Gower Handbook of Leadership And Management

Running head: MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
Management Consulting
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
Introduction
The essay throws light on analyzing the different major competencies of the
management consultant which will be suitable for the growth of the companies. The
management consultants help the different businesses in improving their performance and
grow through solving problems along with finding new manners through which the activities
can be performed in a better manner. The management of the different consulting projects
needs to acquire the various skills such as problem solving and critical thinking skills that
will be suitable in managing the effectiveness and it will be suitable for solving different
inefficacies appropriately.
Analysis of Most Important Competence of Successful Management Consultant
There are three major skills and competencies which characterizes successful as well
as thriving management consultant with the different discussions that will be suitable for the
judging of success. As commented by the different individuals, there are three major skills on
which the efficient management consulting is based on the following approaches: Skills
Related to Analysis that is appropriate in enabling the different opportunities along with
possibilities that requires to be identified on the behalf of the different client companies (Uhl
and Gollenia 2016). The other aspect is skills related to project management enable these
kinds of ideas for delivering the same to the client companies under the respective budget as
well as constraints related to time. Lastly, the skills related to building proper relationship
helps in selling ideas along with providing leadership which takes the client forward
effectively (Thorpe 2016).
As per the respective classification, it can be seen that the most appropriate purpose of
the consulting exercise is creating proper value for the businesses of the clients and in order
to perform such activities in the business, the proper understanding of the business is

2MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
essential along with the identification of the threats and opportunities which can be possessed
by the business. In such scenario, it mainly demands for the thorough analysis of the business
of client which is inclusive of taking the proper information about the respective situation
along with processing the respective information which can be leading to the making of
effective decisions (Sturdy, Wright and Wylie 2016). For instance- Capgemini Consulting
Company mainly emphasized on the logical analysis of the management consultant as the
most formal type of approach of solving the different problems as well as importance of
having proper hypothesis driven approach can be assisting in achieving goals appropriately
and successfully.
On the other hand, the analysis skills are the other aspect which can be implemented
by the companies especially in different scenarios when reflecting upon such kind of skills
can be used in solving the different cases successfully (Obeidat et al. 2016). In the respective
scenario, the different problems are required to be identified as well as analysis of different
information which are needed and therefore, proceeding with processing as well as drawing
meaning from the respective information. From the instance of Capgemini Consulting, it can
be seen that while composing a particular project, it requires complete and proper
understanding of the different elements which constitutes the consulting type of exercise.
As to become successful in managing consultant, the step by step planning and proper
understanding of the required approach is necessary for reaching the different concrete
understanding and recommendation for the business of the client (Noe et al. 2016). The skills
related to relationship building, analytical skills as well as project management skills are the
three major competencies of the management consultant that is necessary for them in
communicating the different ideas as well as positively influence others. Furthermore, the
management consultant needs to communicate well as it is the most unavoidable aspects of

3MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
the company and it can be suitable for the respective aspect of profession (Martinsons,
Davison and Huang 2017).
The main job role and duty of the professional management consultants include the
fact that they need to report to their superiors and talk with colleagues and present at the
conferences, in such scenario, the effectiveness and the flexibility are the two crucial
elements that plays an appropriate role in networking or taking the different group of the
individuals naturally going. Additionally, the efficient management consultant looks for the
different opportunities for helping the business through the broad professional network and it
will be used by the business in gaining competitiveness (Lafortune, Riutort and Tessada
2018).
Although the analysis skills as well as project management skills are crucial in nature,
these cannot become the career drivers, as there are different other aspects such as trust
relationship with clients and involvement in different networks and being referred by the
different clients can be important aspects of different management consultants. These will be
ultimately bringing revenues for the growth of the company and improve the efficacy of the
companies as well (Jing, Jin and Liu 2019). For such appropriate reasons, I feel the
relationship building skills are the most important skills which needs to be incorporated by
the management consultants and it will be beneficial for the business to generate success.
Through the incorporation of the relationship building skills, I can prove that it is the
most efficient aspects as it will be increasing powerbase of consultants within consultant
firms and the clients as well. When the different companies recruit the graduates from
engineering and business schools, the different analytical skills precede screening of the
consultant firm. However, there are different companies wherein the choice of the candidates
is mainly based on he grades of the candidates which argues the fact that one candidate

4MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
cannot have proper analytical skills while they are having low grades in finance as well as
statistics (Hitt et al. 2018).
From the respective analysis, it can be concluded that analysis skills are in place when
the different individuals enter firm wherein the recruits initiate the careers as analysts before
being promoted to the post of the consultants. In addition, the management consultants help
in presenting various range of options and it allows the customers to choose what works best
for them (Bruhn, Karlan and Schoar 2018). Everyone likes and selects options as the good
management consultant helps in solving different problems through providing proper series
of the different options along with detailing the different pros and cons of each. However, it
can be seen that the management consultant can have good insight in the business activities,
however they never have 360-degree view of the organizational activities.
For the management consultants who are being employed in different business-related
activities, the client base needs to be steady which will be creating stronger power base
within the consulting firms (Biggs 2017). Thus, in such scenario, the maintenance of the good
relationships with the different clients could be said that it will be ensuring that the
maintenance of higher position within the management consultant firm can be managed and it
will be becoming the most important and essential which will be increasing over time and it
can be suitable for the overall survival of the client firms.
In addition, the good management consultant helps the audiences with the options
which can have varying degrees of the reward as well as risk, varying kind of costs of
implementation or considering the overall strategies and tactics of the business activities. As
commented by the different authors and as understood from the different examples of the
Capgemini Consulting, the analysis skills as well as the project management skills are the
two basic skills and these may not be so important for the management consultants (Benitez-

5MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
Amado, Llorens-Montes and Fernandez-Perez 2015). However, the relationship-building
skills play a vital role in managing the exercises related to consulting and it is suitable for
managing the survival of the consultant firm appropriately as well in comparison to the other
competitors present in market.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the entire analysis of the different major competencies of the
management consultant, it can be concluded that it is important and crucial for the different
management consultants to manage the relationships with their clients as to succeed as well
as survive in competitive market. Therefore, it is not surprising in nature that the analysis and
the relationship building skills are the two major approaches which needs to be managed by
the companies as to gain promotion and advancement in the different fields.
Moreover, the other aspect which needs to be improved is the relationship-building
skills play a vital role in comparison to the analysis and project management skills as these
are expected to climb the ladder after the relationship building skills as the flexibility and
managing proper relationships are the two aspects which needs to be incorporated by the
different management consultants and it will be suitable for the effective growth of the
companies.
In addition, the management consultants help the different businesses to grow and
improve their overall performance which will be effective in growing by solving the new
problems as well as finding better ways in performing activities appropriately. With the
assistance of the management consultants, the analytical skills play a vital role as it provides
them with the ability to cope with challenges and pressures that will be enhancing their
effectiveness. The management consultants focuses on the growth of organization which will

6MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
be expanding and increasing efficiency and profitability successfully in contrast to other
competitors.

7MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
References
Benitez-Amado, J., Llorens-Montes, F.J. and Fernandez-Perez, V., 2015. IT impact on talent
management and operational environmental sustainability. Information Technology and
Management, 16(3), pp.207-220.
Biggs, D.M., 2017. I want a job as a consultant: Skills and behaviours needed to work as a
consultant occupational psychologist. OP Matters, 34, pp.20-22.
Bruhn, M., Karlan, D. and Schoar, A., 2018. The impact of consulting services on small and
medium enterprises: Evidence from a randomized trial in mexico. Journal of Political
Economy, 126(2), pp.635-687.
Hitt, D.H., Woodruff, D., Meyers, C.V. and Zhu, G., 2018. Principal Competencies that
Make a Difference: Identifying a Model for Leaders of School Turnaround. Journal of
School Leadership, 28(1), pp.56-81.
Jing, D., Jin, Y. and Liu, J., 2019. The Impact of Monetary Incentives on Physician Prosocial
Behavior in Online Medical Consulting Platforms: Evidence From China. Journal of medical
Internet research, 21(7), p.e14685.
Lafortune, J., Riutort, J. and Tessada, J., 2018. Role models or individual consulting: The
impact of personalizing micro-entrepreneurship training. American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics, 10(4), pp.222-45.
Martinsons, M.G., Davison, R.M. and Huang, Q., 2017. Strategic knowledge management
failures in small professional service firms in China. International Journal of Information
Management, 37(4), pp.327-338.
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2017. Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

8MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
Obeidat, B.Y., Al-Suradi, M.M., Masa’deh, R.E. and Tarhini, A., 2016. The impact of
knowledge management on innovation: An empirical study on Jordanian consultancy
firms. Management Research Review, 39(10), pp.1214-1238.
Sturdy, A., Wright, C. and Wylie, N., 2016. Managers as consultants: The hybridity and
tensions of neo-bureaucratic management. Organization, 23(2), pp.184-205.
Thorpe, R., 2016. Gower handbook of leadership and management development. CRC Press.
Uhl, A. and Gollenia, L.A. eds., 2016. A handbook of business transformation management
methodology. Routledge.