Consultancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Consultancy - Essay Example The need for consultants with specialized skills, expertise and experience would never seize although a more value based approach should be provided with focus on understanding needs of the client, context they work in and measurable deliverables. Critical Review During the past two decades the role of management consultants has increased dramatically in the public domain. These management consultants, once only famous in the competitive private sector became an important supporting element in the public sector but not without attention paid to the outcomes and costly services offered by them (O'Mahoney, 2006). According to the Central Government’s use of Consultants report (2007) presented by the committee of public accounts – house of commons, the expenditure made by the British government on services procured through management consultancies from 1997 to 2006 is totalled at about GBP 20 Billion. The report highlighted many flaws in procuring consultancy practices by public organizations and their outcomes, although it also emphasizes that consultants if used appropriately can result in enormous benefits to a public initiative. After the elections of 2010 in UK, the government has pledged to decrease consultancy spending in major projects. According to Management Consultancies Association (MCA) these measures resulted in a decrease of 33 percent in consultancy revenues. This drop led to consultancies relying heavily on private sector which is itself heavily burdened due to tough economic times. The shrunk business forced many small consultancies to shut down their operations while big consultancies announced job cuts due to tough economic conditions and unreliable market place (MCA, 2013). Both clients whether public or private in nature criticize management consultants for using big words though using the same old management functions. They are also criticized for creating plans that are impossible to execute by the client or not considering lo ng term impacts of the advice given to the client. Some smaller consultancies are also accused of not providing promised deliverables, charge high fees or stating a low fee initially increased later when the project’s timeline are extended. The blame for this extension is often attributed to the client due to non-availability of resources or prerequisites in form of information not fulfilled by the client. Another area of concern is customer services where consultants try to impose pre-determined frameworks on client’s businesses before understanding the context and nature of client’s business. Furthermore once consultancy on a particular project is over, sustainability of results are not guaranteed and customer support is either poor or charged upon separately (Argyris, 2000). Competitor Analysis After the evolution management consultancies saw in 1980s and 1990s the growth started slowing down during 2001 to 2003. In 1980 there were only five consulting firms in the world and by 1990 thirty similar sized firms were established, the growth witnessed by this industry paved way for new consultancies and countless new consultancies were established across the globe (Canback, 1998). Most consultancies work on the eight step model proposed by Harvard