Unit 4: Training methods & consultant-client dynamics
Organisation Change and Development notes · PTU syllabus (BBA 532-18)
On this page
Unit summary
Specific OD techniques develop people and teams, and the relationship between the OD consultant and the client decides success. This unit covers T-groups, behaviour modelling, team-building interventions and issues in the consultant-client relationship.
After this unit you can
- Explain T-groups (sensitivity training)
- Explain behaviour modelling
- Describe team-building interventions
- Discuss issues in the consultant-client relationship
PTU syllabus topics
- T-Groups
- behaviour modelling
- team-building interventions
- issues in the consultant-client relationship
Human process
T-groups, team building, process consultation
Techno-structural
Job design, restructuring
HRM
Goal setting, appraisal, rewards
Strategic
Culture change, large-group work
Topic 1
T-groups (sensitivity training)
A T-group is an unstructured small group (8–15 people) meeting with a trainer, where members learn about themselves and group processes through open feedback in the "here and now". Goals: self-awareness, sensitivity to others, listening, and understanding group dynamics. Criticisms: can be stressful, transfer of learning to work may be weak, and it needs a skilled trainer.
Topic 2
Behaviour modelling
Behaviour modelling teaches skills by having trainees watch a model perform a behaviour correctly, practise it in role-play, receive feedback and apply it on the job. Based on Bandura's social learning theory; widely used for supervisory and customer-service skills.
- 1Modelling
Watch the right behaviour
- 2Role-play
Practise it
- 3Social reinforcement
Feedback and praise
- 4Transfer of training
Use it on the job
Topic 3
Team-building interventions
Team building improves how a team works together — its goals, roles, processes and relationships.
Diagnostic meetings
Review how the team is doing
Role analysis technique
Clarify each member's role and expectations
Role negotiation
Agree what each needs from others
Process consultation
Consultant helps the team see its own processes
Responsibility charting
Who decides, approves, is consulted
Topic 4
Consultant-client relationship
Issues: entry and contracting (clarifying goals and roles), defining the client (who exactly the client is), trust, the depth of intervention, avoiding the client's dependency on the consultant, ethics (confidentiality, competence, avoiding misuse) and ending the relationship once the client can manage on its own.
Key terms
- T-group
- An unstructured group for learning through feedback
- Behaviour modelling
- Learning by watching, practising and getting feedback
- Role analysis technique
- Clarifying roles and expectations in a team
- Process consultation
- Helping a group understand its own processes
- Client dependency
- Over-reliance on the OD consultant
Quick revision
- T-groups: here-and-now feedback, self-awareness.
- Behaviour modelling: model → role-play → reinforcement → transfer.
- Team building: diagnosis, role analysis, role negotiation, process consultation.
- Consultant issues: contracting, client definition, trust, dependency, ethics, termination.
Important exam questions
Practice questions written to the PTU exam pattern for this unit's syllabus: short answers (Section A style) and long answers (Sections B and C style).
Short-answer questions
- Q1.What is a T-group?
- Q2.List the steps in behaviour modelling.
- Q3.What is the role analysis technique?
- Q4.What is process consultation?
- Q5.Why should a consultant avoid client dependency?
Long-answer questions
- Q1.Explain T-groups and their merits and limitations.
- Q2.Explain team-building interventions.
- Q3.Discuss the issues in the consultant-client relationship in OD.
Stuck on this unit?
Message SBS on WhatsApp for help with Organisation Change and Development, or to ask about studying BBA at Synetic.