Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading Change: A Third Edition

SUMMARY

This chapter introduces the concept of positive organizational change, which has emerged from the field of positive organizational scholarship (POS). The research suggests that what is currently known about dysfunctional organization (deficit gaps) is vastly greater than what is known about extraordinary organization functionality (abundance gaps). POS attempts to address this imbalance, not to the exclusion of problem-based scholarship and practice, but as a complementary extension. Implications for expanding the practice of OD through POS are numerous, and we have focused in this chapter on briefly reviewing research that can lead to positive change interventions.

Both positive and negative factors may perpetuate positive change, ...