Using Research To Guide an Organization Development Project

Abstract

This case study describes an OD project conducted within a district of religious communities. It shows how research was used to augment consultation and training and to bring to both consultants and management a more accurate perspective of the organization's problems. At a time of crisis, the district was focusing internally on issues of generation differences and skirting more fundamental issues of organization structure and purpose. The case includes (a) a discussion of the differences in problem-solving perspectives held by OD consultants and their clients, (b) a description of the specific consultant and client differences in the instance under study as well as the research and training design worked out to mediate between them, (c) a report on how research data were first analyzed to address questions raised at the beginning of the study, and then re-analyzed and used to suggest directions for future action and inquiry, and (d) a discussion of some generalizable lessons, derived from the case, for experimenting with change during times of organizational crisis.