Who Put the Con in Consultancy? Fads, Recipes and ‘Vodka Margarine’

Bibliographic Data

ID9889299
AuthorsDavid Collins (0000-0001-6775-4067, University of Essex, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume57
Issue5
Pages553-572
Publication date2004-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-7267 • E-ISSN: 1741-282X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0018726704044309
OpenAlexW2111260322
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited24

This article assesses the merits of analyses that have called for a more developed and constructive engagement with the management advice industry. It argues that attempts to reconstitute academic interest in the advice industry will do little to improve our appreciation of the complex and mediated nature of management advice so long as these (i) remain tied to a debunking agenda and (ii) focus exclusively on the production of advice. Accordingly, the article refocuses attention on the consumption of management knowledge and on the users of advice. Directing attention to the users of recipes and cookbooks the article argues that a more constructive relationship with management practitioners awaits those who can conceive of the reasons, circumstances and processes that might translate business process reengineering (BPR) into total quality management (TQM) and ‘brandy butter’ into ‘vodka margarine’

Advice (programming · Business · Business process reengineering · Constructive · Economics · Focus (optics · Management · Political science · Process (computing · Public relations · Quality (philosophy · Total quality management · Accounting and Organizational Management · Computer Science · Management and Organizational Studies · Management Theory and Practice · Marketing

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