Technology and Innovation Commons^™

Between Innovation And Legitimation-Boundaries And Knowledge Flow In Management Consultancy, Andrew Sturdy, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark, Robin Fincham, Karen Handley

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Management consultancy is seen by many as a key agent in the adoption of new management ideas and practices in organizations. Two contrasting views are dominant-consultants as innovators, bringing new knowledge to their clients or as legitimating client knowledge. Those few studies which examine directly the flow of knowledge through consultancy in projects with clients favour the innovator view and highlight the important analytical and practical value of boundaries-consultants as both knowledge and organizational outsiders. Likewise, in the legitimator view, the consultants' role is seen in terms of the primacy of the organizational boundary. By drawing on a wider social …