Konsultointi keskusteluna : vuorovaikutuksen vivahteita ja tilanneherkkää tasapainoilua

The process and content of advice giving in support of reflective practice in management consulting

Although consulting has been defined as an ‘advice‐giving activity’ there has not been much research on advice practices in management consulting. In particular, there is a lack of evidence on how advice might assist in supporting another central issue in management work, namely reflective practice. This article approaches consulting from a discursive perspective and views reflective practice at the level of language use. The authors use data on naturally occurring talk during a single Organization Development (OD) consulting process and discursive methodology to examine these conversations, and offer empirical evidence on how advising can support reflective managerial practice. Examples of…

Inviting Participation in Organizational Change Through Ownership Talk

This article takes the practitioner’s view toward and focuses on participation through talk within multiparty settings of one process consulting case. From the perspective of discursive psychology, the authors ask what happens in interaction when the consultant is working to put into practice the ideal of active client participation in organizational change. They argue that participation is established when psychological ownership of the process is displayed through talk in interaction. This happens when what the authors call “ownership talk” is used: A person is sharing his or her views, interests, and experiences related to the change process.The authors provide detailed observations and …

Conflict as it happens

PurposeAlthough emotions are relevant for conflicted interactions, the role of emotions in organizational conflicts has remained understudied. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this by looking at the role of nonverbal affective elements in conversations.Design/methodology/approachBringing together organizational “becoming” and embodiment approaches, the study focused on a conflict which emerged during a multi-actor consulting conversation. The episode in question was analyzed via a detailed, micro-level discursive method which focused specifically on the participants’ use of prosodic and nonverbal behaviors.FindingsChanges in prosody were found to have an important role in how t…

Sensitivity in topic development and meaning making in a process consultation contract meeting

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the discursive practices used when the agenda for a consultation process was negotiated in a contract meeting. The paper illustrates the role of sensitivity in meaning making practices, that is, how displays of sensitivity were intertwined with topic development.Design/methodology/approachThe paper offers an in‐depth analysis of naturally occurring conversation in a meeting between a consultant and two client managers. The audio‐recorded data is analyzed by utilizing methodology introduced and developed in the traditions of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis (CA).FindingsThe authors show how both the consultant and the clients displayed…

Organisaatiokonsultti diskursiivisena toimijana

Hidden agendas : situational tasks, discursive strategies and institutional practices in process consultation

Tutkimus digiohjauksen pulssilla : havaintoja etävälitteisestä ryhmätyönohjauksesta

Videovälitteisyys on tullut jäädäkseen työnohjaukseen ja tarve ymmärtää etäohjauksen piirteitä on herättänyt tutkijat. Tässä artikkelissa esitellään etätyönohjauksen tutkimushanketta ja sen tuloksia sekä pohditaan vuorovaikutuksen edistämisen mahdollisuuksia. nonPeerReviewed

Eettisesti haastavat tilanteet ja niiden kuormittavuus johtajien työssä: fokusryhmäkeskusteluiden analyysi

Tässä pilottitutkimuksessa tutkittiin laadullisesti johtajien työssään kokemia eettisesti haastavia tilanteita (sisällöt, kontekstit) sekä niissä koettuja ristiriitakokemuksia. Työtilanteita luokiteltiin laadullisen aineiston pohjalta. Aineisto kerättiin 16 suomalaisen johtajan fokusryhmäkeskusteluista (neljä ryhmää). Tulokset osoittivat, että johtajat kohtasivat usein työssään erilaisia eettisesti haastavia tilanteita suhteessa organisaation sidosryhmiin. Näitä sidosryhmiä olivat organisaation toimintaympäristö eli yhteiskunta, asiakkaat, omistajat sekä henkilöstö (johto, kollegat ja alaiset). Haastavien tilanteiden sisällöt jakautuivat viiteen luokkaan: 1) monimutkaiset työtilanteet, 2) r…