MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT TRAINING

Phuoc D. Nguyen

Based on management science development, leadership studies development, business management practices development, technical development, engineering development, industries, business sizes, business models, geographical areas, geopolitical areas, national culture, regional culture, and local culture consulting firms survey consulting needs from companies. Additionally, consulting firms offer their clients further consulting services to support clients’ activities and operations. From consulting needs consulting firms analyze needs to identify consultant competencies including appropriate bodies of knowledge, experience, business skills, consulting skills, technical skills, general management or functional management skills, industry knowledge, and personality and attributes (soft skills). “The ‘reflection’ approach would suggest that survey questionnaire should be sent to consultants and their clients to find out their priorities in terms of the effective consultant’s desirable characteristics.” (Banai and Tulimieri, 2013, p. 895). Desirable characteristics include personality and attributes which are very difficult to identify exactly together with new consulting needs identification to offer consulting services to clients around the world.

Greiner and Ennsfellner (2009) suggested the base management consulting course should emphasize practice covering the skill set such as Technical Knowledge/Skills, Process Management Knowledge/Skills, Project/Change Knowledge/Skills, Consulting Industry Knowledge/Skills, and Personal Attributes. Léon and Reitsma (2010) list consultant competencies including the domains of enterprising, showing resilience, organizing, performing, analyzing, considering, facilitating, influencing, managing, and integrity. These domains include 56 competencies. They also list different consultant competencies based on expert approach and process approach. Further, they list competencies based on different interventions of orientation and awareness, strategy and images of the future, structure and business process HRM, governance and control, training and development, processes between people, and continuous learning and changing. It is suggested that management consulting associations should coordinate with the U.S. Education Department, business-management-leadership training programs accreditation agencies, business & leadership schools, consulting firms, independent consultants, and clients around the world to identify consultant competencies, consulting training, and development programs. Currently, top U.S. business schools are primary sources to provide many consultants to Big Five consulting firms so far that they have not trained management consulting classes in their business curriculum. Although the management consulting industry has a hundred years of history, there is a big gap in consultant competency identification, training, and development.