Who We Are
Our MISSION is to help practitioners make organizations more effective, successful, and inspiring for all.
Our VISION is to be a community that brings diverse theory and practice together to advance organizations through design.
There are 3 easy ways to get involved.
Our Community
Our community is a diverse group of life-long learners, who are energized by free-flowing information, the application of ideas for good, and by connecting with colleagues. We are practitioners with varying levels of experience, interests and roles in organization design.
Our experience has been that most people’s needs align around three categories, and we use this understanding to influence what we offer.
Practitioners
Practitioners for whom organization design is their career, or a skill required as part of a broader role.
Learners
Budding practitioners for whom organization design is an interest or newly assigned accountability.
Help Wanted
Individuals seeking information about organization design or access to organization design practitioners.
The Core Values That Guide Our Actions
Learning
We continuously strive to advance our knowledge and the practice of organizational design
Community
We purposefully cultivate connections and kinship among our practitioners
Engagement
We actively participate in the community and foster the exchange of ideas
Generosity
We embrace selflessness, and gain through giving freely
Authenticity
We revel in being our true selves in our work, and with one another
Our History
ODF was formed in 1989 by a group of early organization design practitioners. This was a time when contingency theory, socio-technical systems design, behavioral psychology, the social sciences, and the emerging complexity of multi-national corporations were inspiring deep interest in organization design.
First known as The Association for the Management of Organization Design (AMOD) the organization was led by Dan Duncan, an industrial psychologist, who held the first public seminars on practices and cases in organization design in the 1980’s.
Our Structure
ODF’s organization design is based on a shared leadership model. All Board members have responsibility and decision-making authority for a work stream or project, and come together as a team to decide on the overall direction for ODF.
