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RESEARCH ON CONSULTING — WITH, FOR OR AGAINST PRACTICE? Alvesson", Küh! or von Amelnÿ, is that consulting fulfils many latent functions for an organisation but when it comes to matters of expediency; it is completely insignificant whether or not what is provided is scientifically sound. Currently the movement seems to be more about the joining and fusing of single formats, as shown by the discussion about fluent transitions between expert and process consulting®. Rappe-Giesecke!° describes the “Sowohl-alsauch” (“both this and that”) approach to consulting and instruction which is indicated in various fields of consulting. Even the separation of life coaching on the one hand and business coaching on the other, which had always been artificial at best, cannot in general be maintained. Fluent transitions between consulting formats and consulting methods are what determine the current discourse. It is these transitions which may include the most interesting aspects. For consulting research, this means letting go of an ostensible safety net in this most complex of endeavours. We must be careful not to get confused by this transformed complexity and, in a rescue attempt — understood as a necessary reaction — act in a haphazard manner, following the motto “anything goes” or to work with out-dated clichés. THE CURRENT STATE OF CONSULTING RESEARCH Scherf! suggests the use of what he himself admits to be a rough and simplified structure on the different consulting literature. He distinguishes four different groups of consulting literature. First of all he mentions the category “articles by consultants”. This group features practical guidebooks, texts from practice for practice and also case descriptions, which give a templated image of consulting processes by means of known project phases and put particular emphasis on the success of the work performed. “The authors of these articles do not concern themselves with ° M. Alvesson — D. Karreman, Unraveling HRM: Identity, Ceremony, and Consulting in a Management Consulting Firm, Organization Science, 18 (4) (2007) 711-723. S. Kühl, Coaching und Supervision: Zur personenorientierten Beratung in Organisationen, Wiesbaden, VS Verlag fiir Sozialwissenschaften, 2008. F. v. Ameln, Latente Funktionen von Organisationsberatung — Beratungswissenschaftliche Perspektive, in Haubl, R. - Möller, H. — Schiersmann, C., (ed.), Positionen, Beiträge zur Beratung in der Arbeitswelt, Kassel, Kassel University Press, 2014/1. R. Königswieser (ed.), Komplementärberatung, Das Zusammenspiel von Fach- und ProzeßKnow-how, Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta, 2006. 10 K. Rappe-Giesecke, Karriereberatung, Bergisch-Gladbach, EHP, 2008. M. Scherf, Strukturen der Organisationsberatungsinteraktion, Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010.
