Awards

AWARDS

Every year, IODA recognizes those members who have made an outstanding contribution to either the mission of IODA and/or to the OD profession in general. The Saul A. Silverman Award and The Richard Beckhard Award enable IODA to seek out and award these individuals. Find out more about each award process and criteria below.
THE SAUL A. SILVERMAN AWARD
Each year, funds from the endowment are used to make an award. The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage people who have applied innovative tools and theory towards healing and the resolution of conflict, in line with Organization Development values and approaches.

IODA formed the Silverman Endowment Committee which is responsible for the development of the Fund and the Selection of the Award Recipients.

The committee currently includes: 

  • Marc A. Silverman, OD Consultant, Committee Chair & former President of IODA
  • KC Soares, OD Consultant, Founding President of IODA
  • Noble Kumawu, OD Consultant & Current President of IODA
  • Sasha Farley, OD Consultant & General Vice President of IODA
  • Rod Barnett, OD Consultant & former Vice President of IODA
  • Enrique J. Zaldivar, President of Inspired-Inc., IODA member
  • Michelle de Bruyn, OD Consultant, former President of IODA
  • Bhumiphat Gilitwala (Modi) Ph.D in OD. OD Lecturer, Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand

The funds are managed by the Rhode Island Foundation, an organization that specializes in the management of charitable funds. 

Applications are open year round and will close each year on June 30th for review and selection of awardees. Awards will be given during the IODA Annual Conference. 

Have a look at our YouTube channel which includes interesting video interviews of OD conflict resolution and healing stories. 

Donations in any size are welcome. All funds received go directly into the Saul A. Silverman Endowment Fund, with proceeds used to recognize recipients through this award. As IODA is a registered 503(c) non-profit organization, donations are tax deductible for USA citizens. For those from other countries, check with your national accounting professionals regarding any tax benefits.

Donations can also be made by sending a check to the Rhode Island Foundation, One Union Station, Providence, RI 02903 and put “for the Saul A. Silverman Endowment Fund of IODA” in the memo line.

Criteria Considered in making the award:

  • Previously unrecognized practitioners
  • People who have been on the ‘front line’ of assisting individuals, communities or nations to move forward in their healing processes
  • Work that has the potential to be replicated or extended
  • How the work advances the theory and practice of conflict resolution in ways that align with organization development principles and values
  • How the work enhances human dignity and rational dialogue
  • Advancements in the field of organization development and conflict resolution through new and innovative theory and practice.

Individuals may nominate themselves or someone they believe would be an excellent candidate to receive this award. The applicant will be asked to complete a short application form motivating why they should receive the award. All applications are reviewed by the Selection Committee and recipient of the award is announced at the annual IODA Conference.  

Applications are open year round and will close each year on June 30th for review and selection of awardees. Awards will be given during the IODA conference yearly.

If you are nominating yourself, please complete the entire form.

If you are nominating someone else, please complete items 1, 2 and 3, and ask the applicant to complete item 4 and sign acceptance of their nomination for the award.

1. Details of the nominator (if different from the applicant):
2. Details of the award applicant:
3. Please write a brief motivation for why the applicant fits the criteria for the award, which include:
  • Previously unrecognized practitioners.
  • People who have been on the ‘front lines’ of assisting individuals, communities or nations to move forward in their healing processes.
  • Work that has the potential to be replicated or extended.
  • How the work advances theory and practice of conflict resolution in ways that include organization development principles and values.
  • How the work enhances human dignity and rational dialogue.
  • Advancements in the field of organization development and conflict resolution through new and innovative theory and practice.
4. To be completed by the applicant: Please share some more detail about the nature of the your work, covering areas such as:
  • People who have been on the ‘front lines’ of assisting individuals, communities or nations to move forward in their healing processes.
  • Work that has the potential to be replicated or extended.
  • How the work advances theory and practice of conflict resolution in ways that include organization development principles and values.
  • How the work enhances human dignity and rational dialogue.
  • Advancements in the field of organization development and conflict resolution through new and innovative theory and practice.

Please email supporting information to marc@sii-inc.net. Supporting information can include an article, short video, photos, presentation, interview, letter of support from community or client group.

RICHARD BECKHARD AWARD

Each year the Richard Beckhard Award (RBA) is given to an IODA member who has made an outstanding contribution to either the mission of IODA or to the OD profession. In 2024, we’ll be honouring a member who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of OD. 

The current Chairs of the Richard Beckhard Award Committee are Karen Davis and Ben Arikpo. 

Richard Beckhard, was one of the founders of the field of Organization Development. One of the most well-known definitions of organization development comes from Beckhard:

“Organization Development is an effort planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization’s ‘processes’, using behavioral-science knowledge.” (1969 Organization Development: Strategies and Models)

Each year the Richard Beckhard Award (RBA) is given to an IODA member. We alternate each year between the award for outstanding contribution to the field of OD and the award for outstanding contribution in furthering IODA’s mission. This year it is the turn of ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Field of OD’. The IODA RBA Committee receives nominations from members each year and the award is announced at our annual conference.

For 2025, a member will be honored for Outstanding Contribution in Furthering IODA’s MissionThe nomination and selection process will result in a final candidate being announced at the IODA ODWS 2025 Ghana taking place from 3 to 5 September in Accra, Ghana.  

The following criteria are considered by the committee:

  1. The Richard Beckhard Award for outstanding contribution in furthering IODA’s mission:
  • Outstanding work and effort in promoting IODA’s vision, mission, philosophy and practice at the international level
  • Significantly strengthening IODA’s network
  • Outstanding contribution, for at least three years, to building IODA’s institutional foundation and mode of operation
  • Outstanding management of IODA’s annual conference
  • Initiating and conducting social activities impacting the cohesiveness of IODA
  1. The Richard Beckhard Award for outstanding contribution to the field of OD:
  • Introduction of new tools, innovative theories, creative models or interventions
  • Important academic publications or research impacting the conceptualization and/or practice of the OD consultant
  • Outstanding contribution at annual conferences for at least 5 years
  • Presenting high quality lecture
  • Conducting innovative workshops
  • Broadening the conceptual framework of OD through his/her practice
  • Fundamentally challenging the way of thinking about the values and practice of OD
  • Adding value to societies, organizations and individuals with whom they have worked
  • Someone who is currently serving on either the Executive Committee or the RBA committee cannot be considered for the award.

The requirements for nominating:

  • You must be a member of IODA.
  • Write a letter in support of the candidate with a personal statement about why you are making this nomination
  • Include references of the candidate’s professional work ideally including curriculum vitae
  • Candidates should not be informed that they have been nominated. Absolute confidentiality is required.
  • Send your complete nomination to Karen Davis, karen@karenjdavis.com and Ben Arikpo, barikpo@gmail.com.
  • 2002 Perla Tayko, Philippines
  • 2002 Marvin Egberts, Netherlands
  • 2005 KC Soares, USA
  • 2006 Arkady Prisgozhin, Russia
  • 2007 Imre Lövey, Hungary
  • 2008 Ury Gluskinos, Israel
  • 2009 Jose Campoverde Ayers, Peru
  • 2010 Noble Kumawu, Ghana
  • 2011 Rita Aloni, Israel
  • 2012 Karen Davis, USA
  • 2013 Ulla Nagel, Germany
  • 2014 Marc Silverman, USA
  • 2015 Ben Arikpo, Nigeria
  • 2016 Mee-Yan Cheung-Judge, UK
  • 2017 Peter Kalmar, Hungary
  • 2019 Suzanne Zaldivar, USA
  • 2021 Fr. Martin, Thailand
  • 2023 Rod Barnett, Australia
  • 2024 Enrique J. Zaldivar

IODA life-time award

  • 2009 Udai Pareek, India
  • 2010 John D. Adams, USA
  • 2015 Imre Lövey, Hungary
  • 2015 Edgar H. Schein, USA
  • 2016 Abad Ahmad, India