2.6Internal consultants

An internal consulting unit is one that is established within an organization – a business corporation, a public utility, a government ministry or department – to provide consulting services to other units of the same organization. Definitions and delimitations are not very precise. These services are given many different names, but the term “management services” prevails. They can be found at different places in the organizational structure. Some of them are consulting services in the full sense of the term – they have a mandate to intervene in an advisory capacity at the request of a senior manager, or a unit manager within the organization. In other cases, consulting is only one of the functions, and the units concerned are also responsible for internal audit, accounting and information systems, records and reporting procedures, organizational circulars, staff development or other similar functions.

The current trend

Internal management consulting services have become common in large businesses; these units are staffed by specialists and generalists, some of whom may have had experience with external management consulting or accounting firms. The same trend can be observed in government administrations. Total numbers of internal consultants are not known, but most probably they are large. After some hesitation, professional bodies of consultants have started recognizing internal consultants. Already in 1976, the Institute of Management Consultants in the United Kingdom agreed that the term independent practice “shall include consultants engaged as in-house consultants who meet the required standards of knowledge, experience and competence and are free at all times to offer objective and independent advice”.

The critics

There are many critics of internal consulting. The main criticism comes from some large consulting firms, which contend that internal consulting can be a