Nick Butler
The failure of consulting professionalism? A longitudinal analysis of the Institute of Management Consultants
Butler, Nick; Collins, David
Authors
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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