Celebrating the Career of W. Warner Burke: The Very Model of an OD Scientist-Practitioner

Introduction

The theory and practice of organization development (OD) emerged in 1960s out the social, cultural, and political factors of the time. Although no singular event, piece of theory or research, or organizational change intervention has been identified as being the impetus behind OD, there are a handful of scientist-practitioners who were seminal in shaping the future of the field. Most of these individuals authored books during the late 1960s to 1980s in the Addison Wesley Series on OD, which today remain the starting point for learning about the field and its key areas of practice. Authors such as Ed Schein, Jay Galbraith, David Nadler, Chris Argyris, Richard Beckhard, and W. Warner Burke contributed unique volumes to the series that helped shape the theory and practice of OD for the next 40 years. The purpose of this special issue is to recognize and reflect on the contributions and legacy of one of these original scientist-practitioners, W. Warner Burke.

Burke’s many contributions to the theory and practice of OD over the past six decades have had both a foundational and evolutionary impact on the field (Kaiser, 2018). Although the complete list of his achievements is beyond what can be listed here, it is important to note that his legacy goes beyond just the 100s of articles, more than 20 books, journal editorial roles, and leadership positions in professional societies in which he has engaged throughout his career. He has also served as a consultant to CEOs and Fortune 100 organizations (e.g., Burke & Jackson, 1991), worked with government agencies such as NASA (e.g., Burke et al., 1985), and facilitated change efforts in almost every type of social-organizational form possible (e.g., education, religious, health care systems, and professional services firms). Finally, Warner has also served as professor, colleague, and mentor to 100s of academics and professionals in the field today, and a teacher to thousands of graduate students pursing their degrees in the social-organizational psychology program he founded at Teachers College, Columbia University. Many of the doctoral students he mentored have themselves gone on to make a significant impact in academia, consulting, and industry as leaders in their own right, reinforcing his legacy as new generations of OD scientist-practitioners.

Warner, however, is a role model of continuous learning (Noumair, 2017) and continues to write and help shape the field himself as well. Over the decades, his commentaries and research studies on the state of OD dating back to the 1970s (e.g., Burke, 1971, 1976, 1982a, 1993, 2011a; 2018; Church et al., 1994; Church et al., 1996; Church et al., 2018a; Fagenson & Burke, 1990; Sashkin & Burke, 1987; Shull et al., 2013) and prediction of future trends (e.g., Bradford & Burke, 2004; Burke, 1982a, 1995, 1997; Burke & Goodstein, 1980; Church & Burke, 2017) have been well received and reviewed by others, including his most recent set of insights published in the OD Practitioner in 2017 having almost 24,000 reads on ResearchGate. In short, Warner has holistically influenced the way in which we understand, research and practice the field of OD.

This special issue honoring Warner Burke provides seven unique perspectives by contributing authors on the ways in which Warner has influenced his colleagues, students, and clients throughout his career. These range from more formal review articles to personal reflections and storytelling. Each are described briefly below.

Overview of Special Issue Articles

The first article by Jean Bartunek titled “Leaning from Failure in an Organization Design to Develop Success” takes the reader back to the early days of the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In this reflective case study, she outlines how Warner applied the principles of OD to the very organization he was leading in an effort to solve the crisis situation at the time, and the implications for Warner and others of learning from failure. In some ways this likely foreshadowed his emphasis on learning agility decades later. The article begins with an overview of the evolution of NTL from inception to the current state and internal challenges in the 1960s when Warner was confronted by the need to stand for his values in the face of actions taken by the then president of the organization. In his role as whistleblower, Warner learned what whistleblowers today continue to learn; that despite the validity of their stand, the risk of engaging in a challenge to your boss’s authority is great. After reporting what he witnessed to the board of NTL, Warner was fired by the president. The board did not protect him. Bartunek then discusses the ways in which Warner has processed his experience over the years and reflects on (and asks further questions about) the critical role that failure plays in individual learning orientation and development.

Next, Celeste Coruzzi provides a fascinating example of the power of the Burke–Litwin model (Burke & Litwin, 1992) in practice by reporting on its use during an intervention with the Electric Boat Company, which was undertaking a major organizational transformation. Coruzzi engaged leaders at Electric Boat by using the model to answer the question, “What problem are we trying to solve?” She then coached Electric Boat through using the model to help the organization carry out a self-study in order to “lead change with intelligence.” More than 200 interviews and focus groups were conducted across the organization, capturing views from executives, directors, managers, first-line supervisors, technical design, engineering, and administrative functions to understand the organization as a whole system and address the company’s biggest aspirations and concerns regarding the changes ahead. A survey of the design engineers was also completed based on the model, resulting in 124 responses and 16,000 comments. As gaps between the current state and desired future state were identified, the data were used to fashion a targeted action plan to enable the organization to address its challenges. Coruzzi reflects on Lewin’s adage that “There is nothing as useful as a good theory” in reference to the power the model provided in guiding the successful work undertaken in this instance.

Kim Cameron in his “Tribute to Warner Burke: Responses to the Problem of OD Stagnation” simultaneously celebrates Warner’s ongoing need to reflect on the nature of the field (as cited earlier in this introduction) as well as attempts to address the issues that have been raised for decades, including that is there has been no new innovation OD since Appreciate Inquiry was introduced in 1987 (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987). Using the concept of Positive Organizational Scholarship, Kim makes the case that since 2013 there has been a significant shift in the OD literature toward a more positive and productive change agenda, which has been helped by the support Warner provided via-a-vis his role as Editor of The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (JABS) until this past year. He goes on to outline four convergent uses of Positive Organizational Scholarship—adopting a positive lens, investigating extraordinarily positive performance, espousing an affirmative bias, and exploring virtuousness noting that are natural integration conceptually with existing OD theory and practice. The article then provides a series of minicase studies and examples where these concepts and interventions are applied in different ways.

Next, Jill Paine and Fred Delmhorst address the challenges concerning relevance and rigor in the work of scholar-practitioners, a path that Warner both exemplified and advocated. Although Warner did not have the opportunity to work directly with Lewin, he was a disciple of his methodology for bringing about change in individuals, groups, organizations, and the world (including his graduate students at the Teachers College program). Paine and Delmhorst note the many points of difference in the priorities, orientations, and values of scholars and practitioners, which make the scholar-practitioner approach extremely challenging. Using dimensions of engaged scholarship developed by Van de Ven and Johnson (2006), they then provide examples, including work carried out by Warner, that illustrate how these differences in the orientations of scholars and practitioners have been successfully managed.

Finally, Paine and Delmhorst report the results of interviews they conducted with Burke himself and four other scholar practitioners about the evolution and current state of the art in engaged scholarship. The insights provided should be of interest to those with an inclination to take on the challenges that Burke inherited from Lewin and continues to engage today.

In the next article, Spain and Reed explore the contributions Warner made through his collaboration with the United States Army and West Point in particular. Having served as an artillery officer himself, Warner’s respect for the military never waned. When presented with an opportunity to bring the Eisenhower Leadership Development Program to Columbia, he jumped at the chance. His early partnership with Todd Henshaw, Everett Spain, and Tom Kolditz led to the redesign of the program, which continues in operation in its 16th year. Students in the program are largely captains and majors returning from active duty who have been selected by the Army to lead a company of cadets through their 4 years of study at West Point. While these tactical officers, as they are called, learned leadership in the field, the additional insights they gain through the completion of a 1-year master’s degree program in social-organizational psychology are invaluable to their work. Since the Eisenhower Leadership Development Program was created, Warner has also welcomed Army Fellows, high-ranking officers on a 1-year leave to pursue a customized course of education, to Columbia to study with him. More recently, Warner partnered with the Army to create the Benavides Leadership Development Program for staff sergeants who work alongside tactical officers in guiding cadets through their paces at the Academy. The impact of these programs on the Army, detailed by Spain and Reed, have been dramatic.

In their article titled “Leadership and Learning Agility,” David Hoff and David Smith describe Warner’s contribution to the field in the context of his most recent area of focus, that is, the ability to learn from experiences. After a brief overview of the origins of the learning agility construct dating back to the seminal Center for Creative Learning studies of the 1980s, they highlight the components and psychometric properties of Warner’s new measure (The Burke Learning Agility Inventory). This includes a review of the instrument’s development research and subsequent criterion validation studies that have been undertaken since its introduction. Taking a behavioral perspective rather than a personality-based approach (as some competitive LA frameworks do), Burke’s approach is specifically designed to help individuals identify and change those behaviors that enable learning. In short, it is both diagnostic and actionable at the same time, which makes the application of insights far easier than more traditional personality-based approaches. This reflects yet another hallmark of Warner’s career and contributions to the field of OD over the years—that is, an emphasis on designing and implement feedback tools to help leaders, managers, and individuals learn about their strengths and opportunities in ways that yield actionable (i.e., reflecting observable behaviors) avenues for improvement. His earlier Leadership Assessment Inventory, a multirater feedback tool focused on distinguishing between leader and manager behaviors, followed a similar model.

The final article comes from Harvey Hornstein, his long-time colleague prior to and during his many years at Teachers College. In his reflective entry titled “Why,” Harvey reflects on some of the early roots of their work together at NTL, and highlights Warner’s forever inquisitive approach to understanding social dynamics and organizational systems. As he points out, and something that has been a constant facet throughout Warner’s career, the art of asking why and synthesizing learnings from that discovery (and often diagnostic) process has resulted in the creation and sharing of new knowledge with others for decades. Warner has always been one to reinforce the consulting frame of reference of treating the underlying cause (the why) and not the symptom, for example, when designing organizational change interventions. Moreover, in many ways, Warner’s interest in asking why is also reflective of his interest in self-awareness, and more recently, the construct of learning agility. The art of asking why is indeed at the core of Warner, the scientist and practitioner.

Personal Reflections

On a more personal note, both the guest editors of this special issue have been significantly influenced, developed, and coached by Warner throughout their own careers in many different ways. Allan Church began his professional journey with Warner both as a graduate student studying managerial self-awareness (Church, 1997) and working closely with Burke for almost 10 years at his consulting firm specializing in 360-degree feedback and organizational surveys for change. For Church, this time period was encapsulated in several books on these topics and an adjunct teaching stint at Teachers College, as well as many jointly authored articles with Warner on the current and future state of OD. In the 20 years since joining PepsiCo in an OD role originally, Allan has leveraged the consulting skills, content knowledge in the field, and the values embodied by Warner in developing numerous internal culture surveys, leadership competency models, and custom 360 feedback systems that have literally touched more than 300,000 employees. Later, when Allan moved into the talent management practice area, he continued to carry his OD roots with him in assessing and developing high potentials at all levels in the company using many of the same techniques taught by Warner so many years before. This work culminated in a partnership and new set of articles and book chapters between the two along with Amanda Shull, another of Warner’s former doctoral students, including a comparison and reexamination of the state of the practice of OD in 2013 (e.g., Shull et al., 2013), and a key comparison of the similarities and distinctions between the principles and values of a having an OD versus TM mindset (Church et al., 2018b). In keeping with his ongoing passion for learning and reflection about the future, Warner and Allan also cowrote an award winning and influential article on the future of OD in the OD Practitioner (Church & Burke, 2017). As a testament to Warner’s impact, Church also agreed to design and teach at Burke’s request the first ever course on strategic talent management for the Teachers College program.

Bill Pasmore met Warner in the 1970s at a professional conference at which Warner was a discussant on the panel. When Bill came up for promotion for tenure and associate professor at Case Western Reserve, he suggested Warner as an external reviewer of his materials. Although he never saw the actual review, Bill received the promotion and tenure and was eternally grateful to Warner from that point forward. Bill visited Warner regularly when he found himself in New York, first infrequently and eventually on a more regular basis when he joined Delta Consulting in New York, run by Warner’s close colleague David Nadler. Nadler had been on the faculty at the Columbia Business School and partnered with Warner on a number of initiatives, including the design of a practicum course on consultation, which Bill would eventually teach some 30 years after its creation. During his 10 years at Delta, Bill worked closely with many of Warner’s former doctoral students who followed a well-trodden pipeline from Teachers College to Delta Consulting. He also kept up his visits with Warner in New York and at professional conferences, often sharing concerns about their joint interests in NTL and JABS.

A few years after Delta Consulting was sold to Mercer Oliver Wyman, Bill left to join the Center for Creative Leadership to lead their new practice in organizational consultation. About 2 years into the job, Warner called to ask if Bill knew any “young scholar practitioners” who might be interested in working with Warner and his colleague Debra Noumair in designing and delivering a new executive masters program on change leadership. Bill volunteered immediately despite his age (he didn’t qualify as a “young” scholar practitioner) and joined Warner and Debra on the faculty of Teachers College as a professor of practice on a full-time basis while maintaining a position on the executive team of the Center. A few years later, Bill’s close friend and colleague, Dick Woodman, was about to step down from his role as editor of JABS. Warner, heading the search committee as he traditionally did, turned to Bill in order to maintain the momentum Dick built and return JABS to its original editorial home at Teachers College. Bill held the post for 5 years and then returned the favor by turning the role of editor back over to Warner, who carried the title for 4 more years. Warner, Debra, and Bill continue to serve as colleagues as they are in the process of redesigning the executive master’s program they launched 10 years previously.

As one of the coeditors of the Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers (Szabla et al., 2017), Bill enlisted Debra Noumair to write the chapter on Warner (Noumair, 2017). Noumair calls attention not only to Warner’s incredible contributions as a scholar and practitioner but also to his attributes as a person. From his Alabama roots to his days in Texas and eventually to his arrival at Columbia, Warner remained a learner and a person who cared deeply about those around him. Bill and Allan were only two of hundreds who owe a part of their career success to the influence of Warner Burke.

Closing Comments

Given his extensive publishing, leadership, consulting, and academic career, there are many approaches one could take to summarizing the contribution that Warner Burke has had to the field of OD. Whether it is based on his career stages and choice points (e.g., Burke, 2015) or significant contributions to the academic literature (e.g., Burke, 2014a; Burke & Litwin, 1992) or the ongoing success and constant updating of his popular texts on OD (e.g., Burke, 1982b, 1994, 2011b, 2014b, 2017), it is clear that Warner has made an impact on his students, his colleagues, and his clients. Whether it has been through the introduction of assessments for understanding leadership and managerial behavior or measuring the current and future capabilities of OD practitioners, the creation of custom surveys and feedback tools to drive culture change and support CEO transitions in some of the world’s largest organizations, the design of a new conceptual framework for understand the social-psychological dynamics of organization performance and change, or new ventures into the concept of “learning agility,” there is no doubt he has contributed immensely to the theory and practice of OD.