Mixing methods to investigate the effective engagement of management consultants

This paper recognizes the important role played in the business communityby external management consultants and seeks to improve understanding ofhow this role can be performed. Insight from the change management andmanagement consulting literature is used to further develop a general modelof planned change including the phases of entering, contracting, diagnosing,leading, intervening and evaluating. Mixed methods blending a quantitativesurvey and qualitative interviews were combined to provide the data for thisstudy. A quantitative survey was completed by a stratified sample of 198company directors, chief executive officers, top managers, internalconsultants and line managers in relation to the practice of externalmanagement consultants. Qualitative interviews with 16 leading figures inthe Australian business community provide further insight. There is usefulsupport for the model of planned change in the empirical results.