Overview of the Reading – What Should You Pay Attention to?

Let me start by pointing out what you should pay attention to when you read the textbook.  

1. Theories of Planned Change: The first two models (Lewin’s change model and action research model) are classic, traditional approaches to OD. The third perspective (the positive model) represents the latest thinking about planned change and updates the classic perspectives. You should thoroughly understand the similarities and differences between them.
   
   A little bit background: The first two models are proposed by Kurt Lewin, who is the founder of the academic disciplines such as social psychology and organizational change. If you still remember in P ADM 510 Organizational Behavior, when we studied personality, I introduced you to Lewin’s dynamic theory of personality. Lewin is a very influential figure in modern social sciences and trained many students who were also quite influential. For example, Leon Festingner, a student of Lewin’s, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, which we also discussed in P ADM 510. My Ph.D. supervisor is a student of Alex Bavelas, who contributed significantly to the field of organizational communication (who also wrote that famous case on Bob Knowlton that we studied in P ADM 510), who is also a student of Lewin’s. In this sense, I am a Lewinian researcher.
    
2. General Model of Planned Change: This is an important model. It will help you organize the upcoming material in the book. The general model organizes and integrates the previous models into four sets of activities (entering and contracting, diagnosing, planning and implementing change, evaluating and institutionalizing change). These activities have broad applicability to planned change. The general model identifies the steps an organization moves through when implementing change and specifies the OD activities needed to effect change. 
    
3. Different Types of Planned Change: Although the general model of planned change suggests that OD is a straightforward process, most OD efforts do not proceed according to a neat timetable or preset sequence of events. The application of OD in a particular organization or situation requires adjustments in the process of planned change. This section suggests that three dimensions are particularly important (magnitude of change, degree of organization, domestic vs. international settings). How these dimensions can impact the process of planned change should be noted.
    
4. Critique of Planned Change: This is where you should think critically on the textbook knowledge. Critics suggest that current theories and models of planned change are (1) deficient in knowledge about how the stages of planned change differ across situations, (2) unable to capture the disorderly and dynamic qualities of change, and (3) need more searching for better understanding of the relationship between planned change and organizational performance and effectiveness. Still others express concern not with the planned change model, but with the qualifications and activities of OD practitioners. I ask you to think critically on more issues of the theories you have read that were not mentioned by the above three critics.
    
5. Who Is the Organization Development Practitioner? It is important, even at this early stage of the course, for you to recognize that OD practitioners are not just external consultants. Reflect on what you have read in the Lesson 1 Learning Reflections; most of your classmates have already filled a change agent role with their friends, family, coworkers, and so on. An OD practitioner is anyone who is helping a system change using the principles of OD, so in this sense, we are all OD practitioner.
    
6. Professional Values and Ethics: The values traditionally underlying OD interventions have been associated with humanistic psychology. You should reflect while reading this section on whether or not your own values are aligned with these traditional values. If not, where do your values stray from the traditional humanistic ones and what do you see as the change? Do you believe that you can be an instrument of change if your own values are more materialistic or achievement oriented? Why do you want to become agents of change?