Introduction to OD and Change: Course outline

For students of MA (ODCL).

Course facilitator

Joseph George A, Ph D – TISS, Mumbai

Contact details: josephg@workplacecatalysts.com, 9845040077
Address: D 301, Sattva Gold Summit, Hennur Main Road, Gubbi Cross, Bengaluru -560077 .

Course overview

Currently, the base from which practitioners and scholars in organization development (OD) may draw
knowledge from is vast and multidisciplinary. The NTL and Tavistock traditions apart, there is
considerable effort in indigenous theory building too formalized through Sumedhas for example, who
vigorously attempt publication of practices seeped in language of the Yogasutras and human processes in
local institutions with cultural referents to Indian society; on the one hand, and Drs Padaki who attempt
contemporaneity with the social sector by enlarging the systems effect in institutional ecology terms.

As such, the process is a high commitment involvement of both faculty and student. The course design is
built on experiences from 8 batches of executive education and 2 batches of post-graduate education for
TISS itself, apart from a winter school and summer school attempt made by TISS for the social sector.
The design has been known to have a conative design trigger, in drawing the learner to the target
cognitive constructs of OD and developing positive affect via the emotional investment in the learning
experience, normally cultivated as a defining memory.

In a manner of analogy, the field as practitioners describe it, is like an ever-inflatable tent, held down by
pegs of theory and ever-expanding forms of knowing. The canopy it provides is centrally held by action
research, systems theory, theories of change, theories of human development, social psychology
constructs and several supplemental theories from the behavioural sciences. The tent is also a metaphor
for protection, in that it aims to provide safety for those under it, and yet vulnerably risks new entrants a
welcome that will contain them at their own volition, than by coercion or threat. The inherent basis of OD
is therefore value laden. The course will introduce students to core OD values of Humanism, Science and
Actionability, as also practice oriented values. The consequent mystique that surrounds the practice
requires relevant unfolding for the variety, the controversies through its historical timeline and the
essential rigor by which the field has grown and survived via many a tradition across the world. The
Introduction to OD and Change Leadership course will therefore aim to provide a microcosm to the depth
and width of the OD field, grounded in experiential learning, for students with work experience. In effect,
the vicarious curiosity for the domain of organizational change is likely to transform to a necessary
investment in the tasks of enquiry and reflective theorization for the self. The student will uncover the
idiom that the map is not the territory, and that the territory does not destroy the map.

The offering primarily deals with how OD as a calling is distinct from change management per se, and
thereby treat leadership as incidental to masterful facilitation of processes that enable individuals, groups
and organizations to accomplish effective change. Students will be encouraged to explore schools of
change management and uncover assumptions that gave rise to waves of change management practices.
The course design will implore the adult in the learner to the Use of Self construct in OD consulting. In a
nutshell, the class participants will immerse in a concrete experiencing of OD processes from pre-
diagnosis to Feedback within a span of 6 teaching days. Cognitive complements to the experience will be
the adult learner’s responsibility via reading, dialogue with fellow participants, and expressed curiosity
during reflective process checks on each of the 6 days. Individual assignments will help the student
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integrate learning experiences in the course with prior knowledge of her/his work-related exposure, as
also assimilate concepts from literature reviews. Given the primal experience of the participant in such
process, they will actively experiment phases of OD from pre-diagnosis to feedback, and reflect on the
design of intervention for the course, and evaluate the OD process after the phased withdrawal of the
faculty as practitioner. The student will thus have a shared experiential base to calibrate honing for depth
in OD consulting skills, within active client engagement phases through Field Work in the latter half of
the MA course.

Required texts

1. French, Wendell L, Bell, Cecil H & Zawacki, Robert A (2006) Organization Development and
Transformation, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi – Individual Reference
OR
Cheung-Judge, Mee-Yan & Holbeche, Linda (2015) Organization Development – a practitioner’s
guide for OD and HR, Kogan Page. – Individual Reference
2. Jones, Brenda B & Brazzel, Michael (2006) The NTL Handbook of Organization Development
and Change – Principles, Practices and Perspectives, Pfeiffer, CA – Library Reference
3. Gupta, Rajen & Parikh, Margie (2012) Organization Behaviour, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi –
Individual Reference
4. Jones, Gareth R & Mathew, Mary (2011) Organizational Theory, Design and Change, Pearson,
New Delhi – Individual Reference.
5. De Janasz, Suzanne C, Dowd, Karen O & Schneider, Beth Z (2012) Interpersonal Skills in
Organizations, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi – Individual Reference.
6. Padaki, V & Vaz, Madhulika (2003) Institutional Development in Social Interventions – Towards
Inter-organizational Effectiveness, Sage, New Delhi. Individual / Library Reference

Andragogy

The course differs from conventional learning in universities in terms of the faculty student relationship.
It will require the student to assume significant responsibility in the learning process commensurate with
task maturity required for aspirational OD competencies 1. It differs from other courses in that the learner
is an adult committed to a choice in which vocational investment is being made, after a modicum of work
experience. The faculty holds the space for the process through which students reveal their content of
experience.
You may thus experience a relatively non-directive relationship with the facilitator as a
consequence of the andragogical 2 approach. This stance is to ensure no dysfunctional dependency on the
facilitator. At the same time, this approach is known to enhance learner initiative and a healthy growth
toward responsible handling of the learner’s own autonomy. Features of this approach include reflective
journaling 3 by the student, keen observations of fellow students’ participation and contributions, and just
noticeable interpersonal risk to influence both fellow students and facilitator toward learning outcomes.

1
Refer Annexure for OD competencies modelled along the lines of the ODN USA’s task force on OD
competencies

2 Andragogy means that instruction for adults needs to focus more on the process and less on the content
being taught.
3
Journaling is a NTL heritage practice of note taking in ways that own up to one’s experiences through
the learning process
2
OD addresses questions about self, group and organizations, in terms of their interdependent
effectiveness. The student is better off clarifying issues at these levels of enquiry during the learning
process, and reflecting on the same when integrating information via reading, dialogue within the group,
extra-curricular references and open learning forums in the class.

Academic discipline

1. Attendance: Non-attendance will be reported to me immediately after the start of the class by the
learning group’s representatives and (at times) immediately after the session intervals. Students who
turn up after the attendance has been recorded (for whatever reason) will be marked absent. Students
who are either absent at the start of the class or after the session break will be marked absent for the
entire session. The idea is to not just start together and end together. It is to value time for what is
admittedly a very compact introduction to OD and Change. Learning groups will accordingly form
their own norms for attendance beyond class hours to encourage ethical learning and to dissuade
flippant truancy.
2. Plagiarism: If found responsible for plagiarism, you will lose all the marks for the identified
component and the specific violation in evidence will be referred to the institute’s management for
further action. Plagiarism includes (but is not limited to): (i) copying verbatim from a source without
referencing and (ii) copying an idea or a sentence construction from a source without relevant and
appropriate referencing. (iii) wrongly attributing an idea to an author. In a developmental sense,
plagiarism is discouraged because it masks your own ability and steals credit from another. In OD
discipline, the ethics of intellectual honesty goes with making yourself seen for your use of the
behavioural sciences, even if it means passing through moments of vulnerability. Being in such
vulnerable state is a symptom of developmental intent than as a deficiency for not being adequate to
the occasion.
3. Electronic devices: Emotional engagement with content of learning is known to be aided by tactile
media like books, chalk and board or paper and pen. However, it is recommended that you take
printouts only of course materials that challenge you than to print compulsively, for every referred
article. Use of electronic devices for irrelevant purposes in class is dysfunctional practice. All in all,
the more you enjoy learning, the more you will conserve physical non-replenishable reading
resources, and the less you will abhor apparently irrelevant forms of knowing. Lastly, if OD could be
taught or instructed in nudges via an app, it probably would have reached your electronic screen
before this course design did.
4. Journaling– Notes in pen or pencil in notebooks. No, these journals are not reviewed by the
facilitator. But, an absence of journals shows up. These are not the academic journals stored in
electronic form or in the library. Here’s how you treat journaling for learning discipline.
a. Every student will benefit from maintaining a learning journal to record ongoing aspects of
the self, right through the MA program, and thus not limited to this course per se. Needless to
add, these aid pertinent recall for assignments as part of this course. It has proven to be very
beneficial for live consulting during the Leadership as Service field immersions and related
consultations.
b. Each learning group will maintain a journal for itself, to record and reflect on their
experiences through the sessions and work they do to uncover the OD process. The more
observant groups tend to feed off member contributions and are known to be better recalling
their journal notes in their group assignments as well.

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Session Plan

The learning process extends beyond face-to-face session time and the overall effect on the
learner be regarded as an extended release of seed concepts required for the professional OD
practitioner. During sessions, the reported content from participants’ experiences are the
curriculum as in the ‘here and now’ of human interaction processes. Between sessions, assigned
reading and conversations with fellow participants become the fulcrum points. The session plan
here is but an extract from the course coverage as a formistic map to anchor the outlines of the
OD process through immersive realization in concrete experience.

01: Tapping into the Ongoing Self – Personal Introductions and opening up to the
process of learning**

02: The OD Map – Schematic Visualization of the OD Territory - Lecturette

03: Consulting and Client Groups*

04: Checking-In and Checking-Out* –Reflections in Large Group on self in learning

process

05: Checking-In for Pre-diagnostic Round*

06: Client and Consultant Meeting 1 – the Pre-diagnosis*

07: Consultant Role in Pre-Diagnosis- Reflections in Large group*

08: Appreciation of Diagnostic Models^

09: Checking-In for Diagnosis as a Process*

10: Preparing to Diagnose with Pre-diagnostic data^

11: Diagnostic Round – Client and Consultant rounds*

13: Relating Diagnostic Data within Consulting Model^

14: Reflections of Consulting – Contrasting Pre-Diagnosis with diagnosis*

15: Checking-In – Data Types and Analytic frame*

16. Preparing for Feedback to the Client Group^

17. Feedback rounds with respective Diagnostic Models*

18. Feedback Rounds with respective diagnostic Models*

19. Reflections of What, where, when sensitivities along the larger Intervention
process*

20. OD Values – Action research *

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21. OD Values – Report-Outs and Reflections*

22. Large group Interventions – One Experiential Immersion*

23. Large group Intervention – Linking to Systems Theory^

24. Clearing House – Perspectives and Conjectures for Learning Mastery through the
MA course*

All sessions marked * are intensive experiential learning sessions. All sessions marked
^ are sessions for co-teaching between students, facilitated by the faculty.
** Fireside Conversation format

Every fifth session is designated for morning reflections after nocturnal rest to the
body.

Every contact session will be followed by an interval – either for tea, lunch, or circadian
pause.

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Grading*

MA ODCL – Mumbai Batch, 2023-25 Type Submissi Weight

Assignment – on Date age in
Introduction to OD %
1. Describe OD as a body of work, that is informed Individual 31st July, 15
by science and art. - MS Word 2023
2. Describe a probable scenario from your recent document of 2000
work context, to qualify if you would summon an no more hours
OD consultant. Qualify the case for OD in the than 4 A4
described scenario. Describe especially, how it pages, that
would be different from Change Management as have no
you may have experienced it during work-life. more than 2
tables or
Figures.
- Font – Arial
, Size 10
1. What shifted for you as a group between Week 1 Group – 14th 60
and Week 2 of the course in terms of what the OD each individual will August
practitioner does? How and Why? read before 2023
2. Distinguish OD from Change Management (CM) participating in the
per se with assigned (CM) frame from among the group submission. 2000
following in your respective group (refer serial for - MS Word hours
your group) document of
1. Accounting – Audit, Disclosures, Global no more
Reporting Initiative and Sustainability than 15 A4
Reporting pages, that
2. Information Technology – ERP, have no
Middleware and Cloud based SaaS, IT more than 4
Practices and IT Management tables or
3. Brand Management – Marketing and Figures.
Projected Identity, (Refer works by - Font – Arial
Aaker, Kotter, Majken & Hatch) , Size 10
4. Manufacturing Resource Planning / ERP /
Industry 4.0
5. Quality Management – ISO, TQM,
Baldridge, EFQM, Deming, Lean and
Agile
6. People Process Models – e.g. PCMM,
(e.g. Hewitt, Gallup, OCI, Barrett et al),
HR Audits
7. Org Culture Survey Models – e.g. OCI,
Barrett Values Survey, Cameron & Quinn
Competing Values framework
8. Digital Transformation in Enterprises
9. Business Excellence Models e.g. CII,
FICCI
10. Organization Culture Types– e.g. Teal
Organization (Laloux)

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 Cite features of relatedness as also
distinctions between OD and your assigned
CM frame.
1. How are OD values different or similar to human Individual 1st Sep 25
values you are aware of? Reflect on your choice Not more than 4 MS 2023
to enrol for the course in light of ongoing Word A4 pages. 2000
understanding of values and related beliefs Arial Font Size 10. hours
2. What specific OD value will most challenge your No Tables or
transformation? How exactly do you anticipate Figures to be used.
that?
3. Write a commentary on the ‘Use of self’ construct
as an OD consultant’s guidelines for action.
Note : References are to be cited in American Psychological Association APA format, as in
Readings listed here. Lack of references will be basis for negative marking.

Reference Articles

1. Assignment related readings

Minimal Reference Reading(s) Assignment and

Session Focus
 Organization Development What We Know and What We Need to Know  Individual
Going Forward By W. Warner Burke Assignment 1
 Bernard Burnes and Bill Cooke Taking the long view : The past, present and  Sessions
future of organization development, 2012
 Strategy Guidelines for an Internal Organization Development Unit p 23
By ROGER HARRISON in NTL Classics in OD
 Demystifying OD by Vijay Padaki
 Edgar H Schein - What is “Process”?
 Individual Journaling
From the NTL Classics Individual assignment 2
 Similarities and Differences of Internal and External Consultants p 19 by readings
DONALD H. SWARTZ
 Three Gifts of the Organization Development Practitioner p 36 by
DARYL FUNCHES
OD and HR – Do we want the lady or the tiger? – by Matt Minnahan, OD
Practitioner article
Instrumentation – Vogel’s OD Values (PLEASE STORE YOUR SCORES IN
PRIVATE)

http://www.odnetwork.org/?page=PrinciplesOfODPracti

http://mio-ecsde.org/protarea/Annex_4_3_values_lists.pdf

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 RICHARD C. WEBER The Group: A Cycle from Birth to Death p 30 in NTL  Group Assignment
Classics in OD Readings
 Julie A.C. Noolan, Ph.D.- ORGANIZATION DIAGNOSIS AND ITS PLACE IN THE
ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
 Charles N. Seashore, Mary Nash Shawver, Greg Thompson and Marty Mattare
- Doing Good By Knowing Who You Are : The Instrumental Self as an Agent of
Change
 Cracking the Code of change – HBR article – by Beer and Nohria
 Bradford, Stock & Horwitz : How To Diagnose Group Problems
 Group’s Journaling

2. Helpful Readings

1. Alban B & Scherer John J (2016) On The Shoulders Of Giants: The Origins Of OD,
(Roots of OD), in the book Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading
Change 3rd Edition by William J. Rothwell (Editor), Jacqueline M.
Stavros (Editor), Roland L. Sullivan (Editor), Arielle Sullivan (Editor) Chapter 2.
2. Argyris, C (1990) Overcoming Organizational Defenses, Allyn and Bacon
3. Burke, Warner W (2004) Organization Development : What we know, and what we need
going forward, OD Practitioner, Vol. 36, 3
4. Burnes B (2004) Kurt Lewin and the Planned Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal,
Journal of Management Studies 41:6 September
5. Burnes B and Cooke B (2012) The past, present and future of organization development:
Taking the Long view, Human Relations, DOI: 10.1177/0018726712450058, July 5.
6. Dutton J & Duncan RB (1987) The Creation Of Momentum For Change Through The
Process Of Strategic Issue Diagnosis, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 8, 279-295
7. Forrester R & Minnahan M (2019) Use of Self – a Process Model, Organization
Development Journal, Spring
8. Gellermann W (1990) The core of Professional Identity : Common Purpose, Values and
Ethics, OD Practitioner, September
9. Gioia D, Schultz M and Corley KG (2000) Organization Identity, Image and adaptive
Instability, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 25 (1), pp 63-81
10. Haridimos Tsoukas, & Robert Chia, (2002) On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking
Organizational Change. Organization Science, 13(5):567-582.
11. Holt DT, Armenakis AA et al (2007) Readiness for Organizational Change- The
Systematic Development of a Scale, The Journal Of Applied Behavioral Sciences, Vol.
43 No. 2, pp 232-255
12. Kartikeyan V (2009) OD in Practice – Interview with Joseph George A, Human Capital,
January
13. Kegan R & Lahey LL (2016) An Everyone Culture, Harvard Business School Press.
14. Lawler EE III (Author), Worley CG (Author), Creelman D (Contributor) (2011)
Management Reset: Organizing for Sustainable Effectiveness, Jossey-Bass

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15. Lichtenstein M Benyamin (1997) Grace, Magic and Miracles – A chaotic logic of
transformation, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 10 No. 5, 1997, pp.
393-411; MCB University Press, 0953-4814
16. Lynham, SA, Chermack TJ and Noggle MA (2004) Selecting Organization Development
Theory From an HRD Perspective, Human Resource Development Review 2004 3: 151
17. Marshak RJ & Bushe GR (2013) An Introduction to Advances in Dialogic Organization
Development, OD Practitioner, Vol. 45, 1
18. Minnahan M (2010) OD and HR : Do We Want the Lady or the Tiger?, OD Practitioner,
Vol. 42, 4
19. Nadler David A. & Tushman Michael L. ( 2013) Organizations of the Future : Strategic
Imperatives and Core Competencies for the 21 st Century, Organization Dynamics
20. National Training Laboratories (1988) NTL Classics in OD, NTL Institute
21. Nohria, N & Beer M (2000) Cracking the Code of Change, Harvard Business Review.
22. Noolan, Julie C (2005) Organization Diagnosis and it place in the OD process,
manuscript published in Jones, Brenda B & Brazzel, Michael (2006) The NTL Handbook
of Organization Development and Change – Principles, Practices and Perspectives,
Pfeiffer, CA, Chapter 11.
23. Organization Development Network (2017) The Future of Organizations and the
implications for OD practices and Education, OD Practitioner, Vol. 49, 3.Special Issue
24. Organization Development Network (2019) Leadership and OD, Organization
Development Review, Vol. 51, 2.
25. Padaki V (2002) Demystifying OD, The P&P Group Concept Paper, Bangalore
26. Schein, EH (1996) Culture: The Missing Concept in Organization Studies, Administrative
Science Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 2, 40th Anniversary Issue (Jun.,1996), pp. 229-240
27. Scott, PM (1987) The Different Drum : Community Making and Peace, Simon and
Schuster.
28. Seashore, CN, Shawver, MN, Thompson G and Mattare M (2004) Doing Good By
Knowing Who You Are : The Instrumental Self as an Agent of Change, OD Practitioner,
Vol. 36, 3.
29. Sunstein CR (2019) How Change Happens, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
30. Worley CG (Author), Hitchin DE (Author), Ross WL (Author) (1995) Integrated
Strategic Change: How Organizational Development Builds Competitive Advantage
(Prentice Hall Organizational Development Series)

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 1. Reference OD Practitioner Competencies
The six competencies outlined below are based on the ODN Network’s 2017 foundational effort for
the coming decade of the profession. The same have been adapted to meet contemporary role
requirements for the OD professional in Indian work contexts.

Systems Enabler – The tendency to engage and facilitate purposeful inter-relatedness within
organizations or institutional ecologies of interdependent systems

Systems Change Facilitator

Sensitizes client within a whole system and elicits views on strategic differentiation

Scans environment for information and swiftly navigates risk and uncertainty

Identifies risk, related readiness and systemic resistance points

Facilitates structures and processes to plan and manage the effective implementation and impact
evaluation of change

Designs interventions that enable leaders, teams, and organizations to lead change proactively within
a rapidly changing environment

Culture Catalyst

Fosters commitment and engagement with key influencers of client system

Engages leaders on values-based impact on operational culture so as to align change participants with
strategic business goals

Voices mission, vision and values of the client system to invoke organizational health and vitality

Checks organizational processes, policies, systems and technology for congruence with the desired
results

Monitors symptoms of internal culture for impact on brand promise and reputation via organizational
identity markers

Innovator

Challenges status quos in the organization to influence strategies for disruption, breakthroughs,
transformation, and innovation

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 Encourages an environment which builds on successes and reframes failures as learning about
systems

Identifies limiting barriers that could potentially block the introduction of new and improved products,
services, processes, or technologies

Contextualizes change participant needs to nudge them toward improvement plans or strategies

Relates trends in the industry or marketplace to potential opportunities or possible threats

Mindful Designer – The tendency to discern as-is conditions and involve client system
stakeholders to contextualize future states in human-centered and ecologically sensitive ways

Efficient Designer

Strives for simplicity in design, by using least resources for greatest impact on Organization
as a system

Designs efficient strategies, interventions and processes to facilitate a desired outcome with
the end-user/last employee in mind

Analyzes assumptions, facts, and context and makes pertinent inferences to uplift design

Leverages technology and continuous improvement approaches to increase effectiveness

and efficiencies

Measures process performance through output quality, cycle time, process cost and
variability and impact on defined measures

Process Consultation

Increases leadership and organizational capacity such that the client maintains ownership of
the work

Facilitates group dialogue and decision-making processes where others are able to share
ideas openly and without fear

Facilitates a robust expression of ideas by ensuring people rise above individual differences

Observes groups or their networks through chaos or unseemly silence by intervening only
when appropriate

Conducts effective meetings/feedback sessions by aligning with goals and purpose, while
improving sense-making and contribution

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 Data Synthesizer

Operates as an integrator interconnecting multi-stakeholder views across the organization -

e.g. External Stakeholder measures, internal system and technical capability measures

Integrates and translates salient information into simple insights that create clarity and
commitment

Notices similarities between different and apparently unrelated information and quickly
identifies the central or underlying issues

Analyzes performance, identifies the root causes of a system's current effectiveness cutting
across all levels of the system
Understands and applies relevant data gathering methodologies, both traditional qualitative
and quantitative techniques (e.g., surveys, interviews/focus groups, etc.) as also social media
and HR analytics

Strategy Navigator- The tendency to navigate ambiguity in the client system’s environment
to credibly engage stakeholders toward concrete consequences of choices made by the client
system

Strategy Catalyst

Deploys analogies and metaphors to emphasize growth and survival of the organization as a
system of capabilities

Pursues initiatives and interventions methods based on fit with broader strategies and policies

Immerses in pertinent history and culls out specific results-oriented aspects for the
organization / system

Articulates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the organization

Develops reputation as a leader with strong numerical acumen and a broad understanding of
organization and industry viability

Results Oriented Practitioner

Understands and applies the principles of customer service and responds to address client's
needs in terms of desired outcomes

Measures, monitors and adjusts strategies and interventions to help client get the desired
impact

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 Sets challenging goals including impact assessment, maintains focus on them even in the
face of obstacles, and monitors achievement toward them, completes end-of-project evaluations,
and shares with clients and key stakeholders
Uses impact and target measures to make an evidence-based case for interventions and
behavioral science applications

Utilizes project management tools and techniques to make the highest and best use of
organizational resources

Trust Identity

Effectively develops trusting relationships and partnerships through integrity and authenticity

Is clear about the outcomes that are important to key stakeholders

Demonstrates effective coaching capability, credibility, and expertise when facilitating senior
leaders through change

Accepts and accommodates a variety of interpersonal styles, promotes an atmosphere for

equal participation, and relates to others in an approachable manner

Establishes an active network of relationships and partnerships inside and outside of client
organizations

Facilitative Leader – The tendency to influence clients without positional power or expert
position in order to increase the client’s own internal commitment for decisions they make
and ownership toward their outcomes

Impactful Influencer

Empathetically relates to clients, understands their needs, and has the knowledge to translate
the business reality into terms that can be agreed and committed to by the client

Has astute awareness of and effectively works with internal and external formal authority
(political and stakeholder systems), accountabilities, and power to lead, manage and influence

Demonstrates assertiveness, courage, and resilience when speaking one's mind on critical
and contentious issues

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 Structures dialogue (e.g. the setting, persons present, sequence of events) to create a desired
impact and to maximize the chances of a favorable outcome

Plans and delivers presentations that are impactful and persuasive with their intended
audiences

Active Social Networker

Communicates clearly, concisely, and tailors communications in ways that meet the needs
and motivations of client groups at all levels

Listens actively and attentively to ideas and concerns to realize win-win solutions

Seeks and offers clear, open, and honest feedback

Designs and delivers effective communication strategies by utilizing the full range of
communication vehicles and channels

Leverages technology and social media to connect people and ideas, especially in a virtual
environment

Socio-cultural sensitivity

Engages effectively across organizational levels within diverse cultures

Promotes an inclusive environment for people of all identities to feel valued, respected and
able to contribute

Understands and takes into account the global, local, historical, political, cultural and social
contexts and underlying issues of diversity to effectively intervene in the organization/system

Brings and integrates a strong foundation of diversity and inclusion theories, frameworks, and
methodologies to inform all elements of the practice of OD

Applies a global (beyond local) perspective to recognize and address issues that are beyond a
national / regional perspective

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Consultative Embodiment – The tendency to hold authentic poise for the behavioral
sciences and the skills’ mastery in engaging the client’s whole system through OD’s
consultative phases

Discerning Consultation
Cultivates meaningful working relationships and commitment with stakeholders to effect
change

Demonstrates an understanding of client expectations and contracts for goals, outcomes, and
resources in ways that builds commitment in the client system

Applies interventions at the appropriate level (individual, group, team, enterprise) and at the
appropriate breadth and depth that produce sustainable results

Develops choices on the appropriate methodologies that inform clients in relation to their
development needs

Judiciously uses organizational resources by the effective use of project timelines, milestones,
budgets, and performance and outcome measures

Relational Self-Awareness

Effectively reads stakeholders, seeks out different perspectives, and uses emotional
intelligence to guide appropriate action

Understands and reflects on one's own personal values, boundaries, feelings, biases, triggers,
and ethics and manages the impact on one's work and the system

Adheres to values including: respect and inclusion, collaboration, authenticity, self-awareness,

empowerment, sustainability, capacity building and corporate social responsibility

Demonstrates creativity, curiosity, learning agility, and flexibility in thinking; Able to modify own
thinking and preferred way of doing things; Open to diverse views and opinions

Maintain independence, objectivity, and neutrality by providing a balanced perspective and

avoiding political coalitions

Self as Ongoing Learner of OD

Demonstrates leadership in a specialized area of OD

Maintains an inventory of methodologies and tools to share and apply to organization needs

Leverages best practices to influence results in line with organization strategy

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 Builds and maintains a broad network of OD professionals

Appropriately applies knowledge of both classic and emerging theories of OD in indicative

areas as below:
Appreciative inquiry
Change and transformation
Conflict management
Covert Processes
Culture change
Diversity and inclusion
Leadership Theories
Mergers and acquisitions
Motivation theory
Organization behavior
Organization design
Organization Theory
Process consulting
Social Constructivism
Social Network Theory
Science of decision-making
Strategic planning and execution
Systems theory
Talent management
Team development

Competency Rating LEVELS

Begun to appreciate capability as OD and Change enthusiast, and converses its
1 - Concept Pusher
applicability
2 - Drifter
Has tried inconsistently to apply the concept, but gives up on sustenance
3 - Committed
Is consistently practicing the OD competency with varying degrees of success
Has been acknowledged as competency exponent in either practitioner or
4 - Peer Reviewed Recognition
academic community, with original contributions in work
Is considered as a OD capability exponent with cross contextual experience and
5 - Masterful Role Model
insights, for which aspiring practitioners look for apprenticeship to the practitioner

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