21228 Management consulting Assignment 3: Critical reflective essay (Research Paper Sample)

The driver of Success in The Management Consulting Firm Reflection on Consulting Project my reflection project was about opportunities for brand development and alternative market plans for a firm. After highlighting fundamental goals and a summary of the firm, I presented customer anticipations. Also, I learned team leadership, where I assigned team members to conduct a market survey. Later, I used survey results to display possible client groups within the market. We ensure the company witnesses future strategic growth and development by providing them with long-term, medium-term, and short-term objectives. As the team leader, the key driving force for the success of the project was highly skilled team members who contributed significantly towards project success. Even though I rarely send communication to the team members after assigning duties, cooperation was amazing. The consulting team helped me to effectively advise the company. They contributed by developing slogans and brand images of the company that I included in the report. In collaboration with the team, I developed a value chain and CSR components. Moreover, I advise the company to clarify the transformation they should provide. The firm needs to clarify who they are serving and what they provide. Secondly, I used my professional research skills and recommended the company build relationships capital. The company should design a value-centric and collaborative circle of entrepreneurs and like-minded leaders to breed trust and create relationship capital. Consequently, it drives more impact, increases audience exposure, creates competitive advantage, expands resources, and widens the knowledge base. In our team, I suggested that the firm create a unique selling proposition. Specifically, I emphasize the firm developing a clear USP and bringing it to life in every touch point of the company’s brand. Striving for focused consistency was also another recommendation. I advised the firm to maintain and provide constructive feedback to the clients when they sought clarifications. Company’s sharing branding message and gaining momentum through targeting and focusing on the strategy. I also suggested that the company be trustworthy, relevant, and accessible. Accessible brands utilize persistent messages and names that prolong in both the virtual and the physical world. Lastly, the motivation of employees remains the best method of attracting highly skilled workers. Therefore, I recommend the company to inspire and motivate them to aim higher. Management consulting firms aim at contributing to the success of clients' work (Canato & Giangreco, 2011). Therefore, effective delivery of service is met. Maister (2004) postulates that face-to-face interaction and the degree of the company’s work functions are the driving factors for the management and structure of consulting companies. The interaction between the consultant and the client is fundamental for the success of a consulting firm. Secondly, it plays a critical role in enabling the completion of consulting projects. Also, it aids in the survival of every single consulting firm. Several initial studies have affirmed that the relationship between consultants is also known as client-expert interaction. Another significance of client and consultant interaction is that it enhances the contribution of enormous value and ideas to the project (Nikolova et al., 2009). The main reason is that it promotes a social learning model. The buyer and the seller should consistently interact to facilitate the complete delivery of service. Interaction enhances the participative learning process between consultants and clients, which contributes to valuable ideas and knowledge for the project (Nikolova et al., 2009). Hence, the objective of this research paper is to facilitate the analysis of an example of a key driver that enhances success in the management of a consulting firm. Clark (1995) argues that the interaction between the seller and the buyer is crucial in consultancy firms. The best key driver consulting firms should use to achieve success is hiring and retaining highly skilled professional expertise. Hiring and Retaining Highly Skilled Professional Staff A successful management consulting firm has numerous employees. Specifically, the firm should be equipped with professional expertise. The employees should possess considerable experience. It is advantageous because the presence of experienced professionals in a consulting firm is critical for the success of the company. The primary reason is that these expert employees can use scientific theories and techniques to solve concrete client issues. Consultants are perceived as experts who possess a significant knowledge base of a certain practice field (Nikolova et al., 2009). Hence, they are able to design solutions to issues that arise within a specific area. Professional employees have high persuasive power, which benefits the firm. The heart of client-consultant interaction is impression management. Hence, every firm should have or should be characterized by high impression management. The advantage of the feature is that it enables the firm to impress its clients and acquire their business. Consultants depend on a very high degree linked to humour, metaphor, images, and rhetoric to win clients. These can be provided by expert staff. The firm can use these strategies to communicate with customers using a series of success narratives (Nikolova et al., 2009). These narratives act as substitutes that consulting companies can utilize to demonstrate a vague and ambiguous knowledge base. Highly skilled employees also have problem-solving skills. The success of consulting firms depends on the problem-solving skills of employees. They need to have the highest level of skills to solve challenges facing businesses that secure their services. Problem-solving is the most fundamental competency skill that all management levels individuals should be equipped with. Hence, during the hiring process, management consultants should carefully evaluate the problem-solving skills of potential employees or for individuals who applied various posts in the firm (Garrette, 2018). Hiring managers can determine problem-solving skills using anxiety-inducing “case interviews.” When interviews are conducted, candidates should be provided with a brief description concerning an issue that faces a disguised client company. Thereafter, they are assigned to solve the challenge. Likewise, firms can utilize problem-solving tests to hire the most competent staff. Advanced professionals have specialization in specific areas of expertise. Management consulting firms thrive only in areas that have specialization. Through extensive practice and study within a specific domain, experts have created in-depth knowledge. Moreover, experts have mentally structured their knowledge to enhance use and recall. Hence, the key driver for successful consulting firms is specialization in a specific area (Garrette, 2018). For several years in the course of their career, consultants and managers usually specialize in specific industrial or functional fields. Therefore, they acquire expertise in these regions. It is beneficial because experts possess advantages over novices in solving problems that fall in areas surrounding their domain of expertise. Thus, the firms succeed because experts have in-depth designed mental models of diverse problems. Consequently, they can increasingly recognize and be cognizant of challenges by utilizing analogies linked to previous problems. Likewise, when they specialize in a certain field, its expert employees apply additional efficient problem-solving plans in their fields of expertise. As a result, they will more carefully assess possible solutions against constraints (Garrette, 2018). Furthermore, they will effectively monitor their problem-solving advancement by perfecting solutions. When hired and retained, employees who have enormous skills help promote a well-defined and consistent strategy. Hence, a firm benefit immensely from these workers. The driving force for a consulting firm is the formulation of a good strategy. Successful firms have a strategy that balances employees’ motivation and capabilities and clients’ demands. An excellent strategy drives the firm to target the most preferred types of clients. Also, it enables them to develop skills that most clients prefer, such as diverse skill sets from professionals. Client relation-based strategy enables the firm to succeed in developing a unique ability to enhance understanding and assist a particular kind of client (Ejenas & Werr, 2011). It entails a wide service portfolio. Output or solution-based strategies assist assists the firm in succeeding by designing a unique set of solutions, methods, and services that are typically constructed on institutional competencies. For example, detailed methodology and computer software. Creativity or problem-solving strategies are developed using the state-of-the-art and unique expertise of workers. The strategy helps in developing unique solutions for sophisticated or superior clients (Ejenas &...