The AU MSOD International Residency offers an opportunity to broaden your OD skills through an 11-day residency currently held in Johannesburg, South Africa or Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Prior residencies have also been held in Trinidad and Tobago, Scotland, Canada, and other field sites. Student teams, coached by faculty, work with local client systems to complete a full cycle of action research consultation. Clients benefit from your input--and you gain valuable hands-on experience applicable to professional work in global and multicultural settings.

Prior to the Residency, students spend a class weekend examining theory, models, and experiences of diversity, focusing on their use of self in diverse settings and pathways to inclusion. They examine their experiences and assumptions as U.S.-based practitioners, including how this background affects their responses - and perceptions that host nationals may hold about them -- as professionals working outside the U.S. In addition to this in-depth weekend, students attend an International Residency Briefing led by program staff and course faculty to prepare them for the logistical and financial aspects of the International Residency.

This course includes foundational readings, field activities, the full-cycle OD consultation, lectures and presentations by faculty and leading executives and OD professionals from the host country. Students deepen their learning through written work, team and individual reflections, and presentations to their class. Our students find this Residency to be a landmark experience in the AU MSOD curriculum.

MSOD students should expect to remain fully engaged in their intense consultative work throughout the duration of the IR. The experience includes both weekday and weekend time, and students should expect to be away from work for 9-10 days. While some students take personal time off, many MSOD students work with their organization to consider these days as training, continuing education, and conference time.