Case Analysis: When Consultants and clients clash

The case deals with the experience of Susan Barlow, a Statler group consultant working on
the Kellogg & Meyer – Champion securities merger. She is assisted by Jim Roussos, a junior
consultant. Barlow was in as a replacement for a senior consultant who resigned suddenly
due to personal reasons. She was selected due to her experience in the securities industry.
Barlow was enthusiastic about the engagement as Statler group is targeting the securities
industry as a vehicle of growth. But her initial enthusiasm slowly fades away as the
engagement gradually becomes worse to such an extent that Barlow regrets being involved
with it.
In this case, neither the consultant nor the client is happy with the engagement. The main
reason for the bitter engagement is that the consultants are caught between the two
culturally different organisations. Irrespective of the department/function, the two
companies’ employees and executives differ greatly in their views. The consultants appear
to be caught between the power struggle between the 2 companies.
Another reason for the failure of this engagement is that the person who is supposed to
drive the engagement from the client’s side, Royce Kellogg, is extremely unhappy that
Statler had offloaded the merger work to inexperienced consultants. Kellogg had thought
that the experienced consultants who were there during the preliminary meeting would be
the ones who would carry forward with the engagement. The moment he realised that the
2 senior members of Statler Group were there just to sell the business.
One more reason for the failure is the lack of experience of Barlow and Roussos. Though
Barlow had 6 years’ experience, this was just her 1 st engagement dealing with mergers.
Roussos was having just 2 years of experience. So, they both lacked the experience of
dealing with such extremely chaotic situations.
In order to move forward with the engagement, it would be necessary for the consultants
to call the client for a meeting with George Gray, the partner who was involved in
initiating the engagement. This is required because neither are Kellogg and his employees
willing to co-operate with Barlow and Roussos, nor are Barlow and Roussos finding the
situation comfortable enough to work in.