Culture And Professional Identity In Global Management Consulting

This thesis aims to explore the interplay between culture and professional identity in global management consulting with a focus on the power relations and conflicts. A number of research gaps are identified in existing literature from different domains in association with the strategic and structural implications of globalisation for the management consulting field; culture in management consulting; formation of professional identities in management consulting; and identity, capital formation and career in management consulting. Accordingly, four research questions are set for the purpose of addressing the identified research gaps. Bourdieu's notion of field, habitus and capital is adopted as the core theory to study the management consulting field in terms of culture and professional identity by linking the field, firm and individual levels relationally and holistically. I also draw on the writings of other influential theories, notably Giddens' structuration theory, DiMaggio's neo-institutionalism and Scot's concept of power relationships to complement Bourdieu's theories in relation to culture and professional identity. This research contains two elements - quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative element is founded upon comparative case studies on six leading global management consulting firms with supplement of practice related data source. The qualitative element is built upon in-depth semi-structured interviews with consulting professionals at different levels in the management consulting field. An empirical analysis is conducted in order to obtain a comprehensive illumination and comparison of management consultants' live experience of, and insights on, the interrelationship of culture and professional identity in global management consulting. This research presents a number of novel findings which have theoretical and empirical contributions to enrich our understanding of different areas of management consulting. This research contributes to the systematic analysis of the intellectual field that was not completed by Bourdieu. It also enriches the volume of organisation studies literature in relational approaches particularly in management consulting settings and encourages further research of the same kind.

The volume is based on the presentations and discussions from the Fifth European Conference on Management Consulting sponsored by the Management Consulting Division of the Academy of Management, which took place June, 2011 at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The conference theme – Exploring the Professional Identity of Management Consultants – attempted to capture the highly ambiguous social status of this young and emerging profession. Management consulting does not have professional standards or accreditation criteria like those found in medicine or law, there are low barriers to entry, and a broad range of tasks are undertaken in the name of consulting. As a result, a crucial aspect of what constitutes such a loosely defined profession is the identity of its members. The professional identity of management consultants is continuously developing through the interplay of how consultants are seen and valued by clients as well as in the larger society, and how consultancy firms and consultants identify and position themselves. This theme includes a variety of topics, ranging from the interaction between consultants and their clients, consultant rhetoric and self-presentation, and the plethora of books, media and public discourse on consulting, to human resource policies and practices, knowledge development activities of consultancy firms, career and life stories of consultants and consultancies, and consulting associations, accreditation bodies, and education programs. All of these factors contribute, either directly or indirectly, to identity construction in the field of management consulting.

Advances in Global Leadership focuses on global leadership in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, collecting insights from leading scholars and practitioners and fresh ideas from promising newcomers to the field reflecting on nineteen different national responses to the global crisis.

Conceived as the meanings that individuals attach to their selves, a substantial stockpile of theory related to identities accumulated across the arts, social sciences, and humanities over many decades continues to nourish contemporary research on self-identities in organizations. In times which are more reflexive, narcissistic, and fluid, the identities of participants in organizations are increasingly less fixed and less certain, making identity issues both more salient and more interesting. Particular attention has been given to processes of identity construction, often styled 'identity work'. Research has focused on how, why, and when such processes occur, and their implications for organizing and individual, group, and organizational outcomes. This has resulted in a burgeoning stream of research from discursive, dramaturgical, symbolic, socio-cognitive, and psychodynamic perspectives that most often casts individuals' efforts to fabricate identities as intentional, relational, and consequential. Seemingly intractable debates centred on the nature of identities - their relative stability or fluidity, whether they are best regarded as coherent or fractured, positive (or not), and how they are fabricated within relations of power - combined with other conceptual issues continue to invigorate the field. However, these debates have also led to some scepticism regarding the future potential of identities research. Yet as the chapters in this Handbook demonstrate, there are considerable grounds for optimism that identity, as root metaphor, nexus concept, and means to bridge levels of analysis has significant potential to generate multiple compelling streams of theorizing in organization and management studies.

This book uncovers legal shifts founded on misunderstandings about discrimination and describes how law and organizations can do better.

'Management Consultancy' provides a comprehensive introduction to the consulting industry. The text begins with the presentation of a theoretical underpinning, before outlining how to carry out management consultancy and providing guidance on entering the industry.

In the context of the world’s pressing sustainability challenges this new Report to the Club of Rome presents a novel approach to navigating collaborative change in partnerships between governments, research institutions, corporations and civil society activists. With reference to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Planetary Boundaries it introduces the theory and practice of Collective Stewardship as a management tool that respects the integrity of human and natural systems. Drawing on the work of transdisciplinary scientific scholars and seasoned sustainability practitioners, it shows how transformative change can be built on life’s inherent tendency to generate patterns of vitality and resilience. This ground-breaking monograph shows workable pathways to stewarding patterns of aliveness in social and ecological systems at all levels of the global society. As a highly regarded author and expert in collective leadership, Petra Kuenkel inspires academics and practitioners alike to explore new routes towards co-creating responsible futures in the era of the Anthropocene, where the human footprint has begun to change the course of planetary evolution. She invites decision-makers, researchers, planners and social activists to become stewards of systems patterns, enhance their collaborative competencies and guide life-enhancing socio-ecological interaction at scale. The conceptual architecture the author elaborates builds transformation literacy and boils down to a practical guidance for planning and implementing interventions across all sectors of society. It helps bring about change through a deliberate combination of enlivening narratives, empowering metrics, enabling processes, multi-level governance, guiding regulations, and life-supporting innovation. This comprehensive book sets a new direction in the field of sustainability transformations and will become a foundation for planning collective action and achieving impact at scale.

In both professional and academic fields, there is increasing interest in the way in which white-collar workers engage with institutions and networks which are complex social constructions. Covering a wide variety of countries and types of organization, this volume examines the diverse ways in which individuals' ethnic, gender, corporate and professional identities interact. This book brings together fields often viewed in isolation: ethnographies of groups traditionally studied by anthropologists in new organisational contexts, and examinations of the role of identity in corporate life, opening up new perspectives on central areas of contemporary human activity. It will be of great interest to those concerned with practical management of institutions, as well as those of us who find ourselves working within them.