ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the governance of a consulting relationship or service provision suboptimal. It describes the contextual problems and the way consulting relationships are decided and how the assignments are carried out, in order to highlight how they adversely impact the outcomes. The chapter also discusses the deficiencies in organizational behavior (OB) knowledge that do not permit the discovery of a quality solution. It considers concepts, theories, and methods as OB knowledge. It shows that consulting projects begin in a political context wherein someone powerful enough champions the initiative and other powerful actors do not resist or remain indifferent about it. The chapter suggests that the way consulting relationships are decided and how the assignments are carried out, in order to highlight how they adversely impact the outcomes. Consultants are sometimes hired because the upper echelon wants to give business to its friends and other people in its network.
