The politics of consulting for organizational change

This paper analyzes forms of political involvement among consultants engaged in planned organizational change. This analysis is intended to contribute to research and theorizing on organizational change and to help consultants and managers cope with the challenges posed by organizational politics. Four consulting styles are distinguished, those that vary in the sources of consultant power, the consultants’ degree of involvement in organizational politics, the processes on which consultants and their clients rely to implement organizational change, and the consultants’ definition of the main client. Factors accounting for variations in the use of the four consulting styles are noted, along with conditions that may influence the effectiveness of these styles. Implications for consulting practice also are discussed. He is also head of the department’s Graduate Program in the Sociology of Organizations. This article is a revised version of part of a paper presented at the World Congress of Sociology, International Sociological Association, Madrid, July, 1990. Thanks to Jean Bartunek, Jo Ann Harrison, Dafna Izraeli, Bruce Phillips, and Aryeh Shirom for their very helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.