The human nature of management consulting: judgment and expertise

Andrew Watson, Terence Rodgers and David Dudek
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Andrew Watson: Northeastern University, Boston, USA, Postal: Northeastern University, Boston, USA
Terence Rodgers: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA, Postal: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA
David Dudek: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA, Postal: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

Managerial and Decision Economics, 1999, vol. 19, issue 7-8, 495-503

Abstract: Management consulting is a significant and growing feature of the society of organizations in which we live. We develop an account of 'behavioral management consulting' by applying behavioral decision theory (BDT) to consulting. We apply in particular the representativeness heuristic, confirmatory bias, and the fundamental attribution error. We then scrutinize this account of management consulting in two ways: first, in the light of extant research applying BDT to other fields of expertise, such as accounting; and second, in the light of evolutionary psychology, which has recently cast a skeptical eye on some aspects of BDT. We conclude that the BDT-based account of consulting survives this scrutiny sufficiently to warrant a program of empirical research, and identify priorities for such a program. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:19:y:1999:i:7-8:p:495-503

DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1468(199811/12)19:7/8<495::AID-MDE902>3.0.CO;2-3

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