Business Study and Learning Outcomes

Business Study and Learning Outcomes

Introduction

Consultation

The question often becomes, does the organization or client want to be helped to unfreeze, move and refreeze into a new endeavor to fix a problem or find a solution to a concern? Pointing back to his own ideas about consulting as a helping philosophy, Schein also noted that helping is a general human process that does not just apply to consultants, managers and therapists, but is central to us as humans (Schein, 1990). In other words, helping may be core to our human nature, but what about the idea of “being helped by another?

The effeciency is that by the time a client, customer, student or organization comes to a consultant for help, the idea of change is not only necessary but will be met with energy, passion and enthusiasm to do whatever it takes to unfreeze, move and refreeze what the future looks like. Organizational agendas to improve the future are a critical point in the helping philosophy. Schein (1990) explains that when he first started consulting he learned quickly that above all else, he had to consider the critical point of the group's agenda in resolving strategic issues around the choice to change (Schein, 1990). The choice to change and thus, be helped is critical to resolving issues and unfreezing, moving and refreezing to move forward for people and organizations. 

Discussion

Process Consultation Models

Some of the most salient features of the readings this week related to the observations are focused on the idea of Lewin's change process with the three steps of unfreezing, moving and refreezing (Cummings & Worley, 2009, p. 24). No doubt, the classic action research model is about identifying a problem and ultimately solving it with the participants or organizational actors.

Initially, the idea of action research as a change model seemed new to me a few sessions ago as we struggled to understand how a problem could be fixed or a concern deeply addressed and possibly solved through such a model. We soon learned that this idea of “unfreezing” the actors in the organization is paramount in moving to some state of resolution.

As noted by Cummings and Worley (2009), action research is aimed at helping organizations take action on any planned changes that is applicable to various settings. Considering these actors within the organization can be consulted with is illustrated by Schein (1999) in looking at the psychodynamics of the helping relationship (Schein, 1999, p. 30). Ultimately, consultants, by various definitions, are helpers in the context of the industries, organization or professions in which they offer advice to their clients, colleagues, customers and even patients.

Schein also moves into the reality of the imbalance of such helping relationships by illustrating possible reactions and feelings of those being helped such as one of counter-dependencies such as resentment and defensiveness (Schein, 1999, p. 31). If action research is about helping to unfreeze, move and refreeze change as Lewin notes through action research, the researcher is there to help (Cummings & Worley, ...