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The Societal Impact Of Management Consulting

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What is the societal impact of management consulting in the UK? Critically discuss examining the public sector as an example.

Management consultants have had a significant impact on the transformation of the public sector throughout the last few decades. (26) One of the first examples of collaboration between the UK government and consultants is the Bank of England employing McKinsey in 1968. Subsequently, there was a major increase in their use within the public sector with more departments using management consultants for various purposes. (26)Currently, the extent of work that consultants undertake is extremely extensive. Duration of projects varies from a number of days to a couple of years depending on the task.(26) This essay will …show more content…

(26) They are believed to maintain objectivity which is a crucial in certain cases such as working on a certain policy proposal. Both the public and private sector use consultancy to access specialist skills that are not available internally.(1) Management Consultancies Association (MCA) conducted a survey that showed that 72 percent of management consulting work commissioned for central government due to the lack of relevant specialist skills in-house (3). Given the more complex nature of projects that are mostly IT related, departments require specialist expertise that they lack. (5) Moreover, management consultancy is believed to provide security. Managers are often insecure about vital decisions and consultants provide sense of order and direction (26). Big Four consultancy firms (Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KRMG and PwC) are especially associated with comfort and security. (1)Another crucial reason for employing consultants is cost reduction. Governments all over the world are attempting to cut costs, for instance, by commissioning complex IT projects to enable certain activities to be done online (22). The Comprehensive Spending Report puts additional pressure on government’s departments to be cost efficient. (2) Hiring management consultants can help a department to implement cost-cutting procedures maintaining necessary level of performance. (17)

There are a number of successful projects that can demonstrate the benefit that management consultants have

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