Competencies in Consulting

To be a consulting professional, you must possess certain competencies, including knowledge, behaviors, and skills beyond technical ability. To be successful, you must also be rigorous in your ability to analyze the nuances of ethical situations and to apply the foundations of organizational psychology and higher order thinking to assess and diagnose problematic situations.

What behaviors and skills do you believe are necessary to effectively work as a practitioner for change in organizations? What attitudes toward client work help a consulting professional become successful, and what attributes or personal qualities are essential for this kind of work?

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources.
• Think about which competencies are critical for OD practitioners, and how these competencies might benefit practitioners and clients.
• Also consider how competencies might support ethical interventions within an organization.

By Day 3

• Identify five critical competencies needed by an OD practitioner, and explain why you selected these competencies.
• Explain how the competencies you selected will benefit both the practitioner and the client.
• Suggest one competency you think an OD consultant must possess to be effective at ethical interventions. Explain why you selected this competency.

Required Readings

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

Institute of Organization Development. (2015, December 20). Critical OD competencies to help you become a world-class OD interventionist [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://instituteod.com/iod-announces-7th-annual-o…

International Organization for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes. (n.d.). Ethical guidelines and professional standards for organization development and group process consultants. Retrieved from https://www.iagp.com/docs/IAGPOrgEthicalguidelines…

Jex, S. M., & Britt, T. W. (2014). Organizational psychology: A scientist-practitioner approach (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

• “Ethics in Data Collection” (pp. 53–54)

Rothwell, W. J. (2015). Organization development fundamentals: Managing strategic change. Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.

• Chapter 4, “Competencies of Organization Development Consultants”
• Chapter 6, “Ethics and Values in Organization Development”
• Appendix II, “The International Organization Development Code of Ethics”

Wooten, K. C. (2008). Ethical issues facing O.D. in new paradigm organizations: Back to the future. Organization Development Journal, 26(4), 11–23.