OGRES AND ANGELS

In any organization, there are certain managers who are well known for their disdain for support groups and internal consultants. In workshops for people in the same organization—whether they are in human resources, auditing, or engineering—the groups can all name the one or two managers at pretty high levels who are ogres in the eyes of the support groups. The ogres are seen as stubborn, autocratic, insensitive to feelings—the Captain Ahabs of industry. When the subject of resistance comes up, the ogres are mentioned. We all seem to need at least one impossible client in our lives—the client who becomes the lightning rod of our frustrations in consulting. There is also a fatal attraction to the ogres—they embody some consultants’ wish to ....