Chapter 8: Strategic Humanresources and Organization Development: Managing Change for Success

Should we do away with traditional human resources (HR)? In recent years, a number of people who study and write about business—along with many Fortune 500 senior executives—have debated that question. The debate arises out of serious and widespread doubts about the human resource function’s contribution to organizational performance. Renowned researcher David Ulrich states “as much as I like HR people, I have been working in the field as a researcher, professor, and consultant for 20 years, but must agree that there is good reason for HR’s beleaguered reputation” (Ulrich, 1997, p. 23).

While research over the last 5 years shows that human resources has been at the proverbial crossroads, between demonstrating strategic value and providing traditional HR services, the field of organization development (OD) shares a similar and not too different story. Some have even argued that the growing frustrations by HR functions will likely consume OD in their quest for being perceived as strategic business partners within organizations. Is all this true? Are both fields experiencing a similar crisis that could potentially impact its long-term existence as we know it?