Management
The aim of this management paper is to recognize the various steps in the consulting process. In an article by Thomas Ausart, it has been discussed that operations consulting is focused on the operational aspect of projects where companies are guided about implementation of strategies and about how efficiency of business can be improved. The difference with traditional management consulting is that, in operational consulting, the consultants stay back to work alongside the business on the implementation process and to check the results.
In the operations consulting, process there are several steps which starts with proposal development for the Client Company and analysis of the problem. Then a list of all alternative solutions, is made, and the best solution is selected for which performance measurement system is developed. The final report is then presented to the client that explains the steps to be taken to implement the solution and the performance parameters which will be used to measure the effects and changes. Till this part, the process is almost same as that of the traditional management consulting. But in addition to this operation consulting cycle also includes implementation of the changes suggested to the customer and to ensure that the customer is satisfied with the results. In the end, key learning points from the study are noted down for future reference. (Wilensky, Robert, 1983)
The most significant part of this procedure is implementation of the changes because this is the part that makes it different from other approaches and where the validity of one’s suggestions can be tested. Thomas Ausart, in his article, “All about Operational Consulting: Moving beyond PowerPoint to add real value to companies” has stated that this process is more involved with the business and goes beyond spending time in meetings at the client’s offices. The core business is more focused on leading major development projects by functioning on the full lifecycle of the development, from strategy to implementation. (Newell, Allen, and Simon, Herbert A., 1972)
References:
Wilensky, Robert 1983 Planning and Understanding: A Computational Approach to Human Reasoning. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Newell, Allen, and Simon, Herbert A. 1972 Human Problem Solving. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
