Abstract

This research investigated ethical dilemmas, resolution strategies, and decision-making styles among organization development practitioners. The literature of organization development and professional ethics was reviewed and lists of potential dilemmas, resolution strategies, and decision-making styles were developed. ;Thirty-four organization development practitioners were interviewed about their experience with ethical dilemmas. A questionnaire was designed to measure frequency of occurrence of 39 dilemmas, preferred resolution strategies and preferred decision-making styles. The survey instrument was sent to 509 randomly selected members of the Organization Development Professional Practice Area of the American Society for Training and Development, with a response rate of 46.9%. ;Frequency and chi-square procedures were used in data analysis. Thirteen of the 39 dilemmas were reported as occurring at least occasionally by 40% or more of the respondents. Using a.05 significance level, no differences were found between men and women with regard to the frequency with which they encounter ethical dilemmas in the practice of organization development. Six of the dilemmas showed differences in frequency between people with various organization-development job roles. ;The questionnaire offered nine possible resolution strategies for each ethical dilemma. Negotiation, open confrontation, and action research were the most commonly reported resolution strategies. There were no differences between men and women, nor between internal and external consultants, in the resolution strategies used. ;The most commonly used decision-making styles are reliance on internal resources , discussion with other people , and pragmatism . No gender or role comparisons were possible in this part of the study. Neither the ethical codes of their professional organizations nor decision-making models are used by respondents. ;Recommendations include encouraging practitioners to discuss ethical dilemmas and decisions with peers in both formal and informal settings, increasing education by the professional organizations about their codes, and encouraging academic institutions to develop and teach decision-making models and ethical thinking skills within their curricula