How is Organisation Development different from HRD?
HRD works within the stated policies and goals of the organization. However, when the policies and goals, and the behaviour in the organization do not adequately support each other HRD can only play a support and maintenance functions. OD on the other hand brings in an “external” view point which is used to support the organization’s need for change by facilitating the emergence of new directions,structures,practices and new behaviour. OD thus almost invariably uses a third party point of view of looking at the inner working thus increasing significantly the rate at which the organization gets into a “learning” mode to change itself. Thus HRD is an ongoing function of management and may be likened to maintenance while OD is more like a project and may be likened to advancing to a new level of “fitness”.
