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Four Criteria for Evaluating Organizational Consultants

You'll know a consultant and the extent to which the advice they give you is  flawed  by the underlying theoretical models that their advice is based on. So argues Chris Argyris in his powerful and eye-opening book, " Flawed Advice and the Management Trap ." Argyris analyzes representative examples of over 100 books and myriad articles published by the world's most respected business gurus, and then uses his own theoretical model (theory of action) to evaluate the advice they give readers. His study includes the likes of Stephen Covey, John Kotter, Jon Katzenback, Peter Drucker and other business-literature experts. He concludes that much of the advice given by these authors is appealing and even compelling, but most of it  is not actionable . In other words, even if a manager could fully implement the advice these business luminaries give them, the resulting corrective actions would not lead to the kind of positive change and sustainable improvement that the author

Find a Business Management Consultant

This white paper will present a broad outline of the different types of consulting work undertaken by Business Management and Administration consultants and the potential problems they can help you solve. This will allow you to recognize management issues your own firm might have come across and help you identify an independent consultant who can find practical solutions. Corporate Management and Administration includes the planning, organizing, directing and evaluating of commercial functions essential to efficient and productive trade operations. Conventionally, this class of management was seen as being made up of several distinct categories: Operations Management, Financial Management, Information Technology, Human Resources, Strategic Management and finally the various Marketing strategies. Nowadays there has been a move towards classifying these functions more in terms of 'task oriented' processes. Organizational Management is the process that accomplishes the long

Top 10 Accounting Myths

So many times I am out at a restaurant, store, or outing and someone in my family or group of friends says "You're the accountant, how much is this?" and wants me to calculate something in my head. I am going to let you all in on a little secret... I am not a mathematician, I am an accountant. If my calculator is not near, don't ask me to calculate anything. I am going to let you in on a few more secrets as well. Read below to find the top 10 Accounting myths I have put together. #1 Accounting Myth Accounting is about math.  This could not be further than the truth. Yes, you use math, but so does an engineer, salesman, marketing person, lawn man, hair stylist, etc. If you want to get paid, you will have to calculate the amount you are owed, the change if paid in cash, your commission percentage, etc. Accountants use math similarly. Accounting is accounting for assets, liabilities, income, expenses, etc... yes; however, the "meat and potatoes" of true ac

6 Reasons Why Companies Spend Millions to Hire Management Consultants

Consultants can have a negative reputation - charging $2 million for 12 weeks work that results in stacks of PowerPoint slides, all of which are archived into a dusty closet (digital or otherwise) soon after McKBain Group leaves the premises. Below, Ill paint a positive (and more realistic) view on the 6 reasons why companies hire business consultants. After reading, you will have a better view on management consulting as a future career. 1) Staff augmentation - the least value-added role that consultants offer. Companies often have short-term staffing needs (in the case of government work, this can extend for several years) due to a variety of factors (eg. company downsizing's, unplanned growth). While expensive, it can be commonplace for operational consulting firms (eg. Deloitte) and, to a lesser extent, public sector consulting firms (eg. Booz) 2) External change force aka political cover. It can be hard for companies to do whats right (sacred cows and all that jazz) &qu

Consulting - How to Dress to Impress

The English saying "The clothes make the man" could perhaps be seen as a business truism or fundamental, and in no industry is this more apparent than the consulting industry, where appearance and perception is everything. Consulting as a sector relies greatly on reputation and branding regardless of size. Whether your business is a global big four, such as Deloitte or KPMG, or a small single operator or boutique firm, your credibility and your pipeline both depend on the success of your engagements and the resulting positive branding and reputation gains which flow from them. Consider the legacy of Arthur Andersen, perhaps one of the finest examples of how reputation can make or break an operation. Andersen was known throughout the world as a tier one consulting business, and provided services across the globe to customers in all business sectors, ranging in size from the SME market to the Fortune 500. However, following the collapse of Enron, Andersen was embroiled in

BIM Revit Families - An Ideal Way of Analyzing Construction Performance

Are you thinking of analyzing your building performance? Choose a proficient BIM service provider for delivering high quality Revit components. Revit is the building block of Building Information Modeling and hence a number of people within the BIM life-cycle are getting benefited from Revit. Remember that BIM is not only about creating a building structure in 3D. Your building model will simply become a cage without Revit. Placing the Revit Family components offers a fresh life to the cage. Myriads of elements are included within the Revit Family including the doors, stairs, windows, railings, chairs, drawers, cabinets, desk, clocks and many more. The right placement of the BIM Revit Family components brings about a great impact on the look of the entire construction. It is more significant in hospitals, where the modeling takes place in the operation theaters. Now let's check out how BIM Revit Families are analyzing building performance? Competence Evaluation of Products - H