SOME THOUGHTS ON APPROACHING THE CONSULTING PART OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Robin Matthews

One way of approaching the assignment and by no means the only way, but at least this would give a consistent thematic approach is the following.

Bear in mind that the report may be an evaluation of a change that has already taken place (ex post); or it may refer to an ongoing change or to a prospective change (ex ante).This note refers to the latter, ex ante situation, but the principles apply to the ex post situation.

I have also taken a definition of culture as the way we do things round here, associated with Edgar Schein.

Begin by

Begin by entitling your report in 20 or so words; citing the company and the problem to be examined, the audience.[i]

Then state the agreed brief; the issue you will analyse and the expected output of your report (recommendations, their implementation, priorities, time frames, suggestions for further work if necessary.

Then state briefly the principle models you intend to adopt and why

The system state of the company concerned has changed. How?

Demonstrate that as a consultant you understand the critical success factors of the industry which you compete.

The business model of the company concerned and the critical success factors possessed by the company and the capabilities which determine its competitive landscape have been affected.

What sort of change in the system state is it?[ii]

The kind of change that might have occurred as a result of normal curve considerations? A Black Swan event? An evolutionary change in industry conditions? A random event? A mix of the above or some other?Is it

  1. An externally initiated change in outer dynamics imposed upon the company by such and such an instant…… Loss of reputation…… Hyper- competition…… Entry of new firms in and new technologies into the industry……Disintermediation……Necessitating a change in inner dynamics?
  2. The result of an internally activated initiative to change direction.. ….decision to merge……outsource…..extend the business portfolio……reduce costs… ?
  3. Both?

Perhaps set out the upside and downside risks of the change in the system state.[iii]

Process of change[iv]

There is a need to change the system state. Or at least those aspects of the system state that the company has (more or less) control over; the inner dynamics and those aspects of grammar that it has influence over.

Process includes attention to three main elements; perhaps modification, abandonment or substitution of them.

  1. Conceptual; analysis, perhaps alluding to the vision and values of the company. Both are part of the grammar of the company.Try to identify feasible alternatives open at the moment; feasible is a strong consideration.
  2. Action; choosing and implementing a set of actions and deciding the criteria against which these actions are going to be evaluated.[v]
  3. Adaptation; a process has to be set up of evaluating the conceptual and action stages against one another. Do outcomes or payoffs from implementation correspond to the original intention and vision; or are they on track to do so? Do they correspond to the values of the company.

Recommendations

Your recommendations are based upon the previous section. Among other things they may include;

  1. Process, priorities, time frame.[vi]
  2. Resistance and suggestions as to how to overcome resistance; stemming from internal grammar (culture, mind sets, systems and structures soft and hard that may need change or adaptation)[vii]
  3. Expected outcomes.
  4. Upside and downside risks and impact analysis.[viii]

Generalisation

Perhaps the problem has broader significance.

As a result of this consultation maybe more work needs to be done or more information gathered.

You may also recommend some training needs for the company if your recommendations are to be carried out successfully.

ENDNOTES

[i] If you do this you have a specific brief to address. And you will be able to tailor your report to the particular audience you have in mind.

[ii]

[iii]

IMPACT ANALYSIS

Impact analysis would include

The probability of the event P[EVENT] and the impact of the event both subjective

giving

expected impact =

prob [event] times impact [quantified]

[iv]You might take a strategy roadmap which is a linear approach to the problem…… You might take a non-linear approach as instanced by the enneagram model which essentially divides the strategic process into three related parts……

[v] There are many references on BBS, few are really critical. Most merely describe the model. The following references do take up the problem of evaluating the BBS itself and you might take the considerations in them into account as a caution in the consulting report and as a real critical element in the literature section.

JörgBudde. 2007. Performance Measure Congruity and the Balanced Scorecard. Journal of Accounting Research 45 (3): 515-539.

Tapinos E, Dyson RG, Meadows M. 2011. Does the Balanced Scorecard make a difference to the strategy development process? The Journal of the Operational Research Society 62 (5): 888-899.

[vi]Perhaps look at the intersection in the coloured version of the meta model……

[vii]Barriers to be overcome

You might look at the Beinhocker paper

[viii]

See endnote ii. Above

EKENEMCHIM C OKOYE