Disentangling the effects of team competences, team adaptability, and client communication on the performance of management consulting teams

Journal
Long range planning  
Volume
46
Issue
3
Start Page
258
End Page
286
Citation
Long Range Planning 46 (3): 258-286 (2013-06-01)
Publisher DOI
10.1016/j.lrp.2013.03.001
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84879838718
Management consulting firms play a crucial role in companies' strategic and organizational activities. In business practice, however, they are often criticized for providing inferior solutions due to the deficiencies in the client-consultant interactions. In this paper, we study the effects of team competences and team processes on the performance of consulting teams. We specifically examine processes related to consulting teams' interaction with their clients; i.e., the communication with their clients during the project and teams' adaptability to their task. Our analysis shows that the relationship between consulting teams' competences and their performance is sequentially mediated - first, by client communication; and second, by team adaptability. The results of this study contribute to research on teams in organizations, and consulting teams in particular, by disentangling the complex influences of team competences and team processes on team performance.
DDC Class
000: Allgemeines, Wissenschaft