Organisational Change

5.4.2 Consultant(s)

A consultant, or a team of consultants, usually comes from outside but they can also be insiders. The consultant's role is that of an expert, who has both knowledge and experience in the field in which change is proposed. There are some advantages in having outside consultants for some time. Insiders, even though they may have the necessary expertise, are likely to be inhibited by their own perception of the problem. Also, they may be restrained by the internal dynamics. This may make the insiders less effective. Therefore, even organisations with a very high quality of expertise in a particular field invite outside consultants at times. Consultants perform the following functions (see Fig. 5.3).

 

Fig. 5.3 Functions of a ...