Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading Change: A Third Edition

WHY IT’S STILL OD

Even though some newer forms of OD are discarding data collection and diagnosis, I would argue they are still OD because they adhere to key values of OD. First, they are highly inclusive and participative—in many cases more so than the traditional OD approach of creating small representative groups to work on behalf of the whole. Many of the newer approaches advocate involving every stakeholder in the change process. Second, they tend to emphasize processes of inquiry that result in the free and informed choice of participants. They may even work harder than previous forms of OD at attempting to create what Habermas (1984) called “the ideal speech situation”—a situation in which people feel free from any social constraint ...