Systems in the operations

Consulting broadly covers various forms of engagements that involve a third party – usually an acknowledged expert in a given field – working with an entity or an organization for the achievement of specific objectives. It applies to qualified individuals who make their services available for companies or people in need of an outsider who can help identify problems, think of solutions, design plans, names areas for improvement, or facilitate in establishing order and systems in the operations.

Through it all, consulting strictly connotes not becoming part of the organization that stands to be the client in the set-up. The consultant, therefore, is never an employee of the entity hiring him. He is, instead, a hired expert, an adviser, a facilitator or a professional problem-solver, all the while maintaining the role of an outside party. This paper dwells mostly on human resource consulting. Wikipedia defines human resource consulting as the provision of advice to clients regarding the financial and retirement security, health, productivity, and employment relationships of their global workforce.

Areas in which a human resource consulting firm may advise on include communication, employee opinion survey research, executive compensation, executive on-boarding, global mobility, government human services, human resource (HR) outsourcing, HR service excellence, HR technology, health care and group benefits, human capital strategy, job analysis, HR issues involving investment and legal matters, mergers and acquisitions, multinational and global issues, performance measurement, personal financial planning, physical ability test development, retirement benefits, sales effectiveness, surveys and benchmarking, talent management and workforce compensation. (Wikipedia) Indeed, consulting is a generally all-encompassing area and human resource consulting is a very complex field – regardless of what industry the client company belongs to.

In fact, it does not matter much the specific industry or business line the client company is involved in; the issues and cases that human resource consultants deal with are mostly similar in terms of the causes and roots of the problems. After all, human nature is basically the same, whatever the place and the scenario may be. CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE ARTICLES The article written by Professor Edgar H. Schein entitled, “Models Of Consultation:  What Do Organizations Of The 1990s Need? ” talks about the role of consultants in identifying and solving problems of organizations. The article is skillfully written to specifically describe each role that consultants can take in companies requiring their services. It is noted that the article has been written in 1990.

Such being the case, it then does not include in the parameters of a working place scenario such recent breakthroughs like the internet and its huge impact on organizations and the lives of people in it. Still, the details provided by the article about consulting hold true. One important thing that must be looked into before even embarking on a consulting engagement is the accurate identification of the issue or the problem to be tackled. There would be times when the client organization approaches a consultant for a perceived problem that may even be not really the business simulation report. Systematic procedures for tracking down what went wrong is equally as crucial as the solutions to be proposed by the consultant.

The example given in the article also provides a valuable reminder for organizations tapping the services of consultants. Before they hire a consultant, they have to make sure their people – both those in executive or managerial positions and those in the rank and file – are ready and willing to cooperate with a consultant. Consultants are, after all, outsiders; they, therefore, might not be welcomed by the people in the organization. In such a scenario, the consultant will have great difficulties undertaking his planned procedures to find out what the problem is and then to recommend ways to solve them. The management people themselves have to know what consultants are for and have to be willing to do their part in the engagements.

After all, the consultants cannot directly give instructions – it is best that they are all coursed through the managers, thereby showing the people in the organization that their leaders are totally for improving their situation, as proven by their recourse to getting help from a consultant. The other article is entitled, “Strategies for Organizational Change:  The Role Of The Inside Change Agent” and has been written by Phillip L. Hunsaker. It covers, among other things the advantages and disadvantages of the inside change agent – somebody from within the organization to implement and put in place a change that is meant to generally improve the prevailing condition and status.