Sheffield Business School (SBS) hosted an evening of celebration and debate to mark the 40th anniversary of organisation development.

The event played host to a combination of alumni, practitioners and past and present friends of the course, making up an impressive 70 guests in total.

The event gave key stakeholders a chance to discuss and identify the main opportunities and challenges facing organisation development and work towards solutions for how these can be achieved or overcome.

The day was opened by a warm welcome from Professor Isobel Doole, Professor Richard Field OBE and Professor David Tranfield on behalf of SBS, who took a short time to explain the order of the day.

There were talks given by Chartered Institute of Personal Development representative Dr John McGurk focussing on research around sustainable organisation performance, and deputy chief executive officer Lee Adams of Sheffield City Council about the development of the Sheffield City Region Leadership Programme. This was followed by a series of breakout groups for guests to discuss topics and current issues in more details.

The evening concluded with a networking opportunity over wine and canapes. Course leader Lynne Booth said, 'The evening has been a real success. This event is the first of its kind to celebrate and value the continued support of practitioners in this field.'

Feedback from the event confirmed the evening was hugely popular and has certainly set the precedent for many more successful years of organisation development.

If you would like to be involved in future organisation development events, please get in touch with Lynne Booth, course leader for the MSc in Organisation Development and Consultancy. Phone 0114 2255045 or email l.m.booth@shu.ac.uk