Three key considerations (What is organizational development (OD)? Why do organizations undertake OD efforts? What are the critical phases (and their pitfalls) that make up the OD effort?) are discussed in this paper. The sections include: "What is OD," which presents three definitions of OD and the goals of OD as identified by Bennis; "Why Do Organizations Undertake OD Programs?" which discusses the reasons why organizations undertake OD efforts to help them survive in a competitive business world; "Organizational Diagnosis: Perspectives and Pitfalls," which discusses the importance of accurate diagnosis in regard to what the organization is like, what its problems are, and how they may be related, and presents a basic model underlying OD, which is an extension of the Likert model as refined by Hain; "Organizational Change," which looks at research related to specific factors related to successful change efforts, a six-phase change program, and a model to be applied to change intervention; and "Evaluation Phase," which discusses a communication index developed to demonstrate the relationship between communication quality and organizational performance. (WR)