OD Practitioner as Agents of Social Change

 THEINTACTFRONT3 MAY 2018 2 COMMENTS

The OD Practitioner invariably plays several roles during the lifecycle of an OD project.

The roles of OD practitioners may also be viewed from the lens of the position held by them in
the client organization, that is, as internal OD practitioner or the external OD practitioner. The
few roles which any OD practitioner plays during any OD and Change Management project
include:

As Consultant: In the role of a consultant, the OD practitioner utilizes his/her core consulting
competencies and acts in consultative mode. She would dedicate time and effort in understanding
and analyzing the ‘as is’ position of the client system vis-à-vis the problem for which she is hired
and in making sense of the organizational issue at hand, then present the analysis and her
perspective on the issues facing the organization. In a consultative role the consultant acts as an
adviser, who presents perspectives and suggestions regarding the possible solutions to the
problem. She applies her experience, understanding and specialized knowledge of OD in
suggesting the solutions, making recommendations and specific advice to the organization. As a
consultant, the practitioner assesses the organizational issues with subjectivity and objectivity,
while managing their personal subjective biases, in the better interest of the client organization,
while remaining completely neutral. Also, the practitioner is in a consultant role when she
engages in contracting and negotiating the agreements.

As Expert: The OD practitioner is usually engaged, by the client, for her expertise in

understanding the organizational issues and facilitating the implementation of the best possible
solution. While it is recommended that most of the OD process be facilitated in a collaborative
manner, with the members of the client organization putting forth adequate participation in every
part of the process; yet, it is inevitable that the practitioner’s discretion as an expert is sought to
move ahead on the project. At such junctures, the practitioner has to act as an expert and help the
client take the necessary decisions and actions. As an expert the practitioner has to, not only
make recommendations, but specifically prescribe the solution or action plan. While being
prescriptive is more commonly adopted and accepted practice in all other consulting, most of the
OD consultants practice it only sparingly, keeping in mind that the OD approach is a
participative and collaborative approach to change and improvement.

As a facilitator and Trainer: The OD practitioner, during the lifecycle of the project, takes up
the task to train the organizational members in executing the OD project. Since an OD or change
project required participation of the members of the client organization and the team identified to
work with the consultant may not be equipped with the nuances of the OD practices, the team
members may have to be first trained. The OD practitioner acts as a trainer and conducts training
programs and workshops to impart necessary conceptual knowledge or practical skills to the
team.

Also, since any OD project is taken up with intent to bring about a change in the organization or
part of it, it becomes imperative that the organization members are taken through several
sensitizing workshops and recalibrating sessions facilitated by the OD practitioner. Right from
the diagnostic phase of the project, the practitioner facilitates data collection, analysis, feedback,
solution finding, so on and so forth. The facilitator role of the practitioner prevails throughout the
OD project. It is most important role that the practitioner plays while the client system goes
through the phases of unfreezing, change and refreezing. As a facilitator, the practitioner
facilitates the client system in making self-discoveries, accepting the realities discovered and
new perspectives that emerged, finding and implementing the solutions. Since most part of the
OD work deals in behavioral aspects and people dynamics, related to change within the
organization, a facilitator should have a deeper understanding and expert skills in facilitating
human behavioral processes.

As a Coach: The OD practitioner acts as a coach to the organization’s leaders and change

agents. The underlined approach of OD is to build the problem-solving capability and enhance
the competency of the client system, so that the organizational members don’t remain dependent
on the consultant to solve similar problems in future. The practitioner acts as a coach to the
change leaders and the change agents in the organization engaged in the project can depend on
their organic resources to solve future issues.

Also, The change leaders and the change agents within the organization (or the team member
involved in the change project) working on the project, have to deal with dynamic situations of
the change process on an everyday basis; it takes enormous amount of pressure, stress and
dilemmas that they have to face. The practitioner acts as a coach helping them develop
capabilities and competencies in dealing with the pressure and managing through the dilemmas
themselves, while the practitioner provides support and facilitation. She acts as an effective
sounding board, asking effective questions to help the coachees reach the desired decisions
themselves. She becomes a support system for the organizational member and the change team
as they move through the change process effectively.

As a mentor: The practitioner acts as a mentor to the team involved in the OD project, imparting
skills related to OD and Change process, so that the teams can manage the change even after the
project is closed. It is important that the practitioner transfers the skills and knowledge by
gradually mentoring the team as the changes implemented ought to be institutionalized and
carefully monitored post completion of the projects as there may be possible fallouts of the
changes implemented. The practitioner guides, advices and teaches the team all the required
skills, so they are able to manage the future implications organically.

As a Researcher/inquirer: Especially during the initial phase of the OD project the practitioner

acts in the spirit of curiosity and inquiry. The practitioner adorns the hat of a researcher and
inquirer in order to make sense of the organizations’ climate related to the problem and of the
current problem itself. During the entire data collection and analysis phase, the practitioner’s
researcher role is activated. Even after the diagnosis phase is over, since most of the OD projects
are based on action research approach, the researcher role of the practitioner remains activated.

As an Influencer: The OD practitioner leads the organization members and the client system
through the OD project, it requires her to adapt the role of an influencer and the practitioner
utilizes all the other roles to influence. The practitioner will act as an expert at times to influence,
while at other time, she will act as a coach or mentor or facilitator or simply as consultant. The
team benefits from the consultants influencing role in order to execute the project successfully.