Applied Consultancy Project

BMG862
Lecture 1
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 Learning Objectives
• Introductions

• Course Syllabus
• Core text
• Course communication/Resources
• Assessment
• Lecture 1 - The Nature of Management
Consulting

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Module is 100% Coursework
Module Details
Consultancy project within a live company

Texts:
• Required:
• Louise Wickham and Jeremy Wilcock (2016) Management Consulting: Delivering an Effective
Project, 5th ed. Harlow: Pearson.
• Recommended:
• Child, J. (2015) Organization: Contemporary Principles and Practices. 2nd ed. Oxford:Wiley-
Blackwell.
• Hill C.W.L. (2013) Global Business Today. International ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
• Johnston, G., Scholes K. and Whittington R. (2017) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and
Cases. 10th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall/ Financial Times.

All communication is done via BBL and University email, it is compulsory to check these on
a regular basis!

You MUST print out the module handbook from BBL!! 30/07/2023 3
 The Nature of Management Consulting
How does it add value?

 Consulting and management roles

 Consulting is a general form of management and therefore you must know the
basic functions of management.
 Henri Fayol identified five such basic functions:
 Planning: deciding a future direction for the business and defining the
courses of action
 Organising: regards the overall structure of the business – in strategic terms:
ensuring that the organisation’s structure is appropriate for its strategy and
environmental structure.

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The Nature of Management Consulting
How does it add value?

Consulting and management roles

 Staffing: making sure that the business has the right people
 Directing: encouraging people to undertake tasks necessary to
deliver the project outcomes
 Controlling: making sure that the right resources are in place
and that they are being used effectively

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The client-consultant interaction
The consultant will take on the previous roles while
working with a project.
Which roles he will take on depends on the client’s
needs.
The motivation to call in a consultant arises because
managers have identified a project that they think
they will benefit the organisation but they recognise
that they are not in the position to deliver it
themselves.

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 Five Roles of Consulting
Supplementing
 The consultant is used as an additional resource when there are no existing
managers available for the task.
Complementing
 When an organisation notices that they lack one or more of the important
manager roles (previous) they ask a consultant to fill that role.
Differentiating
 A consultant might be needed for divide responsibility and differentiate roles in
an organisation: designing managerial responsibilities and setting up
communication systems, etc.
Integrating
 The consultant is trying to integrate the managerial roles and make a more
flexible structure
Enhancing
 The most general type of role development: to improve the overall level of the
manager’s performance
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 The responsibilities of the management
consultant
 Economic:
 to act in a way that is consistent with the long-term health of the
business and maximize value for its investors.
 Legal:
 Not to break any criminal or civil laws.
 Moral:
 To act according to moral rules
 Discretionary:
 A consultant should regard the moral rules when taking on a
project and maybe refuse to work in certain areas – these values
can make consultant more attractive to other clients.
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 Modes of consulting
Consulting is also characterised by different approaches
regarding the role of the consultant:
• The expert mode: Client identifies a problem, analyses it
and articulates it to the expert consultant who often has a
specialist knowledge of the problem that the client has
identified.
• The doctor-patient mode: The consultant is both an
expert (as above) and a diagnoser.
• The process consulting mode: The consultant can only
give advices and make the client feel as if he came up
with the solutions.
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The decision to use a consultant
The decision to hire consultant is made after considering the
opportunity costs and the conclusions that the benefits outweigh
the costs.
The consultant must ask themselves:
 What can I offer the client business that will enhance its
performance and help it achieve its objectives
 Why will my contribution be more valuable than the existing
managers’?
 How can I communicate to the client that my offer is valuable.

To answer these the consultant needs to apply three skills:

analytical, project management and relationship-building
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 Provision of information
A business needs information about:
The business customers: their needs and behaviours
The business products: design etc.
Its markets: size, growth etc.
Outside organisations that can offer support (suppliers
etc.): who are they and how can we contact them
Competitors: strengths, weaknesses

If a business lacks this information a consultant can

help them – both to get it and to analyse it.
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Provision of specialist expertise
Some areas of management can benefit from external consultant expertise:
 Business strategy: help with development, evaluation, planning
 Marketing strategy: defining a successful marketing mix
 Marketing research: find the best methods
 Promotional campaign: design and make sure that they are cost effective
 Develop a new product: convert customer needs into a new product
offering
 Financial support: identifying backers and making a good case for their
support
 Information systems: helping managers to get the information they need
 Planning export and international marketing: providing the business with
a route to grow
The consultant cannot do these things for the managers – but give advice and
HELP the managers to make decisions on their own. 30/07/2023 12
The Function of the Project Proposal
The proposal is WHAT the client is getting from the
consultant. It is a short, straight-forward document
which states what consulting exercise aims to
achieve.
A good proposal must also manage the clients
expectations so that he is not disappointed – so the
proposal must SELL THE OFFER and MANAGE
EXPECTATIONS.
So don’t fall into the trap of offering too much just to
sell your offer, make sure that the proposal is
realistic.
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What to include in the proposal
 The proposal must be brief and make an impact.
It should include:
 A title: perhaps with the client’s company name and a brief descriptive
phrase as a reference for the project.
 Client’s requirements: Brief statement about the company, issues or
opportunities and scope of the project.
 Overall aim: What will the project achieve – “the mission of the project”.
 Objectives: A list of detailed objectives that are active statements of
what the project will do.
 Parameters: Outline the scope of the project, what will be included in
the final output.
 Outcomes: What will the business be able to do after the project is
done, an example:
• “as a result of this consulting exercise [client] will be able to develop
an understand of the market sectors that are most attractive
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business developments”
What to include in the proposal cont.
Our approach: Describe how you as a consultant will
address the issue.
Time plan: Should identify important milestones and
when the project should be ready, to include a Gantt
chart.
Key personnel: The people involved and their roles in
the project
Risk Register: You must identify any risks that may
stop you reaching any of your objectives or indeed the
Aim of the project
Costing's: How much will it cost the client?
Consultant’s fees, expenses etc.
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What not to include in the proposal?

Too much background – the company

already know who they are and what they
do!

Too much theory and methodology – you

will need some to justify but the company
will just want you to solve the problem!

(You do need some of the above!!) 30/07/2023 16

The consultant must always convince the
client that the service on offer is of real
value! 30/07/20
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 Summary

Read the recommended reading and any other

relevant material on reading list.

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