Types of consulting organizations: multidisciplinary, specialized, leadership, partnerships, individual consultants. Their features

1) from the point of view of the subject of counseling - subject-specific classification;
2) from the point of view of the method of counseling - methodological classification.

Concerning methodological classification, it is professionally focused on the consultants themselves, as it qualifies them depending on the methods of work. According to this classification, there are expert, process and training counseling.

It should also be noted that the classifications published by national and international associations of consultants often combine subject-specific and methodological approaches, although focusing more on the first. In addition, they include in the list of consulting services and other professional services. An example of such a "synthetic" approach is given in Table. 1 classification of the European directory of consultants in economics and management, published under the auspices of FEACO. This classification includes, on the one hand (by subject), such services as provision of information technology, industrial engineering, management training (training), public relations, etc., which constitutes professional services, and on the other hand, such types consulting, as training consulting, i.e. counseling method.

Table 1. Types of consulting services according to the classification
European Directory of Management Consultants

1. General management consulting, those. assistance in solving problems related with the very existence of the object of counseling and the prospects for its development. Consultants deal with issues such as assessing the state of the organization as a whole and characterizing the external environment for it, determining the goals and value system of the organization, developing a development strategy, forecasting, organizing branches and new firms, changing the form of ownership or ownership, acquiring property, shares or shares , improvement of organizational structures, etc.

Possible The three main cases in which consultants consider general management issues are:

firstly, during studies of managerial activity. It is a common practice among most management consultants that before proposing possible solutions to any specialized problem, it is necessary to short review and study of the organization as a whole;
Secondly, during studies of specific functional areas of management, when it turns out that certain changes are needed in the overall management structure, i.e. the consultant must solve the general managerial problems that underlie the solution of particular problems;
third, while solving problems related to one or more general management issues. The resolution of these issues may take the form of extensive investigations rather than brief reports as in diagnostics, especially if these are top-level management issues related to the overall course of the organization's management. These projects can take a long time to complete (for example, developing a strategy for a new firm can take six to nine months).

Availability first problem may mean that there are forms of decision making in the client organization that lead to negative consequences. For example, excessive centralization of operational decisions makes the firm inflexible, slow to respond to changes in market opportunities.

To investigate this problem, the consultant can conduct an analysis along the following lines:

• classification of decisions into groups according to their nature, financial implications, realism, etc.;
• ways of making the most characteristic decisions;
• participation of employees' representatives in decision-making;
• responsibility for decision-making, their implementation and control;
• decision-making mechanism in general.

In this case, the consultant analyzes:

• personality of the manager, methods of his work, habits;
• manager's priority scales;
• the management style adopted by the organization, which is often determined by personal and organizational culture.

• distribution of functions between departments and divisions;
• optimization of the number of management levels;
• establishing labor discipline;
• compliance with the degree of importance of the functions performed by a particular department for the organization as a whole, and its role in decision-making;
• record keeping;
• planning of offices and their equipment.

By its very nature, finance is an integral part of many types of management consulting services. Financial expertise, for example, is an essential part of diagnostic studies. economic activity. During project execution, financial consultants may work closely with consultants in other areas, especially in production and marketing, to assess the financial implications of their proposals.

In practice, the financial management consultant deals with three research subjects. The first - company expansion which includes the opening of new enterprises, the introduction of new production lines, installation of new equipment, conquering a new market, etc. In each of these areas, the consultant evaluates the measures required for this and the costs that they entail, that is, determines whether the profit justifies the investment. Second - capital Management.In this case, the consultant studies the capital structure of his client, analyzes the prospects for obtaining venture or debt capital and the cost of various sources of financing, both short and long term. long term. The third is the accounting system, including its development and improvement. Before starting to develop an accounting system, the consultant must understand what kind of help managers expect from him, for what purpose this system is being created, and know who will receive the information and how it will be used.

4. HR consultants develop solutions on recruitment, staffing control, remuneration system, advanced training and personnel management, labor protection and psychological climate in the team.

Them the main task- assist managers in optimizing the attraction and use of such a key factor for any organization as human resources.

In this regard, HR consultants should consider the following questions. The first one is recruitment principle. In this case, the consultants try to prepare a description of the "ideal" performer, having a certain vocational training qualifications and experience required for the job. Based on this, methods for assessing, selecting and placing personnel are being developed. The main recruitment methods are testing and interviews.

Second question - planning of recruitment and staff development. In this direction, the consultant usually solves the following problems:

• determination of the basic requirements for various categories of performers;
• an analysis of the difficulties associated with education, culture and social issues that employees must overcome in the performance of their work;
• determination of the organization's policy in the field of staff development, its professional growth.

• improving the psychological climate in the organization;
• enrichment of the content of the work;
• establishing a system of rewards and incentives.

5. Marketing Consultants provide managers with assistance in solving a vital task for any enterprise operating in a market economy: ensuring its functioning in such a way that effective demand is presented for the goods and services it produces. They deal with market research and provide decision making in the areas of sales, pricing, advertising, new product development, after-sales service, etc. Since in a market economy the most difficult problem for an enterprise is not the production, but the sale of products, marketing is one of the most important areas of business consulting.

Marketing is the area in which the firm carries out its contacts with external economic entities (customers and competitors), so the survival of the firm depends on how well it manages to adapt to market conditions.

Typically, the firm tries to find new potential markets, new products for existing customers, new customers to sell existing products and to study the activities of potential competitors.

There are five marketing problems that a consultant faces:

1) sales management. It is necessary to constantly monitor the level of preparation and motivation of sales agents, as well as the level of sales work in general, so that it satisfies the interests of consumers;
2) advertising. Typically, the firm receives recommendations for this type of activity in its advertising agency, but as an alternative, the client may seek advice from an independent consultant;
3) distribution channels. In this case, the alternative of contacting enterprises directly is usually considered. retail instead of using wholesalers. When buying goods, bypassing wholesalers, a large number of sales agents are involved, but this leads to additional costs. Therefore, a consultant who is required to perform this work for manufacturers of consumer goods must devote considerable effort to studying the problems and opportunities of wholesale and retail trade;
4) packaging of goods. In this case, design consultants are involved;
5) turnover inventory . Inventory turnover is key commercial enterprise. The task of the consultant in such cases is to check the methods of control over the state of inventory. Different types of goods (grocery and gastronomy, durables, industrial purpose etc.) require different inventory management systems.

The production process requires decision-making on the part of the manager in order to obtain products of the right quality, in the right quantity, on time and with minimal cost. Thus, the task of the consultant is to help find the best ways to achieve these goals.

The production management consultant needs to analyze the following aspects:

1) the product itself. Indeed, some qualities of the product itself can predetermine the efficiency of its production, and therefore the consultant must find out:
• What parts does the product consist of?
• whether it is possible to improve or standardize parts of it;
• whether it is possible to replace some components with cheaper ones (especially in the chemical and cosmetic industries);
• Is it possible to improve the equipment on which the goods are produced.
In addition, in each specific case, the consultant can improve the quality control system by establishing:
• availability and frequency of inspections;
• use of sampling methods;
• the level of consciousness of employees;
2) methods and organization of production. First, the consultant should investigate and improve the layout of the equipment, while finding out:
• whether the installed machines and equipment affect the quality of the organization of the workplace;
• are there any elements of congestion in some areas, while others seem to be underloaded;
• whether production areas are used appropriately.
Thus, he must collect information on the requirements for space for the placement of equipment, warehouses, work in progress, assess the actual needs for space, etc. Secondly, the consultant should make inquiries about the methods of operation and repair of machinery and equipment. Thirdly, he must check that the development of production is carried out by simpler and more efficient methods. Fourthly, the consultant should deal with issues production planning, which is associated with the demand forecast and the use of working time in general;
3) frames. The personnel question is defining in any operation. There are two main areas of production management consulting that should be considered in this regard.
The first is the physical working conditions, which include the safety measures necessary to protect workers from harmful influences, such as high or low temperatures, air pollution, excessive noise levels, etc., and all technical measures to prevent accidents.
The second area is motivation and job satisfaction, which often play an important role in improving product quality and productivity.

Information technology is essential for modern organizations. But the changes that accompany the use of new information technologies, associated with the very organizational foundations of the enterprise, such as the principles of building its structure.

A management consultant is not just a computer technician; it should help the client understand the capabilities and shortcomings of computers, provide information and bridge the gap between technical staff and the end user of computer programs. Information systems often cause complaints from the administration about the lack of relevant information or delays in obtaining it.

Therefore, the consultant should carefully study the nature of the relationship between information and various types of management actions and try to increase the usefulness and availability of "information; consider in detail the decision-making system.

All organizations have a wide variety of information systems, both formal and informal, with varying levels of levels and degrees of effectiveness and relevance. Therefore, the consultant should:

• bring into line existing system providing information at the right level and in the right form;
• determine the degree of compatibility of all systems;
• prepare recommendations for improvement (in terms of reliability, presentation form, content, etc.) of existing systems;
• select equipment (hardware);
• to develop systems for managing databases, means of communication and forms of data processing (software);
• select personnel and plan the necessary professional retraining of personnel.

• what the system is designed for;
• how the tasks of the system are coordinated with the user;
• how the user participated in the development of the system, and then try to establish what the user actually got from the system.

As an example, consider the features small business consulting. There are three factors that influence the small business consulting process:

• the company is usually financed from personal funds or funds from one family;
• the manager works in close personal contact with all employees of the enterprise;
• the company operates in a geographically limited region.

• the manager of a small company solves both strategic and operational problems relatively in isolation;
• he may pay low wages, offer low job security, little opportunity for benefits and incentives;
• it is limited in its ability to increase initial capital and obtaining loans, since the company is not protected from economic downturns;
• when the need for important changes arises, the manager can be preoccupied with current operational problems;
• the manager is not always able to correctly understand and interpret government regulations, acts and other documents to his advantage.

Methods for conducting consultations on small businesses are extremely diverse, they include assistance in the implementation of the recommendations themselves, and informal training.

In addition to the definition of management consulting, there are 11 more types of professional services in economics and management, which are included in the concept of "consulting" in the broad sense of the word: 1) audit; 2) accounting service; 3) legal services; 4) provision with information technologies; 5) engineering; 6) investment banking; 7) recruiting; 8) advertising and public relations; 9) business information; 10) lobbying; 11) training. Let's consider them in more detail.

Audit. The word "audit" in Latin means "hearing" and is used in world practice to denote verification, revision.

Acting as auditors, specialists in accounting check the financial statements of the company and give an expert assessment (conclusion) regarding its correctness, reliability and compliance with generally accepted standards. The auditor's report, in accordance with the procedure established by law, is published in the annual report on the activities of the company, along with its official balance sheet. For their activities, audit firms usually receive special powers (licenses, certificates) from state bodies that oversee activities. joint-stock companies. Audit plays an essential role for investment instruments such as securities markets and stock exchanges. Its task is to show potential investors, shareholders, creditors and business partners how financially reliable this or that company is.

AT recent times Abroad, the term "audit" began to be used to refer not only to accounting, but also to any other verification of the state of affairs at an enterprise or organization, carried out by independent experts. Therefore, concepts such as "management audit", "investment audit", "business audit", "economic audit", "energy audit", etc. are used.

Accounting service- these are services provided by external accounting firms in relation to the client, leading or restoring his accounting. This function can also be supplemented by consulting services for the organization and improvement of accounting.

It should be noted that in some countries, audit and accounting services are completely separate: they have adopted special legislative acts prohibiting auditors from providing their clients with any other accounting services, including consulting.

Legal services.

Legal, i.e. legal services historically arose earlier than many other types of professional business services.

Lawyers provide services both in the form of advice (legal consulting) and by directly managing the affairs of their clients: representing their interests in courts and other instances, negotiating, drafting contracts, etc. They can also give expert opinions on the compliance of an action or document with legal norms, in which their function resembles an audit function. On certain issues, the legislation requires the expertise of independent lawyers without fail.

The specificity of legal consulting in comparison with economic consulting, which is carried out by management consultants, is determined by the difference between the professions of an economist and a lawyer. The economist gives advice on what needs to be done to solve this or that problem (for example, produce this or that product, enter such and such a market, carry out structural adjustment, etc.), and the lawyer explains what cannot or can be do from the point of view of the law (for example, it is forbidden to carry out such and such financial actions, it is forbidden to sell this product to such and such countries, it is impossible to exceed the permissible pollution standards during production, it is possible to include such and such a clause in the contract, etc.). Lawyers are guided by written laws - the normative acts of the state, and economists and management specialists - primarily by the laws of the market and human behavior.

Thus, legal advice is aimed at form, and the economic content business processes.

Provision of information technologies. Information technology (IT) refers to methods of automated processing of information. Currently, such processing is carried out on the basis of electronic computing devices, so we are usually talking about information and computer technologies: the development and use of computer programs, the creation of databases, computer networks etc.

There are four groups of entities providing such services:

1) special design firms software;
2) management consulting and accounting firms that provide services for the use of new IT in management, adaptation standard programs to the needs of enterprises, the choice of equipment and the integration of computing systems;
3) firms servicing computers. Their services include computer system design, programming, user training, data network management, systems integration, etc.;
4) manufacturers of computer equipment. They were the last to be involved in IT-related activities, but immediately became active in this direction, developing IT that focused on the use of the equipment they produced.

Engineering- these are services for engineering preparation and support for the production, construction and operation of various facilities. The whole set of engineering services is divided into two groups: 1) services related to the preparation of the production process; 2) services to ensure the production process itself. Engineering services are provided by specialized firms, as well as construction and industrial companies.

Engineering consulting is one of the types of consulting services (see paragraphs 6.04 and 8.04 of Table 1).

Investment servicing (investment banking). These include the activities of special financial institutions - investment banks and companies for the sale and purchase of securities (stocks, bonds). Investment banks accumulate Money private investors by issuing their own securities (obligations) and investing these funds in shares and bonds, i.e. act as intermediaries between issuing securities firms and depositors. In addition to their primary functions related to the placement of securities, most of these firms offer a wide range of advisory services in the field of general and financial management(see section 1 and 3 of Table 1).

recruiting is a recruitment and evaluation service. This area of ​​services has evolved as separate view in connection with the ever-growing need for managerial staff and other specialists. These services are provided by recruitment firms or special divisions of multidisciplinary consulting firms. In the latter case, the selection of personnel may be carried out as part of a wider package of services related to the reorganization of the enterprise or to the management of human resources.

The recruiting firm acts as a service that applies in the area of ​​production that it serves, special interviewing methods and personnel assessment techniques, the methodology for developing proposals and negotiating to attract qualified candidates.

When implementing investment projects firms of this profile can provide comprehensive services for the selection of a complete "team" of managers for a newly created enterprise.

Recruiting firms are expanding their reach by providing a range of additional services. In particular, services are provided for the selection of temporary management personnel and the search for new jobs for senior management personnel relocated in connection with the restructuring of production. Such firms may also provide consulting services on all aspects of personnel management (see Section 4 of Table 1).

Advertising and public relations. The purpose of this area of ​​activity is to create in the eyes of the public a positive and at the same time specific image (image) of a product or company that differs from competitors. The image is created through the media (announcements, interviews, articles, publication of financial reports, etc.), direct distribution of promotional materials by mail, as well as through various events (conferences, presentations, charity events, etc.) .

The targets of this activity are the general public, government agencies, stockholders, and the firm's employees themselves.

Advertising and public relations consultants are invited to form a memorable positive image of the company, contributing to the creation of a favorable external and internal environment for its functioning.

Public relations consulting services are provided in areas such as general management, administration, socio-economic research and forecasting. However, they can also advise in other areas, to the extent that they are related to the image of the company.

business information. This type of service consists in providing economic, technical, social, legal and other information both by order of individual enterprises and in the form of publications available for free sale: manuals, reference books, articles, magazines, reviews, digests, etc., as well as providing information in electronic form.

In the market of information services, their producers operate - news agencies, centers and foundations for socio-economic research, research organizations, the media, publishing houses, libraries, advertising and reference agencies and consulting firms.

An important aspect of information services is the provision of information about the reliability of firms.

At the request of the client, the following information can be provided:

• financial condition (balance sheet data, profit and loss statements, comparison of financial indicators for last years etc.);
• legal form of the company, its number tax office, bank details, legal and actual addresses;
• capital structure, activities, history, information about managers, information about branches;
• practice and timing of payments;
• court decisions, cases of pledges of property and other financial obligations, as well as other information of a notification nature;
• the position of the company in a specially developed rating, showing its financial position and the degree of commercial risk of cooperation.

In Russia, an annual exhibition-fair of information services "INFORMEXPO" is held, which is organized by a number of government agencies and private firms.

Lobbying- this is a legally carried out influence on state bodies (legislative and executive) to create optimal conditions for the implementation of the company's activities. This type of activity differs from public relations, like marketing, in a more specific direction. It is aimed at organizing interaction with the authorities in the implementation of a particular project or function of the company. If we still associate the concept of "lobbyism" with something illegal, it is considered almost a synonym for corruption, then in countries with developed economies, the corresponding firms provide their clients (enterprises, industry associations, etc.) with services for interacting with government agencies on a professional basis. These are services in the field of preparation and adjustment of bills and regulations in accordance with the needs of business, substantiation of positive decisions on various appeals of businessmen to the authorities. The advantage of the services of lobbying specialists is the observance of full legality and knowledge of methods of influencing representatives of the authorities. Relevant consulting services can be associated with all the services presented in Table. one.

Active professional development (training). This type of service closes the list and is the boundary between consulting and training. Professional development of managers is carried out in the form of courses, conferences, seminars and practical exercises; which can take place both with a break and without a break from production. The difference between training and consulting is that a management coach does not recommend to managers management decisions on specific issues, but only conveys to them its knowledge of how to take them and provides information on relevant issues.

The difference between training programs and traditional training events is that they are carried out in a form that is as close as possible to practice ( business games, psychological training, situational analysis, etc.), based on the practical knowledge of consultant-trainers accumulated in the process of diagnosing and solving problems in other enterprises. Training methods allow you to introduce knowledge not only through consciousness, but also through the subconscious, forming skills and abilities from abstract concepts. In addition to the implementation of the training function, training contributes to establishing contacts and subsequent interaction between consultants and managers. In this way, the training is close to training counseling (see paragraph 8.01 of Table 1). An integral part of the training is psycho-training - a form of training with managers and staff, which allows you to strengthen and develop their psychological qualities, teach more effective methods of behavior and communication.

Professional consultants can be classified according to the following criteria: according to the range and depth of the problems to be solved on specialists and generalists or station wagons; by status on domestic and external.

Generalists and specialists

Some consultants specialize in a number of specific, relatively private, but typical and very important tasks: certification of personnel, setting up office work and document flow, holding business meetings. Others take on broader, complex issues such as defining an organization's development strategy, making and implementing decisions, intensifying organizational and technical innovations, and improving leadership style and team relationships. It is clear that many of these tasks require deep knowledge of economics, sociology, business law, psychology and technology.

Specialists offer innovation. They keep themselves up to date with all the latest developments in a particular area of ​​expertise. station wagons offer methods. They deal with several areas of management and focus on their interaction, coordination and integration (Fig. 10).

Rice. ten.

Specialists provide normative or value consulting. Most often, managers encounter specialists in regulatory consulting - these are economic, legal, organizational and technical consultations, when experts, auditors, developers, advisers, teachers or innovators convey recommendations to the client on specific changes using such work methods as audit and other special checks , development, documentation, training, calculations.

station wagons carry out problem consulting of the process or project (Fig. 11). They are usually involved in preliminary organizational diagnostics, negotiations with clients, planning and coordination of assignments, drawing conclusions, presenting final proposals to clients, etc. Station wagons perform controlling and management functions.

One of the oldest contentious issues discussed in connection with consulting is whether generalists and specialists are entitled to be called management consultants. Some

Generalists provide advice on:

• organization goals
• organization strategies
• organizational structure
• organizational culture
• type of organization development
• leadership
• conflicts, etc.

Rice. eleven. Areas of counseling generalists

specialists believe that only a generalist, a person with a broad education and a range of interests, is a true management consultant, while a specialist may be an industrial engineer, an economic analyst, an expert in compensation methods or industrial psychology. Others counter this by pointing out that generalists lack the deep knowledge needed to solve problems in today's business world; thus, an effective consultant must be a specialist.

The history and current state of affairs in this area show that both of them have a certain place in management consulting. The point is not to oppose generalists and specialists, but to combine their skills and abilities to achieve a greater overall effect. This combination has a number of sides.

The work of a specialist from the point of view of a generalist. Leading an organization is an interdisciplinary and multifunctional task, and actions taken in one special area are linked to other areas. Thus, the management consultant will always try to put specific (and often narrow) issues requiring specialist intervention in a broader context. To be a good consultant, a specialist must be able to look at the problem from the point of view of the generalist and skillfully apply basic diagnostic and other methods. This is one of the main goals of theoretical and practical training in a consulting firm.

Generalists and specialists cooperate. It would be unrealistic to require any consultant to be both competent and generalist. This is achieved by a few talented and experienced people. However, in most consulting organizations there is a certain division of labor between those who are primarily specialists (and keep themselves up to date with all the novelties in a particular area of ​​expertise), and generalists (who deal with several areas of management and focus on their interaction, coordination and integration).

The so-called generalists prepare and coordinate global tasks that require a combination of knowledge and skills of generalists and specialists. They are usually engaged in preliminary organizational diagnostics, negotiations with clients, planning and coordination of assignments, drawing conclusions based on specific observations of specialists, presenting final proposals to clients, etc. In the hands of generalists in counseling are controlling and managerial functions.

Some assignments relate wholly or predominantly to the area general guidance and are carried out by senior employees (generalists). They deal with issues such as corporate policy and strategy, leadership and management style, organizational structure, corporate mergers, shifts in allocation of funds, and so on. Most advisory services to small businesses are generalists who are able to advise the client on the conduct of business in general. Clients expect the generalist to offer to bring in a specialist consultant if the need arises, as they believe that the specialist is self-disciplined and will refrain from giving advice in areas beyond his competence.

Trends towards specialization. In the field management consulting today there is a marked trend towards greater specialization. It concerns primarily the services of consulting firms (of all sizes, including individual employees). Increasingly, clients are interested in working with firms that do not present themselves as universal experts in solving business problems, but have specialists with the right knowledge and experience, for example, in a particular industry or functional area. Many firms began to think about changing the profile of activities in connection with these requirements.

Further, management consulting firms began to change their internal structure personnel, i.e. the number and roles of generalists and specialists working in the firm. Clients increasingly want their problems to be solved by specialists, and if the company does not have a permanent field of activity for them, they are hired for temporary work or, if necessary, turn to another company for services. However, many of these professionals, highly competent in their technical fields, need to expand their horizons and understanding of the functions of the organization as a whole.

As for generalists, their role in solving interdisciplinary and multifunctional problems will remain significant. However, there are different degrees of universality. What seems to be needed now is generalists who do not try to deal with all situations, but become recognized experts in certain industries (healthcare, transportation) or types of problems (mergers and acquisitions, diagnostics and helping organizations in difficult conditions).

Internal and external consultants

Interior the consultant, being an employee of the organization, becomes its systemic element, taking its place in the organizational structure of subordination, depending on the degree of understanding of the problems and the degree of significance of these problems for the manager. He is in labor relations with this company, getting financial reward, depending on the location of the leader and little correlated with the results of his work.

An internal consultant needs to learn how to respect the current organization, its leader, owner, who can be respected already for the fact that in the troubled times of the formation of the Russian economy they were able to raise, create and save the organization.

It is necessary to understand the objective difficulties of managers and owners modern Russia who, in fact, have been working for only fifteen years in new economic conditions fundamentally different from those that existed before.

At the same time, the internal consultant must, having discarded his own habits, likes and dislikes, learn to evaluate the existing organization with the maximum degree of objectivity. He must take the position of the client of the organization and talk like a client.

The company, by inviting an organizational development specialist as an internal consultant, creates the basis for a continuous, consistent process of organizational development. Being an employee of the organization, the internal consultant actually transfers his knowledge and experience to the employees of the organization, training and developing them, involving them in the process of change.

The classic example of an internal organizer of change is James Renier, who became president in 1982 Honeywell Information Systems, intending to update computer business companies.

Bringing about the change Renier envisioned required support for his vision of what the company's strategy and values ​​should be. Speaking about these two elements, he publicly stated that he would forgive mistakes in business strategy, but not in relation to company values. At the core new culture Values ​​such as participation in decision-making, a focus on employee goals, and enjoyment of work lay at the core. The strategy and objectives have been the subject of numerous meetings and workshops with senior leaders and others who were considered leaders in the company. The training organized by Renier emphasized the importance of continuing education and feedback.

The essence of internal counseling is most fully known in comparison with external counseling, it is revealed in a practical comparison of an internal consultant with an external one (Table 2).

table 2

COMPARISON OF THE INTERNAL CONSULTANT WITH THE EXTERNAL

Continuation of the table. 22

The interest in internal counseling is due to its rapid growth. Realizing its technical and methodological advantages, private and public organizations want to use it more actively. Many of them realized that one of the ways to do this is to create an internal advisory service; in this case, counseling is available to many internal departments and can be used to solve problems in cases where consultants were not previously used.

Other technical reasons for retaining internal consultants are: their availability at all times; in-depth knowledge of all shades of the internal affairs of the organization, style of work and management, culture and politics (from which follows a quick response and orientation in any working situation); confidentiality. It is believed that when problems require in-depth knowledge of highly complex internal relationships and connections in large organizations, internal counseling is better. In government offices, national security considerations may also be added here.

Equally important is the cost factor. Due to lower overhead, travel and other expenses, even a well-paid internal consultant will cost 30-50% less than an external one if the company has enough work for him.

Sometimes it is difficult to achieve independence and objectivity. This happens if the roles and mutual responsibilities of the client and consultant within the organization are not clearly defined, if consultants are used for everything that comes to mind of a manager and know that they should please senior management or the client directly, and not give an impartial judgment. An internal advisory service that is low-status and lacks access to senior management will not be able to address cross-functional issues at a higher level, and its advice will not command authority and credibility.

If the role and status of the internal counseling service is correctly defined and respected, the independence, objectivity and credibility of this service will increase significantly.

External-internal consultants

on the problems of transformation

Some organizations, in order to use the capabilities and knowledge of both external and internal consultants, have created a joint group of these specialists for mediation and program development. Using this method, senior management appoints a specialist or a small team of specialists to work with external consultants to guide and guide change. The internal group is often represented by personnel from departments of the organization, but may be composed of senior management. As a rule, the external consultant insists on receiving tangible support from the organization's management in order to emphasize the importance of the PR efforts.

An external consultant is often perceived as an outsider. In this case, it is necessary to improve the relationship between the consultant and the decision makers. The opinion of the change consultant often differs from that of the decision makers, making it difficult to establish mutual links. Differences in viewpoints often breed distrust of the external "agent" of change on the part of those who formulate policy. These disadvantages for the external agent of change are compensated by his ability to change the relationship with the organization, taking into account the requirements external environment. When significant strategic change needs to be assessed, the external change agent has a relative advantage over the internal change agent.

The internal change agent is often seen as more closely associated with one unit or group of individuals than with others. This perceived favoritism generates resistance to change from those who are not close friends or collaborators of the internal agent of change, and understanding this can be valuable in preparing and implementing change. An internal change agent can often act as a champion of these changes, as he is well aware of the possibilities of the organization and has perseverance himself.

The third type of intervention (a combination of external and internal consultants) is less common than the other forms, but seems to have an excellent chance of success. In this case, the objectivity and professional knowledge of the outsider are combined with the knowledge of the organization and its human resources, which the employee of the organization has. This combination of knowledge often results in increased trust on the part of the parties involved. The ability of the combined team to communicate and more positive relationship can reduce resistance to any upcoming changes.

According to A.I. Prigogine, today in Russia there are no more than 40 reputable consulting firms. In addition to them, external consulting is provided by a small number of independent lone consultants. As for internal consultants who are full-time employees of the organization and serve only it, then, of course, there are more of them, but the number of such employees is difficult to count.

Literature

• 1. Ganus Yu.K. Advantages and disadvantages of internal consulting // Personnel management. 2003. No. 9. S. 31-45.
• 2. Gibson J. L., Ivantsevich John, Donnelly Jr. J. X. Organizations: Behavior. Structure. Processes. 8th ed. Textbook for high schools. - M.: INFRA-M, 2000.
• 3. Dapygin Yu.N. Fundamentals of management consulting: tutorial. - 3rd ed., revised. and additional - M.: Academic Project, 2006.
• 4. Management consulting. In 2 vols. T. 1. / Per. from English, ed. Milan Kubra. - 2nd ed. - M.: SP Interexpert, 1992.

Questions for self-control

• 1. What are the main areas of consulting for large consulting firms?
• 2. What are the areas of new consulting services?
• 3. List non-traditional sources of counseling services.
• 4. How are consultants classified?
• 5. What questions do specialists solve?
• 6. What questions do generalists solve?
• 7. How do they interact?
• 8. Specify the advantages and disadvantages of external and internal consulting.

Depending on the specialization, business consultants are divided into subject consultants, trainers and management consultants (or systems consultants).

Subject consultants specialize in one aspect of the company's activities, for example, on the optimization of financial flows and workflow or on debugging the production technology of goods. Being specialists in the field of "treatment" of precisely these systems of the business organism, they, as a rule, ignore everything that remains outside their specialization. In this way, if the client knows exactly what is “broken” in the company, he should turn to such a consultant for help.

Trainers "treat" the problem with actions (as opposed to subject consultants), for example, teach managers the art of negotiation. However, if the client cannot determine which aspect of the company's activities needs to be improved, then no training will help him: such "training" would be like training an amateur in the gym, hoping to achieve harmony by training only one muscle group.

Management consultants (or systems consultants) are able to see the whole problem as a whole. At the same time, the state of individual systems is considered by them as a consequence of the overall organization of the business.

Management consultants can be divided into at least two groups: specialists and generalists (geralists).

Specialists offer innovations, because they are interested in all the novelties in a particular field of knowledge. They provide normative or "value" counseling.

Most often, managers encounter specialists in regulatory advice- these are economic, legal, organizational and technical consultations, when experts, auditors, developers, advisers, teachers or innovators convey recommendations to the client on specific changes using such work methods as audit and other special checks, developments, documentation, training, calculations.

AT "value" counseling specialist consultants (ideologists, innovators, trainers) “inculcate” new value orientations in the client organization through training, social and psychological trainings, negotiation technologies, group work. This consulting is typical with the participation of consultants in the work on "total" quality in management, on the organization's orientation towards the client.

station wagons offer developed, proven methods and deal with several areas of management, focusing on their interaction, coordination and integration.

Generalists carry out problem consulting of a process or project. They are usually involved in preliminary organizational diagnostics, negotiations with clients, planning and coordination of assignments, drawing conclusions, presenting final proposals to clients, etc. Generalists perform supervisory and managerial functions. When consulting a project, the consultant diagnoses problems and offers his solutions.

The catchphrase “An organization can only achieve what its people can achieve” is mainly used process consultants, which carry out diagnostics of the client organization and propose methods for identifying and solving organizational problems together with it. Generalists provide advice in the following main areas:

The goals of the organization; organization strategy; organizational structure;

organizational culture; type of development of the organization; leadership; conflicts.

In management consulting, the generalist creates such a situation for the staff of the organization that he himself reveals his condition, and, realizing it, understands the problem, finds ways to solve it, and discovers new ideas.

However, the point is not to oppose generalists and specialists, but to combine their skills and abilities to achieve a greater overall effect. Many consulting firms have both specialists and generalists, between whom there is a certain division of labor.

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The consultation process involves two partners - the consultant and the client. The client (object of consultation) pays for the services of a consultant on certain conditions, stipulated in the contract for the provision of consulting services. The consultant (subject of consulting) works for a certain period of time, performing work to improve the activities of the client company and receiving remuneration for this work, specified in the contract for the provision of consulting services.

Types of consultants and their status in the Russian consulting market.

• 1. Depending on the type of counseling, allocates expert consultants, process consultants and training consultants.
• 2. Similarly, according to any classification of forms and types of consulting, one can name the type of consultant. For example, depending on the subject of consulting, one can single out consultants for management, engineering and technical issues, legal issues, financial issues, accounting, etc.
• 3. Other classification:
• 1. Generalists - consultants of a wide profile.
• 2. Specialists are consultants with a specific focus.

For a better consulting process, it is recommended to combine generalists and specialists. For example, in most consulting firms there is a division of labor between specialists and generalists. Experts are familiar with all the innovations in a particular industry. Generalists pay attention to the coordination of various areas of management. As a rule, generalists prepare and coordinate large tasks, diagnose and schedule tasks, and prepare reports. In general, they perform supervisory and managerial functions.

Developing this classification, A.I. calls consultants a little differently. Prigogine. He also singles out specialists, and he calls generalists generalists.

"Specialist" solves a limited set of tasks, his advantage in deep knowledge of his subject, in the provision of services of the highest quality in a narrow field. And the limitation of the specialist lies in the fact that he is forced to solve individual problems without sufficient interconnection with the solution of others. How do "specialists" get out of this situation: they unite in a team in order to take into account different tasks as much as possible. The difficulty is resolved, but by no means completely, because everyone does only his own, poorly understanding the specifics of a teammate.

"Generalists" do not seek direct problem solving. They offer methods to solve them. But on the other hand, they have such a large number and variety of these methods that they cover the needs of the client. The advantages of "generalists" are in a very wide coverage of interrelated problems of the organization, in their complex solution, in the possibility of long-term work with the same organization. Their limitation is their lack of knowledge in special areas. "Generalists" get out of these difficulties in two ways: firstly, for such specific tasks they invite appropriate "specialists", and secondly, once they themselves, working in the "generalist" mode, find such solutions, which then in finished form can be offered to other customers in the "specialist" mode.

• 4. There are two types of consultants:
• 1. Internal consultants. These are the consultants who are on the staff of the organization. To date, the number of internal consultants is increasing. This speaks to the recognition of the power of the consultative approach.
• 2. External consultants. External consultants come to the organization from outside.

External consultants include:

• 1. Large multifunctional consulting firms with 500-1000 consultants on staff. Most of these firms are multinational firms with branches in 20 or more countries (for example, Arthur Andersen, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, etc.). Their size allows them to deal with a wide variety of clients and complex problems; they are referred to as "full-service management consulting firms". They try to demonstrate a dissenting opinion, techniques that distinguish them from other firms.
• 2. Leadership Consulting Services large firms . They are like big consulting firms. Their subordinate position gives them advantages in terms of both special knowledge and in receiving orders.
• 3. Small and medium consulting firms, staff of up to 100 consultants. Most often they are engaged in management consulting for small and medium-sized firms in a limited geographical area; specialized management consulting in one or more areas such as corporate strategy, human resources, job evaluation, marketing, management systems production process etc.
• 4. Solo consultants. They can be generalists who emphasize their broad experience in management, problem solving, or specialists working in a narrow area. Them strong point is a highly individualized and flexible approach that is more difficult for a larger consulting firm to implement. The services of a single consultant are less expensive, as they can avoid many of the overhead costs associated with large organizations. Solitary consultants are often informally connected, and may come together for large and complex assignments.
• 5. Consulting professors, lecturers. They are management professors, lecturers, instructors, and researchers whose main occupation is not consulting, although they do it quite regularly.
• 6. Non-traditional sources of counseling services. This group includes suppliers and sellers of computer equipment and communications, software vendors, organizations that have turned their internal consulting services into external consulting services.

Negative and positive aspects of internal and external consultants.

Internal consultants

Positive sides:

• * Know their organization well.
• * Deep knowledge of all shades of the internal affairs of the organization, style of work and management, culture and politics.
• * Quick response and orientation in any working situation.
• * Confidentiality (information does not go outside the organization).
• * Availability at any time and for many internal divisions.
• * Ability to use in solving problems in cases where consultants have not previously been used.
• * Payment for their services is cheaper than external consultants (lower overhead, travel and other expenses). Internal consulting is 30% - 50% cheaper than external consulting if there is enough work for it.

Negative sides:

• * They must be paid a fixed salary.
• * It is necessary to spend money on their education.
• * They are not subject to external criticism.
• * Mistakes made by them are rarely discovered.
• * They do not have constantly updated experience in other firms and industries.
• * Their work may lack creativity.

External consultants

Positive sides:

• * A broad outlook and possession of information in various areas of management (possession large quantity preliminary information for analytical work in certain area, as well as experience in conducting analytical work on various objects related not only to this area, but also to related areas).
• * Orientation to a broad study and transfer of the experience of other organizations.
• * The opportunity to get new ideas as a result of a fresh look at the problems of the company. * With the help of external consultants, you can strengthen the analytical departments of enterprises or even entrust them with the temporary management of analytical work.
• * Availability of a methodological framework that provides systems approach to conduct analytical work (possession of a methodology that allows making the analysis comprehensive, highlighting the most significant issues for the company).

Negative sides:

• Takes time to study the organization in-depth
• The risk of not taking into account the specific features of the organization
• Risk of termination of the contract at the initiative of the consultant and project incompleteness
• It takes time for mutual study of the characteristics of the consultant and the client, establishing a trusting relationship

Recently, internal and external consultants have been working together. Internal consultants determine the terms of reference of external consultants, can evaluate the professionalism of external consultants, participate in project discussions, in the evaluation of its implementation. In the course of working with external consultants, they are trained, improve their qualifications and competence.

Status and development prospects of various subjects of consulting services in Russia.

Individual consultants: usually started their career in research institutions or educational institutions. When they felt competent enough, they left their previous place of work and began to work independently. They specialize mainly in training, process counseling, psychological counseling. They try to maintain more or less formal ties with other independent consultants, mainly for the purpose of joint implementation of projects that are quite difficult to implement alone.

Small firms focused on process consulting (process consulting): The leaders (they are often the owners) of such firms began their careers as experts in some areas of economics and finance, psychology, etc. Currently, they specialize in personnel management, strategic planning, and organizational development. As a rule, 4-6 consultants work in such firms and they do not plan to expand their staff. There are few such firms in Russia.

Process-oriented medium-sized firms: differ from the previous category mainly in the number of staff - both core (consultants) and support. They are even less common.

Small expert-oriented firms (expert consulting): Such firms work in various narrow areas of expertise (finance, legislation, marketing of certain industries, investment design, etc.). Basically, such firms work for local governments, for banks. The advisory services offered by such experts mainly consist of financial audits and the preparation of business plans or investment programs. The main part of the consulting work in Russia is carried out by this category of firms. Usually the number of experts is 2-3 people.

Large expert-oriented firms: there are very few such firms in Russia. Usually these are corporations specializing in the creation of new information technologies or involved in the development and support of complex investment projects.

Large state scientific centers: there are a large number of such structures - these are research institutes, academies, universities, etc. They are state property and financed by it. Since budgetary funds are not enough, such organizations are forced to sell their expertise. The quality of the services they can offer is high. Often such centers or their employees become founders of their own small consulting firms.

Firms engaged in other activities besides consulting: In Russia, the number of firms that are characterized by a combination of consulting and other activities is quite large. Consulting is more of an "accompanying" product and is of interest if it brings additional income or helps solve the problems of the parent company. Example: training firms, audit firms, etc.

Branches of foreign firms working on Russian market: In the late 80s and early 90s, a number of major Western consulting and auditing and consulting firms began their activities in Russia. Now all the "big four" are represented in our market, namely: Price WaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte&Touche, Ernst&Yuong, KPMG. In the field of audit, these firms have no difficulty in finding clients, but in management consulting, the situation is more difficult for Western firms. The main source of orders for them are international technical assistance programs, the volume of which tends to decrease. Private clients operating in Russia increasingly prefer to turn to Russian consultants. Why is this happening? Although Western consulting companies have vast experience, corporate methods and standards for performing such work, they are poorly aware of the peculiarities of Russian reality, our business practice, and the specifics of the problems facing the customer. And domestic consulting companies, although they do not have extensive experience in this area of ​​business, are usually provided with a staff of qualified employees who are well versed in all the intricacies of Russian practice, know the specific features of the economy and mentality.

Small Russian consulting firms cooperating with large Western firms: The owners, who are also managers, started their careers in Western companies and, after working for several years, organized their own own business. Most of the staff studied abroad or at one time worked in foreign companies. Such firms generally adhere to the Western style in working with clients and international standards quality of consulting services. If large foreign firms need a Russian partner, then they prefer just such companies.

Management consulting in its pure process form is widespread in Russia on a limited scale. Pure consulting entities include small process-oriented firms and individual consultants. Most companies are very young (1-5 years old) and are at the first stage of development. Their main priority today is to find clients and get money from them in time for the work done. The second priority is the survival of the firm in the coming months, this is due to the instability of the economic and political situation, in which consultants are forced to work, in particular, tax regulation is unpredictable, and many business areas are controlled by illegal structures.