When Meg and Bob kicked off the conversation that others were to join later on-line, they posed a number of questions they thought might generate interest.   They were concerned that people might not have enough to talk about. They needn’t have worried.  These questions are listed at the beginning of each chapter providing the book's structure and organization.

The conversations begin with a discussion about identity and purpose.

The questions that introduced the original conversation included:

"Reflect on the time when you entered into your practice of Organization Development. Describe your stories that would help others to learn from what you have noticed from then-to-now. For example, when you entered the field, did you have a reason, purpose, or challenge that guided your path? What is significant for you as you reflect on the purpose of your work? What continues to keep you energized?"

The Freeze Frame questions at the beginning of this section of the book included:

1. For me, what are the boundaries of the field of OD? What fields is OD related to, and how? Is it important that those boundaries be clear? Why or why not?

2. What was the purpose, if any, that brought me into the field of OD? How does that purpose relate to the work I take on?

3. As I consider my purpose and work in the field, whom do I serve? Do I consider the focus of my service to be a single client, the organization, the employees, a higher power, myself, society as a whole, or something else?

What are your thoughts on these questions, or on any of the answers that were in the book?
 

Our second area of discussion is purpose -- our own, and that of our field.

Personal Principles:

"Reflect on the foundational personal principles that guide your work. What are they? How have your principles guided the type of work you accept and how you do your work? How have your principles been challenged within certain systems? How you resolved those challenges? What messages or questions about operating principles do you have for other practitioners? Regarding your role, do you see yourself as a neutral facilitator helping others through change, or as an activist of your principles? What is the appropriate balance for OD and why?"

The Freeze frame questions at the beginning of this section of the book included:

1. Reflect on the principles and values that guide your work. What are they?

2. How have your principles and values guided the type of work you accept and how you do your work?

3. How have your principles and values been challenged in your work?

4. How have you resolved those challenges?

5. What messages or questions about operating principles do you have for other practitioners?

6. To what extent should OD practitioners be neutral facilitators helping others through change, and to what extent should they serve as activists of their principles?

Please add your answers to these questions, or thoughts triggered by the responses that were in this section of the book that came from these conversations, Organization Development at Work (Wiley, 2003).
  

The third, and largest section in the book that came from these conversations centers on the models, methods and tools with which we do our work.

Models and Methods:

"What are the change models and tools that are making a difference in your work? What models or tools are foundational for you and why? What makes your change efforts succeed or fail? What messages would you like to share about your models, methods or tools? What questions do you have for others about models, methods or tools?"

The Freeze Frame questions at the beginning of that chapter include:

1. What are the models that are the foundation of your work, and why?

2. What are the models and tools that have made a difference in your work or for your clients?

3. How have you adapted your favorite models? Why have those adaptations been important to you?

4. How do the models, methods and tools you use, and the ways you adapt them, reflect your purpose in your work and the values that are core to you?

5. When you create your own models, what elements become important?

6. What advice would you give to a new practitioner regarding OD models and tools and their use?

Answer these questions below, and respond to the entries in the book that came from these conversations, Organization Development at Work (Wiley, 2003).
  

This section centers on the practice of OD in a variety of places.

Organization development has many roots and many routes.

"How do we encounter the practice of OD in different cultures? What is it like to practice OD in your organization, community, society, culture, and what have you learned about what works and what doesn't?"

The Freeze Frame questions at the beginning of Chapter 4 in the book that arose from these conversations (Organization Development at Work, Wiley 2003) included:

1. What have been your observations about the practice of OD in different cultures and in different countries?

2. How does Practicing OD within a global organization differ from practicing in one that does not?

3. What have you learned about what works and what does not in international organizations?

4. What are the suggestions that you have for others seeking to work on a global front?

5. In terms of international OD, what do you wish we as a field were doing more of? Less of?

Share your answers to these and related questions, and your thoughts triggered by the discussion in Organization Development at Work, here.
 

Section 5. The Future

The final section of the book that came from these conversations, Organization Development at Work (Wiley, 2003) centered on The Future:

"Reflect on your hopes, concerns and wishes for the future. What shifts are you noticing? Are there trends or possibilities emerging, either at macro or micro levels? What do you see as the greatest needs for the future? What messages, questions, or concerns do you want to share with other practitioners about the future?"

The Freeze Frame questions that begin that final chapter include:

1. What are your hopes, concerns, and wishes for the future of OD?

2. What shifts are you noticing in the world where you work?

3. What do you see in the future of organizations and business?

4. What do you see as the greatest need for the future in terms of practitioners' purposes, values, models, methods, skills, or competencies?

Share your ideas and questions on these and related questions here.

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