Beginning with Frederick
Taylor's Scientific Management,
a wide literature accumulated, and
numerous practitioners began assisting
businesses and other organizations.
Although there were many forms of such
endeavors, two streams can be more or
less recognized: academics who applied
theory and research to workplace
environments and business leaders who
had made discoveries that they wished
to share.
By the second half of the 20th
century, as specialization necessarily
became the norm due to the growth of
knowledge, consultants became
commonplace.
The advantages of seeking
advice and assistance from outside the
organization were obvious.
Given the challenges of a
fast-paced and growing economy, it was
hard enough to keep up with
developments in, for example,
information technology, much less to
keep abreast of new developments in
management. And even if one had a good
general business background, it was
scarcely practical to be up to date on
current trends in areas such business
strategy, operations management, and
organizational development.
By the end of the century,
specialization and new fields of
practice had increased so rapidly that
hardly anyone could keep track of them
all or see where the significant
trends were. The number of consultants
seemed to be rising faster than the
number of organizations.
As many of these tried to
establishment niche markets or sought
to promote a particular viewpoint, one
could almost say that anyone with a
two-word phrase (dynamic facilitation,
radical honesty, appreciative inquiry,
emotional intelligence) could have a
consultant practice.
Of course in addition to the tapping
of expert knowledge, there are many
other reasons why organizations need
consultants.
Perhaps the most commonly
appreciated is that organizations have
problems that they cannot solve
themselves. Less appreciated is that
fact that organizations frequently
have problems that they cannot see
themselves!
Still, the strongest advantage of
management consultants is their
ability to offer an objective and
informed view.
Just as every individual can
profit from coaching and feedback, so,
too, every organization can benefit
from someone who cans see things
differently and provide new insights
and introduce new techniques.
As the 20th
century closed, the impact of
information technology had already
created amazingly fast paced change
that put all organizations under
stress.
Indeed new forms of
organizations were beginning to
arise, and even the concept of
"the organization" seemed
possibly destined to pass away, as
those who previously thought of
themselves as employees became
independent agents more loyal to
ideas, trends, and cultures than to
any business or employer.
In what was perhaps the
center of new economic trends,
people would say that they worked
for "Silicon Valley," not
for any particular business, and
that they could change
employers without changing their
parking space.
Such developments
mean that for the 21st century a new
kind of management consulting is
needed.
New practices are required that
can deal with new realities and that
utilize new forms of knowledge.
While the extreme
fluidity of business conditions and of
scientific knowledge makes any form of
prediction of almost questionable
value, the basic outlines of new
dimensions of 21st century management
consulting are apparent.
Some of the most significant
considerations are as follows:
Consultants and clients need
to be equal partners.
The model of consultant as
expert still has some value, but the
idea the consultants have all the
ideas and take over the responsibility
is obsolete. In a post-empowerment
organizational world, partnership and
the team approach are the norm; and
consulting practice will exemplify
such models.
Consultants and clients need to
work on whole systems.
While there will always be some
need for specialized interventions
regarding compensation issues,
business processes, and the like, it
is no longer feasible to work on one
part of the system without paying
attention to the whole. In modern
organizations, each part of the whole
interacts with each other part to
share information, responsibilities,
and goals; and consultants will help
map and improve these relationships.
Consultants and clients need to
involve all levels of the
organization.
Hierarchy may always exist and
interventions may be made at the top,
but contemporary organizations know
the decision making process must be
extended through every level.
In an era in which traditional
organization charts are passé,
consulting will be characterized by
increasing the involvement of all
members of the organization.
Consultants
and clients will work with a longer
term focus.
Although problems will
always exist and consultants may be
called upon as result of them, the
model of the consultant as problem
solver no longer holds.
In an environment of continual
learning, the job of the consultant
will be to building problem solving
ability into the organization through
use of tools such as dialogue.
Consultants and clients will
make change management business as
usual.
Reorganization and
reengineering will remain useful
practices, but there no longer be an
expectation that one-shot endeavors
can solve organizational difficulties.
In a time of constant and
fast-paced change, external
consultants will work with clients,
internal consultants, and employees so
that facilitation, consulting, and
related skills are built into the
organization.
