01 Business Consulting by Jonathan Harley

Author:Jonathan Harley [Harley, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-01-07T14:09:21.406000+00:00

BUSINESS CONSULTING

The law of the few

Media criticism of the consulting industry is unlikely to drive change unless there is a clear agenda for change and a coherent voice in the form of a pressure group or a small number of influential evangelists.

To what extent is a coherent agenda emerging among clients? Clients are remarkably consistent about the kinds of changes they would like to see in the consulting industry:

Information. It often looks as though consultants are only too keen to regurgitate the latest solution or package without trying to take into account a client’s specific situation. This means that there may be lots of impressive presentations but little substance.

It is not just the consulting firms that are at fault; clients should demand better information.

A code of practice. This would correct the distortion many clients see, particularly during a recessionary period, in which consultancies, under pressure to maintain the growth rates of the previous decade, are tempted to sell clients work they do not need and cannot afford. In other words, clients need reassurance that consultants are genuinely acting in their interests.

Accountability. Many clients feel that consultants should have a similar level of professional liability as, say, lawyers and accountants for their advice. The underlying concern is clarity of ownership. The majority of clients accept that there are consulting projects where the buck unequivocally stops with them. They also believe that there are other projects where responsibility can reasonably and unambiguously be assigned to the consultants involved. Their main concern, therefore, is when accountability is unclear, when they think consultants are ducking the issues.

The consulting industry has begun to respond to this agenda. Trade associations like the Management Consultancies Association have codes of practice which their members must abide by. Contractual structures, which share the risks and rewards of projects between clients and consultants, are becoming more prevalent. However, the problems in exchanging information and the intangible nature of consulting services constitute formidable barriers to making the industry more transparent.

These barriers are also part of the reason there has been no collective pressure from clients for change. Many of the companies surveyed for 132

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