Thesis advisor: Mary Ann Glynn / Organizational research on individuals' identity focuses primarily on social identity, i.e., the self-concept they derive from their membership in a group, paying limited attention to relational identity or their self-definition in their role-relationships and its consequent implications for how individuals in these relationships get their work done. In this study, I address this gap by examining the nature of consultants' relational identity, i.e., their sense of self in their role-relationships with their clients and its implications for their conduct of work. Analysis of 50 in-depth interviews with consultants reveal that their relational identity can be understood by two dimensions: perceived sense of involvement with the relational other and perceived sense of influence over the relational other. Taken together, they explain four distinct ways in which consultants manifest their relational identity, namely: comprehensive, defined, associative, and impoverished relational identity. Further, I found that relational identity is associated with the degree of informality in the conduct of work between the two individuals in the role-relationship. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Organization Studies.

According to Johansson & Hjalmarsson (2003) the business advice industry targeting microenterprises, small and medium sized businesses is a multibillion pound activity throughout the world, but little research has been conducted upon the theoretical basis for this field. The content of the advice coming from the advice industry targeting microenterprises is questioned by both micro-entrepreneurs and researchers, according to Johansson (1997), who describes that the use of support services among microenterprises doesn’t answer to their needs. To figure out why the conception of growth advice doesn’t correspond between academics, entrepreneurs and advisors, the research question for this study is – what similarities and differences in content of microenterprise growth advice are there between entrepreneurs, academics and advisors? The purpose of the study is to identify and analyse these areas. This is a qualitative study that will be carried out with an inductive approach and exploratory design. Interviews and focus groups have been conducted with advisors and entrepreneurs, and in addition to this, a literature study has been performed. Further, the contents of business advice have been analysed, and in the final section of this paper conclusions are presented regarding what the conceptions are of microenterprise growth advice among academics, entrepreneurs as well as advisors. By having identified the differences and similarities among these conceptions a general statement about the business advice industry is made; in relation to both empirical findings and the theoretical background of this study.

The focus of this study was the unconscious dynamics in the consultant-client relationship as industrial and organisational psychologists seek to achieve change in client organisational systems. Twelve psychodynamic themes were used to interpret a journal maintained by the consultant throughout one consulting assignment, in an effort to understand the unconscious processes influencing the effectiveness of the consulting relationship. Analysis found that the client system imported the consultant to carry nurturing and healing on behalf of the system, but projected onto and into him the confusion, pain, hostility and incompetence in the system, stripped him of authority and manipulated him out of his role as change agent. The consultant unconsciously accepted the projections, failed to contain the system’s anxiety, gravitated towards the paranoid-schizoid position and was unable to effect meaningful change. Recommendations where made for the use of this form of psychodynamic analysis as a self-evaluative tool in the consulting context. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A.

My original contribution to theory and practice formulates management consultancy as a social act evolving within interaction with clients whereby identity, as an emerging process, can form and be formed within consultant-client relationships. Drawing on Stacey's work on complex responsive process thinking, I have described a reflexive, social self, highlighting the implications for management consultants of this open-ended responsiveness of identity formation. Within the prevailing management literature there is a sense that consultants design interventions that change organisations, whether through working on leadership development, executive coaching, providing expertise or facilitating organisational change. As part of my original contribution I pick up on the emotional, relational and occasionally messy nature of consulting, which is frequently overlooked in the literature. My research into the emergence of intentions and the formation of identity within consultant-client relationships analyses my work as a researcher-practitioner working within large financial service organisations through a variety of consulting projects. The inquiry examines my professional practice, researched through a social, iterative and temporal method centring on reflexive, narrative inquiries. I illuminate the fundamental conversational nature of consultant-client relationships; challenging the view of consulting as a transaction whereby the consultant provides a service, withdrawing relatively unchanged. I postulate consulting as a series of conversations with interdependent people wherein emerging themes organise new ways of relating and novelty evolves. Drawing on Elias' process sociology I extrapolate the fundamental interdependence of consultant-client relationships; conceptualising management consulting from a complex responsive processes way of relating. I challenge the notion of intention as located in the individual; an independent, disembodied, thought before action predicated on an 'if-then' notion of causality, underpinned by an assumption of human beings as autonomous and rational. I develop the work of Joas arguing that intentions are emerging, social and embodied; a theme organising conversations. In particular I detail how strong emotions and embodiment occur in those arresting moments, where experiences of inclusion and exclusion, can alert the consultant to new ways of relating. My inquiry has highlighted the significance for management consultants of realising the fundamentally social nature of human interaction and the importance of responsiveness in the living present. With reference to Mead's view of conversation as a pattern of gesture/ response I highlight the consultant-client relationship as co-created and therefore not to be ordered by the consultant who can, nevertheless, pick up on and influence new patterns of relating as they evolve.

The focus of this study was the unconscious dynamics in the consultant-client relationship as industrial and organisational psychologists seek to achieve change in client organisational systems. Twelve psychodynamic themes were used to interpret a journal maintained by the consultant throughout one consulting assignment, in an effort to understand the unconscious processes influencing the effectiveness of the consulting relationship. Analysis found that the client system imported the consultant to carry nurturing and healing on behalf of the system, but projected onto and into him the confusion, pain, hostility and incompetence in the system, stripped him of authority and manipulated him out of his role as change agent. The consultant unconsciously accepted the projections, failed to contain the system’s anxiety, gravitated towards the paranoid-schizoid position and was unable to effect meaningful change. Recommendations where made for the use of this form of psychodynamic analysis as a self-evaluative tool in the consulting context. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, employees all over the world were forced to work from home, meaning that consultants no longer could work physically present with their clients. As the consultant-client relationship is incredibly important for management consulting firms, it is interesting to investigate how these relationships have been impacted by the change and what the implications are for collaboration and performance. A qualitative method was used, where the authors conducted interviews with management consultants at an international management consulting firm in Stockholm, Sweden. The study found that remote working with already existing clients was functioning well. However, collaboration with new relations proved to be more challenging, which was mainly perceived to depend on the difficulty to create a personal trust and connection remotely, since digital communication made it difficult to understand the client’s needs. The digital way of working also revealed challenges with creativity, invisibility, onboarding, knowledge development and sales. Thus, the study concluded that collaborations and relationships will benefit greatly from a physical meeting early on. Nevertheless, the most beneficial working method would be to continuously balance the advantages of both remote and office working. / Under Covid-19-pandemin tvingades anställda över hela världen att arbeta hemifrån, vilket innebar att konsulter inte längre kunde arbeta på plats hos sina kunder. Då kundrelationer är extremt viktiga för konsultföretag är det intressant att undersöka hur dessa relationer har påverkats av distansarbetet och vilka konsekvenser det har fört med sig för samarbetet och arbetskvalitet. För att undersöka detta användes en kvalitativ metod där författarna genomförde intervjuer med managementkonsulter på ett internationellt konsultföretag i Stockholm, Sverige. Studien visade att distansarbete med redan existerande kunder i allmänhet fungerade bra. Däremot visade sig samarbetet med nya kontakter vara mer utmanande. Detta ansågs främst bero på svårigheten att skapa ett personligt förtroende och en personlig relation på distans, då digital kommunikation försvårade möjligheterna att förstå sig på kunden och dess behov. Det digitala arbetssättet skapade också nya utmaningar vad gäller kreativitet, osynlighet, integrering av nyanställda, kunskapsutveckling samt försäljning. Slutligen, studien visade att samarbeten och relationer skulle främjas av att parterna träffas fysiskt i ett tidigt skede av projektet. Dock skulle den mest fördelaktiga arbetsmetoden vara att framöver balansera fördelarna av både distans- och kontorsarbete.