The Practice of Professional Consulting



APPENDIX E

DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES AND INSTRUMENTS FOR CONSULTING TEAMS

Edgar Schein, a leading researcher and writer in the field of organizational psychology, defines a group as: “A psychological group is any number of people who 1) interact with one another, 2) are psychologically aware of one another, and 3) perceive themselves to be a group” (1980, p. 145).

Group members must develop a consensus on a broad set of both internal and external tasks (Schein, 1980). In general, these tasks include the following:

• External: Core mission, functions, and tasks vis-à-vis the environment; specific goals; basic means for accomplishing the goals; criteria used to measure results; ...