Organising Change Delivery through Consultant Managers: the TESI Model

Among the shifts in the landscape of work is the changing nature of management. Managers have come to reject many traditional practices in favour of an approach that is more project-based and change-focused with an emphasis on ‘delivery’ and ‘value’. While not totally discarding bureaucratic features, such as hierarchies, measurement and planning, many of the new management practices compare with those long associated with management consultants. In fact, increasingly, organisations actively seek to internalise consulting into their management practice. This is especially evident in an emerging group of ‘consultant managers’, including former employees of consulting firms and HR managers remodelled as business partners (Christensen et al, 2013). It is also reflected in a range of organisational units being formed which are responsible for change management and delivery (Sturdy et al, 2015). Some resemble the traditional internal consulting operations linked with large organisations, but others take new forms and labels, such as programme and performance delivery. Drawing on a large-scale research project looking at consultant managers in the UKi , this short paper sets out the main senior management options for organising change delivery – the TESI model. It argues that each option brings its own advantages and tensions and can be adapted to particular contexts. We conclude by also considering some of the broader implications for management occupations such as HR, who may wish to develop their role in change management.