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NTL’s “Conference on the New OD”: Turning Thought into Action

NTL’s “Conference on the New OD”: Turning Thought into Action. Katherine Farquhar, Ph.D. Director, AU/NTL MSOD Program CBODN April 30, 2010. A watershed:. “an event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend”

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NTL’s “Conference on the New OD”: Turning Thought into Action

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  1. NTL’s “Conference on the New OD”: Turning Thought into Action Katherine Farquhar, Ph.D. Director, AU/NTL MSOD Program CBODN April 30, 2010

  2. A watershed: • “an event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend” • (online Free Dictionary).

  3. The Conference Description • “The Conference on the New OD is a gathering of scholars, practitioners and organizational leaders who are committed to exploring the rapid and continuous shifts in the field of Organization Development. As a result of this exploration, participants will discover, identify and articulate emerging and new theory and practices that will shape the future of the field.”

  4. Background: “Conference on the New OD” • The recent NTL “Conference on the New OD” (March 18-21 2010) drew over 200 participants from academia, practice, corporate, nonprofit and government settings. • Sessions on OD history and evolution, social construction, appreciative inquiry, dialogic vs. diagnostic OD, diversity, social justice, etc. • Interweaving of presentations, panels, ad hoc discussions in diverse groups, reportouts

  5. OLD OD: Current state Diagnostic (the problem) Convergent & Reflective Focus on past/present Concrete (knowable and tangible) Realist/Positivist orientation Univocal (fixing on a clear problem) NEW OD: Desired state Dialogic (the solution) Divergent & Projective Focus on future/present Abstract (uncertain and intangible) Constructivist/Postmodern orientation Plurivocal (embracing multiple solutions) SAMPLE: Diagnostic/Dialogic OD: Why the delineation?Cliff Oswick

  6. SAMPLE: Bob Marshak Sr. Scholar in Residence, AU/NTL • OD Morphogenesis: New Premises, Permutations, and Possibilities • 1. Broader Focal Systems: sectors, communities, global • 2. More Issues: profitability, efficiency, performance, sustainability, social justice, global health, climate, etc. • 3. Additional Interventions: innovations to established types of interventions, and new interventions • 4. Changing Contexts: speed, globalization, virtual world, multicultural, information technology • 5. Questions about our values: traditional, pragmatic • 6. Additional underlying theories & premises

  7. Bob challenged us by asking: • What would happen if we stopped trying to fit everything into the foundational models and terminology; and instead legitimated new premises and approaches in their own right?

  8. SAMPLE: Carol Pierce: Flatter Structures • The following principles and description of the nature of flatter structures are given in the context of the philosophy and interventions allied with Dialogic OD: Appreciative Inquiry, Social Construction theory, Complexity theory, Open Space, World Café, Future Search, and the Power Equity Group. • The Goal is to create a container where the energy is as loose as possible in order to release the greatest creativity for self-organizing in a space lightly held for ‘the work’.

  9. SAMPLE: Report of Open Space Discussion GroupOD Principles and ValuesMarch 20, 2010 • 1. The name “OD” puts the focus on organizations. Does the field need to be renamed? • 2. The values of OD can expand, but the core is stable. • 3. A principle of practicing OD is that we commit to our personal growth and we help each other be better: • --generosity and mutual support • --know why we do what we do – ground our work in theory • 4. As OD practitioners we acknowledge the multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural sources of OD • --ancient origins and multiple roots, not just Western • 5. As a field we need to increase our capability to work on the world stage • 6. Our OD work is always anchored in some level of system – always thinking of the widest level of system. • Participants: Anne Litwin (convenor), Fred Nader, Peter Norlin, Cecile Betit, Susan Domoter, Kate Cowie, Joyce Bader, Ann-Marie Regan, Karen Powell, Doug Hickok

  10. Are we at a watershed, a paradigm shift? If so – how do we make the most of the opportunity?

  11. What would happen if we stopped trying to fit everything into the foundational models and terminology; and instead legitimated new premises and approaches in their own right?

  12. Engaging the Process: • Who are we, here today, and in what ways might we re-write or re-structure the principles of OD theory and practice to reflect current context and needs? • Our suggestions? • for more information, visit www.ntl.org website

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