 |
||
|
||
BOOK REVIEW |
|
||
|
||
BOOK REVIEW |
Charting Change Two experts explain the
challenges of organization and development in the South By A CORRESSPONDENT Countries of the South, which are
relatively new to the development process, have been facing many problems at the
organizational and structural levels. These deficiencies often disturb the development
process as a whole. With the introduction of a liberal
political process 12 years ago, Nepal, too, has adopted a new development strategy for
all-round development. However, the country has not been able to implement development
projects in accordance with the wishes of the population at large. As the country is in search of a process of
effective mobilization of resources through strong organization in the development sector,
the book "Organization Development In the South" can be expected to help to
identify major problems and facilitate solutions. "In this fast-changing world, change
has become an inevitable part of life. The economic and business environment is becoming
much more turbulent and demanding. Organizations that fail to respond to change in their
environment are likely to be consigned to history," say Ken Afful and Mohan Das
Manandhar in their preface. "[Organization development] is a process for planned
change. It aims at building internal competencies in individuals and teams in the
organizational context and at taking organizations at higher levels of performance by
building individual or group system and process related competencies." In a volatile and competitive environment,
organizations cannot preoccupy themselves with basic business issues and ignore other
vital dimensions of strategy, change and social process. There is a critical need at this
point for a practical and straightforward approach to developing organizations. According to the authors, organization
development offers one such perspective and process for developing the adaptive and coping
capabilities of an organization. Despite the urgency of facilitating a free exchange of
ideas about organization development, only a few books have been published on the subject.
Afful and Manandhar have made a commendable effort to evaluate the process from a
practical approach. Apart from describing the theoretical
underpinning of the subject, the book tries to discuss a practical approach to
understanding the organization development process and the conceptual framework for its
practice. The book has three parts covering 15
chapters. The first (Chapter 1 through Chapter 4) introduces the reader to the context,
definition, history, characteristics and operational components of organization
development. The second and third parts explain the role of organization development
practitioners and contemporary issues confronting organization development, along with a
brief discussion on the relationship of organization development with the concept of
strategic planning, conflict management, team building and human resources management. "It is a practical approach to
synthesize within a little volume and make accessible to a wider variety of audience
useful concepts and interventions of organization development and includes new thinking of
familiar aspects of the organization development practitioner's job with practical cases
examples," say Afful and Manandhar. At a time when much development process has
been passing through the various complicated phases, the new book has delineated a set of
approaches and techniques for solving the organization's complex problems and improving
its performance. Organization Development In the
South |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
