OD Intervensions for Sustainable Excellence in Higher Education

Abstract

Some 25 years ago came the birth of another discipline, called organizational development, the goal of which was to focus on the gap that exists between where a group or organization is and where they would like to be. This paper tries to address the role that organization development can play as an approach for sustainable excellence in higher educational institutions. The first section of the paper addresses the status of higher education in India, exploring the challenges faced by higher education institutions, and suggestions that can improve the quality of higher education. The second section suggests the use of Weisbords’ Six-box model as a diagnostic tool for an educational institution. It illustrates how planned and focused organization development interventions can help in understanding of the system and guide the change process in today’s unsettled higher education environment.