COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY:
A POSTMODERN APPROACH TO ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTATION
Harlene Anderson & J. Paul Burney

Our collaborative approach to consultation is collegial and egalitarian. It is the framework for a partnership in which consultant and client combine expertise to explore their dilemmas and challenges and develop new possibilities for resolving them. Whether we work with individuals or a group, members of a family or an organization, our collaborative approach remains the same (Anderson, 1997, 1990; Anderson & Goolishian, 1987; Anderson & Goolishian, 1988; Anderson & Swim, 1995; Goolishian & Anderson, 1987). In organizational consultation, the approach is a way of integrating people and business strategies in building pathways to change and success. In this paper we describe and illustrate this postmodern approach to thinking about, and working with, human systems and the problems they present.

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