Academic development for careers in management consulting

Explores the extent to which academic offerings are serving the consulting industry and identifies ways that academia can help. The numbers of management consulting courses, field experiences in consulting and consulting concentrations by graduate business schools were tracked over a three-year period to assess the current state of offerings. A survey of members of the Academy of Management's Management Consulting Division was conducted to gather perceived developmental needs for career stages and types of consulting. Proposes the potential future of courses in management consulting. Provides suggestions for course offerings to meet developmental needs by career stages of consultants that are currently being overlooked. Offers practical advice to academia to serve the consulting industry better and ideas for the consulting industry to consider in the ongoing development of consultants. Encourages managers who engage consultants to demand better educated consultants. Further research is needed to investigate the developmental needs of internal consultants and the apparent resistance of the consulting industry to turn to academia as a resource.