AODN Conference Opening Remarks
December 11, 2020 (9am CT)
by Phylis Lan Lin, PhD
Good Morning in Asia, Good Afternoon in Switzerland, and Good Evening in America. This is truly a borderless and timeless international conference. I am Phylis Lan Lin and it’s my privilege and pleasure, on behalf of President Dr. Lee Lu, and the Board of Directors of AODN to welcome you. Today is AODN’s first online annual conference. I am delighted to meet you on the screen. First of all, allow me to introduce our distinguished guests: Dr. Wang Xiaohui, President of CODN, Ms. Chaofan Ma, Co-Founder of CODN, Dr. Matt Minahan, OD Network, , Dr. Xavier Castaner, President Elect of IFSAM, Dr. Fuji Yu Foedjiawati of OD Network Indonesia/Petra Christian University, Ms. Allison Tsao, AODN Australia, Representative for IODN, Dr. Diah Dharmayanti, OD Network Indonesia, Dr. Nandy Lynn, Myanmar OD Association, Dr. William J. Rothwell, President of Rothwell & Associates, Inc., and Mr. Roland Sullivan, Consultant to AODN. I would also like to welcome all new and longstanding AODN members. We are delighted to have your attendance at this year’s conference.
The Asia Organization Development Network (AODN) was conceived by Dr. Udai Pareek and Mr. Roland Sullivan in around 2000. It fell apart but Dr. Lee Lu picked it up for China. Thus Dr. Lu is also considered a co-founder. AODN’s goals are multifold. It aims to connect and network with OD practitioners and scholars in Asia and around the world; to address climate change, to co-create and formulate new conceptual and theoretical frameworks in OD, with a special focus on their relevance to the emerging economic, social, cultural, and technological developments in the Asian region; to promote OD and institutional building practices among all sectors of society; and to offer OD relevant training programs. AODN has alliances with OD institutes and organizations in the USA and several Asian countries. We are so privileged, and we are deeply appreciative to have many of their representatives’ participation in this conference. Thank you
The year 2020 is a year of challenge and transformation for AODN. Recently, under the leadership of co-founder, Dr. Lee Lu, AODN has reorganized its Board of Directors, and undertaken a membership drive, strengthening and expanding its alliances in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia. And most of all, AODN will launch an OD Competency Certificate Program. Mr. Roland Sullivan, a most resourceful and visionary OD practitioner and scholar, has helped AODN to invite internationally renowned multidisciplinary and cross-cultural speakers to offer OD competency courses starting in January 2021. The Program will adopt ODN’s Global OD Competencies Platform to provide practitioners and scholars in HR and OD, and students in OD PhD Programs opportunities to further develop and strengthen their aptitudes/attitiudes, skills and knowledge in OD. Dr. William J. Rothwell will present a special workshop on the third day of this conference to discuss the transformation of HR to OD in the world. Dr. Rothwell’s presentation will be a preview of the Certificate Program. We welcome your participation and support for this program. Please check AODN Website for details.
This year’s conference includes interactive sessions, keynote, workshops, and concurrent sessions with five tracks which will be the platform for OD PhD Program candidates to share their research designs and findings with us. The purpose of this year’s conference is to review the evolution of HR and OD in China, the transformation from HR to OD in the world, and to include selected topics related to prominent issues in HR and OD, including diversity and inclusion, dynamics of change, developing leadership in Asia, creating new culture, developing and learning contemporary OD trends in Asia. The conference will conclude with a special brief presentation on the role of OD practitioners in climate change, a very timely and globally relevant topic of concern for all humanity.
The Online platform “Goto Webinar” operated by Techserv will be used as the conference venue. Presentations will be recorded and will be posted on the AODN Website. We are very excited about this year’s conference’s new format. Technology is a miracle tool. Hope everything goes well and smoothly. Once again, on behalf of AODN, our heartfelt welcome to all of you, and together, may our joint endeavor for the development, professionalization, and internationalization of OD in Asia be fully realized in the years to come.
Before we start this morning’s program, I would like to first invite Dr. Wang Xiaohui of CODN to bring his greetings from China.
About the Presenter:
Dr. Phylis Lan Lin, Professor Emerita, UIndy (Formerly Associate Vice President for International Partnerships, Professor of Sociology, Executive Director of University Press, and Director of Asian Programs at the University of Indianapolis, 1973-2018) serves on the Board of Directors, AODN and is a Visiting Professor for the OD PhD Program at Assumption University, Thailand. She received the UIndy Meritorious Award for forty-five years of dedicated teaching, administration, and service and the Phylis Lan Lin Department of Social Work is named in her honor. Dr. Lin holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Missouri. A prolific writer and editor in Chinese and English, including Organizational Behavior, Stress Management, Sociology, and Medical Sociology, she organized and chaired international symposia on China, Families: East and West, and Service-Learning and established the University of Indianapolis Press. The Master Au Ho-Nien Museum at UIndy is one of her enduring cultural legacies.
For more information about Dr. Lin, please see Founder of the Social Work Department at UIndy at https://uindy.edu/applied-behavioral-sciences/social-work/lin/index and Dr. Phylis Lan Lin: Meet the Founder Compendium at https://issuu.com/phylis-lan-lin. (lin@uindy.edu; phylislanlin@gmail.com)