Much of what we read professionally or academically references the work of those that influenced an author, or provided a basis for an author's current work. Edgar Schein made a reference to Alex Bavelas in the Acknowledgments chapter of his book "Process Consultation Revisited" and retold a story about Dr. Bavelas that meant something to Schein, that exemplified how Dr. Bavelas engaged students in their own learning. The story is one of those that highlights what is an apparent eccentricity of Dr. Bavelas, an eccentricity designed to teach an unforgettable lesson. I love these types of stories because I am attracted to the notion that someone could be so confident in himself, and what he has to offer the world, that he shuns social norms in order to share what he knows, not in the telling but in the doing.
I wanted to know a little more about this Alex Bavelas, so I Googled him.
Dr. Bavelas conducted research on small group dynamics and patterns of communication within organizations. He and his student Harold Leavitt conducted controlled lab experiments at MIT in the late 40s and 50s to demonstrate how structures of communication within small groups impacted communication and task completion amongst other things. They set up a game that utilized four patterns of communication and then analyzed various factors associated with the completion of a task. Here is a link to read a summary of the experiment: http://www.analytictech.com/networks/commstruc.htm
One of the conclusions that Bavelas and Leavitt reached is that the more centralized the organizational structure, the better it performs. He offers some conclusions about the nature of centralized leadership and communication. The discussion associated with this summary also proposes that more recent research on centralization suggests that centralization is more effective when simple tasks must be accomplished but loses its effectiveness when complex tasks must get done. In those cases, decentralized systems tend to be more effective in regards to factors that include the "least time" taken to complete a task, the "least errors" associated with task completion and the "most satisfaction" of those within the system completing the tasks.
What does this mean for process consultation? Not sure I know, but it does make me think that there are many right answers, and that some answers may be more right than others depending on the particular set of conditions surrounding the problem to be solved, state to be achieved, or questions to be answered. To this end, it makes sense that a good consultant would have many tools in her toolbox, and many experiences applying those tools in order to be of the most help to a client. To have had those experiences, one would have to have many years under her belt. Age does have its benefits, to be sure. Perhaps age, experience and eccentricity go hand in hand in hand.
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