The Overall Evaluation of the Consultation Process
For example, the psychoanalytic approach to organizational consultation emphasizes the unconscious aspects of organizational conflicts and problems rather than the overtly stated and observable elements of the problem. In terms of practical implications, a consultant may wish to use this model in those instances where a company knows it has a problem but is unclear about its nature and determinants (this because the psychodynamic approach would indicate that lack of clarity may be due to some hidden agenda or force which, unless it is brought to light, might operate as resistance to any interventions which the consultant attempts to resolve the problem).
Once some general conceptual clarity is derived via the psychoanalytic approach and the hidden agenda or force brought into the general picture, the consultant may then wish to go on to utilize the learning theory approach which has as its strength the ability to hone a problem down to concrete and measurable dimensions. Using this theory at this time would be very helpful in designing an intervention that is not only effective but which can be measured in terms of its effectiveness.
The foregoing example of practical applications brings up the question of which model I find most useful. It seems clear (I believe) from my remarks on practical applications that I really do not find any one approach best. Although the authors attempted to provide a developmental perspective in which the final theory provided (systems/chaos) emerges as the best in that it encompasses a general refinement and expansion of what went before it, I do not feel that they have strongly made their case for this perspective.