Description

Some organization behavior theorists believe that
the practice of organization development (OD) is
dead, or at least dying. The cause of death is most
often attributed to the emergence in the market
place of change management consultants who are
assumed to be operating from not only a different
theory base, but also a different value system.
While research has examined the values of OD
practitioners, none has been conducted on the values
of change management consultants. Also lacking is
empirical data regarding whether OD and change
management consultants approach planned change
efforts differently. This study has two objectives.
First, it seeks to address the gap in the literature
that compares the values of OD and change management
consultants, grounding the exploration in the
central tendency of informed observers rather than
personal sentiment or opinion. Secondly, this
research examines how the values of OD and Change
Management consultants influence their respective
approaches to planned change in organizations. The
research is cross-disciplinary drawing from
organization behavior, organization development,
psychology, and sociology.