ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore consultation and research from two different perspectives. I joined the Doctor of Management program at the University of Hertfordshire as an organizational consultant and action researcher working in the Tavistock ‘tradition’, and it is this tradition which provides my first perspective on the relationship between consulting and research. In my research for the program, I explored my work as a consultant and researcher from a very different perspective, namely the theory of complex responsive processes of human relating (Stacey et al. 2000). This led me to suggest a research methodology which I have called ‘emerging participative exploration’ (Christensen 2003). Here, the consultant as researcher takes part in and has the intention to study human interaction as complex responsive processes of human relating.
