Presenting Problems in Social Consultancy: Three Case Histories Concerning the Selection of Managers

Abstract

This paper examines the nature of presenting problems in social consultancy through analyzing three case histories concerned with the selection of managers. A theory is put forward that the role that is assigned by the presenter to the consultant contains within it the presenter's denied relationship to the problem. The work of social consultancy reverses this process such that what has been projected into the role of consultant is taken back by the presenter in the form of his link to the problem. The social space containing consultant, presenter, and problem has thereby been changed.