Facilitation: Some contributions to theorising the practice of operational research

The paper examines the contributions of two distinct areas of theory to the practice of facilitation in operational research. The first area examined is deconstruction, presented in terms of its theorising about the role of language in social interaction, and as a method for describing and critiquing different positions present in written or verbal texts, for example positions inherent in the views of different stakeholders or underlying alternative strategies or options under consideration. The second area examined is ‘re-evaluation counselling’ or ‘co-counselling’, presented as a body of theory about human emotion and the impact of distress, and associated with a range of tools and techniques for use in stimulating creative thinking and analysing and responding to emotional outbursts during the course of facilitated work sessions. Examples from OR practice in the field of group decision-making and action illustrate the discussion in both these sections.