Department chair announced as new editor for management consulting book series

KALAMAZOO, Mich.— Information Age Publishing recently announced Dr. David Szabla, chair of the Department of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology, and Unit Lead for the MA and PhD in Organizational Change Leadership, as the new editor of the "Research in Management Consulting" book series. He was invited as series editor because of his long tenure with the Academy of Management and his experience in the fields of Management Consulting and Organizational Development and Change, both academically and professionally.

Founded by Dr. Anthony Buono, professor emeritus at Bentley University, the "Research in Management Consulting" book series connects scholars and professionals in the management consulting field to explore the research and practice of management consulting. Buono found the series necessary as he saw a rapidly growing dependence by organizations to have external and internal consultants. Together with authors, like Szabla, the RMC series has produced 27 volumes over the past 19 years to promote the work of those studying or active consulting in the field.

As the new editor Szabla plans to stay the course with the series while introducing new trends. The first two books led by Szabla (see below) explore  the digital transformation occurring across organizations.

• Management Consulting in the Era of the Digital Organization (David Szabla, Western Michigan University): This volume, edited by Szabla, focuses on the latest discussions of efforts to understand consulting in organizations amplified by the fusion of technologies across physical, digital, and biological worlds. The volume also brings to light a movement from human supervised artificial intelligence systems to fully autonomous artificial intelligence systems that have the potential to demonstrate intelligence beyond human capabilities.

• Digital Transformation, Organizational Challenges and Management Transformation Methods (Emmanuel Monod, Paris-Dauphine University; Yuewei Jiang, UCMT): This volume (of which Szabla is the series editor) focuses on evaluating the potential performance improvements and risks of digital transformation and explores ways to assess how technology may support work and organizational goals. Developed by both academics and practitioners, this book has been written for all managers in companies and institutions to help them achieve digital transformation success. 

Szabla is currently working on a new volume for the series titled, "Unleashing the Potential of the Internal Consultancy: Navigating Future Trends and Transformative Insights." He will be co-authoring this volume with Dr. Tova Sanders, a new Associate Professor of Organizational Change Leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology. The volume will focus on research being conducted about the emerging role of the internal consultancy highlighting the transformative power of artificial intelligence.

"As the ever-evolving landscape of work and technology reshapes the organizational paradigm, the future of internal consultancy shines with unparalleled promise," says Szabla.  

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