| The purpose of this research is two-fold: to put the theory and practice of management consulting in a more critical and academic framework and to share my experience as an individual educated in the discipline of industrial engineering entering the field of management consulting. Also, I will refer to the role (or the lack thereof) of academia in the formation of management consultants.;I worked with a unique multidisciplinary technique for consultation that seeks to merge two professions from very different fields of science, psychoanalysis and industrial engineering. Claudio Revere and I elaborated this unique management consulting technique to better understand the rich and complex relationship that develops between a consultant and their client.;A myriad of management tools and models are available in the consulting practice. I consider, however, that very few of these models have scientific support, since the majority of them lack clear guidelines for their application, and most are full of buzzwords empty of strict definitions. As an engineering professional, I was strongly instructed in variables that are strictly defined and in mathematical criteria used to analyze problems, predict outcomes, and check results. My background encouraged me to follow those strict analytical methods and to rely on the rational concatenation of facts and decisions. In other disciplines, like Psychology, Organization Development or Organizational Behavior, non-mathematical criteria come into play. Many management consultants are from these disciplines. What I learned from my experience as a consultant is that the human mind could disrupt my "objectivity" heavily, sometimes influencing the way I chose which variables to measure, or the weight I gave to the data I obtained. Also, many times in business, "irrational" behaviors completely distort the "rational" decisions that are arrived at through objective thinking. The multidisciplinary technique tries to combine the work of both disciplines to address these facts in the consultation process.;I also researched the methodological use of case studies. I propose a new training of Management Consulting that is based within the academic environment, underscoring its ethical component and social role in society, and using the case study methodology based on the experience of the disciplines of Medicine and Law. |
