Comparison of External Business Consultancy and Internal Manager for Problem Solving in Organizations

Running Head: BUSINESS PROJECT 0
BUSINESS PROJECT
Student name
5/13/2019

BUSINESS PROJECT 1
Business Project
In an organization, various functional areas and job roles have to be managed effectively
for a successful business. There are development and identification of various issues and
problems that needs to be effective and structurally managed in order to maintain harmony and
an ongoing process in an organization (Liedtka & Ogilivie, 2011). The problem solving in
business is a crucial aspect that has to be done efficiently for which the business has two key
alternatives that are to go for an external business consultant or internal manager of the company.
The manager of the company or external consultant either conducts not only the problem solving
but also other consulting or advisory activities. The report will consider the comparison of the
two alternatives while understanding the key roles of both the stakeholders and their pros and
cons for the organization (Abdulraheem Sal, 2016).
An external business consultant is a separate organization working for the company as its
clients to conduct an evaluation or develop the design of evaluation to provide an effective
solution to the company after detailed research. For instance, an organization is contracting with
an external organization with an objective of conducting research and evaluates a specific
problem faced by the business or any product development or business development advice
needed by the company. The organization is an expert for this job as the company is working
professionally and will provide a solution after researching reliable information and analysis
(Anitha, 2019).
Key advantages of using external consultancy are firstly independent body, this reflects
that the consultant is an organization that is specifically working for the particular aspect. The
company seems to be independent and doesn’t engage in any other work as a manager in an

BUSINESS PROJECT 2
organization. Secondly owned resources, this reflects that the company is an advantage as the
external business consultant is using their own capital and human resources in order to conduct
research, evaluation, and planning of the problem solving (Shuck, 2014). For example, if an
organization is facing a problem regarding the recruitment and staffing of employees and
contract with an HR consultancy for the recruitment process instead of the HR manager of the
company. They would be an expert in analyzing human resource, assess the application and
select the best employees for the company. This will save organization resources and efforts like
the area to conduct an interview, screening of the application, shortlisting, and selection
(leadershipcenter, 2018).
However, some of the disadvantages for the external business consultancy would cost to
the company. The job or work that could have been conducting using internal sources for the
organization paying additional pay to the external organization could become expensive for the
company. It has also been identified that the external consultancy is also providing expert service
for which they ask for premium prices by the organization, which overall increase the company
expenses to a greater extent. Another challenge with external business consultancy is effective
communication and integration or work with the company (Bruggeman & Baerdemaeker, 2015).
For example, if an external business consultancy is considered for providing training to the set of
employees. The training program prepared and provided by the consultant would also include
understanding the need for the training, culture of the organization that will be followed by an
external consultant as well. This is not only time consuming but can be challenging to integrate
with the company’s objectives. This may lead to mismanaged and unorganized activities in the
organization, especially in the case of misinterpreted objectives and goals of the company (Zhao,
2016).