Full papers
Exploring The Dual Role Of The Management Consultant (395)
Author/s: Jeanette Hartley Richard Holti Giacomo Carli
Track: Management Consultancy
Paper Type: Full Papers
Keywords: Management consultancy, identity, liminality
Abstract: Management consultants have a dual role, their client facing role and their consultancy facing role. The client facing role is well researched and understood. In contrast, research on the consultancy facing role is fragmented across the functions of management consultancy operations. These functions have not so far been drawn together in a single study and the significance of the consultancy facing role is not fully understood. Furthermore the existence of a dual role for management consultants is not explicitly recognised in the literature. We contribute to scholarly knowledge on management consultancy by conducting a comprehensive review of existing literature that problematizes and challenges taken for granted assumptions, identifies opportunities for future research and provides a theoretical framework for further exploration of the management consultants dual role. Developing a more in depth understanding of the management consultants role supports the conference theme of Building and Sustaining High Performance Organisations in uncertain times for consultancies themselves and their clients.
Theorizing The Control Mechanisms In Transformative Projects: A Study Of Benefits Realization Management Control Mechanisms (1090)
Author/s: Amgad Badewi
Track: Management Consultancy
Paper Type: Full Papers
Keywords: Transformations, Control theory, project management, benefits management
Abstract: Transformative projects require significant changes in the structure, practices and interactions of a range of agents to deliver the expected benefits. According to structuration theory, each agent in the transformation process plays a significant role in shaping the new system; thus, controlling those agents can secure the success of a transformation process. This research aims to identify the mechanisms that can be used to control agents in transformation processes. Through the lens of control theories, this study presents fresh concepts of benefits realization management as a transformative mechanism and offers new theories as to how it can be used to improve the likelihood of achieving success by controlling agents efficiently and effectively, and by channeling them in the appropriate direction. Five control mechanisms borrowed from control theory are discussed in this article: behavior, outcomes, logics, emotions, and norms (i.e. peer control).