Organization Development

“Use of self is about being willing to raise up, value, and examine what is going on in the human dynamics that surround us. This is how we become more open, more widely experienced, and more effective in our personal interactions with clients.”

Reflections on Values as an OD Consultant

By Barbara Benedict Bunker I have never been particularly interested in abstract discussions of values. I was trained in the era when Milton Rokeach’s work on values was new and hot stuff (Rokeach, 1973). I only found it vaguely interesting academically. Bill Gellerman spent years working on articulating the values that people believe should be the platform for OD work. Both NTL and the OD Network have statements of the values and ethics of practice that should be taught in the educa- tion of practitioners.

But my thoughts keep returning to Chris Argyris’ notion of espoused theory (what we say we intend) and theory-in-use (what we actually do and what that behavior communicates about our values) (Argyris & Schon, 1974). My observation is that values driven behavior is something we learn early in life. Those early formative experiences are probably as important as professional codes. This is not to say that we cannot develop important-to-us values out of our life experiences. Values that connect with and enliven us come both from our history and from our experience. If we pay atten- tion to our experience, this can and does happen.

Values and Personal History

Before I became a professor of social psy- chology, I was for eight years the Director of Religious Life for the Women’s College at Duke University. I organized all kinds of discussion groups from poetry to theology, managed a big social services program in the community, and did leadership training with activities I learned at the

NTL Institute. In the midst of my tenure at Duke (which was not integrated at that time), the sit-ins happened in Greensboro, NC, an hour away from us. Before this occurred, many of my students had been agitating within our university to change its policies and doing collaborative work with students from North Carolina College, a black institution in Durham.

The sit-ins galvanized many Duke students and faculty who organized and picketed lunch counters, barbershops, and theaters to get them to integrate. What got my attention was that the members of the faculty who supported and participated in these actions were heavily from the psychology, sociology, and psychiatry facul- ties. As I got to know these (mostly) men, I found that most came from religious back- grounds, although most were currently not active in their childhood faith community. And, when I went on to graduate school at Columbia University, I again found a number of faculty and students who were attracted to the social sciences partly, I believe, because of their early experience in deeply faith committed homes.

The culture of the times also shaped the values of early OD folks – most of whom were faculty in universities. World War II was still a present and compelling memory. Psychology engaged in a deep exploration of the Authoritarian Personal- ity (How do people develop the capacity to treat others inhumanly?) (Adorno et. al., 1950). Experiments in Social Psychol- ogy explored when people will conform (Asch, 1957), when people will injure others if ordered to do so (Milgram, 1974),

47Reflections on Values as an OD Consultant

the conditions that promote competition vs. collaboration (Deutsch, 1949), and when people will help others. The 1960s embraced Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and proposal for the self-actualization of individuals (Maslow, 1962), as well as Douglas McGregor’s (1960) proposal that organizations needed theory Y not theory X leadership.

OD was born and developed in this value context. Warner Burke’s article in this issue and Billie Alban’s recent (2014) arti- cle describes how the NTL PSOD program that began in the late 1960s separated OD from the interpersonally focused T-group training that was so popular then. This was an early move toward valuing the busi- ness the organization was in and helping change dysfunctional processes.

In the subsequent decades, new values became salient for OD practitioners with- out negating the foundational ones: » 1970s: Diversity. » 1980s: Self managing teams, the value

of empowering groups. » 1990s:

• Appreciative Inquiry, valuing the positive as an engine for change (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987).

• Engaging the whole system in change for the future using Large Group Methods (as opposed to past oriented problem identification and problem solving) (Bunker & Alban, 1997, 2006).

» 2000s: Emphasis on emergence, complexity, self-managing systems, networking – valuing non bureaucratic organizational forms.

The breadth, complexity, and specializa- tion that has occurred in the OD field over the last 15 years leaves one wondering how people now entering the field pull all this together (if they do!).

Two Levels of Values

It is useful to talk about two levels of values: (a) The values underlying the work of OD, e.g., participative management and employee engagement, and (b) values about how the work is best done by the consultant (use of self ). This second level

has received less attention of recent years than it did in the early years of OD. For that reason, I believe it important to think about it in today’s world.

The Self Development Journey

Use of self is the OD language for valu- ing the development of the personal and interpersonal capacities to be effective with many types of people in many dif- ferent situations. For many of us trained in the 1960s and 1970s, this was seen as an essential part of the development of an OD consultant. It meant working on your “flat sides,” i.e., the underdeveloped or hindering aspects of your personality. For some people, for example, that could mean learning to control reactions, for others to express more. It is a highly individual and very personal journey (Seashore, 1999).

I learned to expect that there is always more to be developed as you move through life. The goal was not to arrive but to engage in and value the journey itself. This means continual learning about yourself in many contexts. It is not enough to take workshops and certifications and degrees in order to become a good OD consultant. You were expected to always also work on your own personal development. I think that the recognition of this value accounts for the sustained popularity of personal development programs offered by people like Charlie and Edie Seashore since OD began.

How Self Development Works: Feedback, Mentors, Colleagues, and Networks

The process of self-development happens in several ways. In my first T-group train- ing experience, I was told that my major group behavior was to ask questions (a very safe way to participate). It really shocked me as I was unaware of my behavior. As I learned about group roles, I got clear that I would be more helpful to the group and more myself if I also took on other roles, e.g., making proposals, working to resolve conflict, etc. One way consultants learn is through feedback from others.

A mentor is another important way to get more perspective on yourself. Herb

Shepard, a delightfully egocentric and talented early OD consultant, often said about himself, “It takes all of my energy to stay loose!” I found it a fascinating com- ment that explained a lot about him, but as I reflected, I realized that I was much more tightly wound than I wanted to be. This led to new ideas about my own life and how I wanted to develop.

Another mentor, Charlie Seashore, a man who was enormously helpful to the personal development of many consultants, took me aback as he led the first meeting of the nine week NTL OD Internship at Bethel, ME in 1968. We were introducing ourselves and I described my ambivalence and conflict about being there and at the same time needing to work on writing my dissertation. Charlie turned to me and said, “Well Barbara, maybe this isn’t the right summer for you to be here.” My stomach dropped. I had been looking forward to this experience for years. That comment made it clear that I had a choice and I needed to choose how to both be in the program and do some writing and not spend the sum- mer strung out in conflict between the two. I made some decisions, got up early most days to write, and had a wonderful experi- ence in the Intern Program. Before Char- lie’s comment, I didn’t see the choices. I was stuck in my ambivalence. It also tuned me in to others who are deeply ambivalent and their dilemmas.

Use of self is about being willing to raise up, value, and examine what is going on in the human dynamics that surround us. This is how we become more open, more widely experienced, and more effective in our personal interactions with clients.

Peer groups of OD colleagues are a key way to pursue the use of self-agenda. Some OD folks have formed either consulting groups or less formal structures to have people to talk with that they feel good about. If it is a business, usually it is fair to assume that there are some shared values in the way they believe they should do the work. There are also looser but equally meaningful networks of professionals that talk with each other about their work and learn from each other. The Open Space Network is an active conversation that

OD PRACTITIONER Vol. 46 No. 4 201448

involves everything from complex inquiry to simple how-tos involving practitioners from around the world. They are a commu- nity that gets together physically as well as talking online. Future Search Network also brings together practitioners for conversa- tion and inquiry. Regional OD Network groups while not as focused also provide many opportunities for learning and sharing. These nodes of interest provide a place where practitioners can engage each other and think about the work they are doing.

Is Self-Development a Fading Value?

How do you stay sensitive to values that are important in your own life and stay professionally competent in this crazy fast moving world we are now living in? The notion of “staying centered,” of knowing who you are is still compelling. In my own life, it is the people who are doing this work that I can talk with that keep me centered and growing. I am a member of the Portsmouth Consulting Group which formed in 1981 and, amazingly, is still meeting three times a year. This group was not formed to get clients, but rather to have a place where we could talk with each other about our work and get advice and counsel. Over the years we also became good friends and now our mission is simply to support each other in our life’s journey. Some of us are still working, some are retired but very active as volunteers. We share the value that you always do better work if you have colleagues to talk with about your ideas and to keep you honest. The group is a safe place where people can explore what they are thinking about and get honest and interesting reactions from others. I believe

that all OD consultants benefit from this type of colleagueship.

Academia – An Area of Discomfort to be Explored

It is also the case that we develop person- ally when we encounter different ideas, experiences, and expertise. I am aware as I think about recent meetings and encoun- ters with others that the most stimulating conversations have come from engaging ideas from writers and thinkers outside of OD. Burke’s comment (in this issue) about the interest that groups in the Academy of Management are taking in exploring the possible synergies between practice and academia is telling. Academia was once the source of a many new ideas and interven- tions for OD. OD practitioners’ increasing separation from academia over the years has deprived them of engaging some potentially important issues (Bunker et. al. 2004). If academia is interested in us, why are we not interested in them?

References

Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levin- son, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Oxford, UK: Harpers.

Alban, B. T. (2014). A woman’s journey in OD. OD Practitioner, 46(3), 9–11.

Argyris, C., & Schon, D. A. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effec- tiveness. Oxford, UK: Jossey-Bass.

Asch, S.E. (1957). An experimental inves- tigation of group influence. In Sympo- sium on preventative and social psychiatry. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office

Bartunek, J.M. (2014). Academic-practi- tioner relationships: What NTL started and what management scholarship keeps developing. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50 (in press).

Bunker, B. B., & Alban, B. T. (1997). Large group interventions: Engaging the whole system for rapid change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Bunker, B. B., & Alban, B. T. (2006). The handbook of large group methods: Creat- ing systemic change in organizations and communities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Bunker, B.B., Alban, B.T., & Lewicki, R. J. (2004). Ideas in currency and OD Practice. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 40(4), 403–422.

Cooperrider, D.L., & Srivastva, S. (1987). Appreciative inquiry in organizational life. In R.W. Woodman & W. A. Pas- more (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 1, pp. 129–169). Greenwich, CT:JAI Press.

Deutsch, M. (1949). A theory of coopera- tion and competition. Human Relations, 2(2), 129–152.

McGregor, D. (1960). The human side of enterprise. NY: McGraw Hill.

Maslow, A. (1962). Toward a psychology of being. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.

Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York, NY, Free Press.

Seashore, C.N. (1999). In grave danger of growing. Abdsurvivalguide.com/News/ growing.html.

Barbara Bunker, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in Psychology at the Uni- versity of Buffalo and a partner in the Portsmouth Consulting Group. She has taught in executive devel- opment programs at Columbia, Pepperdine, and Harvard Univer- sity School of Education, and has held Fullbright Lectureships in the business schools of Keio Univer- sity and Kobe University in Japan. She can be reached at bbunker@ buffalo.edu.

This group was not formed to get clients, but rather to have a place where we could talk with each other about our work and get advice and counsel. Over the years we also became good friends and now our mission is simply to support each other in our life’s journey. Some of us are still working, some are retired but very active as volunteers. We share the value that you always do better work if you have colleagues to talk with about your ideas and to keep you honest.

49Reflections on Values as an OD Consultant

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