The Oxford Handbook of Management Consulting

Management consultants of various kinds play an important role in the world of business, and within other types of organization. The Oxford Handbook on Management Consulting is a comprehensive overview of thinking and research on management consultancy with contributions from leading international scholars. The first section provides an account of the historical developments in management consulting research, and how current thinking has evolved from prior work. The second section focuses on disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, their diversities, areas of synergy, and parallel concerns. The following sections examine consulting as a knowledge business, consultants and management fashion, and the relationship between management consultants and their clients. The Handbook concludes with an assessment of areas of future research and debate. By bringing together a wide range of research and thinking on management consulting across different disciplines, sub-disciplines, and conceptual approaches, the Handbook provides a comprehensive understanding of both current thinking and future directions for research.

Matthias Kipping is Professor of Strategic Management and Chair in Business History at the Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Munich and additional degrees in France and the United States and held previous appointments in the United Kingdom and Spain. He has published widely on management consultancy and its evolution, and co-edited with Lars Engwall a volume on Management Consulting: Emergence and Dynamics of a Knowledge Industry (OUP, 2002). Timothy Clark is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Durham Business School, Durham University. He has conducted a series of research projects into different aspects of the work of management consultants which have resulted in influential publications in the area including Managing Consultants (Open University Press, 1995) and Critical Consulting: New Perspectives on the Management Advice Industry (2002, Blackwell, with R. Fincham).

- 1: Matthias Kipping and Timothy Clark: Introduction - Section 1: Historical Development of Management Consulting - 2: Christopher Wright and Matthias Kipping: The Engineering Origins of the Consulting Industry and their Long Shadow - 3: Richard C. S. Trahair and Kyle Bruce: Human Relations and Management Consulting: Elton Mayo and Eric Trist - 4: Robert David: Institutional Change and the Growth of Strategy Consulting in the United States - 5: Megan S. McDougald and Royston Greenwood: Cuckoo in the Nest? The Rise of Management Consulting in Large Accounting Firms? - 6: Kerim Galal, Ansgar Richter, and Vera Wendlandt: IT Consulting and Outsourcing Firms: Evolution, Business Models and Future Prospects - Section 2: Disciplinary and Theoretical Perspectives - 7: Michael Faust: Sociological Perspectives on Management Consultancy - 8: Matthias Kipping and Christopher Wright: Consultants in Context: Global Dominance, Societal Effect and the Capitalist System - 9: Ian Kirkpatrick, Daniel Muzio and Stephen Ackroyd: Professions and Professionalism in Management Consulting - 10: Nicole Saam: Economic Approaches to Consulting - 11: James Faulconbridge and Andrew Jones: The Geographies of Management Consultancy Firms - Section 3: Consulting as a Knowledge Business - 12: Andreas Werr: Knowledge Management and Management Consulting - 13: Stefan Heusinkveld and Jos Benders: Consultants and Organization Concepts - 14: Timothy Morris, Heidi Gardner and Anand Narasimhan: Structuring Consulting Firms - 15: Mats Alvesson: Managing Consultants: Control and Identity - Section 4: Consultants and Management Fashions - 16: Nicole Jung and Alfred Kieser: Consultants in the Management Fashion Arena - 17: Timothy Clark, Pojanath Bhatanacharoen and David Greatbatch: Management Gurus as Celebrity Consultants - 18: Lars Engwall: Consultants, Business Schools and the Media - Section 5: Consultants and their Clients - 19: Natalia Nikolova and Timothy Devinney: The Nature of Client-Consultant Interaction - 20: Robin Fincham: The Client in the Client-Consultant Relationship - 21: Barbara Czarniawska and Carmelo Mazza: Consultants and Clients from Constructivist Perspectives - 22: Denis Saint-Martin: Management Consultants and Governments - Section 6: New Avenues for Research - 22: Andrew Sturdy: The Future Research Agenda - 23: R. Edward Freeman and Dean Krehmeyer: Consulting and Ethics - 24: Elisabeth Kelan: Gender in Consulting: A Review and Research Agenda - 25: Michal Frenkel and Yehouda Shenhav: Management Consulting in Developing and Emerging Economies: Toward a Post-colonial Perspective