ABSTRACT

The field of management consultancy research has grown rapidly in recent years. Fuelled by the drivers of complexity and uncertainty, a growing number of organizations – both profit and third sector alike – are looking at management consultancy to assist in their aims for development and change. Consultants have become a common feature in organizational change initiatives, involved in both providing advice and in implementing ideas and solutions. However, despite this growing recognition and influence, management consultancy is still often misunderstood or criticized for its lack of theoretical underpinning.

The book seeks to address these issues by offering applied theoretical insights from academics that both teach and practice management consultancy. Written by recognized experts in their field, the contributors combine original insights with authoritative analysis. Uniquely, this book identifies emerging themes with critical discourse and provides rich empirical case study evidence to show the reader how management consultancy projects are implemented. Real-world international consultancy projects are featured as written up cases featuring organizations from multi-national corporations to the public sector.

Written for graduate level managers or those who have practical leadership experience, this book will enable readers to apply management consultancy models beyond a classroom context

part I|114 pages

Applied academic discourse

chapter 1|14 pages

The management consultant

The Hermes of our time

chapter 3|12 pages

Create more value for all

A human dignity oriented approach to consulting

chapter 4|14 pages

The role of client knowledge in consulting projects

Explorative, exploitative and ambidextrous approaches

part II|135 pages

Practical implementation

chapter 11|17 pages

An organisational transition

A case of preparation, persistence and person centredness

chapter 12|19 pages

Richard Lewis Communications - cross-cultural management consulting

From cultural awareness to global competence

chapter 14|20 pages

Making lemonade from lemons

The role of client-consultant knowledge as the Limoneira company goes global

chapter 15|11 pages

Case study

Public sector management consulting in Sub-Saharan Africa

chapter 17|13 pages

Consultants

The custodians of best practices

chapter |2 pages

Conclusion