The Changing Paradigm of Consulting

The Changing Paradigm of Consulting PDF Author: Anthony F. Buono
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617354198
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
The 13th volume in the RMC series, The Changing Paradigm of Consulting, is based on the best papers presented at the Academy of Management’s Management Consulting Division’s fourth international conference (2009) on the underlying dynamics within the fast-paced world of business and management consulting. Held in Vienna, Austria, the conference brought together academicians, consultants and organizational practitioners to examine the changes taking place within the consulting field. The book’s 19 chapters are divided into five sections that explore the emergence and implications of this new paradigm, delineating and illustrating the paradigm shift taking placing within consulting, exploring the ramifications for global consulting, examining the challenges inherent in attempts to capture collaboration and cooperation in inter-organizational networks, analyzing the push toward the professionalization – and professionalism – of consultancy, and assessing new approaches to management consulting, focusing on innovative instruments, tools and intervention frameworks. The book captures the myriad complexities and uncertainties faced by consultants and their clients and the concomitant search for appropriate mindsets, attitudes and orientations as well as methods, tools and techniques. As each of the chapters indicates, while there are significant challenges facing the consulting industry, there are also a number of promising frameworks and approaches that can help us successfully meet these challenges.

The Changing Paradigm of Consulting

The Changing Paradigm of Consulting PDF Author: Anthony F. Buono
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617354198
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Get Book Here

Book Description
The 13th volume in the RMC series, The Changing Paradigm of Consulting, is based on the best papers presented at the Academy of Management’s Management Consulting Division’s fourth international conference (2009) on the underlying dynamics within the fast-paced world of business and management consulting. Held in Vienna, Austria, the conference brought together academicians, consultants and organizational practitioners to examine the changes taking place within the consulting field. The book’s 19 chapters are divided into five sections that explore the emergence and implications of this new paradigm, delineating and illustrating the paradigm shift taking placing within consulting, exploring the ramifications for global consulting, examining the challenges inherent in attempts to capture collaboration and cooperation in inter-organizational networks, analyzing the push toward the professionalization – and professionalism – of consultancy, and assessing new approaches to management consulting, focusing on innovative instruments, tools and intervention frameworks. The book captures the myriad complexities and uncertainties faced by consultants and their clients and the concomitant search for appropriate mindsets, attitudes and orientations as well as methods, tools and techniques. As each of the chapters indicates, while there are significant challenges facing the consulting industry, there are also a number of promising frameworks and approaches that can help us successfully meet these challenges.

Preparing Better Consultants

Preparing Better Consultants PDF Author: Susan Adams
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617356166
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This volume focuses on a relatively neglected area of management consulting, the education of consultants. In today’s business world, we find training programs provided by consultancies, certification programs provided by professional organizations, on-the-job training of consultants with formal or informal supervision, self-taught professionals, and some academic programs and courses. Is that enough? No, better consultants are needed to handle the complexity and changing nature of business. Academe is in the best position to provide the critical thinking preparation necessary. Yet, academic institutions have been slow in embracing this challenge. The role of academia needs to grow in magnitude and in certain directions that educate consultants beyond industry training practices. Chapter authors provide examples of innovative programs, topical approaches for courses, and thoughtful reflections on the role academia can play in preparing better consultants. There are lessons for business schools, consultancies, and aspiring and practicing consultants.

Management Consulting Today and Tomorrow

Management Consulting Today and Tomorrow PDF Author: Flemming Poulfelt
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317300572
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
This new edition gathers more than 22 experts to outline the theory behind consulting, providing insight into change processes and management issues in the field. The business of consulting has grown faster than most other businesses, due not only to increased demand by clients, but also to the innovative capabilities of numerous consulting firms as they develop new services. Divided into six parts, the book introduces readers to the consulting industry, addressing the major practice areas, contexts, and implementations of the field. Significant updates detail the effect of the economic troubles between 2004 and 2010 and then 2010 and now; analyze the market response to consulting in recent years; and provide a more thorough understanding of how consulting is applied in the different areas of a business, such as operations, marketing, and finance. Introductions written by the editors offer further insight into the themes and learning goals of each section, helping readers to recognize the elements of a successful consultation, and utilize their new skill set. The text concludes with a look at the future of consulting with regards to ethics standards and how strong manager-client relationships contribute to financial growth. Readers will also learn how the developing field of entrepreneurship creates new economic structures and job opportunities. Practitioners, consultants, clients, faculty, and students of business and management will learn not only how to consult, but also gain the skills needed to adapt to and lead organizational change, giving them a competitive edge when they enter the field.

Management Consulting in the Era of the Digital Organization

Management Consulting in the Era of the Digital Organization PDF Author: David Brian Szabla
Publisher: IAP
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
The 4th Industrial Revolution is well underway. Our lives are changing at an exponential rate, resulting in a multi-faceted, deeply interconnected world. The digital revolution is integrating multiple technologies, which is leading to unprecedented paradigm shifts in the economy, management, and society. Entire systems across countries, industries, and societies are being transformed, triggering a transformation that is unlike anything humankind has ever experienced. Given the confluence of dramatic changes in organizational life, triggering emerging technology breakthroughs such as robotics, the internet of things, biotechnology, materials science, data science and big data, and quantum computing, this volume of the Research in Management Consulting series explores how the research and practice of management consulting is unfolding in a new era of profound shifts in the way researchers and consultants sense, think, and act. The authors of this volume bring both to scholars and practitioners the latest discussions of efforts to understand consulting in organizations amplified by the fusion of technologies across physical, digital, and biological worlds. They also bring to light a movement from human supervised artificial intelligence systems to fully autonomous artificial intelligence systems that have the potential to demonstrate intelligence beyond uman capabilities.

Consultation for Organizational Change

Consultation for Organizational Change PDF Author: Anthony F. Buono
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617350885
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
This volume is a joint publication in the Research in Management Consulting and Contemporary Trends in Organizational Change and Development series. This dual focus reflects the reality that consulting for organizational change is a special type of management consultation, a complex field of endeavor that requires a broad range of skills and competencies. To be truly effective, change-related consulting requires a unique client-consultant relationship, a special set of consulting skills, an expertise in human and organizational systems, and significant personal qualities. It is in high demand in a world full of change. Yet, we still know relatively little theoretically about this type of consulting and have relatively little empirical evidence about what actually works and why. As the contributors amply illustrate, the Organization Development (OD) field has a well developed set of frameworks, technologies, and models of change. Still we need to focus on and learn more about the role of the OD consultant as a special kind of change agent. A goal of this joint volume is to increase that specific body of knowledge and provide an illustration of much needed collaboration in bringing all possible resources to bear on our understanding of an increasingly critical and essential form of consulting.

Exploring the Professional Identity of Management Consultants

Exploring the Professional Identity of Management Consultants PDF Author: Anthony F. Buono
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1623961734
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
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.

Consultation for Organizational Change Revisited

Consultation for Organizational Change Revisited PDF Author: David W. Jamieson
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681234335
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
As a follow-up to a 2010 volume on organizational change-related consulting, the book continues to push our thinking about the dynamics involved in consulting with change leaders and intervening in the change process. Consulting for organizational change is a special type of consultation, with its own complex set of conditions and needs for a broad range of skills and competencies, which include distinct needs for the client-consultant relationship, superior consulting/facilitation skills, an expertise in human and organizational systems, and, as emphasized in the volume, the masterful “use of self.” As with our prior edited collection, this volume is a joint publication in the Research in Management Consulting and Contemporary Trends in Organization Development and Change book series. The dual focus is intended to reflect the importance of quality consulting for change across both the management consulting and Organization Development (OD) fields. It follows a long history of interest in how consulting affects organization change, what works, and, perhaps most importantly for generating theory and insight into the change process, why it works. The book contains fourteen chapters that frame the changing nature of the organizational change challenge, explore the use of self in intervening in organizations, and examine different change frameworks and perspectives, sharing various reflections and personal insights into the underlying challenges of consulting to bring about organizational change. Our underlying goal is to advance the theory and practice of effective organizational change consultation, stimulating thinking and discussion among change practitioners and researchers so that this work and profession continue to grow and evolve. ENDORSEMENT: “Consultation for Organization Change Revisited offers a clear map of the dominant thinking about how consultants intervene to help organizations create an alternative future. It nicely answers the question of "What is Organization Development." It also has a memory so that you see the arc of the field over time, which gives an important perspective. Organization change is complicated work, this book makes it clearer.” ~ Peter Block Author of Flawless Consulting

Change Paradigms in the Setting of Knowledge Management Systems

Change Paradigms in the Setting of Knowledge Management Systems PDF Author: Hauke Heier
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3322811506
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Hauke Heier examines how technology-facilitated knowledge management initiatives can establish supportive knowledge-intensive cultures.

Facilitating Collaboration in Public Management

Facilitating Collaboration in Public Management PDF Author: Ralph Grossmann
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617358886
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Education, Research, Health, Social Security and other “public goods” are organized by a mix of organizations, partly publicly-funded, partly private enterprises, partly public-private partnerships. The quality of the services relies greatly on the coordination and collaboration of these specialized organizations. How can cooperative relationships be built that guarantee trustful communication, binding decisions, and productive team-work? How can collaboration and competition be balanced? What are the differences between loose-coupled networks and tightly built collaborations and which type is the best solution for which tasks? How can mergers be managed as result of such collaboration? How must organizations prepare themselves and their internal structures to engage in trans-organizational collaboration? This volume investigates the potential and challenges inherent in collaborative ventures. It is based on the authors’ rich experiences derived from consulting engagements and research projects in publicly-funded service organizations, non-profit organizations, public-private partnerships, and for-profit enterprises. The focus is on the role that management consultants can play in facilitating such collaborative ventures. Especially within the European context, this particular organizational form is becoming an increasingly common and powerful type of organizational system, and, as such, interventions that can ease and expedite their performance demand our attention and scholarship. As the authors skillfully document and illustrate, cooperative relationships and networks function according to their own underlying logic, which is typically grounded in a spirit of collaboration and negotiation. As they argue, the resulting dynamic reflects a different perspective on building interpersonal, intergroup, and interorganizational relationships, one that is removed from historic attempts at coordination through tight hierarchical control, which, as they underscore, is often “inflexible, bureaucratic, and incapable” of achieving the level of commitment and dedication necessary for success. Collaborative ventures involve goals that must be jointly pursued, the partnerships must strive for levels commitment, involvement and motivation from their members that go well beyond those that hierarchical top-down structures typically provide. As the authors convincingly demonstrate, such high levels of collaboration do not emerge on their own. Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, and strategic alliances are often launched with great fanfare, only to fall well short of pre-venture expectations. To truly work in practice, collaborative relationships and networks must be deliberately formed, developed, organized, and guided. Yet, as this volume amply illustrates, the underlying process is infused with a number of tensions – from the challenge of balancing collaboration and competition, to the appropriate mix of loose-tight controls and linkages, to ensuring commitment from members to the partnership while they maintain allegiance to their primary organization. This volume appeals to an international market. It is part of an effort to continue to learn across cultural perspectives, focusing on current thinking in the European context. The reader will become intrigued by the Austrian approach to organizational intervention, especially in the context of interorganizational settings.

The Socio-Economic Approach to Management Revisited

The Socio-Economic Approach to Management Revisited PDF Author: Anthony F. Buono
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681231638
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
This volume is part of the ongoing collaboration between the RMC series and the Socio-Economic Institute for Firms and Organizations (ISEOR), a French intervention-research think tank co-directed by Henri Savall and Véronique Zardet. Building on an earlier collaboration on the ISEOR approach – Socio-Economic Intervention in Organizations: The Intervener-Researcher and the SEAM Approach to Organizational Analysis (IAP, 2007) – Buono and Savall bring together over 30 talented intervener-researchers to explore and examine the ongoing evolution of the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM). This volume revisits the application of SEAM in the context of intervention challenges in the wake of the recent economic crisis and the disruptive change that has taken hold across the world. The basic foundation of SEAM – built on the idea of strategic patience, the need to undertake holistic intervention in organizations, and the challenge to get organizational members to listen to themselves (through what they refer to as the mirror effect) – has remained the same. In response to economic and organizational pressures in the current environment, however, there has been a concomitant emphasis on helping client organizations achieve short-term results while still maintaining focus on the long term. Many ideas that have become part of the current discourse within ISEOR today were not as explicitly addressed in the initial volume – from the destructive effect of the Taylorism-Fayolism-Weberism (TFW) virus, to the need to focus on ways to ensure the sustainability of a SEAM intervention, the growing importance of collaborative interactions between external and internal consultants, and the growing importance of cocreating knowledge with client firms and organizations.