Defining Management Consulting and Exploring Its Knowledge Creation Potential

Abstract

This article adopts a knowledge perspective for interpreting management consulting “in action”. It proposes: i) a definition of management
consulting, which aims to identify the distinctive ontological (real, essential and relatively stable) features of this particular service activity and
emphasizes the mainly cognitive nature of its value-creation potential; ii) a conceptual framework for drawing the essential cognitive paths
through which this potential can be expressed.
The proposed framework represents an original application of Nonaka and Takeuchi’s organizational knowledge creation theory to the
specific context of management consulting relationships. It is mainly grounded on my reasoning and on my own consulting experience; but it is
also corroborated by revealing (though short) anecdotal evidence. It highlights the fact that the potential of entrepreneurial knowledge creation of
management consulting (and the consultant-client relational dynamics it triggers) lies in the possibility that it can generate not only explicit
knowledge but also (even, mainly) new tacit entrepreneurial knowledge, such as new interpretative skills (vision of the firm’s structure and of the
competitive environment) and new experience-based diagnostic capabilities. The value of this knowledge for both the client and consultant goes
far beyond the solution of the specific problem for which the consultant was engaged.
My auspicious is that a better understanding of the knowledge creation paths that can be activated by implementing management
consulting interventions will allow both clients and consulting firms to more consciously define knowledge creation goals for their consulting
projects, and hence to more effectively design and manage the ensuing consultant-client relationship.