(Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International. This is the fourth blog post in a six-part series about the history of Organization Development, “On the Shoulders of Giants.” NOTE: Most of what I have learned about Frederick Taylor I received from my long-time OD colleague, Marvin Wseibord, both in personal conversations and [...]
(Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International, with Billie Alban, President of Alban & Williams, Ltd. This is the third blog post in a six-part series about the history of OD.) Introduction to this Blog Series In the first part of this series, we explored some of our ancient ancestors in the [...]
(Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International, with Billie Alban, President of Alban & Williams, Ltd. This is the second blog post in a six-part series about the history of OD.) Introduction to this Blog Series In our work as OD practitioners, whose shoulders are we standing on? Whose ‘conceptual DNA’ runs [...]
(Guest post from John Scherer, Co-Director of Scherer Leadership International, and Billie Alban, President of Alban & Williams, Ltd. This is the first blog post in a six-part series about the history of OD.) Introduction to this Blog Series In our work as OD practitioners, whose shoulders are we standing on? Whose ‘conceptual DNA’ runs [...]
As a consultant, you work with clients to solve problems. Or, perhaps your philosophy is to help them address “priorities,” rather than “problems.” In any case, it’s extremely important to understand your own approach and how it affects others, especially your clients when working with them. Different people have quite different preferences and approaches for [...]
Our firm gets 4-5 calls/month from people wanting to know how to start or grow a consulting practice. Obviously, there’s no standardized procedure for that. It depends on the nature of the service you’d offer as a consultant. If you’re selling services to develop job descriptions for rural electric co-ops in Kansas, well your service [...]
1. Technical consultants They usually provide highly specialized content expertise regarding certain specific systems and processes in the organization, for example, computer systems, financial and accounting systems, market research or facilities management. Many organizations hire technical consultants. The types of services provided by these consultants are often referred to as technical assistance. 2. Management consultants [...]
In my last half-dozen posts I have been focusing on system theories of organization. I have done this because practitioners of organization development depend upon theories about what makes organizations tick. Nothing so practical as a good theory said Kurt Lewin, the mind behind action research. Well thought out theories helps us sort patterns and [...]
We need just a bit more theory before we can take the next step, which is broadening this monologue on systems from theory to principles of re-design and change. A little more theory might be a foundation of informed actions. The diagram about the organization as a socio-technical system (below) is a useful view of [...]
A colleague called me last week, reporting that she had actually spoke face-to-face with one of the gurus in our field of Organization Development. In her extreme excitement, she could hardly speak slowly enough for me to actually understand her. Several months ago, I got a brochure announcing an upcoming conference in my field. As [...]
Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organization development and consultant training services, and is developer of the Free Management Library. [Read more ...]
Jim Smith has been a consultant for over 40 years, and has very strong knowledge and expertise in successfully guiding change
in many types of organizations. [Read more ...]Provided by
