Living ODs Values as an OD Practitioner

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Living ODs Values as an OD Practitioner

• OD Network Conference
• October, 2007
• Dave Jamieson Bill Gellermann

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Why Do This Session?

• The values are a differentiating factor in OD
  their relevance often questioned
• Complexity is greater and value conflicts more
  prevalent
• The field has grown the shared value base among
  practitioners has decreased

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Whos Here?

• Your name affiliation
• Why you came to this session?

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What Are ODs Values?

• You first
• At your tables, identify the 5 core values that
  are central to OD
• Its OK if you dont all agreethats why the
  debates continue
• Then well share some history other work aimed
  at clarifying ODs values

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OD s Value Base

• Early theorists and practitioners were countering
  the prevalent values-in- operation at the time
• Values were derived from the works of Lewin,
  Argyris, Bennis, Follett, Maslow, Rogers,
  Roethlisberger, Likert others
• Bennis (1969) Tannenbaum and Davis (1969)
  provided early descriptions of ODs values later
  Burke (1997) suggested a set

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ODs Value Base

• Early focus was primarily on individuals,
  interpersonal and group relations and as such,
  the values were heavily humanistic, democratic
  and developmental
• As the scope of OD practice broadened, the values
  began to reflect larger human systems
  (communities, societies)

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ODs Value Base

• During the 80s, Bill and his colleagues
  undertook the most comprehensive development
  consensus building around OD values in the field
• Created by 1000 people worldwide, revised 25
  times, endorsed by most leaders of OD networks
  and associations and generally agreed to by most
  practitioners
• Published in Values and Ethics in Organization
  and Human Systems Development (Gellermann,
  Frankel, and Ladenson, 1990)

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ODs Value Base-1990 Statement

• Fundamental values
• a.    Life and the quest for happiness people
  respecting, appreciating, and loving the
  experience of their own and others' being while
  engaging in the search for and the process of
  co-creating good life.
• b.    Freedom, responsibility, and self-control 
  people experiencing their freedom, exercising it
  responsibly, and being in charge of themselves.
• c.    Justice  people living lives whose results
  are fair and equitable.

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ODs Value Base-1990 Statement

• Personal and interpersonal values (may also be
  larger system values)
• a.    Human potential and empowerment.  people
  being healthy and aware of the fullness of their
  potential, realizing their power to bring that
  potential into being, growing into it, living it,
  and generally doing the best they can, both
  individually and collectively.
• b.    Respect, dignity, integrity, worth and
  fundamental rights of individuals and other human
  systems  people appreciating one another and
  their rights as human beings, including life,
  liberty and the quest for happiness.

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ODs Value Base-1990 Statement

• c.    Authenticity, congruence, honesty and
  openness, understanding, and acceptance  people
  being true to themselves, acting consistently
  with their feelings, being honest and
  appropriately open with one another (including
  expressing feelings and constructively
  confronting differences), and both understanding
  and accepting others who do the same.
• d.    Flexibility, change and proaction  people
  changing themselves on the one hand and acting
  assertively on the other in a continuing process
  whose aim is to maintain or achieve a good fit
  between themselves and the external reality
  within which they live. 

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ODs Value Base-1990 Statement

• System values (may also be values at personal and
  interpersonal levels)
• a.    Learning, development, growth, and
  transformation  people growing in ways that
  bring into being greater realization of their
  potential, individually and collectively.
• b. Whole-win attitudes, cooperation-collaboratio
  n, trust, community and diversity people caring
  about one another and working together to achieve
  results that are good for everyone (individually
  and collectively), experiencing the spirit of
  community and honoring the diversity that exists
  within community. 

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ODs Value Base-1990 Statement

• c. Widespread, meaningful participation in system
  affairs, democracy, and appropriate decision-
  making  people participating as fully as
  possible in making the decisions that affect
  their lives. 
• d.    Effectiveness, efficiency, and
  alignment  people achieving desired results with
  an optimal balance between results and costs, and
  doing so in ways that coordinate the energies of
  systems, subsystems, and macro-systems
  --particularly the energies, needs, and desires
  of the human beings who comprise those systems.

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ODs Value Base-OD Network

• ODN ran another process a few years ago
  (2001-2003) which resulted in. their updated
  list on the website.
• This process highlighted
• Social responsibility contributing to the
  benefit and well-being of the earth and its
  people
• Social justice contributing to equitable
  policies, principles and practices in
  organizations and communities
• Appreciation of the interconnectedness of systems
  
• Inclusion of people, ideas, perspectives and
  cultures
• Continued improvement and innovation in
  organizations

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ODs Value Base-OD Network

• Participatory approaches to organizational change
  and management that respect the contributions,
  dignity, and worth of all people
• Collaboration and partnership with clients
• Cooperation and support among colleagues
• Ongoing personal and professional development
• Knowledge of self and understanding of ones
  impact in the consulting process

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ODs Value Base

• We recently completed a chapter reviewing
  summarizing values and ethics in the OD field
• Jamieson, D. W. Gellermann (2006). Values,
  Ethics and OD Practice in B. Jones Brazzel,
  M., The NTL Handbook of Organization Development
  and Change, NTL/Jossey-Bass

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ODs Value Base

• In summary, we suggest that the key values
  underlying this field are
• service to others
• growth and development of potential
• concern for the individual and quality of life
• self as the instrument of change
• authenticity, congruence, openness, and wholeness
• acknowledge and support the whole person --
  intellectual, emotional, spiritual, physical --
  and their complexity
• model open exchange leading to deeper
  understanding

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ODs Value Base

• operate with integrity in a fair and just
  manner
• be accountable and trustworthy
• keep all stakeholders in mind and ensure
  equitable treatment and unbiased justice
• include differences with respect and dignity and
  believe in the value and rights of diversity
• seek the balance in the world, between individual
  and organizational needs, between performance and
  humanness and between content and process

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ODs Value Base

• work with a context of democracy, that empowers
  people to participate with free choice and
  responsibility
• build peoples involvement in their destiny and
  hold people accountable for their actions and
  decisions
• utilize the power of the group and facilitate
  interpersonal competence, cooperation,
  collaboration, and synergy
• build jointness -- collective and community --
  into the mindset of the human system

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ODs Value Base

• While there is general agreement among most
  practitioners, these values represent the desired
  intention and are sometimes difficult to live in
  all practice situations
• This session is a way to highlight discuss how
  we can live our values

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Three Paths for Execution

• As a practitioner in various organization-based
  activities
• operationalize values in means ends
• As a conscious citizen in larger human systems
• sensitivity, advocacy influence
• As collaborators in various human system-based
  activities
• extending our systemic view to include the global
  system

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Aligning Our Values with Other Stakeholders
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Living ODs Values

• Pair up
• Take turns sharing a value you struggle living
  with or operationalizing in your work or life or
  the kind of situations that create value
  conflicts for you
• Consult with each other on some options for
  responding to these situations

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This is not rocket scienceits harder!
Its behavioral science
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Living ODs Values

• Share examples as organization practitioner,
  conscious citizen or human system collaborator
• Open discussion
• Options for continuing dialogue or expanding
  impact

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THE ONE WITH THE LARGEST VIEW
WINS! Jamieson