The purpose of the study is to explore the concepts of strategy content and strategy process as it relates to small professional services firms. A case study approach based on grounded theory utilised in-depth interviews to collect data from five small professional service firms. The study found that it is worthwhile to conceive of strategy content and process in relation to small professional services firms. An emerging theory is presented. The research was limited by its small scale and single method to collecting data. Future research could include a wider sample and testing of the emerging theory. The emerging theory provides a valid and reliable measure for improving actions and decisions of practitioners. The emerging theory is practitioner-oriented and contributes to an area of research that is understudied. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Bien que le nombre de femmes, travaillant dans des cabinets de conseil et à des postes à haute responsabilité, ait augmenté, il reste cependant moins élevé que celui des hommes. En effet, la promotion au statut d’associé est le critère utilisé pour marquer la nature et l’existence, au sein des entreprises de services professionnels, de ce qu’on appelle en français le ‘plafond de verre’. De même, devenir associé constitue une des évolutions professionnelles les plus complexes qui soit, le futur associé devant s’inventer une identité professionnelle nouvelle et différente. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif de cette recherche est double. Tout d’abord, elle s’attache à mieux comprendre comment les femmes et les hommes consultants, au sein d’une culture organisationnelle sexualisée, se construisent leur propre identité professionnelle. Ensuite, son objectif est également d’approfondir les connaissances sur la façon dont l’identité professionnelle contribue à expliquer l’existence et la nature de ce ‘plafond de verre’ dans les entreprises de services professionnels.Cette perspective se base sur une étude qualitative réalisée auprès d’hommes et de femmes consultants et cadres supérieurs, et en particulier, mais pas de façon exclusive, auprès de ceux qui ont été promus associé. L’étude a été menée auprès d’associés et non associés évoluant au sein de quatre grands cabinets de conseil français et de deux grands cabinets américains. / Although there has been an increase in the number of women entering the management consulting firms, they are still proportionally much fewer in the highest levels of the hierarchy than men. Indeed, the promotion to partner is the criterion used to establish the nature and existence of the “glass ceiling” in professional services firms. At the same time, the transformation to partner is one of the most complex professional transformations there can be, in which the aspiring partners must assume a new and different professional identity. In this context, the aim of this research is twofold. On the one hand, the present research aims to better understand how women and men consultants construct their professional identities, in a gendered organizational culture. On the other hand, it also aims to deepen, in particular, the understanding of the ways in which professional identity contributes to explain the existence and nature of the glass ceiling in professional services firms. The perspective developed here is based on a qualitative study of male and female consultants and senior executives, primarily, although not exclusively, those who went through the promotion to partner. The research was conducted with partners and non-partners from four large management consulting firms in France, and two large management consulting firms in the United States.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa förståelse för hur ledningen i tjänsteföretag praktiskt arbetar med att internt kommunicera företagets kärnvärden, vision och företagskultur med hela organisationen. Metod: Empirisk data har samlats in genom intervjuer och studien omfattas därför av kvalitativ ansats. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med respondenter på fyra olika fastighetsmäklarföretag. Datainsamlingen har sedan analyserats genom en abduktiv analysmetod med inspiration från A well grounded theory. Resultat & slutsats: Resultaten i denna studie visar att det främst handlar om att få alla i organisationen att leva företagets identitet i vardagen. För att lyckas med det använder sig företagen av olika kommunikationskanaler, utbildningar och inspiration, så som föreläsningar och tävlingar. Viktigt är också att ledningen uppträder föredömligt och att budskapen i varumärket genomsyras i alla företagets aktiviteter. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi föreslår att framtida studier kan riktas mot tjänsteföretags uppföljning av dess interna varumärkesarbete. Ytterligare ett förslag är att studera effekterna av det interna varumärkesarbetet utifrån de anställdas perspektiv då tidigare forskning tyder på att de anställda kan uppfatta varumärket på olika sätt. Uppsatsens bidrag: Då det saknas empiriska studier rörande internt varumärkesarbete anser vi att vårt bidrag med denna studie är at vi har skapat förståelse för hur ledningen i tjänsteföretag kommunicerar företagsidentiteten internt inom organisationen. Vi har heller inte funnit någon tidigare studie som inriktat sig på det interna varumärkesarbetet enbart inom fastighetsmäklarföretag och anser därför att vi har bidragit med kunskap till denna bransch. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how management in service companies work practically with the internal communication of the company's core values, vision and culture of the entire organization. Method: Empirical data were collected through interviews and therefore subject to the qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted on four different real estate brokerage firms. The collected data is then analyzed by an abductive method of analysis inspired by A well grounded theory. Result & Conclusions: The results from this study shows that it’s mainly about getting the organization to live the corporate identity in the everyday life. In order to succeed with this, companies is using different communication channels, training programs and inspirational activities, thus lectures and competitions. It is also important that the management appears admirably, and that the message of the brand is imbued in all corporate activities. Suggestions for future research: We suggest that future studies can be dedicated to how corporate brands monitoring its internal branding. Another proposal is to study the effects of internal brand building based on employees' perspective, as previous research indicates that employees may perceive the brand in different ways.Contribution of the thesis: Since there is no empirical studies related to internal branding, we believe that our contribution of this study is that we have created an understanding of how management in service companies communicates corporate identity internally within the organization. We have neither found any previous study that focused on the internal branding work exclusively in the real estate brokerage firm, and therefore believe that we have contributed knowledge to this industry.

Cette thèse entend contribuer à l’étude des carrières des associés des firmes professionnelles en s’intéressant en particulier au processus de construction de l’identité d’associé. En nous appuyant sur le concept interactionniste de carrière nous analysons le « devenir associé » dans le contexte des grands cabinets d’audit internationaux (les Big 4). Ce devenir est un processus qui débute quasiment dès le recrutement et qui relève de mécanismes informels et tacites et de manœuvres politiques. Nous caractérisons ces mécanismes par la notion « d’écurie » qui permet à la fois de comprendre le fonctionnement des procédures de cooptation dans sa dimension non-officielle, mais également la hiérarchisation de la partnershipet le déroulement des carrières en son sein, une fois le stade de l’association passé. La conclusion à laquelle nous parvenons est que l’auditeur devient associé bien avant sa cooptation, en se reconnaissant lui-même comme un professionnel. Ce turning point n’est cependant que le premier sur le chemin qui mène à la partnership car c’est seulement au moment où il rejoint cette dernière que l’auditeur devient l’associé qu’il était, en se faisant reconnaître comme tel par ses pairs, achevant ainsi sa conversion identitaire d’auditeur en associé. Par notre travail, nous nous inscrivons dans la lignée des études en sociologie des professions et en théorie des organisations qui ont exploré le champ de la socialisation des professionnels de l’audit et de la construction de leur identité ainsi que le fonctionnement des grands cabinets internationaux / This PhD studies the process of becoming a partner in professional services firms, envisaged through the lens of the building of the partner identity. To this end, it implements the concept of « career » developed by interactionist sociology to analyse the making of a partner in the context of the Big 4 international audit firms. Becoming a partner is a process that starts right after recruitment and which is governed by complex and largely informal mechanisms and political manoeuvring. We characterize these mechanisms with the help of the notion of “stable”, whose purpose is to understand procedures of co-option in their unofficial dimension but also to account for the structuration of the partner level in firms and the role played by hierarchies within this level in post-partner career progression. We come to the conclusion that auditors actually become partners much earlier than their official promotion to the rank, from the moment they consider themselves as such. This awakening is yet only the first turning point on the road to partnership. It is only when they are officially co-opted that auditors become the partners they were, by being recognised as such by their peers, completing therefore their identity conversion.This work contributes to the literature in the sociology of professions and organizational theory fields by investigating how professionals are socialized and how their identity is constructed and by grasping more accurately the organization of professional services firms