1. Learning from Ancient Greek Philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophers, writing between the end of the sixth and the end of the fourth century BC, developed ideas that challenge us to question our assumptions about a wide range of issues, including those arising in management consulting. The ideas of people who were responding to social and economic conditions very different from our own help introduce useful novelty into our thinking about contemporary issues. These early philosophers’ ideas about ontology, epistemology, and ethics have direct relevance to issues encountered in management consulting. Management consulting is particularly concerned with helping clients manage organisational change, and Heraclitus and Parmenides raised fundamental issues that affect our understanding of the nature of organisations and of management consultancy interventions in them. Management consulting is said to be a knowledge-intensive industry, but yet management consultants’ knowledge claims are often questioned. Plato’s epistemological theory provides a framework that can help to assess these knowledge claims. The ethical standards that management consultants observe in their work also are often questioned. Aristotle’s virtue ethics constitute a major contribution to professional and business ethics that can inform thinking on ethical practice in management consulting. Subsequent chapters draw upon these philosophers’ work to examine the problems of management consulting.