Matt Minahan and Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge
Building OD Education for the Infinite World of Tomorrow
What type of developmental experiences will prepare us to be grounded enough to
be able to support our clients (not to mention ourselves) in working in such complex
change environments—not just conceptually but in practice?”
Matt Minahan and Robert Crosby
The Classic T-Group
“Oh, man, are we gonna sit here all day? In this silly circle? I wonder what the agenda is? Why won’t they just tell us what we’re going to do? If someone doesn’t speak up soon, I’m gonna go nuts . . . And why don’t the leaders just lead?”
The inner monologue of a typical T-group participant on the first day.
Matt Minahan
OD: Sixty Years Down, and the Future to Go
“As the field approaches 60 years, there are many things to be proud of, some things we could have
done better, a number of assumptions we have about who we are, and some hard choices ahead
about who we want to be in the world, if we chose to rouse ourselves from our history of slumber.”
Matt Minahan
Working With Groups In Organizations
The history of human endeavor is full of huge accomplishments that far exceed the capacity of any one person or group. They are often our most complex and demanding tasks, requiring interdependence among people and groups, leadership, communications, constructive norms, differentiated functions and roles, and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to understand and mobilize human behavior toward a common goal.
Matt Minahan
Preparing for High Impact Organizational Change
From both sides to all sides: Creating common ground where there has been none before.
Matt Minahan
OD and HR
Do We Want the Lady or the Tiger?
“We are witnessing and participating in an unprecedented dissolution of the boundaries of the field of organization development. In organizations around the world, the HR function is monopolizing the OD function at an unprecedented pace, which is limiting our reach, blunting our effectiveness, and compromising our role.”
Developed By The OD Gathering
Moving The OD Field Forward
Our ask of you . . .
We hope to receive your support for the frameworks we have created so we all can stand on common ground as we teach and practice Organization Development (OD). Our request is that you read through what follows, consider how it might impact you and the work you do in the world, and respond to us with your feedback as follows:
Matt Minahan, Bob Marshak and Others
Change Our Name, Change Our Game
“Unless we wake ourselves from this reverie, the field as we know it now will be irrelevant in 10 years and extinct in 20. We can’t afford to be people of the stars without the serious grounding in business and operations that the real world demands today.”
R. Sankarasubramanyan
‘Preparation’ and ‘Readiness’: The Education Paradigm for the Organisation Development Certificate Programme
Abstract
The organisation development certificate programme (ODCP) offered by the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science—ISABS (www.isabs.org) is a unique blend of learning about organisations, the process of OD with deep awareness about self as an instrument of change.
ISABS as an institution has been engaged with T-groups for the past 50 years, having learnt the same from National Training Laboratories (NTL) Institute for Applied Behavioural Science (www.ntl.org). The focus of ISABS has been on discovering oneself through the process of engagement in small groups. ISABS pedagogy has evolved over years after initial learning from NTL This pedagogy distinguishes itself from any typical university education by stressing on experiencing and reflection of the learning process held together by a process facilitator. The expectation is that the participants will conceptualise and apply their learning through their own volition. However, this needed to change for the ODCP programme. This article unfolds the process for the reader.
The process of OD is based on the quality of the interaction/engagement between the client system and the OD practitioner. Hence, the quality of the ‘preparedness’ and ‘readiness’ of the OD practitioner plays a big role in the ‘process of OD’.
ISABS addresses the twin issues of ‘preparedness’ and ‘readiness’ of participants to enter the field of OD through a pedagogy that is a combination of experiential, cognitive, reflective and peer learning. In addition, OD competencies and values are internalised through a learner-centred approach to teaching, classroom as organisation simulations and support systems provided through coaching and learning facilitation.
R. Sankarasubramanyan
Cultures Collide
Embedding OD Culture in Indian Patriarchal Organizations
Organization Development (OD) as a practice in India is more than 40 years old. It was initially imported from the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science. OD later developed homegrown models and practices based on contributions from many academics and consultants. There have been several efforts to apply OD approaches and associated techniques in India but it has not created the desired impact. One plausible explanation for this is that OD as it has emerged to date is culture specific, that it simply cannot be applied to locations outside the US. (Ramnarayan & Rao, 2011)
R. Sankarasubramanyan and Dr. Wasundhara Joshi
Drench – Living the Dream Before Action
A Crucial Stage in the Practice of Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry was born as a doctoral dissertation by David Cooperrider working under his guide, Suresh Srivastava, at the Case Western Reserve University in the 1980s. The impetus for Appreciative Inquiry to become a popular change management and organization development model and practice came from the development of the 4-D model, followed by the 5-D model.
We propose that between the expansive and possibility infused phase of discovery and dream, and the action oriented phase of design and destiny/delivery, there needs to be a pause, a time of inaction before the action, a sixth D. There is a need to completely Drench in the dream to let the new imagined world soak into the system, embody the same, and then move into action to generate ways to live the dream. This phase of inaction is an important determinant to the quality of the actions in the design and delivery phases that ensue.
Helen Turnbull, Regina Greenwood, Leslie Tworoger, Charles Golden
SKILL DEFICIENCIES IN DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN ORGANIZATIONS: DEVELOPING AN INCLUSION SKILLS MEASUREMENT
ABSTRACT
Managing a diverse workforce is a business imperative yet challenges exist. Organizational members might neither recognize the impact they have on others nor how to build their toolkit of inter-cultural competence. If the organizational goal of embedding an inclusive environment is at odds with the values, behaviors, and attitudes of its employees, then inclusion will not be fully achieved and organizational performance will be impacted.
Helen Turnbull, Regina Greenwood, Leslie Tworoger, Charles Golden
THE INCLUSION SKILLS MEASUREMENT PROFILE: VALIDATING AN ASSESSMENT FOR IDENTIFICATION OF SKILL DEFICIENCIES IN DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
ABSTRACT
The first phase of an instrument to measure diversity and inclusion at the individual, group, and organizational levels is described. The Inclusion Skills Measurement (ISM) Profile was designed to assist in recognizing the skills gaps that exist in organizational members; such gaps must be recognized and addressed if inclusion is to be successfully embedded within organizations. Phase 1 involved the validation of the self-assessment tool which is designed to help individuals explore their values, beliefs and behaviors around diversity and inclusion. One hundred and ten working adults were surveyed using the ISM Profile and the data was analyzed, indicating concern with some items. Revision of the instrument based on the analysis is discussed. The dimensions of inclusion are described and future research is proposed.
Helen Turnbull & Ralph DeChabert
Forward, Reverse or Neutral: Which Gear Are We Operating in With Our 21st Century Approach to Global Diversity and Inclusion?
ABSTRACT
The article explores Diversity & Inclusion and the effectiveness of interventions through the eyes of an internal and an external consultant. The vehicle used for this reflection is an unconscious bias intervention within the client system, which includes education, assessment, skills development and embedding inclusion activities. It is also a reflective exploration of the parallel process experienced in the working relationship between the consultant and the client. Both the consultant and the client have different social identity groups and the article explores how these differing frames of reference and shared experiences on how diversity and inclusion work was done came into play in the working relationship. The project was designed to provide leaders with insights into their patterns of bias, and to engage the hearts and minds of leaders to generate commitment allowing the organization to more fully embrace diversity and inclusion.