Role and

Style of the
OD Practitioner

1
 Pages Not included: 106-112
 Opening case page 95
 Closing Case page 123
 Simulation 4.2 page 120

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Chapter 4
 Learning Objectives
 Pages not include 106-112
 Define the role of an OD practitioner.
 Identify your strengths and areas of improvement as a
potential practitioner.
 Experience and practice your own style of intervention
and influence in a group.


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CASE
 You Need a Machete at Sears

 Sears bought Lands’ End in an attempt upgrade its apparel image.

 But can Sears avoid hurting the image of Lands’ End, particularly since Sears
and K-Mart have merged?

 Sears is giving its apparel operations to Lands’ End management.

 Culture clashes are occurring between the low key style of Lands’ End and the
highly bureaucratic Sears.
 “You need a machete” to get through it all, says former Lands’ End’s vice
president of design and now Sears new design chief.

 Another ex–Lands Ender now turned Sears executive, says, “A long time ago, I
figured out that to be successful when you go into a company, you need to work
through a culture, not against it. That doesn’t mean I can’t get on the edge and
make changes.”

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Chapter 4
 Haphazard versus planned change.
 Change programs do not happen accidentally.
 They are initiated with a specific purpose and require
leadership to function properly.
 The OD practitioner must deal proactively with these
changing competitive forces.
 Everyone in the organization plays a crucial part in effective
change programs.

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Chapter 4
 There are two types of change that may take place in an
organization.
 One type is random or haphazard change.
 It is forced on the organization by the external environment.

 It is not prepared for.

 The second type of change results from deliberate attempts to

modify organizational operations.

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Chapter 4
 External and internal practitioners.
 External practitioner.
 Someone not previously associated with the client system.
 Advantages:
 Sees things from a different viewpoint and from a position of
objectivity.
 Does not depend upon the organization for raises, approval, or
promotions.
 Disadvantages:
 Generally unfamiliar with the organization system.

 Unfamiliar with the culture, communication networks, and

formal or informal power systems.

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CASE
 OUR CHANGING WORLD
 ONE COUNTRY’S RESISTANCE TO CONSULTING GROWS

 The management consulting industry in Germany with public-sector contracts has caused a political
fight.

 The controversy involves big name U.S. and German management consulting firms.

 The contracts are legal but their effectiveness is being questioned.

 In 2002 the contracts brought in over two billion U.S. dollars in revenue to the consulting firms.

 This is occurring at a time when the German economy is in a poor state and the federal budget is deep
in the red.

 In defense of the consultants, management consulting is new to the public sector.

 Questions:

 Do governments and businesses have the same need to use consultants?

 Do you believe that consultants have special obligations when they work with governments?

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Chapter 4
 Internal practitioner.
 Already a member of the organization who can be:
 A top executive.

 An organization member who initiates change in his or her

work group.
 A member of the human resources or organization
development department.

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Chapter 4
 Advantages:
 Familiar with the organization’s culture and norms.

 Need not waste time becoming familiar with the system.

 Knows the power structure and who are the strategic people.

 Has a personal interest in seeing the organization succeed.

 Disadvantages:
 May have a lack of the specialized skills needed for OD.

 Lack of objectivity.

 May be more likely to accept the organizational system as a

given.
 Other employees may not understand the practitioner’s role.

 Other employees may be influenced by the practitioner’s

previous work and relationships in the organization.
 May not have the necessary power and authority.

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Chapter 4
 The external-internal practitioner team.
 A team formed of an external practitioner working directly
with an internal practitioner to initiate and facilitate change
programs.
 Probably the most effective approach.

 Partners bring complementary resources to the team.

 External practitioner brings expertise, objectivity, and new

insights.
 Internal practitioner brings detailed knowledge of
organization issues and norms and an awareness of system
strengths and weaknesses.

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Chapter 4
 Provides support to one another.
 Achieve greater continuity over the entire OD program.
 The external practitioner will likely be available only a few
days a month.
 The internal practitioner is provides continuous contact to
the organization.
 The team tends to combine the advantages of both external
and internal practitioners while minimizing the disadvantages.

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Chapter 4
 OD practitioner styles.
 Internal or external practitioners have a variety of styles
or approaches.

 One way to view styles is the degree of emphasis placed
upon two dimensions:
 Effectiveness - the degree of emphasis upon goal
accomplishment.
 Morale - the degree of emphasis upon relationships and
participant satisfaction.

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Chapter 4
 Based upon the two dimensions of accomplishing goals and
member satisfaction, five different types of practitioner styles
or roles can be identified. (see Figure 4.1)
 Stabilizer style - maintains a low profile and it tries to survive by
following directives of top management.
 Cheerleader style - places an emphasis on member satisfaction and
does not emphasize organization effectiveness.
 Analyzer style - places emphasis on efficiency while giving little
attention to satisfaction of members. Somewhat opposite of the
cheerleader style.
 Persuader style - seeks a compromise style between the cheerleader
and the analyzer styles, but only achieves average performance on
both styles.
 Pathfinder style - seeks both a high degree of organization efficiency
and a high member satisfaction. This is the desired style for an OD
practitioner.


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CASE
 OD IN PRACTICE
BAIN & CO.

 Bain is one of the largest and most well known consulting firms.

 It is more than 30 years old, has offices in over 19 countries, and has more than 2,100 people.

 Clients include governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

 Bain is known for the shrewd, suave people it employs.

 Bain employees are secretive about their organization and their clients, and dedicate themselves to improving their customers’ competitive
position.

 The consultants build a close relationship with their clients and insist on working directly with the chief executive.

 Bain focuses on the total system.

 Bain consultants work collaboratively with the client to study, define, and assist in the implementation of the solution.

 As Bain’s consultants have experience working with a wide group of clients, they tend not to have the tunnel vision.

 Questions:

 Do you agree with the relationship-consulting approach?

 Visit Bain’s Web site (www.bain.com) and explore the firm’s current approaches to consulting.

 Contrast the approach of a company trying to solve its own problems versus

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Chapter 4
 The intervention process.
 Involves a collaborative relationship between a
practitioner and a client system.
 The readiness of the organization for OD.
 The practitioner need to wait until key personnel decide
whether change is really needed.
 Four questions for the practitioner to answer before going
further:
 Are the learning goals of OD appropriate?

 The cultural state of the client system ready for organization

development?
 Are the key people involved?

 Members of the client system prepared and oriented to

organization development?

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Chapter 4
 The intervention.
 Intervention refers to a coming between or among members
or groups of an organization for the purpose of effecting
change.
 It refers to planned activities participated in by both the
practitioner and the client.
 Interventions occur throughout the OD program but here we
are concerned with the practitioner’s initial contact with the
client system.
 The external practitioner generally intervenes through a top
manager.

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Chapter 4
 Who is the client?
 Who the client is becomes more complex as the practitioner
intervenes into more segments of the organization.
 The client may be the organization, certain divisions, or an
individual who contracted for the services.

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Chapter 4
 The OD practitioner role in the intervention.
 Operates on the belief that the team is the basic building block
of an organization.
 Concerned with how processes such as communications and
leadership occur in an organization.
 Operates on the notion that assisting the client instead of
taking control will lead to a more lasting solution of the
client’s problems.

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Chapter 4
 OD practitioner skills and activities.
 One study found that the most practiced OD skill or activity
was team development. (See Table 4.1)
 Six key skill areas that are critical to the success of the
practitioner. (See Figure 4.2)
 Leadership skills.

 Project management skills.

 Communication skills.

 Problem-solving skills.

 Interpersonal skills.

 Personal skills.


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 The formalization of operating ground rules.
 Formalization of obligations in the form of a contract is usually
advisable for an external practitioner.

 The internal practitioner does not need a contract, but operating
ground rules should be formalized in some manner.

 The contract with the external practitioner normally specifies such
items as:
 Point of contact.
 Role of the practitioner.
 Fees.
 Schedule.
 Anticipated results.
 Operating ground rules.

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 Red flags in the practitioner-client relationship.
 The level of commitment to change of the client.

 The degree of leverage or power to influence change.

 The client’s manipulative use of practitioner power.

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