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The Consultancy Process — An Insecure Business?

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  • Andrew Sturdy

Abstract

This paper examines the practices and perceptions of management consultants and their clients. The existing literature, which emphasizes managerial anxiety in accounting for the persistent use of consultants and, relatedly, the transience of management ideas is critically developed. It is argued that such accounts tend to be abstracted from the power relations of organizations and capitalism and to portray management as passive victims of confident consultants. An alternative interactive model is proposed, which is based on reciprocal and self‐defeating concerns of clients and consultants to secure a sense of identity and control. This is explored empirically, highlighting the hitherto neglected active role of managers in resisting consultancy and the pressures and anxieties experienced by consultants. The account selectively draws on secondary sources as well as interview, documentary and survey research of IT strategy consultants and clients in the UK financial services sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Sturdy, 1997. "The Consultancy Process — An Insecure Business?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 389-413, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:34:y:1997:i:3:p:389-413
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-6486.00056
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    Cited by:

    1. Hasseldine, John & Holland, Kevin & van der Rijt, Pernill, 2011. "The market for corporate tax knowledge," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 39-52.
    2. Dag Madsen & Kåre Slåtten, 2013. "The Role of the Management Fashion Arena in the Cross-National Diffusion of Management Concepts: The Case of the Balanced Scorecard in the Scandinavian Countries," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-33, August.
    3. Alaric Bourgoin & Fabian Muniesa, 2012. "Making a consultancy slideshow 'rock solid': a study of pragmatic efficacy," CSI Working Papers Series 027, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    4. Helen Irvine, 2007. "Corporate Creep: An Institutional View Of Consultancies in a Non-Profit Organisation," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 17(41), pages 13-25, March.
    5. Gideon D. Markman & Donald S. Siegel & Mike Wright, 2008. "Research and Technology Commercialization," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 1401-1423, December.
    6. Manning, Stephan, 2017. "The rise of project network organizations: Building core teams and flexible partner pools for interorganizational projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1399-1415.
    7. Qu, Sandy Q. & Cooper, David J., 2011. "The role of inscriptions in producing a balanced scorecard," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 344-362.
    8. Elisa Salvador & Hassan El Asraoui & Mylene Akbaraly, 2019. "The difficult relationship between the consultancy market and SMEs: inspiring insights from the case of Drôme," Post-Print hal-02513526, HAL.
    9. Braam, Geert, 2002. "The reception pattern of the balanced scorecard: accounting for interpretative viability," Research Report 02G29, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    10. Tutar Hasan & Sarkhanov Teymur, 2022. "Tracing Management Fashions in Selected Indices: A Descriptive Statistical Study," Organizacija, Sciendo, vol. 55(3), pages 199-213, August.
    11. Isaac Waisberg & Andrew Nelson, 2018. "When the General Meets the Particular: The Practices and Challenges of Interorganizational Knowledge Reuse," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 432-448, June.
    12. Heusinkveld, Stefan & Visscher, Klaasjan, 2012. "Practice what you preach: How consultants frame management concepts as enacted practice," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 285-297.
    13. repec:dgr:rugsom:02g29 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Iuan-Yuan Lu & Teng-Hu Su & Ing-Chung Huang, 2009. "Consulting knowledge and organisation's absorptive capacity: A communication chain perspective," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(12), pages 2007-2022, June.
    15. Przemyslaw Hensel, 2013. "Doradztwo jako temat badan naukowych – przegl¹d wspolczesnej literatury. (Consulting as a subject of study – a review of a recent literature.)," Problemy Zarzadzania, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 11(43), pages 9-24.
    16. Lambert Jerman & Alaric Bourgoin, 2016. "L'identité négative de l'auditeur," Post-Print hal-01902594, HAL.
    17. Roger Svensson, 2001. "Success Determinants when Tendering for International Consulting Projects," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 101-122.
    18. Matias Bronnenmayer & Bernd Wirtz & Vincent Göttel, 2016. "Success factors of management consulting," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-34, January.
    19. Lenz Regina & Schormüller Claudia & Glückler Johannes, 2020. "Legitimation strategies in an emerging field: family firm succession consultancy in Germany," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 64(2), pages 58-73, June.
    20. Stephan Manning & Daniel Roessler, 2014. "The Formation of Cross-Sector Development Partnerships: How Bridging Agents Shape Project Agendas and Longer-Term Alliances," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 527-547, September.
    21. Alaric Bourgoin & Fabian Muniesa, 2012. "Making a consultancy slideshow 'rock solid': a study of pragmatic efficacy," CSI Working Papers Series 027, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.

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