W3D1 - Chapter 5: The Organization Development Practitioner and the OD Process
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Anderson_5e_PPT_Ch06.PPTXChapter 6: Entry and Contracting
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Entry (1 of 3)
Getting in, getting started, learning the client
Types of clients:
Contact clients: Contact clients are the initial points of communication in the client organization.
Intermediate clients: Intermediate clients are those that are included in meetings or from whom data is gathered during the course of the engagement.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Entry (2 of 3)
Types of clients:
Primary clients: Primary clients have responsibility for the problem the consultant is working to address. Primary clients generally are the ones paying for the consultant’s services.
Unwitting clients: Unwitting clients will be affected by the engagement or intervention but may not know of the engagement activity or that it will concern them.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Entry (3 of 3)
Types of clients:
Indirect clients: Indirect clients are not known to the consultant but are conscious that they are stakeholders in the outcome.
Ultimate clients: Ultimate clients consist of the larger system or organization, “or any other group that the consultant cares about and whose welfare must be considered” (Schein, 1997, p. 203).
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Contracting
The process of “coming to agreement” on what the OD project will do:
Can be written or verbal.
Understand the client’s perception of the situation or problem.
Elicit mutual “wants” and expectations.
Defines success.
Not a one-time event.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Some Questions to Answer (1 of 2)
What does the client want?
What do you need from the client in order to accomplish this?
What will you do/deliver?
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Some Questions to Answer (2 of 2)
What will your role be? The client’s role?
What’s the time schedule?
What about confidentiality?
How/when will you give feedback?
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Our Responsibility in Contracting
Behave authentically.
Say no or postpone a project that has a less than a 50/50 chance of success.
You can’t contract with someone who isn’t in the room (the client’s boss, subordinates, another department).
Avoid collusion: being complicit with the client rather than being independent or objective.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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The Contracting Meeting (1 of 3)
Ask, Listen, Paraphrase/Feedback:
“So it sounds like you’re having difficulty with coordination between the marketing and sales departments?”
Clarify the problem:
“What do you mean by X?” “How often does X happen?”
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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The Contracting Meeting (2 of 3)
Give support:
“I appreciate your willingness to talk to me about this difficult problem.”
Communicate understanding of the problem:
“It’s common for groups to feel competitive in this manner, but the time pressure placed on both groups makes this situation unique.”
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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The Contracting Meeting (3 of 3)
Be explicit:
“I want to be clear – I don’t think we will solve this problem with one workshop.”
End with feedback.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Two Paths... (1 of 3)
Engagements are more likely to fail when there is:
Lack of client involvement.
Unclear or unrealistic outcomes desired.
Defining a project by the consultant's skill or offering rather than the organization's objectives.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Two Paths... (2 of 3)
Engagements are more likely to fail when there is:
Lack of consultant–client partnership.
Lack of motivation.
Lack of time.
Unwillingness to tackle the tough “real” issues.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Two Paths... (3 of 3)
Engagements are more likely to succeed when:
Everyone involved has agreed on the purpose and objectives for the project.
The organization is ready for change.
Consultant and client explore and agree on mutual needs.
We deal with the real problem.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Consultant and client explore and agree on mutual needs: relationship, time, milestones, etc.
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10 Questions to More Successful Consulting Engagements (1 of 2)
What is the problem or need?
Where did the problem come from, and how is it being managed?
What is the history and context?
What are the consequences if the problem is not fixed?
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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10 Questions to More Successful Consulting Engagements (2 of 2)
Who is the client?
How motivated are the client and organization to change?
What outcome is desired?
What would you like a consultant to do?
Who will be involved in the project?
What is the timeline?
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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1. What Is the Problem or Need? (1 of 2)
Tells us:
How much data we have gathered about the problem.
How clear the problem is to the organization.
Whether we’re solving symptoms or problems.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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Tells us:
How many problems there may be.
Whether the problem is technical, personal, or both. (hint: it’s both!)
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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1. What Is the Problem or Need? (2 of 2)
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2. Where Did the Problem Come From, and How Is It Being Managed? (1 of 2)
Tells us:
How long the problem has existed and who is involved.
How much “duct tape” is involved.
What additional problems may have been caused by the previous “fixes.”
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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2. Where Did the Problem Come From, and How Is It Being Managed? (2 of 2)
Tells us:
How much frustration or desperation there may be.
What solutions can be avoided because they’ve already been tried.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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3. What Is the History and Context?
Tells us:
More about the problem’s complexity.
What the organizational culture is like: degree of pain in general, how engaged employees are, past successes, or areas of frustration.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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4. What Are the Consequences If the Problem Is Not Fixed?
Tells us:
How important the problem may be to leaders and employees.
How ready the organization may be to change.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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5. Who Is the Client? (1 of 2)
Tells us:
How many people are involved in the engagement.
What perspective the client may have on the problem.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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5. Who Is the Client? (2 of 2)
Tells us:
Leadership’s relationship to the problem and to the engagement.
Who are the intermediate clients, day-to-day clients, end clients, peripheral clients....
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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6. How Motivated Are the Client and Organization to Change? (1 of 2)
Tells us:
Whether the client really wants this engagement.
Whether the client may be able to accept his/her role in the problem.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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6. How Motivated Are the Client and Organization to Change? (2 of 2)
Tells us:
Whether the problem exists only for the client or for others as well.
The likelihood of being able to tackle underlying problems.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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7. What Outcome Is Desired?
Tells us:
What success looks like.
Whether we have a clear sense of the purpose of the project.
Whether we have a realistic sense of the project.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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8. What Would You Like a Consultant to Do?
Tells us:
What role the consultant will take, and whether that role is appropriate.
How much involvement the client will take versus the consultant.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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9. Who Will Be Involved in the Project?
Tells us:
The complexity of the project in terms of number of people, kinds of people (one organization, multiple organizations).
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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10. What Is the Timeline?
Tells us:
Whether the timeline is realistic for the outcomes desired.
What interim milestones need to be considered.
Whether the timeline is negotiable.
Anderson, Organizational Development, Fifth Edition. © SAGE Publications, 2020.
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