Criticisms of the planned approach
The linearity of the OD model has been criticized and is not supported by longitudinal empirical studies of change. AS Kanter and colleagues indicated; ‘organizations are never frozen, much less refrozen, but are fluid entities’. In part, the persistence of the OD approach may reflect its historical antecedents; it may also be due to the symbolic and legitimating function it affords the change agent. As Buchanan and Boddy state:
Before dismissing rational-linear models of change, it is necessary to consider the symbolic function of such processes in sustaining the ‘myth of organizational rationality’ and, by implication, sustaining the legitimacy of the change agent. Such linear models may have a poor relationship with the actual unfolding of organizational changes, while in practice playing a significant symbolic and legitimating function in scripting the ritual the change agent is required and expected to follow to gain organizational acceptance.
The strength of the OD/Lewinian model also lies in its simple representation (which makes it easy to use and understand), although this is also perhaps its major weakness as it presents a unidirectional model of change. In other works, by creating an image of a need to design in stability (refreezing), the model has a tendency to solidify what is a dynamic and complex process. It may also result in the creation of cultures and structures not conducive to continuous change.