Management consultants of various kinds play an important role in the world of business, and within other types of organization. The Oxford Handbook on Management Consulting is a comprehensive overview of eminent thinking and research on management consultancy with contributions from leading international scholars.

The first section provides an account of the historical developments in management consultancy research, and how current thinking has evolved from prior work. The second section focuses on disciplinary and theoretical perspectives on management consulting, their diversities, areas of synergy, and parallel concerns. The following sections examine consulting as a knowledge business; the consultants in management fashion; and the relationship between management consultants and their clients. The Handbook concludes with an assessment of areas of future research and debate.

By bringing together a wide range of research and thinking on management consultancy across different disciplines, sub-disciplines, and conceptual approaches, the Handbook provides a comprehensive understanding of both current thinking and future directions for research.

Matthias Kipping, Professor of Strategic Management and Chair in Business History, the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada.,Timothy Clark, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Durham Business School, Durham University

Matthias Kipping is Professor of Strategic Management and Chair in Business History at the Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Munich and additional degrees in France and the United States and held previous appointments in the United Kingdom and Spain. He has published widely on management consultancy and its evolution, and co-edited with Lars Engwall a volume on Management Consulting: Emergence and Dynamics of a Knowledge Industry (OUP, 2002).



Timothy Clark is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Durham Business School, Durham University. He has conducted a series of research projects into different aspects of the work of management consultants which have resulted in influential publications in the area including Managing Consultants (Open University Press, 1995) and Critical Consulting: New Perspectives on the Management Advice Industry (2002, Blackwell, with R. Fincham).

1. Introduction, Matthias Kipping and Timothy Clark
Section 1: Historical Development of Management Consulting
2. The Engineering Origins of the Consulting Industry and their Long Shadow, Christopher Wright and Matthias Kipping
3. Human Relations and Management Consulting: Elton Mayo and Eric Trist, Richard C. S. Trahair and Kyle Bruce
4. Institutional Change and the Growth of Strategy Consulting in the United States, Robert David
5. Cuckoo in the Nest? The Rise of Management Consulting in Large Accounting Firms?, Megan S. McDougald and Royston Greenwood
6. IT Consulting and Outsourcing Firms: Evolution, Business Models and Future Prospects, Kerim Galal, Ansgar Richter, and Vera Wendlandt
Section 2: Disciplinary and Theoretical Perspectives
7. Sociological Perspectives on Management Consultancy, Michael Faust
8. Consultants in Context: Global Dominance, Societal Effect and the Capitalist System, Matthias Kipping and Christopher Wright
9. Professions and Professionalism in Management Consulting, Ian Kirkpatrick, Daniel Muzio and Stephen Ackroyd
10. Economic Approaches to Consulting, Nicole Saam
11. The Geographies of Management Consultancy Firms, James Faulconbridge and Andrew Jones
Section 3: Consulting as a Knowledge Business
12. Knowledge Management and Management Consulting, Andreas Werr
13. Consultants and Organization Concepts, Stefan Heusinkveld and Jos Benders
14. Structuring Consulting Firms, Timothy Morris, Heidi Gardner and Anand Narasimhan
15. Managing Consultants: Control and Identity, Mats Alvesson
Section 4: Consultants and Management Fashions
16. Consultants in the Management Fashion Arena, Nicole Jung and Alfred Kieser
17. Management Gurus as Celebrity Consultants, Timothy Clark, Pojanath Bhatanacharoen and David Greatbatch
18. Consultants, Business Schools and the Media, Lars Engwall
Section 5: Consultants and their Clients
19. The Nature of Client-Consultant Interaction, Natalia Nikolova and Timothy Devinney
20. The Client in the Client-Consultant Relationship, Robin Fincham
21. Consultants and Clients from Constructivist Perspectives, Barbara Czarniawska and Carmelo Mazza
22. Management Consultants and Governments, Denis Saint-Martin
Section 6: New Avenues for Research
22. The Future Research Agenda, Andrew Sturdy
23. Consulting and Ethics, R. Edward Freeman and Dean Krehmeyer
24. Gender in Consulting: A Review and Research Agenda, Elisabeth Kelan
25. Management Consulting in Developing and Emerging Economies: Toward a Post-colonial Perspective, Michal Frenkel and Yehouda Shenhav