Our purpose as professionals
It is facilitating processes in which human beings and human systems live and work together for their mutual benefit and well-being. Our work is based on a broad process of discovery and shared learning dedicated to the Vision of people living productive, good and meaningful lives, in a way that simultaneously serves themselves, their organizations, their communities, their societies and the world.
We are an interdependent community
Our team of professionals is based on applied behavioral sciences and related sciences, a human systems perspective, and the values of both personal and organizational individuals. We serve people at all levels of the system, from individuals and groups to organizations, communities, and ultimately the global community.
We believe that human beings and human systems
They are economically, politically, socially, culturally, and spiritually interdependent, and their mutual effectiveness is grounded in fundamental principles reflected in the core values that guide our work. These values include: respect for human dignity, integrity, and worth; freedom, choice, and responsibility; justice and fundamental human rights; compassion; authenticity, openness, and honesty; learning, growth, and empowerment; understanding and respect for differences; cooperation, collaboration, trust, diversity, and community; excellence, alignment, effectiveness, and efficiency; democracy, meaningful participation, and appropriate decision-making; synergy, harmony, and peace.
We also believe that our effectiveness as a profession,
Beyond our effectiveness as individual professionals, it requires a broadly shared commitment and behavior consistent with certain ethical and moral guidelines. These include:
Responsibility towards oneself, acting with integrity and being truthful, continually seeking self-knowledge and personal growth;
Responsibility towards Professional Development and Competence, Developing and maintaining our individual competence and establishing cooperative relationships with other professionals to expand our capabilities, performing within the limits of our possibilities, culture and experience when providing services and using techniques;
Responsibility towards Clients and Other Significant Stakeholders, serving the long-term well-being of our “client system” and its stakeholders, conducting every activity, program, or professional relationship in an honest, responsible, and appropriately open manner;
Responsibility towards the profession of Organizational Development and Human Systems Development (DO-DSH)***, contributing to the continuous professional development of other practitioners and the profession as a whole, promoting the exchange of professional knowledge and skills;
Social Responsibility, acting with sensitivity and accepting responsibility for the fact that our recommendations and actions can alter the lives and well-being of people within our "client system" and in the larger system of which they are subsystems.
The ethical and moral position upon which the DO-DSH profession is based, along with the beliefs and values underlying that position, are more fully described in “An Annotated Statement of the Values and Ethics of Organizational and Human Systems Development Professionals.” This CREDO is based on that “Annotated Statement.”.
** A global perspective doesn't mean changing the focus of our practice, but only the context in which we view our collective work. And by changing the paradigm of who "we" are, we can become a global professional community whose collective action can have global significance based on our practice and on how we do what we say.
*** DO= OD: Organizational Development, DSH= HSD: Human System Development