What's the Difference between OD and Strategic Management?

AAt first glance, the aims of OD don't sound too different from those of strategic management. But they really are. Strategic management has traditionally defined organizational measures of success strictly in terms of short- and mid-term financial goals. This leads to a focus on the structural components of performance improvement (tools, technologies, systems), and a machine-like view of people, processes, and strategy.

In contrast, organizational development combines management theory with applied behavioral science best-practices. From an OD perspective, framing organizations as systems or machines reduces human beings to mere inputs, outputs, and processes.

Human social systems are far too complex and organic to respond effectively to this view. Rather, they require strategies that reflect their overall health and performance. This calls for a perspective that values not just profits, but also builds the capacities of the human enterprise that creates them. To borrow from a popular metaphor, OD focuses not just on how many golden eggs are laid today, but also on the growth and development of the goose that lays them.