OD PRACTITIONER:DIFFERENT COMPANIES

CONSOLIDATED BY:PAYEL ROY

ANINDYA MAJUMDAR

McKINSEY & CO.

PROCTER & GAMBLE

GENERAL ELECTRIC, GENERAL MOTORS,

3M

DISNEYMOTOROLA and TEXAS

INSTRUMENTS

HONEYWELL, UNION

CARBIDE, US ARMY and

NAVY

IBM and HEWLETT-PACKARD

Who is the OD Practitioner?People specializing in OD as a profession. They

may be internal or external consultants who offer professional services to organization clients, including top managers, functional department heads, and staff groups.

People specializing in fields related to OD, such as reward systems, organization design, total quality, information technology, and business strategy.

Increasing number of managers and administrators who have gained competence in OD and who apply it to their own work areas.

GENERAL ELECTRIC, 3M andHEWLETT-PACKARDManagers and employees have become "change

masters. They have gained the expertise to introduce change and innovation into the organization.

Managers tend to gain competence in OD through interacting with OD professionals in actual change programs.

This on-the-job training frequently is supplemented with more formal OD training, such as the variety of workshops offered by the National Training Laboratories, the Center for Creative Leadership, the Gestalt Institute, UCLA's Extension Service, University Associates, and others. Line managers increasingly are attending such external programs.

MOTOROLA and TEXAS INSTRUMENTSA growing number of organizations,

including Texas Instruments, Motorola, and General Electric, have instituted in-house training programs for managers to learn how to develop and change their work units.

As managers gain OD competence, they become its most basic practitioners.

PROCTER & GAMBLECompanies such as Procter & Gamble have

trained and rotated managers into full-time OD roles so that they can gain skills and experience needed for higher-level management positions.

Also, it is increasingly common to find managers using their experience in OD to become external consultants gaining professional competence in related specialties, such as business process reengineering, reward systems, and organization design.

Cross-training and integration are producing a more comprehensive and complex kind of OD practitioner, one with a greater diversity of values, skills, and experience than a traditional practitioner. 

The External PractitionerSomeone not previously associated with the client

system. Coming from the outside, he sees things from a different viewpoint and from a position of objectivity.

Because they are invited into the organization, they have increased leverage and greater freedom of operation than internal practitioners.

Research evidence suggests that top managers view external practitioners as having a more positive role in large-scale change programs than internal practitioners.

Since they are not a part of the organization, they are less in awe of the power wielded by various organization members.

Because they usually have a broad career base and other clients to fall back on, they tend to have a more independent attitude about risk-taking with the client system.

McKINSEY & CO.At McKinsey & Co., a leading management consulting

firm, consultants are direct, outspoken, and challenge the client's opinions.

Once "The Firm" (as McKinsey is called) is hired, a four- to six-person "engagement team" is assembled, with an experienced consultant to coordinate the effort.

McKinsey’s management consulting work is not necessarily organization development. The disadvantages of external practitioners result from the same factors as the advantage. Outsiders are generally unfamiliar with the organization system and may not have sufficient knowledge of its technology, such as aerospace or chemistry. They are unfamiliar with the culture, communication networks, and formal or informal power systems.

The Internal PractitionerAlready a member of the organization: a top executive, an

organization member who initiates change in his or her work group, or a member of the human resources or organization development department. Many large organizations have established offices with the specific responsibility of helping the organization implement change programs.

 Internal practitioners may be more likely to accept the organizational system as a given and accommodate their change tactics to the needs of management.

Being known to the workforce has advantages, but it can also work against the internal practitioner. Other employees may not understand the practitioner's role and will certainly be influenced by his or her previous work and relationships in the organization, particularly if the work and relationships have in anyway been questionable.

DISNEY, IBM, GM,HONEYWELL, UNION CARBIDEIn the past few years these companies have

created internal OD practitioner groups. These internal practitioners often operate out of the HR area and may report directly to the president of the organization.

Internal practitioners have certain advantages as they are familiar with the organization's culture and norms and probably accept and behave in accordance with the norms. They need not waste time becoming familiar with the system and winning acceptance.

Internal practitioners know the power structure, which are the strategic people, and how to apply leverage. They are already known to the employees, and have a personal interest in seeing the organization succeed. Unfortunately, it is by no means easy for internal practitioners to acquire all the skills they will need.

The Internal-External PractitionerOD researcher John Lewis found that successful

external OD practitioners assisted in the development of their internal counterparts. The partners bring complementary resources to the team; each has advantages and strengths that offset the disadvantages and weaknesses of the other.

The external practitioner brings expertise, objectivity, and new insights to organization problems.

The internal practitioner, on the other hand, brings detailed knowledge of organization issues and norms, a long-rime acquaintance with members, and an awareness of system strengths and weaknesses.

U.S. ARMY & NAVYDuring the U.S. Navy’s Command Development (OD)

Program, the internal change agents recommended that training seminars be conducted away from the Navy environment (i.e., at a resort) and the participants dress in civilian clothing to lessen authority it issues.

Higher authority, however, ordered the seminars to he held on naval bases and in uniform—ground rules that the internal practitioners reluctantly accepted.

In this situation an external practitioner with greater leverage might have provided enough support and influence to gain approval to the desired program.