ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the different practised Organizational Development (OD) approaches can be seen as variations of this generic model. The differences are primarily to be found in the relationship between the OD expert and the organization, and on how the learning processes were designed. Training groups (T-group) projects represented very early strategies for involving people in participative change processes. Participation by the problem owners is today not only an important part of OD, but is certainly a prerequisite for describing processes as OD. Strategies for OD based on Action Research (AR) can be traced back to two institutional environments. The main principle in AR is that it should contribute to create useful knowledge for local problem-solving and same time use the data and experiences from this praxis as input for research-based knowledge generation. An essential concept in sociotechnical theory is "joint optimization", which means to simultaneously consider both technology and social systems in searching for the optimal way of organizing.
