13/01/2010
This article reviews a few definitions of OD and identifies eight characters that are necessary to call an activity or experience as an OD activity or experience. The article then goes on to examine ten case studies (of research, consulting and OD) of what appears like an OD activity in which the author was involved as one of the facilitators for whole system or subsystem and examines each on of them for their appropriateness to be called as OD interventions. The author then goes on to derive some lessons from these experiences. The article outlines also some advantages of using traditional OD approach in various HRD interventions and offers some suggestions for making specific HRD interventions like competency mapping, 360Degree Feedback based leadership Development and Assessment and Development Centers as OD activities. The paper concludes that using an OD approach enriches HRD and yields a good ROI on HRD interventions.