Strategies of an Organizational Development Consultant

OD Consultant  

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An organization that sometimes in need of advice or change seeks the help of an organizational development consultant. ODC can influence an organization or firm with their knowledge and skills, but they don’t make the ultimate decisions on what way the organization should continue to function. ODC help to identify areas of distress by diagnosing the issues or concerns about the organization. There is a list of accomplishments from an ODC and the type of client that request services from the OD consultant that will likely influence the type of output that will benefit the establishment. Overall, I will compare and contrast the roles and styles of an ODC and explain the role and style that would best fit you as an ODC.

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An organizational Development consultant can be internal and external. Cheung states “[ODC] should develop relationships with peers and professionals with whom to check perspectives, talk through challenges and strategies, and align values and practices” (Cheing, 2012). “[internal] OD consultant can be a permanent member of the organization who facilitates OD, whether or not that is their sole or primary responsibility in the firm”, according to Bierema (2014). Internal OD consultants may not be so objective or have obstacles because the consultant it is an indefinite member of the organization. On the other hand, “[external] OD consultant can be hired by a firm to help identify areas of distress that may involve employee team building, the way processes/systems are being implemented or the overall effectiveness of the organization itself”, according to Bierema (2014). External OD consultant has the ability to take high risk and have a neutral objective viewpoint of the organization. All in all, OD consultants are classified by the type of relationship an internal consultant has verse external consultant have with an organization or firm.

There are four styles of consulting: Acceptant, Catalytic, Confrontational and Prescriptive. First, acceptant style which is used when the client’s feelings and emotions are preventing them from dealing with the problem logically. That is to say, the key to an acceptant style approach is that internal consultant or external consultant must use empathic listening and support on their client (s). Namely, to help their client(s) to acknowledge and deal with their feelings that are blocking progress within the organization or firm. Second, catalytic style is where the internal consultant and external consultant can help the client with the following: to clarify their understanding of the problem and do a thorough diagnosis. But, before the internal consultant or external consultant can help their client move on to next problem, they must examine all possible options and then making a decision to which the client would be willing to commit un the end. Third, confrontational style is sometimes the internal consultant or external consultant that sometimes acknowledge that the client is part of the problem. Both internal consultant and external consultant may see it necessary to point out that there is an inconsistency between what the client says, do and what the organization are actually doing. Fourth, prescriptive style is when an internal consultant or external consultant work prescriptively and will listen to the clients of the following: to understand the problem, do a thorough diagnosis, and offer the client a solution or recommendation to implement within the organization.  Overall, both internal consultant and external consultant uses these four styles of consulting to help their client(s) to progress their solution or recommendation within the organization or firm more smoothly.

The three common consulting roles in consulting are the following: expert, pair-of-hands, and collaborator.  Ed Schein was the Master of Organizational Development and popularized it in the 1960. First, expert is when the client contacts request, questions or issue the internal or external consultant expertise to solve immediate problem in the organization. Sometimes the internal consultant or external consultant recommendations to the client(s) doesn’t work out, consequently, their recommendations will be very limited, reputations may be damaged or be a scapegoat. Second, the pair-of-hands is when the internal consultant or external consultant mindlessly follows their client(s) instructions because the client(s) want to control and manage the project’s direction. Therefore, the internal consultant or external consultant doesn’t have the opportunity to use their expertise and experience in effect of being undermined by their client(s). Collaborator is when the internal consultant or external consultant partners with the client(s) to understand the problem and implement the solution in the organization or firm. Moreover, the client(s) and consultant (i.e. internal or external) are limited to a one-way direction. And the client(s) plays the role of judge which is to oversees the execution closely. In essence, both internal consultant and external consultant uses these three common consulting roles in terms of “The Client-To-Consultant Relationship” to understand their limitations and expectations they have in consulting.

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By comparing and contracting these and explaining the roles and styles of an Organization Development Consultant that would best fit me as an ODC is hard to choose. But I have found that a collaborator role would best fit me because a consultant (i.e. internal and external) can partners with the client(s) to understand the problem and implement the solution in the organization more successful. In addition, the styles that best fit me the best would acceptant style. Because I tend to play more of the supportive role while using active listening to solve problems with an unbiased approach. By large, comparing and contrasting the three common consulting roles and the four styles of an ODC and I explained that the collaborator role and acceptant style that would best fit me as an ODC.

References

Bierema, L. (2014).  An Introduction to Organizational Development. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Cheung-Judge, M. (2012). The Self as an Instrument: A Cornerstone for the Future of OD. OD Practitioner, 44(2), 42-47.