development, titled “Why OD Must Become More Strategic.”