Essential Tools for Management Consulting E-Book

Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 130

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

The second book in the Essential Tools For series… on the topic of Management Consulting

Based on Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn's successful The Essential Management Toolbox, this book focuses in greater depth on the topic of Management Consulting. This second book looks at how a management consultant needs to think, view and analyse the workings of an existing organisation in order to efficiently and effectively work to improve the issues facing a business.

• Check out the new series website featuring sample chapters, tool of the month and solve your management problems by talking direct to the author www.essentialtoolsseries.com
• Second title in a new series that expands on the information in Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn’s The Essential Toolbox 
• This volume includes 30% new material in the form of new tools and techniques for guiding consultants
• Covers: Development of Management Consultancy; Problem resolution and Decision Making; Top 10 Tools for Consultancy Interventions; Consultancy delivery and Facilitation; Consultancy Governance and Ethics
• Active author, Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn speaks regularly
• Easy to use practical tools and techniques guiding the consultant and business person through their organisational conflicts

About the Author: Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn is a practising management consultant with over 30 years experience in both the public and private sectors and covering a range of organizations and industries. He holds two Master's degrees and a PhD in various Strategic Management topics. This second book includes a forward by Malik Salameh.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Foreword

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 - THE PROFESSION OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY

INTRODUCTION

DEVELOPMENTS IN MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

TYPES OF CONSULTANTS

CONSULTANCY ADDED VALUE

BIG-PICTURE “ADDED VALUE” FOR CONSULTANTS

THE ROLE OF GOVERNANCE IN CONSULTANCY

ETHICS AND CONSULTANCY

CHAPTER 2 - DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY

INTRODUCTION

INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT

MARKETING CONSULTANCY

DEVELOPING CONSULTANCY THROUGH NETWORKING

CONSULTANCY SELECTION PROCESS

CHAPTER 3 - THE MANAGEMENT OF CONSULTANCY PROJECTS

INTRODUCTION

DEVELOPING THE RELATIONSHIP - SETTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT

CONSULTANCY AS A PROJECT

RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLE OF THE CONSULTANT

CHAPTER 4 - MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY DELIVERY

INTRODUCTION

UNDERTAKING RESEARCH

PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING

WORKSHOP FACILITATION

DELIVERABLES

CHAPTER 5 - TOP-TEN CONSULTANCY TOOLS

INTRODUCTION

TOP-TEN CONSULTANCY TOOLS

REFERENCES

WEBSITES

ADDRESSES

INDEX

This edition first published 2010

© 2010 Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

From the feedback since the publication of my book The Essential Management Toolbox I have been asked to expand on the models and tools in a practical way; for me the value of the Toolbox book is to have a collection of tools which may be used for a variety of management assignments. Again in compiling this book I have to say that this would not have been possible without the fine efforts from all those management authors, research publications and course notes, etc. that I have collected over the years. As such I am greatly indebted to all whose work appears in the book, and also to my own teachers and mentors who have aided my own journey through many management topics.

I am very grateful to the publishers, individuals and copyright holders who gave their permission to allow previously published work to be used in this book and whilst every effort has been made to ascertain copyright and seek permission I apologize in advance for any omissions and would be pleased to correct these in any future edition.

Once again I am indebted to my friends at John Wiley and Sons for their support and encouragement. My sincere thanks also go to my friend, former colleague and regular academic writing partner, Dr Malik Salameh, for his significant input and support in this project, in providing constructive comments on my draft manuscripts and his willingness to pen a few words to set the scene for the reader.

FOREWORD

by Dr Malik Salameh

Once again Professor Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn has identified a significant area where his extensive consultancy expertise can provide an essential road map - all in one publication. In this book he addresses the most important aspects which any prospective management consultant or consultancy expert would need to consider in providing consultancy intervention and in turn satisfy both professional standards and corporate management expectations.

This is the second book in a series of sibling publications targeted at senior organizational decision makers, interim managers and consultancy practitioners, which should be utilized as a key enabler for accurately entering into the client and professional services arena in an informed, structured and rigorous manner. One of its key strengths is the fact that it emphasizes the level of up - front client relationship management effort and diagnostic investment necessary to ensure any consultancy commission is executed on a mutually beneficial basis.

Furthermore, it highlights the sheer variety of opportunities which currently exist within the business consulting profession and become available when consultancy output is fully aligned with client expectations and can be seen to embed true organizational value. This book continues to adopt a highly successful formula developed previously by the author of providing the user with comprehensive domain knowledge and then selecting a range of management tools and techniques which he believes are the most effective in consultancy delivery and in anticipating the real-world issues threatening an organization’s performance.

Having professionally collaborated with the author in delivering international management consultancy in both public and private sectors, I believe this publication satisfies a hitherto untapped opportunity; that being to provide a unique publication which is easily accessible and strikes the careful balance of identifying consultancy as a career development opportunity, as a catalyst to improve business performance, and as a client organizational reference to aid delivery of optimal value when selecting consultants and engaging consultancy practices on either an internal or external basis, respectively.

The completeness and relevance of this publication extends beyond the expert practitioner, and demonstrates how consultancy tools and techniques may be deployed independently to address a particular client requirement or in a layered manner to provide a fully integrated and independent appraisal of the issues facing any business. I strongly recommend this book as an invaluable source of knowledge in supporting organizations and individuals to harness maximum benefit from consultancy relationships by cultivating the right operational ethos and utilizing robust methodologies to provide impartial analysis.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Simon A. Burtonshaw-Gunn has over 30 years’ working experience with a technical background in mechanical and nuclear engineering, research and development and on-site major plant commissioning followed by over 12 years in project management in both technical consultancy and hardware projects for the UK Ministry of Defence. He joined British Aerospace in 1994 (now BAE Systems) undertaking project management of specialist consultancy work within Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. He held the post of Head of Project Management before being appointed as a managing consultant leading a consultancy team undertaking assignments including business strategy planning, change management, organizational development and management training covering a range of organizations and industries. As a practising management consultant he has undertaken assignments in over 20 countries in Asia, North Africa, the Middle and Far East and Eastern Europe and currently is a principal management consultant for an international management consultancy company in the UK working in both the public and private sectors. To complement this experience he holds two Master ’s degrees and a PhD in various strategic management topics together with fellowship of four professional bodies including the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and the Institute of Business Consulting (FIBC).

He was a post-doctoral research fellow for four years at the Manchester Metropolitan University before relinquishing this at the beginning of 2005 to take up the role of a visiting professor at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester. Here he served for three years in the six-star research rated School of the Built Environment before being appointed as the first visiting professor to the Salford Business School in 2007. In addition, he held a two-year appointment as a member of the Court at the University of Leeds - itself a member of the Russell Group association of the top 20 UK research-intensive universities - until 2009.

Professor Burtonshaw-Gunn has been a research examiner for the UK ’s Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) since 2002 and is one of the founding members of an international academic research group (ISCRiM) with a focus on supply chain risk management. In connection with this group he has presented conference papers in Sweden, the USA, UK and Hungary together with a number of refereed publications, professional journal articles and chapters in four collaborative management textbooks. On the subject of risk management he has recently published a book covering “Risk and Financial Management in Construction” aimed at industry practitioners and post-graduate students. His popular book The Essential Management Toolbox covering management tools, models and notes aimed at students, managers and consultants was published by John Wiley and Sons in 2008.

INTRODUCTION

This book has been developed from an interest in the use of management tools and models published in January 2008 in The Essential Management Toolbox: Tools, Models and Notes for Managers and Consultants. This supplementary book describes a number of examples and shares the author’s practical experience in the use of appropriate management tools and models taken from the Toolbox with a focus on identifying and describing the essential tools for those involved in undertaking management consultancy activities.

As an introduction this book comprises five broad and inter-related chapters commencing with an overview of the profession of management consultancy including the topics of added value, consultancy governance and ethics. Chapter 2 looks at the development of consultancy skills from both an individual and consultancy practice perspective. The management of consultancy projects is explored in Chapter 3 which suggests the use of a project management approach, the importance of understanding the assignment requirements and expectations, and adoption of risk management for consultancy projects. Chapter 4 describes the main consulting delivery approaches including problem solving, facilitation and communication. The final chapter covers the author ’s selected “Top-ten” consultancy tools and describes from practical experience how and where these tools are best suited to be used. Each of the topics of these five chapters has been chosen to provide a framework for both organizations and individuals to draw upon in the delivery of their consultancy services, as shown in Figure I.1.

The intent of writing this title has been to provide once again a suitable reference for aspiring, recently appointed or seasoned management consultants wishing to understand and undertake practical performance improvements relevant to their professional development whether at the individual or organizational level and with an equal relevance to those employed as internal or external consultants within both the public and private sectors. The book describes a range of methodologies aimed to provide an underpinning knowledge of the practical tools that are open to consultants to employ on their assignments. In addition the opening chapter looks towards the profession itself in sharing some thoughts around added value and the issues of governance and ethical practice.

Figure I.1 Framework for management consultancy.

Whilst the intent has been to provide an opportunity to discuss some new models, the majority of the figures and models are taken from The Essential Management Toolbox: Tools, Models and Notes for Managers and Consultants published by John Wiley and Sons in 2008. Where the original source is not the author’s, then the source is shown with each model discussed.

The book is designed as one of a series of sibling publications intended to group enabling management tools, techniques and models into related clusters giving consultancy practitioners a highly effective means of development at both an individual and practice level providing consultancy services. Other titles are Essential Tools for Organizational Performance and Essential Tools for Operations Management.

The structure follows the successful “Essential Management Toolbox” formula of integrating contemporary management tools, techniques and models with those developed from practical experience of addressing the challenges of management consulting across multiple industries. As with The Essential Management Toolbox and other books in this series full references are provided to guide the reader to where further information may be found. In addition each chapter is punctuated by key theme subheadings to aid navigation and provide a logical approach to each topic area.

CHAPTER 1

THE PROFESSION OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this first chapter is to set the scene by looking in general terms at: the consultancy profession and the types of consultants; the topic of added value applicable to both consultants and their clients; the role of governance in the profession; and finally to consider the importance of business ethics applicable to consultants and consultancy organizations.

DEVELOPMENTS IN MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Management consultancy derives its revenues from clients in all areas of both public and private sectors. Whilst regarded as a large and diverse profession in terms of practising consultants and business turnover revenue, it is a volatile profession where individuals are mobile and practices are able to form and change rapidly. Unlike other professions, consultancy has little, if any, barriers to entry, and with an absence of any statutory regulation anyone is free to enter the workplace as a consultant irrespective of their level of experience, education or level of competence required for this profession. Indeed, this view is further complicated with free use of the title; from personal trainers to recruiters calling themselves consultants. Perhaps because of this there are two opposing opinions on management consultants; one often quoted view is that:

Consultants are people who borrow your watch to tell you what time it is … and then walk off with the watch.

From Up the Organisation by Robert Townsend

The other view, happily, is about a symbiotic relationships and mutual reliance between “consultant” and “client”.

The focus of this chapter is to better understand this professional service provision and the important and valuable role that management consultants can play in creating effective business cultures, in addition to sharing “best practice” and assisting in increased organizational performance. Indeed, if carefully selected, briefed and respected by their clients, management consultants can provide a valuable resource for organizations of all sizes, whether in the private, public or “not for profit ” sectors.

Whilst there are a number of views on the role, scope and attributes of a management consultant ranging from “adviser to business” to “a specialist to bring about efficient management practices ” the following list also captures for many individuals and businesses what management consultancy is about:

• The provision of information that may not be otherwise available to the client with the opportunity to gain an insight into current thinking in a particular industry or sector which can be benchmarked accordingly.

• The provision of specialist resources with skill sets to address a key problem or issue thoroughly which are either in short supply or non-existent within the client’s organization. These may only be needed in the short-term and as such full-time recruitment to undertake this role would not be cost effective. In addition this may also offer opportunities to the client for the transfer of such skills to its own staff if commercially viable.

• The establishment of business contacts and linkages in order to assist in promoting the client’s organization in new markets.

• The provision of expert opinions to enable line management to make decisions on what to do.