I begin to explore some of the issues involved to help stimulate debate and empirical research on... more I begin to explore some of the issues involved to help stimulate debate and empirical research on what might be termed (socially) ‘responsible consulting’ (see also Sturdy 2023). How novel, radical, and comprehensive are these developments and what are the enabling or limiting factors? And finally, what does such a ‘normative turn’ imply, if anything, for the dominant critiques of consultancy and the need for improved governance?
ABSTRACT The nature of management is changing: managers are becoming more like consultants, focus... more ABSTRACT The nature of management is changing: managers are becoming more like consultants, focusing on projects, functional integration, change and 'clients'. This timely book is based on a large-scale, international study of new management practices and examines the emergence of consultant managers. It breaks new ground in our understanding of this hybrid role, uncovering working practices, identities and occupational dynamics, to shed light on both management and consultancy. It unpacks the changing relationship between external consultants and management to reveal important implications for the future of consultancy. Both private and public sectors are covered, with a focus on managers in large and multinational organisations such as former consultants and those in specialisms such as human resource management who adopt consulting roles. In addition to advancing our understanding of changes in management, this book offers a demystifying view of consultancy as a whole, from one of the largest ever studies of this occupation.
The nature and extent of changes in management remain subject to debate, especially around the no... more The nature and extent of changes in management remain subject to debate, especially around the notion of post-bureaucracy. Most research concedes that there has been some change, but towards hybrid or neo-bureaucratic practices. However, the mechanisms through which these changes have occurred and their precise form and outcomes have received less attention. This article addresses these issues by focusing on an emerging group of managers that closely resembles images of new management (e.g. project-based, change focused, externally-oriented and advisory in style). Drawing on interview-based research in the UK and Australia, it examines consulting practices and orientations adopted within management roles. It firstly constructs an ideal type of neo-bureaucracy and then explores different elements of management as consultancy empirically. It shows how they are inspired by anti-bureaucratic rationales, but assume a hybrid neo-bureaucratic form. We also show that, far from resolving tensions between rational and post-bureaucratic forms, management as consultancy both reproduces and changes the tensions of management and organization. Thus, rather than denying or heralding changes in management towards a ‘new spirit of capitalism’, we focus on a context in which such changes are occurring and demonstrate their wider implications for both management and consultancy.
This chapter explores an important, but much-neglected feature of management—its relationship wit... more This chapter explores an important, but much-neglected feature of management—its relationship with management consultancy. It firstly contrasts the dominant definitions of consulting as either inclusive or exclusive of management. Rather, management and consulting are shown to be both the same and different, especially in terms of a recent convergence towards both ‘consultancy as management’ and ‘management as consultancy’. The chapter looks at these developments in terms of the emergence of neo-bureaucratic organizations and a consultant manager role with an emphasis on change management, formal tools, project working, and facilitation. It then examines the relationship between management and consultancy in terms of their interactions in practice, through the idea of the activity and passivity of managerial clients of consultancy and the ideas they promote. Overall, the chapter seeks to broaden the analysis of management away from concerns within organizations towards that which spans organizational boundaries.
I begin to explore some of the issues involved to help stimulate debate and empirical research on... more I begin to explore some of the issues involved to help stimulate debate and empirical research on what might be termed (socially) ‘responsible consulting’ (see also Sturdy 2023). How novel, radical, and comprehensive are these developments and what are the enabling or limiting factors? And finally, what does such a ‘normative turn’ imply, if anything, for the dominant critiques of consultancy and the need for improved governance?
ABSTRACT The nature of management is changing: managers are becoming more like consultants, focus... more ABSTRACT The nature of management is changing: managers are becoming more like consultants, focusing on projects, functional integration, change and 'clients'. This timely book is based on a large-scale, international study of new management practices and examines the emergence of consultant managers. It breaks new ground in our understanding of this hybrid role, uncovering working practices, identities and occupational dynamics, to shed light on both management and consultancy. It unpacks the changing relationship between external consultants and management to reveal important implications for the future of consultancy. Both private and public sectors are covered, with a focus on managers in large and multinational organisations such as former consultants and those in specialisms such as human resource management who adopt consulting roles. In addition to advancing our understanding of changes in management, this book offers a demystifying view of consultancy as a whole, from one of the largest ever studies of this occupation.
The nature and extent of changes in management remain subject to debate, especially around the no... more The nature and extent of changes in management remain subject to debate, especially around the notion of post-bureaucracy. Most research concedes that there has been some change, but towards hybrid or neo-bureaucratic practices. However, the mechanisms through which these changes have occurred and their precise form and outcomes have received less attention. This article addresses these issues by focusing on an emerging group of managers that closely resembles images of new management (e.g. project-based, change focused, externally-oriented and advisory in style). Drawing on interview-based research in the UK and Australia, it examines consulting practices and orientations adopted within management roles. It firstly constructs an ideal type of neo-bureaucracy and then explores different elements of management as consultancy empirically. It shows how they are inspired by anti-bureaucratic rationales, but assume a hybrid neo-bureaucratic form. We also show that, far from resolving tensions between rational and post-bureaucratic forms, management as consultancy both reproduces and changes the tensions of management and organization. Thus, rather than denying or heralding changes in management towards a ‘new spirit of capitalism’, we focus on a context in which such changes are occurring and demonstrate their wider implications for both management and consultancy.
This chapter explores an important, but much-neglected feature of management—its relationship wit... more This chapter explores an important, but much-neglected feature of management—its relationship with management consultancy. It firstly contrasts the dominant definitions of consulting as either inclusive or exclusive of management. Rather, management and consulting are shown to be both the same and different, especially in terms of a recent convergence towards both ‘consultancy as management’ and ‘management as consultancy’. The chapter looks at these developments in terms of the emergence of neo-bureaucratic organizations and a consultant manager role with an emphasis on change management, formal tools, project working, and facilitation. It then examines the relationship between management and consultancy in terms of their interactions in practice, through the idea of the activity and passivity of managerial clients of consultancy and the ideas they promote. Overall, the chapter seeks to broaden the analysis of management away from concerns within organizations towards that which spans organizational boundaries.
The nature of management is changing: managers are becoming more like consultants, focusing on pr... more The nature of management is changing: managers are becoming more like consultants, focusing on projects, functional integration, change and ‘clients’. This timely book is based on a large-scale, international study of new management practices and examines the emergence of consultant managers. It breaks new ground in our understanding of this hybrid role, uncovering working practices, identities and occupational dynamics, to shed light on both management and consultancy. It unpacks the changing relationship between external consultants and management to reveal important implications for the future of consultancy. Both private and public sectors are covered, with a focus on managers in large and multinational organisations such as former consultants and those in specialisms such as human resource management who adopt consulting roles. In addition to advancing our understanding of changes in management, this book offers a demystifying view of consultancy as a whole, from one of the largest ever studies of this occupation.
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Papers by Andrew Sturdy