Dialogic OD Edgar Schein

Ed Schein:
I think it’s really a shift in how we think about change. Traditionally, organization development has been very diagnostic. You go in, you collect data, you analyse it, and then you prescribe solutions.

The dialogic approach starts from a different assumption. It says that organizations are really constructed through conversations. What people talk about, how they talk about it, and who gets to talk, that’s what creates the organization.

So instead of diagnosing and fixing, we focus on creating conversations that allow new meanings to emerge.

Marty Kaplan:
So the idea is that change comes from conversation rather than analysis?

Ed Schein:
Exactly. Analysis still has a role, but it’s not the primary driver. The key driver is dialogue.

If you can get the right people into the right kind of conversation, new insights emerge, new relationships form, and people begin to see things differently. That’s what creates change.

Marty Kaplan:
What do you mean by the “right kind” of conversation?

Ed Schein:
It has to be a conversation where people feel safe to speak openly. Where they can suspend assumptions, listen to each other, and explore different perspectives.

It’s not debate. It’s not about winning an argument. It’s about inquiry, about trying to understand what’s really going on.

Marty Kaplan:
That sounds quite different from how most organizations operate.

Ed Schein:
It is. Most organizational conversations are very controlled. People are careful about what they say. There’s a lot of politeness, a lot of avoidance.

But real change requires a different kind of conversation, one where people can surface what’s actually happening, even if it’s uncomfortable.

Marty Kaplan:
So the role of the leader changes as well?

Ed Schein:
Yes. The leader is no longer the one who provides answers. The leader becomes a facilitator of conversation.

Their job is to create the conditions where dialogue can happen, where people can think together.

Marty Kaplan:
And what happens when that kind of dialogue takes place?

Ed Schein:
People begin to construct new realities together.

They start to see the organization differently, develop new shared understandings, and that leads to new ways of acting.

Marty Kaplan:
So in a sense, the organization changes because the conversation changes?

Ed Schein:
Yes, that’s exactly it.

•  Edgar Schein   Former Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

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