Process Consultation$/$ T$-$Groups

As Freedman $(1999)$ noted, Schein's process consultation, though having been around for many years, found a new audience. Owing to its association with T$-$groups, it all but disappeared in the $1970$s and $1980$s$,$ but in the $1990$s it was advocated by the UN for use in international development projects $($Cooke$,1997$; Murrell, $1994).$

Central to process consultation is the notion that learning and change are interrelated $-$ the client has to learn about themselves and their organization before they can change it$.$ In order to assist in this, the consultant has to establish a dialogue that allows the client to explore their situation and learn more about it$.$

This idea of dialogue as central to the change process also links process consultation with dialogic OD$,$ which began to gain attention in the $1990$s $($Dixon$,1998$; Oswick, $2009).$ Some proponents of dialogic OD see it as a transformational process, whereas others see it as a way in which the various parties involved in the change process can gain insights into each other's organizational reality $($Barrett et al$.,1995$; Bushe and Marshak, $2009$; Gergen, $1999).$