Page 169 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Organization Change and Development

Notes
Example: The CEO, vice president of human resources, and another vice president.
Still another model of who the client might be is a steering committee comprised of
representatives from different levels and functional areas. In this case, if the CEO is not a
member, the consultant will need to be sensitive to whore presents the CEO, or, in short, who
represents the power structure. The whole process will be impotent if a steering committee is
not free to act in the absence of the CEO.

12.2 Issues

These issues tend to center on the following important areas:

12.2.1 Entry and Contracting

An initial discussion that can lead to an OD consulting contract can occur in various ways:
During the face-to-face meeting, the consultant explores with the potential client some of the
deeper aspects of the presenting problem.
Furthermore, in the first meeting, the consultant and the client probably being to sort out what
group would be the logical starting point for an OD intervention.

If the problems appear to lend themselves to OD interventions, the consultant describes how he
or she usually proceeds in such circumstances.
The more formal compensation aspects of the initial contract are also important and need to be
clarified for the peace of mind of both client and consultant. One course of action is to have an
oral agreement for an hourly or daily fee, with no charge for a brief telephone discussion and
usually no charge for a longer first exploration.
Constricting, in both a psychological and financial sense, occurs over and over in OD consulting.

12.3 Trust Issues

A good deal of the interaction in early contacts between client and consultant is implicitly
related to developing a relationship of mutual trust.
Similarly, the consultant’s trust of the client may be starting at neutral. The consultant will be
trying to understand the client’s motives and will want to surface any that are partly hidden.
On a positive note, the client may see OD as means of increasing both the client’s and the
subordinates effectiveness, plus having hopes that successful OD effort may bring considerable
recognition from superiors. Surfacing such motives and examining their implications for effective
behaviour will enhance trust between the consultant and the client and will help to assure the
eventual success of OD activities.
Confidentiality must be maintained if trust is to be maintained, implied in Weisbord’s ground
rules for contracting. Even unintentional errors can be disastrous to the consultant-client
relationship. Gavin gives an illustration in which notes made by consultants on the leadership
and communication styles of managers were inadvertently duplicated and circulated to
participants along with notes on workshop themes and action steps. The consultants had been
asked to do the latter; the notes on the managers’ styles had been intended to be used by the
facilitators in private counseling sessions with individual managers. As Gavin reports it, by the
time these notes had been circulated, any semblance of trust in the consultants had been destroyed.

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