Humanistic Consulting

When organizational leaders reflect on who has most influenced their careers, they often name a humanistic consultant. A humanistic approach to working with people and organizations spans leadership development, executive coaching, organization development and efforts to transform and revitalize systems. The tools are borrowed from diverse sources: its effectiveness relies on a compassionate practitioner.
Tracing the historical roots of the practice, this book explores the elements that shape humanistic consulting and give it powerful versatility. Insights are offered for consultants, managers and students alike.

David Noer is an honorary senior fellow at the Center for Creative Leadership and professor emeritus at Elon University. He has written a wide range of articles, seven books, numerous book chapters and leadership research studies. He is the former editor of the Organization Development Practitioner and member of the Organization Development Board of Directors. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

David Noer
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 216
Bibliographic Info: tables & graphs, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6779-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2747-2
Imprint: McFarland

List of Figures ix

Preface 1

Part One: History, Evolution and Applications 7

1. The Humanistic Consultant 9

2. Organization Development: A Concept in Search of a Definition 18

3. The Beginning: Three Wise Men and the Birth of NTL 27

4. The Formative Years: Outsiders, Stems, Roots and Streams 33

5. The OD Practitioner 41

6. Organizational Behavior: OD’s Academic Cousin 51

7. Organization Transformation: OD’s Radical Cousin 60

8. Humanistic Coaching 69

9. Leadership Development 79

Part Two: Influence of Therapeutic and Philosophic Models 89

10. Reflections on Therapy and Consultation 91

11. The Big Three: Freud and His Dissident Disciples 97

12. A Discordant Quartet: Perls, Rogers, Ellis and Skinner 104

13. The Existential Influence 112

Part Three: Perspectives and Observations 121

14. Reflections and Heretical Realities 123

15. Six Managerial Paradigms in the Process of Becoming 128

16. The Practitioner as a Hired Gun 137

17. Breaking Organizational Codependency 146

18. Nurturing Learning Cultures 156

19. New Reality Management 163

20. The Right Stuff 175

Appendices: Self Assessments 187

Appendix A: Susceptibility to Organizational Codependence Index 189

Appendix B: Organizational Preference Questionnaire 191

Appendix C: Consulting Behaviors Inventory 194

References 197

Index 203