Application: Future Trends in the Field

The knowledge and practical experience you have gained in this course provide the foundation on which you will continue to build your knowledge of the OD field. It is important to stay abreast of current events and to understand how they will affect your practice and your client organizations. Keeping your skills and competencies current will aid you in staying ahead of emerging changes within the field. How will the career opportunities that are most appealing to you be affected by current and future trends in the field of OD?

To prepare:

• Consider OD career opportunities you might like to pursue, whether within government or large corporations or consulting firms, as an independent consultant, or through another avenue.
• Reflect on how these opportunities may both be affected by and how they may address emerging and future changes in the field as well as the ways in which they may contribute to positive social change.

By Day 7

A 2- to 3-page paper written in APA format and style in which you identify and discuss at least three future trends in the OD profession and/or OD practice.

• How do you see yourself adapting to and/or applying these future trends?
• How will these future trends affect career opportunities that interest you most?
• How will these future trends contribute to positive social change?

Support your Assignment with references to recent (within the last 5 years) peer-reviewed, scholarly sources and this week’s Learning Resources.

Required Readings

Instructure. (2016). 7 trends for Workforce 2020: How to make today’s ever-changing workplace work for you. Author. https://sewi-atd.org/resources/Pictures/7%20TRENDS…

Cheung-Judge, M. (2018, February 28). The future of the organization and implications for OD. HR Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/the-f…

Church, A. H., & Burke, W. W. (2018). Four trends shaping the future of organizations and organization development. OD Practitioner, 49(3), 14–22. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=132099709&site=eds-live&scope=site

Kapp, K. (2018, October 31). Talent development trends to watch in the next year. Association for Talent Development. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/insights/talent-development-tre…

The Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business. (2017). Multigenerational impacts on the workplace. Retrieved from https://www.bentley.edu/files/2017/11/01/Bentley%2…
Used with permission of Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business at Bentley University.

Rothwell, W. J. (2015). Organization development fundamentals: Managing strategic change. Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.

• Chapter 8, “The Future of Organization Development”

Zentis, N. (2017, August 8). Future trends in organization development [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://instituteod.com/future-trends-organization…