Berger and Luckmann’s (1966) social constructionist framework allows a
distinction to be made between three types of change processes, all of which
may occur during the course of an OD trajectory. The aim of this article is to contribute
to a more general ‘theory of change’, indicating what types of change exist,
and to propose a ‘theory of changing’, indicating how change processes can take
shape (Porras and Robertson, 1992; Austin and Bartunek, 2006). This will be done
by examining Berger and Luckmann’s basic social constructionist notions to find
out how they apply to OD. This will give rise to two intriguing insights. First, both
social constructionism and OD recognize the importance of shared perception to
understanding behavior and change, amplifying the idea that shared perception is
one of the main desired outcomes of any OD intervention. Second, shared perception
can be established by dialogue, defined as an interpersonal process to
exchange individual frames. The article ends with a discussion of some implications
for OD practice, specifically with regard to ‘programming’ dialogue as
main vehicle for change