Hybrid bureaucracies? Control and autonomy in small consultancy firms

Sammanfattning: This research proposal outlines a plan for a 4 year multiple case study on the degree of bureaucracy and the type of control and autonomy in small partnership-based consultancy firms. These areas are particular interesting in relation to discussions of bureaucratic hybrids - most notably those of soft- and post-bureaucracies - where a literature review shows that there are empirical and theoretical discrepancies related to these ideas. As such more studies are needed and, it is argued, particular in small consultancy firms as these, by some, are seen as the ideal-types of the post-bureaucratic ideal.