Management consulting - Dr. K. van Bommel
Kieser: why is it that consultants are so successful and growing? Even though of the critics. How is this
possible?
Consultants thrive due to their
role in introducing and promoting
management fashions, appealing
to managers seeking career
advancement through innovation
and expertise. Consultants create
demand by instilling fear and
dependency in managers,
promising knowledge transfer and
control. Despite criticisms,
managers remain receptive to
consultancy services, evident in sales and turnover rates. While some organizations develop
independent solutions, the overall trend favors consultancy reliance. Consultants' success stems from
their ability to market services effectively, collaborate with business schools, and create a sense of
urgency for staying current with management trends.
Consultants' success parallels the dynamics of fashion outlined in the article. Just as fashion producers
invent trends to create a sense of prestige and elegance, consultants recombine management
elements to establish new fashions. By adding modifications and buzzwords to existing concepts,
consultants make managers feel up-to-date and competitive, akin to how fashion appeals to individuals
striving for elegance and status. The constant flow of new management concepts mirrors the rapid
turnover of fashion trends, both driving a sense of urgency to stay current. Additionally, the article
highlights how managers, like consumers of fashion, experience a promise of orientation and stability
through adopting the latest management fashions, reinforcing the addictive nature of consulting
services. This comparison underscores how consultants leverage the allure of novelty and expertise,
akin to fashion's role in creating desire and social distinction.
Dieuwertje van de Wouw – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – Pre-master Program – PPMO – 2024 17
, 3. Managers as Marionettes? Using Fashion Theories to explain the success
of consultancies
Introduction
The consulting market and the market of management fashion are both exploding. The central
hypothesis is that the correlation between the two markets is not coincidental.
It is shown that by producing management concepts, some in which succeed in becoming
management fashions, consultancies are able to create demand for their services.
What is management fashion?
A management fashion is a management concept that has become fashionable.
A management concept is a discourse that evolves around a buzzword. Management concepts that
speedily gain large shares in the public management discourse are called management fashions.
A management fashion is a popular management concept characterized by the use of buzzwords and
vague principles that spark discussions/discourses and engagement among interested individuals.
These concepts, often promoted by consultancies, compete for attention in the public discourse. To
attract clients, consultancies commodify these concepts by standardizing solutions to unstructured
problems, making them more marketable. Clients are drawn to these "package solutions" as they
appear tested and proven in various companies. This commodification process rationalizes consulting
work and increases the likelihood of a concept becoming a management fashion.
A management fashion can be conceptualized
as forming an arena in which different groups of
participants bustle about. The participants can
achieve whatever goals they pursue by
widening the arena, which is brought about by
luring addition participants into it. Therefore,
the actors principally play cooperative games.
Rhetoric is a crucial input currency for this
game. - Rhetoric is the skill of using
communication techniques to persuade and
influence others, especially in business and
management contexts, of a particular idea or
concept.
To turn a management concept into a management fashion it must become a object of public
discourse. Professors of business schools are welcomed into the arena because they provide scientific
legitimacy for the fashion. Although the actors play predominantly cooperative games to widen the
arena, each actor also strives to increase control over the arena. Publishing companies and consulting
firms organize events to promote their services and expand their reach, often partnering with business
schools and former consultants to enhance their networks.
General theories of fashion
Management fashions are a unique form of fashion that play a significant role in the business world.
Various sociological theories provide insights into the dynamics of management fashions and the
involvement of consultants in this process. These theories can be categorized into four main
paradigms: Trickle down, Collective selection, Marionette and Ambivalence theories.
1. Trickle down theories.
Originating from thinkers like Kant & Spencer, Simmel and Bourdieu, these theories rest on a single
hypothesis that lower classes imitate styles of higher classes, leading to a cycle of fashion changes to
Dieuwertje van de Wouw – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – Pre-master Program – PPMO – 2024 18
, maintain social distinctions. Simmel emphasizes how fashion oscillates as lower classes imitate and
differentiate from the upper classes, leading to a continuous cycle of style changes. Individuals face
choices between uniqueness and social belonging in fashion, finding satisfaction in standing out while
being supported by a community of like-minded individuals. Critics argue that modern societies have
diminished the significance of status, allowing fashion trends to trickle up any traditional class
boundaries.
Bourdieu views fashion as a competitive struggle among social classes, where aesthetic products and
style serve as tools of distinction. Unlike Simmel focusing on individuals, Bourdieu defines social class
based on various group characteristics, with the upper class maintaining their exclusivity by defending
rarity and rejecting popularized and devalued trends.
2. Collective selection theories
Fashion, according to collective selection theories, serves 3 main functions: it brings order to a
changing society by narrowing choices, helps individuals break free from the past to embrace new
directions, and prepares for the future by presenting new trends through competition. This process
gives individuals a sense of control over their environment, offering orientation and stability in a
dynamic world. Thus, being fashionable appear to offer the individual some control over his or her
environmental conditions. This is why most consumers of fashion experience it as something that
promises orientation and stability.
3. Marionette theories
Marionette theories view fashion as a product of the capitalist economy, where producers create
trends to offer a perceived advantage when a real one is lacking. By making small changes to products,
they entice customers to buy new items even if the old ones are still functional. The dynamics of
fashion are driven by the lower classes imitating the styles of the upper classes, leading to a constant
pursuit of new trends.
Sombart’s line of argument is not so different from that of the trickle-down theory. This becomes even
more obvious when he points out that a fashion:
Loses its value as soon as it is imitated in an inferior quality; thus this incessant generalization of an iteration
forces those classes of the population that consider good taste important to think constantly about changes
in this mix of consumer good. The result is a wild hunting for ever never forms whose speed increases to the
extent to which the techniques of production and trade are advancing.
Sombart supplement Simmel’s trickle-down theory with the concept of a competition between
producers of fashionable good. Producers compete to spread fashion to all social groups, manipulating
consumers through advertising and media. This theory portrays consumers as puppets of the industry,
highlighting how fashion is deeply intertwined with capitalism. This is why ‘fashion is capitalism’s
favourite child’.
4. Ambivalence theories
Ambivalence theories highlight the cultural ambivalence of modern times, leading to a blend of diverse
clothing styles in the market to express this ambiguity. Fashion is no longer a societal phenomenon but
is embraced by subgroups and subcultures, resulting in the coexistence of multiple trends. Davis
suggests that fashion is driven by identity ambivalences arising from the blurred social class
distinctions. Designers aim to address these identity conflicts by manipulating clothing symbols to
either express or suppress them, catering to individuals' needs for identity resolution in a complex and
diverse fashion landscape.
Dieuwertje van de Wouw – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – Pre-master Program – PPMO – 2024 19
