Management Consulting

A Guide to the Profession

A widely recognized reference work on the state of the art of management consulting. It offers an extensive introduction to consulting: its nature, professional standards, intervention methods, behavioural rules, current developments and future perspectives. This guide is a widely recognized reference work on the state of the art of management consulting. It offers an extensive introduction to consulting: its nature, professional standards, intervention methods, behavioural rules, current developments and future perspectives.

Today, the information and knowledge-based economy is constantly creating new opportunities and challenges for consultants, who can find enough work and get well paid for their services, provided they are able to cope with complex and rapidly changing conditions and meet the demands of increasingly sophisticated clients. The whole world of professional services is undergoing profound changes and management and business consultants are no exception. In this climate, consultants must continuously "reinvent themselves". More than ever, learning is a life-long job for consultants. This fourth edition of Management Consulting actively reflects and confronts all these developments and challenges.

New topics covered in this edition include:

• e-business consulting;
• consulting in knowledge management and the use of knowledge management by consultants themselves;
• total quality management;
• corporate governance;
• social role and responsibility of business;
• company transformation and renewal;
• public administration;
• intellectual property;

"It is the most complete book on all phases of Management Consulting I have come across. The book has a life beyond the course and former students tell me that it becomes a reference book after it has been used as a textbook." - Dr. Erik K. Winslow, Chairman, Management Science Department, George Washington University, USA 2003

"As a guide for the novice consultant and reference for the experienced, this book’s grasp of the subject matter, breadth of coverage, simplicity of treatment, and accessibility is unsurpassed.” - Gerald A. Simon, CMC, FIMC, Chairman of the Editorial Board, C2M Consulting to Management

"The consulting industry is going through profound changes. Practitioners and clients both need to be aware of these changes in order to ensure that client value continues to be delivered. Milan Kubr's book Management consulting: A guide to the profession is a great starting point to understanding the state of the industry and how it's evolving." - Wayne Cooper, Publisher of Management Consulting International and Consultants News, and CEO of Kennedy Information

"Management consulting: A guide to the profession" is the most comprehensive capture of the body of knowledge of management consulting. The text is the most thorough guide for those who want to develop the competence leading to certification in this profession." - E. Michael Shays, CMC, FIMC, Executive Director, International Council of Management Consulting Institutes, and Chairman, Institute of Management Consultants, United States;

" The current edition will contribute to further building up the core competence in consulting services with a pragmatic approach to creating the knowledge economy and enhancing business competitiveness." - Yuji Yamada, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Asian Productivity Organization;

"How fortunate for both the novice and the battle-scarred veteran to now have a new fourth edition of this classic text, which has been an indispensable tool for me over many years. Balancing the professional and the business aspects of management consulting, Milan Kubr and his team of authors have integrated the spectrum of current theories and practices into a pragmatic guide which will become the handbook of our time." - Patrick J. McKenna, management consultant and co-author of First among equals: How to manage a group of professionals;

About Authors and Acknowledgement

This  book  is  the  result  of  a  collective  effort  and  reflects  the  experience  andknowledge of the international consulting profession.The first three editions (published in 1976, 1986 and 1996) were written bythe  following  co-authors:  Michael  Bauer,  Roland  Berger,  George  Boulden,Chris Brewster, Chris Cooper, George Cox, James Dey, Alan Gladstone, ColinGuthrie,  Malcolm  Harper,  John  Heptonstall,  Hari  Johri,  George  Kanawaty,James  H.  Kennedy,  Milan  Kubr,  Frederic  Latham,  Gordon  Lippitt,  David  H.Maister, Rebecca Morgan, Leonard Nadler, Philip Neck, Klaus North, JosephProkopenko,  J.  Geoffrey  Rawlinson,  Edgar  H.  Schein,  Edward  A.  Stone,  John Syme, Denis Tindley and John Wallace.Short contributions (most presented in box form) and other valuable materialsand  ideas  used  in  the  book  were  provided  by  Moïse  Allal,  William  J.  Altier,Maurice C. Ashill, Daniel Bas, Bengt Bjorklund, Kenneth L. Block, Ole Bovin,Derek Bowland, Joseph J. Brady, Ken Dawson, Gerry Y. Elliot, W. J. C. McEwan,Praxy  Fernandes,  Stelan  Friberg,  Takeyuki  Furuhashi,  S.  R.  Ganesh,  John  E.Hartshorne, Ed Hendricks, Michael Henriques, Shozo Hibino, Pierre Hidalgo,Geert  Hofstede,  Kate  Hook,  Jean-Marie  van  Houwe,  Osamu  Ida,  James  H.Kennedy, Václav Klaus, Emile Laboureau, Lauri K. Leppanen, Hans Ake Lilja,William  J.  McGinnis,  Eiji  Mizutani,  Klaus  Molenaar,  Lewis  S.  Moore,  AlexMorley-Smith,  Gerald  Nadler,  M.  S.  S.  El  Namaki,  Robert  Nelson,  BrianO’Rorke, Graham Perkins, Jean-François Poncet, Alan C. Popham, John Roethle,Steven E. Sacks, Emmanuel S. Savas, Karl Scholz, P. W. Shay, E. Michael Shays, Howard  L.  Shenson,  Marko  Simoneti,  Carl  S.  Sloane,  Sten  Söderman,  FritzSteele, Hedley Thomas, Arthur B. Toan, Arthur N. Turner and W. Trevor Utting.The  author  team  for  the  fourth  edition,  which  revised  the  existing  textand  wrote  new  chapters,  included  Chris  Brewster,  Martin  Clemensson,  Gerry  Finnegan,  Alan  Gladstone,  Jack  Hardie,  John  Heptonstall,  Milan  Kubr,Radan Kubr, Mike Malmgren, Klaus North, Joseph Prokopenko, Steven Rochlin,Birte Schmitz, Edward A. Stone, and Jim Tanburn.Short contributions, advice and assistance were received from Michael Beer,Charles  Bodwell,  Christine  Evans-Klock,  Robert  M.  Galford,  Gil  Gidron,Charles  H.  Green,  Else  Groen,  Claude  Hoffmann,  Osamu  Ida,  KennedyInformation  Inc.,  Margot  Lobbezoo,  David  H.  Maister,  Bruce  W.  Marcus,Patrick J. McKenna, Eiji Mizutani, Edgar H. Schein, Karl Scholz, E. MichaelShays, Gerald A. Simon, Peter Søresen, Arturo Tolentino and Simon White.Milan Kubr served as team leader and technical editor for all editions of thebook. He is also the principal author. Stylistic and language editing was carriedout by Pat Butler, and the project was overseen by Rosemary Beattie. There  are  many  colleagues  in  consulting  firms  and  their  associations,management  institutes  and  business  companies,  and  in  the  ILO,  whoseexperience, support and constructive suggestions made the publication of thisbook  possible.