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Fundamentals of management consulting. Management consulting: tasks, methods and stages of service provision Characteristic features and principles of consulting

Management consulting services appeared later than similar services in the field of marketing, advertising, technical policy, etc. This was a natural phenomenon, because. at first, the most obvious, quick-acting sources of efficiency improvement are used in the competition. Managerial capabilities are associated with human behavior, and a person is a relatively inertial part of production. Despite this, management consulting is one of the most sought-after products in today's reality. Depending on the content and level of complexity of the situation in which the client’s enterprise finds itself, a consultant is invited to solve three types of problems:

To correct the current situation in the enterprise (task for correction),

To improve the existing situation (improvement task),

To form a completely new situation (creation task).

In all three cases, the interaction between the client and the consultant begins with the fact that some condition, some situation or some indicators of the enterprise's activity are recognized by the client and the consultant as unsatisfactory and there is an opportunity to change them for the better with the help of the advice and recommendations of the consultant. And therefore, as the completion of the interaction, all changes in the enterprise proposed by an independent consultant should help improve the quality of the client's enterprise management, improve the management of the enterprise's functional areas and processes at the enterprise. In general terms, the tasks of management consulting are as follows:

Increasing turnover and profitability, increasing the value of the company,

Creation of competitive advantages in the customer market, supplier market, labor market,

Increasing the manageability of the company, reducing the cost of managerial energy of managers,

Ensuring the required quality of products and services, reducing costs, eliminating time delays,

Improving intra-company interaction, increasing the coordination of actions of departments and employees,

Increasing the activity and loyalty of the staff, strengthening the performance discipline,

Development of key competencies, improvement of managerial skills of managers and employees.

Management consulting services are of a specific nature:

As a result, material products are not produced that can be measured by mechanical and / or physico-chemical indicators,

The creation of a service and its consumption occurs immediately in the same place and at the same time,

Consulting firms contact the consumer directly, which creates additional requirements for their functioning.

Like any other product, management consulting services have their own life cycle: the stages of design and development, testing, launch, growth, maturity, saturation and decline. This process also has a temporal dimension, as some services become obsolete and should be replaced, and some services emerge and should be implemented. The essential characteristics of management consulting are manifested in the ways or special types of its implementation. Therefore, the classification of consulting services is necessary to identify each new type of consulting and manage the consulting process. Summarizing the classification of types of management consulting given in the literature and supplementing it on the basis of the experience of their provision, we were able to identify the following generalizing features of the classification (Table 1) , , :

Table 1 - Types of management consulting

Classification sign	Types of management consulting

By working methods	Expert consulting, process consulting, training consulting
By subject of work	Project consulting, process consulting
	Targeted counseling, multipurpose counseling
By task	Operational, strategic, organizational, developing
By client type	Consulting individuals, advising legal entities
By client industry	Manufacturing, banking, energy, transport, healthcare, etc.
Directions of management activity	General management consulting, administration consulting, financial management consulting, human resources consulting, marketing consulting, production consulting, information technology consulting, specialized consulting services
According to the form of work in the consulting process	Individual counseling, group counseling
By working method	Diagnostics, calculations, developments (work in projects with methodological recommendations), documentation, informing, training (lectures, training seminars, trainings, case studies, discussions, case-story methods, business and role-playing games), negotiations
By duration of work	Short term, medium term, long term
By frequency of work	One-time, periodic, subscription
Location of the consulting firm	Local, regional, national, multinational
According to the mode of work in the process of counseling	Intensive, expert-process, joint with representatives of the client organization, using active forms of training and development, focused on practical results and changes
By type of consultant-client relationship
By output result	Normative, valuable, problematic

The systematic nature of the characteristics given to each type of management consulting allows you to compare its capabilities and evaluate its effectiveness in relation to others. Assessing the ratio of types of management consulting in economic practice, one can observe the trends of these observations in dynamics, which makes it possible to make appropriate adjustments to the development of consulting activities.

It is difficult to assess the quality of management consulting services, because the client perceives not only the result of the service, but becomes an accomplice in its provision. And the only requirement that applies to consulting services, as well as to any other transactions made by organizations, from the side of the law is that they are provided in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation (in the banking sector of the economy they must be provided in accordance with the Civil Code RF, the law "On Banks and Banking", etc.).

Difficulties in assessing the quality of consulting services determine the need for the existence of special guarantees of their quality, and first of all, standards for consulting activities. When considering the quality of the consulting service, the subject area, the content of the recommendation, the methodology and service in providing the consulting service are also evaluated. At the same time, it should be noted that the quality of consulting services directly depends on the degree of development of the consulting business and the principles of its implementation by periods of development. You can trace the development of the principles for the implementation of consulting activities according to table 2.

Table 2 - Development of management consulting principles

	Characteristics of the principles of management consulting

	Independence of assistance provided, advisory nature, high professional level, dissemination of best practices, promotion of professional competence of managers, compliance with ethical standards of behavior, promotion of management consulting
	Prevailing the interests of customers over the interests of consultants, respecting the confidential nature of consulting, servicing related enterprises only with the consent of their managers, having sufficient information to fulfill the order, preliminary examination of the client organization before concluding a contract, familiarizing the customer with new methods, techniques and principles of consulting, taking into account the conditions necessary for the implementation of the developed recommendations, close cooperation with the personnel of the client organization, the development by consultants of new methods and techniques of consulting


	Scientific character, concreteness, preservation of the system, publicity, representativeness
	The presence of an economic effect, calculated and agreed upon by customers and consultants; focus on helping lagging enterprises (unprofitable and low-profit), focus on long-term collaboration
	Independence and objectivity of the assistance provided, confidentiality of information received from the client, confidence in the benefits of the consultation and one’s competence, payment for services on the basis of contractual circumstances fixed before the start of work
	Independence and objectivity of the assistance provided; confidentiality of information received from the client; confidence of the consultant in the benefits of consultation for the client; the consultant's confidence in his competence, the obligation to inform the client of his doubts about the possibility of usefully applying the advice received; clarification to clients of the essence and nature of the problems, ways, conditions for their solution; payment for services on the basis of prices fixed before the start of work, regardless of the results of the client's activities; association of almost all existing consulting firms into an association; adherence to the consultant's code by members of the association
	"Capture" of the market by Western consulting companies, cooperation and accumulation of experience, work on foreign projects and programs
	Generalization of accumulated experience, specialization by types of services provided, information and consulting networks
	Allocation of the elite of consultants to the association of management consultants, retreat of Western consulting companies, specialization in the industries served, specialization in the scale of the client, specialization in the forms of ownership of the client

Based on this, in the scientific literature, for a formal description of the quality of a consulting service, it is proposed to use various evaluation parameters. Having summarized the accumulated experience in providing consulting services and assessing their quality, we consider it necessary to use the following set of quality indicators of consulting services (Table 3). Thus, in order to gain recognition and become in demand in the market, a consulting firm needs to constantly take care of its reliability, responsibility and, most importantly, competence. Consulting specialists must be, first of all, excellent experts in business processes, competent analysts and good forecasters, and they must also have their own relatively free and objective opinion and be able to influence clients authoritatively.

You can confirm the presence of the listed indicators of the quality of consulting services as follows:

1. Demonstration of the future result:

1.1. Displaying results for similar orders (sample reports, customer success stories).

Table 3 - Indicators of the quality of management consulting services

An indicator that determines the quality of management consulting	Characteristics of the indicator

Relevance	Importance, significance for the present moment, modernity, topicality of consulting services.
Availability	It is easy to get a consulting service in a convenient place, at a convenient time, without unnecessary waiting for its provision
Objectivity	Employees of a consulting firm should not ignore the actual conditions or actual state of affairs in the provision of consulting services.
Complexity	It implies coverage of all links and all aspects of the client's activities
Reliability	Highly technical and stable service delivery mechanism. The consulting services provided are reliable, do not carry any danger or risk, do not give rise to any doubt
credibility	A consulting firm and its employees can be relied upon to truly strive to meet any client needs and help solve their problems.
Competence	Maintenance staff and consultants have the required skills and knowledge
Efficiency	Ability to quickly, accurately and timely provide consulting services
Communication	The description of the consulting service is in the client's language and is accurate. Consultants and staff are friendly, respectful and caring
Creativity	Employees are creative in problem solving and customer satisfaction
Individual approach	The client always has the right to count on the fact that the consultant is able to identify exactly his problem, professionally solve it, taking into account all the details of the situation
Possibility of practical application in the conditions of the client's organization
Saving the system	The influence of the consultant on the client organization in the process of consulting until the stage of mastering the results of consulting should not violate the qualitative parameters and mode of operation of the organization
Publicity	The work of consultants at all stages should be visible, and team members should be directly involved in the development and development of innovations
Scientific	Application of scientific approaches in the process of providing consulting services
Flexibility	The possibility of adjusting the consulting process when external or internal conditions change, the diversity of solutions

Progressiveness	It involves the development and improvement of the theory and practice of consulting in accordance with the change in management systems, the content and forms of economic activity, legal norms, etc.
Efficiency	Achievement of the set goals, visibility and usefulness of the results, commensuration of results with costs

1.2. Imitation of the future result for the Client (determination of key management and financial and economic indicators that can be achieved as a result of acquiring the service).

1.3. Demonstration of future benefits from the acquisition of the service.

2. Realization services:

2.1. The result of cooperation is partially embodied (handout at seminars, accompanying documentation for implementation projects, a paper report on the results of consulting).

2.2. Related items, consumables are transferred as an addition or a gift (video or audio course).

3. Physical evidence of the quality of the resources involved in the work:

3.1. Diplomas of employees (number of certified specialists, candidates and doctors of science, trained abroad, etc.).

3.2. The latest equipment.

3.3. The quality of the materials used (international recognition and awards).

3.4. Official agreements with partners.

3.5. Licenses, certificates of the company in certain areas of work.

4. External evaluation of the quality of work by third parties:

4.1. Company awards in competitions.

4.2. Membership in associations, clubs, etc.

4.3. Confirmation of cooperation with companies that traditionally impose the most stringent quality requirements.

4.4. Testimonials and letters of thanks from Clients.

4.5. Participation of management / employees in expert councils, scientific conferences, round tables on the topic (publications, photos, etc.), etc.

5. Demonstration of quality control to the Client:

5.1. Implementation of intra-company standards and "voicing" them to customers.

5.2. Memo to the client for independent quality control.

5.3. Implementation of a quality management system.

6. Modeling the process, clarifying the cooperation procedure, guaranteeing efficiency:

6.1. Phased provision of services, the ability for the client to refuse further cooperation at some stage.

6.2. Detailed prescribing of the interaction procedure and fixing it in the documents.

6.3. The possibility of a refund in case of unsatisfactory quality.

It is possible to ensure the availability of the considered indicators of the quality of consulting services by analyzing and taking into account the factors that affect their quality. The services that a consulting firm can offer depend on a wide variety of external and internal factors. External factors are factors that are outside the consulting firm and contribute to the formation of the quality of services. The main ones are the requirements of the market (customers), competition, the economic situation in the market, the political situation, etc. Internal factors include those that depend on the activities of the consulting firm itself and affect its ability to provide services of adequate quality.

Basically, all factors, both internal and external, are closely related, and they all affect the quality of consulting services. At the same time, only internal factors can be controlled and managed, so we will dwell on their study in more detail. To identify internal factors affecting the quality of advisory services in the banking sector of the economy, we conducted a survey using a questionnaire. The questionnaires were filled in by employees of banks located in the Oryol region and using the practice of contacting consultants in their activities (Rosselkhozbank, Lanta-bank, Trust Bank, VTB 24, etc.).

As a result of the survey, the following information was obtained. Objectivity, comprehensiveness, communication, trust, competence and effectiveness of consulting services that characterize the quality of customer service depend on the qualifications of consultants, on their experience in this field of knowledge, on the relationship of consultants with clients, on the methods used by the consultant.

As the survey of respondents shows, they are more willing to listen to consultants if they have a higher education and work experience in the banking sector. Customers make a preliminary impression of the possible quality of services based on an analysis of the price list of the consulting firm. There is an opinion that the higher the prices, the more qualified assistance can be expected from consultants. At the same time, the financial crisis in the global economy is forcing banks to save money in order to reduce costs, which makes it difficult to attract highly qualified specialists who provide quality consulting services. Such qualitative characteristics of consulting services as relevance, efficiency, reliability, scientific character, complexity, flexibility and efficiency are provided through the use of modern information technologies. The ability of consultants to use information technologies, with the help of which they will be able to provide advice in the shortest possible time with the highest quality, depends on the provision of consultants with technical means. As the survey showed, not all consultants are provided with the necessary equipment and not everywhere it meets modern requirements. Most of the problems are with the software. In addition, most consultants are currently not provided with portable instruments and laboratory equipment.

To work effectively, consultants should have a comfortable workplace, preferably in a separate room, however, as practice shows, usually consultants are limited in premises and are in a room with other employees. The survey showed that 61% of consultants work indoors with other specialists up to 3 people and 23% in an office with up to 6 people. Almost all consultants do not have an office for receiving visitors. There are also problems with the availability of premises for holding group events.

Based on the study of the experience of consulting organizations and the conducted research, we have identified the main internal factors affecting the volume and quality of consulting services, which are presented schematically in Figure 1. Internal factors are numerous and it is advisable to classify them into groups:

1. Material and technical factors through the introduction of new equipment, technologies, etc. create a material basis for the production of competitive consulting services.

2. Organizational factors are related to improving the organization of production and labor, increasing production discipline and responsibility for the quality of services, ensuring a culture of production and an appropriate level of personnel qualification, introducing a quality management system and its certification and other organizational measures.

3. Economic factors are determined by the costs of organizing the provision of consulting services, the costs of ensuring the required level of their quality, the pricing policy and the system of economic incentives for personnel. Socio-psychological factors largely influence the creation of a healthy socio-psychological climate in the team, normal working conditions, education of personnel in the spirit of devotion and pride in their enterprise, moral stimulation of employees for a conscientious attitude to work.

4. Marketing factors affect the ability to determine the position of a consulting firm in the market and in the minds of consumers.

When studying the influence of these factors on the activities of consulting firms, it should be remembered that at each stage of their development, the degree of influence of these factors is not the same. Therefore, the relevant departments of consulting firms should rank internal factors according to the degree of influence and give preference to those that have the greatest impact on the quality of consulting services. This will allow cost-effective and more efficient management of product quality. The identified factors make it possible to determine the conditions for increasing the volume and quality of consulting services:

Figure 1 - Internal factors affecting the volume and quality of consulting services

Organization of marketing of consulting services;

Creation of the personnel potential of consultants, providing them with a decent level of wages, organization of advanced training for them;

Acquisition of information and consulting centers with modern computing, copying and presentation equipment, necessary software and updated databases, organization of access to the Internet;

Equipping information and consulting centers with portable field devices and laboratory equipment that allows you to quickly determine the parameters of technological processes and give more informed advice in the banking sector;

Providing consultation centers with vehicles for organizing mobile and operational work;

Methodical, organizational and informational support of consultants.

The creation of these conditions in Russia is possible with an integrated systematic approach to the organization of management consulting in particular and all consulting in general. Thus, given the commonality of goals and objectives, all formations of the system require standard methodological, information support, training and advanced training programs for personnel, technical support for compatible equipment, and exchange of experience. These functions can be most effectively implemented centrally by differentiating the level of tasks and distributing them between the federal and regional levels, as well as through interregional exchange. At the same time, duplication of actions, which entails the irrational use of material and labor resources, will be excluded. With joint actions aimed at solving common typical problems, underestimation of factors due to incomplete information and knowledge is excluded, and the unification of efforts and cooperation gives a synergistic effect that will be used and replicated in other territories.

Bibliography:

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2. Efremov, V.S. Management consulting as a business [Text] / V.S. Efremov // Management in Russia and abroad, July-August, 2007. - P. 70-79.

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7. Minyakova, T.E. Management consulting [Text]: textbook / T.E. Minyakova. - Ulyanovsk UlGTU, 2007. - 112 p.

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12. Fomishen, S.V. Management consulting. International experience [Text] / S.V. Fomishin, Yu.V. Chernov. - Rostov n / D .: Phoenix, 2006. - 286 p.

There are many definitions of management consulting. There are two main approaches to counseling.

In the first case, a broad functional view of counseling is used. Fritz Steele defines it this way: “By consulting process I mean any form of assistance with regard to the content, process or structure of a task or series of tasks, in which the consultant is not himself responsible for the task, but helps those who are responsible for it.”

The second approach considers counseling as a special professional service and highlights a number of characteristics that it should have. According to Larry Grainer and Robert Metzger, “management consulting is a contracted and service-based consulting service to organizations through specially trained and qualified individuals who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving these problems, and assist, if necessary, the implementation of decisions”. These two approaches can be seen as complementary.

In particular, the European Federation of Associations of Economics and Management Consultants (FEACO) gives the following definition: “Management consulting is the provision of independent advice and assistance in management matters, including the identification and evaluation of problems and / or opportunities, the recommendation of appropriate measures and assistance in their implementation". The American Association of Economics and Management Consultants (ACME) and the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) adhere to the same definition.

In general, there are several main approaches to the definition of the concept of management consulting:

1. QM - highly qualified assistance to managers aimed at improving the work of organizations, which is provided by independent (not part of the organization) experts who have specialized in a particular area

2. MC - a kind of expert assistance to the leaders of the organization in solving the problems of restructuring management in changing external and internal conditions

3. MC is an activity and a profession, its content is to help managers in solving their problems and in introducing the achievements of science and best practices.

4. UK - a certain way organized process of interaction between the consultant and the personnel of the enterprise (organization), the result of which is an organizational change carried out on it or a project for its implementation

5. QM - services provided by independent and professionally trained specialists (a consultant or their group) in order to help the head of the organization in diagnosing, analyzing and practically solving managerial and production problems

6. QM - a service provided by a consultant to help an enterprise in diagnosing, analyzing and practically solving problems

7. MC is an effective form of rationalization of production management based on the use of science and best practices.

8. Consulting is professional assistance from management specialists to business managers and management personnel of various organizations (client) in solving problems and functioning of their development, carried out in the form of advice, recommendations and solutions jointly developed with the client

9. Business consulting - providing the client with specialized experience, methodology, behavior techniques, professional skills or other resources that help him optimize the financial and economic condition that has developed at the enterprise (organization) within the framework of the current regulatory and legislative framework.

10. Management consulting is a service that provides the client with independent and objective advice, and is provided by a specialized company or specialist to identify and analyze the management problems and opportunities of the client company.

In the most general form, management consulting can be considered one of the methods for developing the management system of organizations (firms, companies), as well as one of the methods for creating and developing social systems. In the broadest sense, management consulting is the process of applying social technologies to social systems. Social technologies represent a sequence of stages of interaction between an innovator (in particular, a management consultant) and a social system. At each of these stages, the innovator uses a specific set of management tools. At the same time, there are a number of norms and requirements that the activity of an innovator must comply with in order for the innovation process to proceed without destruction and without degradation of the developing social system.

The analysis of the presented formulations does not give grounds to take any of them as a model, since each of them fixes only a certain aspect of consulting activity. Therefore, the symbiosis of the formulations of consulting activity as a specific form of activity can give a more complete and more systematic definition.

We offer the following definition of consulting activity.

Management consulting is a type of intellectual professional activity in which a qualified consultant provides objective and independent advice that contributes to the successful management of a client organization.

Western theorists of management consulting distinguish the following characteristic features of management consulting.

First, consultants provide professional assistance to executives. Experienced consultants go through many organizations and learn how to use their experience to help new and old clients in a variety of situations. Hence, they are able to recognize general trends and common causes of problems. Moreover, professional consultants constantly monitor the literature on management issues and the development of theories of methods and management systems, as well as the situation in the market. Thus, they act as a link between management theory and practice.

Secondly, consultants mostly give advice. This means that they are only advisors and do not have direct power to make decisions about change and implement it. Consultants are responsible for the quality and completeness of the advice. Clients bear all responsibility that stems from the acceptance of advice.

And third, counseling is an independent service. The consultant assesses the situation, offers recommendations on what to do to the client, without thinking about how this might affect his own interests. The consultant must have the following types of independence: financial, administrative, political, emotional. All this makes high demands on the quality and efficiency of consulting services and causes them to focus on the interests of the client.

The ultimate goal of counseling is to help the client make progressive changes in his or her organization. The consultant helps to identify and solve specific technical problems, while addressing human problems and aspects of organizational change.

The main task of consulting is to identify and find ways to solve existing problems. Consulting services are carried out both in the form of one-time consultations and in the form of consulting projects. There are many divisions of the consulting process into stages. Any consulting project includes the following main stages:

diagnostics (problem identification);

development of solutions;

implementation of solutions.

The consulting process, in addition to the project stage, includes pre-project and post-project stages. The initial step of the pre-project stage is the recognition by the client that he has such a problem, the solution of which he would like to implement with the help of consultants. This recognition is the result of a two-way process: on the one hand, the client's awareness of the existence of a problem as such, on the other hand, the formation of a manager's desire to entrust the development of a solution to the problem to consultants. Typically, the client selects on a competitive basis from several proposals the one that best suits him in terms of quality and price, after which he concludes a contract with the consultant of his choice.

The post-project stage consists in analyzing the changes that have taken place in the client organization, resolving issues related to the possible expansion of the project in connection with new problems - either identified during the implementation of the project, or arising as a result of the organization reaching a new state as a result of the project. As part of this stage, the final financial settlements of the client with the consultant and self-analysis of the consultant's activities are also carried out in order to comprehend the experience gained for use in other projects.

A consulting project can take from several days to several months. When solving problems, an integrated approach is used, which takes into account the relationship of various aspects of the enterprise. To achieve maximum efficiency in the implementation of consulting projects, a project team is created, which includes experts in various subject areas and managers who manage the project. When making decisions, diagnosing problems and developing recommendations, methods of organizing the collective work of the project team are widely used.

The main task of the consulting project is to achieve the highest possible quality of solving the problem while observing financial and time constraints. Process consulting is a method for developing and changing organizations. The purpose of this method is to increase productivity and / or improve the psychological climate in the organization, achieved with the participation of an independent, external consultant. The focus is not only on solving the actual problems of the organization, but also on acquiring the skills of analyzing, evaluating and solving customer problems. In this sense, the consultant must perform two tasks: on the one hand, to monitor the solution of existing problems, on the other hand, to show the organization's ways to independently solve pressing issues in the future. The degree of client involvement in a consulting project varies depending on the types of consulting services. By comparing the time spent by the client's staff and the results of the consultant's work, it is possible to determine the required degree of staff involvement in the consultant's activities.

The effectiveness of the consultant's work will be minimal if the client does not participate in it at all. Further, this efficiency grows as the client's involvement increases, and after reaching the optimal point, the efficiency begins to fall, therefore, the client begins to do his work for the consultant. Of course, the curve of this graph will change depending on the type of problems being solved, on the stage or phase of the consulting project, and, of course, on the type of consulting services.

In expert consulting, the client provides the consultant with information, controls his activities, learns his recommendations and makes appropriate management decisions. With process - the client, in addition to the above, takes part in the development of recommendations and, with training - the client's staff spends additional time on training sessions. In specific projects or at their various stages, combinations of all three of the listed types of consulting can be used, and then it becomes expert-process, process-training, expert-training, etc. The work of the consultant begins with the fact that some condition is recognized as unsatisfactory and there is an opportunity to correct it. Such work ends when there has been a change in this condition that can be considered an improvement. The work of a consultant includes the interaction of various types of business activity, affects the technological, economic, financial, legal, psycho-social, political and other aspects of the organization's activities. All changes, conceived and implemented with the help of a consultant, should improve the quality of management and increase the efficiency of the organization.

There are several typical consulting assignments depending on the quality or level of the situation faced by the client organization:

the task of correcting a situation that has worsened;

the task of improving the situation that already exists;

the task of creating a completely new situation.

Two aspects of possible changes in the client organization should also be noted:

· a technical aspect relating to the nature of the managerial or commercial problem faced by the client; the consultant finds ways to analyze and solve it;

the human side, i.e. the relationship between the consultant and the client, the reaction of people in the client's organization to changes; the consultant helps in planning these relationships and their implementation.

Effective counseling shows how to deal with these two aspects of organizational change. These issues are interrelated and the consultant must understand this. "Change is the essence of management consulting. If the various forms of consulting assignments have one thing in common, it is to help plan and implement change in client organizations."

The characteristics of the changes are as follows:

· the extent to which their approval by staff is important for their successful implementation;

How profound is the impact of changes on the enterprise;

How ready is the company for change?

The object of consulting for management consultants is always the first person of the organization (manager) with all his problems - financial, personnel, social, etc. Management consultants can be divided into at least two groups: specialists and generalists or generalists. Experts innovate. They keep themselves up to date with all the latest developments in a particular area of expertise.

Generalists offer methods. They deal with several areas of management and focus on their interaction, coordination and integration. In "value" consulting, consultants-specialists (ideologists, innovators, trainers) "inculcate" new value orientations in the client organization through training, social and psychological trainings, negotiation technologies, work in groups. This consulting happens with the participation of consultants in the work on "total" quality, in management, in the organization's orientation towards the client.

Generalists carry out problem consulting of a process or project. They are usually engaged in preliminary organizational diagnostics, negotiations with clients, planning and coordination of assignments, drawing conclusions, presenting final proposals to clients, etc. Generalists perform supervisory and managerial functions. When consulting a project, the consultant diagnoses problems and offers his solutions. Generalists consult on: organization goals, organization strategy, organizational structure, organizational culture, type of organization development, leadership, conflicts, etc.

In management consulting, the generalist creates a situation for the personnel of the organization, who himself reveals his condition, and, realizing it, finds ways to solve his problem, difficulty, idea.

However, the point is not to oppose generalists and specialists, but to combine their skills and abilities to achieve a greater overall effect. Many consulting firms have both specialists and generalists, between whom there is a certain division of labor.

There is also a division into external and internal consultants. External consultants are independent, experienced and provide services to clients on the basis of an appropriate contract. Internal consultants are full-time specialists in the economics and management of a particular organization

The key qualities of consultants can be noted: broad public interests; self-confidence: objectivity, prudence, mental and intellectual balance; flexibility of mind: validity and perseverance in finding solutions, analytical skills, tactical and strategic thinking; technical skills: academic training, practical methods of work; experience: from work in enterprises, from activities as a consultant; knowledge of the industry and the subject of consulting: theoretical, practical.

Consider the main tasks that consultants perform.

1. General management consultants solve problems related to the very existence of a business and its prospects.

2. Business Administration Consultants solve business problems i.e. help to optimize the management of the organization.

3. Financial management consultants assist in solving three main tasks: finding sources of financing and its effective use; analysis of the financial activities of the organization and increase its efficiency; prospective strengthening of the financial position of the organization.

4. Human resources consultants assist managers in optimizing the attraction and use of human resources.

5. Marketing consultants assist the organization in such a way that the products produced will be purchased by the consumer.

6. Production management consultants solve tasks related to engineering, audit and quality control, etc.

7. Information technology consultants solve problems related to the design and implementation of information technology in the enterprise.

8. Consultants for specialized services solve specialized tasks that are not related to any of the listed types of services, and differ from them in methods, in objects, or in the nature of the knowledge introduced.

To be successful, the consultant should (ideally): know the methods that are applied when working with the organization in various aspects of organizational activity; know the scope of these methods and their limitations, be able to choose them depending on the task and taking into account the existing conditions (limitations) and systematically, comprehensively apply; technologize your work as much as possible, reducing your activities from art to technology, know the sequence of steps that most likely lead to success in consulting, clearly formulate the result of the work and ways to achieve it; not be afraid to apply information technologies and be able to determine which of them are most effective in each specific case.

These requirements can be met by firms and teams of consultants who have at their disposal experienced multidisciplinary specialists with systems thinking, who are able to look at the problem as a whole and offer an effective solution that takes into account all aspects of the problem.

Necessary conditions for the effectiveness of the solution:

the complexity of the applied approaches, that is, the application of methods from various areas of management consulting, taking into account their mutual compatibility and the specific situation

Completeness of the decision in the sense that the decision should contain not only recommendations on how and what to do, but also a set of measures for their implementation, and more? the solution must be implemented in practice (otherwise it is not a solution in the full sense of the word). This requires from the consultant not only the ability to "come, figure it out and offer something", but also the ability to implement in a particular organization what he proposed (again using a set of methods).

To understand the specifics of management consulting in our country, it will be useful to consider the stages of its formation.

The beginning of the development of management consulting technologies in Russia is attributed to the twenties of this century, when the movement for the scientific organization of labor was gaining strength everywhere, which was the prototype of management consulting in its modern form, as well as organizational theory was developing, Western experience was studied to improve production. Organizations such as the Central Institute of Labor, the trust "Ustanovka", "Orgstroy", the experimental station CIT, the Orga-station, the Orgburo worked in this direction.

The main directions in the development of management science were a systematic approach, mathematical analysis and modeling, the activities of the service for the study and improvement of the production and management process, the concept of the “mechanism of service relations”, social engineering, the doctrine of organizational charts, the system of material incentives for advanced workers, professional selection, central information research bureaus, the creation of "databases" and other developments of the first quarter of the century. The main thing in the activity of the Russian institutes and laboratories of the NOT was the creation of systematized concepts in the field of labor organization and management. At the same time, the combination of methodological and concrete-applied research became the most important regularity in the development of scientific research and management in the 1920s. Academic research during this period was closely intertwined with practical work. Most of the research institutes were at the same time rationalization centers. Of particular interest are the ways of introducing scientific knowledge into production, the experience of rationalization and advisory work of self-supporting consulting trusts, such as the "Installation" of the Central Institute of Labor, "Orgstroy" of the Institute of Management Technology and others.

In the twenties, the so-called “org games” were used to train the organizers, one of the initiators of which was Dobrynin V.V. And in 1932, under the leadership of Birshtein M.M. The world's first business game was developed and held on the topic "The deployment of the production of the assembly shop of the newly built typewriter plant in the start-up period."

In fact, NOTovtsy were the prototypes of internal and external consultants in enterprises. In the thirties - fifties, all activities to improve management were curtailed.

In the sixties the situation changed. Economic reform contributed to the expansion of independence. Stimulation of personal initiative prompted the study of not only the economy, but also the theory of management, the patterns of development of labor collectives, and methods of managing them. Therefore, the revival of interest in the NOT movement, the appearance of translations of the works of Western scientists on management, marketing, management consulting, management psychology, and analysis of Western management systems looked quite natural. The most important of these works are discussed in the first paragraph.

At the present stage of development of management consulting, the institution of external and internal consulting is being formed and approved, and the market for professional consulting services is being formed. Professional communities are emerging, such as the “Association of Management and Organizational Development Consultants (AKUOR)”, “Association of Consultants in Economics and Management (AKEU)”, the Moscow Club of Business and Political Consultants, as well as the only School of Management Consultants in Russia so far .

Currently in Russia there are many views on the problems of management consulting. There are many schools, approaches, methods that consider the problems of the organization and the construction of ways to solve them. The consulting services market that has recently been forming in Russia is a vivid example of this.

One of the features of management in Russia is the underestimation of social technologies. This is connected both with the historical conditions of the country's development and with the structure of the formed management. This attitude is also due to the isolation of scientific research from practice, from the specific tasks of specific industries, while science, engaged in the development of fundamental problems, is able to provide priority in the creation of new technologies and products, expand the resource and information base of production, increase the role of human creative participation in dynamics of organizational and technical systems. In particular, consulting technologies can be significantly enriched by turning to sociology, sociological knowledge.

The last decade in Russia is characterized by an increase in the number of specialized firms that provide clients with a range of services in the field of management consulting: business process reengineering; selection and implementation of a corporate information system, management of organizational changes. This set of services helps clients improve internal processes, thereby increasing the efficiency of the company. Management consulting is a joint work of a consultant and a client on the development of an enterprise, the result of which is a real improvement in the work of the company.

Collaboration can consist of several stages: studying enterprises and its diagnostics: analysis of managerial enterprise structure, financial activity analysis enterprise analysis of the psychological climate, analysis of information flow analysis distribution problems; implementation of recommendations: holding regular consultations with enterprise managers on the implementation of the action plan; regular monitoring of the results of ongoing work; Summing up and discussion of the report on the work done by the management of the company. Additional services: organization of programs training and internships, both in Russia and abroad, organization of presentations, organization advertising and PR campaigns. Business process reengineering is aimed at conducting a thorough analysis of existing processes and implementing business process improvements that can quickly provide positive results for the company, as well as form the requirements for the future. information system enterprises. One of the main problems of companies operating in Russia is the low efficiency and reliability of management information.

Consulting is a rather complex, multi-stage process that has a beginning (the first acquaintance of the consultant and the client) and an end (as a rule, the implementation of the intended change project). Between these two points, the counseling process is divided into several stages. Three to ten such stages are described in the literature, but most often the counseling process consists of five main stages.

Acquaintance - establishing the first contacts with the client, preliminary diagnosis of the problem, planning a consulting task, preparing proposals for the client regarding the method of carrying out the task; conclusion of a contract for consulting work;

Diagnostics - analysis of the problem that has arisen, determination of the main goal that must be achieved when solving it, collecting the necessary information, analyzing it, bringing to the attention of the client the results of this stage of work (feedback);

Action planning - development of solutions and selection of the optimal one; developing proposals for the client, planning actions to implement changes;

Implementation - assisting in the implementation of changes, adjusting proposals based on the experience gained in their implementation, teaching the client how to work in the conditions of the changes;

Completion - evaluation of the effectiveness of the activities carried out, planning of the client's activities after the end of the consulting contract; completion of the project.

Of course, this universal model should be applied taking into account the specific features of individual consulting assignments, but it is necessary to understand the general content of management consulting activities. So, when solving relatively simple problems, a detailed diagnosis of the problem is not required, and then this stage is combined with planning. It also happens that at the final stage of the consulting task, it is not possible to get a positive result from the planned changes, and then you have to start all over again, with the search for some new approach to solving the problem.

It is easy to see that the entire process of management consulting is one of the options for management activities in general, since it includes moments of planning, organization and control.

General and strategic management, including management style;

Financial management, including investment analysis;

Marketing management, including special consulting for commercial enterprises;

Human resource management, including recruitment and selection of personnel, motivation and remuneration, relations between administration and employees;

Issues of total quality management, the so-called TQM (total quality management);

Special psychological counseling.

But, since in the course of counseling on any of these problems the general model indicated above is applied, we will briefly consider the content of each of its stages.

Acquaintance - the initial stage of the consultant's work with the client, at which the first contacts are established, problems that have arisen in the client's organization are discussed, options for helping the consultant are outlined, based on a preliminary analysis of the problem, a consulting project plan is formed and a contract for the provision of consulting services is concluded.

Thus, this is the stage of preparation and planning. Its significance lies in the fact that at this stage the foundation is laid for all further work, its main concept is formed and certain relationships are formed between the consultant and the client, which has a decisive impact on all subsequent stages of work. Of course, a situation is possible when the contracting parties do not reach an agreement and the contract is not signed, since the client may receive offers from several competing consulting firms at once.

Diagnosing the problem is the second step in the counseling process. After a thorough analysis of the problem, the client and the consultant jointly determine the objectives of the project. They establish what actions need to be taken, predict the possible results of the proposed changes, take into account the resources that will be required to implement the project, find out what the upcoming changes will be - technical, organizational, informational or psychological.

If the problem turns out to be complex, i.e. which includes all of the listed aspects of the organization's activities, it turns out which of them is the most important. Here, it is especially necessary, for any nature of the problems that have arisen, to foresee the psychological consequences of the proposed changes, in particular, to take into account the attitude of the staff to these changes - whether their necessity will be recognized or people will have to resort to persuasion.

The result of this stage is the development of the organization of work on the preparation of proposals on ways to solve the problems under consideration. At this stage, some contours of future decisions may already arise, which are finally formed at the next, third stage.

This stage of collecting and analyzing information is one of the most important in the process of counseling. Unfortunately, often at this stage, the analysis of facts is not given due attention: on the one hand, it is impossible to allow the collection of redundant information so as not to get bogged down in it, and on the other hand, it is necessary to collect all the information that really determines the quality of future decisions. It should also be taken into account that by collecting targeted information, talking with people, the consultant thereby already influences the client's organization in a certain direction, sets some impetus for its changes.

Action planning. This stage is aimed at identifying specific ways to solve the problem; it usually involves working on several solutions, selecting the most suitable of them, carefully developing a plan of appropriate specific actions and transmitting these proposals to the client for a final decision on changes. When choosing the optimal solution, it is important to abandon the planning of minor or useless changes and pay special attention to the feasibility and realism of the proposed course of action. In the proposed action plan, it is equally important to separate the main from the secondary, the strategic guidelines from the tactical methods of implementing the strategy.

Implementation is the fourth stage of the consultation process. This is a serious test of the viability of the developed proposals. At this stage, the consulting project becomes a reality. Here, it may reveal incorrect assumptions, errors. Actual resistance from employees may be stronger than anticipated during the diagnostic and planning phases, which may require adjustments to the original plans. Since, as noted, no management decision can be ideal, absolute, at this stage it is necessary to continuously track the ongoing changes and monitor them. At this point, most often there are disagreements between the client and the customer. Therefore, experienced, professional consultants prefer to participate in the change process.

However, as the practice of professional consulting shows, many consulting projects do not provide for the participation of a consultant in the implementation process and end with a report containing a list of proposed activities.

Often the client expresses a desire to independently carry out the implementation phase without the presence of a consultant, but it often turns out that the client overestimates his capabilities. Such a position is associated with an unfounded belief that supposedly there are ideal projects that can work on their own. In reality, there is always a distance between the project and reality, which makes the implementation stage quite difficult.

Completion is the fifth and final stage of the consulting process, which involves evaluation of the consultant's work by both the client and the consulting firm. Here their relationship is regulated. If the client shows interest, then an agreement on further cooperation is concluded. Upon completion of these actions, the consulting project is considered completed.

Introduction 3

1 Theoretical foundations of management consulting 5

Characteristics and principles of consulting 5
Purpose, tasks and stages of counseling 7
Reasons for contacting consulting firms 9

Criteria for the professionalism of a consultant. 13

1.5 Tasks performed by consultants 15

1.6 Features of Russian consulting 19

1.7 Problems solved by Russian consultants 26

1.8 Effectiveness and effectiveness of counseling 29

2 Management consulting methodology 31

3 Management consulting on the example of ZAO Kuppo 36

3.1 Portrait of the organization 36

3.2 Example of management consulting in ZAO Kuppo 36

3.2.1 Statement of the problem, objects and tasks of counseling. 36

3.2.2 Choice of research methodology 36

3.3 Analysis of ways out of a problem situation 38

Conclusion 39

List of sources used 40

Introduction

The choice of a promising direction for improving the production management process at a particular enterprise does not in itself guarantee success in this matter.

In the current situation, the work of the manager has become extremely complicated, who will not only have to revise his management activities, but also help society, represented by its labor collectives, quickly master new life values, new economic relations. The role and importance of the manager's work, in this regard, increases significantly, but his real ability to effectively solve the practical innovative tasks that arise before him is limited, mainly, by the lack of time.

The leader produces a specific product - managerial decisions, some of which can be fixed in the form of norms and rules, creating an organizational order, and some will simply be reproduced many times in various interpretations. A change in the management paradigm means the creation of a new management algorithm, which should be based on new management decisions. These decisions have a leading role in management, their leader takes, assuming full responsibility for their effectiveness. Increasing physical and psychological stress on the manager in the period of transition to market relations, associated with increased uncertainty and risk, shortages of resources, information, time, significantly increase the relevance of this type of activity as management consulting.

One of the most important factors for the effective functioning of a market economy is the formation of an adequate economic environment, the most important element of which is the market infrastructure. Such an infrastructure is an interconnected system of enterprises and organizations that serve the movement of goods, services, money, securities, labor and provide a significant acceleration of their turnover.

Particular attention should be paid to the management infrastructure as one of the components of the infrastructure complex. The management infrastructure creates the necessary conditions for the high-quality and efficient functioning of the serviced areas of the national economy and contributes to the formation and close interaction of all elements of the infrastructure complex. Management infrastructure facilities must develop faster than other elements of the infrastructure complex in order to actively influence its formation as an integral system.

In the context of the integration of the Russian economy into the world economy, issues related to business services are of great importance for business leaders. All of them are faced with the transformation of forms of ownership based on the denationalization and corporatization of enterprises, with rising prices, foreign investment and the interweaving of Russian and foreign capital, as well as a change in their internal structure, bringing it closer to those proportions that are characteristic of the world economy as a whole. Only after this can the country begin to move towards the world level of economic efficiency, which is the main goal of the transformations.

1. Theoretical foundations of management consulting

Characteristics and principles of consulting

Organizations and management consulting firms, or consulting firms, form the backbone of the management infrastructure.

In the broadest sense of the word, counseling as a form of giving independent advice has been in everyday practice for as long as humanity has existed. However, as a type of professional activity, it originated relatively recently.
Other types of professional services in business predate consulting. Historically, the first type of professional external services was legal: entrepreneurs have not been able to do without the services of lawyers and notaries for several hundred years. Later, at the end of the 19th century, as the economy became more complex and the corresponding development of economic sciences, a new area of professional services began to form - consulting in economics and management, that is, management consulting in the proper sense of the word.

There are many definitions of management consulting. There are two main approaches to counseling.

In the first case, a broad functional view of counseling is used. Fritz Steele defines it this way: “By consulting process I mean any form of assistance with regard to the content, process, or structure of a task or series of tasks, in which the consultant is not himself responsible for completing the task, but helps those who are responsible for it.”

The second approach considers counseling as a special professional service and highlights a number of characteristics that it should have. According to Larry Greiner and Robert Metzger, “Management consulting is a contracted and service-based advisory service to organizations with the help of specially trained and qualified individuals who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving these problems, and facilitate , if necessary, the implementation of decisions”.

Both of these approaches complement each other quite well. The European Federation of Associations of Economic and Management Consultants (FEACO) defines management consulting as providing independent advice and assistance on management issues, including identifying and assessing problems and opportunities, recommending appropriate measures and assisting in their implementation.

The American Association of Economics and Management Consultants (ACME) and the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) adhere to the same definition.

If you try to bring all these definitions to a common denominator, you get something like this: consulting is a type of intellectual professional activity in which a qualified consultant provides objective and independent advice that contributes to the successful management of a client organization.

Like any other professional activity, consulting has its own special principles, according to which any activity in this area should take place. It:

competence;

reputation;

compliance with ethical standards;

observance of the interests of the client;

orientation to broad public interests;

system change;

staff involvement;

scientific character;

flexibility;

creativity;

concreteness and objectivity;

efficiency;

maintaining relationships at the right level.

Western theorists of management consulting distinguish the following characteristic features of management consulting.

And third, counseling is an independent service. The consultant evaluates any situation, offers objective recommendations on what to do to the client, without thinking about how this could affect his own interests. The consultant should have the following types of independence:

financial;

administrative;

political;

emotional.

Purpose, tasks and stages of counseling

diagnostics (problem identification);

development of solutions;

implementation of solutions.

A.P. Posadsky notes that the consulting process, in addition to the design stage, includes pre-project and post-project stages.

The initial step of the pre-project stage is the recognition by the client that he has such a problem, the solution of which he would like to implement with the help of consultants. This recognition is the result of a two-way process: on the one hand, the client's awareness of the existence of a problem as such. On the other hand, the formation of the manager's desire to entrust the development of a solution to the problem to consultants. Typically, the client selects on a competitive basis from several proposals the one that best suits him in terms of quality and price, after which he concludes a contract with the consultant of his choice.

The post-project stage is to analyze the changes that have taken place in the client organization. This is followed by the solution of issues related to the possible expansion of the project, in connection with new problems - either identified during the implementation of the project, or arising as a result of the organization reaching a new state as a result of the project. As part of this stage, the final financial settlements of the client with the consultant and self-analysis of the consultant's activities are also carried out in order to comprehend the experience gained for use in other projects.

To achieve maximum efficiency in the implementation of consulting projects, a project team is created, which includes experts in various subject areas and managers who manage the project. When making decisions, diagnosing problems and developing recommendations, methods of organizing the collective work of the project team are widely used.

The main task of the consulting project is to achieve the highest possible quality of solving the problem while observing financial and time constraints.

The degree of client involvement in a consulting project varies depending on the types of consulting services. By comparing the time spent by the client's staff and the results of the consultant's work, it is possible to determine the required degree of staff involvement in the consultant's activities.

The effectiveness of the consultant's work will be minimal if the client does not participate in it at all. Further, this efficiency grows as the client's involvement increases, and after reaching the optimal point, the efficiency begins to fall, therefore, the client begins to do his work for the consultant. Of course, this ratio will change depending on the type of problems being solved, on the stage or phase of the consulting project and, of course, on the type of consulting services.

The work of the consultant begins with the fact that some condition is recognized as unsatisfactory and there is an opportunity to correct it. Such work ends when there has been a change in this condition that can be considered an improvement. The work of a consultant includes the interaction of various types of business activity, affects the technological, economic, financial, legal, psycho-social, political and other aspects of the organization's activities. All changes, conceived and implemented with the help of a consultant, should improve the quality of management and increase the efficiency of the organization. These are the main purposes of using consultants, although "management improvement" and "organizational performance" are relative terms and their exact meaning should be determined in the context of each individual organization and specific consulting project. 3

There are several typical consulting assignments depending on the quality or level of the situation faced by the client organization:

The task of correcting a situation that has worsened;

The task of improving a situation that already exists;

The task is to create a completely new situation.

Two aspects of possible changes in the client organization should also be noted:

A technical aspect relating to the nature of the managerial or commercial problem the client is facing. The consultant finds ways to analyze and solve it;

The human side, i.e. the relationship between the consultant and the client, the reaction of people in the client's organization to change. The consultant helps in planning these relationships and their implementation.

Effective counseling shows how to deal with these two aspects of organizational change. These issues are interrelated and the consultant must understand this.

Reasons for contacting consulting firms

So, who and why turns to consulting companies for help?

Clients - consumers of consulting services can be divided into two large groups. The first includes companies that prefer to build their business on the basis of calculation, analysis and independent expert opinion, which are characterized by the presence of plans for the strategic development of activities. The second group includes companies that turn to consultants being at the pre-crisis stage, when the thunder has already struck. In the latter case, consultants often have to act as an "ambulance", "reanimating" the victims.

As a result, the attitude towards consultants is beginning to change in the business environment. A number of other reasons also affect the positive awareness of the role of consultants: the heads of enterprises receive modern business education, the development of modern information and communication technologies. The invitation of consultants and auditors for some of the leaders is now becoming, if not an urgent need, then at least an element of prestige and high position. Consulting is beginning to be perceived by business leaders as a real investment in the future.

Two major crises - "Black Tuesday" in 1994 and "Black Thursday" in 1998, in fact, proved the demand for consulting companies. The period of accumulation of primary capital has passed, now the heads of enterprises are faced with the task of learning how to increase the value of the business and attract investments by optimizing internal resources. A decade is also a sufficient period for the range of consulting problems to be identified. Problems that are closely intertwined and partly due to external factors.

The quality of services is one of the main problems of consulting. It is the question of quality that still remains unsettled at the legislative level. In the audit and consulting market sector, there are many small, unprofessional companies, often consisting of a secretary and a director. Such firms are actually engaged in dumping, provide low-quality services and disappear after six months or a year of work. This damages both the entire professional community and the business as a whole.

Business executives turn to consultants often simply to confirm their point of view. Of course, most managers have an idea of what exactly their business problem is and what types of solutions could be chosen. However, nothing happens. The fact is that leaders are lonely by nature, and therefore it is important for them to be able to receive additional confirmation of their ideas, to have additional arguments when making important management decisions. Consultants help to see new aspects of the problem, significantly reduce the area of uncertainty. Consultants are invited when the company:

there is a problem or task;

the management of the company is aware that it exists;

The management of the company is interested in solving this problem.

The company's management understands that they cannot solve this problem on their own. Or maybe, but he doesn’t have time for her decision, he “has no time, his hands don’t reach, the turnover gets stuck ...” Or he doubts that the decision made is optimal.

It often happens that a manager can solve a problem that has arisen and he has enough competence to solve this problem. He simply does not have enough time to solve it and the "blurred look" interferes. It is difficult for him to see the problem from the outside. And an objective and impartial "outside view" (of course, in comparison with the client's view, absolute objectivity and impartiality is an unattainable thing, like an ideal), is one of the undoubted advantages of consultants. Because often the head of the company sees what he wants to see, and not what is actually there. Interest and subjectivity make it hard to make the right decisions, and many leaders understand this.

Inviting consultants will bring maximum effect if:

The problem that consultants have to solve is global and requires complex changes in the structure or strategy of your company. In this situation, the working time of a qualified specialist becomes a critical factor, and the consultant is exactly that. The head of the company can solve this problem himself, but then he will have no time to solve other equally important tasks. Here the consultant is an additional qualified resource.

The problem is “one-time” and requires a prompt solution. Here, the company also receives a qualified resource, and in this case, hiring consultants is cheaper for it than keeping a specialist who will not be constantly loaded.

Between managers or owners there are differences in views on the problem and methods for solving it. In this situation, the consultant acts more as an arbitrator, mediator, judge, helping the parties to agree and come to a consensus. This is the case when "the master will come and judge us."

The problem is important for the company and the "price of a mistake" is high. Here the consultant acts as an additional insurance, a certain guarantee of the correctness of the decision made.

The problem requires the allocation of specialists who will deal only with its solution. Often companies simply do not have full-time employees who can be “teared off” from their daily duties and involved in solving the problem. All employees are busy with current activities

When the problem is new for the client and he needs additional resources - knowledge and experience to solve it.

In all these cases, and in many others, the company's management is ready for changes, strives for them, realizes their necessity and inevitability, and is able to assess the consequences of an unresolved problem for the company. And, most importantly, he understands exactly what benefits and advantages the company will receive when the problem is solved.
The decision to turn to consultants for help occurs when the head of the company has realized the problem and realized that he cannot solve it on his own. Either he does not want to solve it on his own, or considers it inappropriate. four

We can say this: the consultant, performing a significant amount of work on a specific task, also performs another, even more important, function. It essentially moves the organization forward, helping management to decide on the necessary actions, when they are detailed. The leader acquires an ally whose arguments have a significant impact on the final management decision to continue the project or abandon it at minimal cost. This approach is especially effective if the consultant's arguments are based on knowledge of the specifics of the specific area of activity of this particular company.

Consultants are involved in cases where it is necessary to remove the uncertainty that arises at different stages of the process of preparation, adoption and implementation of responsible management decisions.

Of course, when inviting consultants, there is rarely a “clean situation” when there is exactly one reason for this. Usually there is some combination of different factors, for example:

Experience with similar businesses or issues. The client quite often believes, and not unreasonably, that if a consultant has experience in this area, this will help him better navigate the problems of a particular firm.

Availability of special technologies and knowledge . Domestic businessmen gradually realized that humanity has come a long way of specialization. Therefore, consultants may have technologies for collecting, organizing and analyzing information that are not available to the staff of the client's firm. All over the world, a situation is considered completely normal when problems arise in optimizing existing business areas, and the competent solution of all issues is beyond the strength of the company's staff. Even large and powerful companies in the West use the services of consultants. The most advanced Russian businessmen have already realized the need for this. Consultants are brought in when some top managers are seriously concerned about improving the firm's performance and painstaking and very specific work is needed on its real problems. Difficulties here may be related to the impatience of domestic customers. Therefore, the most effective cooperation occurs when a certain element is present, depending on the following main reasons for inviting consultants.

The learning process. Cooperation with a consultant in this case is seen not only as a means of solving a specific issue, but also as an opportunity to learn certain methods of analysis and problem solving. A client who invites a consultant for his own training understands that the result of interaction with a consultant can be manifested in an improved and deeper understanding of the nature of the real problems that exist in the enterprise.

Stereoscopic view of the problem. The consultant must have such an important quality as a broad vision of the situation. A true professional is able to evaluate the results of the contradictory impact of various factors on the company's business. Having a sufficient outlook, certain knowledge and mastering the technology, the consultant is able to identify the main factors in any situation and give competent recommendations on further actions that are much more adequate to the prevailing realities than the proposals of the firm's staff.

Intensive help on a specific issue. Sometimes a company has very specific legal, accounting or management problems that require a specific solution. In these cases, relatively narrow specialists are often invited for a relatively short time.

A fresh look at the company. Even the most professional and competent people can be greatly influenced by existing traditions and values. This can greatly interfere with the decision-making necessary at the new stages of the company's development. Of course, a fresh look at the activities of the company is useful when it contains not only abstractly correct recommendations, but also realistic step-by-step procedures for their implementation.

Curiosity . Often, when inviting consultants, some managers, even for themselves, do not very clearly define why they are doing this. In many cases, they are driven by ordinary human curiosity. They are aroused by snippets of information received. The image of the consultants, the success of someone who seems to have used their services, etc. Why not give it a try? In Russia, foreigners are especially often invited this way. Then, domestic managers, having spent a tidy sum for a beautiful retelling of reasonable textbooks adapted for them, are disappointed in management consulting as such for a long time. Therefore, this reason for inviting consultants, although present as such, is not worthy of attention.

A tool in external and internal corporate intrigues. To defend its interests in the outside world, a firm needs some kind of solid research. Other options for using consultants as a tool in intrigue are related to situations where one manager or group of managers needs an additional channel to influence the situation within the firm. I would like to justify the ongoing changes with references to the recommendations of independent consultants.

Obtaining an abstract alibi. One manager or a group of senior managers needs confirmation of the correctness of their actions. In this case, the client does not need changes, he only wants a beautiful report signed by a reputable firm. The report should show that respectable management consultants were invited, and they confirmed the correctness of the chosen path. Western specialists are very effective in such situations, because they like to retell textbooks in their reports. The main problem here is to what extent the wishes of the top managers of the client coincide with what is written in reasonable Western textbooks.

Shifting responsibility. This motif occurs when inviting financial and tax consultants. Exhausted by the endless claims of the tax authorities, top managers want to buy "indulgences". In this case, consultants are needed so that there is someone to lay responsibility for any (even arbitrary) actions of the tax authorities.

Criteria for the professionalism of a consultant.

For the most effective use of consulting services, consultants as professionals must meet the general criteria of professionalism in terms of knowledge and skills, ethical standards and personal qualities.

Requirements for the personality of the consultant are expressed in the fact that he must show:

Creative thinking;

Developed business communication skills;

psychological maturity;

Good health;

Stability in behavior, self-confidence

Ability to self-improvement, self-discipline, self-organization

Self-criticism

Professional ethics 5

He must also have knowledge of the problems of theory and practice of management, management methods, reporting procedures, information processing systems, basics of computer technology, organizational foundations of consulting, factors affecting performance.

The functions of a consultant include:

Identify and solve problems

Make non-standard managerial decisions

Teach, transfer knowledge

Encourage employees to be creative

Form and develop effective working groups

Apply past counseling experience

in various fields in solving various problems

Continuously expand and update knowledge

Participate in the development and implementation of the strategy of the consulting organization

In accordance with the listed knowledge, skills and experience, generalist consultants and specialist consultants are distinguished. Generalists have a broad education and a wide range of interests. Their responsibilities include the preparation and coordination of global tasks, the implementation of preliminary diagnostics, and the presentation of proposals for solving problems to the client.

Specialists have knowledge and experience in a particular industry or area of work. A wide variety of types of consulting services implies a variety of specializations of consultants. According to their basic education, they can be managers, economists, lawyers, mathematicians, psychologists, sociologists, engineers.

Special attention should be paid to the internal consultant. The appearance of the position of an internal consultant is due to the need to protect state and commercial secrets, competition, confidentiality of information received and the lack of clear legislative regulation of these issues. Specialists for the position of internal consultants are selected in accordance with the criteria of professionalism (Table 1). They are able to provide services on a wide range of issues.

However, in a number of cases, it is effective to use both internal and external consultants: the scale of the project, the complexity of the problems being solved; limited terms for solving problems, the need for special knowledge and skills that are not available in the client organization, the inappropriateness of having an internal consultant of a certain specialization in the staff.

If it is necessary to work jointly on the project of external and internal consultants, internal consultants:

evaluate the validity of inviting external consultants;

coordinate the work on the project;

determine the scope and nature of work required from external consultants;

perform tasks within their competence;

The use of the principle of complementarity of external and internal consultants allows to improve the quality of problem solving, reduce project costs and improve the qualifications of internal consultants.

1.5 Tasks performed by consultants

There are two main types of classification of consulting services:

in terms of the subject of counseling - subject classification;

from the point of view of the method of counseling - methodological classification.

Subject classification is more common because it is more understandable to consumers of consulting services. In accordance with it, consulting services are qualified depending on the sections (elements) of management to which they are directed: general management, financial management, production management, etc.

As for the methodological classification, it is professionally focused on the consultants themselves, as it qualifies them depending on the methods of work. In accordance with this classification, expert, process and training consulting is distinguished. 6

It should be noted that the classifications published by national and international associations of consultants often combine the subject and methodological approaches, focusing, however, more on the subject. In addition, they include in the list of consulting services and other professional services. An example of such a "synthetic" approach can be the classification of the European directory of consultants in economics and management, published under the auspices of FEACO. This classification includes, on the one hand, such services as provision of information technology, industrial engineering, management training (training), public relations, etc., which constitute professional services, and on the other hand, such types of consulting as training consulting, which is a counseling method.

Types of consulting in the narrow sense of the word (as help in the form of advice and recommendations) can be classified as follows:

a) General management consulting.

This is assistance in solving problems related to the very existence of the object of counseling and the prospects for its development. Consultants deal with such issues as assessing the state of the organization as a whole and characterizing the external environment for it, determining the goals and value system of the organization, developing a development strategy, forecasting, organizing branches and new firms, changing the form of ownership or ownership, acquiring property, shares or shares , improvement of organizational structures, etc.

There are three main cases where consultants consider general management problems:

First, during the studies of managerial activity. It is a well-established practice among most management consultants that before proposing possible solutions to any specialized problem, a brief review and study of the organization as a whole should be made.

Secondly, during the research of specific functional areas of management, when it turns out that certain changes are needed in the overall management structure, i.e., the consultant must resolve the general management problems that underlie the solution of particular problems.

Thirdly, while solving problems related to one or more issues of general management. The resolution of these issues may take the form of extensive investigations rather than brief reports as in diagnostics, especially if these are top-level management issues related to the overall course of the organization's management. Such projects can take a long time to complete (for example, developing a strategy for a new firm may take six to nine months).

b) Administrative management consulting.

Specialists in this field deal with issues such as the formation and registration of companies, office organization, data processing, administrative control system, etc. Their main task is to optimize the management of the organization. They make recommendations on the following issues:

distribution of functions between departments and divisions;

optimization of the number of management levels;

establishing labor discipline;

compliance with the degree of importance of the functions performed by a particular department for the organization as a whole, and its role in decision-making;

record keeping;

planning of offices and their equipment.

c) Financial management consulting.

Here, assistance is provided in solving the following main tasks:

search for sources of financial resources;

assessment and improvement of the current financial efficiency of the organization;

strengthening the financial position of the organization for the future.

They deal with issues of financial planning and control, taxation, accounting, placement of shares and units on the market, credit, insurance, profit and cost, insolvency, etc.

By its very nature, finance is an integral part of many types of consulting services. Financial due diligence, for example, is an essential part of diagnostic business studies. During project execution, financial consultants may work closely with consultants in other areas, especially in production and marketing, to assess the financial implications of their proposals.

In practice, the financial management consultant deals with three research subjects. The first is the expansion of the company, which includes the opening of new enterprises, the introduction of new production lines, the installation of new equipment, the conquest of a new market, etc. In each of these areas, the consultant evaluates the measures required for this and the costs that they entail, i.e. e. determines whether the profit justifies the investment. The second is money management. In this case, the consultant studies the capital structure of his client, analyzes the prospects for obtaining venture or debt capital and the cost of various sources of financing, both in the short and long term. The third is the accounting system, including its development and improvement. Before starting to develop an accounting system, the consultant must understand what kind of help the managers expect from him, for what purpose this system is being created, and know who will receive the information and how it will be used.

d) HR management consulting.

Deals with issues of recruitment, personnel control, remuneration system, advanced training, personnel management, labor protection and psychological climate in the team.

Their main task is to assist managers in optimizing the attraction and use of such a key factor for any organization as human resources.
In this regard, HR consultants should consider the following questions.
The first of these is the principle of recruitment. In this case, the consultants try to prepare a description of the "ideal" performer, who has certain professional training, qualifications, experience that are required to perform this work.

Based on this, methods for assessing, selecting and placing personnel are being developed. The main recruitment methods are testing and interviews.
The second issue is the planning of recruitment and staff development. In this direction, the consultant usually solves the following problems:

determination of the basic requirements for various categories of performers;

an analysis of the difficulties associated with education, culture and social issues that employees must overcome in the performance of their work;

determination of the organization's policy in the field of staff development, its professional growth.

e) Marketing consulting.

Provides managers with assistance in solving a vital task for any enterprise operating in a market economy: ensuring its functioning in such a way that effective demand is presented for the goods and services it produces. They deal with market research and provide decision-making in the field of marketing, pricing, advertising, new product development, after-sales service, etc. Since in a market economy the most difficult problem for an enterprise is not production, but sales of products, marketing is one of the most important areas of business consulting.
Marketing is the area in which the firm carries out its contacts with external economic entities (customers and competitors), so the firm's survival depends on how well it manages to adapt to market conditions.

Typically, the firm tries to find new potential markets, new products for existing customers, new customers to sell existing products and to study the activities of potential competitors.

f) Consulting in the field of organization of production.

This area combines knowledge of economics, management and engineering, assisting managers in solving problems such as the choice of production process technology, promotion of labor productivity, evaluation and control of product quality, production cost analysis, production planning, use of equipment and materials, design and improvement. products, work evaluation, etc.

The production process requires decision making on the part of the manager in order to obtain products of the right quality, in the right quantity, on time and at minimal cost. Thus, the task of the consultant is to help find the best ways to achieve these goals.

g) Information technology consulting.

Engaged in the development of recommendations for the introduction of computer-aided design systems (CAD) and automated control systems (ACS), information retrieval systems, the use of computers in accounting and other quantitative methods for assessing the activities of an enterprise.

Information technology is essential for modern organizations. But the changes that accompany the use of new information technologies are associated with the very organizational foundations of the enterprise, such as the principles of building its structure.

A management consultant is not just a computer technician. It should help the client understand the capabilities and shortcomings of computers, provide information and bridge the gap between technical staff and the end user of computer programs. Information systems often cause complaints from the administration due to the lack of relevant information or delays in obtaining it. Therefore, the consultant should carefully study the nature of the relationship between information and various types of management actions and try to increase the usefulness and availability of information, consider in detail the decision-making system.

1.6 Features of Russian consulting

Management consulting, like any other concept related to the business sphere, has its own specifics in Russia. It differs from the Western version in its relative youth. Tips on how to manage a business, based on foreign templates and methods, need to be significantly revised. 7 The implementation of this process falls primarily on the shoulders of Russian consulting agencies, which have to solve two problems at once: adjust foreign methods or develop original products and bring them to the mass consumer.

It should be noted that consulting in Russia also existed in the conditions of a centrally planned economy, but in a different form from that accepted in world practice. The fact is that consulting is the work of providing advice and recommendations by independent experts on market conditions and in a market economy. But during the Soviet period there was no market economy, no independent consultants.

A certain degree of independence and "market character" of the provision of consulting services was ensured only within the framework of the so-called economic contract work, in which the consultant and the client acted as equal and relatively independent parties from the state. Under the conditions of pre-reform Russia, this form of activity was the only one possible for organizing consulting services on a market basis. Economic contracts accounted for (estimated) no more than 3% of the scope of work in this area, and 97% of the work was carried out on the basis of state budget financing. In this case, state or party bodies acted as customers (but not necessarily consumers). eight

In the late 80s - early 90s. the situation began to change. On the one hand, more and more customers were not state, but private or mixed structures. On the other hand, independent (private) consulting firms began to emerge. The latter is of fundamental importance, since the independence of consultants is one of the necessary professional qualities of these specialists.

Currently in Russia there is what can be called a two-sector model of the economy of consulting services.

The 1st sector consists of private independent consulting and other professional (audit, training, legal, etc.) firms.

The 2nd sector is the remaining state-funded research structures (included in the system of the Academy of Sciences, sectoral and functional ministries, etc.).

The 1st sector tends to accelerate growth and operates on a market basis, the 2nd sector tends to shrink, serving mainly government bodies and operating on a "centrally planned" basis.

Individual consultants usually started their careers in research institutes or educational institutions. When they felt competent enough, they left their former place of work and began to work independently. They specialize mainly in training, process counseling, psychological counseling. They try to maintain more or less formal relations with other independent consultants (mainly for the purpose of joint implementation of projects that are "too tough" for an individual consultant, or "protection" in front of potential clients).

Small firms focused on process consulting. The leaders (they are most often the owners) of small consulting firms of this profile began their careers as experts in some areas (economics and finance, psychology, sociology, less often the exact sciences), but now they specialize more in strategic planning , personnel management, organizational development. As a rule, firms employ 4-6 consultants, and they do not plan to expand their staff. There are few such firms in Russia.

Process-oriented medium-sized firms differ from the previous category mainly only in the number of staff - both core (consultants) and support. They are even less common.

Small expert-oriented firms. Such firms operate in various narrow areas of expertise (finance, legislation, taxation, marketing of certain industries, investment design or regional development). Only in some cases their clients are actually heads of enterprises. Basically, these firms work for local governments, banks or other investors interested in efficient capital investment. The advisory services offered by such experts mainly consist of financial audits and the preparation of business plans or investment programs. Most of the consulting work in Russia is carried out by this category of firms. Some of them are still part of academic structures or maintain the closest ties with them. Typically, the number of experts in such firms is 2-3 people.

Large expert-oriented firms. There are very few such firms in Russia. Usually these are corporations that specialize in the creation of new information technologies and automated control systems or are involved in the development and support of complex investment projects.

Large state scientific centers. There are a large number of such structures - these are research institutes, academies, universities, etc. Traditionally, they are state property and are financed by it (the state). Since there are not enough budget funds even for survival, and even more so for development, these structures are gradually forced to enter the free market and learn to “sell” their expert knowledge. The quality of the services they can offer is high, but the experience of "selling" them is severely lacking. Often such centers (or their employees) become founders of small consulting firms and, in addition to expert advice, they organize various kinds of trainings.

Firms engaged in other activities besides consulting. In Russia, the number of firms that are characterized by a combination of consulting and other activities (trade in various goods, services, exchange business, etc.) is large. The main clients for the consulting division in such firms is another "production" division, and only a small part of the clients come from outside. Consulting in these firms is more of a "collateral" product and is of interest if it brings additional income or helps to solve the problems of the parent company.

A special category among such mixed firms are audit and consulting firms. Audit, as already mentioned, is a service based on knowledge in the field of economics and management, but not in the form of advice and recommendations. Auditing firms around the world are trying to develop their own consulting services, realizing that they can bring additional income, but do not always have sufficient creative potential.

Branches of foreign firms operating in the Russian market. In the late 80s - early 90s. A number of major Western consulting and auditing firms started their operations in Russia with very few staff and mainly engaged in expert consulting and auditing. Now their Russian affiliates, as a rule, have more than 50 specialists (2/3 of them are Russian citizens), have powerful divisions specializing in management consulting, and subsidiaries throughout the former USSR. In the field of auditing, these firms have no problem finding clients (often Russian clients are willing to pay for a single prestigious name) and do not see Russian consulting firms as real competitors. As for management consulting as such, the situation for Western firms in Russia is more complicated. The main source of orders for them in this area are international technical assistance programs (for details, see Chapter 3 of this manual), the volume of which tends to be reduced. Private clients operating in Russia increasingly prefer to turn to Russian consultants.

Small Russian consulting firms collaborating with large Western firms. The owners (they are also managers) of these firms began their careers in Western companies and, after working for several years, organized their own business. Most of the staff studied abroad or at one time worked in foreign companies. Such firms generally adhere to the Western style in working with clients and international standards for the quality of consulting services. If large foreign firms need a Russian partner, then they give preference to just such firms.

Management consulting in a purely process form is widespread in Russia on a rather limited scale. The subjects involved in "pure" consulting include small process-oriented firms and individual consultants (the number of both the former and the latter is quite limited). In most cases, consulting in Russia is a combination of specific expertise (in finance, automation, management, marketing, etc.) and process or training consulting. Most firms are very young (1-5 years old) and are in the first phase of development. Their main task at the moment is to find customers and get money from them in time for the work done. The second priority is the survival of these firms in the next few months. Consultants feel dependent on the political and economic situation in the country, which is almost impossible to predict. Tax regulations and the solvency of enterprises affect not only clients, but also, accordingly, the capabilities and professional orientation of consulting firms. Strategic planning in such conditions for them is carried out quite rarely.

Russian clients expect high quality services from Western consulting firms. It is determined by the high level of payment of consultants, which depends on the number of hours spent on work, and not on the result obtained. Sometimes it looks like using a reputable consulting firm is more important than getting real results. On the other hand, Russian managers are often distrustful of foreign consultants, since in the early years of its existence the profession itself was discredited by non-professionals who did not have experience in consulting work in Russia and special education (the effect of a “spoiled field” was created). In addition, often in Russia consultants are faced with completely unrealistic, inflated expectations of clients (for example, not just increase the profitability of the enterprise, but double it).

In fact, we can talk about the following two types of quality.

Large Western firms fully follow the high quality standards adopted in the West (ISO-9001, etc.), use methods that comply with these standards, a high level of professional control that has already become traditional, intensive staff training, complex project teams, including specialists in various areas. They form teams of Western and Russian consultants, use a network of experts in various fields, use the latest technologies and have clients in almost all developed regions of Russia.

Small Russian consulting firms, in which several people earn money, have a narrow specialization in one or two areas and have been consultants for only a few years, as a rule, do not have information about Western methodology and procedures that ensure the quality of the services provided. The main goals for them at the moment are finding clients and surviving in the next few months.

The bulk of consulting services in Russia are provided by small firms or individual consultants. There are few medium or major firms. The latter (mostly Western firms) started working on the Russian market with a team of 2-3 people. The workforce has grown significantly in recent years, but these firms are still managed by skilled and experienced managers who are well aware of the problems of professional organizations.

Individual consultants naturally have no problem managing an organization, as they don't have an organization (it's a one-person "firm"). However, many of them form professional networks with other consultants and try to coordinate their work with colleagues. However, they do not consider this activity as managerial.

Small firms, which are the majority in Russia, are headed by leaders of a charismatic or autocratic type. They were kind of pioneers who changed their careers in some professional field to a career in a consultant. Neither they nor their subordinates experienced problems with management.

The market where Russian consultants operate is complex and ambiguous. They are forced to operate in a state of uncertainty, which is present even where security and trust are absolutely necessary conditions for doing business.

Thus, in particular, tax regulation is completely unpredictable, and many areas of business are controlled by illegal structures. Due to geographical features (sometimes huge distances between objects), consultants are forced to work in a small local market or travel a lot.

Thus, the state of consulting in Russia is characterized by signs of a "transitional period". There are significant differences between the strategies of Western companies and Russian companies, which are determined by the following features.

While not only client organizations but also consulting firms themselves should have a business plan, Russian consultants generally do not.

In Russia, unlike in developed countries, there are clear distinctions between an offer and a contract. The consulting contract describes in general terms the various stages of the consulting process (diagnosis, report, etc.) and the payment terms. A contract is a formal document that can be used in disputes or disagreements about the flow and effectiveness of a process or payment for a project. The process of submitting a proposal precedes the signing of the contract and, as a rule, is not fixed on paper, but only spoken out. A systematic procedure for writing a proposal - especially when it comes to ISO standards - can only be found in Western companies operating in Russia.

The same happens with the final evaluation of the project by the client. Each project ends with the signing of a document in which the client officially declares that the project has been completed in accordance with the stipulated terms of the contract. This document is drawn up mainly in order to comply with the legality of the transaction. This cannot be called a written assessment of the client, accepted in the West. Of course, during the project, the client and the consultant repeatedly discuss the progress of the project, but there is no formal procedure for the final assessment yet.

Russian consultants are more focused on their knowledge and services than on client problems, i.e. on the delivery of services, rather than on the needs for services. Thus, many consultants see their work as delivering expertise to clients, rather than as a service to meet a particular need of the client. This is the classic difference between focusing on delivering expertise and focusing on customer needs.

In general, Russian clients are characterized by the following contradictory parameters that prevent them from forming a qualified demand for consulting services:

“feeling” of the need to receive help, but a weak idea of its content, methods and sources;

the need to master the modern type of management, but under the pressure of traditional management stereotypes of the "command economy";

lack of information with simultaneous interest in obtaining data on the internal situation and external conditions;

the desire for independence and social restrictions (the maintenance of social facilities, the preservation of employment, support for public utilities, etc.);

attempts to make independent serious decisions in the conditions of dispersion of own capital among numerous shareholders;

the lack of a well-established rule to pay for "intangible advice";

fear of criticism from the outside;

fear of loss of privacy;

no guarantee of concrete results;

inability to assess the capabilities of consultants;

confidence in the completeness of knowledge about the enterprise.

In addition, many potential clients have problems with paying for consulting services - even if they would like to invite a consultant, they simply have nothing to pay with. Sometimes payment is so late that the consultant chooses to terminate all business dealings with such clients.

It should be noted that the managers of Russian enterprises themselves cite too high prices for consulting services as the main reason for refusing to make a decision to engage consultants.

The situation with the demand in the market of consulting services in Russia is somewhat leveling compared to other European countries due to the fact that, in addition to domestic demand, there is a rather large external demand, which is (estimated) from 2 billion to 3 billion dollars. in year. The main source of external demand is technical assistance from international organizations, governments and private foundations of foreign countries and partly demand from foreign companies entering the Russian market. However, external demand is directed almost entirely to buying the services of foreign consulting firms operating in Russia. Russian consultants receive a small part of these funds by subcontracting to foreign consulting firms.

Thus, from the point of view of a market economy, Russian consulting is only at the initial stage of development.

1.7 Problems solved by Russian consultants

What exactly are the issues that Russian consultants face today?

The main problems of Russian enterprises, which are intended to be solved by domestic consulting, in my opinion, were quite fully identified in the study of the company BKG, who interviewed the heads of a number of enterprises.

83% of top managers recognize the existence of a problem associated with the imperfection of the management system and organizational structure and call it the most important one;

78% of companies lack investment resources and need to attract new investors;

77% of companies experience a shortage of qualified personnel;

77% of managers complain about shortcomings in the system of motivation of their employees and the lack of orientation of personnel towards the strategic goals of the company;

71% of managers note the need to increase the level of competitiveness of their enterprises;

66% of companies need to implement a system responsible for monitoring performance indicators;

59% of executives are dissatisfied with the level of return on investment;

59% of companies with a low level of competitiveness feel the need to optimize their sales system.

Looking at this list, one can only marvel at the disorder of our enterprises. A logical question arises, or rather, even two: how did this happen, and what should we do now? In the era of undeveloped capitalism, now safely dying out, economic development was very spontaneous and unpredictable. The strongest won and survived in those conditions. Moreover, success was characterized mainly by one indicator - profit. Now the situation is entering a stable course and the business situation is such that the growth of enterprises' incomes is clearly ahead of the ability to control financial flows and their optimal distribution, the backlog in the development of the management structure becomes obvious. 9

Today, the previously unclaimed (or rather, very weakly demanded) Russian management consulting is trying to put its hands on solving such problems. The works of the above problems include the development of strategies, restructuring, the development of anti-crisis programs, the development and implementation of new systems and management procedures. Before the crisis, they ordered financial management, budgeting, diagnostics of the company's business.

Consulting is currently in its infancy. One of the most demanded functions in Russian conditions is representing the interests of the client in his dialogue with various kinds of inspection bodies. In fact, there is a "competition of papers", a dispute about the rights of the client, the interpretation of the norms of the law and the procedures for its application. Another frequently used function is to “punch through” various types of permits and licenses through the system of state bodies. Intermediaries specializing in this area are thoroughly aware of the procedures, circulation mode, ways to “accelerate” various types of papers. This group of consultants is, as it were, a "continuation" of our cumbersome management system, controlling access to scarce resources, licensing the most profitable areas of activity. Payment for the services of such consultants is the price paid by society for the imperfection of our laws and the mechanism of work of state bodies.

In total, there are more than three thousand consulting (according to their charters) companies in Russia. And only every tenth is active in the market. Participates in ratings, has author's methods, takes care of the development of the industry. However, all Russian consulting is not yet a powerful single industry of business services with a developed infrastructure. Therefore, each expert evaluates the capacity of this market based only on his own ideas.

Average clients are Russian companies that have been operating on the market for about two years. As a rule, their leaders or owners are people with a technical education who built their business on the basis of common sense, and sometimes intuition, and now they are at an impasse. Increasingly, they are thinking about how to make their business more efficient. As a rule, these companies are engaged in manufacturing, retail or wholesale trade, in other words, the private sector with "live" money. Among the clients there are also computer firms, but they are few. They order mainly trainings for staff.

More and more people are beginning to understand what management consulting is. Services are becoming more and more professional, and the profession of management consultant is becoming prestigious. The market for consulting services is growing in monetary terms, its structure is changing, the share of Western companies is decreasing, and the share of Russian companies is increasing. There is a trend towards convergence of prices for the services of foreign and domestic consultants.

Two types of tasks were singled out, most often offered to management consulting firms: the independent solution of management problems by the consultant, and equipping the client with special problem-solving methods for obtaining results in the future.

Most often, requests are received to build an organizational structure, motivation system and corporate culture. Today, for Russian companies, the issues of distribution of powers and responsibilities between the parent company and subsidiaries, the owner and manager, the first person and the team are very relevant. In addition, attention is often required to improve product quality and work efficiency through motivation and shared values.

Recently, the demand for three areas of consulting services has increased dramatically: management automation, financial management and, most importantly, the creation of companies. This trend continues today, and I believe that the demand for these services will gradually increase.

Financial management is increasingly developing from the need to support the implementation of budgeting in an enterprise to the development of financing schemes, entering the securities market, and the like. A significant share of services is also provided in the field of financial recovery, assistance in restructuring the accounts payable of enterprises.

And, finally, the most interesting and demanded, in my opinion, topic for consulting work is the topic of creating companies. It is clear that our enterprises are not full-fledged companies. Consolidation occurs both due to vertical integration (alignment of manufacturers along the line of one product), and due to horizontal integration (merger of manufacturers of the same type of product). This is how production holdings are formed, which assume a rather rigid control system within themselves. If the transformations go too hard and fast (for example, the closure of production, their transfer, pulling sales from factories to central structures), then there may be strong resistance from plant managers, personnel and cause big problems. If the transformation is slow and the owner is afraid to exercise power, then the creation of the company can be delayed for many years.

There is a gradual alignment of the domestic and foreign markets for consulting services, which, in my opinion, indicates a gradual recovery of Russian business.

1.8 The effectiveness and efficiency of counseling.

The effectiveness of consulting is determined by the achievement of the goals specified in the consulting agreement.

For the client, direct and indirect results of counseling can be distinguished (Table 1), and both quantitative and qualitative indicators are important (because, due to the specifics of consulting activities, quantitative indicators are not always measurable).

Table 1 – Direct and indirect results

It is advisable to indicate in the contract the areas in which management consulting can produce positive results, i.e. define a list of indicators. After the diagnostic stage, the consultants report the results to the customer and from the outside determine a specific indicator by which the effect is determined.

In general, the economic effect can be determined by formula 10:

E = P K1 K2, where E is the economic effect of management consulting; P - change: increase, decrease; K1 - the share of management consulting in the results of work; K2 - the share of participation of consultants in obtaining the economic effect. One of the main indicators for assessing management consulting in production is profit growth. This is explained by the fact that this indicator synthesizes a decrease in production costs, an increase in the volume of products sold, and estimates the change in the volume of profit. En = [(A2 - A1/A1)] P1+ [(C1 - C2)/100)] A2) K1 K2, where En is the economic effect due to profit growth; A1 and A2 - the volume of sales before and after the rationalization of work in management; P1 - profit; C1 and C2 - costs per 1 rub. products sold before and after the rationalization of work in management. In some cases, management consulting has a special impact on the work to reduce conditionally variable costs, so this result can be assessed separately using the formula: Ey-p = E K1 K2, where E is the economic effect due to the reduction of conditionally variable costs in the cost; Ey-p - savings of conditionally variable costs. Evaluation of the effectiveness of management consulting can be determined by comparing the results with the costs: Ezu \u003d Otp / 3uk K1 K2, where Ezu is the cost effectiveness of management consulting; Otp - increase in gross output; 3uk - the cost of management consulting. Under the influence of a number of objective factors, negative growth rates of the main indicators can sometimes develop. In such cases, economic efficiency cannot be calculated. But it is possible to determine the inefficiency. De = (B1-B2) K, where De is the inefficiency for a specific indicator; B1 and B2 - expected and actual results for a specific indicator; K - share of consultants.

For a consultant, performance criteria are profit, output per consultant, etc. (economic indicators), repeat customer contact, growth of professionalism, as well as a variety of positive reviews, brand development, recommendations, etc.

2 Management consulting methodology

From the point of view of methods, the following forms of counseling can be distinguished: expert, process and training. The model is selected depending on the problem being solved, the characteristics of the client organization, the qualities of consultants (skills, experience, personal qualities). Each of the forms needs to be considered in more detail.

Expert advice. The client himself forms the task, the consultant-specialist acts as an expert. The disadvantage of this model is that the consultant develops a recommendation without conducting an independent analysis of the situation. Implements the changes, again, the client himself. It is advisable to use the model if it is necessary to gain knowledge on standard procedures and standards.

Educational consulting. The consultant not only collects ideas, analyzes solutions, but also prepares the ground for their emergence, providing the client with relevant theoretical and practical information in the form of lectures, trainings, business games, specific situations ("cases"), etc. The client forms a request for training, programs and forms of training, study groups.

Process consulting. Consultants at all stages of the project actively interact with the client, encouraging him to express his ideas, considerations, suggestions, critically correlate with ideas proposed from outside, conduct problem analysis and develop solutions with the help of consultants. At the same time, the role of consultants is to collect these external and internal ideas, evaluate the solutions obtained in the process of working together with the client, and bring them into a system of recommendations. This approach is the most efficient.

To determine the required degree of involvement of the client's personnel in the activities of the consultant, it is necessary to measure the time spent by the client and the results of consulting work (Figure 1 11).

Figure 1– Graph of the client's time and the results of consulting work

The effectiveness of the consultant's work is 0 if the client does not participate in it. As the client's involvement grows, the efficiency grows to the optimum point (t opt), after which it begins to fall, which means that the client begins to perform his work for the consultant.

It is clear that the minimum involvement of the client should be in the implementation of special problems, the maximum - in solving strategic problems.

The consulting process is understood as a sequential series of actions, activities carried out through the joint activities of the consultant and the client to achieve positive changes within the client organization, to resolve its problems.

The consultation process goes through 3 stages:

- Pre-contract stage. The client establishes the existence of a problem and the need to involve consultants to solve it, who, based on the results of preliminary diagnostics, make an offer to the client about the task. This stage ends with the conclusion of the contract. Its purpose is to ensure unity in understanding the essence of the consulting project by the client and the consultant.

- Contract. It consists of several stages (diagnostics, development of solutions, implementation of solutions), which in turn include procedures. The purpose of the contract stage is to determine specific results and directions of work, to ensure the development and implementation of problem solving.

- Post-contract. (Final) Departure of the consultant.

The allocation of stages in the consultation process provides a structured basis for decision-making, coordinated communications, a motivated project organization, and tangible results. All this makes it possible to reduce unpredictability, i.e. resulting in a well-managed project.

Consultants use many techniques to effectively complete a consulting assignment.

The method of consultation is understood as a general scheme (action plan) formed on the basis of the generalized experience of effective consultations of this type, which allows developing an appropriate program of action.

There is the following classification of consulting methods, which helps to quickly search, select and effectively use the methods most appropriate to the problem of the organization and the consulting model:

1. Methods for solving the content of the problems.

1.1. Diagnostic methods.

1.1.1. Information collection methods: surveys, interviews, questionnaires, expert assessments.

1.1.2. Information processing methods: data classification, problem analysis, comparison.

1.2. Problem solving methods.

1.2.1. Methods for identifying problems: a tree of goals using expert assessments, methods for assessing the priorities of problems (expert and logical analysis), a method for constructing a graph of problems.

1.2.2. Methods for developing and evaluating solutions: methods for developing alternative solutions, methods for choosing alternative solutions, methods for analyzing the quality of decisions made, methods for group work.

1.3. Implementation methods.

1.3.1. Experimental verification methods: group work, business games.

1.3.2. Methods for transferring the result to real conditions: methods for forming working groups, methods for holding problem meetings.

2. Methods of working with the client.

2.1. Methods for choosing the roles of consultant and client.

2.2. Methods of cooperation and assistance to the client in the implementation of changes.

2.2.1. Methods of education and training of personnel of the client organization.

2.2.2. Methods for developing the creative potential of the leaders of the client organization.

2.2.3. Methods for increasing the motivation of staff and managers to change: methods of persuasion, methods of using feelings of tension and anxiety, methods of reward and punishment, etc.

There are several counseling methods (a set of directives that indicate the course of action and methods for achieving the goals):

– Specialized (for special conditions).

– Universal (for all types of organization, regardless of industry, form of ownership).

2. 3. Consulting project management.

Coordination of work and project management in the client organization is carried out by a specially appointed employee of the client organization, endowed with project authority.

For high-quality management of a consulting project, a dossier is formed, which includes terms of reference, materials on the procedure for choosing a consulting firm (consultant), contract, work plan; results of monitoring, interim assessments, payment schedule and copies of payment documents.

12 effective means of engaging with consultants and providing feedback include:

1) work plans and reports:

Analysis of the implementation of work plans;

Interim reports;

Brief reports on key issues;

Full report on the project (ideas, analysis, conclusions, recommendations);

CV for management, leading specialists;

Reports for publication;

2) presentations made by consultants on the results of the implementation of project stages.

The rights of consultants when working with documents and personnel of the organization must be agreed in advance, to delimit the areas of work and responsibilities of the external consultant and employees of the organization.

In order to effectively use the services of a consultant, it is necessary to hold regular meetings with consultants in order to agree on the next steps and evaluate the results, and constant monitoring is necessary. The team involved in the project should adopt the skills and knowledge of consultants in order to subsequently be able to do similar work on their own.

Having a predetermined plan facilitates the effective implementation of proposals. Allows you to reduce resistance to changes that affect some personal or group interests associated with poor project management on the part of the management of the client organization and consultants. Implementation mechanism includes:

formation (with the participation of consultants) of a team with special powers from the specialists of the client organization for the implementation of proposals agreed upon and approved by the management;

estimate of possible costs associated with the implementation of the recommendations, and identification of sources of their coverage;

using the help of consultants to implement the recommendations.

At the end of the project, the client holds a final meeting with the consultants, where the final assessment of the work done is given, the client receives an answer to questions that arose during the implementation of the proposals, and the consultants are convinced that their recommendations are correctly interpreted. The prospects for further cooperation are being determined.

Then, the project manager in the client organization finalizes the dossier, supplementing it with:

Brief report on the work done;

Evaluation of implementation costs;

Evaluation of the project and the quality of work.

The project dossier is closed after approval by the head of the client organization.

An important point in the interaction between the consultant and the client is the control of the project. It is carried out both by the client and the consultant himself during the project (monitoring) and after its completion (evaluation of results). In the course of monitoring, first of all, the compliance of the current activity of the consultant with the terms of reference reflected in the contract is determined. It is carried out, on the one hand, by the management of the consulting firm, and on the other hand, by the client.

Evaluation of the results of the work of consultants can be carried out by the following three main methods.

The first method is to compare the activities of the consultant with the requirements for his work defined in the contract, while an objective assessment of the completeness and quality of the assignment must be determined. The client should determine the extent to which the consultant adheres to the scope of the engagement. However, if it goes beyond these limits, the client can still highly appreciate the consultant's qualifications. Conversely, if the consultant sticks too closely to the scope of the assignment, the client may spend a lot of effort adapting the project to the changed situation.

The second method is to assess the consultant's contribution to improving the economic efficiency of the client organization. The impact of his work should be reflected in profits, as well as other financial indicators. The difficulty of this method of evaluating the work of consultants lies not only in the complexity of calculating the economic effect in general, but also in determining the share that arises in it precisely due to the work of consultants. In addition, in consulting projects focused on long-term goals, the effect can accumulate over a fairly long time and appear in financial results only indirectly.

The third method is to determine the real changes resulting from the use of a consultant (new capabilities of the organization's personnel, new systems, new behavior, new programs, new projects).

Since the consulting project is based on the joint actions of the client and the consultant, the unwillingness to cooperate of any of the parties leads to dissatisfaction with cooperation, and the quality of the consulting project is reduced.

Control must be continuous. At each stage of the consulting project, the client and consultants compare the result achieved with the desired one in the following areas: time, finances, information, quality, organization of the consulting process - using reporting data from the client organization, consultants' reports, etc.

3 Management consulting on the example of ZAO Kuppo

3.1 Portrait of the organization

In the practical part, I will consider the organization CJSC "Kuppo", located at 125362, Russian Federation, Moscow, Stroitelny pr-d, 7-a, room 12. The Russian production company “Kuppo” specializes in roasting and packaging of grain and ground coffee. Over 12 years of successful work, a wealth of experience in the field of coffee processing has been accumulated and a leading position in the natural coffee market in Russia has been occupied. According to international marketing agencies GFK, AC Nilsen sells 15 to 20 percent of all bean and ground coffee sales in Russia. 13

3.2 Example of management consulting in CJSC "Kuppo"

3.2.1 Statement of the problem, objects and tasks of counseling

Some time ago, the company began to observe an aggravation of social relations in the team for inexplicable reasons, a significant number of problematic situations were noted. To resolve the situation, the company's management decided to invite consultants to conduct a sociological study.

It was proposed to study and analyze the ideas of "ordinary" employees of the company and its management about the causes of emotional tension in the team, which, in the opinion of the company's management, tends to grow in recent years. At the same time, the management of CJSC "Kuppo" suggested that such reasons could be not only dissatisfaction of employees with their financial situation, but also, perhaps, the lack of a clear image of the company's goals and objectives among the staff, the absence, in their opinion, of the prospects for the development of the company, etc. or other (unknown) circumstances.

The object of this study was directly the personnel of CJSC "Kuppo". Moreover, all categories of workers were studied separately. The management of the company, office employees and production team were subjected to the study separately.

The psychological state of the personnel, working microclimate, conflict situations were studied. It became clear how clearly and clearly the company's staff imagines its main goals, values, how people correlate the company and its success with themselves and their success.

The consultants set themselves the following tasks:

–– identification of problems in the corporate climate based on the analysis of the views of the company's employees;

3.2.2 Choice of research methodology

Studying the corporate climate involves conducting research in two directions. The first is related to the assessment of employees' perception of the degree of encouragement by the company of their financial situation. The second allows you to assess the degree of understanding by employees of the strategic goals and priorities of the organization.

A variety of experiences that inform employees' perceptions of how good the corporate climate is, include:

–– A way of structuring activities. How is the work structured: are the methods used in the work diverse, or is it boring and monotonous? Are the goals and principles of activity clearly defined?

–– The nature of formal and informal interpersonal relationships.

–– Procedures according to which rewards are distributed, including financial incentives.

Thus, in order to analyze the corporate climate in the team, it was necessary to study material rewards; social security; production area of activity; morale in the team.

A complete study of the corporate psychological microclimate in the company was carried out, which included:

- study of the ideas of twenty employees of the company about the causes of emotional tension in the team;

– cause-and-effect analysis of the identified representations;

–– group discussion with four leaders of the company on this issue.

Methods for obtaining initial information:

–– observation;

–– anonymous survey;

- conversation;

– group discussion.

The algorithm for obtaining information about the opinions of twenty employees directly or indirectly employed in the managerial field of activity was built according to the following scheme. All of them were anonymously surveyed using a specially designed questionnaire. Eight of them were asked to participate in individual interviews with a consultant. At the same time, the emphasis in conversations with them was placed on studying the opinions and ideas of respondents about possible problems in the corporate climate. It is important to note that all of them grouped the existing problems in the corporate climate into four blocks:

problems in the adequacy of the assessment of the material remuneration of one's labor;

issues related to the social protection of employees;

work problems that affect the effectiveness of relationships between managers and subordinates;

the state of the moral climate in the team.

In fact, these blocks of questions reflect the essential characteristics of the corporate climate and correspond to the groups of questions on the basis of which the questionnaire was compiled. The materials of the report and the conclusions (recommendations) presented in it are based on the information provided by these twenty respondents.

3.3 Analysis of ways out of a problem situation

As a result of the analysis, information was obtained on the state of the corporate microclimate, and the psychological state of the personnel of ZAO Kuppo, in addition, hotbeds of tension and their causes were identified. fourteen

After the management used the consultants' report data, the level of dissatisfaction and tension in the team was significantly reduced. A clearer and clearer understanding of the company's goals and objectives by the staff led to some increase in labor productivity and had a positive effect on the corporate climate.

In this case, it is clear that the management paid attention to this problem in a timely manner. While, unfortunately, for the majority of Russian enterprises it remains open and the issue of collective relationships remains without due attention. The consulting firm fully met the client's expectations. This happened as a result of an adequate assessment of the situation and the correct selection of data collection methods - direct communication with employees.

In this case, it was beneficial for the client that even small consulting companies can consider the issue of team relations. The task does not belong to the category of difficult tasks. Because if, for example, the introduction of new technologies or the development of new large-scale projects were required, the client would be faced with the problem of limited choice of a consultant. After all, as mentioned above, in Russia there are quite big problems with the presence of consulting companies of a certain level. Although in this case the issue of funding is not affected. Because the state of the company's finances is stable.

Conclusion

Consulting provides a direct increase in the efficiency of the client company through the methodologies, business models and technologies that consultants possess. Secondly, consulting is a kind of "engine of progress", as it contributes to the development of the business environment based on comparing companies with each other. Western companies are clearly aware that, despite the high cost, the services of consulting companies really help them improve their own efficiency.

To say that there is no market for consulting services in our region is, to put it mildly, wrong. There are individuals and firms that earn money (and a lot) in the field of consulting services. But attempts at contacts, with the aim of forming a professional environment, are fragmented. People prefer to "go into the shadows."

Since our managers have a vague idea of what consulting is, the demand for consultants' services is unskilled. The problem of the consultant - client relationships - the inability of the head of the enterprise to formulate the task. That is, it is clear that there is a problem. The demand for products has decreased, it is necessary to “normalize” taxation, there are no funds for development, etc.

But all this is just a consequence of the cause, which the leader may not suspect at all, because he looks at the problem one-sidedly, using the stock of knowledge and skills that he has. Another feature of our information culture. Our managers are often excellent technologists, but have a vague understanding of the actual management disciplines. And one person cannot be an expert in accounting, psychology, marketing and information systems at the same time. That's what consultants are for. Worse another. Often there is no target designation, an enterprise development strategy. Given its own, unique, development path, our country in this situation cannot refer to and be guided by world experience. It is very difficult to make any forecasts. And it is precisely from yesterday's crises, precisely from yesterday's upheavals that the problems that today's consultants “feed on” grow. Exactly what was “underresolved” yesterday is becoming the number one problem today and requires an urgent solution. This is where the consultant comes into play.

And the tasks solved today by domestic consultants fit the definition of “post-crisis” for the most part. Restructuring, reorganization, reengineering, implementation, elimination, etc., etc.

And it is very pleasant that recently this trend has waned, that things are getting better and more and more often consultants are being asked to search, create, discover, and the like creative.

And it is precisely in such a very difficult situation that such an interesting and seething industry as management consulting is today.

List of sources used

1 Kubr M. Management consulting, - M .: "Interexpert", 1992, p.184

2 Posadsky A.P. Basics of consulting. - M.: GU HSE, 1999.

3 Aleshnikova V.I. “Using the services of professional consultants: a 17-module program for managers “Managing Organizational Development”. Module 12. - M.: INFRA-M, 2005. - page 25

4 Utkin E.A. "Consulting" textbook for universities M-1998, p. 88

6 Rumyantseva Z., Aleshnikova V. Formation of the management consulting market, j. Russian Economic Journal, No. 3, 1993.

7 Tokmakova N.O. Fundamentals of management consulting: Educational and practical guide. / M.: Moscow International Institute of Econometrics, Informatics, Finance and Law, 2002. p.98

8 Blinov A.O., Butyrin G.N., Dobrenkova E.V. "Management consulting of corporate organizations": Textbook. – M.: INFRA-M, 2003. – page 50

9 Tokmakova N.O. A course of lectures on the discipline "Fundamentals of Management Consulting".

10 Efremov V. S. Management consulting as a business, j. "Management in Russia and abroad", July-August, 1997.

11 Rumyantseva Z., Aleshnikova V. Formation of the management consulting market, j. Russian Economic Journal, No. 3, 1993.

7 Nasakin R. Consulting in Russian, w. PC Week #11, April 2004 in Russia (4) Abstract >> Economics

Volume of services sold in the industry managerial consulting in the world, excluding Russia and the USA, increased from 25 ... see how the demand for managerial consulting in Russia in recent years. At the beginning of 1990...

Lecture notes

by discipline

"Fundamentals of Management Consulting"

for students of the specialty

Organisation management"

Moscow, 2008

Topic 1 The essence and content of management consulting

Basic concepts and definitions. Goals, objectives, approaches to management consulting. Features and principles of management consulting. History of management consulting. Management consulting in Russia.

1. Basic concepts and definitions.

Goals, objectives, approaches to management consulting.

There are two main approaches to counseling: functional and professional.

functional approach

This approach views management consulting as any form of assistance with regard to the content, process, or structure of a task or series of tasks, in which the consultant is not responsible for the task itself, but assists those who are. That is, the consultant is an assistant, and admits that such assistance can be provided by persons performing a wide variety of work.

Professional approach

This approach considers counseling as a special professional service. Management consulting is a contracted advisory service that provides services to organizations through specially trained and qualified individuals with professional knowledge and skills who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving these problems and assist in necessary, implementation of decisions.

These two approaches complement each other. Management consulting can be seen as either a professional service providing professional knowledge and skills relating to practical management issues; or as a method of providing practical advice and assistance to help organizations and leaders improve management practices and improve individual and organizational performance.

Target counseling can be formulated as follows: to help other people solve problems and see all possibilities more clearly.

Giving advice to people means entering into an interpersonal relationship that completely captures its participants.. In providing its services, the consultant pursues the following goals:

Help the other person to solve problems more skillfully;

Help the other person relieve tension and frustration that hides important questions or facts;

To help the other person take responsibility for their own lives and be proactive in achieving rewarded outcomes.

Counseling involves:

Intention to devote time, attention, to provide their experience to help another person;

Not developing answers to questions, but providing assistance in solving problems;

Providing comprehensive assistance, as a solution to the problem is required;

That's why, consulting can be characterized as assistance to company managers in the development of complex and systemic solutions to problems related to the organization of management of complex systems in various fields of activity.

task management consulting is the provision by the consultant to the client of certain tools, methods for organizational diagnostics of the state of the enterprise, solving the problems identified during it, and developing a strategic plan for the development of the organization. The consultant, by providing his skills in organizational diagnosis, strategy, planning, coordination, information systems and other issues, acquaints the client with organizational processes and relationships and helps him determine and implement the appropriate strategy; helps to acquire special knowledge (for example, in the field of situation analysis, economic forecasting), to master the methods used in identifying problems and implementing changes (training counseling).

Counseling should:

Persons trained and with specialist knowledge in areas related to the type of business of the enterprise (eg financial control, accounting systems, marketing, production management).

Experienced managers who have previously worked on solving various problems.

Persons with good connections with potential investors or consumers.

Reasons for contacting a consultant

Types of consulting organizations.

Classification of consultants by specialization.

Topic 3. Model of professional competence of a consultant. Types and forms of counseling. - 2 hours.

Model of professional competence of a consultant. External and internal consultants. Expert advice. Process consulting (consulting on the process). Educational consulting.

Consultant competency model

Expert advice

Process consulting (process consulting)

Educational consulting

There is a classic division of consultants into external and internal.

External consultant. The profession of a consultant involves the possession of two basic skills. The first of these is the ability to conduct an analysis, the second is the ability to develop recommendations based on this analysis, which will then be implemented in the company. The involvement of consultants from outside gives the enterprise the opportunity to get new ideas as a result of a fresh look at the problems. In addition, with the help of consultants, you can strengthen the analytical departments of enterprises or even entrust them with the temporary management of analytical work. A good external consultant is a good analyst, which has a number of significant advantages.

Benefits of an external consultant

1. Availability of a methodological base that provides a systematic approach to analytical work; possession of a methodology that allows to make the analysis comprehensive, highlighting the most significant issues for the company; ability to identify key customer issues. This makes it possible to make the development of the enterprise the most efficient and fast, achieving tangible success in a shorter period of time.

2. Impartiality of analysis as a consequence of an outside view: the consultant does not depend on the head of the enterprise and is not subordinate to him. He seeks to give an objective assessment of the situation, rather than trying to please anyone in the organization.

3. Great experience in carrying out analytical work at various facilities related not only to this industry, but also to related industries.

4. The ability not only to describe what is happening, but also to make recommendations, moreover, they must be such that the client can actually fulfill them. Thus, the consultant's analytical work is always practically oriented.

5. Possession of a large amount of preliminary information for analytical work in a certain area. It is especially important for the consultant to have information on the company's strategy, marketing research, etc., as well as developments in this area, which can accelerate the implementation of a consulting project..

Expert advice

With expert advice, the consultant independently carries out diagnostics, development of solutions and recommendations for their implementation. The role of the client is mainly to ensure that the consultant has access to the necessary and sufficient information in assessing the results.

Expert advice has the following traits:

Oral consultations in the "question-answer" mode.

Oral consultations in the form of a discussion, discussion of problems, their causes, possible measures to eliminate them.

Written responses to questions.

Written analytical reviews of literature, normative documents, practice.

Express analysis of the situation, determination of areas of intervention (observations, interviews, written surveys and questionnaires, study of documents, discussion on issues, etc.).

In-depth analysis of the situation, identification of the true, underlying causes of the difficulties of the enterprise (selection of evaluation criteria and development of evaluation scales and standards, special research programs, formation of respondent and expert groups, use of special diagnostic tools, model design).

Structuring of tasks, search for solutions, analysis of alternatives, development of recommendations, expert assessments and conclusions).

With expert advice, the success of a project is determined by the following three factors:

expert qualification;

the ability of the client to use the recommendations received;

In the absence of the second and third factors, even the highest expert qualification of the consultant will not be able to make the project successful.

Educational consulting

In training consulting, the consultant not only collects ideas, analyzes solutions, but also prepares the ground for their emergence, providing the client with relevant theoretical and practical information in the form of lectures, seminars, trainings, business games, teaching aids, specific situations ("cases" ) etc. The role of the client is to form a request for training, a conscious choice of goals, programs and forms of training, study groups.

Educational counseling has the following features:

Standard program (the client chooses seminars, business games, etc. from the list proposed by the consultant).

Specially adapted program (problems are determined by the enterprise, the consultant develops the program and chooses the form of training events).

Specially formed group (the consultant conducts special events to form a study group, develops requirements for study group participants and conducts selection using special methods such as questionnaires, interviews, business games, analysis of personal files, etc.)

Preparation of participants for group work (in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of training activities, especially those aimed at solving practical business problems, and related to the discussion and search for solutions, the consultant conducts trainings to develop communication skills, collective decision-making skills).

Training in methods and tools for solving problems (the task of the consultant is to transfer the skills and abilities to use their own tools and technologies to the company's specialists in such a way that, in his absence, they can independently solve problems of the same level of complexity).

Full immersion of the participants in the problematics (carried out in order for the study group to master the minimum required amount of information in the shortest possible time, solve the tasks or develop the necessary

dim decisions; usually ends with a preliminary design of any changes and innovations).

Educational consulting can be seen as a form of introducing knowledge into economic activity, an alternative to such a traditional form as training. The advantage of counseling is its concrete-individual, "piece" approach. At the same time, the knowledge possessed by consultants is transformed in such a way as to solve the specific problems of a particular enterprise. When teaching knowledge in the field of management, economics, law, etc. are transferred to managers in a general form and then they are already applied by them in practice.

The positive aspects of both ways of transferring knowledge are combined in training and process consulting.

3. Task plan

Offers to the client

Preliminary diagnosis of the problem

To be able to begin the assignment, the consultant must know exactly what the client expects of him. During the first meetings, the consultant encourages him to talk as much as possible about his personal perception of the problem to be solved. However, there is no guarantee that the client correctly understands and describes the problem and provides the consultant with complete and impartial information. Before you start planning a task and suggesting any activities, it is worth conducting your own independent assessment of the problem. An experienced consultant begins this work with a meeting with the client. He is interested in everything:

Who contacted him and how;

How it is received during the first meeting;

What questions are asked;

Do they have any subtext;

What does the client say about their competitors;

Is he loose or tight, etc.

However, there comes a time when the consultant must sort through this information, select the main data and complete the picture that he already has by looking at the problem from a new angle.

The purpose of the preliminary diagnosis of the problem- identify and plan the required advisory task or project. The preliminary diagnosis is limited to the rapid collection and analysis of essential information, which, based on the opinion and experience of the consultant, is necessary in order to correctly understand the problem, i.e. evaluate it realistically. The amount of preliminary diagnosis depends on the nature of the problem. Very specific technical problems usually do not require a thorough investigation of the entire client organization. If a consultant is called upon to solve a common problem, such as declining financial results or an inability to innovate at the same rate as competitors, then a general and detailed diagnosis or study of the client's organization is needed.

Mistaking symptoms for problems is the most common mistake (eg, reduced sales, lack of innovative ideas in R&D, absenteeism). It is bad when managers and consultants “know what the reasons should be” in advance, do not bother to collect and analyze facts. Looking at the problem from only one technical point of view happens if the diagnosis is made by a highly qualified manager or consultant with a bias in one technical area (engineering, accounting, psychology) and if the multidisciplinary nature of managerial problems is not taken into account. The consultant sometimes accepts the definition proposed by the top management without having ascertained how lower management personnel view it. Since a provisional diagnosis of a problem must be made quickly, he may be tempted to end this work prematurely and become unaware of other problems that are directly related to the original question presented by the client.

Diagnosis includes the collection and analysis of information on the activities and performance of the client, conversations with individual managers and other key employees, and in some cases with people who do not work in the client organization. The consultant is generally not interested in details, but looks for major trends, relationships and proportions. However, an experienced consultant keeps his eyes open and can sense potential problems behind details that another observer might not see: the way people talk to each other and what they say about each other; respect for hierarchical relationships; cleanliness of workshops and office premises; handling confidential information; courtesy of the secretary, etc. It is important that the view of the organization, its environment, resources, goals, activities be dynamic and comprehensive.

Dynamism in this context means studying the main achievements and developments in the life of the organization and possible future trends, as they are reflected in existing plans and assessed by the consultant himself. Strength and weakness of the client should be considered in time: today's strength may disappear tomorrow, and the latent weakness may ultimately become a threat to the client organization. Even if the problem concerns or may concern one functional area, the consultant must look at the organization comprehensively. How far and how comprehensively is a matter of experience and desire, here it is impossible to give a universal recipe. The goal is to determine what should be done about the problem in an advisory assignment of specific scope and duration.

The method of making a preliminary diagnosis can be different and is selected depending on the situation. It can be recommended that the consultant go from the general to the specific: from general goals and indicators, overall performance to the reasons for below-standard performance, and then to a more detailed study of individual areas of the organization's activities. Moving from the general to the specific helps to limit preliminary diagnostic studies to issues of paramount importance or to reassure the client that the chances of achieving the expected results will be better if the study takes into account all aspects of the enterprise. This approach implies that the consultant in the analysis will pay significant attention to the following:

1) proportions between the main functions and areas of activity;

2) links between costs and output;

3) the relationship between the main indicators of productivity, efficiency and effectiveness;

4) the relationship between performance indicators and the main factors affecting their value positively or negatively.

An important method of preliminary diagnosis is comparison. In the absence of an exhaustive detailed analysis of the data, the consultant needs reference points that can guide him in the preliminary assessment of strengths, weaknesses and desired improvements. It will detect them by comparisons with the following parameters:

1) past achievements (if the performance of the organization has deteriorated and the problem as a whole can be corrected);

2) the client's own plans and standards (if the actual performance does not correspond to them);

3) other comparable organizations (to assess what has been achieved elsewhere and whether this is possible in the client organization);

4) the norms available in the advisory unit or taken from another source of information for comparison between firms.

Comparing carefully selected metrics to industry norms or similar organizations is a very powerful diagnostic tool. It not only helps to quickly navigate, but also allows the client to understand the reality, which can often be very different from his ideas.

Despite certain general rules, senior diagnostic consultants often have personal priorities and specific approaches. Some start by looking at basic financial data, others focus on manufacturing, and still others prefer to study markets, products, and services before moving on to financial valuation and further research. Ultimately, the consultant must explore all the areas and questions necessary for a general diagnosis to put the problem in its true context and perspective.

A successful diagnostic study is based on the rapid collection of information about the nature and extent of assistance that the consultant can provide to the client. This information should be selective. Diagnostic findings are often generic. The main sources of information for the preliminary diagnostic study are the client's published records and reports, advisory unit documentation, counselor's observations and conversations, and contacts outside the client's organization.

Published materials may be published by the client or other interested organization. Client publications typically include: an annual financial and operating report; financial, statistical, trade and customs reports to government bodies, trade associations and credit institutions, as well as economic reviews; promotional materials for sale, such as catalogs and flyers; press releases.

The client's internal documentation and reports contain data about its resources, goals, plans and performance, including:

1) information about the plant and equipment;

2) reports to management on financial results and cost of operations, services and products;

3) sales statistics;

4) production indicators;

5) movement of materials;

6) personnel assessment.

The documentation of the advisory unit contains information about the client, if he applied there not for the first time, and can also serve as a source of information about similar organizations. Observing the activities of the organization and talking to the right people are paramount to gathering information. Contacts with other organizations associated with the client may be established either by the consultant or by the client himself.

3. Task plan

During the initial contact with the client and the preliminary diagnosis of the problem, the consultant must collect and analyze enough information to plan the task.

An essential aspect of the development of advisory task planning is the choice of task execution strategy. By this we mean roles to be played by the consultant and the client, method (and time sequence) of application and harmonization of different methods of intervention on their part, as well as resources assigned to complete the task.

The conclusions drawn on the basis of the preliminary diagnosis are summed up, and the consultant presents his description of the problem, the plan for the implementation of the task, and then outlines the goals and the technical measures necessary to achieve them (reorganization of the information system, unit network, introduction of a new personnel training program, etc.). ). Whenever possible, the objectives should be presented in terms of performance criteria in quantitative terms, describing the benefits that the client will receive if the task is completed successfully. The general financial benefits must also be explained so that he is sure to understand their significance. Social or qualitative benefits can be difficult to quantify. They are described in as much detail and as clearly as possible, intelligibly explaining how to avoid vague concepts that can be interpreted in different ways.

The stages of the task should be programmed in some detail. Basically, the consultant will move through the phases of problem solving or the counseling process. The nature of the actions of the consultant and the client varies depending on the phase. Both parties need to know what the other party expects at each stage.Timeline task completion is a key element of the strategy. What pace of work to choose? First of all, this is determined by the needs of the client, but there are other considerations, for example:

Technical, labor and financial capabilities of the client and consultant;

A feasible and optimal pace of change;

The desirability of a phased approach to completing the task (starting with the department that is most prepared for change and willing to cooperate, introduce a new scheme first experimentally, etc.).

Definition of roles- the strategic element of task planning. The proposed activities should be accurately described, indicating the following:

What actions are performed by the client and which consultant;

Who prepares the data and documentation, in what form;

What meetings, working groups, task forces and group work forms will be used and who will participate in them;

What specific training and awareness activities will be undertaken.

After defining the roles in detail, the consultant can identify resources required to complete the task at each stage, including:

Resources provided by the consultant (consultant time, office supplies, specialized calculations, research work, legal assistance and other services);

Resources provided by the client (management and staff time, communication activities, administrative support, office equipment, testing funds, experimental work, computing operations, etc.).

Offers to the client

In most cases, offers to the client include four sections, which provide all the necessary information:

Technical section - preliminary data received by the consultant; his assessment of the problem; the approach he intends to take; the program of work it proposes;

Staffing section - the names and job profiles of the consultant's staff who will carry out the assignment; senior consultants needed to lead and supervise the work of the group in the client organization;

Section on consultant qualification experience and competence of the consulting organization in connection with the requirements of a particular client;

Financial section - the cost of services, possible increase in cost and contingencies, as well as a schedule and other indicators for paying fees and covering expenses.

Most consultants prefer not to send proposals simply by mail, but to personally hand them to the client at a meeting that begins with a short verbal (and visual, if possible) presentation of a summary of the report. The consultant is available to answer questions regarding the commencement of the proposed assignment. If the client is set up and willing to get started, there are clear benefits to doing so while the enthusiasm is still warm and the contacts made are fresh in people's minds.

The client may be willing to use the consultant's services but not approve of certain aspects of the proposal. Typically, these aspects of the proposal are reviewed and modified if the consultant is unable to modify his approach. Both sides must come to full agreement on how to proceed.

In parallel with the preparation of an offer to the client, the consultant prepares internal secret notes the client organization and the approach to be taken. These notes (sometimes called summary notes) are especially important in large consulting organizations if different professionals are used to plan and complete the assignment. They are not included in the offer to the client.

Fact Analysis

Customer Feedback

Table 1

Preliminary diagnostics

Diagnostics

table 2

Differences between conventional diagnostics and express diagnostics in management consulting

Stages of conventional diagnostics

Stages of express diagnostics in the form of a business game

Collection and processing of preliminary information (2-3 days), analysis of this information (2 days) Decision making on the development of consulting discussion of the results with the first manager (0.5 days) Collection of additional information, decomposition, analysis, forecast of consequences (1-2 days ) Building a tree of problems (1 day) Goal setting, ranking, building a tree of goals (1 day) Development of an action program for the next stage of management consulting (1-2 days)

Group work with a "microphone in a circle", surveys, tests, questionnaires, discussions in groups (2-3 hours) Intergroup discussion with the active participation of leading managers and specialists, conclusions and recommendations (1.5-2.0 hours) Problematization in workers groups, preparing reports, analyzing and ranking problems (3-4 hours) Structuring false and true problems, choosing a general problem (4 hours) Building a tree of problems, a tree of goals by groups and intergroup discussion (4-6 hours) Development of an action program for the next stage of management consulting (1 day)

The diagnostic stage, as a rule, reveals the difference in positions and views on a particular organizational problem among employees of the enterprise. At this stage in the enterprise, perhaps for the first time, collective positions are formed, often located in different planes. It is important that the content of these positions, previously expressed behind the scenes, is submitted for collective discussion, which allows the authors not only to evaluate their views from reflective positions, but also to get an impulse for further thought activity regarding the development or non-development of this point of view.

All diagnostic work takes place in four stages:

The first is the development of a conceptual basis for the diagnosis, i.e. defining the structure of the problem and deciding on the collection of the necessary evidence;

The second is the identification of the necessary evidence;

The third is the analysis of facts;

Fourth - establishing feedback with the client (including making a report based on the diagnosis).

Fact Analysis

Since the ultimate goal of the consultation process is to bring about change, analysis of the facts should bring us closer to achieving it. It is not yet enough to correctly describe reality; conditions, events and their causes, it is more important to determine what can be done, whether the client has the capacity to do so, and how to guide the entire change process.

There are no clear boundaries between analysis and synthesis. Synthesis in the sense of building a whole out of parts, making decisions based on the analysis of facts and developing proposals for the implementation of actions begins somewhere during the analysis of facts. Analysis of facts gradually turns into synthesis.

Before subjecting the data to the analytical operations described below, they should be edited and carefully selected, while checking their completeness, clarity of records and correctness of their presentation, eliminating or correcting errors. The Consultant should ensure that the same strategies were used in data collection.

The systematization of data begins even before they appear, by establishing criteria for tabulating them. Further systematization and adjustment of its criteria are carried out in the process of revealing the facts and after its completion. Both quantitative and other information should be systematized.

Systematization of data by consultants is carried out according to the following criteria:

By time- indicates trends, rate of change, random and periodic fluctuations;

By place(or organizational units - helps to investigate problems and find solutions related to specific conditions;

By responsibility for facts and events- in many cases, responsibility is not identical with the place (division) where this fact was revealed;

in accordance with the structure of units and processes- materials used, products or plant and equipment can be systematized from different points of view, it is important to determine how changes in constituent elements affect the unit as a whole (actions should be directed to those components that significantly affect the overall results);

By influencing factors- this is a preparatory stage in the functional and causal analysis.

In many cases, simple systematization (according to one criterion) is not sufficient, and then cross-systematization is applied, which includes a combination of two or more variables.

Prepared and systematized data are analyzed to identify relationships, relationships and trends. Depending on the nature of the problem and the purpose of the advisory assignment, the data can be analyzed in different ways. Statistical methods (means, variance, distribution density, correlation and regression) are often used, as well as various other techniques, including mathematical modeling or graphical construction.

Statistical and others methods of quantitative analysis are meaningful only if qualitative associations can be identified. The main task is to establish the existence of a specific relationship between various factors and events described by the data and, if it exists, to study its nature. Whenever possible, the relationship is quantified and expressed as a function (in the mathematical sense of the term) where one or more dependent variables are in specific dependence on one or more independent variables. The goal is to identify and define relationships that are significant and not random.

Often dependencies are expressed and measured using relative values. They help: to determine whether the costs of any kind of activity give an appropriate output, to study whether resources and obligations are correctly balanced; reflect the internal structure of any resource.

Also used method of cause-and-effect analysis, the purpose of which is to identify causal relationships between conditions and events. They provide the key to planning change and improving performance. Some difficulties and shortcomings of causal analysis should be pointed out. Often there are conditions that influence each other, and there is a danger of mistaking the cause for the effect.

When diagnosing entrepreneurial and management problems, consultants are confronted with a chain of cause and effect. Let's say that the consultant has determined that the decline in sales and income is the cause of bad mood in the team. What, then, are the reasons for the bad state of affairs? The reason is found to be the loss of an important overseas market. But why is this market lost? This was due to serious errors in pricing policy. Why were these mistakes made? One should look for the answer to this question, etc. The crux of the matter is how deep you have to go in search of the underlying (or primary) cause. Here, too, one should remember first of all the goal. Often a problem has multiple causes, although one of them may be more important. Often the opposite happens: one condition causes a number of consequences.

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