Katzenbach Partners was a small American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 management consulting

Management consulting

Management consulting indicates both the industry and practice of helping organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and development of plans for improvement....

 firm. In 2009 it became a part of the global management consulting firm Booz & Co..

Katzenbach Partners was founded in 1998 by former McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...

 employee Jon Katzenbach

Jon Katzenbach

Jon R. Katzenbach is a published author and consultant who is best known for his work on the informal organization.Katzenbach is a senior partner in the New York office of Booz & Company. Previously, he a founder of Katzenbach Partners LLC, a firm specializing in organization, leadership,...

.. At its largest, the firm employed over 150 consultants in four offices (New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Houston, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and San Francisco).

The firm's most notable contributions were at the intersection of strategy and organizational performance theory, with significant research dedicated to social networks within companies, the importance of the informal organization

Informal organization

The informal organization is the interlocking social structure that governs how people work together in practice. It is the aggregate of behaviors, interactions, norms, personal and professional connections through which work gets done and relationships are built among people who share a common...

, and the Empathy Engine.

Press Coverage

• In 2007, Fortune Magazine published a feature titled "The Hidden Workplace" that showcased Katzenbach Partners' methodology for mapping and understanding the informal networks that exist within corporations and organizations.
• In 2007, a survey of more than 3,600 consultants performed by career information site Vault, Katzenbach Partners ranked as one of the "Top 50 Most Prestigious Firms" (#18), one of the "20 Best Firms to Work For" (#15) and one of the "Best 20 For Diversity" (#3)
• In 2006, a Financial Times
  Financial Times
  The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
  
   article titled "China's Unique Generation" detailed a 20-year study initiated by Katzenbach Partners entitled "China 2024: A New Generation of Leaders," which seeks to track the personal and professional lives of 110 Chinese MBA students who received their degrees in 2004.
• In 2005, A Fast Company
  Fast Company (magazine)
  Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
  
  article titled "Consultant, Heal Thyself" described the creation of Katzenbach Partners as "a quiet experiment unfolding in the realm of organization building."
• In 2004, Consulting Magazine selected Katzenbach Partners as one of its "Seven Small Jewels," an annual listing of firms with 200 or less employees "that have distinguished themselves inside the consulting marketplace through any number of innovative approaches, whether they be related to recruiting, client service or thought leadership."