TY - JOUR
T1 - To give them a fish or a fishing rod? The impact of management consultants’ perceived power bases on managers’ development
AU - Lachmi, Rotem
AU - Ben-Hador, Batia
AU - Brender-Ilan, Yael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Purpose: Management consulting aims to enhance organizational effectiveness through manager development and empowerment. There is evidence that management consultants perceive themselves as leaders, but little research has been conducted on their power bases. The purpose of this study is to examine management consultants’ power bases to gain insight into their leadership and their perceptions regarding managers’ development. Design/methodology/approach: Using qualitative methods, 40 consultants were interviewed, and a semi-structured interview outline was applied to identify their power bases and determine how their power base influences their leadership and managers’ development. Thematic content analysis was applied to analyze the data. Findings: The findings indicate that management consultants have either a prominent referent or expert power base and that these two informal power bases affect consultant leadership differently: referent power leads to solving the managers’ problems, while expert power enhances managers’ self-efficacy and ability to solve their problems by themselves. Originality/value: The study sheds light on an under-explored subject and contributes to both theory and practice; it extends and refines the connection between power dynamics and managers’ development as well as leadership theory and offers practical implications for the relationship between management consultants and managers.
AB - Purpose: Management consulting aims to enhance organizational effectiveness through manager development and empowerment. There is evidence that management consultants perceive themselves as leaders, but little research has been conducted on their power bases. The purpose of this study is to examine management consultants’ power bases to gain insight into their leadership and their perceptions regarding managers’ development. Design/methodology/approach: Using qualitative methods, 40 consultants were interviewed, and a semi-structured interview outline was applied to identify their power bases and determine how their power base influences their leadership and managers’ development. Thematic content analysis was applied to analyze the data. Findings: The findings indicate that management consultants have either a prominent referent or expert power base and that these two informal power bases affect consultant leadership differently: referent power leads to solving the managers’ problems, while expert power enhances managers’ self-efficacy and ability to solve their problems by themselves. Originality/value: The study sheds light on an under-explored subject and contributes to both theory and practice; it extends and refines the connection between power dynamics and managers’ development as well as leadership theory and offers practical implications for the relationship between management consultants and managers.
KW - Consultant–client relationship
KW - Expert power
KW - Management consulting
KW - Managers development
KW - Power dynamics
KW - Referent power
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214802597&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/EJTD-10-2024-0143
DO - 10.1108/EJTD-10-2024-0143
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AN - SCOPUS:85214802597
SN - 2046-9012
JO - European Journal of Training and Development
JF - European Journal of Training and Development
ER -