O.D. Institute Newsletter

April 2008

Various Topics

Combined 2008 Organization Development Institute Conferences

             The 28^th Organization Development World Congress and the 38^th Annual Information Exchange are combined this year. They will be held jointly on June 8-14, 2008 in Cagliari, Italy on the Island of Sardinia. This provides an important and unique opportunity to network and learn with O.D. professionals from around the world! Dr. Mario Gastaldi, RODP is Contact Person for the Italy O.D. Network and he has agreed to Chair this exciting event. Mario and our Webmaster are furiously working on a special spot on our website.   Check out the special website at www.odinstitute.org for additional information. We are expecting to have it up shortly. Please do register early yourself, and pass this information on to everyone you think might be interested in such a gathering of OD practitioners and those who are interested in learning more about the field in a spectacular setting. 

Articles Sought

        We are continuously looking for articles that will provide useful learning for O.D. practitioners/educators. Case studies are particularly valuable, but theoretical pieces with clear application to O.D. practice are invited, as well. Please send to Dr. Joel Finlay, RODC via odjed@yahoo.com. Include short bio (50-150 words), photo(s) of author(s), and abstract with the article body and references in APA style. Prepare it as a presentation first, and share it with us in Cagliari! See complete guidelines in the Organization Development Journal or at www.ODInstitute.org. Several senior O.D. consultants have accepted the challenge of submitting descriptions of failed interventions and projects. We often say that we learn more from our failures than our successes. We have all had them so let’s get some good out of them so everyone can gain from our mistakes! Such studies may be shorter than the 10-15 pages we usually look for but still should follow APA style and include bios, photos, and abstracts. (It is OK to disguise the organizations.) Send your “learning experience” to odjed@yahoo.com.

 Discussion Forums Online

        The long-awaited Discussion Forums are now online at www.ODInstitute.org/forums/. Kudos to webmaster John Brooking! Check them out soon and you may be the first to comment! Just  go through a simple registration process that the site will walk you through. We really hope that these forums will help us all by providing insight into what O.D. Consultants are passionate about and need to be discussed more fully, plus generate ideas for articles and presentations. We can add boards, put monitors in place, etc. Do get on board with your thoughts and ideas! Who will be the first to volunteer as a monitor?