Inviting interactional change through “tricky situations” in consulting : Handling criticism and blame

Purpose – Consulting work aims to bring about changes in organizational performance. In OD‐consulting practices, changes are to be sought through conversational settings created for these purposes. The purpose of this paper is to take a discursive approach to change work and ask how interactional change is constructed and managed during multi‐party consulting conversations. Design/methodology/approach – A case episode from an authentic consultation event is presented. By combining ideas from discursive psychology and conversational analysis, it is shown that a consulting conversation may be socially sensitive and face‐threatening for all concerned. Findings – The paper shows how such a “tricky situation” is not to be avoided but to be actively constructed for facilitating change. The use of different discursive strategies for managing criticism and blame is demonstrated. Practical implications – Tricky situations involving criticism and blame can be used in facilitating interactional change. The consultant's role is to invite personal and focused criticism and to utilize a meta‐perspective and to anchor the conversation in the present situational interaction. Originality/value – The paper takes an interaction perspective on OD‐consulting (process consulting) using naturalistic data and shows in detailed analysis the activity of the consultant and the clients.