Portraying the Social Dimensions of Consulting with Structuration Theory

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that the consultant-client relationship is of central importance for consulting engagements. The paper therefore outlines the social dimensions that are inherent in the consulting system due to its characteristics that create social complexity. To gain further insights into the social interaction scheme and dynamics of consulting projects, a conceptualization based on an appropriate theoretical model is required. We propose to utilize the Structuration Theory for the compilation of the social context of consulting, as this provides a framework for incorporating the social determinants, focuses on actions of human-beings, and additionally allows the identification of interrelated dependencies of structure and actions.

Investigating the co-creation of IT consulting service value: empirical findings of a matched pair analysis

“…Consulting services "refer to expert services that are rendered to help companies survive, develop, and improve their performance, that is, to produce value" (Becker et al 2015, p. 41), and the service provision is time-limited and interactive. Clients often attribute impartiality, information exchange, knowledge sharing, efficiency, and legitimization to consulting firms and their services (Mauerer and Nissen 2014;Momparler et al 2015). In the digital age, more and more organizations are seeking to gain competitive advantages by coming up with IT-enabled new digital business models (Iyer et al 2006;Matt et al 2015).…”

“…In knowledge-intense industries such as IT consulting (Bettencourt et al 2002;Jensen et al 2010), both parties integrate core resources in terms of operant capabilities into an IT project to accomplish the given tasks, which implies that the IT consulting firm allocates consultants with the required expert knowledge, consulting skills, experience, and relational capital to this IT consulting project; vice versa, the client firm contributes the required information about requirements and context as well as the workforce with the right knowledge and skills to successfully complement the project (Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola 2012; DeLeon and Chatterjee 2017). Through the interaction between and the resource integration of both actors (Mauerer and Nissen 2014), IT consulting projects tend to be mostly co-created. Value emerges during the use of the provided solution and thus represents value-in-use.…”

“…Further, social skills will help consultants to be more empathic and collaborative (Mauerer and Nissen 2014). According to King (2011), social expertise is the foundation of effective communication and problem-solving collaboration.…”

Institutionalising knowledge sharing in an organisation: A case of a selected organisation in the Western Cape, South Africa

“…The signification structure relates to organisational interaction using different kinds of interpretative schemes (Giddens 1986). Signification, therefore, can be used by agents for communicating, understanding and providing the meanings for different types of activities (Mauerer & Nissen 2014). The domination structure deals with various ways of exercising power over different types of resources (Mauerer & Nissen 2014).…”

“…Signification, therefore, can be used by agents for communicating, understanding and providing the meanings for different types of activities (Mauerer & Nissen 2014). The domination structure deals with various ways of exercising power over different types of resources (Mauerer & Nissen 2014). Domination involves controlling and using allocative and authoritative resources, along with power, over other people or resources (Giddens 1986).…”