TRDEV565:

Lesson 02 Overview

In this lesson, you will attend to the skills and knowledge that can contribute to effective OD practice, and the ethical considerations of practice You will also look at the relationship between your practice, the organization in which you conduct that practice, and your intention as practitioners. That is, who do you want to be as a practitioner in the field of organization development and change?

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to

• identify skills and knowledge that inform good OD practice,
• identify the strengths and development needs you have as a practitioner,
• articulate important types of ethical considerations in the field,
• explain the importance of love and care as elements of practice,
• articulate your current identity as a practitioner, and
• connect more easily with your “group mates.”

Lesson Readings & Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

Loving Your Organization

David Sims suggests that, initially, loving your organization is problematic in a variety of ways. He is reasonable in his arguments, and also sees the contrary point of view. We can consider that it is equally possible to argue that not loving your organization is also problematic. Love carries with it a sort of optimism, a belief that the focus of our love has possibilities, that there is a way in which the subject of our love matters. Loving our organizations means that we will approach changing them with an appropriate level of care. It also means that we must be optimistic about what we can create collaboratively.

This can be challenging. As change agents, we often come into organizations when they are seriously damaged and in need of repair. The culture may be dysfunctional and the structure may be full of inhibitors. Employees may be disenfranchised and leadership may be ineffectual or despotic. The list could go on. It is hard to love the damaged organization, but by loving it, we can more easily recognize its potential. It is this potential that we can nurture as part of the change process.

Further, loving our organizations means that we will likely approach the change process with an ethos of care. As the changes progress, do not judge harshly or make rash decisions. We will not blindly follow our plan for change, but notice where an approach needs more nuance. Protect and preserve that which is good about the organization, and that which you can use in the future. Actually listen to the ideas of incumbent employees rather than dismissing their ideas as “old school” or as “simply” resistance. Just as with a spouse, we cannot separate the attributes that attract us from those which may irritate us; so too must we accept the organization as whole cloth. Unlike a prospective spouse, with an organization, we can likely have some degree of confidence that we can actively change those attributes that act to hold the organization back form its full potential.

Look around your organization. Do you love it? Could you love it? What is there that attracts you to it? What is it about the organization that matters enough for you to grow to love it into a more productive, harmonious, effective, sustainable, life?

What Makes a “Good” OD Practitioner?

Now that you understand the importance of working with an ethos of care, consider the more concrete knowledge and skill requirements of OD practitioners. Consider the following questions:

1. Which of these skills do you currently possess?
2. Which of these knowledge areas do you currently possess?
3. What are your greatest strengths?
4. Consider your answers for (1), (2), and (3). Is there anything missing?
5. Where would you like to develop your skills as a practitioner?
6. How can you engage in this course to develop the particular skills you would like to strengthen?

You may want to make a note of your answers and try to connect your course work to these areas. Use this relatively low-risk environment to expand your comfort zone. Experiment with new content areas in the project work and new roles in your collaborative group.

The good news about the work of organization development and change is that you typically do not do it alone. You are not like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the side of the mountain, alone, only to see it roll back down when you near the top. By definition, OD work is collaborative. If you don’t have collaborators, you need to find some. They might come from your own function or, even better in many cases, be people in other functions who believe in your work and support your efforts.

OD depends on relationships that are fostered by good, frequent, honest communication and solidified by reliable follow-through. Knowledge and skills can be acquired, and your colleagues can supplement your weaknesses, complement your strengths. So imagine you’re looking at a list of skills and knowledge and thinking, “Wow, how will I ever know all this? How will I ever have enough capability?” Well, take heart—you don’t have to do it alone.

But you do need collaborators who can supplement your skills and knowledge, and who care sufficiently about your goals to work alongside you. The most essential skills may well be those that help to build and sustain solid relationships with your stakeholders and constituents. After all, whether your practice is situated internally in an organization or you are coming in to aid from the outside, as an OD practitioner you are still a consultant, and in the world of consultants, there are always options. People don’t have to come to you with their needs. They can struggle on their own, or go elsewhere for help. So, you want everyone to know who you are, what you stand for, your way of working, and the underpinning values that inform your practice.

Ethics and OD

This brings us to the notions of ethics. OD is not a “neutral zone” by any means. Our work is unavoidably affected by our values. It may be helpful to remember that when you are making changes in an organization, you are altering work that is often tied to people’s identities, their sense of who they are, and why their contributions matter. Although some people embrace change, for others, being asked to change their relationship with their work can feel enormously challenging. How we treat individuals, groups, and the organizational system itself often comes down to an equation as simple as it is complex—a mix of our values and our ethics.

One of the most powerful ways to work through (or even avoid) ethical dilemmas in OD work is communication. The more transparent you are about the changes—up front and as they unfold, the more complete your communication throughout the change process, the more honest and forthright you are, the more you listen to the perspectives and concerns of others, the less chance there is of ethical misconduct. Good two-way communication throughout the change process will help to ensure ethical behavior—on your part and by others—such as misrepresentation of your solutions, manipulation of data in an attempt to skew public opinion or hide problems, covering up skill and knowledge deficits, coercing people into making changes about which they have legitimate concerns, etc.

And always remember, if the change challenge is beyond your capabilities, the most ethical thing you can do is to admit this. This does not have to mean that you make yourself entirely vulnerable by confessing weakness, but it does mean that you need to be sufficiently candid about the limitations of your strengths to be able to build that team of complementary supporters who can help to ensure that you are successful. And if you are an outside consultant, it can mean that when all the pieces are not in place and you cannot negotiate them, you may have to walk away. It will be difficult, but it is an issue of integrity—yours. Your reputation will always be worth more than a single job where you are asked to compromise your ethics.

So the upshot of all this is, what are your ethical positions when it comes to this OD work? You may know some of the answers to this question now, but as we work through the course, remember to notice where you “draw the line in the sand” with regard to your ethical decision making.

GTSI Corporation: Mission Impossible? (Section A)

In this lesson, you’ll also get familiar with the Case Study that we will be using for our Case Study simulation throughout the semester. Feel free to read the case twice—once for the “plot” and then, once more. In this second reading focus on becoming familiar with those involved and the circumstances at the time the case was written. 

GTSI is a real corporation that was based in Chantilly VA at the time the case study was written. The people named in the case are real people who worked at GTSI, and for our purposes in this course, they will be your clients. As you read through the case, imagine that you and your case study partner(s) are sought out by Bridget to as a potential vendor to support GTSI from an OD perspective as they attempt to turn the business around.

Reflect back on Chapter 2 of the textbook. As you think of the process of planned change, keep the challenges facing Bridget in mind. Knowing what you know from reading the case, what would you want to learn more about in the early phases? Who would you most want to talk with about the questions you have? When you connect with your case study partner(s), once you’ve gotten to know each other a bit, spend a little time brainstorming what, from an OD perspective, the key issues might be. This will get the gears turning, a warm-up for what’s to come, so that next week you’re not starting from scratch! 

Lesson Activities

Discussion 1: Sims' Article

Readings

• Sims' “The velveteen rabbit and passionate feelings for organizations.”

You can access the article via E-Reserves.

Discussions

Post the following:

• Four key points that you want to comment on or remember from the readings. You can point out ideas you found insightful, relate concepts to your experiences, disagree with the authors, or offer complimentary or alternative points of view. Please write your points in your own words, and reference page numbers of source material for specific points. Two to six sentences is usually enough detail for each point.
• One take-away impact to your practice, to your future practice, or for the L&D field in general. For this element, consider how the readings might influence how you do your job going forward, or the vision you have for your future self as a professional in this field.

Also, you can include your responses to the following questions:

• What did you find particularly enlightening in your reading of the document provided?
• What would you like to learn more about?
• What information can you share that would expand your group’s understanding of this week’s topics?

Teamwork

1. For each discussion, your team needs to identify the team roles: one group member who will act as summarizer, one member as researcher, and one member as facilitator. The remainder of team will be participants in the discussion. You’ll need to act as a facilitator, summarizer, and researcher at least once during the semester.
2. After everyone has participated, in the next lesson, the summarizer will post a brief (one page) summary of your discussion to the discussion, and after the team agrees with the summary, the summarizer will submit it for the instructor's review.

See the “Major Activities” page in the Course Logic module for more information on the requirements and some pointers for a good discussion.