A volume in both Research in Management Consulting, Series Editor
Anthony F. Buono, Bentley University and Contemporary Trends in
Organization Development and Change, Series Editors Peter Sorensen,
Benedictine University and Therese Yaeger, Benedictine University This
volume is a joint publication in the Research in Management Consulting
and Contemporary Trends in Organizational Change and Development series.
This dual focus reflects the reality that consulting for organizational
change is a special type of management consultation, a complex field of
endeavor that requires a broad range of skills and competencies. To be
truly effective, change-related consulting requires a unique
client-consultant relationship, a special set of consulting skills, an
expertise in human and organizational systems, and significant personal
qualities. It is in high demand in a world full of change. Yet, we still
know relatively little theoretically about this type of consulting and
have relatively little empirical evidence about what actually works and
why. As the contributors amply illustrate, the Organization Development
(OD) field has a well developed set of frameworks, technologies, and
models of change. Still we need to focus on and learn more about the
role of the OD consultant as a special kind of change agent. A goal of
this joint volume is to increase that specific body of knowledge and
provide an illustration of much needed collaboration in bringing all
possible resources to bear on our understanding of an increasingly
critical and essential form of consulting.
