Examines the pragmatic efficacy of a the diagrammatic presentation of managerial problems in a consultancy slideshow through an ethnographic analysis of a consultancy mission, and discusses findings in the light of a pragmatist approach.

Sketches a pragmatist model of authority by studying the case of a consultant faced with the issue of establishing his authority in the actual context of a consulting assignment, and showing how the consultant invokes various “figures” that lend weight to his actions.