Organization Development: A Process of Learning and Changing, Third Edition

8. Understanding Organizations: Covert Processes¹

As a result of a failed organizational change initiative, my colleagues and I (Noumair, Winderman, & Burke, 2010) argued for combining group relations and organization development in the practice of organizational consultation. Although tension exists between these approaches, we nonetheless made the case for the importance of organizational consultation practice that combines more deeply these two theoretical perspectives. OD models and frameworks alone are not always sufficient to surface underlying forces that influence the behavior of individuals, groups, and entire systems. Although attending to covert processes has long been an aspect of OD work, the aim of this chapter is to present a conceptual ...