As an increasing number of organizations move to adopt some form of quality management, organization development (OD) practitioners are being called on to assist with these efforts. A growing number of OD practitioners are entering into such quality management consulting content areas as providing clients with roadmaps for implementation, instructing management teams in the principles and methods of quality management, and serving as facilitators/trainers of quality improvement project teams. The authors believe there are inherent dangers attached to this trend. This article first explores the basis of what seems to be the strong attraction that quality management has for OD practitioners and then discusses some of the risks associated with OD practitioners entering into content areas of quality management consulting. Finally, the authors offer what they believe to be several distinctive, value-added roles that OD practitioners can play when consulting with organizations interested in implementing quality management models. These roles both add value to the client system and are consistent with the core ideals and values of the OD field.
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