Making a consultancy slideshow 'rock solid': a study of pragmatic efficacy

Alaric Bourgoin () and Fabian Muniesa
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Alaric Bourgoin: CSI i3 - Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: The paper examines the pragmatic efficacy of a paradigmatic representational device used in the work of management consulting: the diagrammatic presentation of managerial problems in a consultancy slideshow. We present an ethnographic analysis of a consultancy mission, focusing on the moments in which presentation is crafted, altered and discussed before reaching a stage of relative felicity. We analyze the conditions for this felicity as they are made explicit through the consultants' ordinary work. We found that consultants manage three types of constrains when producing the representational device: (1) to create an appropriate effect on the target, (2) to be faithful to the "reality" of the situation and (3) to maintain an internal coherence of the representation. We further discuss these three aspects in the light of a pragmatist approach.

Keywords: management consulting; pragmatism; powerpoint; organizational ethnography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00702224v1
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Working Paper: Making a consultancy slideshow 'rock solid': a study of pragmatic efficacy (2012)
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