Responsible Freedom as the Goal in OD, Part I

This chapter and the two following propose that it makes sense to view OD as “increasing responsible freedom,” and they consequently swim against a substantial tide, as it were, and quite self-consciously. Thus, powerful voices in recent years have called for OD to be less stiff-necked in the service of its traditional values, and thereby to be of greater service to managers and executives (e.g., Beer, 1989). But these three chapters seek to be more explicit, and in a global-tending way, about how and why traditional OD values are better served by thinking in depth about “responsible freedom.”