Anderson, Organization Development, 4E

Anderson, Organization Development, 4e

SAGE Publishing, 2017

Discussion Questions

Chapter 1

1. Think of a job that you have held. It may be your current job, or it may be a job that you had in the past. Now take a few moments and write down several reasons why you found that job or work environment to be a positive or rewarding experience, or several reasons why you found it to be a negative or unrewarding experience. Share your ideas with a classmate. Did you note any similarities or differences? What OD interventions discussed in Chapter 1 do you think might have been helpful in this organization?

2. Have you ever participated in an organization development project or intervention? What was your experience?

3. Write down a few common perceptions that you have about organizational change. What factors do you think make a change successful or unsuccessful?

4. After reading Chapter 1, what do you think would be the most interesting and most challenging aspects of becoming an OD practitioner?

Chapter 2

1. What are the differences between first-generation OD and second-generation OD? What are the major changes between these two generations of OD practice? What do you think have been the losses or gains in the second generation of OD practice?

2. Think about any past work experiences you have had and compare your experiences to the motivators and hygiene factors discussed in Herzberg’s theory. Do the factors that motivate you reflect what Herzberg found? Has motivation changed since Herzberg’s research? If so, how? Has what motivates you changed over time?

Chapter 3

1. List four or five of your own personal values. How do these affect your actions? How do your values relate to the values of OD covered in this chapter?

2. Of the OD values listed in Chapter 3, are there any that you think should carry greater weight than others?

Chapter 4

1. Anderson lists a number of models of organization and organizational change in Chapter 4. Which model appeals to you most? Why?

2. Considering these models, and your own knowledge of organizations, develop your own model that could inform an OD practitioner leading an organizational change.

3. Search the Internet for the websites of organization development and other management consultants. Try to find an explicit or implicit model of organization or organizational change that they recommend. How do these relate to the models presented in Chapter 4?

Chapter 5

1. There are advantages and disadvantages to being an internal and external consultant. Many of these are listed in this chapter. Can you think of others? Based on your reading of the roles of an internal and external OD practitioner, which role do you think is easier? More rewarding? Which role do you think you would prefer?

2. Table 5.2 lists many recommended competencies for organization development consultants. Which of these do you see as mandatory or absolutely necessary? In which of these skills or knowledge areas do you feel you are more or less proficient?

Chapter 6

1. Read the opening vignette to Chapter 6 again. Why did the client respond that “this is the strangest sales pitch I’ve ever heard”? What do you think the client was expecting?

2. In initial meetings during the entry stage, clients often want reassurance that the practitioner can address the problem, but the practitioner must try not to overpromise results. What are some ways that the practitioner can walk this line in the first meeting?

Chapter 7

1. Which of the five types of data gathering discussed in this chapter do you think is most effective? Which do you think is the most difficult to conduct?

2. Have you ever been interviewed (for a job, school admission, scholarship)? How did it feel? Were you put at ease or did you feel uncomfortable? What are some lessons from your experience that might apply if you were to conduct an OD interview?

3. Can you think of other methods of data gathering that are not discussed in this chapter that might be useful in an OD engagement?

Chapter 8

1. Have you ever received difficult or painful feedback? How was it presented? How did the presentation of the feedback affect your understanding and internalization of it?

2. Have you ever had to deliver difficult feedback to a friend, family member, or coworker? How did you do it? How was it received? What, if anything, would you do differently if you did it again? Based on your reflections about these two feedback situations, what lessons would you apply to an OD situation where you might have to give difficult feedback to a manager?

Chapter 9

1. Of the OD interventions you have participated in, which would you consider successful? What factors do you think contributed to the success of those interventions? Of those that were unsuccessful, why do you think they were unsuccessful? Can you add to this chapter’s list of reasons for unsuccessful interventions based on your experiences?

2. This chapter lists a number of considerations in choosing the right intervention strategy. In your view, how might you prioritize these? What do you think are the most important considerations in choosing which interventions to implement first?

Chapter 10

1. Have you ever experienced a transition? What did the ending stage/neutral stage/new beginning stage feel like to you? What did you do to move between stages? How do you think your experience might relate to members of an organization who experience a major change (e.g., a merger or acquisition, changes in a job or role, changes of a manager, loss of a team member)?

2. In Chapter 10, Anderson notes that a previously popular model of career development now seems to be inapplicable to the current environment. Do you agree? Does the stage model accurately reflect your career development? What stage do you currently identify with? How do you see your career developing in the future?

3. Have you ever had a mentor or been a mentor yourself? What was the purpose and duration of the relationship? How did the mentor help you, or how did you help your mentee? What agreements did you make about the mentoring relationship (how did you get started, how often did you meet, what role did the mentor take?) What did that experience mean to you? What do you think makes a good mentor?

Chapter 11

1. Name a few teams to which you have belonged. Would you consider them good experiences? What made them good experiences (or poor ones)? How did team members recognize and act on their interdependence? What interventions might have been useful in those teams? Why?

2. What is most important to you when you join a new team? How would you structure a team startup meeting to help a leader initiate a new team? How would you use the team startup intervention for a new cross-functional team, a new self-managed team, or a new virtual team?

Chapter 12

1. Organizational culture can be an instructive but also an elusive concept. Think about an organization you know well—perhaps a university environment, or even this course as an organization. How would you describe its culture to an outsider? Compare that organization with another: How do the two differ on such dimensions as physical space, language use, and underlying assumptions and values?Which culture type best describes these organizations?

2. Do you think that organizational culture can be changed? Why or why not?

3. Reflect on the structure of an organization to which you belong. Which type of structure outlined in Chapter 12 best describes that organization? In your experience, what are the advantages and disadvantages of that structure? Would another structure have fit the organization better? Why or why not?

Chapter 13

1. Have you ever experienced a merger or acquisition? What factors made it successful or unsuccessful? What do you think are the most important “people” factors in M&A?

2. Think of an organization you know well. To what extent do you think that organization would be amenable to dialogic OD? Why or why not?

Chapter 14

1. Imagine that an OD consultant were going to conduct an intervention in an organization you know well. What outcome or process variables (see Figures 13.1 and 13.2) would you use to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention?

2. When should an OD practitioner exit an intervention? What do you think might make this stage especially challenging?

3. Consider this sentence in Chapter 14: “Work too hard at stability, and complacency and stubborn adherence to the new status quo may become the rule, which can inhibit future change attempts.” How can an organization be both stable and adaptable to change at the same time? What does that imply for the role of the OD practitioner?

Chapter 15

1. Reflect on a cross-cultural experience or interaction you have had. What challenges did you find in that experience? What could have made that interaction smoother?

2. What are some of the ways that you have seen globalization at play, either in your personal life or in your workplace?

Chapter 16

1. Do you agree with the characterization of Generation X and Generation Y? Why or why not? What implications do you think these preferences for work have for the workplace?

2. How do you prefer to be managed? What do you think a manager needs to do to engage and retain a person in your generation?

3. Can you think of additional ways that OD might make use of technology in an intervention?

4. If sustainability is one of the future trends in OD, what do you think might be ways that a practitioner could help an organization become more sustainable? Which interventions described in the text would be most helpful or relevant?

5. Can you think of other future trends in work and organizations that might be the next opportunity for OD to contribute?