Factors for consulting engagement success

Abstract

Clients engage consultants for many reasons, not always successfully. Based on a literature review and client and consultant interviews, this paper suggests six universal factors ‐‐ stated as testable propositions ‐‐ to help explain consulting engagement success. The factors are consultant integrity ‐‐ in particular in putting the client’s interests first, client involvement and readiness to change, a clear agreement concerning requirements and expectations, client control of the engagement ‐‐ partly via clear and limited assignments, consultant competence, and a good fit along a number of dimensions ‐‐ including models of consultancy, client expectations, consultant capabilities, and consultant type. The paper also addresses the distinction between organisation development consultation and other types of management consulting and concludes that the distinction need not be so sharp.

Effective consultants: a conceptual framework for helping school systems achieve systemic reform

“…A minimal level of collaboration is required to provide expert information or diagnose a problem within the client organisation, while process consultation involves repeated engagement to assist the client with identifying, prioritising and dealing with complex organisational issues (Freedman and Zackrison 2001). McLachlin (1999) and others (Bell 1985;Freedman and Zackrison 2001) refer to this as 'organisational development (OD)' consulting or 'human resource development (HRD)' consulting, where consultants focus more on dysfunctions arising from maladaptive relationships than on problems arising from inadequate skill training or lack of knowledge. These functions relate directly to the higher-order functions conceptualised by Turner (1983), and suggest a more balanced division of labour between the consultant and the client, where both parties work collaboratively to bring about a change.…”

“…When serving in a collaborative capacity, the literature suggests that effective consultants blend both content and process expertise to help organisations improve (Block 2011;deCaluwe and Reitsma 2010;Greiner, Motamedi, and Jamieson 2011;McLachlin 1999;Schaffer 1997). In addition, Block (2011) contends that effective consultants must also possess interpersonal skills in order to manage relationships with their clients.…”

“…Beyond the high-level sponsor, the client needs to have a champion who is consistently present (Jamieson and Armstrong 2010), who sets and monitors performance goals for the partnership and who keeps the work closely connected to organisational strategy (AlMashari and Zairi 1999). Several upfront client practices distinguish successful partnerships including seeking clarification on how the consultant will operate, clarifying consultant roles and financial agreements, clarifying the problem for which the consultant is sought and clearly defining resource limitations (Applebaum and Steed 2005;Fernandez and Rainey 2006;Ford 1985), ideally capturing these understandings in a clear agreement (McLachlin 1999).…”

“…Management consultants with content expertise possess unique knowledge, skills, insights, methods and technologies that they can apply in order to help organisations achieve better results (ACME 1994;McLachlin 1999;Schaffer 1997). Block (2011) contends that clients rarely hire consultants whom they suspect have limited content expertise or experience.…”

Transformational leadership in business organisations ascending to world-class status: A case study in the petrochemical industry

“…In a more classical sense Grobler (1996), distinguishes between transactional and transformational leadership and supports the notion that, to become world-class, leaders should focus on transformational leadership. Wright & Thompsen (1997), Drew & Smith (1995) as well as McLachlin (1999), acknowledge the need for leadership to ensure readiness of the business organisation for change, but frame it as a capacity issue (the capacity for change). In this respect, capacity refers to: personal psychological and emotional readiness (specifically a commitment to change and willingness to experiment); and capability (competence to function optimally within a changing environment).…”