The Oxford Handbook of Management Consulting

by Kipping, Matthias; Clark, Timothy

• ISBN13: 9780199235049
• ISBN10: 019923504X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Management consultants of various kinds play an important role in the world of business, and within other types of organization.The Oxford Handbook on Management Consultingis a comprehensive overview of eminent thinking and research on management consultancy with contributions from leading international scholars. The first section provides an account of the historical developments in management consultancy research, and how current thinking has evolved from prior work. The second section focuses on disciplinary and theoretical perspectives on management consulting, their diversities, areas of synergy, and parallel concerns. The following sections examine consulting as a knowledge business; the consultants in management fashion; and the relationship between management consultants and their clients. The Handbook concludes with an assessment of areas of future research and debate. By bringing together a wide range of research and thinking on management consultancy across different disciplines, sub-disciplines, and conceptual approaches, the Handbook provides a comprehensive understanding of both current thinking and future directions for research.

Author Biography

Matthias Kipping is Professor of Strategic Management and Chair in Business History at the Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Munich and additional degrees in France and the United States and held previous appointments in the United Kingdom and Spain. He has published widely on management consultancy and its evolution, and co-edited with Lars Engwall a volume on Management Consulting: Emergence and Dynamics of a Knowledge Industry (OUP, 2002)..


Timothy Clark is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Durham Business School, Durham University. He has conducted a series of research projects into different aspects of the work of management consultants which have resulted in influential publications in the area including Managing Consultants (Open University Press, 1995) and Critical Consulting: New Perspectives on the Management Advice Industry (2002, Blackwell, with R. Fincham).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. viii
List of Figures	p. ix
List of Tables	p. x
Notes on the Contributors	p. xi
Researching Management Consulting: An Introduction to the Handbook	p. 1
Historical Development of Management Consulting
The Engineering Origins of the Consulting Industry and its Long Shadow	p. 29
Human Relations and Management Consulting: Elton Mayo and Eric Trist	p. 51
Institutional Change and the Growth of Strategy Consulting in the United States	p. 71
Cuckoo in the Nest? The Rise of Management Consulting in Large Accounting Firms	p. 93
IT Consulting and Outsourcing Firms: Evolution, Business Models, and Future Prospects	p. 117
Disciplinary and Theoretical perspectives
Sociological Perspectives on Management Consulting	p. 139
Consultants in Context: Global Dominance, Societal Effect, and the Capitalist System	p. 165
Professions and Professionalism in Management Consulting	p. 187
Economics Approaches to Management Consulting	p. 207
The Geographies of Management Consultancy Firms	p. 225
Consulting as a Knowledge Business
Knowledge Management and Management Consulting	p. 247
Consultants and Organization Concepts	p. 267
Structuring Consulting Firms	p. 285
Managing Consultants: Control and Identity	p. 303
Consultants and Management Fashion
Consultants in the Management Fashion Arena	p. 327
Management Gurus as Celebrity Consultants	p. 347
Business Schools and Consultancies: The Blurring of Boundaries	p. 365
Consultants and their Clients
The Nature of Client-Consultant Interaction: A Critical Review	p. 389
The Client in the Client-Consultant Relationship	p. 411
Consultants and Clients from Constructivist Perspectives	p. 427
Governments and Management Consultants: Supply, Demand, and Effectiveness	p. 447
New Avenues for Research
The Future Research Agenda	p. 467
Consulting and Ethics	p. 487
Gender in Consulting: A Review and Research Agenda	p. 499
Management Consulting in Developing and Emerging Economies: Towards a Postcolonial Perspective	p. 509
Index	p. 529
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