Stages in Developing a Consulting Relation: A Case Study of a Long Beginning

Abstract

The literature on Organization Development (OD) emphasizes a collaborative relationship between consultant and client and an open, data-based confrontation of an organization's problems in human interaction. Less attention has been given to how collaboration and openness are achieved. Focusing on organizational self-analysis in organizations new to OD, this paper considers the stages of development through which consultant and client organizations must pass for the consulting relation to reach maturity. The paper is based on a case study of an OD project in which 2 years were consumed in this preparatory phase. The argument is made that before the desired changes in the organization are possible, a meta-change in the organization's capacity to learn and change and to collaborate with change agents is necessary. On the basis of the case study and the literature on group development, a formulation is presented of the stages by which this meta-change is accomplished. The argument is made that this developmental phenomenon must occur at two levels-both at the level of particular units of the organization and at the level of the organizational system as a whole.