Read the summary and the most important questions on The consultant-client relationship | Lippit

• 1 Behavioural Roles of the Consultant

• 1.1 Basic roles: the resource role and process role

• What is the resource role?

  The consultant helps the client by providing technical expertise and doing something for and on behalf of the client: he or she supplies information, diagnoses the organization, etc. Management collaborates with the resource consultant, but this collaboration is limited. The resource consultant is not expected to deal extensively with the social and behavioural aspects of the change process, but is expected to be aware of these aspects.

• What is the process role?

  The process consultant helps the organization solve its own problems. Instead of passing on technical knowledge, the process consultant is primarily concerned with passing on his approach, methods and values so that the organization itself can diagnose and remedy its own problems.

   

• What's the difference between the two roles?

  While the resource consultant tries to suggest to the client what to change, the process consultant suggests mainly how to change and helps the client to go trough the process and deal with the human and other issues as they are identified.

• 1.2 Choosing between the basic roles

• Is there 'pure' resource or expert consulting?

  Some years ago this was common, but today the resource and process roles are combined in a complementary and mutually supportive way. 

• 2 Further refinement of the role concept

• Along which continuum can you visualize a greater number of consultative roles?

  Directive: consultant assumes a position of leadership, initiates activity or tells the client what to do.

   

  Non-directive: Consultant provides information for the client to use or not.

   

  Again, both situations can occur simultaneously

• 2.1 Advocate

• What is the advocate role?

  The consultant endeavours to influence the client. In this role, the behavior of the consultant is derived from a 'believer' or 'valuer' stance on content or methodological matter.

• Which two types of advocate roles are there?

  Positional or ''contact''' advocacy: tries to influence the client to choose particular goods or solutions or to accept particular values.

   

  Methodological advocacy: tries to influence the client to become active as problem-solver, and to use certain methods of problem-solving. He is careful though not to promote any particular solution (that would be positional advocacy).

• 2.2 Technical expert

• What is a technical expert?

  A technical expert uses special knowledge, skill and professional experience to provide a service to the client. The client is responsible for defining the objectives of the consultation. The consultant can either have a resource role or a process role, and is directive.

• 2.4 collaborator in problem-solving

• What is a collaborator in problem-solving?

  The consultant uses a cooperative approach to collaborate with the client in the perceptual, cognitive and action-taking processess needed to solve the problem. Consultant maintains objectivity while stimulating conceptualization during the formulation of the problem. 

   

  Helps with:

  defining dependent & indepent variables

  weighing alternatives

  sorting out causal relationships

• 2.5 identifier of alternatives

• What is an identifier of alternatives?

  The consultant helps the client to retrieve appropriate alternatives facing the decision maker (client).

   

  Consultant establishes:

  relevant criteria for assessing alternatives

  develops cause-effect relationships

  appropriate set of strategies