Ch 01

The nature of management consulting

Adapted by

Milan Frankl
for
University Canada West

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 The nature of management of management consulting

 Objectives:
– To provide an introductory insight into management consulting as a
value-adding management activity.

 Learning outcomes
– to understand the nature of management consulting as a managerial
role;
– to appreciate the nature of the client–consultant role relationship;
– to recognize the responsibilities of the consultant.

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 What a management consultant does

 Key points:

– based on the consultant’s specific expertise and gaining from the

input of an independent outsider;
– aimed at delivering specific objectives that offer the client
specific outcomes ;
– short-term

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 Consulting and management roles

– E.g. Fayol:
 planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.
 http://www.onepine.info/fayol.htm

– E.g. Mintzberg:
 interpersonal roles (figurehead, leader, liaison);
informational roles (monitor, disseminator,
spokesperson) and decisional roles (entrepreneurial,
disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator)
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Mintzberg

– The effective consultant is attuned to the roles that different

managers are playing within the client organization.

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 The managerial role profile

 Interpersonal / Informational / Decisional

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 Slide 1.3 The consultant-manager role: supplementing

– Supplementing
 where the consultant adds to the client’s overall managerial profile, but does
not alter its overall shape. The consultant is largely supplementing existing
managerial role capacity.

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 Slide 1.4 The consultant-manager role: complementing

– Complementing
 where the consultant provides a missing managerial role. The consultant fills
a gap in the existing managerial role capacity.

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 Slide 1.5 The consultant-manager role: differentiating

– Differentiating
 where the consultant engages with the client organization to assist it in
developing the profile of individual managerial roles. This is particularly
important in fast-growing organizations that must continually develop their
internal structures.

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 Slide 1.6 The consultant-manager role: integrating

– Integrating
 where the consultant assists in making the existing managerial capacity
more effective by adapting individual role responsibility and the way in which
individual managerial roles interact.

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 Slide 1.7 The consultant-manager role: enhancing

– Enhancing
 where the consultant assists individual and groups of managers to become
more effective in performing their managerial roles.

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 The responsibilities of the management consultant

 Key points:
– economic
(a responsibility to ensure that the projects advocated are in the best interests of
the client business);
– legal
(a responsibility to ensure that projects operate within the law);
– moral
(a responsibility to ensure that project outcomes meet with the moral and ethical
expectations of the client); and
– discretionary
(the right of the consultant to select or reject projects on the basis of personal
ethical considerations).

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 Types of client

 Key points:
– Contact – the one who approaches the consultant
– Intermediate – the members of the organization who become involved
– Primary – the one who identified the problem and the main player
– Unwitting – those affected by the project and unaware
– Indirect - those affected by the project and aware
– Ultimate – the total community affected

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 Modes of consulting

 Key points:
– In the expert mode, the consultant uses his expertise to solve a problem after the
client has identified the problem
– In the doctor-patient mode, the consultant identifies the problem and works with
the client to resolve it
– In the process-consulting mode, the consultant works with the client to identify
the solutions to the problem

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 The problem solving process

 Problem solving

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 Covering the bases

 Covering the bases

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 ROE example

 ROE structure

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 Summary of key ideas

 Consulting as a managerial role:

– the interpersonal (featuring the roles of the figurehead, the liaison and the
leader);
– the informational (featuring the roles of the monitor, the disseminator and the
spokesperson);
– the decisional (featuring the roles of the entrepreneur, the disturbance handler
and the resource allocator).
– The consultant must integrate these roles with those already operating in the
client business.
– supplementary (adding extra skills to those already present);
– complementary (adding a missing role);
– differentiating (helping managers distinguish roles among themselves);
– integrating (helping managers build a new order of roles and individual
responsibilities);
– enhancing (helping managers make their existing roles more effective).

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 Summary of key ideas (continued)

The consultant must operate with four levels of managerial responsibility.

 These are:
– economic
 (a responsibility to ensure that the projects advocated are in the best interests of
the client business);

– legal
 (a responsibility to ensure that projects operate within the law);

– moral
 (a responsibility to ensure that project outcomes meet with the moral and ethical
expectations of the client); and

– discretionary
 (the right of the consultant to select or reject projects on the basis of personal
ethical considerations).

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 END

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