3‐4Process Consultation—How Do Supporters Support Organization Development?

The Three Styles of Support

In this section, we will shine a spotlight on and take a better look at Mizushina’s role in the story. Mizushina plays the role of an internal company consultant, or facilitator, whose task is to support the Organization Development process.

In considering the role of an Organization Development facilitator, it’s useful to look at the three helping styles proposed by Edgar Schein. Schein is famous for his research on Career Development and Organizational Culture, but he was originally (and still remains) a researcher of Organization Development. The three helping styles we’re about to look at were proposed by him in 1969.

Schein stated that there are three styles of helping people and helping an organization change. These are the expert style, the doctor‐patient style, and the process consultation style.

The Specialist Style: Teaching Solution Strategies and Giving Information

In the expert style, an expert gives information and teaches the members about solution strategies. Examples would be if a company cannot design a personnel system for itself and hires a consultant to help, or when a company hires a system engineer to computerize their work system.

According to Schein, ...

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