MGT599: When Consultants are Asked to Come in, the Client has Usually: Management Consultant Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this assignment you will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate and analyze management consulting processes and practices and their application to business-critical challenges
2. Define key factors and issues relevant to a consulting engagement and examine their inter-relationships and learn to develop them conceptually and provide value
3. Present analyses of issues and organizational problems in a concise, accurate, clear, and interesting manner from the perspective of a consultant
4. Evaluate a variety of processes and interventions involved in the management-consulting discipline
5. Prepare and present consulting reports based on consulting engagements to senior-level management

Scenario: When consultants are asked to come in, the client has usually identified some problem, defined as something that prevents the business from reaching its potential, or an opportunity the company could pursue. According to Wickham and Wilcock (2016), the consultant should first understand the current situation of the business (IST), and secondly the goals of the business, or what it wants to achieve (SOLL).

Your Task

You are a management consultant. Select a company of your choice and define the problem(s) the company is facing and develop possible solutions.

In your business report you should address the following tasks:

1. Describe the client company of your choice (the type of company, industry, size, etc.) and critically analyze its specific characteristics, resources, business model, core competencies, organizational culture, etc.

2. Indicate the nature of the problem that has been identified by the management of the client company. This can be a specific issue (IT, HR issues, supply chain issues) or a wider strategic issue related to the competitive position of the company.

3. Critically analyze the supporting forces (factors that assist the business to achieve its goals) and blocking forces (those factors which impede the firm and prevent it from achieving its goals) within the client company.

4. Based on the definition of the problem, critically identify and justify the analytical tools you plan to use to increase your insight into the client’s problems and potential solutions.

5. Critically outline a brief strategy to get from the current to the desired future situation, using a relevant framework.