The Complexity of Consultancy

“To the extent that consultancy involves immersing oneself in an alien (client) environment so as to elicit a feel for the culture and relational dynamics of that setting, it represents a derivative – albeit commercial – form of ethnography. What better method, then, to explore the practice of consultancy itself? Furthermore, and as the editors of this volume rightly observe, the complexity and uncertainty of everyday consultancy life belies the orderliness and linearity of consultancy technique prescribed in mainstream management literature. The (auto)ethnographic methods advanced collectively by the contributors of this book takes aim at this tension. This volume makes for a read that is genuinely insightful, rewarding, and pedagogically rich.”

Dr. Tom Vine, Associate Professor, University of Suffolk, and editor, Ethnographic Research and Analysis: Anxiety, Identity and Self

“This timely book is for reflective managers as well as consultants who are unconvinced or disillusioned by conventional wisdom. It proposes a ‘grown up’ approach that moves away from the easy idealizations and simplifications of organizational realities and consultancy interventions. Based upon insights born of curiosity and lived experience, each chapter deals with the ‘dirt’ and explores the ‘shadows’ of organizing and managing. Emphasizing the importance of increased self-understanding and deeper sense-making, this path-breaking book urges and advances the adoption of more thoughtful, less self-defeating means of grappling with the demanding, contradictory practices of managing and consulting.”

Prof. Hugh Willmott, Bayes Business School

“How stimulating to encounter a text that probes those discomforting experiences that arise during consulting processes, and, rather than explaining them away or trying to avoid them, shows how discussing these frankly and thoughtfully unearths a fertile ground for informing ethical action.”

Dr. Patricia Shaw, Co-founder of the Doctor of Management Programme at University of Hertfordshire

“A unique book, based in the autoethnographic experience of its contributors, this collection provides a richly nuanced and reflexively theorised insight into the complex reality of everyday consultancy practice. It is essential reading for practitioners, researchers and students.”

Prof. Ian Burkitt, University of Bradford

Nicholas Sarra works as a Consultant Psychotherapist within the NHS. He is also a Visiting Professor at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, and affiliated with a number of programmes at Exeter University. He is a member of the Institute of Group Analysis.

Karina Solsø is a Self-employed Organisational Consultant in Denmark working with organisational change and leadership development. She is also a Visiting Lecturer at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire.

Chris Mowles is Professor of Complexity and Management at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire.