IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jomstd/v36y1999i6p875-897.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing Consultants in a Small Firm: A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Monder Ram

Abstract

An increasingly noted feature of the small business population is the rise of the small, professional‐service firm. Explanations of the emergence, employment potential and economic contribution of such firms have been much debated. But comparatively little is known of the dynamics of managing such enterprises. This paper aims to illuminate the nature of the management process in such settings by examining the case of one particular management consultancy, WhitCo. A broad conception of the management process is argued for that recognizes the tensions of working in a ‘high‐trust’ environment. The study, which is based on an intensive investigation in the case‐study firm over a year‐long period, explores three processes. First, the development of the enterprise, particularly in relation to the recruitment of consultants; this establishes the basis of ‘trust’ in the firm. Second, the management of client relationships and their impact on work relations. Third, the dynamics of ‘project management’. The findings highlight how fragile ‘co‐operation’ in such a context can be, and identifies tensions that stem from pressures for organizational efficiency and the need to encourage ‘entrepreneurialism’ among key staff

Suggested Citation

  • Monder Ram, 1999. "Managing Consultants in a Small Firm: A Case Study," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 875-897, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:36:y:1999:i:6:p:875-897
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-6486.00162
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00162
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-6486.00162?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Monder Ram & Paul Edwards, 2003. "Praising Caesar Not Burying Him: What We Know about Employment Relations in Small Firms," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 17(4), pages 719-730, December.
    2. O’Mahoney Joe, 2021. "How Small Consultancies Grow: Challenging Problem-Based Theorising," Management Consulting Journal, Sciendo, vol. 4(1), pages 5-20, January.
    3. Capelleras, Joan-Lluis & Mole, Kevin F., 2012. "How ‘buzz’ reduces uncertainty for new firm founders," MPRA Paper 38170, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Sébastien Gand & Philippe Lefebvre & Jean-Claude Sardas, 2007. "Professional Service Firms confronted with management challenges: can democracy be an organizational solution? A case-study in a democratic consulting firm," Post-Print hal-00818099, HAL.
    5. Mamta Mohapatra & Bhupen Srivastava, 2011. "Career in Consultancy: Problems and Prospects for Women in India," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 36(1), pages 31-44, February.
    6. Kevin Mole & Joan-Lluís Capelleras, 2018. "Take-up and variation of advice for new firm founders in different local contexts," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(1), pages 3-27, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:36:y:1999:i:6:p:875-897. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2380 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.