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Abstract

The field of organizational consulting develops its "knowledge " through direct encounters with naturally occurring changes characterizing organizational life, and through active attempts to produce transformation. The field itself thus is subjected to enormous reformation as it rides the very tides of the changes it promotes. Through one lens, the discipline seems to have grown weary over the years, perhaps worn down by the magnitude of the tasks it has adopted. Through another lens, it appears to be entering a new level of maturity. Using the other articles published in this issue as data points, the author examines some epistemological implications of the field's coming of age, especially the role of self-reflection in maintaining and restoring vitality. Four categories of change delineated in the literature-morphogenesis, morphostasis, development, and adaptation-are applied to the ways some of the authors in this issue wrestle with creating the field `s "knowledge. " Assumptions about certain time-honored practices, such as feedback in social systems and how we deal with measurement, are scrutinized and found to be in need of rethinking

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The Epistemological Struggles of Change Agents Changing Themselves

Abstract

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