Chapter 10: Bringing Socio-Economic Intervention to the United States: The Able Plastics Case

The chapter is based on the first consulting engagement performed by the collective faculty of the Institute for Management Consulting (IMC) at Central Michigan University (CMU). The IMC was developed to administer the management consulting concentration in the master of business administration (MBA) program that employees the SEAM methodology and philosophy. Prior to launching the new program, the CMU faculty team had received training in the SEAM methodology (Savall, 1974, 1975, 2003a, 2003b) from the Institute for Socio-Economic Research in Organizations (ISEOR) at the University of Lyon.

A CMU consultant had earlier worked with the Able Plastics Company, which subsequently indicated its interest in working with the CMU consulting faculty using the SEAM methodology. Able Plastics wanted to expand its operations and realized that the company would have to change the way it was managed if it was to be successful in its expansion plans. The management team at Able Plastics felt that a SEAM intervention would be an ideal mechanism to provide them with a thorough assessment of the company by outside consultants. In turn, the intervention would also provide the IMC faculty with an opportunity to systematically apply the SEAM methodology.