ABSTRACT
The more frequent and well-advised truisms encourages that Organization Development (OD) intervenors seek out pain, trauma, and discrepancies between actual conditions and ideas, all the better to function in that "facilitator" role so prominent in OD how-to-do books. The facilitator role has much to recommend it, especially in the senses of maximizing the probabilities of client ownership of any learning, as well as minimizing the chances of charismatic but misguided ODers precipitating a naive client into awkward situations. The chapter suggests four contributors to a working solution. First, work to set appropriate expectations, and discourage hopeful thought by the client about one-shot designs doing the job forever. Second, create a field of forces—which would label "political"—to discourage a client from taking easy ways out later in the game. Third, gather data at regular intervals, especially via standard instruments like Frank Friedlander's Group Behavior Inventory. Fourth, focus on periodic "socioemotional audits" at least as much as episodic team building.
