Date: 2026-06-01

Level: Master thesis in Business Administration, 30 credits

Institution: Department of Business and Mathematics, Mälardalen University

Authors: Kristian Dabeski (02/02/24) Ricardo El Alam (01/03/17)    

Title: Reconfiguring Management Consulting:  A Case Study on Management                                                   Consultants’ Experiences of GenAI

Supervisor: Emre Yildiz

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI (GenAI), Management Consulting,                                                 Human-AI Collaboration, Automation, Augmentation

Research question: How is Human–AI collaboration enacted in management consulting, and how has it reshaped management consultants’ work structures?

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the integration of GenAI influences everyday work practices of management consultants’. Specifically, the study                                                   aims to develop a practice-based understanding of how consultants experience                                                  and incorporate GenAI into their daily work and how this affects Human-AI                                                   collaboration and work structures                                     

Method: This study adopts subjectivist ontological stance and interpretivist                                                 epistemological stance philosophy with an inductive research approach. A                                                   qualitative single case study was conducted within a management consulting                                                  firm. Empirical data was collected through twelve semi-structure interviews                                                   with management consultants and analysed using thematic analysis

Conclusion: The findings show that GenAI has become integrated into consultants’ everyday work practices as a practical co-worker that supports task execution and                                                    efficiency. Rather than fully automating consulting work, GenAI primarily                                                 augments consultants’ capabilities while increasing the importance of human                                                    judgment and contextual understanding. The study further demonstrates that                                                 Human-AI collaboration reshapes work structures when new forms of work is                                                  created characterized by increased validation practices, changing collaboration                                                  patterns, individualization of work and emerging competence demands within                                                    management consulting