Management consultants are the problem, not the solution

MONTREAL—When I was a young boy, my brother and I would while away the summer days in Kamouraska by skipping rocks along the surface of the Saint Lawrence River. The shale along the beach offered perfect flat rocks for skipping. We would marvel as the rocks skipped 10, 20, or more times when the river was calm, barely touching its surface until they disappeared. I was reminded of that childhood idyll when I read an article in The Atlantic magazine, “How McKinsey Destroyed the Middle Class,” which has as its main thesis that “management consultants at the epicenter of economic inequality and the destruction of the American middle class.” The article takes aim at McKinsey, whose global managing partner from 2008 to 2019 was Dominic Barton, our current Ambassador to China. It points out that in the 20th century, most managers rose from the lower ranks into the executive suites. Training junior managers became a mantra at many companies, and they rose within, so the phrase “from the mailroom to the corner office” was not a myth. In Canada, for example the fearsome boss of the CPR, N.R. “Buck” Crump, rose from the machine shop to CEO. The value of middle managers showed in the bottom line as well: compensation for senior executives rose much slower than for those in the middle. Economist John Kenneth Galbraith suggested that was where the real power lay, as they were the gatekeepers of information between labour and top management. Then, along came management consultants in the 1970s, who skipped from one company to the next. They advised that training and promotion from within were a drag on a company’s bottom line, and for every “problem” there was a “solution.” As profits and shareholder value became gospel, there were ways to “cut the fat”: middle managers were expendable, loyalty and lifetime employment were abandoned, upper management took on more decision-making, and management consultants filled the void. There was also a move to contracting out, which meant employees became “contractors” who were not on the books as full time—and didn’t receive benefits or pensions. Meanwhile, executive compensation skyrocketed. As stock markets fell into the thrall of computers, daily, weekly, and quarterly earnings mattered more than annual results. Many management consultants are generalists, who are assigned to companies for a short time, study them, and make recommendations. As a reporter, my job was often to speak to experts, learn about a subject on the fly, and try to explain the intricacies of complex issues. However, I was not being asked to replicate the role of CEO or deputy minister. And this is where the cautionary tale of consultants in the private sector comes to roost in government. In the past 20 years, consultants have either advised or taken over senior positions in government, with calamitous results. I recall one “brilliant” deputy at Global Affairs who was so insistent on data, he preferred our trade commissioners abroad spend more time reporting their activities than actually selling or signing contracts. He has now gone on to other departments, like a management consultant in charge. The lower ranks have felt the impact, too: for many of the young officers I knew at Global Affairs, life was one hellish experience of one-year contracts without benefits, holidays, or pensions. Meanwhile, senior managers had to follow an “unwritten rule” and become associate deputies (one of the worst jobs in government) at another department, before aspiring to be deputies. So most of the best and brightest at Global Affairs took plum diplomatic postings and then retired. The result: no francophone senior managers, and few deputies who have worked abroad. Across the board, this “hollowing out” of the public sector is too clever by half. It’s resulted in the centralization of management in the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council Office, a lack of institutional memory, ridiculous fads like “deliverology” and disasters like Phoenix. It is a recipe for low morale. Like the boy who saw the emperor as naked, it is time for a tough, substantive reassessment of the operations of the federal government. It is long overdue: the last time was the Glassco Commission on Government Organization in 1960. But whatever is done, they shouldn’t hire management consultants to provide the advice. Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a principal of QIT Canada. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com. The Hill Times

Civil Circles

Management consultants are the problem, not the solution

In the past 20 years, consultants have either advised or taken over senior positions in government, with calamitous results.

Canada’s aging crisis and a call for reform in eldercare

As COP29 wraps up, will Canada finally stop funding fossils this fall?

Addressing the threat of antimicrobial resistance

The wisdom of Homer Simpson and Aaron Sorkin

Climate finance should target resilient food systems

Trump’s ‘America First’ plans may undermine global trade

MPs to probe Global Affairs contracts after internal audit finds one-quarter broke the rules

PSPC deputy minister challenges the procurement watchdog’s ‘favouritism’ findings in McKinsey contracts

‘Under-the-surface favouritism’: Procurement watchdog finds no evidence of political meddling in McKinsey contracts

Feds changed procurement strategies to favour McKinsey, says procurement watchdog

OGGO takes centre stage as top committee arena for uncovering ‘scandals’ and ‘bombshells’

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Get free news updates

Submit a guest opinion article

Civil Circles

Management consultants are the problem, not the solution

In the past 20 years, consultants have either advised or taken over senior positions in government, with calamitous results.

Get The Foreign Policy Newsletter