No organization operates perfectly. Administrators often think that it is possible to improve the performance of their unit, but they do not know what can be improved or how to do it. Therefore, the purpose of process consulting is for an external advisor (consultant) to help your client, generally an administrator, to perceive, understand and take action regarding certain facts of a process that must be faced.
Those facts include workflow, informal relationships between unit members, and formal channels of communication.
Process consulting is similar to sensitivity training programs (“T” groups), since it assumes that organizational efficiency can improve if interpersonal problems are solved. Another common point between both techniques is the importance they attach to personal participation. However, consulting is more production-oriented than sensitivity training.
During process consulting, consultants have an obligation to make the client aware of what is happening around them, within them and in their interaction with others. As you can see, they do not solve the problems of the company, but advise or guide, and finally recommend a process for the client to solve their problems.
The consultant works with the client to diagnose jointly, since the client acquires expertise to analyze the processes that take place within his work unit, which he can resort to when the consultant has left.
Furthermore, when the client is actively involved in the diagnosis and detection of other alternatives, the process and the corrective measures are better known, with which the resistance is less when the chosen plan is applied.
It is also important to note that process consulting does not require that the consultant be an expert in solving the particular problem that is discovered, the importance of the consultant lies in knowing how to diagnose and establish a support relationship.
If the specific problem requires technical expertise beyond the capabilities of the client and the consultant, the consultant should help find an expert and then indicate how to make the most of that resource.
Activity areas in which the process consultancy ventures
There are different kinds of processes, the most important of which are the following:
to. Communication.
b. Functions and roles of group members.
c. Problem solving and group decision making.
d. Authority and leadership.
and. Competition and cooperation between groups.
