Lesson 20: OD Practitioner, OD Values and Ethics

OD Practitioner, OD Values and Ethics


Organizational development (OD) is a planned system-wide change that uses behavioral science and humanistic values, principles and practices to achieve greater organizational performances, productivity and performances. Thus, OD practitioner has to have values to be in harmony with the organizational performance.

Values are set of manners that individuals learn while growing up. It is different from ethics because ethics are publicly agreed on, and publicly stated, guidelines for a practice in a profession. Why is it important for OD practitioners to have his/her own values? It is important and necessary because mostly, his/her judgment will depend on his/her values. It is also important that the OD practitioner and the organization have aligned values to that they could be able work hand in hand and there would be purpose in what they are doing.


The code of ethics are being used by the practitioners so that they would have common reference and to enhance the practitioner’s sense of identity as a global professional community. The presence of the code of ethics, values, and beliefs is that to prevent the occurence of ethical concerns, issues or problems in the helping-consulting process. OD pratitioners also encounter ethical dilemmas especially when consultants have to make difficult choices or decisions based on values. Here are some example:
1. A decision that requires a choice between two or more personally held values
2. A decision that requires a choice between personal values and the values held by another person or the organization
3. A decision that requires a choice between basic principles and the need to achieve a desired outcome
4. A decision that requires a choice between two or more individuals or groups to whom one has an obligation


OD practitioners are guided by:
P – Personal values and Beliefs
U – Universal Beliefs and Direction
L – Legal Implications
P – Policies and Procedures


Also OD practitioners might work in a manner similar to "organizational physicians" intending to improve the effectiveness of people and organizations by:
1) Establishing relationships with key personnel in the organization (often called "entering" and "contracting" with the organization);
2) Researching and evaluating systems in the organization to understand dysfunctions and/or goals of the systems in the organization ("diagnosing" the systems in the organization);
3) Identifying approaches (or "interventions") to improve effectiveness of the organization and its people;
4) Applying approaches to improve effectiveness (methods of "planned change" in the organization),
5) Evaluating the ongoing effectiveness of the approaches and their results.

by: Kathy Chang
http://managementhelp.org/org_chng/od-field/OD_defn.htm