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1/26/22, 9:18 PM Dialogic OD - OD Network

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What is Dialogic OD

BMI Series in Dialogic OD Learn More

Dialogic Learning Series

Dialogic OD is a label used to distinguish a mindset about organizations, leadership and change that is di�erent

from foundational Diagnostic OD. Gervase Bushe and Bob Marshak introduced the concept in 2009 to show

that new forms of organization development had emerged since the mid 1980s (like appreciative inquiry,

future search, open space, and world café, among many others) that did not conform with, and in some ways

violated, central principles of OD found in textbooks and taught in graduate programs. Since then, theory and

research on Dialogic OD has expanded rapidly. Bushe and Marshak argue that each OD practitioner is likely to

use a unique combination of diagnostic and dialogic mindsets in their practice.

In the 2015 textbook on Dialogic Organization Development, Edgar Schein describes Dialogic OD as a return

to the roots of OD’s original spirit of inquiry, and opined that Dialogic OD may have emerged because

organizational problems are now more complex, ambiguous and uncertain. Since then, the idea that Diagnostic

OD is better suited to complicated, technical problems and Dialogic OD better suited to complex, adaptive

challenges, has been echoed by others.

Di�erent Premises and Patterns of Practice between Diagnostic and Dialogic OD

Diagnostic OD Dialogic OD

In�uenced by Classical science, positivism, and

modern philosophy

Complexity science, interpretive and

postmodern philosophy

Dominant Construct Organizations are like living systems Organizations are like networks of

meaning making

Ontology and

Epistemology

Reality is an objective fact Reality is socially constructed

There is a single reality There are multiple realities

Truth is transcendent and

discoverable

Truth is immanent and emerges

from the situation

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Reality can be discovered using

rational and analytic processes

Reality is negotiated and may

involve power and political

processes

Constructs of Change Collecting and applying valid

data using objective problem-

solving methods leads to change

Creating containers and

processes to produce generative

ideas leads to change

Change can be created, planned

and managed

Change can be encouraged but

is mainly self-organizing

Change is episodic, linear, and

goal oriented

Change is continuous, emergent

and/or cyclical

Focus of Change Emphasis on changing behavior and

what people do

Emphasis on changing mindsets and

what people think

The Key Elements of the Dialogic Mindset – for Leaders and Consultants

The meanings and interpretations people make about “objective reality” guide how they think and what

they in turn do.

Organizations are social networks of meaning making that create the organizational realities people

experience and react to.

Transformational leadership helps shape how meanings are made, especially the implicit storylines and

narratives which guide people’s experience. 

Organizations are continuously changing, in both intended and unintended ways, with multiple and

di�erent types of changes occurring at various speeds.

Groups and organizations are continuously self-organizing and re-creating themselves, but disruption to

repetitive and limiting patterns is required for transformational adaptation and change to occur.

Complexity makes it impossible to predict outcomes so the best approach is to use emergent change

processes to develop adaptive capacities and solutions.

Leading emergent, transformational change requires mobilizing stakeholders to self-initiate action, then

nurturing and amplifying the most promising initiatives.

Change facilitators are embedded in the change process, not independent from it.

The Three Enablers of Change from the Dialogic Mindset Emergence

Stimulate the processes of disruption and emergence to facilitate self-organizing that creates new pattens of

organizing better suited to current needs and conditions.

Narrative

Change the core narratives that guide thinking and acting.

Generativity

Create generative conversations that produce new ideas and allow people to think and act in ways they

couldn’t consider before.

Types of Dialogic OD Some Dialogic OD methods are “episodic” – they have a beginning, middle and end.

Some are “continuous” – the practitioner partners up with the client system in an ongoing OD process.

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Some dialogic methods are “large group” – they use a generative change approach to engage the stakeholders

who will have to change in generative conversations that will lead to self-initiated, emergent, changes.

Some are “interactive” – these are sometimes called dialogic process consulting; they work by disrupting stale,

habitual, ine�ective patterns of interactions to provoke generative conversations that lead to new patterns

emerging and new narratives being formed.

Generative Change and Dialogic OD The Dialogic Mindset gravitates toward generative change processes, instead of planned change processes.

Instead of providing visions and top down implementation of plans, generative change leaders host

conversations where diverse views and ideas lead to the emergence of new possibilities. Participants are

encouraged and supported in advancing new ways of talking, thinking and acting. Successful advances and

adaptations, along with new supporting narratives, are spread through-out the system. Leaders endorse and

provide resources to these activities, but do not direct them.

Planned Change versus Generative Change

The new BMI Series in Dialogic OD is a set of short books on speci�c aspects of the Dialogic Mindset that can

be applied to a variety of OD methods.

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