Toward full participation in management consulting practice: Experiences of recent college graduates

Abstract

Purpose

This study seeks to understand the college‐to‐work transition process from the perspectives of a group of new management consultants.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focuses on the experience of a group of management consultants, how they construct meaning in their work, and the workplace itself. Participants in this study consisted of 25 consultants of a major management consulting firm in the USA. As the main source of information, interviews elicited the consultants’ accounts of their experiences since they were hired and their opinions about issues and events related to their professional development.

Findings

From the study, it is clear that learning from project experience and work relationships facilitated the new consultants’ organizational acculturation process and their journeys of becoming management consultants required more than development of competencies. The study shows that development of professional identities and career adaptation to organizational priorities is an equally important agenda for these young professionals. Legitimate peripheral participation in this study highlights the progressive nature of the consultants’ learning trajectories in the consulting practice. From an initially limited involvement in the practice to greatly increased responsibilities, the consultants moved toward full participation as their competencies developed along with their knowledge of the enterprise's social‐political context.

Originality/value

The consultants’ journeys of becoming were idiosyncratic in their specifics, but evidenced clear common patterns of complex workplace socialization.

Citation

Chao, C. (2005), "Toward full participation in management consulting practice: Experiences of recent college graduates", Education + Training, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 18-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910510580601