In a rapidly changing competitive world, organizations cannot run a business successfully without adapting to changes that are taking place in the business environment. Organization change includes changing organizations’ structure, technology and process, and business model to gain competitive advantage. The key difference between change and development in the organizational context is that organizational change facilitates catering to customer demand, growth opportunity for employees, and the improvement of bottom-line. On the other hand, organizational development is a planned effort taken to increase the organization’s effectiveness and implement the organizational change. Organizational development, in fact, focuses on one specific area of change and facilitates it. Organizational development is concerned about achieving effectiveness through employee development.
What is Change?
Organization change includes changing organizations’ structure, technology and process, and business model to gain competitive advantage. In order to be successful in the rapidly changing competitive world and to adapt to the environmental changes, organizations plan change. The change forces can be internal or external.
Organizational change facilitates catering to increasing customer demand, creating a growth opportunity for employees to develop their skills, and to be competitive in the business environment. All this changes result in improvement of the bottom-line. When organization change takes place, there is always resistance for the change. Therefore, managing resistance is an important part of the organizational change. A change agent involves in managing the organizational change.
What is Development?
Organizational development is a planned effort taken to increase the organization’s effectiveness and implement the organizational change. This focuses on one specific area of change and facilitates it. Organizational development is concerned about achieving effectiveness and organizational performance through employee skills development. By developing human potential, organizational development assists for organization change. The development techniques that are used are sensitivity training, survey feedback approach, process consultation, team building, etc.
What is the difference between Change and Development?
Definitions of Change and Development:
Change: Organizational change includes changing organization’s structure, technology and processes, and business model to gain competitive advantage.
Development: Organizational development is a planned effort taken to increase the organization’s effectiveness and implement the organizational change.
Characteristics of Change and Development:
Aim:
Change: Change focuses on moving from current status to a planned better future status.
Development: Development focuses on one specific area of change and facilitates it.
Focus Subjects:
Change: Organizational change mainly focuses on change schedule, time, quality, and the cost.
Development: Organizational development focuses on developing and enhancing employee skills, knowledge, development and behaviors for long term performance.
Duration:
Change: Organizational change has a specific time schedule that is a shorter period compare to organizational development.
Development: Organizational development is a long-term effort that focuses on human behavioral development.
Agents:
Change: Organizational change agents are internal consultants, managers, or selected executives.
Development: Development consultants are mostly external consultants.
Planned or Not:
Change: Change can be a planned change or an unplanned change. Planned changes are integrating new technology, process changes, system change, etc. Unplanned changes are the economic condition, changes in government policies, etc.
Development: Organizational development is always a well-planned action.
Basis of Plan:
Change: Organizational change is planned on a forecasted situation.
Development: Organizational development is planned based on the real problem of the organization.
Images Courtesy:
- People discussing by Eleberthon (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Meeting by Mike Peel (CC BY 2.5)