Abstract
In the UK, in both academic and popular media, there is a growing interest in the production, diffusion and consumption of managerial knowledge (or ‘fads’) and the rise of management gurus. This interest can be linked to a number of developments including: the increasing profile, number and apparently wide popularity of prescriptive management writers in the UK and USA; and debates about ‘globalization’, ‘knowledge work’ and discourse in late/postmodernity. The role of management consultants in the production and diffusion of, for example, strategic and marketing discourses is typically recognized as important. Indeed, there is a growing number of accounts seeking to outline and explain the historical and/or current influence of consultants and the ideas and practices they purvey at a general level. For example both Huczynski (1993a and b) and Grint (1994) outline the particular contexts associated with the emergence of families of ideas from Taylorism to Business Process Re-engineering, or BPR (see also Littler, 1982; Tisdall, 1982; Hollway, 1991). Another theme is the apparent transience of ‘new’ (usually repackaged) ideas and the irony of the continued demand for ‘solutions’ (Gill and Whittle, 1992; Huczynski, 1993b; Abrahamson, 1996).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abrahamson, E. (1996). ‘Management Fashion’, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 1
Alvesson, M. (1993). ‘Organisations as Rhetoric: Knowledge Intensive Firms and the Struggle with Ambiguity’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 30, No. 6.
Argyris, C. (1961). ‘Explorations in Consulting — Client Relationships’, Human Organization, Vol. 20.
Bennett, R. (1990). Choosing and Using Management Consultants (London: Kogan Page).
Best, A. and Bloomfield, B. (1992). ‘Management Consultants: Systems Development, Power, and the Translation of Problems’, UMIST Working paper, Manchester School of Management.
Clark, T. (1995). Managing Consultants (Buckingham: Open University Press).
Cleverley, G. (1971). Managers and Magic (London: Longman).
The Economist, (1988). ‘A Survey of Management Consultancy’ 13 February.
The Economist, (1991). ‘Solution Peddlars Lose their Charm’, 9 February.
Engwall, L., S. Furusten and E. Wallerstedt (1993). ‘Bridge over Troubled Water Professors in Management Consulting’, EGOS Conference paper.
File, K.M., D.S.P. Cermark and R.A. Prince (1994). ‘Word of Mouth Efects in Professional Services Buyer Behaviour’, Service Industries Jourmal, Vol. 14, No. 3.
Friedman, A.L. (1989). Computer Systems Development: History, Organization and Implementation (Chichester:Wiley).
Fromm, E. (1980). The Fear of Freedom (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).
Garratt, R. (1981). ‘From Expertise to Contingency: Changes in the Nature of Consulting’, Management Education and Development, Vol. 12, No. 2.
Gill, J. and S. Whittle (1992). ‘Management by Panacea: Accounting for Transience’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2.
Grint, K. (1994). ‘Reengineering History: Social Resonances and BPR’, Organization, Vol. 1, No. 1.
Guillen, M.F. (1993). Models of Management, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Hollway, W. (1991). Work Psychology and OB (London: Sage).
Huczynski, A.A. (1993a). ‘Explaining the Succession of Management Fads’, International Journal of HRM, Vol. 4 No. 2.
Huczynski, A.A. (1993). Management Gurus (London: Routledge).
Jackall, R. (1988) Moral Mazes — The World of Corporate Managers (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Kunda, G. (1991). Engineering Culture: Control and Commitment in a Hi-Tech Corporation, (Philadelphia: Temple University Press).
Knights, D., G. Morgan and F. Murray (1991). ‘Strategic Management Financial Services and IT’, EGOS Conference Paper.
Knights, D. and G. Morgan (1991). ‘Corporate Strategy, Organizations and Subjectivity — a critique’, Organization Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2.
Knights, D. and G. Morgan (1990). ‘The Concept of Strategy in Sociology’, Sociology, Vol. 24, No. 3.
Knights, D. and F. Murray (1994). Managers Divided — Organisation Politics and IT Management (Chichester: Wiley).
Littler, C.R. (1982). The Development of the Labour Process in Capitalist Societies (London: Heinemann).
Mackay, L. (1987). ‘The Future with Consultants’, Personnel Review, Vol. 16, No. 4.
Management Consultancy (a) ‘Anchors Up and Plain Sailing Ahead in the Financial Sector’, May 1992. (b) ‘Strategists have no Great Expectations’, October 1992. (c) ‘Grasping the Nettle across EC Borders’, March 1993. (d) ‘Barriers still Evident but Growth is Good’, April 1993. (e) ‘European Promise may Dwindle’, September 1993. (f) ‘Financial Dealings Dip but Income Increases’, October 1993.
Marglin, S. A. (1979). ‘Catching Flies with Honey: An Inquiry into Management Initiatives to Humanise Work’, Economic Analysis and Workers Management, Vol. 13.
May, T. (1994). ‘Transformative power — a Study in a Human Service Organisation’, Sociological Review, Vol. 42, No. 4.
Mitchell, V.W. (1994). ‘Problems and Risks in the Purchasing of Consultancy Services’, Services Industries Journal, Vol. 14, No. 3.
Morgan, G. and A.J. Sturdy (eds) (forthcoming). Organizational Dynamics (London: Macmillan).
Scarbrough, H. (ed.) (1992). The IT Challenge — IT Strategy in Financial Services (London: Routledge).
Scarbrough, H. and J.M. Corbett (1992). Technology and Organisation (London: Routledge).
Schein, E.H. (1969). Process Consultation (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley).
Shapiro, E.C., R.G. Eccles and T.L. Soske (1993). ‘Consulting: Has the Solution become Part of the Problem?’, Sloan Management Review, Summer.
Stevens, M. (1981). The Big Eight (New York: Macmillan).
Sturdy, A.J., P. Ackers, I. Jones, P. Nicholls and I. Newman (1991). ‘Clients, Management Consultants and IT in the UK Financial Services Sector’, Final Report, Bristol Business School.
Sturdy, A.J., P. Nicholls and I. Newman (1990). ‘Management Expertise, Agency and Practice: A Case of Management Consultants’, Labour Process Conference Paper, Aston.
Sturdy, A.J., P. Nicholls and P. Wetherley (1989). ‘Management Consultants and the Politics of IT Strategy’, EGOS Conference Paper, Berlin.
Sturdy, A.J. (ed.) (1989). Managing IT in Insurance (Harlow: Longman).
Sturdy, A.J. (1997). ‘The Consultancy Process — An Insecure Business?’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2.
Tisdall, P. (1982). Agents of Change — The Development and Practice of Management Consultancy (London: Heinemann).
Watson, T.J. (1994a), ‘Flavours of the Month and the Search for Managerial Control’, Labour Process Conference Paper, Aston.
Watson, T.J. (1994b). In Search of Management: Culture Chaos and Control in Managerial Work (London: Routledge).
Weick, K.E. (1987). ‘Substitutes for Strategy’, in D.J. Teece (ed.), The Competitive Challenge (New York: Ballinger).
Whitley, R. (1994). ‘The Internationalisation of Firms and Markets’, Organization, Vol. 1, No. 1.
Whittington, R. (1993). What is Strategy and Does it Matter? (London: Routledge).
Willmott, H. (1992). ‘Post-Modernism and Excellence: The De-Differentiation of Economy and Culture’, Journal of Organisational Change Management, Vol. 5. No. 1.
Wood, D. (1983). ‘Uses and Abuses of Personnel Consultants’, Personnel Management, October.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1998 Andrew Sturdy
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sturdy, A. (1998). Strategic Seduction? Information Technology Consultancy in UK Financial Services. In: Alvarez, J.L. (eds) The Diffusion and Consumption of Business Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25899-4_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25899-4_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-25901-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-25899-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)