This depends on the type of consulting you are doing. For some types the internal politics can be a big problem. There are projects that I am on where we are trying to size markets for clients. What they do not say is that the senior people are going to have their pay and bonus based on our numbers, so we quickly become political pawns in a big game where we do not know the relationships or where the land mines are. In thoes situation, the internal politcs are something that oyu need to pay extreme attention to.

Mess - I can see where in that case you would want to know the ins and outs. And I'm sure there are other cases where that is so, especially when it comes to the bottom line. It's just in this case, it really doesn't come into play for the consultant. It does for me, obviously, especially depending on the project. But they only had to deal with "maintenance" on some of my projects and the politics, if there were any related to what I do, have already played out on those.

Not everyone can stay emotionally detatched from the interpersonal stuff of the people around them. I'm not sure it's fair to blame the consultant for not adopting the same attitude you do about a consultant's relationship to co-workers, especially since it's possible the consultant can't functionally work that way.

Ulrika - To an extent, it probably isn't fair. However, this was a short term assignment, they're paid a lot of money, and there's no long term prospect involved. So if you're not angling for another contract, the job to go perm, etc. why do you care? Did I want them to care about their work and what we do? Yes, of course. Consultants are human beings, duh. I don't like it when people treat consultants as garbage. It's a working relationship and everyone wins when there's mutual respect. In the end, yes, I think that it appears they can't work unless they're emotionally invested in a positive way with the organization.

As I always say, all companies are dysfunctional, it's just a matter of finding one where you fit in with their dysfunctionality. In this case, it appears that even though they are only here for a short time the rule appears to apply.

"So if you're not angling for another contract, the job to go perm, etc. why do you care?"

Uh, because human emotional reactions aren't usually, if ever, for pre-thought-out reason? We're rationalizing animals, we're very good at convincing ourselves that what we think of as our reasons are why we react the way we do, but that doesn't mean we're right. We're as Skinnerian as cats, dogs, and planaria. We react as we've been trained to.

For that matter, aren't you having an emotional reaction about someone you were only going to have a short-term, business relationship with anyway? Aren't you violating your own rule?