Dialogic Organization Development: The Theory and Practice of Transformational Change

Dialogic Organization Development is a compelling alternative to the classical action research approach to planned change. Organizations are seen as fluid, socially constructed realities that are continuously created through conversations and images - change happens when those conversations and images change. Leaders and consultants can help foster, support, or accelerate the emergence of transformational possibilities by encouraging disruptions to taken-for-granted ways of thinking and acting and the use of generative images to stimulate new organizational conversations and narratives. Dialogic OD is a different mindset, but it’s also the previously unrecognized underpinning of a diverse array of change methods, such as Appreciative Inquiry, the Art of Convening, Open Space Technology, and many more.