ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book looks at the way people learn: how they are influenced by new ideas, which settings are conducive, how people learn from each other, and how they can learn from their own working experiences. It examines the application of systemic concepts to organizational consultation. The book consists of six articles written by seven of the participants about their efforts to put the seminars into practice. Each of the participants faced a different context for doing consultation and a different learning laboratory for putting ideas into practice. The book explores the risks of the consultant becoming too much "a part of the system" and imposing his own truth and his responsibility for change onto the client organization. It discusses the ways in which workers can introduce consultation ideas into their work though they have not been asked to consult on a specific problem.
