The Complexity of Consultancy: Exploring Breakdowns Within Consultancy Practice

Consultancy is a lucrative industry dependent on the production and use of tools and techniques which hold out the promise of success for the organisations it supports: transformation, or greater efficiency and effectiveness, perhaps even culture change. However, a critical and important question is whether these promises are fulfilled in everyday practice in organisations. Is it possible at all for consultants to predict and control the changes that their clients ask for? This volume reframes the role of consultants from detached observers wielding a stable body of knowledge useful in all contexts, to that of skilled participants in the conscious and unconscious processes of organisational life.

In this book, one of three in a series looking at complexity and management, the expert authors bring together their experiences to provide vibrant accounts of how to lead in everyday organisational situations using practical judgement. The book includes a brief historical introduction to complexity and leadership, real-world narratives illustrating concrete dilemmas in the workplace, and a concluding chapter that draws together the practical and theoretical implications.

With both theoretical grounding and practical insights from managers and consultants in leading firms, this is an ideal resource for executives and students on leadership development and talent management programmes, as well as those undertaking higher education courses in leadership and consulting.

Nicholas Sarra works as a Consultant Psychotherapist within the NHS. He is also a Visiting Professor at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, and affiliated with a number of programmes at Exeter University. He is a member of the Institute of Group Analysis.

Karina Solsø is a Self-employed Organisational Consultant in Denmark working with organisational change and leadership development. She is also a Visiting Lecturer at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire.

Chris Mowles is Professor of Complexity and Management at Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire.