---

Each year, thousands of consulting contracts are awarded by organizations to experts who help them with challenges involving people, processes, technologies, goals, resource allocation, decision making, problem solving, and more. These experts - consultants - diagnose problems, recommend solutions, facilitate interventions, and evaluate outcomes that are often related to human communication. Some consultants are academicians skilled in both doing and interpreting research for clients; others are practitioners with little use for research and theory. Driving all of the ideas showcased in Consulting That Matters: A Handbook for Scholars and Practitioners is the premise that sound theory and research are critical to consulting success, and should be the blueprints for successful organizational transformation. Thus, this book is for all types of consultants, including the very best who are at the top of their games and those who believe theory and research belong in ivory towers, not business settings. Featuring a "who´s who" of preeminent communication scholars/consultants, each author shares frameworks, strategies, and examples from their own diverse experiences, all grounded in rich, substantive theory and research. The volume offers even the most skilled and experienced consultants a range of alternative approaches, paradigms, and competencies to build their credibility and make them more valuable to their clients in a dynamic, ever-evolving business climate.

---

Preface - Foreword - Jennifer H. Waldeck: How Communication Theory and Research Make Consulting Matter - David R. Seibold: The Communication Scholar´s Unique Perspective on Organizational Consulting: Personal Reflections and a Design Approach - Joann Keyton: The Role of the Consultant´s Paradigms, Values, and Ethics - Loyd S. Pettegrew: The Importance of Context, Situation and Setting in Consulting - Peter F. Jorgensen: Building an Evidence-Based Practice: Conducting Valuable Needs Assessments - Timothy G. Plax/Jennifer H. Waldeck/Patricia Kearney: Collecting and Using Narratives That Matter - Jennifer H. Waldeck/Timothy G. Plax/Patricia Kearney: Planning and Proposing Consulting Work - Steven A. Beebe: Communication Skills for Consulting Excellence - Jesse Sostrin: A Collaborative Approach to Examining and Addressing Organizational Challenges: The Coordinated Management of Meaning as Practice - Joseph P. Folger: Transformative Team Interventions: Using the Transformative Mediation Framework for Team Building - David R. Seibold: Facilitating Team Development in Embedded Organizational Work Groups - Marian Houser: Facilitating Training: When Organizational Members´ Skills Need to Be Addressed - Keri K. Stephens/Eric D. Waters: How & Why Technology Matters in Consulting & Coaching Interventions - Franklin J. Boster: Providing Research Services for Clients - Gary L. Kreps: Consulting in the Healthcare Context: A Case Study of the Community Liaison Project - Joshua Barbour/Shirley J. Faughn/Robert L. Husband: Reaching for Big Data: Using Analytics to Address Organizational Challenges - John L. Daly: Championing NOV Ventures: Consulting in Competitive, Corporate Contexts - Loyd S. Pettegrew: Delicate Balance: When the Researcher is also an Interventionist in Healthcare Settings - Sean Ross/Jennifer H. Waldeck: White Shirts, Blue Shirts: A Case Study of Leadership Development Consulting for Law Enforcement - Michael Cody: Consulting in the Educational Context: Serving as an External Program Reviewer - Robert McCann: The Graying of the Organization: Intergenerational Communication Consulting - Contributor Bios - Index.

---