The history of organization development and the NTL institute: What we have learned, forgotten, and rewritten.

Abstract

This paper traces the origins and history of the National Training Laboratories (NTL), and addresses the influence of NTL on the development of the field of Organization Development (OD). Historical and environmental factors are discussed in the context of the NTL's evolution. The article provides a case study of the mana gerial issues involved in operating a not-for-profit, value-laden, member-based professional association.

Leadership and Employee Well‐being

“…Kurt Lewin inspired the creation of the NTL Institute for the Applied Behavioral Sciences in 1947 and was a co-creator of T-group (sensitivity-training) technology. He is also considered to be the grandfather of OD and the father of social psychology (Freedman, 1999). His theories and field experiments formed the foundations of action research and experiential learning in general, and planned social change, consultation skills, democratic values-based systems interventions, strategic change, organizational analysis, change strategies, management and leadership skills development, role renegotiation, participative problemsolving and decision-making skills development, group-process facilitation, team-building, intergroup conflict management, large-group interventions, diversity, organizational learning, the use of power, and quality of work life in particular (Gold, 1999;Lewin, 1997).…”

The Origins of Lewin’s Three-Step Model of Change

“…For example, the Topology Group took ownership of field theory; the RCGD concentrated on group dynamics; the NTL devoted itself to T-groups. Alfred Marrow, Lewin’s biographer, was active in most of them and was one of the few, along with Douglas McGregor, Richard Beckhard, and Herbert Shepard, who seemed to adhere to a form of Lewin’s model (Freedman, 1999; French, 1982; Marrow, 1972; Marrow, Bowers, & Seashore, 1967; McGill, 1974).…”

The Role of Alfred J. Marrow and the Harwood Manufacturing Corporation in the Advancement of OD

“…The mechanisms for achieving this were threefold:  Marrow's tireless promotion of Lewin's legacy and Harwood as its living symbol (French, 1979;MacKinnon, 1964;Marrow, 1969). which T-groups and the NTL emerged and which formed the spearhead of OD in the 1950s and 1960s (Burnes and Cooke, 2012;Freedman, 1999;Marrow, 1964Marrow, , 1967aMarrow, & 1969. Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD), which was staffed with their close associates, including Ronald Lippitt, a co-founder of the NTL (Dent and Goldberg, 1999;French, 1982;French and Bell, 1995;Highhouse, 2002;Marrow, 1969).…”

“…Though catalysts like Marrow can highlight and exemplify new ideas and values, a wider range of actors is required to adopt, develop, legitimise and pass them on (Austin and Bartunek, 2006;Furusten (2013). After Lewin's death, these actors included those who had worked with Lewin at Harwood, such as Bavelas and French, but also many others who were associated with him, such as Kenneth Benne, Leland Bradford and Ronald Lippitt, who with Lewin founded the NTL and led the T-group explosion of the 1950 and 1960s (Bradford, 1967(Bradford, & 1974Freedman, 1996Freedman, & 1999. Lippitt also played a key role in the development of group dynamics at the ISR where other key friends and associates of Lewin, especially Rensis Likert, the ISR's first Director, and Dorwin Cartwright, the RCGD's first Director at Michigan, were based (Marrow, 1969).…”