Responses to the Problem of OD Stagnation: A Tribute to Warner Burke. (December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cameron, Kim
• Other Names: Church Allan H. guest-editor.; Pasmore William guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of applied behavioral science. Volume 56:Number 4(2020:Dec.)
• Page Start: 462
• Page End: 481
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Subjects: positive organizational behavior/scholarship -- organizational development -- organizational change -- change management -- change; Social sciences -- Periodicals; 300.5
• DOI: 10.1177/0021886320953852
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-8863

Abstract

As our most qualified inspector, sage, and futurist for organizational development (OD), Warner has set the standard for what great organizational change and development should be. He has recently accused the field of being stagnant and in need of new approaches to organizational change. In his view, there has been no innovation in OD since appreciative inquiry was introduced in 1987. This article takes seriously Warner's challenge and discusses positive organizational scholarship (POS) as a step forward in innovative OD scholarship. POS highlights some phenomena that have largely been overlooked in mainline OD articles, and the article provides illustrations of successful POS interventions relying on a POS–OD approach to change. A sampling of new OD-type intervention practices is introduced.