The Dependency Issue and Termating The Relationship

If the consultant is in the business of enhancing the client systems abilities in problem solving and renewal, then the consultant is in the business of assisting the client to internalize skills and insight rather than to create a prolonged dependency relationship. The latter notion is congruent with admonition that if the consultancy intervention is to be helpful in an ongoing process, it is imperative for the client to have free, informed choice. The OD consultant should continuously be part educator as he or she intervenes in the system. An issue of personal importance to the consultant is the dilemma of working to increase the resourcefulness of the client verses wanting to remain involved, to feel needed, and to feel competent. Another dimension of the issues arises, however, when the consultant senses that his or her assistance is no longer needed or could be greatly reduced. For the clients good, to avoid wasting the consultants own professional resources, and to be congruent, the consultant should confront the issue. A particularly dilemma occurs when the use of the consultant, in the judgment of the consultant, is declining more rapidly than progress on the OD effort seems to warrant.