This first blog is devoted to anyone wanting to know more about the field. As a graduate student I remember looking forward with anticipation to learning which books my professors would recommend for their classes. Upon becoming a professor I took the selection process of books and supporting materials very seriously for the courses I taught. This blog lists seven books that every OD Practitioner would benefit greatly from owning. While of course there are many other worthy titles, those shown below are the books I find myself continuously referencing. They are listed in alphabetical order by title.
- The Corporate Culture Survival Guide by Edgar Schein, isbn 0-7879-4699-0. Anything by Schein is classic. And, I use this book in particular because of the attention it pays to corporate culture and the ways to make it explicit to those in the organization. This book contains an incredible activity aimed at identifying an organization’s “artifacts” and what they say about what is really driving decisions and actions.
- Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision Making by Sam Kaner, 978-0-7879-8266-9. This is a veritable “cookbook” of activities aimed at collaboration with pages chock full of activities aimed at helping groups use divergent and convergent thinking to make better decisions. It also features specific situational communication skill how-to’s that would benefit any facilitator or leader.
- Flawless Consulting by Peter Block, isbn 0-7879-4803-9. The subtitle of the book says it all “A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used.” It certainly is that. This book is about consulting, not specifically OD consulting, however our field is tailor made for the process Block outlines.
- Intervention Skills by Brendan Reddy, isbn 0-88390-434-9. This is a prescriptive book that gets into the detail of how, when and what to say when intervening in a group. Reddy passed away far too soon, but through this book we can carry on his legacy of practicing thoughtful, intentional OD.
- Knowledge for Action by Chris Argyris, isbn 1-55542-519-4. This is not as much of a “how-to” as some of the other books on this list. It is however a book that shows the inner thinking of a genius in the field of OD as he performs a long-term consulting assignment with a senior leadership team. Its a gift to get insight into how a master of the field approaches his craft in real-time.
- Managing Corporate Life Cycles by Ichak Adizes, isbn 0-7352-0057-2. This is a dense read, but if you really wants to understand how companies develop and the problems they will encounter during their existence, this is the book for you.
- Process Facilitation by Roger Schwartz, isbn 978-0-7879-4723-1. This is a wonderful book about clarifying what a facilitator’s role should be in working with a group. It contains a great list of ground rules for working with groups. Lots of examples and specific ways to phrase interventions abound in this book.
Let me know your favorites as well! Tad