A View of the Role of Expert in Corporate Consulting

One of the many activities that psychologists take part in is corporate consulting—which can be defined as the provision of counsel and advice on the human resources of organizations. Consulting psychology constitutes only a small part of this effort, perhaps less than 4% to 5% of the management-consulting market, but the psychologists who do this work, if they are to share the valuable knowledge that psychology has to offer to the business world in general and management in particular, must understand the context in which they practice—how corporate consulting started, how it evolved, and how the consultant’s role as expert fits into the business environment. This paper provides such an overview, drawing on research we conducted about corporate consulting that featured a content analysis of articles published in the The New York Times between 1978 and 2011. After describing the historical background of corporate consulting in the United States, we report on this study, summarizing its method and findings. We then discuss what our findings suggest for consultancies of all sizes that are competing in the corporate market, including consulting psychologists.