An Analysis of Consulting Practices and Required Capabilities

This report delves into the critical aspects of consulting practices, examining the skills and capabilities that modern consultants must possess to thrive in the dynamic business environment. The introduction highlights the increasing significance of consultancy services in today's world, emphasizing the role of consultants in providing expert advice and support to clients. The discussion section explores the importance of intellectual ability, quick learning, observation, and evaluation of facts. It also underscores the significance of good judgment, inductive and deductive reasoning, people management, communication skills, ethical considerations, and cultural intelligence. The report emphasizes that successful consultants require a blend of analytical, interpersonal, and ethical competencies. The consultant must possess a deep understanding of business operations and the ability to apply various analytical techniques. They must also be adept at managing people, communicating effectively, and maintaining the highest ethical standards. Furthermore, the report stresses the importance of protecting client privacy and demonstrating cultural intelligence. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings, reinforcing the need for continuous development and adaptation in the ever-evolving field of consulting.

Running head: CONSULTING PRACTICES
Consulting Practices
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
References:.................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
The importance of the consultancy services is observed to be sky high in the modern
world of trade and that is visible with the increasing emergence of the consultant firms. The
modern society is observed to follow a scientific approach towards the management of their
business or personal life related actions and in such situation, the significance of the activities
that the consultancy firms conduct, are observed to be associated with greater significance.
Considering the concept of the consultant, Biech (2019), mentioned that a person who has the
capability to deliver expert or professional advice in relation to a particular field of business,
science or organizational management, is expected to be recognized as a consultant. In
addition to this, Liebowitz and Blattner (2015), claimed that the consultancy is a form of
service where a person provides important advice to a client who lacks the same or a person
who provides certain support that the client requires.
The consultants follow a practice where they charge a particular fees for the expert
opinion that they provide to their customers. The course of actions of the consultants is
independent in nature. According to the opinion of Basu (2015), there exist no conflict of
interest between the issues of the customers and the services that the consultant is delivering.
Apart from this, Mishio (2018), delivered an important information regarding the consultant
and their operations with the claim that the consultants are required to operate in a
professional manner with the achievement and application of right qualification. In addition
to this, the consultants have the necessity to ensure high quality service delivery along with
solid internal operations. The study is based on the operations of the consultant. The study
identifies the skills and capabilities that the modern consultants are required to show and
delivers an important understanding regarding the necessary requirements for developing
better consultants.

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Discussion:
Intellectual Ability:
In order to gain crucial information regarding the significance of the consultants, it
becomes important to gain sufficient knowledge regarding the activities that the consultants
are required to perform at the organizational context. One of the important reason for hiring a
consultant as per Altonji, Kahn and Speer (2016), is that they possess a greater amount of
knowledge regarding the relevant disciplines. As the consultants operate independently, it
provides an added edge to their services when they are to lead a particular organization with
an objective view of the dilemma’s in hand and the solutions. Apart from this, Hair Jr, Page
and Brunsveld (2019), mentioned that the external consultants are comparatively less
vulnerable to the detrimental impact of the internal politics and sensitive situations in the
organizations. As a result, their evaluation are independent of any sort of any biases or
premeditated assumptions. As per the comments of Fishman (2017), the role of the
consultants is regarded as important in cases where the organizations hiring them find in a
difficult situation in terms of capacity for implementing their projects. One of the important
values of the external consultants is that they can manage the dirty working a lot easier
manner in comparison to the employees or executives of the company. Apart from this,
Freedman (2016), revealed the important factor behind the increasing preferences of the
companies in availing the services of consultants with the claim that the costing associated
with the hire of an external consultants, in majority of the cases, is cheaper from retaining the
expertise in house for the companies. As a result, the companies achieve greater comfort with
the hire of the external consultants for the purpose of expert opinions and ideas.
With an efficient understanding of the importance of the consultants amongst the
contemporary business organizations and the operations that the consultants are required
conduct in today’s world of business, it becomes important to analyse the skills and expertise

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level that is much required to manage the identified course of actions of the external
consultants. Considering the skill requirements of a better consultant, I believe the
importance of the intellectual ability is considerably high. The job of consultant usually does
not have any specified limitations or more specifically, the array of problems that the
consultants face or the solutions that they are expected to deliver, are not limited to certain
boundary. As a result, it is important for the consultants to expand their horizon of thinking.
The consultants have the necessity to be as much imaginative as possible as that will certainly
increase their ease in handling the professional work contexts in a way more professional
manner. The practice of creative thinking for improving the capability of being imaginative,
will certainly do a world of good to the consultants in being an efficient professionals. Apart
from this, a better consultant is expected to have the skills of reading. In many of the cases,
the business organizations or the managers of the same, have the tendency of providing
written document to the consultants and ask for their intervention. In such situation, the
pleasure of reading of the consultants provide a great share of advantage to the consultants in
the management of their operational activities.
Quick Learning Ability, Observation and evaluation of facts:
Other than this, I believe the capability of learning in a speedy manner, provides
considerable amount of advantage to the external consultants in managing their business
activities. As the problem situations or the contexts in front of the consultants, changes in a
significant manner, it becomes important for the consultants to learn quickly as it will place
them in a better position in the formulation and in the delivery of their solutions. More
specifically, the skill of quick learning is an advantage for the individuals when it comes to
analyse the situations and gaining the important insights for framing the crucial decisions.
Breaking it down, the consultants are required to have the ability of observing situations,
gathering crucial insights, selecting the most suitable and trustworthy information and

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evaluating the facts and figures which can help them in analysing the merit of the situation
and in preparing the most effective solution. In order to achieve the mentioned quality, the
consultants are required to enhance their analytical skills.
Good Judgement, Inductive and Deductive Reasoning:
According to my consideration, the ability of delivering good judgements is seen to
have greater significance for the operations of the consultants. As the customers spend their
financial resources for availing the services of the consultants, the significance of the
judgement of the consultants that lead to them towards framing the expert opinions is
considerably high. As a result, the ability of the consultants in applying the different
analytical techniques such as the cause effect analysis or the Ishikawa diagram for assessing
the significance of the situation will certainly improve the effectiveness of their judgement
and operations as a whole. Along with that, I consider that the capability of the consultants in
managing the deductive or inductive thinking, increases their comfort in identifying the root
causes of the problems. Both forms of thinking are much required for the consultants as the
application of the same depends on the merit of the business environment or the situation in
hands. The development of the ability amongst the consultants for starting with the problem
statement or the hypothesis to testing the same with a series of observations till the
confirmation, can be achieved with the application of the deduction thinking. On the other
hand, the development of the skill of observing a certain situation and reaching to the theory
from the same through analysing the patterns and testing the hypothesis can be successfully
accomplished with the application of the induction thinking. Hence, it is understandable that,
both forms of thinking have great significance for the operations of the consultants.

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People Management, Tolerance, Human Interactions:
Another important aspect of the job role of the consultant is the people management.
As the delivery of the consultancy is primarily linked with a set of people and the activities
that they conduct, it is important for the consultants to be efficient in managing the people.
The consultants are required to have good listening skills as it provides them the comfort in
gathering the information regarding the issues or the grievances that their clients are
experiencing. In addition to this, the skill of portraying empathy towards the client, increases
the scope of the consultants in gaining the information in a more smooth and easy manner.
Having said that, it becomes important for me to say that the necessity of respecting the
opinions or the expression of the feelings of other individuals is substantially high for the
consultants. Along with that, the consultants are required portray a great share of tolerance
level as that is important in interacting with the customers for the purpose of information
collection. In many of the cases, the customers’ opinion might be inaccurate or inappropriate,
however, in each and every situation, the consults have to be patient and reluctant from
hurting the feelings of the customers. As a result, it becomes important for the consultants to
improve their ability in managing the human interactions and in such situation, the
consultants have the scope of improving the body language or the communication to manage
the human interactions.
Gaining Trust and Respect, Strong Communication Skills:
Other than this, an important skill of a better consultant will be the ability to gather
knowledge regarding the techniques in which they can develop the trust and respect amongst
the customers. The formation of the trust and respect amongst the customers increases the
ease of the consultants in executing their operational activities. In addition to this, one of the
important requirement of a good consultant is the strong communication skills. The ability of

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the consultants in communicating effectively with the customers without any sort of
formation of organizational conflicts, is observed to increase the capability of the general
consultants in executing their operational activities in a professional manner. I feel it is
important for the consultants to achieve the skills of persuasion or motivating as it becomes
important for the consultants during the delivery of the consultancy from their part. Having
said that, the skills of motivation is crucial for the consultants to motivate the customers to
implement the delivered solution. The ability of motivating others is important for the
consultants in ensuring that the customers are well supported when they face barrier in
implementing the delivered solution.
Ethics, Privacy Protection and Cultural Intelligence:
According to the comments of Nikolova, Möllering and Reihlen (2015), the
importance of the ethics is considerably high for the consultants. As it is a service based
operation, it becomes important for the consultants to work ethically. The inaccurate or
unethical management of the operational activities from the part of the consultants has the
potential to provide considerable amount of reputational damage to themselves. On the other
hand, the ethical management of the operational activities from the part of the consultants
increase their capability in influencing the purchase intent of the customers in a more
professional manner. The skill of protecting the privacy of the information shared by the
consultants, also adds value to the ability of the consultants in executing their operations in a
smooth manner (Puspita & Malik, 2019). In many of the cases, the customers share personal,
professional or confidential information to the consultants and in such situation, the
capability of the consultants in respecting and maintaining the privacy of the same, enhances
their service reputation. Other than this, I feel that the strong emotional and cultural
intelligence of the consultants play a pivotal role in raising their success as it is much
required for them to handle the situation where the clients are frustrated and are showing

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signs of vulnerability. In such situation where the customers are affected with the impact of
the uncertainties, it becomes crucial for the consultant to be calm and composed and show
signs of positivity to handle the situation in a suitable manner.
Conclusion:
On an ending note, it is visible that the role and responsibilities of the consultants are
associated with greater significance in the context of personal life, professional life, business
and society management. The success of the consultants in a complex and varying
environment of today’s world is largely dependent on the availability of the skills such as
intellectual ability, good judgement, observation, plan, organization, professional
management of the human interaction, development of the trust and respect, strong
communication, persuasion, strong cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence.

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References:
Altonji, J. G., Kahn, L. B., & Speer, J. D. (2016). Cashier or consultant? Entry labor market
conditions, field of study, and career success. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(S1),
S361-S401.
Basu, C. (2015). Interview with Allen Hsieh, Business Consultant, China. Journal of
Information Privacy and Security, 11(3), 182-183.
Biech, E. (2019). The New Business of Consulting: The Basics and Beyond. John Wiley &
Sons.
Fishman, S. (2017). Consultant & independent contractor agreements. Nolo.
Freedman, R. (2016). The Agile Consultant. In The Agile Consultant (pp. 3-17). Apress,
Berkeley, CA.
Hair Jr, J. F., Page, M., & Brunsveld, N. (2019). Essentials of business research methods.
Routledge.
Liebowitz, B., & Blattner, J. (2015). On becoming a consultant: The transition for a clinical
psychologist. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 67(2), 144.
Mishio, Y. (2018). Art business as a means of integrating refugees into society: role of art
business consultant.
Nikolova, N., Möllering, G., & Reihlen, M. (2015). Trusting as a ‘leap of faith’: Trust-
building practices in client–consultant relationships. Scandinavian Journal of
Management, 31(2), 232-245.
Puspita, Y., & Malik, M. (2019). Analysis and Implementation of Process Business
Integration Systems in Consultant Service Companies. KnE Social Sciences, 108-121.