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Clients, consultants and the social cognition of organizational change
Author(s) -
Despres Charles
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
strategic change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.527
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1099-1697
pISSN - 1086-1718
DOI - 10.1002/jsc.4240030105
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , action (physics) , facilitation , sociology , social constructionism , cognition , strict constructionism , organizational change , public relations , epistemology , business , psychology , management , political science , computer science , social science , economics , artificial intelligence , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
Abstract Four footings of the consulting act are derived from a typification of the social constructionist perspective, and it is argued that consultants and consultees enact the social performances of (1) facilitation, (2) tyranny, (3) discourse or (4) despair. Consultancies are criticized for too often being tyrannical productions where the consultant (1) arrives with solution(s) in hand, (2) manipulates the consultee to generate suitable problems, (3) applies pre‐patterned solutions to the problems so derived, and (4) abandons the scene after being paid. Reflections on this situation and preferred courses of action are discussed.