3 ms·

I'm somewhat unclear why management consultants are hired. 1. Is it to help management solve problems they can't themselves solve? 2. Is it to show and teach h

by aryehof 10y ago

I'm somewhat unclear why management consultants are hired. 1. Is it to help management solve problems they can't themselves solve? 2. Is it to show and teach how to manage? 3. Is it to help improve the management process and organizational structure?

refurb 10y ago
You missed the most important reason! To have an "objective outsider" look at a business issue in an "unbiased" way. Please note my quotation marks. When I was a consultant, the purpose of hiring us ranged from a temporary extra pair of hands to the above. Most projects were somewhere in between. In terms of the "unbiased view", every single company knew what they should do. These were smart people. However, internal politics prevented them from getting the ok from leadership. So, you hire an outside consulting firm and when someone says "that's a bad idea" you hold up the McKinsey deck and say "these smart guys think it's the right decision". Works nearly every time.
- enraged_camel 10y ago
  It works the other way around too: consultants make very convenient scapegoats, which allow managers and executives to push for change (via the consultants they hire) without risking their own neck.
  - digi_owl 10y ago
    You get a fuckton of this in government as well. Want to do something, but you know the public will riot if you propose it? Hire some big name consultancy to write a report that basically deliver the same message, but now with an air of clinical objectivity...
  - wallace_f 10y ago
    This thread of thoughts is the reality I have seen first hand. Management consultants are simply there for often political reasons. Sometimes as an extra pair of hands, but often not. In addition to the reasons given, it was also sometimes as simple as inept ivory tower management having lost faith in group and deciding they needed to hire real pros to come in and fix things. Another one: Management never wants to point the finger at themselves. They hire some real pros to come in and lay down what went wrong. I hated that job--swimming in bullshit all day every day. I have so many ridiculous stories I've experienced in my short time doing that kind of work that I don't think the average person would believe.
smcl 10y ago
I've no idea either - tbh it's quite possible that it ends up being the blind leading the blind, but if you're paying hefty fees it feels like you're actually doing something. Related note - The Armando Iannucci Shows (by "Veep" creator, about 10 years beforehand) tackled Management Consultants very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSJggp-mbiA&t=0m58s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSJggp-mbiA&t=0m58s

by aryehof 10y ago

refurb 10y ago

You missed the most important reason! To have an "objective outsider" look at a business issue in an "unbiased" way. Please note my quotation marks. When I was a consultant, the purpose of hiring us ranged from a temporary extra pair of hands to the above. Most projects were somewhere in between. In terms of the "unbiased view", every single company knew what they should do. These were smart people. However, internal politics prevented them from getting the ok from leadership. So, you hire an outside consulting firm and when someone says "that's a bad idea" you hold up the McKinsey deck and say "these smart guys think it's the right decision". Works nearly every time.

enraged_camel 10y ago
It works the other way around too: consultants make very convenient scapegoats, which allow managers and executives to push for change (via the consultants they hire) without risking their own neck.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  You get a fuckton of this in government as well. Want to do something, but you know the public will riot if you propose it? Hire some big name consultancy to write a report that basically deliver the same message, but now with an air of clinical objectivity...
- wallace_f 10y ago
  This thread of thoughts is the reality I have seen first hand. Management consultants are simply there for often political reasons. Sometimes as an extra pair of hands, but often not. In addition to the reasons given, it was also sometimes as simple as inept ivory tower management having lost faith in group and deciding they needed to hire real pros to come in and fix things. Another one: Management never wants to point the finger at themselves. They hire some real pros to come in and lay down what went wrong. I hated that job--swimming in bullshit all day every day. I have so many ridiculous stories I've experienced in my short time doing that kind of work that I don't think the average person would believe.

smcl 10y ago

I've no idea either - tbh it's quite possible that it ends up being the blind leading the blind, but if you're paying hefty fees it feels like you're actually doing something. Related note - The Armando Iannucci Shows (by "Veep" creator, about 10 years beforehand) tackled Management Consultants very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSJggp-mbiA&t=0m58s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSJggp-mbiA&t=0m58s