The role and responsibility of the consultant

• Authors: Eileen Driscoll
• Venue: SIGUCCS '88 Proceedings of the 16th annual ACM SIGUCCS Conference on User Services
• Year: 1988

This paper examines the interaction that occurs between the computer consultant and his or her client, factors that affect that interaction, the role of the consultant in the research university, the consultant's personal responsibility in the interaction and ways to create change. The paper utilizes the method of institutional ethnography suggested by Dorothy Smith: place the consultant-client interaction within the organization of the research university.The paper describes how the consulting process works beginning from personal experiences of consultant and client and then places the interaction in the larger context of the university, academic training and research practices. The routinization of research separates it into many functions performed by people who may not understand the intended use of the research. The consultant performs two pieces of the research function — training clients to use the computer and helping them deal with any problems. In the course of our work, we as consultants encounter contradictions in the university system that create our individual feelings of inadequacy and burnout. We also may find it difficult to accept our personal responsibility for the uses made of the research in which we participate. Understanding our work and its place in the university is the first step toward creating change. This understanding can be increased by breaking our isolation and talking to each other about problems we encounter as consultants, by examining the ideology we participate in creating and by integrating our professional expertise with our desire to assist our clients. We need not blame ourselves for the shortcomings of the system. Changing the way we think about our world and our work is a way of changing our world and our work.