CHAPTER

3 Organization Development & Change

11 edition Thomas G. Cummings • Christopher G. Worley

The Organization
Development Practitioner

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 Learning Objectives

• Discuss the roles and characteristics of OD

practitioners.
• Describe the competencies required of
effective OD practitioners.
• Compare the internal vs. external OD
practitioner.
• Understand the values and ethics guiding
the practice of OD.
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The Organization Development Practitioner

• Internal and External Consultants

• Professionals from other disciplines who
apply OD practices (e.g., human resource
management, organization design, quality
control, information technology, and
business strategy)
• Managers and Administrators who apply
OD from their line or staff positions
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Competencies of an OD Practitioner (1)

• Intrapersonal Skills or Self-Management

Competence
• Know one’s values, feelings, and purposes
• Integrity to act responsibly in a helping
relationship with others
• “Self-knowledge” is a core competency for
OD practitioners

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Competencies of an OD Practitioner (2)

• Interpersonal Skills
• Ability to create and maintain effective
relationships with individuals and groups
• Practice of “active listening” skills to
understand others perspectives and feelings
• Serve as a credible role model for others to
learn new skills and behaviors

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Competencies of an OD Practitioner (3)

• General Consultation Skills

• Ability to manage the consulting process
• Ability to design and execute interventions
• Know how to carry out an effective
diagnosis in an organization

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Competencies of an OD Practitioner (4)

• Organization Development Theory

• General knowledge of organization
development concepts
• Understanding of planned change, the action
research model, and the positive approaches
to managing change
• Familiar with a range of OD interventions
• Understand their role as an OD professional, a
manager or a specialist in a related area
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 The Role of OD Professionals

• Position
• Internal vs. external
• Marginality
• Ability to straddle boundaries
• Emotional Demands
• Emotional intelligence
• Use of Knowledge and Experience

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Client Versus Consultant Knowledge

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 Careers of OD Professionals

• Internal and External Consultants

• Career choices expand with master’s
degrees or doctorates in OD
• OD careers may be stressful, leading to
burnout from taking on too many jobs and
constant travel

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 Professional Values

• Concern for open inquiry, democratic

principles and personal well-being
• Promote positive human, economic and
ecological values
• Conflicts exist between organization
efficiency, effectiveness and optimizing human
and environmental benefits
• Organizational external relationships increase
complexity and values judgement
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 Professional Ethics (1)

• Ethical Dilemmas
• Misrepresentation
• OD practitioners claim an intervention will produce
results that are unreasonable
• Clarity of goals of the change effort help prevent
misrepresentation
• Misuse of data
• OD practitioners use data gathered punitively in the
organization
• Determine how data will be collected and used at the
beginning of the initiative
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 Professional Ethics (2)

• Ethical Dilemmas (cont.)

• Coercion
• Organization members are forced to participate in an OD
intervention interfering with freedom of choice which hinders
development of independent problem solving
• Helping relationships can foster dependency and manipulation
• Value and Goal Conflict
• The purpose of the change effort is not clear and clients and
practitioners disagree over how to achieve goals
• Technical Ineptness
• Practitioners implement interventions that they are not skilled
in or are not appropriate for the organization
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 Model of Ethical Dilemmas

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