Ordinary Ecstasy by Rowan John;

Author:Rowan, John; [Rowan, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 1986-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

So a whole programme may be involved here, of further meetings, further research, encounter groups, team building (Woodcock 1979), creativity training and so on, depending on what action seems to be high on the list of priorities. Specialist consultants may be called in to help reorganize accounting procedures, or shopfloor layout, lighting fixtures, etc., if these things seem appropriate to all those concerned.

The consultant in OD works like a therapist or facilitator, bringing out conflicts and helping to get them properly worked through and dealt with, at the pace which the organization finds possible. Allen (1980) makes the important point that the programme must be owned by the people affected by it; this ownership must be genuine, and it must be felt. Kanter (1985) makes the point that it is not enough for creativity to be imposed from above, as if it were this year's fashion - it has to emerge from genuine participation.

There is an important distinction in all this work between 'process' and 'task content': in any meeting some of what is going on is to do with the task which the group has on the open agenda; but some of what is going on has to do with the hidden agendas which people have brought with them into the room, and which they are also trying to work through at the same time (which may have to do with power struggles, or personal relationships, or old feuds, or private aims, etc.) - these things are collectively known as the group process. Now if you are the consultant here, you contribute very little at the level of the task content - you do not have the detailed knowledge necessary to make much of a contribution there - but concentrate most of your attention on to the group process. This is where your skills lie. You as a consultant know how to make what is hidden open, and what was implicit explicit; and you also know how to deal with the emotions which are revealed when this happens.

What we have here is a process of: (1) generation of valid and useful information, which enables (2) free and informed choice to be made, and leads to (3) internal commitment to a course of action. Chris Argyris (1970) has done more work in this field than possibly anyone else, and these are the three points which he emphasizes.

The humanistic point of view, then, is that choice and decision are most effective when taken closest to the event - that it is harmful to full functioning if decisions which could be taken at a lower level are taken instead at a higher level. Some of the implications of this are drawn out well in the series of books which came out of the Norwegian experience (Bolweg 1976).

But how does this affect management? Does it take away from them all their work, and leave them with nothing to do? Some people argue for precisely this, as Martin (1983) has urged quite eloquently, saying that self-managing work groups are all that is necessary.

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