OD practitioners as facilitators of change

A study was undertaken to determine the degree of knowledge and understanding that organization development (OD) practitioners have regarding key issues in the management of change in organizations. Other variables of interest included the preferred mode of influence or consulting style based on a transformational versus transactional framework and the degree of tolerance for ambiguous situations. Data were collected using 2 survey instruments, the Managing Change Questionnaire (MCQ) and the Change Agent Questionnaire (CAQ). Responses were compared with previous findings from managers and executives and then analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple regression techniques to identify differences among categories of practitioners. OD practitioners were found to be transactional in consulting approaches, and tolerant of ambiguous situations. Educational background and nonacademic training experiences were identified as contributing factors in these trends.