Yabome Gilpin-Jackson illustrates
and extends some of Marshak’s points
in Practicing in the Grey Area between
Dialogic and Diagnostic Organization
Development: Lessons from a Healthcare
Case Study. Using a case example, she
suggests the need to clearly understand the
mindsets of both approaches in order to
be able to move between the two when and
how needed. She explains how she and the
others in the case made choices to use diagnostic,
and then dialogic interventions, and
the reasoning behind those choices. The
article proposes a grey zone requiring use
of both approaches when: 1) Complexity
of the situation is moderate to high (suggesting
the need for a dialogic approach);
but 2) System readiness to use a dialogic
approach is moderate to low (suggesting a
diagnostic approach).
Because we are exploring new ter