1

BUSN 42

COURSE INSTRUCTIONS AUTUMN 2016

Welcome to the course on Management Consulting as part of the electives in the
Masters Program Managing People, Knowledge and Change. The following
document will provide an outline of the course components, assessment and
instructions for your exercises.

Department of Business Administration, P-O Box 7080, 220 07 Lund

Staff
The two teachers on the course are Stephan Schaefer and Iva Kostova. For
questions please contact us by email or stop by our offices.
Stephan Schaefer, Room 3054, Alfa 1
Stephan.schaefer@fek.lu.se
stephan.schaefer.lu@analys.urkund.se
Iva Kostova, Room 3053, Alfa 1
iva.kostova@fek.lu.se
iva.kostova.lu@analys.urkund.se

Course outline
At the beginning of the course the emphasis is on your own reading of the
literature, supported by lectures an d gue st l ect ur es ( L 1 -L 9) who present,
complement and reflect upon the texts. In the later part of the course we will
use the theoretical and practical knowledge to discuss a case study, (S1) and
prepare a pitch for your very own consultancy business (S2, S3). The course ends
with an individual take-home exam.
Week,
number
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

Mon

Tue

Thu

Fri
L1
L3

L2
L4
L5
L6
S2

Wed

L7

S1

S3

S4/ L8

Overview of the schedule with readings

L/S

Theme

Teacher

L1

Introduction to the
course and the topic

L2

The consulting industry Stephan Schaefer

& consultant-client
relationships

Readings

Stephan Schaefer

O' Mahoney ch. 2,

3&4
Alvesson &
Johansson (2002)
Kipping &
Engwall (2013)
Nikolova &
Devinney (2012)

L3

Consulting culture and

identity

Iva Kostova

L4

Impressions, images and Stephan Schaefer

fashion in management
consulting

Alvesson, M., &

Robertson, M.
(2006)
Costas &
Krreman (2015)
Merilinen et al.
(2004)
O' Mahoney Ch. 8
& 11
Alvesson and
Krreman (2007)
Armbruester
(2004)
Clark and Salaman
(1998)
Kieser (1997)

L5

Practical examples of
client engagement

Rikard Levin, Managing

Consultant, Cap Gemini

O' Mahoney ch. 4

&6

L6

The consulting life-cycle Peter Malmgren, Partner,

Price Waterhouse
Cooper

O' Mahoney ch. 5

L7

Self-management of
consultants

Calle Rosengren, Centre

for Work, Technology
and Social change, Lund
University

TBA

S1

Case Seminar

Student Groups

HBR case
downloadable from
live@lund

S2

Consultancy
Presentations

Student Groups

O Mahoney ch. 7

S3

Consultancy
Presentations

Student Groups

O Mahoney ch. 7

S4

Consultancy
Presentations

Student Groups

O Mahoney ch. 7

L8

Concluding lecture

Stephan Schaefer

All

The idea behind the course and learning objectives

The course is split into three parts, all with a different pedagogical idea and
varying learning objectives.
Part I: Understand, question reflect and learn on the literature (L1-L9)

This part of the course focuses on learning key ideas, concepts and live cases
within the topic of Management Consulting. The schedule above shows
readings and (guest) lecturers.
Text Book
O' Mahoney, J. (2010) Management Consultancy. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1st edition.
OBS: There is an updated second edition available which includes an additional
chapter but the other chapters seem to be similar. We will use the 1st edition of the
book during the lecture.
Literature list
Alvesson, M. & Krreman, D. (2007). Unraveling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and
Control in a Management Consulting Firm, Organization Science, 18(4), 711-723.
Alvesson, M. and Johansson, A. W. (2002) Professionalism and politics in
management consultancy work. In Clark, T. and Fincham, R. (eds.) Critical
consulting. pp. 228-246, Oxford: Blackwell.
Alvesson, M., & Robertson, M. (2006). The Best and the Brightest: The
Construction, Significance and Effects of Elite Identities in Consulting Firms.
Organization, 13(2), 195224.
Armbruester, T. (2004). Rationality and Its Symbols: Signalling Effects and
Subjectification in Management Consulting, Journal of Management Studies,
41(8), 1247-1269
Costas, J., & Karreman, D. (2015). The bored self in knowledge work. Human
Relations, 69(1), 6183.
Clark, T. and Salaman, G. (1998a). Creating the right impression: towards a
dramaturgy of management consultancy. The Service Industries Journal, 18(1),
1838.
Engwall, L. & Kipping, M. (2013) Management Consulting: Dynamics, Debates,
and Directions. International Journal of Strategic Communication. 7(2), 84-98
Kieser, A. (1997). Rhetoric and Myth in Management Fashion, Organization,
4(1), 49-74
Merilinen, S., Tienari, J., Thomas, R., & Davies, A. (2004). Management
Consultant Talk: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Normalizing Discourse and
Resistance. Organization, 11(4), 539564
Nikolova, N. & Devinney, T. (2012). The Nature of ClientConsultant Interaction:
A Critical Review. In Clark, T. and Kipping, M. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of
Management Consulting, pp. 391-405. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Part II: Apply understanding & reflection and learning to a case study (S1)

This part of the course is about engaging with a scenario that could arise as part of
your work as a consultant. To that end you will be asked to analyze the case study
A Consultants Comeuppance which is downloadable from Live@Lund.
There are two parts to your case assignment:
First, your group will present during your seminar time on Tuesday, November
25th (see separate document for your groups and presentation time). You should
put together a 10-minute presentation and allow for 5 min discussion. Power point
or another form of presentation supportis useful but not required.
Second, you will turn in a one-page report giving your recommendation to Flynn
Fuller. You can refer to the four recommendations at the end of the case but be
sure to produce an original recommendation supported by your own evidence.
Please do not exceed one page (single-spaced, 12 point font, etc.)
Reports are due by 5 p.m. on Nov. 25th. Please email your report (No PDFs,
please!) to stephan.schaefer@fek.lu.se
Which group shall I belong to?

We the teachers will assign the groups in order to create a realistic scenario of
working life. You can find the names and times of the groups on the group
assignment document on Live@Lund.
Part III: Invent your own consultancy (S2/S3)

This part is about creating and pitching your own consulting company. Detailed
instructions are uploaded in a separate document on Live@Lund.
Here you can choose your own group you would like to work with. There is a
maximum number of five people allowed however per group.

Assessment
There are three different ways of assessing the performance on the course a) takehome exam (80 points) b) case study report (10 points) c) consultancy pitch (10
points).
Take-Home exam

The take-home exam will be sent out on the 12th of December. It will comprise 2
questions. The questions should be answered in the form of a short essay that
means a narrative form rather than a consultancy report. The world limit for each
answer is 1250-1500 words.
The final document needs to be handed in as a hard copy (there will be a box
outside Stephans office) and sent to Urkund.
Question1 should be sent to Stephan and question 2 to Iva.

6
Case Study Report

A one-page report (see instruction above) will be due on Nov 29th 17:00. The case
will be evaluated according to your ability of identifying a problem and presenting
a solution using some of the conceptual tools discussed in the preceding lectures
and guest lectures.
Consultancy Pitch

You will need to send in two documents by Dec 11th 17:00. For further details
please look at the assignment description on Live@Lund.

Missed seminar
S1, S2 & S3 are compulsory. Clashes with other courses, employment or personal
matters such as birthdays or family celebrations are not acceptable as reasons for
missing seminars. Absence on personal grounds (e.g. illness) is accepted but need
to be compensated for with an additional written supplementary assignment. The
complementary assignment will be a 1500 word essay on an article chosen by the
course teachers to be handed in 15 working days after the deadline for the takehome exam.

We hope these instructions are helpful and that you will find the course
interesting and challenging!
Welcome on the course!
Stephan Schaefer & Iva Kostova