So What Makes a Successful Consulting Project?

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The aim of this article is to examine the capabilities for consultancy for organisational change. Based on empirical evidence, insight is provided into the capabilities that consultants need in order to be effective in organisational change. These include: building and maintaining relationships; building and sustaining trust; managing emotions; being self-aware; gaining commitment and engagement; being resilient; demonstrating a tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty; demonstrating political astuteness; managing the power dynamics; and creating effective organisational change conversations. The relative emphasis on each capability will depend upon the situation, but all are vital in consultancy for change.
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Consulting Capabilities for Organisational Change

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A major focus for consultants is pipeline. Generating future work is as important as delivering current projects because it provides continuity and hopefully growth of the business. This inherent uncertainty in the sales pipeline is perhaps the consulting firms’ biggest concerns. This paper seeks to demonstrate how management consultancy has actually become widespread and embedded in the economic activity of organisations. The research synthesised in this paper presents client perspectives on how consultants add value. Particular insight is given into the key features which differentiate those firms that are chosen for projects against those that are not. The findings suggest that the industry has transitioned from a dispensable service to an institutionalised one, embedded in client business cycles and operating procedures. This has implications for how individual consultancy firms develop and deliver their services, moving emphasis from market uncertainty to service design and quality.
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The ‘World’s Newest Profession’ is no Longer Dispensable; What Does it Mean for Consultancy Firms?

Evolution or Revolution? Alternative Assignment Scopes

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A number of different authors have highlighted the need for postgraduate students to be work ready for a career in consulting. This paper examines a cohort of 21 MSc students from a UK-based University and how they addressed this issue through an assignment geared up towards this aim. The completed assessments ranged in terms of the strategies the students used to assess their development needs for a career in consultancy. Strategies used consisted of: competency analysis, SWOT analysis, psychometric tests, use of the British Psychological Society consultancy cycle (from the Qualification in Occupational Psychology) and use of consultancy cycles from other sources. Interestingly there was a lack of consistency between students in terms of what strategies they chose to be future consultants. This research is useful because it systematically demonstrates which strategies may be used by postgraduates to identify the skills and behaviours they need for a consultancy career.
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Becoming a Consultant

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Volume 7 (2024): Issue 2 (June 2024)

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Volume 2 (2019): Issue 2 (December 2019)

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Volume 1 (2018): Issue 2 (December 2018)

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Management Consulting Journal

 The Management Consulting Journal (MCJ) focuses on the practice of management consulting and the management consulting sector. It publishes two volumes a year. It welcomes submissions from academics and practitioners. In addition to carrying full academic papers, it also includes ‘consulting shorts’, which are briefer reports and thought leadership pieces on contemporary consulting issues. It is an international journal drawing on research and insight from around the world, and is linked with the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes’ values and aims around standards and professionalism in the sector.   The aims of the journal are to:      Highlight and debate issues pertinent to the management consulting sector and management consulting practice.   Focus mainly on issues which have practical value, rather than discussing conceptual principles and theory.   Promote understanding of the management consulting sector and the practice of management consulting.      Archiving   Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.   Plagiarism Policy   The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 