Exploring Self-awareness from Organization Development Practitioners' Perspectives

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Organization Development & Change (D.O.D.C.)

Department

Organization Development

First Advisor

Michelle Brodke (Committee Chair)

Second Advisor

David Jamieson (Committee Member)

Third Advisor

Michael Zickar (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

HeeSoon Lee (Other)

Abstract

Self-awareness is considered one of the most important skills an Organization Development Practitioner (ODP) can develop to best serve their clients. However, there is limited knowledge about ODPs' levels and practices of self-awareness. Additionally, past research on self-awareness has focused on the component of self in the activation of self-awareness. In this study, ODPs were surveyed to understand if there is a difference in general and work-focused self-awareness. The situational self-awareness scale (SSAS) by Govern and Marsch (2001) and the self-awareness in nursing practice (SAN) scale by Rasheed, Sundus, and Younas (2020) were used to measure general and work-focused self-awareness respectively. In Phase 1 of the study, 76 ODPs were rated using both instruments. Results indicated that the work-focused self-awareness score was higher than the general self-awareness score for ODPs. While there was no significant difference in the general self-awareness of ODPs by gender, the results showed that males' work-focused self-awareness was lower than females'. In addition, the results indicated a significant positive relationship between years of experience and work-focused self-awareness and between work-focused self-awareness and general self-awareness. In Phase 2, seven ODPs identified (via open-ended questions) possible self-awareness topics and words associated with these topics. Results from Phase 2 revealed the following: (1) an overall positive sentiment scores associated with ODPs work-focused self-awareness; and (2) the topic modeling revealed that the words associated with the three topics are mainly work-related terms.

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