The Grand Challenge of Preparing OD Scholar Practitioners for Grand Challenges

This doctoral dissertation investigates a set of problems in the field of organization development (OD) that I believe have become barriers to innovation in the field and to OD professionals doing more inspired work. These include the problem of exclusion, the problem of marginalization, the problem of integration and the problem of relevance. Using Weick’s (1989) concept of theorizing as disciplined imagination, I apply the methodologies of radical theorizing to imagine OD differently, to make novel interpretations of the work of Kurt Lewin, and to conceive of new approaches to OD practice. A conceptual framework that encompasses the diverse and fragmented elements of the study and practice of OD is presented as (a) an OD scholar practitioner mindset, (b) a different way of thinking, (c) a new vocabulary, and (d) a new belief system. A model for the OD scholar practitioner that based upon the alignment of integrated thinking, practice-based theory and philosophical pragmaticism is proposed.