OD Practices in France: Part II

The vagueness of consultants' ideas as to what OD is, their diverging opinions as to its technical contents and the underground nature of the practice make OD in France rather elusive. OD tends to develop only in organisations where the absence of urgent problems and the vagueness of the feeling of unease make the agents receptive to long and unconventional intervention methods and facilitate the use of these methods. In this way, the practice of French consultants which does not originate from a democratic ideology and which pays more attention to the analysis of the stakes system within each organisation goes beyond the movement of planned change. OD in France appears to become more bureaucratic, or interventions acquire certain bureaucratic features deeply rooted in the French organisational context. The French case might be used as a field of experience and reflection.