| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Bueno, AF, et al.
(författare)
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The client in management consultancy research: Mapping the territory
- 2009
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-5221. ; 25:3, s. 247-252
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rationale for this special issue was a feeling among the editors that, in studies of management consultancy, the client had been neglected or inadequately portrayed. Although, as we shall see, the extent of this neglect may have been overestimated, the size and quality of the response to our call for papers suggest that our view was shared by many others and that a wave of client-focused research is now underway. In this introductory essay, we begin to set out the nature of this neglect, speculating on why the client has not played a more significant role in research. Describing the ways in which the client has been conceived in the literature, we discuss how this portrayal has evolved, turning to the articles that make up the special issue and pointing to possible areas of further research in this area.
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| 3. |
- Bäcklund, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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Breaking the Personal Tie: On the formalization of the procurement of management consulting services
- 2005. - 1st Edition
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Ingår i: Dealing with Confidence: The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services. - Frederiksberg : Copenhagen Business School Press. - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 ; , s. 184-200
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As illustrated by the previous chapter studying the purchase of management consultants in the public sector, where purchasing is subject to the public procurement act, there is an inherent tension between organizational efforts to ensure an efficient and effective purchasing process and the preferred practices of the managers and consultants wanting to come together to strike a deal. In this chapter, we will explore this tension further by turning from the public sector to the private sector.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
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Dealing with Confidence : The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services
- 2005. - 1
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How are the services and expertise of external management advisors brought into organizations? Based on studies of the use of management consulting, financial consulting, legal services, and IT services, this book sheds light on how needs in organizations for management advice services are constructed and why certain service suppliers are given trust to deliver. While the current literature on the purchasing of professional services has highlighted the individual interaction between buyers and suppliers in building necessary trust for a deal, this book focuses on their embeddedness in organizational and institutional structures within which service characteristics and confidence in individual suppliers is constructed. Dealing with Confidence examines the practice of purchasing in the intersection between individual trust and trust for representatives of a collective of professionals. It covers studies of the practice of individual managers, hiring their trusted advisors, organizations' efforts to professionalize their purchasing routines, and the advisers' efforts to become representatives of a professional collective.
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| 6. |
- Engwall, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Models in action : how management models are interpreted in new product development
- 2005
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Ingår i: R & D Management. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 1467-9310 .- 0033-6807. ; 35:4, s. 427-439
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper studies the use of product development management models. Through an interpretive research approach based on in-depth interviews with 22 middle managers in two product development organizations, five ways of conceiving projects, project management and the role of models are identified - administrative, organizing, sense giving, team building and engineering - all representing different perspectives on - and ways of using models. The findings question essentialist views of models, common in the literature, as either normative guides for action or symbolic tools decoupled from action. Instead, the study indicates a large variety in the use of models mediated by the user's conception of the situation and the model. The study highlights the communicative role of models as boundary objects, enabling coordination of and communication about different conceptions of the development task. Rather than contributing to behavioral standardization (an implicit assumption that underlies most formal models), this study suggests that models support cognitive standardization by providing a common set of concepts and a framework that may be drawn upon in making sense of complex product development projects.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Erlandsson, Ann
(författare)
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Det följdriktiga flockbeteendet: : en studie om profilering på arbetsmarknaden
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Despite ample research showing the importance of corporate reputation in recruiting, knowledge about how companies work with employer branding is still limited. This first academic study in this topic is based on a comprehensive empirical data set systematized to a description of employer branding using a grounded theory approach. The description illustrates a process with three phases: brand input, brand support, and brand evaluation. Each phase is related to the messages enclosed in the brand. A comparative analysis of the empirical description and marketing literature shows that the underlying reasoning in branding at the labor market is quite similar to branding at the customer market. However, several important differences were also highlighted, indicating that employer branding is a multi-disciplinary phenomenon. The most surprising difference is a widespread homogeneity in the companies’ employer branding. This contrasts the emphasis on uniqueness in the marketing literature. A further analysis of this finding generated four homogenizing dimensions: time, industry, geography and corporate demographics. Each contains a number of corporate populations with companies similar in the dimension’s point of reference. Since the dimensions are not specific for the labor market a further analysis of the theoretical arguments for heterogeneity and homogeneity was motivated. This shows that there are economic as well as social arguments for both homo- and heterogeneity. From an economic perspective a heterogeneous employer branding creates a cost advantage, because with an attractive unique reputation a company can pay lower salaries than competitors for a given position. On the other hand a homogeneous branding generates cost advantages when the company benchmarks competitors or respects the institutional norms. From a social perspective a heterogeneous branding contributes to a distinct corporate identity, while a homogenous branding avoids social isolation. Consequently, homogeneity provides advantages that heterogeneity does not and vice versa. Companies therefore level the arguments. The balance is more likely to lean towards homogeneity when 1) the companies belongs to the same corporate population in one or many of the homogenizing dimensions and 2) a branding component relatively easily can be benchmarked or is connected with explicit and strong institutional norms. The balancing act signifies that a homogeneous branding is not a product of institutional determinism, but that the corporate populations give rise to different social identities and that the companies according to a logic of appropriateness act in a way that is rational given their specific situation and context. Thus, this logic creates coherent cohorts.
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| 9. |
- Furusten, Staffan, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Arena mechanisms
- 2005
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Ingår i: Dealing with confidence. - Copenhagen : Copenhagen Business School Press. - 8763001462 ; , s. 233-249
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 10. |
- Furusten, Staffan, et al.
(författare)
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Arena Mechanisms
- 2005. - 1st Edition
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Ingår i: Dealing with Confidence: The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services. - Frederiksberg : Copenhagen Business School Press. - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 ; , s. 233-248
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the previous chapter, we argued that deals between buyers and sellers of management advisory services could be explained as out-comes of three dimensional constructions of needs for particular services and trust for particular service suppliers. Thus, pressures in the three parallel dimensions - the institutional-, organizational- and local dimension - construct particular characteristics of the service, the market and the buyer. Put another way, the understanding of why a particular deal is made in a certain way with a certain content cannot be isolated to negotiations between two business parties. Instead, this has to be understood as outcomes of interacting mechanisms in the noted dimensions. The aim of this final chapter is to specify what these mechanisms consist of and how to say something of what we can learn from this book about how MAS provided by external suppliers are brought into organizations.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Furusten, Staffan, et al.
(författare)
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Dealing with Confidence: The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services - Preface
- 2005
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Ingår i: Dealing with Confidence: The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services. - Frederiksberg : Copenhagen Business School Press. - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 ; , s. i-ii
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book is the result of a casual encounter between the two of us in early 2002. Both of us had done research on management consulting for some time, although from rather different perspectives, and realized at the same time that our interests had driven us towards the same empirical phenomenon - how to purchase management consulting services and other Management Advice Services. In late 2002, we gathered a group of colleagues from various disciplines including management, marketing, accounting, sociology, and social anthropology, from the Stockholm School of Economics, SCORE, Uppsala University, the School of Economics and Commercial Law at Göteborg University and the National Institute of Working Life. In one way or another, all of those invited had dealt with the dilemmas organizations face when forced to bring in experts on managements matters from external providers.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Furusten, Staffan, et al.
(författare)
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The Three-Dimensional Construction of Management Advisory Services
- 2005. - 1st Edition
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Ingår i: Dealing with Confidence: The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services. - Frederiksberg : Copenhagen Business School Press. - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 ; , s. 217-232
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The chapters of this book have provided a number of illustrations of how deals between buyers and suppliers of management advisory services come about. In the introductory chapter, two generic strategies for establishing confidence between buyers and suppliers, and thus reducing uncertainty in the purchasing situation, were reviewed: individualism and collectivism. Individualism implied the reduction of of uncertainty by building an individual trust-based relationship. Collectivism implied reliance on institutional characters, guaranteeing professional competence and conduct. As illustrated in the chapters of this book, these two strategies do not preclude each other - rather they come into play simultaneously in the establishment of single deals. In this and the following final chapter, we will take a closer look into such combinations and strategies.
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| 15. |
- Greiner, Larry, et al.
(författare)
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Collaboration and the Production of Management Knowledge in Research, Consulting, and Management Practice
- 2008
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Ingår i: Handbook of Collaborative Management Research. - California, U.S.A. : SAGE Publications, Inc. - 1412976677 - 9781412976671 - 9781412926249 - 1412926246 ; , s. 93-117
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For managers looking for management knowledge beyond their own experience, academics and consultants are two main resources. In this chapter, we focus on academic researchers and management consultants as producers of management knowledge and ask what the two can learn from each other. We suggest that there is a strong potential for collaboration in the triad manager-researcher-consultant, but we also acknowledge the institutional forces that make it difficult and discuss how they may be overcome. The chapter begins with an investigation into the knowledge-creating systems of academia and consulting, goes on to successful examples of knowledge creation in collaboration, and ends with a discussion of the tensions to be overcome, especially in the collaboration between academics on the one hand and practitioner-managers and consultants on the other.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Pemer, Frida, et al.
(författare)
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Purchasing management consulting services—From management autonomy to purchasing involvement
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of purchasing and supply management. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 1873-6505 .- 1478-4092. ; 13:2, s. 98-112
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purchasing of management consulting services is a challenging area for purchasing agents to become involved in. A study of six organizations shows large variations in terms of the extent and way in which they were involved ranging from ad hoc and clerical approaches to their systematic and central participation. Based on a comparison of the cases, enablers of purchasing involvement are discussed, including the status of the purchasing function, managerial use of and attitudes towards consultants, how the management consulting service and the purchasing situation are framed, and the implementation strategy. We conclude that what are generally regarded as sound purchasing practices can also work in the case of management consultants. This, however, requires a good understanding of the consulting service in the client organization. We suggest that the traditionally marginal role of purchasing agents may be better understood as a consequence of the characteristics of the consultant–client relationship than any essential characteristics of the consulting service.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Bringing in Managerial Expertise from External Markets : A growing advice business and increasing uncertainty in organizations
- 2005. - 1
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Ingår i: Dealing with Confidence: The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services. - Frederiksberg : Copenhagen Business School Press. - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 ; , s. 1-18
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book deals with one of the most ubiquitous phenomena of management practice in the past two decades namely, organizations' increasing use of external providers of various forms of managerial expertise. Instead of having people employed with an certain expertise or specialized competence, it has become increasingly common for organizations to temporarily contract experts from external markets whenever their expertise is needed. In the past few decades in particular, the management advice industry has exploded and today occupies a large and increasing number of people. Although organizations have long relied on advice from lawyers and auditors, during the past two decades we have witnessed an exceptional growth of services such as investment banking, IT consulting, temporary staffing and management consulting. New organizations have emerged to deliver these services, and older types of organizations, such as auditing firms, have added new advisory services to their traditional service portfolio.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Constructing the legitimate buyer of management consulting services
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Organizational Change Management. - : Emerald. - 0953-4814. ; 21:6, s. 758-772
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose Hiring management consultants as external support in organizational change is in the literature described as a socially and emotionally stressful activity for managers. Management consultants need to deal with these threatening aspects of their service. This paper aims to explore the subject positions management consultants offer managers in their self‐presentations on the World Wide Web. Design/methodology/approach The paper studies the self‐presentations on the www of four large management consultancies–Accenture, BCG, KPMG, and McKinsey & Co. Using a Foucault inspired discourse analytical framework, we analyze the subject positions offered to client‐managers in these self‐presentations and how these subject positions relate to the management regimes of bureaucracy and post‐bureaucracy. Findings The study identifies two different discursive practices–one normalizing practice, constructing the use of management consultants as a natural aspect of management and a second practice rationalizing the use of management consultants, providing arguments aimed at reducing the pressures on the manager. The normalizing discourse which draws on a post‐bureaucratic regime was found in Accenture and KPMG. The rationalizing discourse was found in McKinsey and BCG and draws on the bureaucratic regime. Originality/value This work highlights how consultants deal with the pressures their presence puts on managers. It illustrates how managerial truth regimes contribute to shaping the conditions for management consulting and the consultant‐client relationship.
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| 22. |
- Werr, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Gaining External Knowledge : boundaries in managers' knowledge relations
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Knowledge Management. - : Emerald Group. - 1367-3270 .- 1758-7484. ; 13:6, s. 448-463
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate interorganizational knowledge exchange from the perspective of the individual manager/professional. The paper aims to study the kinds of relationships managers/professionals in SMEs are involved in and the way in which they construct boundaries within and around these interorganizational relationships enabling and hindering knowledge acquisition.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on 31 interviews with managers and professionals in seven SMEs. Interviews focused on the interorganizational relationships they viewed as important sources of knowledge for themselves and their organizations.Findings – The study shows that managers/professionals gain vital knowledge from far more interorganizational relationships than those formally designed for knowledge acquisition. The most important sources of knowledge were relationships with suppliers and customers. The study also identifies five boundary dimensions – interests, interpretive frameworks, trust, private/organizational and priority – which respondents use in constructing boundaries within and around the relationships. These boundary dimensions represent important conditions for knowledge acquisition through the relationship.Research limitations/implications – The five boundary dimensions are generated based on a sample of SMEs in Sweden. They must thus be regarded as provisional and need to be validated in further research including larger organizations in different cultural contexts. Future studies should also focus on the dynamics of the boundaries and their interrelations as relationships evolve.Originality/value – This paper adds to research on interorganizational knowledge acquisition by taking an individual level perspective and identifying boundary dimensions through which the relationships and their knowledge flows are shaped.
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
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| 26. |
- Werr, Andreas
(författare)
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Taking Control of Need Construction : On the organizational needs that drive the use of consultants
- 2005
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Ingår i: Dealing with Confidence: The Construction of Need and Trust in Management Advisory Services. - Frederiksberg : Copenhagen Business School Press. - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 - 9788763099660 - 8763099667 ; , s. 92-111
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Management consultants, like many other management advisory services, are based on a diffuse and heterogeneous knowledge base. Consequently, as illustrated in the previous chapter, the characteristics as well as the needs that MAS fulfill may vary between situations as the result of negotiations, primarily between buyers and suppliers of these services. Based on observed differences in the use of management consultants, including both the reasons why consultants were hired and the emerging consultant-client relationship, this chapter will investigate in more depth the organizational aspects that may help us to understand such differences.
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