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Reflects on an organizational development (OD) intervention which addressed strategic culture change with the senior management team of a UK‐based international manufacturing organization. In line with emergent theory and practice OD consultants, authors intervened at the three levels: strategy, culture and top team dynamics. Whilst the client seemed happy with the outcomes, the authors believed that the intervention had failed to effect transformational change and were thus motivated to re‐examine practice in the light of recent contributions to the OD and organizational learning literature. This analysis suggests that future OD practice should be grounded in processes of dialogue permeating all phases of the intervention. At the diagnostic phase, there is a need to identify more clearly the enablers and barriers to productive learning. Subsequently, during implementation, the boundaries of the intervention with particular reference to politics, authority and task should be managed more carefully and explicitly.

Recent debates within the literature and amongst practitioners of coaching have been focussed on defining the scope and practice of coaching as a form of organizational intervention that can facilitate organizational and individual change. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate about what coaching is by reviewing an emerging comparative conceptual framework of coaching as a form of practice for management and organizational development.

The framework was developed through an exploratory study involving a focus group of practitioners in coaching and management. The overall approach to this study blends a conceptual consideration of the practice of coaching with the results gained from a focus group. The study uses cognitive mapping, thematic grouping and content analysis to seek to define the key characteristics of coaching in comparison to other forms of management practice.

A framework of “meta‐categories” of management practice are identified and the role and processes of coaching is compared in relation to these. Results from the study suggest that coaching adopts a holistic approach to management and organizational development and that certain key characteristics can be identified that differentiate it from other forms of management and organizational development. Results also open the way for research into forms of coaching required to facilitate and support whole systems change.

The framework could be of use to managers in assessing whether a coaching‐based approach to promoting and managing change is appropriate and what processes it involves.

The history of Organizational Development (OD) reveals a much older tradition of organizational science than the conventional wisdom would suggest. By the 1960s and 1970s OD became self‐confident and dynamic. This period was not only highly experimental but established the principles of OD for much of the twentieth century. By the end of the twentieth century new images of OD had occurred and much of the earlier thinking had been transformed. This review illustrates some examples under a series of themes that have had a major impact on the discipline of OD and on the wider thinking of organizational theorists and researchers.

This paper explores the emotional experience of working with an organisation which was “hurt” or “upset” by a major reorganisation. It is argued that the emotional aspects of being a consultant are under‐discussed, and that an acknowledgement of the emotional effects of clients’ and organisational members’ projections is necessary in order to understand better the role, contribution and values of consultancy. The analysis is based on a recent intervention in a UK public agency. The context for the consultancy is discussed with reference to public sector change, including the growth of managerialism. The objectives of the consultancy, and the methodologies used, are outlined. The resultant data collected by the consultancy team are presented. The data are then analysed, and the emotional and relational aspects of the intervention are explored prior to a discussion of the implications of the team’s learning for the practice of consutancy.

Industrial psychologists are increasingly being asked to consult with organisations on the management of change. This article describes a case and the implications for professional practice in this area of managerial psychology.

This paper reflects on the growing trend of engaging management consultancies in implementing operations management innovations in the public sector. Whilst the differences between public and private sector operations have been documented, there is a dearth of material detailing the impact of public sector engagements on the consultancies themselves and the operations management products and services they develop. Drawing on qualitative data, the paper aims to identify both the impact of operations management in the public sector and the impact of this engagement on the consultancies that are involved.

This paper draws on rich, qualitative data from six large management consultancies, amounting to over 48 interviews. An inductive methodology sought to identify both how consultancies have adapted their operations management products and services, and why.

The paper finds that the different context of the public sector provides consultants with considerable challenges when implementing operations management projects. The research shows that public services are often hampered by different cultures, structures, and managerial knowledge and investment patterns. Such constraints have an impact on both the projects being implemented and the relationship between consultants and clients.

There are few studies that consider the implementation of operations management in the public sector and fewer still which examine the impact of public sector engagement on the products that consultancies develop. This paper aims to develop understanding in both. At a more theoretical level, the paper contributes to considering operations management through knowledge management literature in seeking to understand how consumers of management knowledge influence its producers.

In the last five years more and more scholars have drawn on insights from the complexity sciences as a way of understanding the process of managing and organising in the NHS differently. This paper aims to describe working methods derived from the theory of complex responsive processes, a more radical interpretation of these insights, used by a consultancy team in one NHS setting.

The authors were invited to undertake this intervention over a two year period to bring about service improvement. The paper sets out a critique of systems theory, which underpins most management literature, as well as offering a critique of some of the ways that complexity theory gets taken up in the health literature. As an alternative it explores the theoretical underpinnings of complex responsive processes and gives practical examples of methods that the authors believe are more suitable for understanding the complex environment NHS staff work within.

Working with ideas of ambiguity, paradox and complexity are not easy for staff educated in a Western tradition of linear cause and effect. However, as a result of this intervention managers and staff pointed to a much greater confidence and skill in dealing with the complex daily process of organising, which they attribute to the methods used. Although the authors make no claim that service improvement arose as a direct consequence of the methods employed, significant, observable improvements in service provision did occur during and after the consultancy intervention.

The description of working methods based on reflective and reflexive group processes, alongside more empirical data‐gathering methods, is offered as a radical alternative to more orthodox ways of understanding, and attempting to work with change in the NHS.

Reviews the available evidence on the use of human resource management consultants, and examines the findings from a study of their use in manufacturing in the North‐East of England. Also considers the following questions: What types of consultants are used and in what areas? How is the HRM consultant sourced, selected, managed and evaluated? What is their relationship with in‐house personnel departments? Concludes by considering the implications of the findings for the future role and status of the personnel function and identifies an agenda for further research. Suggests that the use of HRM consultants does not necessarily undermine the in‐house personnel function and under certain conditions may enhance its reputation.

It is considered whether consultation is a strategy that can be used to bring about change in those organisational settings where attempts to provide senior managers with off‐the‐job training has had little or no effect. Findings are reported which suggest that while consultation can be effective, the mode of intervention used can have an important impact on the degree of change achieved.