The Bloody Worm: The Production of a Consulting Report

Abstract

In a previous article [I] I explored the consulting process from a social anthropological perspective, suggesting that there are significant parallels between the role of sorcerer amongst “primitives” and that of consultant amongst organisational man. The focus of that paper was on discussion of two case examples highlighting problems of entry and contracting. This article focuses on the production of the consultant's report. The report is presented as the centrepiece of the consultancy ritual, a reflexive account so constructed as to present and analyse data in a way which will partly interpret, partly “seed” interpretations and partly function as a performance which will engineer its own acceptance. Possibilities of future failure may also be anticipated. The efficacy of such reports is questioned by the presentation of data which, although crucial to understanding the situation, would not normally be available to a consultant seeking to intervene. The success or failure of a consultancy report is therefore seen not as a result of its effectiveness in presenting facts and solving problems, but in its persuasiveness as an account, its support of the deep structures of the organisation, its value for money as a performance and its ability to generate and sustain present and future agreement.

Citation

Linstead, S. (1984), "The Bloody Worm: The Production of a Consulting Report", Personnel Review, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 21-26. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb055491