Management consultancy and organizational uncertainty: The case of internal consultancy

This study analyzes one of the most neglected dimensions of uncertainty
in the field of management consultancy—the fragile existence of consulting
organizations and organizational units. Drawing on interview data from internal
consulting units, the authors ask what the key sources of organizational uncertainty
are that consultant actors face and how these actors address them. In doing so, a
fourth, organizational, form of uncertainty is added to those already established
in studies of consulting (namely, product, relationship, and institutional
uncertainty). The findings also improve our understanding of uncertainty in the
broader theoretical context of professionalization through non-traditional means
by raising questions about the stability of securing legitimacy as a “corporate
profession.”