Most practitioners work within organizations. They are given the job of planning for and running programs to improve the quality of work being done in the organization. They often devote a considerable amount of time to managing their own shop and help other units of the organization complete their work in an efficient and effective manner. Many training and development departments provide ongoing services to the corporation, such as conferences, workshops and seminars. In these various capacities, the internal practitioner is often serving in a Model One capacity and is limited to Level One Change.
Even those who work as outside consultants to organizations will often assume a Model One role for a short period of time in the organization. A social service agency, for instance, might need someone to write a grant proposal that is due in two weeks. A corporation might need someone to prepare a software package for its computer system. There is insufficient time to train people inside these organizations to perform these tasks. Hence a Model One consultant is brought in to perform this short-term, specialized task, and they are given broad powers to get the job done.
Alternatively, an organization might hire an outside consultant to perform a task that is infrequently needed. A corporation, for instance, might contract with a consulting firm to conduct an executive job search, or a community mental health clinic might bring in an outside consultant to conduct a short-term stress-management program for men and women who have become unemployed as a result of a recent factory closing. In all of these various capacities an outside consultant often serves as a Model One practitioner. Yet, Model One is most typically found as a part of the work assignment of a human resource or organization development practitioner. The projects being run by external consultants require Model One administration, as do the day-to-day operations of training and development offices within or outside formal organizations. Model One is a frequent source of problems, however, especially when a practitioner does not recognize that this model is being employed. An organization gradually becomes dependent on the internal or external practitioner and soon requests that he or she do the work rather than training someone else in the organization to do this work.
