ABSTRACT
Organizational role consultation describes the 3-way integrated focus on the person, the role and the organisation. The client is always part of a larger system – a team, an organisation, community and society. Role consultation occurs at the interface between the individual-in-role and their professional or technical environment. Role consultation aims to enhance the client’s effectiveness in relation to the needs and desires of the organisation and its environment. Role consultation is a joint exploration where the power relationship is one of equals, and the consultant and client jointly investigate ‘what is going on’ as a means of devising a way forward. Better understanding leads to better judgement, and thence to more effective behaviour. Role consultants provide developmentally and psycho-educationally focused reflection and learning opportunities to the individual leader, to study, become aware of and gain insight into how task and organisational performance are influenced by both conscious and unconscious behaviour. Consciousness refers to objectivity and rational behaviour, and unconsciousness to the image of ‘the organisation-in-the-mind’, which contains the system’s unconscious defences and irrational behaviours. A clear distinction is made between role and personality. When people are in conflict, often it is because roles and personality become merged and therefore confused. Working with the idea of ‘organisation-in-the-mind’ frees the client from thinking about the way things ought to be, so they can engage creatively with the way organisational life actually is.
