Project management as a promising type of management consulting. Thesis: Management Consulting
Lecture notes
by discipline
"Fundamentals of Management Consulting"
for students of the specialty
Organisation management"
Moscow, 2008
Topic 1 The essence and content of management consulting
Basic concepts and definitions. Goals, objectives, approaches to management consulting. Features and principles of management consulting. History of management consulting. Management consulting in Russia.
1. Basic concepts and definitions.
Goals, objectives, approaches to management consulting.
There are two main approaches to counseling: functional and professional.
functional approach
This approach views management consulting as any form of assistance with regard to the content, process, or structure of a task or series of tasks, in which the consultant is not responsible for the task itself, but assists those who are. That is, the consultant is an assistant, and admits that such assistance can be provided by persons performing a wide variety of work.
Professional approach
This approach considers counseling as a special professional service. Management consulting is a contracted advisory service that provides services to organizations through specially trained and qualified individuals with professional knowledge and skills who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving these problems and assist in necessary, implementation of decisions.
These two approaches complement each other. Management consulting can be seen as either a professional service providing professional knowledge and skills relating to practical management issues; or as a method of providing practical advice and assistance to help organizations and leaders improve management practices and improve individual and organizational performance.
Target counseling can be formulated as follows: to help other people solve problems and see all possibilities more clearly.
Giving advice to people means entering into an interpersonal relationship that completely captures its participants.. In providing its services, the consultant pursues the following goals:
Help the other person to solve problems more skillfully;
Help the other person relieve tension and frustration that hides important questions or facts;
To help the other person take responsibility for their own lives and be proactive in achieving rewarded outcomes.
Counseling involves:
Intention to devote time, attention, to provide their experience to help another person;
Not developing answers to questions, but providing assistance in solving problems;
Providing comprehensive assistance, as a solution to the problem is required;
That's why, consulting can be characterized as assistance to company managers in the development of complex and systemic solutions to problems related to the organization of management of complex systems in various fields of activity.
task management consulting is the provision by the consultant to the client of certain tools, methods for organizational diagnostics of the state of the enterprise, solving the problems identified during it, and developing a strategic plan for the development of the organization. The consultant, by providing his skills in organizational diagnosis, strategy, planning, coordination, information systems and other issues, acquaints the client with organizational processes and relationships and helps him determine and implement the appropriate strategy; helps to acquire special knowledge (for example, in the field of situation analysis, economic forecasting), to master the methods used in identifying problems and implementing changes (training counseling).
Counseling should:
Persons trained and with specialist knowledge in areas related to the type of business of the enterprise (eg financial control, accounting systems, marketing, production management).
Experienced managers who have previously worked on solving various problems.
Persons with good connections with potential investors or consumers.
Reasons for contacting a consultant
Types of consulting organizations.
Classification of consultants by specialization.
Topic 3. Model of professional competence of a consultant. Types and forms of counseling. - 2 hours.
Model of professional competence of a consultant. External and internal consultants. Expert advice. Process consulting (consulting on the process). Educational consulting.
Consultant competency model
Expert advice
Process consulting (process consulting)
Educational consulting
There is a classic division of consultants into external and internal.
External consultant. The profession of a consultant involves the possession of two basic skills. The first of these is the ability to conduct an analysis, the second is the ability to develop recommendations based on this analysis, which will then be implemented in the company. The involvement of consultants from outside gives the enterprise the opportunity to get new ideas as a result of a fresh look at the problems. In addition, with the help of consultants, you can strengthen the analytical departments of enterprises or even entrust them with the temporary management of analytical work. A good external consultant is a good analyst, which has a number of significant advantages.
Benefits of an external consultant
1. Availability of a methodological base that provides a systematic approach to analytical work; possession of a methodology that allows to make the analysis comprehensive, highlighting the most significant issues for the company; ability to identify key customer issues. This makes it possible to make the development of the enterprise the most efficient and fast, achieving tangible success in a shorter period of time.
2. Impartiality of analysis as a consequence of an outside view: the consultant does not depend on the head of the enterprise and is not subordinate to him. He seeks to give an objective assessment of the situation, rather than trying to please anyone in the organization.
3. Great experience in carrying out analytical work at various facilities related not only to this industry, but also to related industries.
4. The ability not only to describe what is happening, but also to make recommendations, moreover, they must be such that the client can actually fulfill them. Thus, the consultant's analytical work is always practically oriented.
5. Possession of a large amount of preliminary information for analytical work in a certain area. It is especially important for the consultant to have information on the company's strategy, marketing research, etc., as well as developments in this area, which can accelerate the implementation of a consulting project..
Expert advice
With expert advice, the consultant independently carries out diagnostics, development of solutions and recommendations for their implementation. The role of the client is mainly to ensure that the consultant has access to the necessary and sufficient information in assessing the results.
Expert advice has the following traits:
Oral consultations in the "question-answer" mode.
Oral consultations in the form of a discussion, discussion of problems, their causes, possible measures to eliminate them.
Written responses to questions.
Written analytical reviews of literature, normative documents, practice.
Express analysis of the situation, determination of areas of intervention (observations, interviews, written surveys and questionnaires, study of documents, discussion on issues, etc.).
In-depth analysis of the situation, identification of the true, underlying causes of the difficulties of the enterprise (selection of evaluation criteria and development of evaluation scales and standards, special research programs, formation of respondent and expert groups, use of special diagnostic tools, model design).
Structuring of tasks, search for solutions, analysis of alternatives, development of recommendations, expert assessments and conclusions).
With expert advice, the success of a project is determined by the following three factors:
expert qualification;
the ability of the client to use the recommendations received;
In the absence of the second and third factors, even the highest expert qualification of the consultant will not be able to make the project successful.
Educational consulting
In training consulting, the consultant not only collects ideas, analyzes solutions, but also prepares the ground for their emergence, providing the client with relevant theoretical and practical information in the form of lectures, seminars, trainings, business games, teaching aids, specific situations ("cases" ) etc. The role of the client is to form a request for training, a conscious choice of goals, programs and forms of training, study groups.
Educational counseling has the following features:
Standard program (the client chooses seminars, business games, etc. from the list proposed by the consultant).
Specially adapted program (problems are determined by the enterprise, the consultant develops the program and chooses the form of training events).
Specially formed group (the consultant conducts special events to form a study group, develops requirements for study group participants and conducts selection using special methods such as questionnaires, interviews, business games, analysis of personal files, etc.)
Preparation of participants for group work (in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of training activities, especially those aimed at solving practical business problems, and related to the discussion and search for solutions, the consultant conducts trainings to develop communication skills, collective decision-making skills).
Training in methods and tools for solving problems (the task of the consultant is to transfer the skills and abilities to use their own tools and technologies to the company's specialists in such a way that, in his absence, they can independently solve problems of the same level of complexity).
Full immersion of the participants in the problematics (carried out in order for the study group to master the minimum required amount of information in the shortest possible time, solve the tasks or develop the necessary
dim decisions; usually ends with a preliminary design of any changes and innovations).
Educational consulting can be seen as a form of introducing knowledge into economic activity, an alternative to such a traditional form as training. The advantage of counseling is its concrete-individual, "piece" approach. At the same time, the knowledge possessed by consultants is transformed in such a way as to solve the specific problems of a particular enterprise. When teaching knowledge in the field of management, economics, law, etc. are transferred to managers in a general form and then they are already applied by them in practice.
The positive aspects of both ways of transferring knowledge are combined in training and process consulting.
3. Task plan
Offers to the client
Preliminary diagnosis of the problem
To be able to begin the assignment, the consultant must know exactly what the client expects of him. During the first meetings, the consultant encourages him to talk as much as possible about his personal perception of the problem to be solved. However, there is no guarantee that the client correctly understands and describes the problem and provides the consultant with complete and impartial information. Before you start planning a task and suggesting any activities, it is worth conducting your own independent assessment of the problem. An experienced consultant begins this work with a meeting with the client. He is interested in everything:
Who contacted him and how;
How it is received during the first meeting;
What questions are asked;
Do they have any subtext;
What does the client say about their competitors;
Is he loose or tight, etc.
However, there comes a time when the consultant must sort through this information, select the main data and complete the picture that he already has by looking at the problem from a new angle.
The purpose of the preliminary diagnosis of the problem- identify and plan the required advisory task or project. The preliminary diagnosis is limited to the rapid collection and analysis of essential information, which, based on the opinion and experience of the consultant, is necessary in order to correctly understand the problem, i.e. evaluate it realistically. The amount of preliminary diagnosis depends on the nature of the problem. Very specific technical problems usually do not require a thorough investigation of the entire client organization. If a consultant is called upon to solve a common problem, such as declining financial results or an inability to innovate at the same rate as competitors, then a general and detailed diagnosis or study of the client's organization is needed.
Mistaking symptoms for problems is the most common mistake (eg, reduced sales, lack of innovative ideas in R&D, absenteeism). It is bad when managers and consultants “know what the reasons should be” in advance, do not bother to collect and analyze facts. Looking at the problem from only one technical point of view happens if the diagnosis is made by a highly qualified manager or consultant with a bias in one technical area (engineering, accounting, psychology) and if the multidisciplinary nature of managerial problems is not taken into account. The consultant sometimes accepts the definition proposed by the top management without having ascertained how lower management personnel view it. Since a provisional diagnosis of a problem must be made quickly, he may be tempted to end this work prematurely and become unaware of other problems that are directly related to the original question presented by the client.
Diagnosis includes the collection and analysis of information on the activities and performance of the client, conversations with individual managers and other key employees, and in some cases with people who do not work in the client organization. The consultant is generally not interested in details, but looks for major trends, relationships and proportions. However, an experienced consultant keeps his eyes open and can sense potential problems behind details that another observer might not see: the way people talk to each other and what they say about each other; respect for hierarchical relationships; cleanliness of workshops and office premises; handling confidential information; courtesy of the secretary, etc. It is important that the view of the organization, its environment, resources, goals, activities be dynamic and comprehensive.
Dynamism in this context means studying the main achievements and developments in the life of the organization and possible future trends, as they are reflected in existing plans and assessed by the consultant himself. Strength and weakness of the client should be considered in time: today's strength may disappear tomorrow, and the latent weakness may ultimately become a threat to the client organization. Even if the problem concerns or may concern one functional area, the consultant must look at the organization comprehensively. How far and how comprehensively is a matter of experience and desire, here it is impossible to give a universal recipe. The goal is to determine what should be done about the problem in an advisory assignment of specific scope and duration.
The method of making a preliminary diagnosis can be different and is selected depending on the situation. It can be recommended that the consultant go from the general to the specific: from general goals and indicators, overall performance to the reasons for below-standard performance, and then to a more detailed study of individual areas of the organization's activities. Moving from the general to the specific helps to limit preliminary diagnostic studies to issues of paramount importance or to reassure the client that the chances of achieving the expected results will be better if the study takes into account all aspects of the enterprise. This approach implies that the consultant in the analysis will pay significant attention to the following:
1) proportions between the main functions and areas of activity;
2) links between costs and output;
3) the relationship between the main indicators of productivity, efficiency and effectiveness;
4) the relationship between performance indicators and the main factors affecting their value positively or negatively.
An important method of preliminary diagnosis is comparison. In the absence of an exhaustive detailed analysis of the data, the consultant needs reference points that can guide him in the preliminary assessment of strengths, weaknesses and desired improvements. It will detect them by comparisons with the following parameters:
1) past achievements (if the performance of the organization has deteriorated and the problem as a whole can be corrected);
2) the client's own plans and standards (if the actual performance does not correspond to them);
3) other comparable organizations (to assess what has been achieved elsewhere and whether this is possible in the client organization);
4) the norms available in the advisory unit or taken from another source of information for comparison between firms.
Comparing carefully selected metrics to industry norms or similar organizations is a very powerful diagnostic tool. It not only helps to quickly navigate, but also allows the client to understand the reality, which can often be very different from his ideas.
Despite certain general rules, senior diagnostic consultants often have personal priorities and specific approaches. Some start by looking at basic financial data, others focus on manufacturing, and still others prefer to study markets, products, and services before moving on to financial valuation and further research. Ultimately, the consultant must explore all the areas and questions necessary for a general diagnosis to put the problem in its true context and perspective.
A successful diagnostic study is based on the rapid collection of information about the nature and extent of assistance that the consultant can provide to the client. This information should be selective. Diagnostic findings are often generic. The main sources of information for the preliminary diagnostic study are the client's published records and reports, advisory unit documentation, counselor's observations and conversations, and contacts outside the client's organization.
Published materials may be published by the client or other interested organization. Client publications typically include: an annual financial and operating report; financial, statistical, trade and customs reports to government bodies, trade associations and credit institutions, as well as economic reviews; promotional materials for sale, such as catalogs and flyers; press releases.
The client's internal documentation and reports contain data about its resources, goals, plans and performance, including:
1) information about the plant and equipment;
2) reports to management on financial results and cost of operations, services and products;
3) sales statistics;
4) production indicators;
5) movement of materials;
6) personnel assessment.
The documentation of the advisory unit contains information about the client, if he applied there not for the first time, and can also serve as a source of information about similar organizations. Observing the activities of the organization and talking to the right people are paramount to gathering information. Contacts with other organizations associated with the client may be established either by the consultant or by the client himself.
3. Task plan
During the initial contact with the client and the preliminary diagnosis of the problem, the consultant must collect and analyze enough information to plan the task.
An essential aspect of the development of advisory task planning is the choice of task execution strategy. By this we mean roles to be played by the consultant and the client, method (and time sequence) of application and harmonization of different methods of intervention on their part, as well as resources assigned to complete the task.
The conclusions drawn on the basis of the preliminary diagnosis are summed up, and the consultant presents his description of the problem, the plan for the implementation of the task, and then outlines the goals and the technical measures necessary to achieve them (reorganization of the information system, unit network, introduction of a new personnel training program, etc.). ). Whenever possible, the objectives should be presented in terms of performance criteria in quantitative terms, describing the benefits that the client will receive if the task is completed successfully. The general financial benefits must also be explained so that he is sure to understand their significance. Social or qualitative benefits can be difficult to quantify. They are described in as much detail and as clearly as possible, intelligibly explaining how to avoid vague concepts that can be interpreted in different ways.
The stages of the task should be programmed in some detail. Basically, the consultant will move through the phases of problem solving or the counseling process. The nature of the actions of the consultant and the client varies depending on the phase. Both parties need to know what the other party expects at each stage.Timeline task completion is a key element of the strategy. What pace of work to choose? First of all, this is determined by the needs of the client, but there are other considerations, for example:
Technical, labor and financial capabilities of the client and consultant;
A feasible and optimal pace of change;
The desirability of a phased approach to completing the task (starting with the department that is most prepared for change and willing to cooperate, introduce a new scheme first experimentally, etc.).
Definition of roles- the strategic element of task planning. The proposed activities should be accurately described, indicating the following:
What actions are performed by the client and which consultant;
Who prepares the data and documentation, in what form;
What meetings, working groups, task forces and group work forms will be used and who will participate in them;
What specific training and awareness activities will be undertaken.
After defining the roles in detail, the consultant can identify resources required to complete the task at each stage, including:
Resources provided by the consultant (consultant time, office supplies, specialized calculations, research work, legal assistance and other services);
Resources provided by the client (management and staff time, communication activities, administrative support, office equipment, testing funds, experimental work, computing operations, etc.).
Offers to the client
In most cases, offers to the client include four sections, which provide all the necessary information:
Technical section - preliminary data received by the consultant; his assessment of the problem; the approach he intends to take; the program of work it proposes;
Staffing section - the names and job profiles of the consultant's staff who will carry out the assignment; senior consultants needed to lead and supervise the work of the group in the client organization;
Section on consultant qualification experience and competence of the consulting organization in connection with the requirements of a particular client;
Financial section - the cost of services, possible increase in cost and contingencies, as well as a schedule and other indicators for paying fees and covering expenses.
Most consultants prefer not to send proposals simply by mail, but to personally hand them to the client at a meeting that begins with a short verbal (and visual, if possible) presentation of a summary of the report. The consultant is available to answer questions regarding the commencement of the proposed assignment. If the client is set up and willing to get started, there are clear benefits to doing so while the enthusiasm is still warm and the contacts made are fresh in people's minds.
The client may be willing to use the consultant's services but not approve of certain aspects of the proposal. Typically, these aspects of the proposal are reviewed and modified if the consultant is unable to modify his approach. Both sides must come to full agreement on how to proceed.
In parallel with the preparation of an offer to the client, the consultant prepares internal secret notes the client organization and the approach to be taken. These notes (sometimes called summary notes) are especially important in large consulting organizations if different professionals are used to plan and complete the assignment. They are not included in the offer to the client.
Fact Analysis
Customer Feedback
Table 1
Preliminary diagnostics
Diagnostics
 |
table 2
Differences between conventional diagnostics and express diagnostics in management consulting
| Stages of conventional diagnostics | Stages of express diagnostics in the form of a business game |
| Collection and processing of preliminary information (2-3 days), analysis of this information (2 days) Decision making on the development of consulting discussion of the results with the first manager (0.5 days) Collection of additional information, decomposition, analysis, forecast of consequences (1-2 days ) Building a tree of problems (1 day) Goal setting, ranking, building a tree of goals (1 day) Development of an action program for the next stage of management consulting (1-2 days) | Group work with a "microphone in a circle", surveys, tests, questionnaires, discussions in groups (2-3 hours) Intergroup discussion with the active participation of leading managers and specialists, conclusions and recommendations (1.5-2.0 hours) Problematization in workers groups, preparing reports, analyzing and ranking problems (3-4 hours) Structuring false and true problems, choosing a general problem (4 hours) Building a tree of problems, a tree of goals by groups and intergroup discussion (4-6 hours) Development of an action program for the next stage of management consulting (1 day) |
The diagnostic stage, as a rule, reveals the difference in positions and views on a particular organizational problem among employees of the enterprise. At this stage in the enterprise, perhaps for the first time, collective positions are formed, often located in different planes. It is important that the content of these positions, previously expressed behind the scenes, is submitted for collective discussion, which allows the authors not only to evaluate their views from reflective positions, but also to get an impulse for further thought activity regarding the development or non-development of this point of view.
All diagnostic work takes place in four stages:
The first is the development of a conceptual basis for the diagnosis, i.e. defining the structure of the problem and deciding on the collection of the necessary evidence;
The second is the identification of the necessary evidence;
The third is the analysis of facts;
Fourth - establishing feedback with the client (including making a report based on the diagnosis).
Fact Analysis
Since the ultimate goal of the consultation process is to bring about change, analysis of the facts should bring us closer to achieving it. It is not yet enough to correctly describe reality; conditions, events and their causes, it is more important to determine what can be done, whether the client has the capacity to do so, and how to guide the entire change process.
There are no clear boundaries between analysis and synthesis. Synthesis in the sense of building a whole out of parts, making decisions based on the analysis of facts and developing proposals for the implementation of actions begins somewhere during the analysis of facts. Analysis of facts gradually turns into synthesis.
Before subjecting the data to the analytical operations described below, they should be edited and carefully selected, while checking their completeness, clarity of records and correctness of their presentation, eliminating or correcting errors. The Consultant should ensure that the same strategies were used in data collection.
The systematization of data begins even before they appear, by establishing criteria for tabulating them. Further systematization and adjustment of its criteria are carried out in the process of revealing the facts and after its completion. Both quantitative and other information should be systematized.
Systematization of data by consultants is carried out according to the following criteria:
By time- indicates trends, rate of change, random and periodic fluctuations;
By place(or organizational units - helps to investigate problems and find solutions related to specific conditions;
By responsibility for facts and events- in many cases, responsibility is not identical with the place (division) where this fact was revealed;
in accordance with the structure of units and processes- materials used, products or plant and equipment can be systematized from different points of view, it is important to determine how changes in constituent elements affect the unit as a whole (actions should be directed to those components that significantly affect the overall results);
By influencing factors- this is a preparatory stage in the functional and causal analysis.
In many cases, simple systematization (according to one criterion) is not sufficient, and then cross-systematization is applied, which includes a combination of two or more variables.
Prepared and systematized data are analyzed to identify relationships, relationships and trends. Depending on the nature of the problem and the purpose of the advisory assignment, the data can be analyzed in different ways. Statistical methods (means, variance, distribution density, correlation and regression) are often used, as well as various other techniques, including mathematical modeling or graphical construction.
Statistical and others methods of quantitative analysis are meaningful only if qualitative associations can be identified. The main task is to establish the existence of a specific relationship between various factors and events described by the data and, if it exists, to study its nature. Whenever possible, the relationship is quantified and expressed as a function (in the mathematical sense of the term) where one or more dependent variables are in specific dependence on one or more independent variables. The goal is to identify and define relationships that are significant and not random.
Often dependencies are expressed and measured using relative values. They help: to determine whether the costs of any kind of activity give an appropriate output, to study whether resources and obligations are correctly balanced; reflect the internal structure of any resource.
Also used method of cause-and-effect analysis, the purpose of which is to identify causal relationships between conditions and events. They provide the key to planning change and improving performance. Some difficulties and shortcomings of causal analysis should be pointed out. Often there are conditions that influence each other, and there is a danger of mistaking the cause for the effect.
When diagnosing entrepreneurial and management problems, consultants are confronted with a chain of cause and effect. Let's say that the consultant has determined that the decline in sales and income is the cause of bad mood in the team. What, then, are the reasons for the bad state of affairs? The reason is found to be the loss of an important overseas market. But why is this market lost? This was due to serious errors in pricing policy. Why were these mistakes made? One should look for the answer to this question, etc. The crux of the matter is how deep you have to go in search of the underlying (or primary) cause. Here, too, one should remember first of all the goal. Often a problem has multiple causes, although one of them may be more important. Often the opposite happens: one condition causes a number of consequences.
Western theorists of management consulting and, in particular, M. Kubr distinguish the following characteristic features of management consulting.
Firstly, unlike other types of consulting, for example, legal, psychological, technical, etc., this type of consulting is aimed at solving problems related to management - production, personnel, finance, etc. And the main clients are managers of different ranks. As Milan Kubr points out, " A person becomes a management consultant when he accumulates ... significant knowledge of various management situations and acquires the skills necessary to: solve problems ... "
Secondly, consultants have only an advisory vote and are not in their power to decide on changes and implement them. In management consulting, as in psychological, the responsibility of the client is emphasized, i.e. it is recognized that an independent, responsible individual is capable of making independent decisions in appropriate circumstances, and the consultant is responsible only for the quality of the recommendations given for making a decision. All responsibility for the consequences of the accepted is borne by the customers.
Consultant skills - according to the same M. Kubra is to give the right advice, in the right way, to the right person at the right time. And the client should learn wisely use the advice of a consultant.
And thirdly, counseling is an independent service. . Since the effectiveness of the consultant's work depends on the objective assessment of the situation in solving the problem, the consultant must be independent and be able to offer objective recommendations on what the client should do, without thinking about how this might affect his own interests. In this case, independence can be:
- financial,
- administrative,
- political,
- emotional.
financial, means that the consultant is not interested in how the client will act. For example, whether he will purchase a certain type of equipment. The desire to do business with the same client in the future should not affect the objectivity of advice given in relation to the current assignment. In other words, the consultant must forget about financial gain when working with a client if it is to the detriment of the client.
administrative, implies that the consultant directly is not subordinate to the client and is not subject to the administrative decisions of the latter. This becomes especially relevant when it comes to internal consultants.
political, means that neither the management of the contracting authority nor its employees can informally influence the consultant through political power and connections, political party membership and similar means of influence.
emotional, meaning that the consultant maintains his aloofness regardless of friendly feelings, or vice versa, prejudices that may exist from the very beginning or develop during the course of the assignment.
characteristic features consulting activities are also:
- variance,
- strategic orientation of proposals,
- taking into account the individual characteristics of the customer,
- development of stages and conditions for the implementation of proposals.
The main reasons for contacting a consultant
Most often, consultants are asked for help when specific problems arise. Those. in the event that a situation is recognized as unsatisfactory and there is an opportunity to correct it, but at the same time either in the organization not enough people capable of successfully solving a particular problem. Either in an organization there is necessary technically qualified personnel, but, their impossible to release from direct duties to work on a major problem or project.
However, there are reasons that are not directly related to the specific assistance of a consultant. These reasons can be attributed more to the field of psychology. For example, an existing problem can be solved by the organization itself, but personal connections and existing traditions and values \u200b\u200bmay influence its solution, which can reduce efficiency. The consultant, however, is independent of the customer organization and is not subject to its internal relationships, he can, with a fresh look from the outside, impartially assess the situation and be objective in solving it.
Sometimes a manager already has a ready-made solution to a problem that has arisen, but he needs to justify it. In this case, the consultant is asked to complete the task and submit such a report precisely to justify the decision made by the manager.
Also, consultants may not be called upon to find a solution to a single problem, but to acquire the consultant's specific technical knowledge and the methods they use to identify problems and implement change. In this case, there is learning through counselling. The educational effect of counseling is one of the most important.
So, the main reasons for contacting consultants are as follows:
- when there are not enough people in the organization who can successfully solve a certain problem;
- when the organization has the necessary technically qualified personnel, but it is impossible to release them from their direct duties to work on a major problem or project;
- an impartial view from the outside is needed to solve the problem;
- a manager who has already made a decision but wants to be able to say that he is implementing the proposals made by the independent consultant;
- to acquire specific technical knowledge.
Client classification
It is traditionally believed that consultants are invited only as an "ambulance". This is especially true for Russian enterprises. However, this is not the case. For example, in the US, even the largest corporations with talented managers and staff have made it a normal practice to consult management consultants regularly (large organizations develop many action programs and take advantage of favorable economic opportunities with the help of consultants). It should be noted that progress has been made in Russia lately. So many managers no longer wait for the situation to “mature” and the problem will interfere with work, but, for example, they invite a consultant to conduct an org. diagnostics. This is a sign of the maturation of leaders for management consulting.
Thus, not only troubled organizations, but also quite successful ones turn to the services of consultants.
Correction tasks. For example, at a particular enterprise, problems may arise in the field of personnel management - the number of personnel is growing, and the results of the organization's activities are not improving, the reasons are not entirely clear. The following are possible: poor organization of labor, the recruitment system has not been worked out, the planning system is missing or outdated, there is no adequate distribution of responsibilities, etc. Naturally, this problem should be solved. This is a fix task.
The consultant may be asked not only to correct a situation that has worsened or to create a completely new one. Based on this, the consultant has to solve a number of tasks related not only to correcting the existing situation, but also tasks to improve and tasks to create a completely new situation.
Tasks for improvement represent a group of tasks to improve existing conditions. This may relate to controls, such as: methods of business analysis and cost control; administrative methods or record keeping. For example, a company that has a particular hiring system believes it should move to a more modern one. The consultant may have models or standards that have been applied in other organizations before, and his main job will be to study the conditions for their application, determine the necessary amendments, and also help convince and educate service personnel affected by the introduction of improved methods.
Tasks to create give the consultant a minimum of initial information. The goal is not to solve an urgent problem or prevent potential difficulties, but to find new areas for business, develop new customer services, experiment with unusual ways to motivate people, propose joint ventures with foreign partners, etc.
Questions for self-control
1. What is meant by management consulting (MC)?
2. What are the approaches to determining the Criminal Code?
3. What are the characteristic features of the Criminal Code?
4. What does financial independence mean?
5. What does administrative independence mean?
6. What does political independence mean?
7. What does emotional independence mean?
8. What are the main reasons for contacting consultants?
9. What is the typology of the tasks of contacting consultants?
Management consulting began to develop in the early 50s of the last century. Since that time, the International Labor Organization began to pay considerable attention to the development of management consulting services and the dissemination of experience in member countries. In Russia, the starting point for the development of consulting is considered to be the 90s, when the emergence and development of private business began.
Fundamentals of Management Consulting
According to the European Federation of Economics and Management Consultants, management consulting is the provision of independent advice and assistance on management issues, which may include identifying and assessing problems and opportunities, developing recommendations for taking appropriate measures and assisting in their implementation. The main goal of management consulting is to increase the efficiency of the company and identify factors that prevent this. The quality of the solution to the problem should be as high as possible, subject to time and financial constraints. It is necessary not only to develop ways to improve the current situation, but also to show possible ways to independently solve similar problems in the future, that is, to develop the client's skills of analysis, evaluation and effective action.
The degree of involvement of the client in the process depends on the type of service, but if the client does not take any part at all, the effectiveness of the consultant's work will be minimal.
In the process of achieving the main goal, a number of tasks can be solved in various directions, respectively, according to the types of tasks, management consulting can be conditionally divided into four main groups.
- Strategic consulting. Development of strategies to achieve long-term and short-term goals and detailed plans for their implementation. Strategic consulting helps build an effective business model.
- Marketing consulting. Research and development of the company's marketing strategy.
- HR consulting. Analysis of the activities of managerial personnel, including certification and development of recommendations based on the results of its implementation. Development of personnel motivation systems and their implementation.
- Building a management system in a company- analysis and optimization of management accounting systems: distribution of powers, functions, responsibilities, creation of a system of business processes and a system for forecasting and information exchange, building an optimal structural and functional scheme of an organization.
The main principles of management consulting as a service are competence, specificity, consistency, creativity and efficiency.
The main regulatory documents in the field of management consulting are:
- the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Articles 8 and 74);
- Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 128 and Chapter 39);
- Federal Law of the Russian Federation of July 27, 2006 No. 149-FZ "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection";
- Federal Law of the Russian Federation of July 27, 2006 No. 152-FZ "On Personal Data";
- Federal Law of the Russian Federation of December 30, 2008 No. 307-FZ "On Auditing".
On a note
Unfortunately, in Russia there is still no separate law that defines the concepts, essence, principles of consulting and the responsibility of consultants.
Reasons for ordering management consulting services
Most often, managers of companies turn to management consulting specialists for help in crisis situations, when not only a successful future, but also the existence of the company as a whole depends on the further development strategy. According to the consultants themselves, two categories of companies need management consulting services the most:
- Stable companies reforming. This may be an expansion, a change in the type of activity or form of ownership, a merger with another company. In order for changes to occur without harm to the company, consultation with specialists will be required. For example, the services of a consultant are often used by firms moving from the status of "family" to the category of medium and large, with the number of employees from 500 to 1000 people.
- Large companies whose owners want to receive objective information about the state of affairs in order to move from current operational management to strategy management. The task of the consultant is to make this process as transparent and painless as possible, completely eliminating the possibility of losing business.
However, there are other situations where management consulting can bring tangible benefits:
- The need to automate business processes. Usually in this situation, a preliminary survey of the enterprise and the identification of the need for reorganization are always carried out.
- Finding new ways to compete by building a new marketing policy.
- The desire to ensure the reliability and security of the company's development and strengthening its reputation in the eyes of partners and customers.
The results that the company receives from management consulting can be divided into several groups: direct and indirect, quantitative and qualitative. (see Table 1).
Table 1. Results of management consulting
|
RESULTS |
Direct |
Indirect |
|
quantitative |
|
|
|
quality |
|
|
As an example, we can cite a situation from the practice of the KSK group company.
A young construction company working on a large project worth 30 million rubles ordered a management consulting service. During the implementation of this project, problems constantly arose, resulting in the risk of missed deadlines and receiving a large fine from the customer. During the consulting process, it was revealed that the company lacks a well-defined organizational structure.
The operational and control functions were separated, which allowed the owner to get an objective opinion on the state of affairs and make the right management decision. The main departments of the company were also identified and the areas of responsibility of each of them were formulated. A step-by-step plan for the implementation of all changes was prepared for the client. This solution helped implement an important project for the client, avoided a contract fine of 2.4 million rubles, and provided the company with the opportunity to develop and increase the scope of work. The cost of implementing the project of KSK groups amounted to 1 million rubles, ROI (Return On Investment, "return on investment") - 140%.
Management consulting technologies
In modern management consulting, three main approaches are usually distinguished:
- Expert approach. It consists in studying the existing company management structure, identifying its features and problem areas, developing expert recommendations and putting them into practice. At the same time, the expert's opinion is practically not discussed, he independently makes all decisions, and the client's duty is only to provide the necessary conditions for the consultant's work. Expert advice can be carried out in several forms - advice (recommendation), a client's question - the consultant's answer, a written report (draft, analytical note), express analysis, in-depth analysis. At the same time, the effectiveness of expert advice directly depends on the level of competence of the expert himself, his professionalism and understanding by the client of the proposed recommendations, combined with the willingness and ability to implement them. An expert approach is advisable to apply in cases where the problem is not related to specific circumstances in the client's company, there is no need for in-depth diagnostics. In this case, the client needs the help of an expert offering a ready-made standard solution or gaining knowledge on standard procedures, norms and regulations.
On a note
There are no experts who are objective and 100% competent. Each of the specialists will bring to the conclusion their personal experience, attitude towards the client, their understanding of the task and vision of the situation.
- Project approach. This approach is targeted and represents the creation and development of specific projects in a particular area of the company. It allows you to focus all resources on solving problems in one direction, carry out targeted consulting, plan the desired results and ensure their achievement. Stages of project consulting:
- drawing up a task for the project;
- stage-by-stage preparation of the project with the participation of the client's specialists and stage-by-stage delivery;
- providing consultations necessary for the implementation of the project;
- participation of the consultant in the implementation of the project to the extent determined by the client.
- Process approach does not provide a solution to the problem. The consultant in this case helps the client to develop his own way of solving the problem, using various techniques. The process method requires the active participation of the client, and the consultation itself is seen as a process consisting of certain actions, using certain technologies, tools and methods. Consulting takes into account the specifics of the company as much as possible and is aimed at carrying out systemic changes in it. During process consulting, methods aimed at maximizing interaction with the client are used: organizational diagnostics and organizational intervention. Diagnostics is aimed at collecting information about the state of the company by monitoring the activities from the inside, conducting individual and group surveys, and studying documents. The result of the diagnostics is a report. Organizational interventions are associated with the impact on the company, in order to make the necessary changes in its activities and consolidate them. The most important condition for effective process consulting is the willingness of the people participating in it to actively interact with the consultant, analyzing problems and developing solutions.
In some cases, management consulting requires a combination of all three approaches to achieve the desired result.
Consulting Methods
There are a great many methods of management consulting, the most popular (if not traditional) of which in Russia are SWOT analysis and business coaching.
The abbreviation SWOT fully reflects the very essence of the analysis (see Fig.):
S- strength ( strength);
W- weakness ( weakness);
O- capabilities ( opportunites);
T- Problems ( troubles).
Rice. SWOT analysis model
SWOT analysis helps answer the following questions:
- Does the company use strengths or distinctive advantages in its strategy? If the company does not have such advantages, then what of its strengths could be?
- Are the company's weaknesses its most competitive vulnerabilities? It is they who do not allow the use of any favorable circumstances? What weaknesses necessarily require adjustment in terms of strategy?
- What favorable opportunities can give the company a chance to develop successfully using its current access to resources and the current level of skills of employees?
There are three methods of SWOT analysis:
- Express SWOT- the most common type that helps to identify the strengths of the company. It is these parties indicated in the analysis, in combination with external capabilities, that are able to counteract threats. In addition, SWOT analysis also reveals weaknesses.
- Consolidated SWOT-analysis makes it possible to obtain information on the quantitative assessment of factors identified using other methods, as well as to develop a strategy and activities to achieve strategic goals.
- Mixed SWOT Analysis is a combination of the two previous types.
SWOT analysis can be used to analyze the factors of the competitive environment, plan and implement company strategies, and competitive intelligence. Its advantages include ease of implementation and efficiency of use, identification of links between the company's capabilities and real problems, between strengths and weaknesses, the absence of the need for extensive information for calculations, determining the future prospects for the company's activities, the ability to evaluate profitability indicators.
The shortcomings of the SWOT analysis include the lack of temporal dynamics and quantitative and evaluative indicators in it.
Business coaching
The word "coaching" is translated from English as "training" or "training". Business coaching is understood as a method of individual work with clients, aimed at jointly finding ways to solve a problem, developing the ability to see these ways, make informed decisions and take responsibility for them. With the help of coaching, the customer gets the opportunity to reach a new level of understanding of business processes in his company, formulate a development strategy and ways to achieve strategic goals.
As part of business coaching, several methods can be used:
- Methods of testing, training and conducting business games. According to experts, the information received remains in memory for a long time if all channels of information transmission are used and practical exercises are carried out, which allow, in a game situation, to check various options for solving client problems and choose the most optimal one.
- Methods for activating creative thinking. These include brainstorming, the Delphi method (used when a group gathering is not possible and consists in collecting individual opinions anonymously), the expert assessment method, the goal tree method, and scenarios, which are logically sound descriptions of possible events, taking into account various factors.
- Neuro Linguistic Programming Method.
- Nominal groups method. It is used in cases where it is necessary to identify and compare several individual opinions in order to get a decision that one person cannot make in a short time.
- Methods of organizational self-diagnosis. With their help, employees of the company can independently establish signs that characterize the state of the organization. Self-diagnosis leads to self-analysis of the participants and contributes to their self-development.
Business coaching professionals can use a combination of several methods to produce the most effective results. Coaching brings positive results if it is used for those employees of the company who, by their nature of activity, are required to make independent decisions, but at the same time have teamwork skills.
Service delivery stages
The management consulting process includes several stages (see Table 2). The very first step towards the implementation of a consulting project is the realization by the client that he has a problem that he would like to solve with the help of consultants.
Table 2. Stages and stages of the counseling process
|
Stages and stages |
Procedures |
|
|
|
Training |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Completion |
|
The implementation of a project within the framework of management consulting can last from several days to several months - depending on the size of the company and the complexity of the task.
How to choose a consulting company?
With this question, we turned to Denis Predein, head of the Management Consulting practice at KSK Group:
“If there is a need to involve a consulting agency, pay attention to several important factors. Of course, this is the experience of the company, the staff of experts, the availability of publications in the professional press, the list of clients ... But the most important selection criterion in attracting business consultants is their ability to concisely and clearly express their thoughts, awaken fresh ideas in the client, identify viable goals and justify ways their achievements.
Many managers and some consultants are unable to answer a simple question: "What is strategic consulting?". Often, this service means multi-page analytical reports filed in a folder, endless SWOT analyzes, alternative business strategies ... At the same time, strategic consulting is expert assistance to management in finding answers to two questions:
- What is the goal for the business?
- How to reach this goal?
The answers to them allow us to get out of the "fog" into which managers often wander in crisis situations, being under the yoke of solving tactical problems. The answers to them allow you to abstract from the daily business fuss and see what is called the light at the end of the tunnel - a clearly formulated, achievable, measurable goal in time and in financial terms. Answers to them allow you to focus on specific means and stages of achieving the goal. The approved action plan, depending on the specific task, can be “titled” as “Increasing the value of the company by 2 times in three years”, “Reducing production costs by 15% in 3 years” or “Growing net profit by 5% annually for 5 years ". To solve such problems, there are KSK groups.
For more than 20 years of management consulting, we have hundreds of successfully completed projects of varying complexity and industry focus, being one of the leaders in Russia in strategic, tax and legal consulting (according to the Expert RA rating agency for 2015). And by the way, with us you can get an initial consultation absolutely free of charge.
P.S. is a reputable, dynamically developing consulting company, consistently ranked among the top 10 largest agencies in Russia in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development and personnel management (according to the Expert RA rating agency for 2015). The company currently employs 350 industry specialists. The client pool is about 1000 firms.
Editorial opinion
The services of professional consultants are vital for an enterprise, not only in crisis situations. “Outside view” allows you to assess the problems, risks and opportunities of the company from a different angle. Independent expert opinion, recommendations for taking appropriate measures and assistance in their implementation can significantly increase business efficiency.
Consulting is a term used in modern practice to refer to activities aimed at identifying and developing proposals and programs in order to rationalize and optimize the functioning of an enterprise, to help management and managers in the process of making competent decisions Goncharuk V.A. Marketing consulting. - M.: Delo, 2011. - 39 p.
The range of problems solved by consulting is very wide, in addition, the specialization of companies providing consulting services can be different: from narrow, limited to any one area of consulting services, to the widest, covering the full range of services in this area. Accordingly, each specialist working in this area puts his own meaning into the concept of consulting, determined by the direction of a particular company.
The emergence of the term and the development of the direction "management consulting" began with the identification of two main approaches to consulting. In the first case, a broad functional view of counseling is used. Fritz Stehle defines it this way: “By consulting process I mean any form of assistance with regard to the content, process, or structure of a task or series of tasks, in which the consultant is not himself responsible for completing the task, but helps those who are responsible for it.”
The second approach considers counseling as a special professional service and highlights a number of characteristics that it should have. According to Larry Greiner and Robert Metzger, “Management consulting is a contracted and service-based consulting service to organizations through specially trained and qualified individuals who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving these problems, and contribute, if necessary, to the implementation of decisions”. These two approaches can be considered as complementary Makham K. Management consulting. - M.: MPZ, 2008. - 288 p. problems and/or opportunities, recommendation of appropriate measures and assistance in their implementation” Goncharuk V.A. Marketing consulting. - M.: Delo, 2011. - 40 p.
The American Association of Economics and Management Consultants (ACME) and the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) adhere to the same definition.
The emergence of management consulting was caused by the constant search by entrepreneurs for new means of increasing production efficiency, attempts by management specialists to find a commercial application for their abilities, the logic of the development of organizational science and practice.
Today, many non-profit organizations willingly use the services of management consultants, but entrepreneurs were the first clients. They were forced to do this by competition, which requires a constant search for new reserves of efficiency.
At first, business leaders tried to use the obvious, "nearby" opportunities, primarily financial ones (savings, increasing profits by increasing prices or reducing costs).
As they were exhausted, a transition was made to updating equipment, technology, and design solutions. Then came the turn of changes in the assortment, the replacement of manufactured products in the race for demand or ahead of it. It comes to the actual management resources, almost in the last place. Why is this happening? The manager usually quickly agrees that lowering costs, and sometimes prices, will give him an increase in profits directly or through an increase in total turnover.
With equipment and technology, it is somewhat more difficult: it is sometimes cheaper to attract additional labor, new machines need to be mastered, and so on.
Product innovations come with risks, and too many upfront and downstream changes require such a reorientation. When it comes to improving management, it can be difficult for a leader to accept that he solves his problems on his own worse than with the participation of "someone else."
In addition, a change in management usually involves a change in the behavior, attitudes and methods of work of the leader personally. And this is perhaps the most conservative part of the entire organizational system, especially considering the venerable age of many directors and the vitality of the traditions of over-centralization and authoritarianism. Indeed, a management consultant cannot show the client the direct relationship between the results of his work and profit as clearly as financial, technical innovation or marketing consultants. Only in recent years have we begun to respect such concepts as managerial profit, staff motivation, and strategic management. And yet, plant directors, bank managers make contact with management consultants, conclude appropriate contracts.
At the same time, as a rule, clients do not know in advance the real benefits of such cooperation. Consultants must offer their services to them, and they will decide how to dispose of these opportunities.
What did the first consultants who appeared in the 1920s offer? It is generally accepted that management consultants of the "first wave" are former entrepreneurs, managers, managers who have achieved success in the business field and retired for personal reasons Goncharuk V.A. Marketing consulting. - M.: Delo, 2011. - 47 p.
Having remained sufficiently active, they began to offer their experience in the field of management and solving organizational problems to younger leaders. At first, this gave positive results, but with the acceleration of the pace of social development, a paradox became apparent: ex-managers recommend today to do as they did yesterday.
Meanwhile, the most valuable experience is becoming obsolete, and although, of course, some “universal wisdom” and “life lessons” remain, this is no longer enough. As a result, the "first wave" began to decline, but did not completely disappear.
The principles constitute the skeleton of management consulting, on the basis of which it is possible to form an appropriate methodological framework.
- 1. Scientific. It is unacceptable to carry out the process of consulting, relying only on experience, which does not always correspond to the provisions of management science and the theory of CM. The consultant can rely on scientific truth, supplemented by personal experience. The results of counseling will themselves show the scientific truth or falsity of the consultant's recommendations.
- 2. Flexibility. The variety of QM tools, the implementation of continuous monitoring allow you to quickly change the consultation scheme, determine a wide range of QM application in various management systems and in various specific situations.
- 3. Progressiveness. The dynamism of management systems in accordance with the constant complication of the content and forms of economic activity and changes in legal norms that require permanent development and improvement of the theory and practice of the Criminal Code.
- 4. Continuity. Constantly developing and improving, the MC preserves the most effective techniques and methods of consultants of different generations and introduces innovations that grow on the basis of new experience and traditions of the MC.
- 5. Preservation of the system. The impact of the consultant on the client organization in the process of consulting up to the stage of mastering the results of the CM should not violate the qualitative parameters and mode of operation of the organization.
- 6. System change. The implementation of the results of the QM in the client organization at the stage of mastering the results of consulting should significantly change its qualitative parameters and mode of operation.
- 7. Specificity. The effect of consulting is largely due to the timeliness of its implementation and compliance with the conditions of the business environment. Responding to the needs of practice, the Criminal Code should clearly and specifically predict the economic situation in which the consultants' recommendations and the degree of change in the economic situation will be implemented.
- 8. Glasnost. The practical implementation of consultants' recommendations largely depends on the attitude of labor collectives towards them. Therefore, the work of consultants at all stages of the MC should be visible to the teams and with their direct participation in the development and development of innovations.
- 9. Competence. Decisions to conduct management consulting for a client organization are made only if there are competent professional consultants on specific problems of the organization.
- 10. Dynamic. The process of consulting should introduce the necessary dynamics into the life of the client organization, which remains in it after the completion of the consultation.
- 11. Scientific perspective. In the process of QM, new scientific ideas may appear. In accordance with this, consultants not only implement new knowledge in economic activities, but also determine promising directions for the development of the CM theory.
- 12. Creativity. Once and for all established rules, techniques and methods are unacceptable for the Criminal Code. The consulting process requires constant creativity, the search for non-standard solutions and non-traditional approaches. In various managerial situations, often dead ends, consultants use unique methods and techniques invented by them.
- 13. Efficiency. The conditions for the activities of management consultants are such that they are constantly looking for ways to improve the efficiency of the management company, because the customer constantly keeps his finger on the pulse and evaluates the quality of the service. The impetus for improving the efficiency of the CM is the existing hierarchy of consultants, built in accordance with the qualifications and corresponding pay.
The content of the Criminal Code can be fully disclosed when developing a typology of consulting activities. Drawing up a typology is associated with the study of the relationship between the management company and innovation - a field of science that studies innovative processes. The need for such a study was especially evident in the conditions of the functioning of commodity-money relations, which most effectively stimulate innovation processes. Innovation, which unites the efforts of various specialists - economists and philosophers, engineers and sociologists, psychologists, lawyers, and management consulting are inherently inseparable from each other, since consulting is the provision of the innovation process.
Innovations and innovations are interconnected by management consulting, and this relationship is clearly shown in Fig. one.
At the same time, managerial innovation (MN) is included as an element in the MC, and it can be considered the core of the MC.
The life cycles of innovation and innovation (according to the stages proposed by A.I. Prigogine) are located on different horizons and are connected in a kind of innovative ring. Innovative processes in an enterprise can be intensified if there is an integral innovative triad - innovation - MC - innovation. The basis for such a statement is the fact of stagnation in innovation processes under the conditions of the command-administrative management system and unsuccessful attempts to implement MC in this system. The old economic mechanism could not create an appropriate situation in which "... the system will be open to innovations only when their development becomes a condition for its preservation." This can happen in a market economy, when the struggle for self-preservation of any organization will automatically accelerate the integration of elements (stages) of the innovation process and life itself will require the creation of a new management infrastructure in general and consulting firms in particular. Each enterprise has its own innovative potential, which is a fertile ground for generating ideas, inventions, rationalization proposals. In practice, the effectiveness of any management system is determined by the ability and ability of the leader and his “team” to create conditions favorable for the generation of ideas. The maximum realization of the innovative potential of the organization is the general direction of the efforts of managers and consultants. Thus, another line of activity of the management company is emerging - specific activities to stimulate and accelerate innovative processes in the organization.
Innovative processes in production are developing in two directions, corresponding to management by type of activity - scientific and technical and socio-economic. Scientific and technical activity should be understood as the management of mechanisms for the development of new engineering technologies and new products. Socio-economic activities are understood as legal, economic, organizational and managerial impacts on the object of management. Both components of management are influenced by new pedagogical (training) technologies, and the QM is equally directed to both components, especially since innovations and innovations are specifically implemented in each of them and differ significantly from each other.
Differences in consulting scientific, technical and socio-economic innovations and innovations are manifested in the fact that socio-economic consulting deals with objects whose parameters are not defined, so it is difficult to calculate the economic effect; the collective is involved in socio-economic counseling, and the results of counseling are more dependent on personal and collective groups of users; socio-economic counseling is carried out at an operating, real facility, and not in a laboratory, etc. At the same time, both types of innovations are closely interconnected, since the more radical the scientific and technical innovation, the more significant the scientific and technical innovation, the more changes it brings to organizational ties and norms, and, consequently, the role of consulting socio-economic innovations increases. and vice versa, the more radical the socio-economic innovation, the more opportunities for the implementation of scientific and technological achievements.