IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00818099.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Professional Service Firms confronted with management challenges: can democracy be an organizational solution? A case-study in a democratic consulting firm

Author

Listed:
  • Sébastien Gand

    (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Philippe Lefebvre

    (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Jean-Claude Sardas

    (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Due to the nature of their inputs, outputs and processes, professional service firms (PSFs) face three generic management challenges, namely strategic management, knowledge management and human-resource management. These three management issues are closely interrelated. They need to be managed in consistent whole patterns in relation to kinds of business activities. Following the typology of Lowendahl (2005 [1997]), 'client relation' and 'adapting solutions' kinds of PSF have consistent overall approaches to the three management issues. But, concerning 'creative problem-solving' ('CPS') PSFs, there is a lack of a consistent overall management approach, This latter can be neither hierarchical management nor self-management. We propose to investigate the democratic management approach as a potential consistent solution for 'CPS' PSFs. To this aim, we draw on a longitudinal in-depth case study in a French democratic consulting firm confronted with the need for managing differentiation between individuals and collective integration. In the last section we discuss the contributions of such a management perspective for PSFs, as well as the difficulties and the contingencies of the case-study.

Suggested Citation

  • Sébastien Gand & Philippe Lefebvre & Jean-Claude Sardas, 2007. "Professional Service Firms confronted with management challenges: can democracy be an organizational solution? A case-study in a democratic consulting firm," Post-Print hal-00818099, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00818099
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://minesparis-psl.hal.science/hal-00818099v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://minesparis-psl.hal.science/hal-00818099v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Boxall & Mike Steeneveld, 1999. "Human Resource Strategy and Competitive Advantage: A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Consultancies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 443-463, July.
    2. Henry Mintzberg & James A. Waters, 1985. "Of strategies, deliberate and emergent," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 257-272, July.
    3. Morris, Timothy & Empson, Laura, 1998. "Organisation and expertise: An exploration of knowledge bases and the management of accounting and consulting firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 609-624.
    4. Howard Gospel & Andrew Pendleton, 2003. "Finance, Corporate Governance and the Management of Labour: A Conceptual and Comparative Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(3), pages 557-582, September.
    5. Monder Ram, 1999. "Managing Consultants in a Small Firm: A Case Study," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 875-897, November.
    6. Bill Taylor, 1999. "Patterns of Control within Japanese Manufacturing Plants in China: Doubts about Japanization in Asia," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 853-873, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Namrata Malhotra & Timothy Morris, 2009. "Heterogeneity in Professional Service Firms," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 895-922, September.
    2. Capelleras, Joan-Lluis & Mole, Kevin F., 2012. "How ‘buzz’ reduces uncertainty for new firm founders," MPRA Paper 38170, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Deakin, S. & Koukiadaki, A., 2011. "Capability Theory, Employee Voice and Corporate Restructuring: Evidence from UK Case Studies," Working Papers wp429, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    4. Robert P. Garrett Jr. & Jeffrey G. Covin, 2015. "Internal Corporate Venture Operations Independence and Performance: A Knowledge–Based Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(4), pages 763-790, July.
    5. Sirén, Charlotta & Kohtamäki, Marko, 2016. "Stretching strategic learning to the limit: The interaction between strategic planning and learning," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 653-663.
    6. Marina Fiedler & Isabell Welpe & Arnold Picot, 2010. "Understanding Radical Change: An Examination of Management Departments in German-speaking Universities," management revue. Socio-economic Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 21(2), pages 111-134.
    7. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2010. "Social capital and management control systems: A study of a non-government organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 737-756, November.
    8. Ali, Abdul & Mancha, Ruben & Pachamanova, Dessislava, 2018. "Correcting analytics maturity myopia," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 211-219.
    9. Loris Guery & Anne Stevenot & Geoffrey T. Wood & Chris Brewster, 2017. "The Impact of Private Equity on Employment: The Consequences of Fund Country of Origin—New Evidence from France," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 723-750, October.
    10. Farzana Riva & Solon Magrizos & Mohammad Rabiul Basher Rubel, 2021. "Investigating the link between managers' green knowledge and leadership style, and their firms' environmental performance: The mediation role of green creativity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3228-3240, November.
    11. Gebauer, Heiko & Worch, Hagen & Truffer, Bernhard, 2012. "Absorptive capacity, learning processes and combinative capabilities as determinants of strategic innovation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 57-73.
    12. Young-Choon Kim & Taekjin Shin & Sangchan Park, 2021. "Enhancing firm performance through intra-group managerial experience: Evidence from group-affiliated firms in Korea," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 435-465, June.
    13. Iman Seoudi & Matthias Huehn & Bo Carlsson, 2008. "Penrose Revisited: A Re-Appraisal of the Resource Perspective," Working Papers 14, The German University in Cairo, Faculty of Management Technology.
    14. Yannick LUNG & Bernard JULLIEN & Christophe MIDLER, 2016. "From the Logan to the Kwid. \r\nAmbidexterity, reverse and fractal innovation, design-to-cost: recipes from Renault\'s Entry strategy," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2016-19, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    15. Nurmi, Raimo, 1998. "Knowledge-intensive firms," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 26-32.
    16. Sara Belisari & Daniele Binci & Andrea Appolloni, 2020. "E-Procurement Adoption: A Case Study about the Role of Two Italian Advisory Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    17. Litz, Reginald A., 2010. "Jamming across the generations: Creative intergenerational collaboration in the Marsalis family," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 185-199, December.
    18. Gérald Naro & Denis Travaillé, 2010. "Construire les stratégies avec le Balanced Scorecard:vers une approche interactive du modèle de Kaplan et Norton," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 13(2), pages 33-66., June.
    19. Innan Sasaki & Niina Nummela & Davide Ravasi, 2021. "Managing cultural specificity and cultural embeddedness when internationalizing: Cultural strategies of Japanese craft firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(2), pages 245-281, March.
    20. Theodosiou, Marios & Leonidou, Leonidas C., 2003. "Standardization versus adaptation of international marketing strategy: an integrative assessment of the empirical research," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 141-171, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Professional service firm; democratic firm;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00818099. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.