Organization Development: Principles, Processes, Performance

Designed for use in undergraduate and graduate programs in organization development, management, human resource development, and industrial and organizational psychology, Organization Development provides readers with an overview of the field and acquaints them with the basic principles, practices, values, and skills of OD. Covering every aspect of the work of an OD professional and featuring numerous illustrative case studies, it shows how OD professionals actually get work and what the first steps in any OD effort should be.

Author Gary McLean surveys different ways to assess an organizational situation—including a comparison of the Action Research and Appreciative Inquiry models—and provides forms for devising an action plan based on that assessment. He then looks at how to choose and implement a range of interventions at different levels, as well as how to evaluate the results of an intervention.

Organization Development goes beyond the organizational level to look at the application of OD on community, national, regional, and global levels. And it successfully combines theory and practice; process and outcomes; performance and affective results; effectiveness and efficiency.

A Canadian by birth, Gary N. McLean was raised in London in Ontario, Canada. Attending the University of Western Ontario, after 1 year at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, he received an honors B.A. in business administration and office administration. At Teachers College, Columbia University, where he met and married his wife, McLean earned a master’s and doctorate, both in business education. From United Theological Seminary in Minnesota, he received a master’s of divinity degree. Though he considers himself a global citizen, he actually holds dual citizenship with the United States and Canada.
McLean has been involved in higher education for 40 years, 36 of them at the University of Minnesota, and has worked as an OD consultant for 35 years, with more than 50 clients (many repeats). A son and a daughter have joined him now, in McLean Global Consulting, Inc. In addition, he is a part owner of HRConnection, an HR company that provides support for small-group sharing among HR professionals, as well as contract and placement services for HR professionals.
As an OD professional, McLean has worked in more than 40 countries; published in excess of 200 articles and book chapters; and authored, coauthored, or edited 22 books. His scholarship has resulted in the awarding of Outstanding Scholar by the Academy of Human Resource Development. His excellence in teaching has been recognized by both the College of Education and Human Development and the University of Minnesota through the awarding of the designation as Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor. McLean has been awarded lifetime membership in the Minnesota OD Network in recognition of his service to OD.
Active in many professional organizations, McLean has served as president of the International Management Development Association and as president of the Academy of Human Resource Development. He has also been an editor of four refereed journals.
Family is extremely important in McLean’s life. His six children, only five and a half years apart in age as a result of adopting four Korean children, are now adults. They, along with three grandchildren (and one on the way), form the base of a wonderful, diverse, and expanding family. All of his children and their families live within 15 minutes of his home, meaning, happily, that he sees a lot of them.