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The failure of consulting professionalism? A longitudinal analysis of the Institute of Management Consultants

Butler, Nick; Collins, David

Authors

Nick Butler

David Collins



Abstract

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. Abstract: This paper offers a longitudinal analysis of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC). Drawing on archive sources, we consider the manner in which the IMC sought to institutionalize a form of expertise specific to management consultants. Rejecting attempts to locate the boundaries of such expertise within idealized, archetypal frameworks, we analyse the IMC’s attempts to secure occupational closure in the field of consulting by means of normative, cognitive and symbolic mechanisms. While others account for the Institute’s professional project as a failure consequent upon consulting’s fragmentary knowledge base, we suggest that this project did not so much fail as drift towards another ‘hybrid’ form. In an attempt (a) to account for this shift and (b) to outline its key contours, we offer an archival analysis that explores the manner in which the Institute sought to reconcile the multiple interests and competing logics that construct professionalism within the field of consulting.

Citation

Butler, N., & Collins, D. (2016). The failure of consulting professionalism? A longitudinal analysis of the Institute of Management Consultants. Management & organizational history : M & OH, 11(1), 48-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449359.2016.1151363

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 26, 2016
Online Publication Date Mar 7, 2016
Publication Date Mar 7, 2016
Deposit Date Feb 9, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 7, 2016
Journal Management & organizational history
Print ISSN 1744-9359
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 11
Issue 1
Pages 48-65
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/17449359.2016.1151363
Keywords Management consultants; Professionalism; Professional project; Hybridity
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/385156
Publisher URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449359.2016.1151363#.Vt8Fkk_cvoY
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Management & organizational history on 07/03/2016, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/[Article DOI]
Contract Date Feb 9, 2016

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