Editing Organization development (section)

==Improved organizational performance==
The objective of OD is to improve the organization's capacity to handle its internal and external functioning and relationships. This includes improved interpersonal and group processes, more effective communication, and enhanced ability to cope with organizational problems of all kinds. It also involves more effective decision processes, more appropriate [[leadership style]]s, improved skill in dealing with destructive conflict, as well as developing improved levels of trust and cooperation among organizational members. These objectives stem from a value system based on an optimistic view of the nature of man—that man in a supportive environment is capable of achieving higher levels of development and accomplishment. Essential to organization development and effectiveness is the scientific method—inquiry, a rigorous search for causes, experimental testing of hypotheses, and review of results.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baligh |first1=Helmy H. |title=Organization Structures: Theory and Design, Analysis and Prescription |series=Information and Organization Design Series |date=2006 |volume=5 |publisher=Springer |location=Boston, MA |doi=10.1007/0-387-28317-X |isbn=9780387283173 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/0-387-28317-X}}</ref>

''[[Workers' self-management|Self-managing]]'' workgroups allow the members of a work team to manage, control, and monitor all facets of their work, from recruiting, hiring, and new employees to deciding when to take rest breaks. An early analysis of the first-self-managing work groups yielded the following behavioral characteristics (Hackman, 1986):

*Employees assume personal responsibility and accountability for the outcomes of their work.
*Employees monitor their own performance and seek feedback on how well they are accomplishing their goals.
*Employees manage their performance and take corrective action when necessary to improve their and the performance of other group members.
*Employees seek guidance, assistance, and resources from the organization when they do not have what they need to do the job.
*Employees help members of their workgroup and employees in other groups to improve [[job performance]] and raise productivity for the organization as a whole.

===Organizational self-renewal===
The ultimate aim of OD practitioners is to "work themselves out of a job" by leaving the client organization with a set of tools, behaviors, attitudes, and an action plan with which to monitor its own state of health and to take corrective steps toward its own renewal and development. This is consistent with the systems concept of feedback as a regulatory and corrective mechanism.<ref name="Johnson1"/> To this end, OD scholars and practitioners use tools such as simulations with their clients, to be used in workshops and classroom settings. One example of a self-renewal simulation, authored by researchers from Cornell University and Indiana University, can be found here (see citation).<ref>Lyles, M. A., Near, J. P., & Enz, C. A. (1992). A simulation for teaching skills relating to organizational self-renewal [Electronic version]. Retrieved [12/11/2017] from Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration site: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/638. </ref>

The study of organizational effectiveness and improving [[Enterprise performance management|organizational performance]] has developed alongside the study of  [[leadership development]] with a greater focus on leadership development programs that focus on the development of the individual. See .[[Emotional intelligence]] in relation to leadership development.