A primer on organization development (OD), this book presents a basic statement for people in organizations and for practitioners and students of OD. Many concrete examples are included. After a definition of OD, the basic conditions which create the need for OD are discussed: rapid change, growth in size, increasing diversity, change in managerial behavior, and problems confronted in OD. Then follow questions and answers divided into Part I: The Professionals and Part II: The Practitioners. A chapter on sensitivity training covers three cases of failure, propositions about the uses of laboratory training in effecting social change, and a postscript on the prospects for democratic social change. Finally, there is discussion of the politics of change, structure versus climate, and the profession of OD. There is a bibliography. (Author/EB)