Chapter 3

Organization Development and Change
Chapter Three:
The Organization Development
Practitioner
Thomas G. Cummings
Christopher G. Worley
Learning Objectives
for Chapter Three
• To understand the essential character of
OD practitioners
• To understand the necessary competencies
required of an effective OD practitioner
• To understand the roles and ethical
conflicts that face OD practitioners
Cummings & Worley, 8e 3-2

(c)2005 Thomson/South-Western
The Organization Development
Practitioner
• Internal and External Consultants
• Professionals from other disciplines who
apply OD practices (e.g., TQM managers,
IT/IS managers, compensation and benefits
managers)
• Managers and Administrators who apply
OD from their line or staff positions
Competencies of an OD
Practitioner
• Intrapersonal skills
– Self-awareness, Self-management competence
• Interpersonal skills
– Ability to work with others and groups
• General consultation skills
– Ability to manage consulting process
• Organization development theory
– Knowledge of change processes
Role Demands on OD
Practitioners
• Position
– Internal vs. External
These internal consultants typically have a variety of clients within
the organization, serving both line and staff departments.
External consultants are not members of the client organization; they
typically work for a consulting firm, a university, or themselves.
Organizations generally hire external consultants to provide a
particular expertise that is unavailable internally, to bring a
different and potentially more objective perspective into the
organization development process, or to signal shifts in power

Role Demands on OD
Practitioners
• Marginality
– Ability to straddle boundaries
– The marginal person is one who successfully straddles the
boundary between two or more groups with differing goals, value
systems, and behavior patterns.
– Whereas in the past, the marginal role always was seen as
dysfunctional, marginality now is seen in a more positive light.
– There are many examples of marginal roles in organizations: the
salesperson, the buyer, the first-line supervisor, the integrator, and
the project manager

Role Demands on OD
Practitioners
• Emotional Demands
– Emotional Intelligence (EI)
– EI refers to the ability to recognize and express emotions appropriately, to
use emotions in thought and decisions, and to regulate emotion in one’s
self and in others.
– It is, therefore, a different kind of intelligence from problem solving
ability, engineering aptitude, or the knowledge of concepts.
– In tandem with traditional knowledge and skill, emotional intelligence
affects and supplements rational thought; emotions help prioritize thinking
by directing attention to important information not addressed in models
and theories.
– In that sense, some researchers argue that emotional intelligence is as
important as cognitive intelligence
3-7
Role Demands on OD
Practitioners
• Use of Knowledge and Experience
– The professional OD role has been described in
terms of a continuum ranging from client-
centered (using the client’s knowledge and
experience) to consultant-centered (using the
consultant’s knowledge and experience)

Client vs. Consultant Knowledge
Use of Consultant’s Plans Implementation
Knowledge and
Experience Recommends/prescribes
Proposes criteria
Feeds back data
Probes and gathers data
Clarifies and interprets

Use of Client’s
Knowledge and Listens and reflects
Experience
Refuses to become involved
Professional Ethics
• Ethical Guidelines
– Ethical issues in OD are concerned with how practitioners
perform their helping relationship with organization
members. Inherent in any helping relationship is the
potential for misconduct and client abuse.
– OD practitioners can let personal values stand in the way
of good practice, use the power inherent in their
professional role to abuse (often unintentionally)
organization members, or favor one group of stakeholders
at the expense of other stakeholders.
3-10
Professional Ethics
• Ethical Dilemmas: The role conflict and
ambiguity may produce five types of ethical
dilemmas:
– Misrepresentation: Misrepresentation occurs
when OD practitioners claim that an intervention
will produce results that are unreasonable for the
change program or the situation. The client can
contribute to the problem by portraying
inaccurate goals and needs.
3-11
Professional Ethics
• Ethical Dilemmas: The role conflict and ambiguity
may produce five types of ethical dilemmas:
– Misuse of Data: Misuse of data occurs when
information gathered during the OD process is used
punitively. Large amounts of information are
invariably obtained during the entry and diagnostic
phases of OD. Although most OD practitioners
value openness and trust, it is important that they be
aware of how such data are going to be used.
3-12
Professional Ethics
dilemmas:
– Coercion: Coercion occurs when organization
members are forced to participate in an OD
intervention. People should have the freedom to
choose whether to participate in a change
program if they are to gain self-reliance to
solve their own problems.
3-13
Professional Ethics
dilemmas:
– Value and Goal Conflicts: This ethical conflict
occurs when the purpose of the change effort is
not clear or when the client and the practitioner
disagree over how to achieve the goals.
3-14
Professional Ethics
dilemmas:
– Technical Ineptness: This final ethical dilemma
occurs when OD practitioners try to implement
interventions for which they are not skilled or
when the client attempts a change for which it
is not ready
3-15
A Model of Ethical Dilemmas
Antecedents Process Consequences
Role of
Role Episode Ethical Dilemmas
the
Change
• Role conflict • Misrepresentation
Values Agent
Goals • Role ambiguity • Misuse of data
Needs • Coercion
Abilities Role of • Value and goal
the conflict
Client • Technical
System ineptness


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Organization Development and Change

Cummings & Worley, 8e 3-2

Cummings & Worley, 8e 3-5

Cummings & Worley, 8e 3-6

Cummings & Worley, 8e 3-8

Feeds back data

Probes and gathers data

Clarifies and interprets

Cummings & Worley, 8e 3-16

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