ETHICAL GUIDANCE FOR ORGANIZATIONAL

DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE
MBA 203 Organizational Development
Questions
1. What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?
2. Would it matter if this group would compensate
you for your time?
3. Would it matter if this was a private company
and you were already employed there?
Scenario
You have learned of a possible project that would allow
you to practice your new OD skills with nonprofit
organization. While you have not led a workshop like this
before, you are enthusiastic about the opportunity, and
this would be a great career move that would also help
deserving organization. You would agree not to charge
the group for your services.
 What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?
● Strive continually for self-knowledge and personal growth

● Recognize our personal needs and desires and, when they

conflict with other responsibilities, seek whole-win
resolutions.
This situation will improve our social and leadership skills since this work
would require great effort to organize people. Having the said workshop
would also let us tap to people that had prior experiences with the same
event hence learning will commence. These experiences could also add to
the credibility we have as professionals.
 What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?
● Assert your own interests in ways that are fair and equitable
to us as well as to our clients and their stakeholders
This will be a great venue for us to express our creativity and show things
that we are passionate about. However, we should consider other opinions
and be open minded enough to accept ideas that would improve the project
that we are undertaking.

● Ability to act effectively with individuals, groups, and large,

complex systems.
 What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?
● Provide consultation using theory and methods of the applied behavioral
sciences
● Articulate theory and direct its application, including creation of learning
experiences for individual; small and large groups; and large, complex
systems.
● Recognize our personal needs and desires and deal with them in the
performance of our professional roles and duties.
● Consult with people who are knowledgeable about the unique conditions
of clients whose activities involve specific areas in which we are
inexperienced or not knowledgeable.
 What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?
● Be aware of the beliefs and values relevant to serving our clients,
including our own, our profession’s, our culture’s, and those of the people
with whom we work (personal, organizational, and cultural).
● Be prepared to make explicit our beliefs, values, and ethics as OD-HSD
professionals.
● Avoid automatic confirmation of predetermined conclusions about the
client’s situation or what needs to be done by either the client or
ourselves.
 What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?
● Explore the possible implications of any Od-HSD intervention for all
stakeholders likely to be significantly affected; help all stakeholders while
developing and implementing OD-HSD approaches, programs, and the
like, if they wish help and we are able to give it.
● Maintain balance in the timing, peace, and magnitude of planned change
so as to support a mutually beneficial relationship between the system
and its environment.
● Contribute knowledge, skills and other resources in support of
organizations, programs, and activities that seek to improve human
welfare.
 What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?

● Accept some clients who do not have sufficient resources to pay our fees
and allow them to pay reduced fees or nothing when possible.
● Engaged in self-generated or cooperative endeavors to develop means
for helping across cultures.
Doing the workshop for free is not only helping others but also helping yourself. When
doing cooperative endeavors, you learned something every event. It can be in form of
lifestyle, or culture or beliefs. Being immersed in different culture will make you value
life and by that you’ll be able to help them too.
 What ethical considerations exist for your
participation?

● Always treat people as Ends, Never only as Means

This principle requires that we respect people for who they are and not
merely for what they do or what they have. Never treat people as means to
organizational ends. Rather acknowledge the importance of their personal
life. Do not focus on people’s positions. Rather remain sensitive to everyone.
 Would it matter if this was a private company
and you were already employed there?

It wouldn’t matter if it’s a private company, a non-profit

organization or even if it’s a government agency that you’ll be
rendering your service to. The main goal is to provide leadership
in order to function together and to provide each other ideas
and learnings for the development of all.

What matters is that you’ll get to practice and enhance your

skills which was the core reason that you accepted the project
enthusiastically.