Spring/Summer 2006 Issue

Greetings!

My name is Joe Merton and I have been given the opportunity to continue the great work done by Chris Buss as editor of the Beacon. I’d like to thank Chris for a job well done and for setting a standard of excellence and creativity. Working with Chris has been a pleasure as well as a privilege.

It seems we are both blessed and cursed to live in interesting times. The velocity of business takes up increasing amounts of our lives and generates much uncertainty about our futures. The technology which enables that velocity also allows us to connect with each other across the globe. I believe those connections are a precursor to the sort of self organizing behavior described by Margaret Wheatley and others. I believe we will live to see how our ability to connect becomes the basis for a better future than we can imagine.

Living in uncertain times has also been a challenge to ODNC board members and this is our first newsletter in some time. In this and future issues, we will focus on three topics: professional development, promotion of OD, and forming connections throughout the OD community.

Featured Articles:

Organizational Redesign: Helping Your Business Restructure by John Cooper, MSOD
John is a Managing Partner with Milestone Partners, LLC and a former President of the Board of ODNC.
Microsoft Word (.doc) | Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf)

A Facilitator’s Experience of Open Space by Julie Benesh, SPHR, MS, MFA
Julie is Director of Employee & Organizational Development at Rush University Medical Center and a former ODNC Co-Chair and Mentoring Chair.
Microsoft Word (.doc) | Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf)

Show Me Your Credentials! Is OD Certification in Your Future?
Bruce is Board Advisor and Former President of ODNC. He is a Managing Partner of Milestone Partners, LLC.
Microsoft Word (.doc) | Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf)

Events of Interest

Impact Awards
The fourth annual ODNC Impact Award presentations will be held November 10, 2006 at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. We believe the Impact Awards are effective in promoting OD in the Chicago business community so please think about organizations/clients you know who might be eligible for the award and watch for more information!

Other Useful Information:

Anyone interested in learning more about Systems Theory will find this website full of useful information: http://www.systems-thinking.org

I found this paper, “Bureaucracy & Organizational Politics: Emergent Characteristics of Structure” to be interesting and useful. You may link to it directly at: http://www.systems-thinking.org/bop/bop.htm

There are a number of Professional Development Networks (PDNs) that will be of value to OD practitioners and students. Detailed information about them is located on the CCASTD website: http://www.ccastd.org/pdn_networks.html

Plea for Input

It is no secret that Organization Development struggles for recognition and understanding as a profession. The OD community is small and there are not many businesses with a separate OD department. Still, we want to learn more and reach out to each other despite our accelerated lives. I believe the Beacon is an opportunity to do so. Here are some possibilities:

I’ve only described a few possibilities and of course, there are many more than I can think of. Please send your ideas to me at jkmerton@comcast.net. I can’t wait to see what you have in mind!