LECTURE 1: Intro
Global picture
European picture - look for graph
Dutch picture
Rotterdam picture
Hodges - Chapter 1
Trends causing disruption in consultancy sector
● Context: globalisation of clients is a crucial source of growth, but at the same time it is
reshaping the consultancy industry
● Purchase: increasing use of multinational purchasing models is impacting on the historic
influence of relationships
● Resources: clients are choosing the staff more projects internally
● Delivery: competition is now between firms now sit in the middle between advice and
implementation
● Margin: clients are expecting lower fee rates and higher value for their return on investment
● Extra: digital transformation should also be considered
,Impact of digital transformation on consultancy profession
● Digital revolution is characterised by a fusion of technologies resulting in transformational
change in behaviour of ppl → ie: unlimited potential from billions of ppl connected by
mobile devices and new tech
● Increase of demand for digitization of products and services impacted traditional business
models → emergence of digital companies – disastrous for traditional business models
● Emergence of hybrid consultancy = strategic consulting + digital knowledge/big data
expertise
○ Shift of types of consultant recruited to consultancy firms → digital technology
specialists
○ Consultancy firms are entering into alliances w/ software suppliers, telecoms or
communications firms in order to provide broader range of services and extend their
global reach and expertise
○ Organisations rely on external expertise of consultancies to go beyond knowledge of
company
■ Bc knowledge is now democratised in digital economy
■ Information freely shared and quickly accessible – create more sophisticated
and knowledgeable client base
■ Clients therefore search for more in-depth transformative improvements
and solution implementation support
● Growth of internal consultancy
○ Organisations are building their own internal consulting teams to address business
issues themselves and control costs; some even offer consultancy services to outside
clients (ex: Walt Disney Company, Ritz-Carlton Hotels)
● ‘Gig’ consultants
○ ‘Gig’ economy = in which organisations contract w/ freelance workers (ex: Airbnb,
Uber, Deliveroo)
○ Online platforms enable individuals w/ specific experience to offer their services
directly to companies
○ ‘Gig’ consultants = freelancing corporate advisers, often alumni of big professional
services firms or management consultancies
Theories of Consultancy
● 2 schools of thought
○ Functionalist: consultancy as carrier and transmitter of management knowledge
■ Methods to generate data and information outside and inside an
organisation constitute the primary driver of consultancy
■ Systematic knowledge management enables consulting firms to stay up to
date w/ industry practices and market information & allows them to
distribute knowledge that is unequalled by conventional organisations
■ → consultancy adds value by providing knowledge clients do not have
○ Critical: consultants have ample opportunity for opportunistic behaviour and exert it
, ■ Consultants portrayed as persuasive opinion formers who impose solutions
and methods on clients who do not really need them but may be powerless
to resist
■ Highlights that consultancy and client-consultant relationships are open to
distortion
● Consultancy = guiding and influencing clients’ decisions and helping them to diagnose and
identify the most appropriate intervention to address an issue
○ Based on interaction between people
○ Involve transferring knowledge and expertise; helping clients learn and build
capability
● Change
○ Organisations face pressure to change within the complex and increasingly global
environment in which they operate
○ = opportunity to make improvements and realise benefits through new ways of
working or behaving
○ Can vary in shapes and sizes – proactive or reactive / planned or emergent / slow or
fast …
■ Proactive: initiated in response to a perceived opportunity or a threat as a
result of the assessment or recognition of external or internal factors
■ Reactive: response to factors in the external environment or within the org
that have already occurred rather than being anticipated in the future
Value of consultancy
● Value has changed for seller and buyer – growing range: from buying answers to problems,
to buying catalysts for change or developers of capacity
● Expectations for clients to buy consultancy services
○ Expertise: looking for knowledge they do not possess
○ Externality: looking for external perspective – geography or industry
○ Extension: looking for an injection of extra resource
○ Endorsement: looking for a decision to be legitimised or depersonalised
○ ⇔ value is subjective and can vary in different situations and organisations
● Value measurement
○ Value management
■ Ability to understand clearly and communicate where value is being created
■ Value here is tangible – something client will receive benefit from/ total
savings or satisfaction that the client receives
■ Value can emerge during a change process – value from being asked the
right questions, having concerns alleviated, or learning something as the
change progresses
○ Value differentiation
■ Difference between value of change carried out by an external consultant in
comparison to internal consultant vice versa
■ Value provided determined by experience, skills and knowledge of
consultant
, ■ Value of consultant in knowing how to use and apply the right frameworks
in the given context & provide ideas to implement in practice that will
achieve sustainable benefits
● Value of consultancy during process of organisational change
○ Need for change: key element for competitive advantage – influence readiness,
commitment amongst individuals/team for change
○ Content
○ Process: provide approach on how to transform
○ Emotions: help to identify and deal w/ emotional dynamics of change process
○ Stages
○ Diagnosis and analysis: help express, extract, distil and frame knowledge for change
○ Capabilities: bring unique and innovative perspectives, knowledge and skills to
organisational change
○ Impact
○ Relationships
Bromell - Chapter 1
Public servant
● Public servants involved in policy making fulfil at least three distinct functions
○ Analysis
■ Policy analysis = gathers relevant data and turns it into info to support
decision making
■ Policy analysis in public sector is expected to be evidence-informed,
technically competent and politically neutral
○ Advising
■ Policy advising → bridges gap between analysis and decision – supporting
decision makers to select and implement their preferred policy options
■ Involves communication of policy analysis that has been undertaken,
recommendations based on this analysis and decision-making support
■ Public policy advisors are responsible for “speaking truth to power” in ways
that maintain the confidence of both present and future ministers,
legislators and the public
○ Advocacy
■ Policy advocacy → seeks to persuade and advocate for recommended
options
■ Advocacy roles in the public sector is risky → on what basis and in whose
interests are we advocating for?
Policy making in theory and practice
● Cycle and staged models have limitations (ie: descriptive model of policy making / australian
policy cycle) → need to help organise our thinking and focus our attention on important
elements of the task
○ Staged model over-simplifies complex problem-solving processes
Global picture
European picture - look for graph
Dutch picture
Rotterdam picture
Hodges - Chapter 1
Trends causing disruption in consultancy sector
● Context: globalisation of clients is a crucial source of growth, but at the same time it is
reshaping the consultancy industry
● Purchase: increasing use of multinational purchasing models is impacting on the historic
influence of relationships
● Resources: clients are choosing the staff more projects internally
● Delivery: competition is now between firms now sit in the middle between advice and
implementation
● Margin: clients are expecting lower fee rates and higher value for their return on investment
● Extra: digital transformation should also be considered
,Impact of digital transformation on consultancy profession
● Digital revolution is characterised by a fusion of technologies resulting in transformational
change in behaviour of ppl → ie: unlimited potential from billions of ppl connected by
mobile devices and new tech
● Increase of demand for digitization of products and services impacted traditional business
models → emergence of digital companies – disastrous for traditional business models
● Emergence of hybrid consultancy = strategic consulting + digital knowledge/big data
expertise
○ Shift of types of consultant recruited to consultancy firms → digital technology
specialists
○ Consultancy firms are entering into alliances w/ software suppliers, telecoms or
communications firms in order to provide broader range of services and extend their
global reach and expertise
○ Organisations rely on external expertise of consultancies to go beyond knowledge of
company
■ Bc knowledge is now democratised in digital economy
■ Information freely shared and quickly accessible – create more sophisticated
and knowledgeable client base
■ Clients therefore search for more in-depth transformative improvements
and solution implementation support
● Growth of internal consultancy
○ Organisations are building their own internal consulting teams to address business
issues themselves and control costs; some even offer consultancy services to outside
clients (ex: Walt Disney Company, Ritz-Carlton Hotels)
● ‘Gig’ consultants
○ ‘Gig’ economy = in which organisations contract w/ freelance workers (ex: Airbnb,
Uber, Deliveroo)
○ Online platforms enable individuals w/ specific experience to offer their services
directly to companies
○ ‘Gig’ consultants = freelancing corporate advisers, often alumni of big professional
services firms or management consultancies
Theories of Consultancy
● 2 schools of thought
○ Functionalist: consultancy as carrier and transmitter of management knowledge
■ Methods to generate data and information outside and inside an
organisation constitute the primary driver of consultancy
■ Systematic knowledge management enables consulting firms to stay up to
date w/ industry practices and market information & allows them to
distribute knowledge that is unequalled by conventional organisations
■ → consultancy adds value by providing knowledge clients do not have
○ Critical: consultants have ample opportunity for opportunistic behaviour and exert it
, ■ Consultants portrayed as persuasive opinion formers who impose solutions
and methods on clients who do not really need them but may be powerless
to resist
■ Highlights that consultancy and client-consultant relationships are open to
distortion
● Consultancy = guiding and influencing clients’ decisions and helping them to diagnose and
identify the most appropriate intervention to address an issue
○ Based on interaction between people
○ Involve transferring knowledge and expertise; helping clients learn and build
capability
● Change
○ Organisations face pressure to change within the complex and increasingly global
environment in which they operate
○ = opportunity to make improvements and realise benefits through new ways of
working or behaving
○ Can vary in shapes and sizes – proactive or reactive / planned or emergent / slow or
fast …
■ Proactive: initiated in response to a perceived opportunity or a threat as a
result of the assessment or recognition of external or internal factors
■ Reactive: response to factors in the external environment or within the org
that have already occurred rather than being anticipated in the future
Value of consultancy
● Value has changed for seller and buyer – growing range: from buying answers to problems,
to buying catalysts for change or developers of capacity
● Expectations for clients to buy consultancy services
○ Expertise: looking for knowledge they do not possess
○ Externality: looking for external perspective – geography or industry
○ Extension: looking for an injection of extra resource
○ Endorsement: looking for a decision to be legitimised or depersonalised
○ ⇔ value is subjective and can vary in different situations and organisations
● Value measurement
○ Value management
■ Ability to understand clearly and communicate where value is being created
■ Value here is tangible – something client will receive benefit from/ total
savings or satisfaction that the client receives
■ Value can emerge during a change process – value from being asked the
right questions, having concerns alleviated, or learning something as the
change progresses
○ Value differentiation
■ Difference between value of change carried out by an external consultant in
comparison to internal consultant vice versa
■ Value provided determined by experience, skills and knowledge of
consultant
, ■ Value of consultant in knowing how to use and apply the right frameworks
in the given context & provide ideas to implement in practice that will
achieve sustainable benefits
● Value of consultancy during process of organisational change
○ Need for change: key element for competitive advantage – influence readiness,
commitment amongst individuals/team for change
○ Content
○ Process: provide approach on how to transform
○ Emotions: help to identify and deal w/ emotional dynamics of change process
○ Stages
○ Diagnosis and analysis: help express, extract, distil and frame knowledge for change
○ Capabilities: bring unique and innovative perspectives, knowledge and skills to
organisational change
○ Impact
○ Relationships
Bromell - Chapter 1
Public servant
● Public servants involved in policy making fulfil at least three distinct functions
○ Analysis
■ Policy analysis = gathers relevant data and turns it into info to support
decision making
■ Policy analysis in public sector is expected to be evidence-informed,
technically competent and politically neutral
○ Advising
■ Policy advising → bridges gap between analysis and decision – supporting
decision makers to select and implement their preferred policy options
■ Involves communication of policy analysis that has been undertaken,
recommendations based on this analysis and decision-making support
■ Public policy advisors are responsible for “speaking truth to power” in ways
that maintain the confidence of both present and future ministers,
legislators and the public
○ Advocacy
■ Policy advocacy → seeks to persuade and advocate for recommended
options
■ Advocacy roles in the public sector is risky → on what basis and in whose
interests are we advocating for?
Policy making in theory and practice
● Cycle and staged models have limitations (ie: descriptive model of policy making / australian
policy cycle) → need to help organise our thinking and focus our attention on important
elements of the task
○ Staged model over-simplifies complex problem-solving processes
