Transactions Between Consultants and Clients: A Taxonomy
TL;DR: In this article, a contingency model for analyzing transactions between clients and consultants is presented, where independent variables are "healer roles" taken by consultants, influence orientation and cognitive style of clients, and type of change problem.
Abstract: A rudimentary contingency model for analyzing transactions between clients and consultants is presented. Independent variables are "healer roles" taken by consultants, influence orientation and cognitive style of clients, and type of change problem. Predictions about fit among these variables suggest differential outcomes in terms of tension and stability in the working relationships between clients and consultants.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the results of an investigation of whether the personality characteristics and behavioral tendencies of effective organization development (OD) consultants differ significantly from those of less effective ones.
Abstract: This article presents the results of an investigation of whether the personality characteristics and behavioral tendencies of effective organization development (OD) consultants differ significantly from those of less effective ones. From an extensive review of the literature by the author and a panel of three judges, three categories of characteristics were derived for testing: openness and responsiveness to others' needs and concerns, comfort with ambiguity and the ability to make sense of it, and comfort with oneself in relation to others. The study subjects, 105 OD consultants in the U.S. Navy, completed three personality instruments. Peers, fellow consulting team members, and superiors of these consultants (also OD consultants) also rated the subjects' consulting effectiveness. Multivariate analyses showed a strong, significant relationship between consultant effectiveness and the characteristics assigned to the three categories. The results strongly support the hypotheses that the personality charac...
66 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the development of the client-consultant relationship and isolate those characteristics that distinguish successful consultations from unsuccessful ones, in order to distinguish successful and unsuccessful consultations.
Abstract: This study attempts to trace the development of the client-consultant relationship and isolate those characteristics that distinguish successful consultations from unsuccessful ones. Each of 20 org...
28 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the perspectives of how socially responsible business conduct is shaped by consultancies in a national business environment where such an essential aspect of organizational commitment and behavior exhibits comparatively little resonance among companies and is primarily induced by supranational and international policy schemes as well as foreign competitors.
Abstract: This paper offers insights into corporate social responsibility (CSR) consulting in Greece. It sheds light on perspectives of how socially responsible business conduct is shaped by consultancies in a national business environment where such an essential aspect of organizational commitment and behavior exhibits comparatively little resonance among companies and is primarily induced by supranational and international policy schemes as well as foreign competitors. Drawing from long interviews with consulting professionals, we explore key topics: the domestic CSR (consulting) industry's characteristics, issues pertaining to the engagement with clients, the endorsement of CSR standards and initiatives, along with the consultants' perspective on institutional dynamics and their prospects with respect to the future of CSR in Greece. In this context, we aim to indicate trends on CSR implementation, pressures exerted on consultants, and managerial attitudes towards corporate responsibility. Our findings illustrate an oligopolistically structured market that encourages consultancies to compete intensely, the consultants' limited capacity to influence the business behavior of their clients, with the latter to adopt a promotional communicative approach to CSR, as well as a lack of institutional coordination and mechanisms that will materially embed social responsibility in the strategic management of business.
23 citations
Cites background from "Transactions Between Consultants an..."
...For a comprehensive articulation of diverse consultant profiles and their varying identities, see Steele (1975), Barber & Nord (1977), Nees & Greiner (1985), and Lippitt & Lippitt (1986)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an experiment conducted while the author was at Johns Hopkins University as a Public Health Service Research Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Abstract: 1 An earlier draft of this paper was written while the author was with the Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, and was read at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Chicago on August 30, 1956. The experiment reported here was conducted while the author was at Johns Hopkins University as a Public Health Service Research Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health. Additional financial support was received from the Yale Communication Research Program, which is under the direction of Carl I. Hovland and which is operating under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The author is particularly grateful to James Owings for his help in running the experiment; to Ramon J. Rhine and Janet Baldwin Barclay for their help in analysis of the data; and to Roger K. Williams, Chairman of the Psychology Department at Morgan State College, for the many ways in which he facilitated collection of the data. nication produce public conformity without private acceptance, or did it produce public conformity coupled with private acceptance? (Cf. 1, 4.) Only if we know something about the nature and depth of changes can we make meaningful predictions about the way in which attitude changes will be reflected in subsequent actions and reactions to events.
3,118 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a normative model for the role of a leader in decision-making is presented, where the model is expressed in terms of a decision tree and requires the leader to analyze the dimensions of the particular problem or decision with which he is confronted in order to determine how much and in what way to share his decisionmaking power with his subordinates.
Abstract: It has become a truism that leadership depends upon the situation, but few behavioral scientists have attempted to go beyond that statement to examine the specific ways in which leaders should and do vary their behavior with situational demands. Vroom and Yetton select a critical aspect of leadership style-the extent to which the leader encourages the participation of his subordinates in decision-making. They describe a normative model which shows the specific leadership style called for in different classes of situations. The model is expressed in terms of a decision tree and requires the leader to analyze the dimensions of the particular problem or decision with which he is confronted in order to determine how much and in what way to share his decision-making power with his subordinates. Other chapters discuss how leaders behave in different situations. They look at differences in leadership styles, and what situations induce people to display autocratic or participative behavior.\
2,199 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a persistent concern in the analysis of public opinion data is the "meaning" that one can ascribe to the observed distributions and trends and to the positions taken by particular individuals and segments of the population.
Abstract: A persistent concern in the analysis of public opinion data is the "meaning" that one can ascribe to the observed distributions and trends—and to the positions taken by particular individuals and segments of the population In a certain sense, the need for more detailed information about opinions be met by improvements and refinements in the methodology of opinion assessment But, no matter how refined the techniques, they do not provide direct information about the meaning of the opinions and do not permit automatic predictions to subsequent behavior: the investigator still has to make inferences from the data Social influence has been a central area of concern for experimental social psychology almost since its beginnings It can also be observed, for example, in the context of socialization of children, where the taking over of parental attitudes and actions is a normal, and probably essential, part of personality development
2,052 citations