Marginality and the OD Practitioner

The study on which this article is based demonstrates the usefulness of exploring the cognitive maps of OD practitioners, especially their marginality orientations in relating to groups. The approach taken differs from the usual approach to marginality, which stresses its negative and undesirable features. The authors' contrasting view is that marginality can be associated with personal qualities of neutrality, open-mindedness, and flexibility in processing information, all of which can be useful and desirable, both personally and organizationally. A new topological approach measures the perceptions of marginality of a large sample of internal and external OD practitioners. The results indicate that significantly more external OD practitioners report marginal orientations than do internal OD practitioners.