IN DEFENCE OF PROCESS CONSULTATION

Abstract

Process consultation is an approach to organisational intervention created by Edgar Schein. It describes a philosophy of helping that is based on the collaborative working of consultant and client, paralleling the client‐centred approach in counselling, and contrasted with consultancy models that are centred on expertise. The term “process consultation” has become a technical term in organisation development for the concept and practice of working with groups in OD interventions. The effect of this is to confine the notion of process consultation to one particular intervention process. This does not do justice to what is fundamentally a philosophy of a helping relationship. The core of the process consultation approach is not so much its applicability to group situations but its articulation and application of a philosophy. This is what has been neglected in the literature, so that process consultation has been denigrated into a group‐intervention strategy. An attempt is made to restate some of the key principles and practices of process consultation with a view to emphasising its role in providing a model for the helping relationship and an approach to organisational research.

Citation

Coghlan, D. (1988), "IN DEFENCE OF PROCESS CONSULTATION", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 27-31. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb053635