CMCE Virtual Showcase: Change that works: the Consultant as Ethnographer

Thursday 11 May at 4.30pm

Change would be so easy to implement if it wasn’t for those pesky people, right?

As consultants we’re often frustrated by the resistance to the brilliant changes we’ve helped our clients implement. Very often, this is down to “the culture” and how difficult it is to change it.

Perhaps we’ve not invested enough time in really understanding the cultures that exist within our clients and rules that underpin them. Time, then, to introduce some academic rigour to our analysis.

Daniel Beunza is Professor of Social Studies of Finance at Bayes Business School. His research explores the ways in which social relations and technology shape financial value. His award-winning study of a derivatives trading room on a Wall Street bank traced the roots of extraordinary returns to the use of space and internal organization. His recent book Taking the Floor: Models, Morals and Management in a Wall Street Trading Room (Princeton University Press) illustrates how an ethnographer’s approach to understanding culture can lead to a more sustainable model of financial success.

Join us for another of our virtual Showcases that will introduce you to new and stimulating ideas to help you deliver excellence in consulting.