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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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volume 1
issue 3
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“a-connect challenges my work on a continuous basis, serving as an extremely valuable sparring
partner when I'm out on a project.” —D.G., IP since 2006
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Choosing a Management Consultant with Impact
Does grey hair matter more than education or professional background?
by Sascha Schmidt
The question of whether it’s worthwhile to engage highly-paid management consultants is as old as the consulting industry itself. As a professional services firm a-connect's focus is squarely on impact, with our more than 400 independent professionals often serving as the crucial link between strategy and implementation. But what drives the impact of consultants? Is it their level of education, richness and diversity of work experience, or merely seniority?
Given the importance of impact and its antecedents, Talent Partner Sascha L. Schmidt, together with Professor Ansgar Richter of the European Business School, analyzed the effect of both the level and the type of education and professional experience, two critical dimensions for the performance of management consultants. They used both qualitative and quantitative data on client ratings of the performance of 50 senior management consultants engaged in 100 consulting projects.
The empirical study resulted in several interesting insights. First, the findings cut across the dichotomy between the “grey hair” and the “brain” approaches to consulting in which consulting services are bought for either the experience or the intelligence and education of the consultants. In contrast to the “grey hair” approach, the study showed that education in relevant disciplines and experience in management consulting positively affects performance, contradicting the widely-held belief that managers from various industries and educational backgrounds can easily become successful as management consultants when they leave their careers in non-consulting firms. Consultants without experience in the profession appear to be at a disadvantage compared to those who have gained first-hand experience in consulting. In contrast to the “brain” approach to consulting, the findings show that the combination of education and experience, rather than just the one or the other, drives consultants’ performance ratings.
Clients expect consultants in project management roles to have acquired a considerable level of professional competence. According to the results of the qualitative analysis, “professional competence” includes methodological and social/interactive skills in addition to a stock of skills in a relevant functional area and knowledge of the respective industry. These expectations appear demanding. Although the study focused on project managers acting as freelancers or as members of small consulting firms, it casts doubt on the practice often found in large management consulting firms of rapid promotion of young consultants to project management level. It is unclear to us how consultants could have acquired sufficient experience to fulfil their clients’ expectations only three to five years after having graduated from university.
Overall, the study results strengthen a-connect’s belief in the combination of consulting and management experience as antecedent for impact with clients. Of course, there are exceptions to the study’s findings, as evidenced by the a-connect talent pool. While most of our IPs possess the ideal combination of consulting and line management skills, we do have a select few IPs with either consulting or industry backgrounds who are distinctive in their respective fields and have demonstrated their impact as independent professionals.
For further information see:
Richter, A./Schmidt, S.L. (2006): Antecedents of the performance of management consultants. Schmalenbach Business Review, 58(4): 365-391.
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Copyright © 2007 a-connect (group) ag. All rights reserved.
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a-connect (schweiz) ag
Seefeldstrasse 293
CH-8008 Zürich
Phone: +41 43 266 77 77
Fax: +41 43 266 77 27
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a-connect (US) Inc.
470 Atlantic Avenue
4th Floor
Boston, MA, 02110
Phone: +1 617 946 33 33
Fax: +1 617 956 07 01
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a-connect (China) Ltd.
18/F One International
Finance Centre
1 Harbour View Street
Central, Hong Kong
Phone: +852 2526 6766
Fax: +852 3006 2766 |
a-connect (deutschland) gmbh
Stadttor 1
D-40219 Düsseldorf
Phone: +49 211 955 999 88
Fax: +49 211 955 999 80
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