Organization Development Technology and the Military: A Surprising Merger?

The results of organization development (OD) efforts in the United States military are reported and analyzed. The Army uses a decentralized approach with strong top management support, participation, and understanding. The Navy relies heavily on a centralized survey-feedback model using mandatory participation. The Air Force has experimented with many OD approaches, the most widely adopted one being job enrichment. Although considerable resources are committed to OD, most claims of success are based on testimonials and anecdotal evidence. There is little empirical evidence that OD either changes organizations or results in improved performance. In spite of these weaknesses, the very existence of larger-scale OD in the military environment raises some interesting issues that revolve around values and the general applicability of OD technology.