History and Evolution of Organization Development (OD) and Change 1 CPE

In this course, we develop a solid overview of the theories and history that support Organization Development (OD) and Change. 

We start with a brief overview of what OD is and a review of the historical evolution of the field of OD and its connection to changes in the external environment. This leads to a conversation about the theory and practice of Organization Development and its relation to attitudinal, behavioral, and skill requirements of an organization’s human resources (HR).  Then, we explore how to use this information and knowledge effectively by challenging, authenticating and applying models to specific personal, team, function, and corporate scenarios. 

This course serves to enable the OD practitioner to identify assumptions, evaluate statements, review evidence and identify values within the organizational system.

Prerequisites

No advanced preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.

Learning Objective

• Explore the historical evolution of the field of Organization Development (OD) and its connection to changes in the external environment.
• Identify the theory and practice of Organization Development (OD) and its relation to attitudinal, behavioral, and skill requirements of an organization’s human resources (HR)
• Discover how to use information regarding the theory and practice of Organization Development (OD) in different scenarios.

Last updated/reviewed: July 17, 2025