Abstract

There is no escape from the rapid pace of change in business organizations today. There is no doubting the usefulness and value of accumulated academic knowledge, but given the rate of change is it enough? An environment cultivating the knowledge and expertise of employees provides an evolving body of wisdom. External consultants may provide generic solutions. But internal consultants are seen as experts imposing their own solutions. Working for management, they can find themselves chasing local, short-term issues where the business leader has seen a problem and tried to fix it. There is no automatic sense of shared ownership of issues and action, no development of employees, and no equipping of the organization to deal with future challenges.