* The consulting team (originally six members) had weekly meetings before the project began. These meetings
focused on time commitments, skill requirements, and potential career payoffs. This realistic project preview
caused two team members to remove themselves from the project because of other commitments.
* The academic institution had never been involved in a large-scale A.C. project. The project's approval
uncovered the lack of written policies governing research overhead charges and billing procedures. These
issues were resolved through a series of problem-solving meetings with key administrators.
Contracting. The major focus of his phase is the explicit exchange of expectations between the consultant and
client. For an A.C. team, this stage generally involves the exchange of contract content information between the
academic institution and consulting team and among team members. Confidentiality issues, resource
constraints, and liability concerns were addressed as follows:
* Client concerns over maintaining their anonymity, especially with the publication agenda of the A.C. team,
were satisfied by written contract guarantees and by providing prior publication samples in which the identities
of companies were masked.
* Institutional computer system limitations were overcome by team-initiated contacts and contracting with
computer systems service providers at a major research university in the area.
* Unforeseen university concerns surfaced when the "Agreement of Expectations," signed by the client and A.C.
team, was shared with university administrators. Key issues such as university liability and project payment
practices were resolved only through a series of meetings that added new provisions to the agreement.
Diagnosis. This stage consists of the collection, analysis, and interpretation of organizational data. Multiple
methods and sources can be used to provide a richer understanding of the organization's strengths and
weaknesses. Our efforts during this stage of the project focused on enhancing client understanding of the
survey process, as well as balancing demands placed on the team by both the client and the university. For
example:
* Multiple meetings with and presentations to the client task force focusing on action research theory, practice,
and methodology were held to ensure client comfort and informed choice with the proposed plan.
* Client and consulting team logistical concerns with the large, geographically dispersed employee survey
population were addressed through focus groups, by conducting a pilot survey, and by developing a videotape
providing instructions For all survey participants.
* The possibility that project requirements would dominate other faculty duties were addressed through personal
assurances by team members to university administrators that project responsibilities would be met in addition
to, and not in place of, basic teaching and service responsibilities.
Feedback. Our A.C. team was charged with providing the client with a useful and understandable summary of information necessary to guide future management and employees' actions. Concerns at this stage dealt
primarily with logistical issues and providing promised information and results to employees throughout the
organization. Several specific issues were addressed:
* Client concerns over dealing with negative results were addressed in client task force meetings in which
feedback training programs for supervisors were outlined and sample feedback reports shared. The client was
also permitted to choose from among a number of feedback options and formats suggested by the A.C. team.
* Concerns over whether all respondents would receive adequate feedback were resolved by providing team
members' telephone numbers directly to employees to allow them to ask questions or report problems in survey
administration, by early specification of the need for feedback in the contracting process, and by the
development of a summary feedback video to be shown throughout the division.
* Administrative concerns over when publications would result from the project were discussed, and a specific
timetable for publications was jointly developed by team members and administrators.