Inside Consultants: Revelation of Another Reality
(2010)Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Providing of consulting services has been a subject of rapid development during the last three decades. This recent development has led to blurring the line between consultancies and outsourcing services. In this respect, consulting firms outsource skilled and experienced consultants who are contracted to work at a client site for a certain period of time. Consultants based at the client offices are thus in the role of insiders, establishing close relations with representatives of a client organisation. Such close inter-organisational cooperation significantly challenges traditionally understood organisational boundaries. As a result, outsourced consultants in the role of insiders find themselves in between their consultancy company and... (More)
- Providing of consulting services has been a subject of rapid development during the last three decades. This recent development has led to blurring the line between consultancies and outsourcing services. In this respect, consulting firms outsource skilled and experienced consultants who are contracted to work at a client site for a certain period of time. Consultants based at the client offices are thus in the role of insiders, establishing close relations with representatives of a client organisation. Such close inter-organisational cooperation significantly challenges traditionally understood organisational boundaries. As a result, outsourced consultants in the role of insiders find themselves in between their consultancy company and the client, in between inside and outside. In order to explore and map this uncertain position of inside consultants we apply the anthropological concept of liminality, introduced by Arnold van Gennep and further developed by Victor Turner. Moreover we bring to light Eliade’s work on sacred and profane world and show how the Romanian philosopher’s theory can benefit the view of inside consultants as liminal entities. This paper will thus provide an in-depth description of the complex dimensions of inside consultants’ position, identity construction and their sense of belonging. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1625567
- author
- Kelecinova, Gabriela and Gosoiu, Raluca
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2010
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- inside consultants, blurred organisational boundaries, liminality, hierophany, sacred and profane, self-identity, loyalty, Management of enterprises, Företagsledning, management
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 1625567
- date added to LUP
- 2010-06-04 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2012-04-02 18:21:35
@misc{1625567,
abstract = {{Providing of consulting services has been a subject of rapid development during the last three decades. This recent development has led to blurring the line between consultancies and outsourcing services. In this respect, consulting firms outsource skilled and experienced consultants who are contracted to work at a client site for a certain period of time. Consultants based at the client offices are thus in the role of insiders, establishing close relations with representatives of a client organisation. Such close inter-organisational cooperation significantly challenges traditionally understood organisational boundaries. As a result, outsourced consultants in the role of insiders find themselves in between their consultancy company and the client, in between inside and outside. In order to explore and map this uncertain position of inside consultants we apply the anthropological concept of liminality, introduced by Arnold van Gennep and further developed by Victor Turner. Moreover we bring to light Eliade’s work on sacred and profane world and show how the Romanian philosopher’s theory can benefit the view of inside consultants as liminal entities. This paper will thus provide an in-depth description of the complex dimensions of inside consultants’ position, identity construction and their sense of belonging.}},
author = {{Kelecinova, Gabriela and Gosoiu, Raluca}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Inside Consultants: Revelation of Another Reality}},
year = {{2010}},
}