Bridging the Cultural Gap in Management Consulting Research

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Bridging the Cultural Gap in Management Consulting Research

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In recent years a multitude of books andpapers concerning management consultinghave been published. A cursory look at this body of literature displays a twofold picture: on the one hand, there are manypublications written by practitioners, forpractitioners (e.g. Biech, 1999; Block, 1999;Czerniawska, 2002). Although these worksare not primarily concerned with theoreticaldiscourse, they may provide valuabledescriptive insights into the business of man-agement consulting (Armenakis and Burdg,1988). On the other hand, management con-

sulting attracts steadily more academicresearch. There has been a considerableincrease in publications that attempt toexplain very different facets of consulting: forinstance, institutional changes in the consult-ing market (e.g. Brock and Powell, 2005),recruiting philosophies in consultancies (e.g.Armbrüster, 2004), mechanisms of the selec-tion processes (e.g. Mitchell, 1994), andproblems of evaluating the work of consul-tants (e.g. Ernst and Kieser, 2002).

Besides this narrower thematic classifica-tion, a further look identifies at least four

Bridging the Cultural Gap inManagement ConsultingResearch

Michael MoheUniversity of Oldenburg, Germany

ABSTRACT Although there are underlying assumptions that culture plays an important rolein management consulting, cultural aspects have not yet been addressed explicitly inmanagement consulting research. This article aims to show that the phenomenon ofmanagement consulting is culturally determined to a significant extent. At the same time, itwill become clear that consultancies have a strong influence on clients, as well as oncountries and societies. This will be discussed with the help of a proposed framework,consisting of four levels of analysis. Finally, the article ends with implications for futureresearch aiming to amplify the culture-based consulting research programme.

KEY WORDS • consulting research • culture • framework • management consulting

© 2008 SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore) DOI: 10.1177/1470595807088321

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broader areas of consulting research: first,research that focuses on elaborating frame-works, and helps to systemize diverse aspectsof consulting. Examples of research withinthis area are heuristics and comparisonsbetween internal and external consultants(e.g. Lacey, 1995), typologies of clients’strategies for dealing professionally with con-sultants (e.g. Mohe, 2005; Werr and Pemer,2007), or suggestions for network types inmanagement consulting practice (Lilja andPoulfelt, 2001). Within the second researcharea, theoretical approaches are employed toexplain different phenomena of managementconsulting. To give some examples: Kieser(1997, 2002) evolves a fashion perspective toanalyse the role of consultants in the diffusionprocess of management concepts; Fincham(2002) uses principal agent theory to explainclient–consultant relationships; Glückler andArmbrüster (2003) employ embeddednesstheory to explain the importance of trust andnetwork reputation in bridging uncertaintyin management consulting. Third, besidesthese rather conceptually oriented contribu-tions, there is an increasing number of worksthat attend empirically to different aspects ofmanagement consulting. Examples of suchworks are studies that deal with critical success factors in the client–consulting rela-tionship (Appelbaum, 2004), or quantitativestudies of careers in management consulting(e.g. Adams and Zanzi, 2004; Mohe, 2006a).Fourth, there is research concerning researchon consulting research. Here, examples oftopics discussed include the status quo ofresearch on management consulting, or therelationship between consulting in practiceand relevant research (e.g. Armenakis andBurdg, 1988; McGivern and Fineman, 1983;March, 1991; Nicolai and Röbken, 2005;Shugan, 2004).

To sum up, we could say that researchwith various orientations and covering sev-eral topics has been increasingly conductedin recent years, although most will agree that‘there is a lot of unfinished work around the

consulting industry’ (Buckle cited byCzerniawska, 2002: 209). One of those‘unfinished’ works is the analysis of culture inmanagement consulting practice and con-sulting research. This negligence is astonish-ing, because culture is often treated as animplicit or underlying factor of the success ofconsulting. This is evident in examples suchas statements that highlight the need for‘good human chemistry’ between clients andconsultants (e.g. Kesner and Fowler, 1997).Moreover, there are many other culture-related aspects in management consultingthat are located beyond the client–consultantrelationship. But remarkably, until now therehas been no work that explicitly addressescultural aspects in management consulting.This observation fits the conclusion drawn by Armbrüster and Kieser (2001). In theirreview of books on management consultingthey observe that research exploring man-agement consulting in a cultural context doesnot exist.

This article takes a look at these culturalgaps in consulting research. It aims to showthe relevance of culture in different areas ofmanagement consulting practice and tries todevelop a framework for systemizing culture-related aspects of management consultingresearch. To this end, this article suggeststhat four levels of analysis should be distin-guished in the study of culture in consultingresearch. Second, each of these levels ofanalysis should be substantiated both empiri-cally and theoretically. Finally, further poten-tial for the refinement and amplification ofthe proposed framework, and, more specifi-cally for a culture-based consulting researchprogram is identified.

Developing a Framework forCulture-based ConsultingResearch

Culture is a complex and vague term noteasy to define. More than 50 years agoKroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) compiled a

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management 8(1)42



list of 164 different definitions of culture. Inthe meantime, several authors from differentscientific domains have added new defini-tions. Thus we now have an overwhelmingand unmanageable inventory of differentsuggestions on how culture could be defined.As this article tries to identify and discuss culture-related aspects in management con-sulting that are located on different objectlevels, it makes sense to choose a definitionthat is broad enough to fit this intention. Inthis respect, the definition of Hofstede seemsto be appropriate. He defines culture as:

the collective mental programming of the people in an environment. Culture is not characteristic of individuals; it encompasses anumber of people who were conditioned bythe same education and life experience. Whenwe speak of the culture of a group, a tribe, ageographical region, a national minority, or anation, culture refers to the collective mentalprogramming that these people have in com-mon; the programming that is different fromthat of other groups, tribes, regions, minoritiesor majorities, or nations. (Hofstede, 1980: 43)

Although Hofstede’s approach has been subjected to some criticism (e.g. Chiang,2005; McSweeney, 2002) it has stronglyinfluenced management research and con-sulting, as well as business practice (Bing,2004). Furthermore, the given definitionallows us to discuss culture in this article atdifferent object levels.

Culture plays an important role in everyindividual firm, as, self-evidently, each firmhas its own culture. Bearing this in mind, culture-based consulting research has first tofocus on the different companies’ individualcultures, in the cases of both consulting firmsand client firms. This is in line with the studyof culture from an organizational perspective(e.g. Alvesson and Berg, 1992; Schein, 2004).However, studying the culture of client andconsultant firms covers only one perspectiveor object level. In the case of a concrete con-sulting project, both parties – each with itsown different culture – come together, so at asecond level, cultural consulting research has

to analyse the relationship between the con-sulting firm and the client firm during theconsulting process. Third, as consulting firmshave a strong influence on discussions in society and countries, culture-based consult-ing research has to widen its focus to analysethese correlations. Fourth, as modern con-sulting is a highly globalized service, culture-based consulting research has to widen itsfocus to embrace this inter-cultural context.

Against this background, we suggest thatfour levels of analysis have to be distin-guished (see Figure 1):

• Micro-culture-based consulting research,which focuses on the individual consult-ing firm or client firm

• Meso-culture-based consulting research,which focuses on the relationshipbetween consultants and clients duringthe consulting process

• Macro-culture-based consultingresearch, which focuses on the role ofconsultancies within their particularsocial or national setting

• Inter-culture-based consulting research,which focuses on the role of consultan-cies across different countries or soci-eties.

It should be noted that these four areas ofculture-based consulting research are interre-lated, so this proposed separation representsan ‘ideal type’ model, which is, however,appropriate for our analytical purposes in thefollowing discussion.

Micro-culture-basedConsulting Research

The subject matter of micro-culture-basedconsulting research is the individual organi-zation. Like every organization, consultingfirms and client firms cultivate their individ-ual cultures, which develop out of specificroutines, path dependencies, mental scripts,rituals, norms, socialization processes, basicassumptions, and so on (Schein, 1984, 2004).

Mohe: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Management Consulting Research 43



Therefore it is appropriate to discuss consult-ing firms and client firms separately.

First we deal with consultancies: for con-sulting firms, their individual culture is animportant means of differentiating them-selves from competitors. This is expressed,for example, in the different communicationstyles encountered in different companies.Each consulting company employs its ownspecific ‘language’, which results from its specific consulting philosophy and role defin-itions. To give an example: expert consul-tants use a different language from that usedby OD or systemic consultants. While theformer are known to ‘talk funny’ (March,1991), because they make excessive use of so-called ‘buzz words’, the latter use a dif-ferent terminology, adopted, for example,from Luhmann’s theory of social systems(Koenigswieser and Hillebrand, 2005).

Another example involves dress codes,which express the consultancies’ self-conceptand aim at manipulating clients’ perceptions(Littrell and Glen, 1982). Dress codes alsoprovide symbolic information about the con-sultancies’ culture. While expert consultan-

cies employ primarily junior consultants andapply the ‘up-or-out’ rule, process or sys-temic consultancies on the other hand have a‘grey hair’ or ‘senior’ philosophy, which indi-cates other values to the client. Yet, anotherexample is found in the different recruitingstrategies, which also offer insights into thecultural patterns of a firm. Some firms mayfollow the one-culture concept, which meansthat they recruit homogeneous types of consultants to present a ‘one-firm firm’ con-cept to the client (Maister, 1985), while others place emphasis on a ‘multicultural’approach, which in this context means thatthey deliberately stress the individuality ofconsultants. Last but not least, the specificforms of knowledge management systemsarise from the firm’s culture. While compa-nies like Accenture (formerly AndersenConsulting) use a more standardized ITapproach, others, like McKinsey or Bain,have chosen a more personalized approachwith intensive face-to-face communication(Hansen et al., 1999).

To take a look at the clients’ side: everyclient firm has its own culture-based pattern


Figure 1 Framework for culture-based consulting research

Macro-culture-basedconsulting research

Meso-culture-basedconsulting research

Meso-culture-basedconsulting research

Micro-culture-basedconsulting research

Micro-culture-basedconsulting research

Macro-culture-basedconsulting research

Society/CountrySociety/Country

Consulting firm

Consulting firm

Client firm

Client firm

Inter-culture-basedconsulting research



of expectations from consultancies. These areoften hidden in implicit assumptions and attitudes. So a client’s decision to call in aconsultancy to deal with a particular issue,instead of attempting to tackle it alone,results from assumptions about the client’sown capabilities and potentials. In this sensethe frequent use of consultants may provideinformation about a firm’s self-perceptionand cultural constitution. Also, the way inwhich various problems are perceived andassumptions about such problems are madeis culture-based, as perceptions and assump-tions are individually constructed and oftensubject to micro-political processes (Landry,1995).

Moreover, the specific culture of theclient firm determines its strategies of profes-sionalization when dealing with consultants(Mohe, 2005; Werr and Pemer, 2007). So,some firms follow a rather ‘laissez faire’ strat-egy, while others focus more on technocraticor expert approaches, such as the establish-ment of central project offices or the imple-mentation of a consulting infobase. Further-more, the client’s culture is critical for thetransfer of the results of consulting projects tothe firm’s knowledge management system.Empirical studies support this assumption:Ernst and Kieser (2005) conducted inter-views which indicate that internal managersare not very interested in circulating infor-mation about their consulting projects.Consequently, the transfer of project resultswithin an organization does not necessarilytake place. Possible explanations for thiscould be assumed to be a low-failure cultureprevalent in the firm, which prevents man-agers from aborting projects because of fearsthat this might affect negatively their nextcareer step. As Czander and Eisold (2003:479) state: ‘Executives use consultants toenhance their careers and they are oftenhighly invested in creating a “good” or “suc-cessful” consultation. Likewise, a debaclecould destroy a career.’ Admittedly, the con-sequence of not talking about unsuccessful

consulting projects impedes the generation of‘lessons learned’, which are important forimproving the management of managementconsultants in the future.

To sum up, a micro-culture-based con-sulting research perspective should aim atuncovering these cultural distinctions in bothconsultancies and clients’ firms. Such a differentiated analysis could contribute to theidentification of culture-based internal logicsand patterns of individual consultancies andclients’ firms.

Meso-culture-basedConsulting Research

In contrast to micro-culture-based consultingresearch, in this perspective, consultanciesand clients’ firms are not separated for analy-sis, as meso-culture-based consulting researchfocuses on the relationship and interactionbetween consulting and client firms through-out the consulting process. The following discussion shows that culture has a stronginfluence on this cooperation.

It could be assumed that the degree of difference or compatibility between the twocultures is critical for consulting projects. Asalready mentioned, consultancies and clients’firms are organizations that have their ownculture; both have to meet the challenge ofcoping with the conditions imposed by eachother’s culture. In this sense, for exampleartefacts overlay every consulting project andhave a strong influence on the social dimen-sions of the client–consultant relationship. So, consultants have to prepare their sets ofcommunication in opposing ways: on the onehand they have to ensure that they are beingunderstood by the client so that compatibili-ty is achieved, while on the other hand theyhave to produce distancing effects, which areneeded to create the necessary space betweenthe consultancy and the client (see Clegg etal., 2004; Czarniawska and Mazza, 2003;Kipping and Armbrüster, 2002). To achievethat, consultancies are well advised to con-




struct communication barriers (Kieser, 2002;Luhmann, 2005), which may serve at thesame time as a specific form of impressionmanagement (Clark, 1995) to suggest superi-ority to the client. Kurbjuweit (2003: 23)gives a concrete example of this: ‘You hear[the consultants] talking among themselvesquite a bit, but you hardly understand them.They have their own language [. . .]. You feelout of place in their presence, because youdon’t understand their language’ (translatedby the author).

Another point meso-culture-based con-sulting research ought to focus on is the factthat consultancies often have a strong influ-ence on the culture of the client firm. In thissense, Czarniawska and Joerges (1990) char-acterizes consultants as ‘merchants of mean-ing’ who are responsible for sense-makingprocesses in clients’ organizations. However, the culture of the client firm itself decideswhich sense-making offer will be accepted.Therefore, the notion that only the consul-tants play an active role has to be revised;otherwise the question arises of how the consultants should know which offers will be accepted by the clients (Czarniawska andJoerges, 1990). Historical analysis shows thatchanges in the clients’ expectations have initiated redirections in management consul-tancy. Some former (and nowadays widelyunknown) key players in the consulting market like Emerson, Bedaux or Maynardcould not adapt to new circumstances andfaded away from the consulting market(Kipping, 2002). Kipping assumes furtherthat something similar may happen totoday’s key players like McKinsey and,indeed, there are some indications that this isso: according to Mingers (1998), the 300 ODconsultants McKinsey had recruited to com-pensate for its deficits in implementation andprocess orientation achieved only a shadowyexistence in the expert culture of the firm. AsKipping (2002) shows, the attempt to buildup a business technology office (BTO) withspecialists failed, too, because those special-

ists did not conform to the general manage-ment culture of McKinsey. Even the newapproach of McKinsey – that is, to open upnew resources by the acquisition of small andmedium-sized firms – could lead to cultureshocks, because McKinsey’s consultants arereluctant to work with small businesses(Balzer and Student, 2002).

Further instances of the impact of culturecan be seen throughout the consultingprocess. First, cultural aspects have a stronginfluence on the selection process. Becausethe performance of the consultants cannot beverified ex ante, clients often rely on alterna-tive selection criteria. When it comes to thefinal selection of consultants, in the absenceof objective measures, clients assign greaterimportance to the cultural fit with consul-tants than to the technical concepts pres-ented by the various consultants. A furtherlook at the consulting process shows that anyconsultant’s intervention has to correspondto the client’s culture. In this context, it couldbe assumed that many interventions havefailed, not because they were poorlydesigned, but instead as a result of culturaldefence mechanisms within the client firm(e.g. Czander, 2001). A culture-based analy-sis could shed light on the question of howcultural perceptions affect the consultingprocess. More specifically, it could considerthe cultural perceptions on which consultantsbase their interventions, as well as the way inwhich clients perceive such interventions.Last but not least, the cultural fit plays animportant role at the end of consultingprocesses. Here, McGivern has shown thatclients often measure the quality of coopera-tion against the consultant as a person,instead of the success of the project, whichsupports the argument for the impact of acultural fit between client and consultant:

One somewhat surprising feature of theaccounts from both consultants and clients wasthe lack of emphasis on outcomes [. . .].Success in this sense was, for the client, a resultof the relationship being characterized by cer-




tain qualities [. . .] rather than his technicalexpertise or problem-solving skills. (McGivern,1983: 368f.)

This again indicates that the consultant–client relationship is – more or less implicitly– seen as a key to consultation success(Appelbaum, 2004; Fincham, 1999; Fuller-ton and West, 1996; Kakabadse et al., 2006;Karantinou and Hogg, 2001; Sturdy, 1997).Equally, mutual understanding betweenclients and consultants – based on shared cultural values – is generally considered use-ful for establishing a successful relationship.Thus meso-culture-based consulting researchshould aim at analysing the relationshipbetween clients and consultants throughoutthe consulting process from a cultural per-spective, which could improve mutual under-standing between the two.

Macro-culture-basedConsulting Research

Macro-culture-based consulting researchanalyses the role of consultancies in theircountries and within their society. The focusof this proposed research area suggests that itis important to view both consulting and society within their cultural contexts. This isillustrated in cases where consultancies oper-ate as culture brokers. In this role, they areresponsible for confronting companies withsocietal developments and changes (Pfriem,2005). But it is not only companies that areinfected with the consulting virus; someresearchers note that society itself tends todevelop towards a society counselled by con-sultancies (Kurbjuweit, 2003; Rügemer,2004). Here, many empirical examples arefound: consultants are more frequently in-vited onto TV talk shows to discuss econ-omic, political and social questions, entireparty platforms have been designed with thehelp of strategic consultancies, and nearly allministries make ample use of consultants.Besides the field of politics, non-profit orga-nizations such as universities and schools, or

even churches, also employ consultants.These examples indicate that consultan-

cies have reached a prominence that extendsfar beyond their original homeland of theeconomic system. How much the radius oftheir influence has expanded can be seen inthat some define consultancies as the activitythat is the ‘biggest permanent motor ofreform in a country’ (Gaitanides and Acker-mann, 2002: 303, in an interview withRoland Berger; translation by the author).

Against this background some questionsarise that have not yet been answered by consulting research: why do consultanciesinterfere in fields with which they otherwisehave nothing to do? And why does societyitself act more and more according to themaxims of consultancies?

Indeed, the credo of economization isalready dominant in society, and it should bementioned that consultancies have fosteredthis development by planting their principlesin society: ‘Nobody presses the idea of efficiency so forcefully in our society asMcKinsey’ (Kurbjuweit, 2003: 18, transla-tion by the author). Consultancies are thegenerators of norms and cultural values insociety. As ‘efficiency engineers’ (Kippingand Saint-Martin, 2005), they lay claim tohaving the exclusive right of interpretationon how society should work. What managersand companies consider important shouldhave the same status in society. Meanwhile, itis questionable if economization as a whole –that is, if shaping all society fields accordingto ideas of pure efficiency – is the right direction. In this sense Kurbjuweit (2003: 15)writes: ‘Nobody would seriously argue forinefficiency. Efficiency is good. To reachone’s goals with minimum employment isreasonable. But I think that a world thatstands under the all-dominant headline ofefficiency is not a particularly good worldthat is worth living in’ (translation by theauthor). So, currently, rather tacit counter-movements are emerging, such as striving fora better balance between work and social




life, which results from the desire for an economization that does not dominate allaspects of everyday life. Even the director ofMcKinsey’s German branch, Juergen Kluge,expresses his yearning for the slow-goingworld of the Amish people (Kurbjuweit,2003: 17f.).

At this point it is interesting to observethat there are some societal movements thatresist the strong influence of consultancies insociety. This could be illustrated with con-crete examples from Germany. On the website Top-Consultants.com, James (2006)states that ‘Germany [. . .] is rapidly becom-ing one of the most consultant-unfriendlycountries in the world.’ To give an example,police protection was necessary to safeguardthe celebration of the 40-year anniversary of McKinsey Germany against resentfuldemonstrators. Recently, a protest groupcalling itself ‘The Redundants (Die Überflüssi-

gen) awarded a less-than-flattering certificateto Roland Berger: ‘Exploiter of the Year2006’. As consultancies and client firms arepart of their society, they are affected in abroader way by these cultural changes with-in their society that affect the acceptance andlegitimation of their business. This indicatesthat it is not efficiency alone that influencesthe consulting business, but also culturalchanges within society, which question theinfluence of consultancies in their social context.

Another point macro-culture-based con-sulting research could investigate is the consulting intensity of a society, which canserve as an index of the cultural awareness ofa society. So the development of a strongconsulting culture within society presupposescertain premises, which are encountered inthe original question of why a consultant’sadvice is asked for at all.

According to Kieser (2002), consultantsfulfil official and unofficial side-functions.The transference of knowledge is their mostimportant official function. It is based on theassumption that an asymmetric distribution

of knowledge exists between a ‘better-knowing’ consultant and an ‘unknowing’client. The ‘consulting explosion’ (Ernst andKieser, 2002) that has taken place in recentyears leads to the question of whether societyis being segmented more and more intoknowing and not-knowing people, or, what’smore, if the expert culture of consultants hasproduced a society of laypersons. At themoment this paradox can be seen in politics.On the one hand, never before have politi-cians relied on so many expert committees astoday, but on the other hand, citizens are get-ting more and more the impression of uncer-tainty and disorientation in the decisions ofpoliticians. Kieser (2002) has observed simi-lar phenomena concerning management:managers call for consultants to reduce theuncertainty the consultants themselves havefostered (for example with the creation anddiffusion of management fashions).

A look at the unofficial side-functions isalso worthwhile for culture-based consultingresearch. Through these functions, which‘are usually not explicitly included in con-tracts’ (Kieser, 2002: 214), consultants helptheir clients to, for example, legitimize final-ized managerial decisions. This could pro-vide a basis for analysing the overall degreeof risk aversion in society, and the generaldisposition of individuals to shirk responsi-bility.

As these questions have so far only beensparsely addressed in the relevant literature,macro-culture-based consulting researchcould concentrate on the exposure of latentand culture-based interconnections betweenconsulting and society and thus help openthose ‘black boxes’.

Inter-culture-basedConsulting Research

Several studies have provided evidence thatthe differences among national cultures affectthe behaviour of societies and organizations(e.g. Hofstede, 1980; House et al., 2004). In




line with this evidence, inter-culture-basedconsulting research analyses consulting phenomena in different societies or nationalsettings. For this purpose two research direc-tions are possible: on the one hand, inter-culture-based consulting research could focuson cross-national comparative studies thatdiscuss different ‘consulting societies’. On theother hand, by means of causal studies, suchresearch could analyse the role of consultantswithin the diffusion process of managementpractices and management fashions in differ-ent cultural contexts.

Given these facts, it is clear that there areseveral starting points for inter-culture-basedconsulting research. For example, culturallydetermined mentalities in society play animportant role in how consultants are used.A research report from Kennedy Informa-

tion (2003b) has found out that differentnational cultures determine the purchasingbehaviour of clients (see Figure 2). For exam-ple, while southern European countries likeItaly or Spain are characterized by longersales cycles and a preference for ‘packaged’consulting services, the sales cycles inScandinavian countries like Denmark orSweden are considerably shorter and in thosecountries there is a preference for customizedconsulting services. These analyses of dif-ferent cultural mindsets provide valuableinformation for consultancies with regard toentering and positioning in foreign consult-ing markets.

Moreover, national cultures influenceconsulting intensity. No other country spendsmore on consulting services than the USA.Also, in the USA, consulting intensity, as


Source: Based on Kennedy Information (2003b), p. 4.

Figure 2 Purchasing behaviour variation in Europe

Southern Europe

Long

Length ofsales cycle

Short

Scandinavia

Central Europe

FRANCEGERMANY

NETHERLANDS

UK

ITALY

SPAIN

SWEDEN

DENMARK

Preference for purchasing customized consulting services

Preference for purchasing ‘packaged’ consulting services

Preference



measured according to gross domestic prod-uct, lies far above that of other countries. Incontrast, in countries like Japan managementconsulting has not much more than a shad-owy existence. For example, in 2002, KPMGhad only six employees in Japan (KennedyInformation 2003a: 126). Because of Japan’straditionally rather closed forms of coopera-tion there are only limited possibilities for thedevelopment of a commercial consultingindustry. Against this background, Metzger(1989) observes the success of the Japaneseeconomy and asks with regard to the USeconomy: ‘With so many consultants, whyaren’t we better?’

Another point is that management con-sultancies have an important role withincultural transference and transformationprocesses. Long before discussions aboutglobalization were started, consultanciesspanned their worldwide net of offices acrossthe globe. Consultancies were not only one ofthe first movers of globalization, but perhapsthe most influential driver of globalizationprocesses as well. Kipping and Sauviat (1996:1) write:

To the extent that globalisation has as one ofits foundations the capacity of firms to ‘think’and act ‘globally’ on the basis of common setsof concepts and management methods, thenthe globalised management consultancy indus-try appears to have strongly contributed totheir diffusion.

There are many examples that illustratethe critical role of consultants in the diffusionprocess of management practices (e.g.Abrahamson, 1991; Czarniawska and Sevón,1996). Kipping (1996a, 1996b) shows thatwith the help of globally operating consultan-cies, US-based Taylorism spread fast in othercountries, such as Germany, where the ideasof Taylor have influenced the establishmentof state-controlled institutions like REFA (ini-tially Reichsausschuss für Arbeitszeitermittlung,now known as REFA Verband für Arbeits-

gestaltung, Betriebsorganisation und Unternehmens-

entwicklung; i.e. REFA – Association for Work

Design/Work Structure, Industrial Organ-ization and Corporate Development) andRKW (Rationalisierungskuratorium der Deutschen

Wirtschaft, i.e. German Centre for Productiv-ity and Innovation). Another example is theidea of lean production, which was trans-ferred to companies in the US and Europe.Although the idea originated in Japan,remarkably no Japanese consultancy wasresponsible for this diffusion; instead, it wasdone by Anglo-Americans like Womack et al.(1991).

However, it is often overlooked that inthe course of the diffusion process, not onlymanagement practices but also cultural elements were transferred across differentsocieties. This can be attributed to the cul-ture-free or rationalist approach: becauseculture is interpreted as an independent vari-able, the transfer of management practices isculturally invariant. Accordingly, the idea oftransferring management concepts relies on the notion that they will fit all possiblecombinations of purposes and companies(Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996). The cul-ture-bound or culturalist approach takes theopposite view, in which each managementpractice is seen as strongly culture-related.Interestingly, Osterloh (1994) has foundempirical examples in support of both posi-tions, while the findings of Yavas andRezayat (2003) concerning the impact of culture on managerial perceptions of qualityrather support the culturalist view.

In view of this, inter-culture-based con-sulting research should aim to focus more onthe diffusion process of management prac-tices and address the cultural conditions ofpossibilities for transferring managementpractices. This involves cultural analysis,which could provide new information on thecultural differences of ‘consulting societies’and on the interdependencies between theconsulting intensity and economic develop-ment of a country.




Conclusion: Implications forFuture Research and Practice

Starting from the identification of a culturalgap in consulting research, this article has dis-cussed management consulting in a culturalcontext. To this end, a culture-based frame-work was developed, consisting of four levelsof analysis. This framework was appropriatefor showing, on the one hand, that manage-ment consulting is indeed highly determinedby culture-related aspects at different levels.On the other hand, the framework helped tosystemize the widespread discussion on man-agement consulting. With regard to thispoint, it allows not only the integration ofexisting knowledge, but also the allocation offuture knowledge in management consultingresearch. Table 1 provides a compressedoverview of a possible program for culture-based consulting research.

It should be noted again, that the sepa-rate presentation of the four levels of analysishas an ideal-type character and that the suggested questions are exemplary, serving toillustrate the relevance of different culturaltopics within those four levels of analysis.Nevertheless, the framework could provefruitful and stimulate future research.

First, the discussion showed the overallimpact of various aspects of culture on differ-ent levels of analysis. However, it should benoted that the levels of micro- and meso-culture-based consulting research in particu-lar are widely researched, while the levels ofmacro- and inter-culture-based consultingresearch are rather unexplored. In this sense,it may be fruitful for future research to focusmore on both the interplay between con-sulting and its social context, and on inter-cultural differences between different socialand national settings.

Second, this article discussed each of thefour levels of analysis separately. There are,however, interconnections between thosefour levels, which future research couldinvestigate at greater length.

Third, although this article focuses onconsultancies and clients’ firms, there areother actors who are relevant and have thepotential to exert strong influence on man-agement consulting, such as in-house con-sultants. Future research could focus more on internal consulting divisions, not onlybecause they are booming – for example,three out of four joint stock companies inGermany have their own consulting staff (seeDeelmann et al., 2006) – but also because oftheir important role as agents or gatekeepersfor external management consultancies. Themedia are another example, because theymay act either for or against managementconsulting (Mazza and Alvarez, 2000). Also,the interrelationship between managementscience and management consulting was notaddressed explicitly in this article; futureresearch could attend to this discussion. Theemerging types of intermediate actors in theconsulting market were not considered in this article, but would be worth discussingelsewhere. Examples of these are meta-consultancies, which offer clients help withthe selection, management and evaluation ofconsultancies (Mohe, 2006b). Depending onthe degree of acceptance of these new actors,it could be assumed that they may haveample future potential for governing man-agement consulting. Future research shouldprove whether it is possible to integrate theseactors into the proposed four levels or if the proposed framework will need to beexpanded for this purpose.

Fourth, new developments in the consult-ing market show that there are consultanciesthat have specialized in selling cultural orethical consulting products. Future researchcould study the opportunities and boundariesof these consultancies in reference to theirinfluence on the cultural systems of clients’firms.

Fifth, as every research program is char-acterized by a specific inventory of methods,future research could complete the proposedframework and discuss appropriate empirical





Tab

le 1

Leve

ls o

f ana

lysi

s of

a c

ultu

re-b

ased

con

sulti

ng r

esea

rch

prog

ram

Mes

o-cu

lture

-bas

edM

acro

-cul

ture

-bas

edIn

ter-

cultu

re-b

ased

Mic

ro-c

ultu

re-b

ased

con

sulti

ng r

esea

rch

cons

ultin

g re

sear

chco

nsul

ting

rese

arch

cons

ultin

g re

sear

ch

Res

earc

h •

Indi

vidu

al c

onsu

lting

, i.e

. the

clie

nt o

rgan

izat

ion

•T

he r

elat

ions

hip

and

•T

he c

onsu

lting

soc

iety

•C

onsu

lting

soc

ietie

s in

focu

sin

tera

ctio

n of

con

sulta

nts

•T

he r

ole

of c

onsu

ltanc

ies

diffe

rent

cou

ntri

esan

d cl

ient

s al

ong

the

with

in th

eir

natio

nal

•T

he r

ole

of c

onsu

ltanc

ies

cons

ultin

g pr

oces

sco

ntex

tin

glo

bal d

iffus

ion

proc

esse

sof

man

agem

ent p

ract

ices

Und

erly

ing

•C

onsu

ltanc

ies

and

clie

nt o

rgan

izat

ions

are

indi

vidu

al•

Cul

ture

has

a s

tron

g•

Con

sulta

ncie

s ar

e•

The

deg

ree

of ‘b

eing

assu

mpt

ions

cultu

ral s

yste

ms

influ

ence

on

the

influ

ence

rs a

nd

cons

ultin

g-in

fect

ed’ d

iffer

sco

oper

atio

n be

twee

npr

oduc

ers

of s

ocie

tal

in v

ario

us c

ount

ries

/co

nsul

tant

s an

d cl

ient

scu

lture

s an

d vi

ce v

ersa

soci

etie

s•

The

deg

ree

of c

ultu

ral

•C

onsu

ltanc

ies

oper

ate

as

com

patib

ility

bet

wee

ncu

lture

bro

kers

bet

wee

nco

nsul

tant

s an

d cl

ient

sdi

ffere

nt c

ount

ries

/soc

ietie

sde

term

ines

con

sulti

ng

proj

ects

Res

earc

h•

To

unco

ver

cultu

ral d

istin

ctio

ns in

bot

h co

nsul

tanc

ies

•T

o an

alys

e cu

lture

-rel

ated

•T

o an

alys

e th

e •

To

gain

insi

ghts

into

aim

san

d cl

ient

s’ fi

rms

inte

ract

ion

patt

erns

and

influ

enci

ng r

ole

of

cultu

ral d

istin

ctio

ns o

f •

To

iden

tify

the

cultu

re-b

ased

inte

rnal

logi

cs a

nddy

nam

ics

of c

lient

–co

nsul

tanc

ies

in

diffe

rent

cou

ntri

es/s

ocie

ties

patt

erns

of i

ndiv

idua

l con

sulta

ncie

s an

d cl

ient

s’ fi

rms

cons

ulta

nt r

elat

ions

hips

co

untr

ies

and

with

in th

e•

To

anal

yse

the

alon

g co

nsul

ting

soci

ety

and

vice

ver

sain

terd

epen

denc

ies

betw

een

proc

esse

s•

To

anal

yse

the

expo

sure

the

cons

ultin

g in

tens

ity a

nd•

To

enha

nce

the

of la

tent

and

cul

ture

-th

e ec

onom

ic d

evel

opm

ent

oppo

rtun

ity o

f mut

ual

base

d in

terl

ocki

ngof

a c

ount

ryun

ders

tand

ing

inbe

twee

n co

nsul

ting

and

•T

o ad

dres

s th

e cu

ltura

l co

nsul

ting

soci

ety

cond

ition

s of

pos

sibi

litie

sfo

r tr

ansf

erri

ng m

anag

e-m

ent p

ract

ices

•

To

anal

yse

the

diffu

sion

proc

ess

of m

anag

emen

tpr

actic

es w

ith r

espe

ct to

cultu

re-f

ree

and

cultu

re-

boun

d ap

proa

ches




Poss

ible

Add

ress

ing

cons

ulta

ncie

s:A

ddre

ssin

g cl

ient

s:•

Whi

ch c

ultu

rally

sha

ping

•T

o w

hat e

xten

t do

•H

ow d

o di

ffere

ntre

sear

ch•

Wha

t kin

d of

lang

uage

•W

hich

ass

umpt

ions

influ

ence

do

cons

ultin

gco

nsul

tant

s in

fluen

ceso

cioc

ultu

re m

enta

litie

s qu

estio

nsdo

es th

e co

nsul

tant

use

toab

out c

onsu

lting

giv

efir

ms

have

on

clie

ntso

ciet

al c

ultu

res

and

affe

ct th

e de

man

d fo

rco

mm

unic

ate?

info

rmat

ion

onor

gani

zatio

ns a

nd v

ice

vice

ver

sa?

cons

ulta

tion?

•T

o w

hat d

egre

e ar

e ro

lese

lf-im

age

and

vers

a?•

Whi

ch c

onse

quen

ces

do•

To

wha

t ext

ent a

re th

ede

finiti

ons

cultu

rally

self-

unde

rsta

ndin

g?•

Whi

ch c

ultu

ral

cultu

ral c

hang

es in

diffe

renc

es in

con

sulta

tion

dete

rmin

ed?

•W

hat a

ssum

ptio

nsas

sum

ptio

ns in

fluen

ceso

ciet

y ha

ve o

nin

tens

ity a

nd p

enet

ratio

n•

Wha

t do

spec

ific

dres

sal

low

pro

blem

s to

the

proc

ess

of s

elec

ting

cons

ultin

g bu

sine

sses

?ex

plai

ned

by v

aryi

ngco

des

say

abou

t the

be s

een

as s

uch?

the

cons

ultin

g ad

viso

r?•

Is a

hig

h le

vel o

fcu

lture

s?cu

lture

of t

he c

onsu

lting

•T

o w

hat e

xten

t doe

s•

Und

er w

hich

cul

tura

lco

nsul

ting

inte

nsity

•W

hat r

ole

does

con

sulti

ngor

gani

zatio

n?th

e cu

lture

of t

heco

nditi

ons

are

an e

xpre

ssio

n of

play

in c

ultu

ral t

rans

fer

•W

hat c

oncl

usio

ns c

an b

eco

mpa

ny in

fluen

ce th

e in

terv

entio

ns s

ucce

ssfu

l?so

cioc

ultu

ral

and

tran

sfor

mat

ion

draw

n fr

om th

e of

ficia

lst

rate

gies

of c

lient

•H

ow c

an th

e de

sign

of

com

pete

ncy?

proc

esse

s?st

ruct

ures

abo

ut th

epr

ofes

sion

aliz

atio

n?co

nsul

ting

proc

esse

s be

•W

hat e

xpla

nato

ryco

nsul

ting

stru

ctur

e?

•D

oes

the

com

pany

expl

aine

d fr

om th

e po

int

conn

ectio

ns ju

stify

the

•T

o w

hat e

xten

t do

offic

ial

cultu

re a

llow

the

clie

ntof

vie

w o

f cul

tura

l stu

dies

?cu

lture

-fre

e an

d/or

st

ruct

ures

influ

ence

orga

niza

tion

to tr

ansf

er•

Whi

ch c

ultu

ral a

rtifa

cts

cultu

re-b

ound

theo

ries

on

cultu

ral i

nter

actio

ns in

the

cons

ulta

tion

influ

ence

con

sulti

ngth

e tr

ansf

er o

f man

agem

ent

cons

ulta

ncie

s?re

sults

?re

latio

nshi

ps?

conc

epts

?•

Wha

t cul

tura

l con

cept

•T

o w

hat e

xten

t do

does

the

cons

ultin

g fir

mcu

ltura

l asp

ects

det

erm

ine

follo

w?

the

perc

eptio

n of

co

nsul

tatio

n su

cces

s?



designs for the further exploration of man-agement consulting in accordance with dif-ferent levels of analysis.

Although this article aimed primarily atcontributing to consulting research, theframework that was developed offers someimplications for practice as well. Consultingfirms can use the suggested questions withinthe different levels of analysis as a kind of‘radar’. For example, the first two levels ofanalysis may help them to reflect and – ifnecessary – to change their self-understand-ing and their current methods of recruiting,personnel training, organizational develop-ment, or working with clients. The two moreabstract levels of macro- and inter-culture-based consulting could also prove valuable toconsultancies; for example, by helping themto observe modified societal evaluations oftheir businesses or to be aware of differentnational (and business) cultures when enter-ing foreign markets.

AcknowledgementI would like to thank the two anonymousreviewers for their valuable comments.

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MICHAEL MOHE is at the University ofOldenburg, Faculty II, Business Consulting,Ammerlaender Heerstrasse, Oldenburg 26111,Germany.[email: [email protected]]


Résumé

Combler les écarts culturels en matière de management consulting (Michael Mohe)Même si l’on admet que la culture joue un rôle important dans le management consulting, lesaspects culturels n’ont pas été abordés de façon explicite en ce qui concerne le managementconsulting et la recherche. Cet article cherche à montrer que le phénomène du managementconsulting est jusqu’à un certain point culturellement déterminé. Il est clair cependant que lesconsultants on une forte influence sur leurs clients ainsi que sur le pays et la société. Ceci feral’objet d’une discussion à l’aide d’un cadre de travail consistant de quatre niveaux d’analyse.L’article se termine sur les implications d’une recherche visant à amplifier le programme derecherche fondée sur la culture.

Michael Mohe



Documents

Bridging the Cultural Gap in Management Consulting Research