Aristotle and the Function of Management Consultants

Author(s):  
David Shaw
Author(s):  
Ewan Ferlie ◽  
Sue Dopson ◽  
Chris Bennett ◽  
Michael D. Fischer ◽  
Jean Ledger ◽  
...  

The chapter discusses management consultants and consulting knowledge in health care, highlighting significant expenditure on consultancy and how consultants have shaped thinking in public services, which some critics suggest has served consultants’ own (financial) interests. The chapter then discusses the way consultants mobilize management knowledge and frame clients’ problems and solutions. It discusses an empirical case study of a consultancy project to redesign NHS organizations to make substantial ‘efficiency savings’. Here, consultants framed the NHS’s problem and solution, and then imposed an organizational redesign. Local NHS managers and clinicians framed the NHS’s problem differently, doubting the consultants’ framing and proposing redesign, but feeling unable to engage in dialogue about these concerns. Consequently, they engaged with the project in a calculated and defensive way, superficially accepting the redesign while waiting for its implementation to fail. Thus, the chapter demonstrates framing politics surrounding management consulting knowledge.


Author(s):  
Lara Maestripieri

Abstract Management consultancy has long been a contested terrain in the sociology of the professions. Although the professionalism of management consultants has always been emphasized by practitioners themselves, the lack of a strong community of peers has been an impediment to their professionalization. In this article, I argue that professionalism is not the outcome of a process of regulation and institutionalization but that it has to be conceived a discourse comprising norms, worldviews, and values that define what is appropriate for an individual to be considered a competent and recognized member of this community. Given the diversity characterizing the field, there are multiple discourses surrounding professionalism of management consultants, and these discourses are shaped by work settings. Work settings are a combination of the type of organization professional partnership or professional service firm and the employment status (employee or self-employed). Drawing on the empirical evidence from various work settings (professional service firms, professional partnership, and self-employment), I investigate four clusters of practitioners identified in 55 biographical and semi-structured interviews conducted with management consultants in Italy. Four types of professionalism emerge from the clusters. Organizing professionalism is the sole professionalism that appears in all work settings. Other discourses (corporate, commercialized, and hybrid professionalism) are context-dependent and more likely to be found in specific work settings.


1992 ◽  
Vol 5 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 257-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermann Krallmann ◽  
Michael Müller-Wünsch ◽  
Ansgar Woltering

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-206
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Riggio ◽  
Karan Saggi

Many industrial and organizational (I-O) and consulting psychologists who engage in practice of their profession, for example as “management consultants,” compete against consultants with a wide array of backgrounds and disciplinary degrees. Indeed, in consulting work, one of us has competed against practitioners with backgrounds in fields ranging from accounting (CPAs) to sociology, communication, anthropology, business administration, and even those with degrees in divinity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-24
Author(s):  
Paolo Bongarzoni

As automation increasingly influences businesses, digitalization technologies and tools such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc., become essential to support the definition and implementation of strategy activities aimed at improving businesses' competitiveness in the digital, cloud-based, and data-driven world. Since this business growth corresponds to an enormous increase in the data volumes, it is fundamental for businesses to adopt several digital solutions in their strategy process together with a tailored digital strategy embedded in their strategic plan. The purpose of this article is to critically analyse the classic strategy activities' latest trends/needs and how they could be properly addressed by the available digital technologies. Finally, for every activity are mentioned some best practices tools and software, supported by management consultants, since they trigger a high return on investment in term of the time savings, less dedicated resources, and final business performance.


1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flemming Poulfelt

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