Management Consulting Projects: A Step-by-Step Experiential Guide

✍ Scribed by Ronald Cook, Michael Harris, Dennis Barber III

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 163
• Edition: 6
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This textbook provides students with an easy to use, proven roadmap for completing a successful consulting project from start to finish.

Primarily designed for students who work as outside consultants on solving client problems and investigating potential opportunities, the textbook’s structure first explains the consulting process to students and then depicts it in a chronological flow, using real-life examples to demonstrate practical application. Each section builds upon the previous one, focusing on the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills for employability. Now in its sixth edition, this text has been fully revised to bring it up to date with the current business context and global environment, including:

• A major expansion of the tools and resources needed for students to conduct research on a client’s situation.
• A new final chapter that ties the overarching consulting process together and focuses on how the student should use this experience for their own professional development.
• New examples of award-winning projects to provide practical guidance.
• Fresh material on the use of new technologies in the consulting process, ethics and data management, and remote working.

This well-renowned model promotes a conceptual understanding of the consulting process and the interactions between and among students, the team, the client, and the instructor. Management Consulting Projects should be essential reading for experiential Business Consulting modules, Small Business Management, and Strategic Management at postgraduate and MBA level.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
About the authors
Preface
Introduction
1 Experiential learning using consulting
Definition
Types of consultants
Experiential learning
Conceptual framework
Purpose of field work
Ethical considerations
Confidentiality
Communication
2 Developing the consulting team and its dynamics
Project matching
Team formation
Team dynamics/ communication
Initial client meeting
3 Identifying the client’s issues through root cause analysis
Internal analysis
External analysis
Resources for research
4 Client contract development and relationship management
Letter of engagement
Project management
Project communication
5 Project deliverables
Final report
Final presentation
Evaluations
6 Professional development and conclusion
Professional development
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Templates
Appendix 1A: Survey preamble
Appendix 1B: Confidentiality/Participation agreement
Appendix 1C: Company contact sheet
Appendix 1D: Activity log
Appendix 1E: List of action verbs
Appendix 1F: Progress report
Appendix 1G: Peer evaluation
Appendix 2: Examples
Appendix 2A: SWOT example
Appendix 2B: TOWS example
Appendix 2C: Sample progress report
Appendix 2D: Thank you letter
Appendix 2E: Sample letter of engagement
Appendix 2F: Final sample project 1 ( tied to Appendix 2E)
Appendix 2G: Final sample project 2
References
Index