About Me

Prof. Joe O’Mahoney

Books | Published Papers

Joe is a leading authority on the consulting industry and a consultant to boutiques and small consulting firms. His research on the profession has won several prestigious awards and publications, and resulted in leadership of high-profile government-funded research into the profession. Joe’s textbook on Management Consulting (published by Oxford University Press) was the best-selling in Europe and his academic research has been published in the top international journals. His most recent, evidence-based book on growing consulting firms in the digital age (published by Routledge) is the ‘go to’ growth text for CEOs and Managing Partners all over the world.

Joe also practices what he preaches: he has been a corporate consultant, an internal consultant and a solo consultant. He has spent fifteen years providing advisory services to small consulting firms on growth and, in 2007 sold his own company, StayMobile Technology Ltd. In addition to his private practice, he is the founder of Repair Café Wales CIC and Consulting Mastered Ltd.

Joe has taught and coached over 2,000 executives and MBA students about management consultancy and helped hundreds of students gain places at leading consulting firms. Joe’s work has been recognised by awards from the British Academy of Management, the Centre for Consulting Excellence, the ESRC and several University prizes. Joe studied History at Oxford University and obtained his PhD and MSc at Warwick University. He lives with in Cardiff with his wife, Hannah, and two sons.

BOOKS

O’Mahoney, J. (2021) Growth

Joe’s most recent book is based on over 70 interviews with founders that grew and sold their firms. It provides evidence-based advice for growing consultancies and argues that much existing guidance from ‘internet gurus’ is misplaced.

O’Mahoney, J. (2013) Management Consulting

Joe’s first book, with Oxford University Press, was the best-selling textbook on consulting in Europe. Based on his award-winning courses at Cardiff University, it became the recommended text for consulting courses across the world.

Edwards, E., O’Mahoney, J., and Vincent, S. (2015) Studying Organisations Using Critical Realism

This book is a push-back against post-structural approaches to management studies, arguing that there is more to the world than language and identity politics (post-structuralism) or mere data points (positivism).

Book Reviews

PUBLISHED PAPERS

Joe’s research on the consulting industry has been published in many of the top management journals. He is especially interested in the creation, transfer and translation of knowledge in consulting work and its social and political impact. Joe also writes on philosophy – for a full list of these publications please visit here.

Mavridopoulou, I. and O’Mahoney, J. 2020. Elitism in strategy consulting. Management Consulting Journal 5, pp. 6-10.

Sturdy, A. and O’Mahoney, J. 2019. Just how global is management consulting?. Management Consulting Journal

Sturdy, A. and O’Mahoney, J. 2018. National Drivers of Management Consulting use – a note on new research. Management Consulting Journal 2, pp. 6.

Sturdy, A. and O’Mahoney, J. 2018. Explaining national variation in the use of management consulting knowledge: a framework. Management Learning 49(5), pp. 537-558.

Visscher, K., Heusinkveld, S. and O’Mahoney, J. 2018. Bricolage and identity work. British Journal of Management 29(2), pp. 356-372.

O’Mahoney, J. 2016. Archetypes of translation: recommendations for dialogue. International Journal of Management Reviews 18(3), pp. 333-350.

O’Mahoney, J. and Sturdy, A. 2016. Power and the diffusion of management ideas: the case of McKinsey & Co. Management Learning 47(3), pp. 247-265.

O’Mahoney, J. 2016. Management consultancy. In: Wilkinson, A. and Johnstone, S. eds. Encyclopedia of Human Resource Management. Cheltenham: Elgar, pp. 99-100.

O’Mahoney, J. 2013. Management innovation in the UK consulting industry. In: Haynes, K. and Grugulis, I. eds. Managing Services: Challenges and Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 83-104.

Radnor, Z. J. and O’Mahoney, J. 2013. The role of management consultancy in implementing operations management in the public sector. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 33(11/12), pp. 1555-1578.

O’Mahoney, J., Heusinkveld, S. and Wright, C. 2013. Commodifying the commodifiers: the impact of procurement on management knowledge. Journal of Management Studies 50(2), pp. 204-235.

Cuimara, T. and O’Mahoney, J. 2012. The environmental contingencies of knowledge dissemination: the case of consultancies in international development. Revista Economică: Journal of Economic-Financial Theory and Practice 4-5(63), pp. 172-187.

O’Mahoney, J. 2011. Management Innovation in the UK Consulting Industry. Technical Report for Chartered Management Institute.

O’Mahoney, J. 2011. Advisory anxieties: ethical individualisation in the UK consulting industry. Journal of Business Ethics 104(1), pp. 101-113. (10.1007/s10551-011-0892-z)

O’Mahoney, J. and Adams, R. 2011. Critically exploring business engagement in academia: the case of the UK consulting industry. In: Buono, A. F. et al. eds. The Changing Paradigm of Consulting: Adjusting to the Fast-Paced World. Research in Management Consulting Vol. 13. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, pp. 259-278.

O’Mahoney, J. 2007. The diffusion of management innovations: the possibilities and limitations of memetics. Journal of Management Studies 44(8), pp. 1324-1348. (10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00734.x)

O’Mahoney, J. 2007. Constructing habitus: the negotiation of moral encounters at Telekom. Work Employment & Society 21(3), pp. 479-496. (10.1177/0950017007080009)

O’Mahoney, J. 2007. Disrupting identity: trust and angst in management consulting. In: Bolton, S. C. and Houlihan, M. eds. Searching for the Human in Human Resource Management: Theory, Practice and Workplace Contexts. Management, Work and Organisations Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 281-302.

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