The Functioning of a Management Consultation Process
A firm when encountered with a problem which may be beyond their scope to handle, the decision making body of the firm may decide to obtain external aid in the form of a ‘Management Consultancy Firm’. This decision to hire a consultant often arises as the client firm may not possess the requisite experience, expertise and neutral/unbiased outlook essential to overcome the hurdle.
The process of hiring a suitable consultant is initiated by a floatation of a ‘tender’ by the potential client, which contains a brief out-line of the problem faced by the firm and its requirements. This is promptly followed by the sending of an E.O.I (Expression Of Interest) from numerous consultancy firms, the client firm responds by furnishing more information and details on the nature of the job. The management consultancy firms if interested then send an R.F.P (Request For Proposal). The client company then makes a decision regarding choice of the consultancy firms, the firm of choice is then hired and the consultation processes is initiated.
The RFP outlines the consultancy firms approach and practices they would implement to tackle the project. It also introduces the service team, a proposed time-line for the execution of the project and specifies the fee along with the terms and conditions of the partnership. The document may also contain background information on the consultancy firm’s proposed team members and about the firm itself.
The consultancy process maybe considered to possess three salient stages; a brief outline follows but it maybe subject to change depending on the requirements of the client or the project.
The preliminary stage of the consultancy process involves intense research and data gathering pertaining to the project and all necessary information or data that may be relevant to any factors(external & internal) that could influence the project. The information for most part is sourced from the...