8.1Conceptual framework of diagnosis

What is diagnosis?

Diagnosis, the second phase of the consulting process, is the first fully operational phase. The purpose of diagnosis is to examine the problem faced and the purposes pursued by the client in detail and in depth, identify the factors and forces that are causing and influencing the problem, and prepare all the information needed to develop a solution to the problem. An equally important aim is to examine the relationships between the problem in question and the global objectives and results achieved by the client organization, and to ascertain the client’s potential to make changes and resolve the problem effectively.

The consultant should start the diagnostic work with a clear conceptual framework in mind. To embark on extensive and costly investigations without such a framework could be unproductive. In any organization the consultant will encounter a host of problems varying in importance and nature: technical and human, apparent and hidden, substantial and trivial, real and potential. He or she will hear many opinions as to what the real problems are and what should be done about them. In diagnosing the problem, the consultant will be constantly exposed to the risk of taking a wrong direction, becoming unduly influenced by the views expressed by others, and collecting interesting but unrelated facts while omitting essential information and ignoring some important dimensions of a complex problem, or interesting new opportunities.

Diagnosis is sometimes viewed as equal to collecting, dissecting and analysing vast amounts of data, including a great deal of data that may have no relevance to the purpose of the assignment. This is a misconception. While diagnosis requires data and facts, it is equally true that (a) diagnosis embraces considerably more than data collection and analysis, and (b) effective diagnosis is based on selected data and is consistently focused on the purposes of the project.