Contextual Influences on Team Effectiveness & Consultant Identity: Implications for Consulting & Consultation

Unprecedented, non-stop environmental turbulence accompanied by a progressively accelerated rate of change causes deep concern for businesses today. Almost half a century ago, Emery and Trist (1965) recognized the dependency of organizations on their environments and identified the increasing complexity and pace of environmental change. Since that time, Clarke (1994) and others (see below) repeatedly reaffirmed these observations. At the brink of the 21st century, Nadler and Tushman (1999) declared, “Poised on the eve of the next century, we are witnessing a profound transformation in the very nature of our business organizations” (p. 45). Weisbord (2004) borrowed the term “permanent whitewater” (p. 185) from Vaill (1996) to depict a world of “accelerated change, growing uncertainty, [and] increasingly unpredictable global connections of economics, technology, and people ... producing [relentless and often unfathomable] ‘irreversible general change’” (p. 186). Warrick (2009) predicted that this trend, set in motion by the convergence of historic forces, would be the future norm. Few people deny the inevitability of change; however, its rapid acceleration alarms even the experts. Our fast-paced world demands that organizations adapt or perish. Thus organizations are undergoing phenomenal challenges in comprehending, anticipating, and responding effectively and in a timely manner to these remarkable trends. However, despite sincere, intense, and extensive efforts, few corporations manage change as well as they would like. At the same time that modern-day enterprises vigorously and steadfastly tackle the relentless challenge of progressively accelerated environmental change, organization development (OD) continues to evolve as both an art and a science. Cooperrider (2005) described organizations as a “triumph of the human imagination” (p. 1), but, even in the wake of the immense challenge of change, organizations demonstrate inclinations toward underlying natural patterns, and survival efforts (Cooperrider, 2005; Cameron, 2008). To experience ongoing success, organizations need to adapt by interfacing more