Exploring the Professional Identity of Management Consultants

Publisher Marketing: The volume is based on the presentations and discussions from the Fifth European Conference on Management Consulting sponsored by the Management Consulting Division of the Academy of Management, which took place June, 2011 at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The conference theme - Exploring the Professional Identity of Management Consultants - attempted to capture the highly ambiguous social status of this young and emerging profession. Management consulting does not have professional standards or accreditation criteria like those found in medicine or law, there are low barriers to entry, and a broad range of tasks are undertaken in the name of consulting. As a result, a crucial aspect of what constitutes such a loosely defined profession is the identity of its members. The professional identity of management consultants is continuously developing through the interplay of how consultants are seen and valued by clients as well as in the larger society, and how consultancy firms and consultants identify and position themselves. This theme includes a variety of topics, ranging from the interaction between consultants and their clients, consultant rhetoric and self-presentation, and the plethora of books, media and public discourse on consulting, to human resource policies and practices, knowledge development activities of consultancy firms, career and life stories of consultants and consultancies, and consulting associations, accreditation bodies, and education programs. All of these factors contribute, either directly or indirectly, to identity construction in the field of management consulting. Contributor Bio:  de Caluwe, Leon LEon de CaluwE is senior partner with the Twynstra Group, management consultants and part time professor at the Free University in Amsterdam. LEon de CaluwE (1950) studied social psychology at the University of Utrecht. He received his science degree in 1975 and his Ph. D degree in 1997 at Tilburg University. He was appointed professor in Amsterdam in 2000. He leads the Center for Research on Consultancy at the Free University, which is part of an international network. He regularly works as expert for the OECD and the Council of Europe. At Twynstra Gudde (where he works since 1988) he is member of the thinktank of the company. In his work he is specialized in change, conflict resolution, quality of cooperation, culture-interventions, facilitation of policy development sessions. He works regularly with gamesand gaming metods as an intervention for advanced learning. He works for all types of clients, in government and in industry. He published more than 80 articles and more than 10 books. Several of them are in English, e.g. 'Changing organizations with gaming/simulation' (Elsevier publishers, 2000). The subjects are: change, consultancy and interventions. His dissertation: "Veranderen moet je leren" (1997) received the Best-book-of-the-year award by the Dutch Association of Management Consultants. He is member of the Academy of Management, editor of several scientific journals and lecturer in many postgraduate and Masters programs.