VU Knowledge Hub for Consulting and Professional Service Firms is part of the research group Organisational Theory at the Department of Management & Organisation.
Mission and Vision of VU Knowledge Hub for Consulting and Professional Service Firms
Mission
The Hub is one of the larger academic groups worldwide with a focus on consulting and professional service firms (PSF). In our teaching we prepare students for a role as junior consultants with a broad and open mind. In our research we focus on the roles and responsibility of professions in our society, and aim to better understand the challenges they and their clients face, be it digitalization, work pressures, diversity, or sustainable innovations. In our valorisation projects we aim at helping professional service firms in coping with these challenges.
Vision
Members of the Hub hold theoretical backgrounds in organisation theory, strategy, economics, business ethics, organizational behaviour, organizational development and change. As a group we are thus characterized by a multidisciplinary focus in our research. In our teaching and in valorisation projects we have a strong orientation towards combining theoretical and practice-based knowledge. Methods that we mostly draw upon include interview studies, case studies, action research and discourse analysis, and if possible we also conduct quantitative studies. Our approach aims to be developmental, critical and thought provoking, for instance by challenging general theories when applied in the specific context of consulting, or related professional services.
Team of VU Knowledge Hub for Consulting and Professional Service Firms
The VU Knowledge Hub for Consulting and Professional Service Firms is known for its engagement in management consulting research and practice. Many of the Center’s members have worked as consultants before turning to academia, and some still do. View our team here.