U.S. firms are increasingly bringing in management consultants and many have benefited greatly. Unfortunately, the techniques and ethics of some consultants are disturbing. This article studies the methods used by one such consultant in working with a medium-sized corporation. The consultant is well known and has published articles in leading business journals. Suggestions on how managers and professional associations might reduce such incompetent consulting practices are made.

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and extent to which cultural differences bear on perceptions of ethical Organizational Development consulting behaviors. U.S. (n=118) and Taiwanese (n=267) business students evaluated eleven vignettes depicting potential ethical dilemmas. Respondents judged the ethicality of each vignette, the likelihood of the event's occurrence and the party responsible for the event's occurrence. Multivariate Analyses of Variance revealed significant cultural differences in perceptions of ethicality, and group differences in perceptions of the events' likelihood of occurrence. U.S. subjects provided higher ethicality ratings than the Taiwanese, and lower ratings on the likelihood of occurrence. Response distributions resulting from the identification of the responsible party were similar for six of the eleven vignettes. When differences did occur, it appeared that the Taiwanese were more inclined than the U.S. subjects to view responsibility as shared by the client and the consultant. The results suggest the need for the incorporation of cultural differences in a code of ethics for the profession and the need for cross-cultural ethics training for partitioners.

Professional Ethics and Competence in Management Consulting

Ethical dilemmas in organization development: A cross-cultural analysis

Management consulting as a profession is a coveted aspiration for management professionals. This academic note seeks to define management consulting as an industry, draw its boundaries, highlight the unique contributions of management consultants and consulting firms, and elucidate the challenges faced by the management consulting industry, with a specific focus on the Indian context. The note is followed by a panel discussion in which experts from the consulting industry participated.

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/1263470.pdf

Professional Ethics and Competence in Management Consulting

Citations

Ethical dilemmas in organization development: A cross-cultural analysis

The management consulting industry Growth of Consulting Services in India: Panel Discussion

The management consulting industry

References

The Naked Society

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