Several contemporary sociological theorists l have focused upon the inadequacies of t\1eber's model of bureaucracy2 and have suggested t ha t greater attention be paid to the role of horizontal communication in formal organizations. This is an era when the collegial collaboration of experts is being merged v7it11 the classical burearcratic hierarchical structure. More needs to be lalo1m about collegial functioning especially, since it contradicts burearcratic premises of hierarchical control

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... limited autonomy. In this paper the relationship of social cohesion to one form of horizontal communication,collegial consultation, is examined. By consultation we mean a request for technical information which an actor in a social system needs in order to properly perform his obligations in that systemo Technical information refers to the information that contributes to the achievement of organizational goals in a fairly d~rect manner. It is not necessary that the consulting person receive a"solution to his problem in order for a consultation to have occurred. T~~10 further distinctions should be elaborated, namely, t he distinction between consultation in a dyadic context as opposed to consultation in a group context and the distinction between technical consultation and supportive conauLt at Lon , Blau 3 called the gro.up interaction pattern "consultation in disguise." ThLs pattern consisted of one individual t.h rowfng out; an interesting case or problem to a group for discussion and comment. In the course of the discussion, the problem was usually solved and a certain amount of technical information was gained by members of the group, without much cost to anyone. It is the dyadic case 't a lh i ch t hf,s paper 't·rlll focus at tention upon. Blau did not separate the information-seeking and support funcnions 'of consultation behavior, although he was avlare that both types of consultation were being measured \oJitllout discrimination. Thds lack of differentiation is reflected in his question: "t']ho do you usually confer 'toJith when you have difficulty?4 In this paper, an effort was made to isolate only the information seeking types of consultation behavior. This was done by asking teachers to indicate whom they consulted when they wan.te d technical information concerning five specific problem areas having direct relevance to their work in the s cho ol , No attempt was made to isolate supportive types of consultation. 92