5. Plato and the Ethics of Management Consultancy Interventions

Managers often consider that the ends that they pursue, as stewards of the shareholder interest, are given and that it is only the means of achieving them that merit consideration. Projects on which they seek management consultancy advice and assistance sometimes benefit shareholders at the expense of harm to other stakeholders, in particular employees, who have interests that should be considered. Projects aimed at changing corporate culture, often seen as necessary to bring about strategic organisational change, may do this. In the “Republic”, Plato had Socrates propose the telling of a “noble lie” as a means of creating the kind of unitary culture that was necessary to establish his ideal state. While Plato believed that his “noble lie” had a good purpose, many commentators regard his programme’s treatment of people as morally objectionable. Corporate culture change programmes also use story-telling to influence and even manipulate, organisation members’ beliefs, assumptions, and values. This chapter considers how far these programmes are similar to Plato’s programme for establishing his ideal state and open to similar moral objections. Management consultants are more than mere agents of their clients and ought to consider the moral content of the ends towards which they commit their efforts.