Technological Consulting in a Grass Roots, Action Oriented Organization

The relationship which developed between the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee and the Stanford Graduate School of Business on a joint project to computerize portions of the Union’s information processing activities is described. The consulting relationship between the two parties is analyzed historically using an organizational development model of consulting. From this experience, it is concluded that attention must be paid to both the task and the development of the client-consultant relationship. The crucial components of the relationship are described and related to the history of the project.