Abstract
Projects across industries are failing at an alarming rate. The 2015 Project Management Institute Pulse study stated on average, only 64% of projects are successful (Pulse, 2015, p. 9). Because of these failures there has been an increasing need for more effective communications and greater efficiencies to increase project success rates. Finding organizations with these needs is the easy part; finding practices proven to positively impact these needs is the difficult part. Each of these fields, Organization Development (OD) and Project Management, employs processes and practices that, if shared, might increase success in both fields. To be clear, sharing these processes does not mean creating a new department or field, but rather utilizing the key disciplines and practices of one field to help the other become more efficient and effective. For example, participating in OD engagements, especially when it comes to consultations covering many cultures, requires strong communication skills. “Those OD workers who are involved in international OD projects will need to pay particular attention to communication styles typical of the cultures on which they are working” (Hotes, 2011, p. 24). Communication is also a key part of Project Management; therefore, utilizing the communication skill sets found within OD to increase the effectiveness of a project manager and the success rates of the projects managed is one way for these fields to collaborate. In addition, OD can provide an increased focus on methods to help an organization run more effectively and efficiently while, on the other hand, Project Management can provide an increased focus on successfully managing scope, schedule, and budget. The efforts spent on change within OD tend to have a project focus but without the advantages of project management structure. However, the collaboration of these two disciplines is a relatively new area of focus. While research, such as Hornstein's (2012) article covering the need for project management and organizational change has initiated the outline of these benefits, answering remaining questions might identify processes for collaboration, and could help increase an organization’s ability to effectively execute projects and change across its enterprise, thereby benefiting those executing said projects.