issues in consultant client relationship1

7/29/2019 Issues in Consultant Client Relationship1

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Issues in Consultant

Client Relationship

Presented by:

Vineet Kumar

Sumit Bedi


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Consultancy Service, defined

Greiner and Metzger (1983: 7) have definedbusiness consultancy as

an advisory service contracted for and provided

to organisations by specially trained andqualified persons who assist, in an objective andindependent manner, the client organisation toidentify management problems, analyse such

problems, recommend solutions to these problemsand help when requested in the implementation ofsolutions.


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Definition, explained:

Ingredients of the definition:

1) an advisory service

2) There is a contract for such service

3) Provided by specially trained and qualified persons.4) These persons provide assistance in an objective and

independent manner.

5) Perform the following functions:

Identification of management problems

Recommending solutions to such problems

Helping in the implementation of these solutions.


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Benefits of a Consultant

A consultant can see the problem as outside of it. Hence, his

opinion is free from organizational limitations and biases.

Usually there isnt any inhibition whatsoever in his intellect,

to convey a correct solution ,if the MD himself is wrong.

Seeing the problem at the micro level and then at the industry

level and then Globally.

Collect information , bring out a solution, which most suits the

unit which is in problem

With Consultant the horizon of knowledge expands. And it

becomes easier to solve the problems.


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Nature of Client-Consultant

Relationship:

Client-consultant relationship:

1. The Client as a buyer of knowledge

2. The Consultant as a problem-solver or as an agent of

change3. The Consultant share all the relevant information of the

firm

4. The Consultant has the resources of the firm at hisdisposal

5. The Consultant can act as the agent of the firm, withouthaving any contractual liability, in the strict sense, of anagent.


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The Consultation Process


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The Consultation Process, contd

Phase I: The Discovery Phase: In this phase theclients expectations are unearthed.

Phase II: The Definition Phase: In this phase theshape, form and boundaries are given to theexpectations.

Phase III: The Delivery Phase: In this phaseactivities are undertaken to meet the definedexpectations.


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Issues in Consultant Client

Relationship:1. Entry and Contracting

2. Defining the client system

3. Trust

4. The nature of the consultants expertise

5. Diagnosis and appropriate interventions

6. The depth of interventions

7. On being absorbed by the culture

8. The Consultant as a model

9. The Consultant team as a microcosm10. Action Research and the OD process

11. Client dependency and terminating the relationship

12. Ethical standards


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Entry and Contracting:

The initial entry process may be as follows:

a. A phone call is made to the consultant by the prospective client

b. A brief description of the problems is made and the same are discussedbriefly.

c. If it seems that the consultants expertise fits the clients requirements, aface to face meeting is fixed.

During the first face to face meeting:

a. The consultant explores with the client some of the deeper aspects ofthe problem.

b. The consultant and client start to sort out which group will be thestarting point of OD interventions

c. If the problem appear to present to OD interventions, the consultantpropose possible solutions.


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Entry and Contracting: contd.

The following issues may arise during the entry phase:

1. Who can and who should attend a workshop?

2. When and where the workshop is to be held?

3. Whether or not the management group has to beaway from their offices for the purpose of attendingthe workshops?

4. Whether or not the top person has to be briefed

about the interview themes prior to the workshop?5. The extent of confidentiality of the interviews? Etc.


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Entry and Contracting: contd

Contracting refers to the act of reaching at anagreement between the parties as to the terms andconditions of any job.

The conditions agreed upon in the initial meetings

become a part of the overall psychological contractbetween the consultant and the client.

It is necessary that the more formal financial aspectmust be clarified and documented at the initial stageitself.

But it must be kept in mind that Contracting, in bothpsychological and financial sense, occurs over and overin OD consulting.


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Defining the Client System:

Who the client is is very important issue in consultant clientrelationship.

Initially, the initial contact, a single manager is the client.

As trust and confidence develop between the key client and

the consultant, both begin to view the manager and hissubordinate team as the client.

Then at the last stage, the managers total organization isviewed as the client.

Hence, the health and liveliness of the various organizationalsubsystems, as well as , the effectiveness and growth of allindividual members of the client system, clearly become theconsultants concern.


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The Trust Issue:

A good deal of interaction between consultant and client is

indirectly related to developing a relationship of mutual trustKey clients may be Fearful that-

Things will get out of hands with an outsider intervening inthe system

Organization will be overwhelmed with petty complaints People will be encouraged to criticize there superiors

Subordinates may be concerned that they will be manipulatedtoward their superiors goals with little attention given totheir own.

1. The Consultant must start neutral. Then the efforts must beto understand the motives of the client.

2. The good guy, bad guy syndrome

3. Confidentiality must be maintained.


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These kinds of concerns mean that the

consultant will need to earn trust in these andother areas and that high trust will not be

immediate


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The Nature of Consultants Expertise

Due to unfamiliarity with the OD methods, the client tends to put the consultant in

the experts role (on substantive content).

But the consultant should avoid being an expert due to the following reasons:

1. The objective of OD intervention is to help the client system to develop its own

resources, whereas the expert role creates dependency.

2. Expert role requires consultant to defend his recommendations. This reduces

flexibility.

3. Expert role hinders in trust building.

4. Expert role leads to enhanced expectations, whereby increasing dependency.

Note: The OD consultant should act in the expert role on the Process used but not on

the Task.


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Diagnosis and Appropriate

Interventions

The consultant may have a temptation to applyan intervention technique which he particularlylikes and which has produced good results in thepast, but may not suit the immediate situation.

The intervention should be appropriate to thediagnosis.

The wider the range of interventions with whichthe consultant is familiar the more options theconsultant can consider.


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Depth of Interventions

Depth of Intervention, is an admixture of the following two factors:

1. Accessibility: The degree to which the data are more or less public

versus being hidden or private and the ease with which the

intervention skills can be learned.

2. Individuality: The closeness to the persons perceptions of self andthe degree to which the effects of an intervention are in the

individual in contrast to the organization.

The inherent risk with depth of intervention is that the closer onemoves to the sense of self, the more the inherent processes have to do

with emotions, values, and hidden matters and consequently, the

more potent they are to do either good or harm.


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Depth of Interventions, contd

Harrison suggested two criteria for determining the appropriate depth of

intervention:

1. To intervene at a level no deeper than that required to produce enduring

solutions to the problems at hand;

2. To intervene at a level no deeper than that at which the energy andresources of the client can be committed to the problem solving and to

change.

The dilemma is whether to lead and push, or to collaborate and follow.

Another way to look at the depth of intervention is to think about the

performance of units by descending order of systems and subsystems.


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Being absorbed by the system

One of the mistakes one can make in the change-

agent role is to let oneself be seduced into joining

the culture of the client organization.

While one needs to join the culture enough to

participate in and enjoy the functional aspects of

the prevailing culture, participating in theorganizations pathology will neutralize the

consultants effectiveness.


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Consultant as a Model:

It deal with the issue Whether change agents arewilling and able to practice what they preach.

In the area of feeling, the consultant may beadvocating a more open system in which feelings areconsidered legitimate and their expression importantto effective problem solving and at the same timesuppressing his own feelings about what is happeningin the client system.

The consultant must give out clear messages and forthat the consultants words and apparent feelings needto be congruent.


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Consultant team as a Microcosm

The consultants working as a team can be viewed as amicrocosm of the organization they are trying tocreate:

1. The consultant team must set an example of aneffective unit if the team is to enhance its credibility.

2. Practitioners need the effectiveness and that comesfrom continuous growth and renewal process.

3. The quality of the inter-relationships within theconsulting team carries over directly into the qualityof their diagnosis, their intervention designs, andtheir interventions.


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Action Research and the OD Process:

Whether the OD process itself will be subject to theongoing action research being experienced by theclient system. This considers on the one hand the issueof congruency and on the other hand the viability of

the OD efforts and effectiveness of the consultants. Unless there are feedback loops relative to various

interventions and stages in OD process, the changeagents and the organization will not learn how to make

the future OD interventions more effective. This can be done via simple questionnaires and

interviews.


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The Dependency Issue and

Terminating the Relationship: As the Consultant is in the business of enhancing the client systems abilities in

problem solving and renewal, the consultant is in the business of assisting the

client to internalize skills and insights rather than to create a prolonged

dependency relationship.

In this context an issue of personal importance to the consultant is the

dilemma of working to increase the resourcefulness of the client versuswanting to remain involved, to feel needed and to feel competent.

As a solution to this dilemma one approach can be adopted that is there can

be a gradual reduction in external consultant use and as an OD effort reaches

its maturity.

Another issue arises when the consultant senses that his assistance is nolonger needed or could be greatly reduced. In order to save his resources and

to avoid inconvenience to the client, the consultant must confront this issue.

Another dilemma is that when the use of the consultant, according to the

consultant, is declining more rapidly than progress on the OD effort seems to

warrant.


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Ethical Standards in OD:

There are five categories of ethical dilemmas,

which arise in the consultant-client

relationship:

1. Misrepresentation and Collusion

2. Misuse of Data

3. Manipulation and coercion

4. Value and goal conflicts, and

5. Technical ineptness


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issues in consultant client relationship1

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