Management Consultancy: Boundaries and Knowledge in Action PDF
Preview Management Consultancy: Boundaries and Knowledge in Action
Management Consultancy This page intentionally left blank Management Consultancy Boundaries and Knowledge in Action Andrew Sturdy, Karen Handley, Timothy Clark, and Robin Fincham 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordOX26DP OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork ©AndrewSturdy,KarenHandley,TimothyClark,andRobinFincham2009 Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2009 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN 978–0–19–921264–4 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following: Calvert Markham, Fiona Czerniawska, and Kimball Bailey for their early and continuing encouragement for our research; Stephanos Avakian, David Greatbatch,andStefanHeusinkveldfortheirhelpfulcommentsonearlier versions of the manuscript; the Management Consultancies Association for their support and the opportunity to test out ideas; all the research participants for granting us access and for their patience and goodwill during our fieldwork; and Matthew Derbyshire and David Musson of OxfordUniversityPressfortheirevengreaterpatienceintheproduction of this volume. Finally, we thank the ESRC for their financial support fortheprojecttitled‘KnowledgeEvolutioninAction:Consultancy–Client Relationships’ (RES-334-25-0004), under the auspices of the Evolution of Business Knowledge (‘EBK’) Research Programme. Parts of Chapter 4 are developedinSturdyetal.(2009). v This page intentionally left blank Contents ListofTables viii ListofAbbreviations ix TheAuthors x 1. Consultancy,knowledge,andboundaries 1 2. Boundariesandknowledgeflow 23 3. Theresearch—casestudiesandresearchmethods 45 4. Re-thinkingpotentialsforknowledgeflow 73 5. Outsideexpertiseandsectorknowledge 93 6. Boundariesinaction—challenge 113 7. Themicromanagementofboundariesthrough humourandlaughter 142 8. Conclusion—beyondconsultancyandprojects 172 References 180 AuthorIndex 197 SubjectIndex 198 vii List of Tables 1.1. Aclassificationofselectedbooksandreportsonmanagement consultancy 7 1.2. Micro-structuralboundaryrelationsinconsultancyprojects—an initialframeworkfromstudiesofconsultancyrelationships 21 2.1. Classificationsofprimaryboundaries(withoutconsideration ofprocess) 30 2.2. Cognitivedistanceandknowledgeprocesses 34 2.3. Summaryofacompositeanddynamicapproachtoboundaries andknowledgeflow 43 3.1. Characteristicsofthefourprojectcasestudies 48 3.2. KeycharactersinCase1 53 3.3. KeycharactersinCase2 55 3.4. KeycharactersinCase3 58 3.5. KeycharactersinCase4 60 3.6. Approximatenumberofinterviewsandobservationsineach projectcasestudy 62 3.7. Summaryofcases 70 4.1. Compositemapofboundaries/knowledgeandconsultancyprojects 74 4.2. Frameworksofknowledgeflow 87 4.3. Examplesofboundaryprocessesincasestudyprojects 90 5.1. Levelsofsectorknowledge 98 5.2. Roleofsectorknowledge 103 viii List of Abbreviations AIM AdvancedInstituteofManagement ATM automatictellingmachine EBK EvolutionofBusinessKnowledge ESRC EconomicandSocialResearchCouncil FSA FinancialServicesAuthority KIF knowledgeintensivefirm KFI keyfactsillustration MBA MasterofBusinessAdministration MCA ManagementConsultanciesAssociation MPA MasterofPublicAdministration NAO NationalAuditOffice NIH notinventedhere OD organizationdevelopment OGC OfficeofGovernmentCommerce PBL project-basedlearning POA PrisonOfficers’Association PTB performancetestbid TCE transactioncosteconomics TPM Technoprojectmanager ix
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