Case: McKinsey & Company

Managing Knowledge and Learning

Submitted by Group 5

Kanupriya Gathoria PGP10023

Pratik Sharma PGP10039
Kanika Goraya PGP10209
Ved Chirag Anil PGP10244

McKinsey & Company was founded in 1926 as the firm of Accounting and Engineering Advisors, and it
grew rapidly. McKinsey and the company had 3,800 consultants in 69 offices worldwide. The vision of
the firm was to be "one focused on issues of importance to top-level management, adhering to the
highest standards of integrity, professional ethics, and technical excellence, able to attract and
develop young men of outstanding qualifications, and committed to continually raising its stature and
influence." Currently, within the company, there is more emphasis placed upon expanding
geographically and new practice possibilities, and less emphasis on technical development and
professional skills.

Issues:

• As the firm grew rapidly, the demand for its clientele increased proportionally.
• They had a strong base of core competencies among its employees, but there was uncertainty
regarding knowledge development meeting its clients' needs in information and knowledge-
driven age.
• They had no means of measuring exactly how well they were doing in developing their
knowledge.
• Employees were not adequately developed for the new direction of the McKinsey and
Company
• They experienced slower growth due to competition from BCG as they were not as prepared
as their competitors were for dealing with the upcoming technologies of the future.
• A large number of employees and offices being managed hindered McKinsey from effectively
performing its operations worldwide.
• The overall social and economic environment in Europe and the US greatly affected the
business of the company.

Implementing changes:

• The focus was shifted to the more formal development of the firm's functional expertise in
areas such as strategy, organization, and operation.
• To optimize knowledge within the organization, working groups were assembled.
• The firm felt the need to develop more legitimate multiple career paths.
• They also expanded its recruitment practices and promotion policies to create a career path
for the deep functional specialist
• McKinsey made a major commitment towards building a common database of knowledge
accumulated from client work by hiring a full-time practice coordinator (intelligent switch) to
develop the knowledge infrastructure

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 • They also created computerized databases such as Firm Practice Information System, Practice
Development Network, and a manual Knowledge Resource Directory.
• They focused on Client Service Teams (CST). As CSTs, the firm could add long term value and
increase the effectiveness of individual engagements.
• Finally, to focus on the growth of individual consultants, McKinsey shifted its emphasis from
a Generalist Model to a Specialists Consultant Model.
• The knowledge management process was also changed from the "discover-codify-
disseminate" model to a looser and more inclusive "engage-explore-apply-share" approach.
This shifted the focus from developing knowledge to building individual and team capability.

Barriers in implementing change:

• Implementing the change into the flawed system became time consuming primarily because
of its geographic expansion.
• To link together, the expertise and knowledge of thousands of consultants worldwide became
challenging.
• The older employees within the company were reluctant to change.
• It was time-consuming to change consultants' minds and arranging their priorities so that it
aligns with the firm's strategy of "snowball throwers" and "snowball makers."

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