Management Consulting The Why What And How

Guide for professional management consultants showing how to develop skills and attributes for client-centric consulting.

"If more business books were as useful, concise, and just plain fun to read as THE MCKINSEY WAY, the business world would be a better place." --Julie Bick, best-selling author of ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW IN BUSINESS I LEARNED AT MICROSOFT. "Enlivened by witty anecdotes, THE MCKINSEY WAY contains valuable lessons on widely diverse topics such as marketing, interviewing, team-building, and brainstorming." --Paul H. Zipkin, Vice-Dean, The Fuqua School of Business It's been called "a breeding ground for gurus." McKinsey & Company is the gold-standard consulting firm whose alumni include titans such as "In Search of Excellence" author Tom Peters, Harvey Golub of American Express, and Japan's Kenichi Ohmae. When Fortune 100 corporations are stymied, it's the "McKinsey-ites" whom they call for help. In THE MCKINSEY WAY, former McKinsey associate Ethan Rasiel lifts the veil to show you how the secretive McKinsey works its magic, and helps you emulate the firm's well-honed practices in problem solving, communication, and management. He shows you how McKinsey-ites think about business problems and how they work at solving them, explaining the way McKinsey approaches every aspect of a task: How McKinsey recruits and molds its elite consultants; How to "sell without selling"; How to use facts, not fear them; Techniques to jump-start research and make brainstorming more productive; How to build and keep a team at the top its game; Powerful presentation methods, including the famous waterfall chart, rarely seen outside McKinsey; How to get ultimate "buy-in" to your findings; Survival tips for working in high-pressure organizations. Both a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most admired and secretive companies in the business world and a toolkit of problem-solving techniques without peer, THE MCKINSEY WAY is fascinating reading that empowers every business decision maker to become a better strategic player in any organization.

The second book in the Essential Tools For series… on the topic of Management Consulting Based on Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn's successful The Essential Management Toolbox, this book focuses in greater depth on the topic of Management Consulting. This second book looks at how a management consultant needs to think, view and analyse the workings of an existing organisation in order to efficiently and effectively work to improve the issues facing a business. Check out the new series website featuring sample chapters, tool of the month and solve your management problems by talking direct to the author www.essentialtoolsseries.com Second title in a new series that expands on the information in Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn’s The Essential Toolbox This volume includes 30% new material in the form of new tools and techniques for guiding consultants Covers: Development of Management Consultancy; Problem resolution and Decision Making; Top 10 Tools for Consultancy Interventions; Consultancy delivery and Facilitation; Consultancy Governance and Ethics Active author, Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn speaks regularly Easy to use practical tools and techniques guiding the consultant and business person through their organisational conflicts About the Author: Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn is a practising management consultant with over 30 years experience in both the public and private sectors and covering a range of organizations and industries. He holds two Master's degrees and a PhD in various Strategic Management topics. This second book includes a forward by Malik Salameh.

The second volume in the Research in Management Consulting series focuses on developing knowledge and value in management consulting. While there has been an exponential explosion in both the presence and role played by management consultants, the exact nature of their contribution —to client organizations, to our understanding of management and organization, to our comprehension of the increasingly complex dynamics associated with business in a global marketplace, and to the development of their own firms—remains ambiguous. Just as the business world is experiencing rapid and, at times, volatile change, the consulting industry itself is also facing unprecedented change and challenge. Over the next decade, forecasts suggest a world of difference for management consulting, from different competitors and different types of projects and assignments, to different skill sets and different fee structures, to different client expectations.

What is management consultancy? How has it developed? How does it affect businesses? This book answers these questions and introduces the field for those looking to develop a career as a management consultant. Providing a thorough introduction to management consultancy, Morgen Witzel covers the topic from a range of perspectives including the field's historical development, the client's perspective, business analysis, return on investment, consulting failures, ethics and accountability and the growing importance of sustainability. With exercises and case studies throughout, this practical textbook provides students with a rounded and critical understanding of what it means to be a management consultant and in so doing, will help readers emerge as employable management consultants of the future.

This book gives an overview of ways to work as a management consultant, including relationships with clients, ethics, pricing, contracts and some basic tools for delivering consulting services. This book was written for those who want to work in this area, for existing consultants, and also for managers and buyers of management consulting services. Quotes from the book: "This is the book I wish I could have read myself about 30 years ago when I first started my career as a young management consultant." "When young people are asked about their dream job, management consulting is often high on the list." "... when I was asked by the managing partner of the consulting firm what kind of consultant I wanted to become, my reply was honest surprise: Are there really different kinds?!" "What is the most important skill for a leader or manager to master? I would say it is the decision-making process." "Perhaps the most important strategic decision in management consulting is how to price your services, both how much you charge and what for." "Yes, I claim that to understand the internal and interpersonal politics of any organization, is a necessary prerequisite for a good management consultant." "I am sure that many organisational problems are based more on politics than on policies…" "… it will draw significant resources away into internal disintegration and fights, rather than freeing the same energy for external opportunities and tasks."

Management Consulting: A Guide for Students bridges the gap between the latest academic research and practical skills to provide a comprehensive new introduction to modern consulting. David Biggs' important new textbook walks students through the key dimensions of management consulting from the contexts, through the processes, and into skills and implementation using a wide range of examples to provide a refreshing and modern guide for students. Every chapter deploys a consistent pedagogical framework including clear learning objectives that correspond with the latest standard course outlines, mini case studies, and industry snapshots. Full-length case studies appear at the end of every chapter, either prepared specifically for the text by international academics and consultants or supplied from premium vendors such as Harvard Business Review. A full set of online supporting resources for students and lectures make this the complete resource for management consulting courses at all levels.

Management consultants of various kinds play an important role in the world of business, and within other types of organization. The Oxford Handbook on Management Consulting is a comprehensive overview of thinking and research on management consultancy with contributions from leading international scholars. The first section provides an account of the historical developments in management consulting research, and how current thinking has evolved from prior work. The second section focuses on disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, their diversities, areas of synergy, and parallel concerns. The following sections examine consulting as a knowledge business, consultants and management fashion, and the relationship between management consultants and their clients. The Handbook concludes with an assessment of areas of future research and debate. By bringing together a wide range of research and thinking on management consulting across different disciplines, sub-disciplines, and conceptual approaches, the Handbook provides a comprehensive understanding of both current thinking and future directions for research.