A framework for consulting to organizational role.

Role is a key component in any organizational change and a critical place for such change to be initiated. This article discusses the concept of organizational role and its complexities. The article offers both a framework for thinking about organizational role and a process for consulting to organizational “role holders.” “Role” has been part of the organizational discourse for as long as people have been thinking about organizations in scientific terms. As practitioners frequently are called upon by clients to think about organizational life and the continual process of change, we recognize that most organizational occurrences, whether a change in process, strategy, or structure or making sense of daily operating issues begin and end, from one perspective, in the roles of individuals and in the way that these “role holders” act and interact, consciously and unconsciously. This article begins to look at one method of doing so: to think about role and all it contains for the person and the organization. It is directed toward three interrelated purposes: 1. Helping “retrieve” the concept of role from its current state of disregard in organizational studies and consulting practice and reinforce its place in the body of organizational reality and functioning. 2. Depicting a framework for thinking about organizational role. 3. Describing a process for consulting to organizational role. We invite readers to apply this thinking on role beyond the concepts presented here to the broader issue of the impact any change might have on role. It is ultimately the role (as much as the person in it) within an organization that many change efforts must be directed toward and that will yield the greatest impact.