<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This paper examines how internal advisors can enhance ethical decision-making beyond the scope of a corporate code of conduct, using a case from a major Dutch financial institution. The case study explores a decision involving a loan request for selling laughing gas, where the internal advisors’ assessment went beyond legal compliance to consider ethical implications, potential consequences, and stakeholder interests. The analysis highlights the use of ethical theories such as consequentialism, deontology, and stakeholder analysis, demonstrating how internal advisors can provide a human and interactive dimension to ethical decision-making. Ultimately, the paper underscores the importance of integrating internal advisory roles with corporate codes of conduct to foster comprehensive and ethically sound decisions.
</abstract>

Business Ethics: How the Code of Conduct’s Superficiality Can be Combatted by Supplementing Decision-Making with Internal Advisors

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This paper critically examines the principle of professional independence in the consulting industry, focusing on ethical challenges through the lenses of consequentialism and stakeholder theory. Utilizing a case study involving a Dutch media company’s acquisition bid, the analysis reveals the tension between maintaining professional independence and succumbing to client pressures, resulting in an inflated and ultimately unsuccessful bid. The discussion highlights the importance of consultants adhering to ethical standards, considering all stakeholders’ interests, and maintaining objectivity to ensure long-term beneficial outcomes. By integrating stakeholder theory and consequentialism, the paper underscores the necessity of ethical rigor and professional integrity in consulting practices.
</abstract>

Foundations and Challenges: Ethics in Consulting

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This paper investigates the ethical dilemmas faced by consultants when balancing personal morals with professional obligations, using a real-life case study involving a consultant overhearing illegal price-fixing activities. The case highlights the consultant’s internal conflict and the decision to remain silent due to fear of professional repercussions and power dynamics. The analysis discusses violations of the Dutch OOA code of conduct, particularly concerning integrity and professional independence, and explores the ethical frameworks of moral disengagement, consequentialism, and virtue ethics. The paper emphasizes the complexity of moral integrity in consulting and the potential consequences of both action and inaction in ethically challenging situations.
</abstract>

Conscience and Compromise: The Struggle of Moral Codes in Business

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This article reflects on the disproportionate academic and media attacks that management consultancy seems to attract and links this to the failure of developing strong professional institutions on the example of comparable professions such as law and accountancy. In particular, whilst a professional project was initially at play within this sector, it eventually lost support from key stakeholders, in particular the large firms who employed a majority of management consultants. As such professional associations in the management consultancy field engaged in a series of accommodation strategies to win back some corporate support. The result was a weaker form of corporate professionalism.
</abstract>

Failed Professionalization and Management Consultancy’s Image Problem - a UK Perspective

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

If we truly believe that “people are our greatest asset” as the old saying goes, we generally don’t treat them as assets. Traditional assets such as furniture, buildings and intellectual property are treated in a prescribed manner on financial statements as well as the ongoing care and maintenance of that asset. The author challenges the notion of considering people as expenses only and introduces five different models (or asset classes) of a management consulting firm’s greatest resource - its people. Some of these models have been around for decades, some are emerging, and all are changing with the incessant demand for adaptation of our management consulting industry worldwide.
</abstract>

Are you Hiring and Managing the Right Pi-Shaped People?

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The paper presents an analysis of the possibilities for developing a community of independent management consultants and forming partnerships in conditions of global uncertainty. The purpose of the study was to show the core of activity, level of competencies and uniqueness of knowledge of the management consultants’ community; determine its growth points. Individual consultants from the National Institute of Certified Management Consultants of Russia (NICMC), Fifty eight consultants took part in the study as a sample. Using the author’s questionnaire, it was possible to identify perspective areas of community development strategies and partnerships for consultants that allow them to achieve greater success in consulting.
</abstract>

Communities and Partnerships of Independent Management Consultants - The Path to Professional Success

AHEAD OF PRINT

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

Volume 7 (2024): Issue 1 (February 2024)

Volume 6 (2023): Issue 2 (June 2023)

Volume 6 (2023): Issue 1 (February 2023)

Volume 5 (2022): Issue 2 (May 2022)

Volume 5 (2022): Issue 1 (January 2022)

Volume 4 (2021): Issue 2 (June 2021)

Volume 4 (2021): Issue 1 (January 2021)

Volume 3 (2020): Issue 1 (June 2020)

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

Volume 2 (2019): Issue 1 (June 2019)

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

Volume 1 (2018): Issue 1 (June 2018)

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. 