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Process Consultation: It's Role in Organization Development
Process Consultation It's Role in Organization Development Author:Edgar H. Schein This book is about a special kind of consultation called Process Consultation -- what it is, and what role it plays in organizational development. — Organizational development is a planned organization-wide kind of program, but its component parts are usually activities which the consultant carries out with individuals or small groups. T... more »his volume focuses on these kinds of activities and therefore deals primarily with interpersonal and group events. It discusses the process by which the consultant builds readiness for organizational development programs, actually conducts training as part of the organizational development effort, and works with the key individuals of an organization as part of an organizational development program.
Process consultation differs from the usual model "purchase consultation" in that for the latter to be effective, the entire responsibility for properly identifying a need and communicating that need falls onto the manager. In Process Consultation, the consultant and the manager work together to identify what processes (work flow, interpersonal relations, communications, intergroup relations, etc.) need improvement.
The importance of joint diagnosis derives from the fact that the consultant can seldom learn enough about the organization to really know what a better course of action would be for that particular group of people with their particular sets of traditions, styles, and personalities. However, the consultant can help the manager to become a sufficiently good diagnostician himself, and can provide enough alternatives, to enable the manager to solve the problem.« less