The history of management consultancy

Submitted by karol.s on
Old books and cup of coffee

We are creating a resource concerning the history of management consultancy, particularly in the UK, for the Knowledge Bank on our web site. This is being coordinated by Mick James, one-time editor of Management Consultancy magazine. You can see his introduction here.

There is of course a lot of documented history of the industry; for example, the Institute of Management Consultants published a history (‘Agents of Change’ written by Patricia Tisdall) in 1982 to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

However, we are not looking for works of scholarship, or exclusive or definitive contributions; what is valuable are eyewitness accounts. We’d therefore welcome any number of short pieces (a page or two) capturing your recollections or observations of specific topics.

These might be about your personal experience of management consultancy (and bearing in mind that our community includes people who are not consultants this might be a perspective as a client or academic, for example); about the business of consultancy; or the regulatory or institutional environment. Some of the topics that have so far been suggested include (in no particular order):

  • The entry of IT companies into consultancy
  • A day in the life of a consultant
  • The self-isolation of US strategy consulting firms in the UK community
  • Success or failure of IT firms taking over the MC practices of accounting firms
  • The impact of technology on a consultant’s work
  • How the consultant lifestyle has changed over the years
  • Developing qualifications for consultants
  • How the accounting firms came to dominate management consultancy
  • The changing nature of the work that consultants do
  • How the public sector has engaged with consultants over the years
  • Are consultants the originators or mediators of new technology?
  • Public perceptions of management consultancy
  • Careers in management consultancy

All of these could of course be the subject of academic research, but it is the personal accounts and anecdotal observations that we would like to capture on the web site – on these, or anything else that you think might be of interest. And we are very happy to have a number of pieces on the same topic.

Please send your contributions to us at info@cmce.org.uk .