The Management Consultant: Fewer People, More Synergy

The management consultant looks at two functioning departments and immediately identifies the problem: they both exist. With the calm authority of someone whose core skill is turning cost centres into coloured rectangles, he explains the benefits of consolidation. All the arrows on his slides point upwards. He prefers not to show the people on his slides.

After that, everything moves very fast. Responsibilities are "reimagined", roles are "bundled", and those who remain are invited to a workshop on embracing change, facilitated by an agency the company calls a "partner".

Synergy is when one plus one equals two and somebody still has to go.

The consultant himself leaves in good time, before the consequences become measurable. At the next client he explains with undiminished enthusiasm why their organisation is sadly no longer fit for the future. He barely has to change the deck. Just the logo.