As in many areas of HRD, there are limitations in the research that has been conducted to test the underlying theoretical constructs of OD and the effectiveness of OD interventions. These limitations include:
1. The lack of true experimental designs in most OD research
2. The lack of resources available to many OD practitioners
3. The limitations of field research designs
4. Potential bias by OD evaluators (who are often the designers of the intervention)
5. Simply a “lack of motivation” by the OD evaluator to do the job correctly
In particular, it is difficult to isolate causality in such research. Applying traditional experimental strategies, which attempt to isolate causation, to OD interventions forces researchers to focus on a single intervention episode and overlook the systematic nature of organizations. In addition, most OD research results are measured by changes in attitudes and behaviors. This is a limitation because attitudinal and behavioral changes are considered intervening variables and may have very little to do with the improvements in group and organization performance that OD interventions are ultimately intended to achieve.