Management consultancy industry questioned - is science enough?
posted 09.10.09 by Damon Hurst
"The management consultancy industry is a whole lot of spreadsheets chasing fewer goods", said Matthew Stewart in a CNBC interview following the publication of his book The Management Myth.
Stewart should know, reportedly starting his management consultancy career at A.T. Kearney and then becoming a founding partner of The Boston Consulting Group. Despite the pedigree, he describes himself as a "guinea pig" in the industry, after leaving Oxford with a degree in philosophy. In the fallout from the GFC, the book has been used in the USA as a vehicle for bashing business leaders with MBAs, who often start their careers at a major management consultancy firm.
Whilst it's hard to imagine blaming the GFC on any single cause, what should be recognised is that leadership expectations from business have changed, a sentiment perhaps best expressed by Barack Obama in a speech in New York's Federal Hall on 14 September 2009. Marking the first anniversary of the GFC, he stated: "I want everyone here to hear my words: we will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of the crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses".
It's a neat segue as to why interim management is a contemporary approach to human resources and why I started Thirdman Interim.
Our executives have a commercial balance of leadership skills, practical experience and technical knowledge all gained in real-world environments. Environments where theories often require a lot of adjustment in practice.
Unlike management consultants, our interim executives typically hold line-management responsibility, usually at, or just below, board level. They represent an additional task-orientated resource, solving short-term problems whilst transferring practical and lateral skills to existing staff. We often work with management consultants to implement strategy.
Stewart argues that the management consultancy industry is built on science, which he sees as narrow-minded given that humans are involved, reverting to his philosophical background when describing the inter-dependent relationship of the rational and romantic in our everyday world.
At Thirdman, we wholeheartedly agree. Designing processes that lead to a more efficient use of resources - bread and butter for management consultants - is a great start, as is articulating a measurable value proposition for the long-term. However, a business is only a business when you find and unite group of people to make it happen, and that's when the fun or trouble starts, depending on which way you look at it!
Interim executives are people that have, through experience, learned how to manage and motivate individuals from all walks of life; who tread the line between independence and emotional involvement and understand that making change happen is more than just a professional presentation.
Links
The Weekend Australian - book review The Management Myth, September 2009 (originally published in The Wall Street Journal)
Barnes and Noble - book review The Management Myth, 14 August 2009
CNBC - TV interview with author Matthew Stewart, 10 August 2009
The Atlantic - article The Management Myth which inspired the book, June 2006, by Matthew Stewart