Course Summary

Psychological Science 474/574
Organization Development
Dr. Whitley

Scheduling Note: This course is offered every other year. It is scheduled to be offered next in Fall Semester, 2002.

Textbook

 

Harvey, D.F., & Brown, D.R. (2001). An experiential approach to organization development (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Goals

 

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the theories and techniques of organization development (OD). The purpose is not to teach you to be an OD practitioner, but rather to be an informed consumer of OD services. Thus, the critical

Course Outline

• Introduction
• Overview of OD
• Planned Change
• Organizational Culture and Change
• The Consultant's Role
• Organizational Diagnosis
• Resistance to Change
• Intervention Strategies
• Individual Interventions
• Team Development
• Intergroup Development
• Goal-Setting

Grading

Tests

 

There are three tests worth 50 points each. Thirty points are allocated to multiple choice questions and 20 points to short answer questions.

 

Term Paper

 

The term paper will take the form of a case study. Choose an organization with which you have first hand experience, analyze it from an OD perspective, and design an OD program for it. The report will include: a brief history of the organization to provide background to the problems it has; a description of the OD problems found there and their causes; recommended interventions, their sequencing, and your reasons for choosing the interventions you did and for sequencing as you do; and expected sources and types of resistance, the methods you would use to overcome them, and your reasons for using those methods. The report should contain references to studies which indicate that the methods chosen would be effective in your situation. More information will be provided in a hand-out; sample papers will be on course reserve at Bracken Library.

 

Final Grades

 

I use the plus-minus grading system, but I do not assign grades of D+ or D-.

 

I use the web gradebook to provide feedback to students.

 

Return to Whitley's faculty page

Last Modified: 21 June 2001