Intangible, invisible, undiscussable

The recommendations of consultants are intangibles expressed verbally, but also made tangible through writing and thus may be visually visible, through reports and presentation slides for example.

However, the uptake of such recommendations may be less visible and therefore less discussable. For example, a recommendation whose implementation impacts the public requires or may elicit public consultation and accountability for the effectiveness and value of the consultancy project. However, a recommendation whose impact is internal to the organisation is less visible, and therefore may not be discussed in a public forum. Such an example might be recommendations for internal management restructuring or deployment of vehicles.

Also someone decides which of these recommendations are open to discussion; someone has the decision making power. Yet there are undiscussable issues, which, by definition, are not available as examples.

All these issues lead to my current research interest, the intangibility of consultancy work in the public sector.

Does this sound sensible? I think I'm going to read up on Foucault, power, institutional logics, as well as accountability and consultants. Chris Argyris wrote on the undiscussable in organisations, and organisation is a huge area to study.