This forward-thinking book introduces HR leaders to core organization development strategies and skills--providing creative approaches, practical tips, and proven methods to help them succeed.Since the 1990s, a transformation has occurred within the role of human resources departments. HR professionals are being called upon to help determine priorities in running the business, craft organizational development strategies, and shape the culture within their company.

“Use of self” is what Organizational Development practitioners call the complex set of awareness and behaviors that make it possible to be genuinely helpful to others. Effective use of self is essential for influencing change in an organization. This section will help you understand how your assumptions influence your behavior and your perception of others; how to counter covert dynamics in the workplace that undermine productivity; how to encourage ethical leadership; how to foster inclus...

Thinking systemically and strategically means moving beyond a focus on the individual to understand the larger organizational and environmental systems and how the dynamics of those systems impact work performance and the readiness for change. This section will explain how certain problems recur and are often made worse by quick solutions; how one decision can impact many people and set in motion a situation that can create numerous unexpected outcomes for the organization; and how to deci...

The role of the HR professional has shifted from personnel administrator to business adviser, which includes consulting and partnering with the organization’s leadership and other service providers. This section will help you learn what core skills are needed for consulting; how to develop partner relationships to support innovation and change; how to work with clients in a consultative mode; and how to deal with the challenges of being an internal consultant.

The pace of change is increasing and shows no signs of slowing down. This section brings you the best thinking from forty years of the OD Practitioner journal on:- The different kinds of change and what's needed to achieve each one.- What you must do to see change initiatives through to completion.- The enablers that must be in place for change to succeed.- Examining change from the change recipient’s point of view.- How to establish internal change agents who can help advocate for the cha...

Employee engagement makes a difference. HR professionals know this intuitively and so do leaders. They want employees to care about their work and actively engage with the job and the organization. But now we know that employee engagement is not just something that makes intuitive sense. It also reaps financial rewards. This section provides case studies, hard data about what is effective, and proven techniques for increasing employee engagement in the important work of the organization in...

Organizations are globalizing at a frenetic rate. The world is becoming more connected each year and each generation of technology speeds up this process. What once took weeks and then days to share now can be done in minutes. This section will help you understand the dynamics of culture and diverse values in a global environment; how to manage across both virtual and physical borders; and how to sustain the performance and engagement of multi-ethnic, multifaceted employees. Also included ...

We are living in an age of continual motion and change, and as a result traditional strategy planning has become outmoded. Every manager, perhaps even every employee, needs to become a strategist. Every strategist, in turn, needs to develop deep consumer insight - or empathy - as a basis for flexible strategy formation. This book offers a practical guide on how to develop and implement a systematic process of strategic empathy to lead to greater effectiveness and day-to-day success.

There seem to be two realms in our waking time: work and life. However, work is often juxtaposed against life, which is found in anything but work. Organizational work has become nothing more than the necessary evil, the means for a livelihood. Work has ubiquitously become the enemy of life. What culprit has dichotomized work and life? Public secrets!Empirically based, this book explores and testifies why the phenomenon of public secrets may have transformed our organizational life...

Buono (Bentley College) collects material on changes in the management consultant industry, current trends and techniques in management consulting, and concepts of consulting theory building and intervention. Contributors in business administration, strategic management, and organizational change offer perspectives on the various ways in which consultants and their firms are attempting to position and reposition themselves as leading professionals, and address topics in linkage research, g...

This anthology introduces the Framework for 21st Century Learning from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills as a way to re-envision learning and prepare students for a rapidly evolving global and technological world. Highly respected education leaders and innovators focus on why these skills are necessary, which are most important, and how to best help schools include them in curriculum and instruction.

Every day we work with others to solve problems and make decisions, but the experience is often stressful, frustrating, and inefficient. In How to Make Collaboration Work, David Straus, a pioneer in the field of group problem solving, introduces five principles of collaboration that have been proven successful time and again in nearly every conceivable setting. Straus draws on his thirty years of personal and professional experience to show how these principles have been applied by organiz...