UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — After a lifetime spent researching and teaching about organization development — one of the top 20 fastest-growing professions in the world — William J. Rothwell has earned the Organization Development (OD) Network Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rothwell, professor of education (workforce education and development) in the College of Education’s Department of Learning and Performance Systems at Penn State, is recognized for his substantial and enduring impact on the field and practice of Organization Development (OD). Through his professional and scholarly achievements, he has gained the respect and admiration of professional colleagues for his efforts in advancing the science, practice and impact of OD.
Rothwell will be presented with the award on June 10 at the OD Network Conference in Orlando, and he likened the honor to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
“The Baseball Hall of Fame is filled with the pictures of the people you have honored all your life as your sports heroes. Then imagine that you walk into that Baseball Hall of Fame and find your own picture hanging on the wall,” Rothwell said.
“Think how that would bring chills up your spine and strike amazement in your heart. Probably many people could name some famous baseball players. They would name athletes like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. But fewer people could name the famous OD thinkers and writers of all time. They would include people like Edgar Schein (who coined the phrase corporate culture), Warner Burke, Kathie Dannemiller, Chris Argyris (the teacher of Peter Senge) and so many more. OD thinkers have had a profound and long-term positive impact on the world.
“Imagine how I feel walking into the OD Hall of Fame,” Rothwell added. “This award represents that I have been voted into that esteemed gallery of my own heroes. I feel blessed, honored and humbled to receive this award. Moreover, I thank my colleagues for nominating me and voting for me for this award.”
Bill Brendel, assistant professor of education in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems, said the Lifetime Achievement Award is reserved for those who raise the bar significantly, and the standards of excellence took a giant leap with the induction of Rothwell.
“I’m very fortunate to know many outstanding contributors to this field, most of whom will likely never receive this rare distinction,” he said. “This is especially relevant to everyone in the Penn State community, given that OD is the only profession dedicated entirely to helping organizations (especially higher education) navigate the rapid and unpredictable nature of change. We are fortunate to have not only a resident expert at Penn State but also a world-class thought leader.”
Rothwell is a prolific author and researcher. He has chaired or co-chaired 108 dissertations and has had a global influence on the graduate curriculum across 300 colleges and universities. His breadth of publications includes over 130 books, 300 articles, nearly 200 book chapters and 2,100 presentations. Furthermore, Google Scholar metrics reveal that Rothwell’s publications have been cited nearly 10,000 times, with several of his books translated into seven different languages.
“I am a humanist. That one word — humanism — conveys much meaning,” Rothwell said. “As a humanist, I believe that people find meaning in their lives through the work they do, and learning is a means to the end of helping people discover more meaningful lives through more productive work. My motivation is, and always has been, a fervent belief in helping others.”
Rothwell noted that teaching, training, consulting, writing and researching about OD is a way to enact the humanistic philosophy.
“OD is a humanistic approach to change that values the dignity of human beings, firmly holding that all workers have value and are not just economic assets as in the too-often-lip-service statement ‘our people are our greatest assets,” he said.
“Every worker has talent and has valuable insights, and it is the goal of OD practitioners to facilitate ways to unleash that talent and help organizations become great but also productive, innovative and engaging places to work. Workers should participate in shaping decisions that affect them and not become unwilling victims of change thrust on them by managers who care more about money or expediency than about people, society, community or humanity.”
According to Rothwell, Organization Development is among the fastest-growing fields of practice because the only constant is change, and change in the world is accelerating.
“That is especially true with technology but is also true with nearly every other issue we can think of. Everywhere we look — in technology, science, politics, religion and so much more — disruptive change threatens to upend the status quo,” he said. “Some people fight change; some people embrace change; some people hide from change. OD practitioners try to facilitate change, helping to build communities by getting them involved in bringing about productive change.
“OD is the field that tries to help humans anticipate, prepare for, react to and manage change. The world desperately needs it. And I am pleased to be teaching people who have enrolled in the OD program and helping talented people turn into facilitators who help people engineer their own change in the world.”