PSA policy advisor Grace Millar reviews The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantalizes our Governments and Warps our Economies, by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington
In 2007, Stockholm’s hospital was incredibly rundown. The Stockholm County Assembly (who ran the health system) commissioned two consulting companies to write reports on whether private firms should be involved in building the new hospital.
Unsurprisingly, both firms wrote reports claiming that private involvement with a public hospital would maximise innovation and minimise costs. Consultancy firms have been used to both build and maintain the hospital and it will end up costing five times what it was originally budgeted for. One reason for that is the costs of management consultants skyrocketed. The dynamic whereby consultants make recommendations of the value of the private sector that don’t end up eventuating will be very familiar to many PSA members.
In their very readable book, Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that this outcome was not unusual. This book details a lot of outrageous cases, explaining contractor’s role in the Enron scandal, the UK’s disastrous response to the pandemic, and disenfranchising the people of Puerto Rico. It also demonstrates how damaging the everyday, non-scandalous, non-corrupt practices of consulting firms can be.
One of the recurring themes in the book is the contempt consultants (and the people who hire them) have for the knowledge and experienced gained by workers, particularly by workers in the public sector. The book is full of stories of consultants who come in and do not understand the work that is done. It shows how they miss key pieces of information, provide shallow analysis and unworkable solutions. Muzzucato and Collington argue that organisations learn by doing things – and that bringing in consultants ignores what workers already know. It deprives workers and the organisations they work in, the ability to learn more.
By tracing the growth of consultancy firms over the last few decades, the authors show that the current situation is the result of decisions governments have made. The most powerful argument they make is that there is an alternative. The book concludes with an outline of four simple but powerful steps governments could take to reclaim their power and ability to act.
If New Zealand is going to be prepared for the future that’s coming at us, then we need a strong public service, where workers are trusted to solve the problems. This book outlines how to get there.
Giveaway
Would you like to read this book? We have 3 copies to give away
Simply email us at communications@psa.org.nz with the title book give away, we will draw a winner on 14 October