Management Consulting ^{3rd Ed.}

Widely recognized as a key reference work on the practice of consulting, this ILO guide is recommended by consultants' institutes and associations in many countries. It has already been published in 13 languages.

In this third,completely revised and updated edition, Milan Kubr has assembled a team of leading experts, practitioners and academics to describe current trends and experiences, and to look at future prospects.

New topics include privatized enterprises, the public sector and the informal sector; productivity and performance improvement; quality assurance in consulting; and information technology in consulting firms. New and practical materials, guidelines and check-lists are provided throughout.

• Provides a complete overview of state-of-the-art consulting approaches, methods and practices, with a balanced international perspective.
• Serves as a basic source of information on consulting and as a guide for the raining and development of consultants.
• Explains how to manage consulting firms and projects while coping with today's challenges in various areas of business activity.
• Defines the consultant's professional role and responsibility to clients and society
  

• Part I: Management consulting in perspective
• Chapter 1: Nature and purpose of management consulting
1. Definition: What is consulting?
2. Why are consultants used: Five generic purposes
3. How are consultants used: Ten principal ways
4. Fundamentals of the consulting approach
   
• Chapter 2: Range and scope of consulting services
1. A historical perspective
2. Range of services provided
3. Generalists and specialists
4. Main types of consulting organization
5. Internal consultants
6. Management consulting and other professions
7. Management consulting, training and research
   
• Chapter 3: The consultant-client relationship
1. Defining expectations and roles
2. A collaborative relationship
3. The client system
4. Behavioural roles of the consultant
5. Further refinement of the role concept
6. Methods of influencing the client system
7. Counselling as a tool of consulting
   
• Chapter 4: Consulting and change
1. Understanding the nature of change
2. How organizations approach change
3. Gaining support for change
4. Managing conflict
5. Structural arrangements and interventions for assisting change
   
• Chapter 5: Consulting and culture
1. Understanding and respecting culture
2. Levels of culture
3. Facing culture in consulting assignments
• Chapter 6: Professionalism and ethics in consulting
1. Defining a profession
2. The professional approach
3. Professional associations and codes of conduct
4. Certification and licensing
5. Legal liability and professional responsibility of management consultants
   
• Part II: The consulting process
• Chapter 7: Entry
1. Initial contact
2. Preliminary problem diagnosis
3. terms of reference
4. Assignment strategy and plan
5. Proposal to the client
6. The consulting contract
   
• Chapter 8: Diagnosis
1. Conceptual framework of diagnosis
2. Diagnosing purposes and problems
3. Defining necessary facts
4. Sources and ways of obtaining facts
5. Fact analysis
6. Feedback to the client
   
• Chapter 9: Action planning
1. Searching for ideas on possible solutions
2. Developing and evaluating alternatives
3. Presenting action proposals to the client
   
• Chapter 10: Implementation
1. The consultant's role in implementation
2. Planning and monitoring implementation
3. Training and developing client staff
4. Some tactical guidelines for introducing changes in work methods
5. Maintenance and control of the new practice
   
• Chapter 11: Termination
1. Time for withdrawal
2. Evaluation
3. Follow-up
4. Final reporting
   
• Part III: Consulting in various areas of management
• Chapter 12: Consulting in general and strategic management
1. Nature and scope of consulting in corporate strategy and general management
2. Corporate strategy
3. Processes, systems and structures
4. Corporate culture and management style
5. Innovation
   
• Chapter 13: Consulting in financial management
1. Financial appraisal
2. Working capital and liquidity management
3. Capital structure and the financial markets
4. Mergers and acquisitions
5. Finance and operations: Capital investment analysis
6. Accounting systems and budgetary control
7. Financial management under inflation
8. Cross-border operations and the use of external financial markets
   
• Chapter 14: Consulting in marketing and distribution management
1. The marketing strategy level
2. Marketing operations
3. Consulting in commercial enterprises
4. International marketing
5. Physical distribution
6. Public relations
   
• Chapter 15: Consulting in production management
1. Basic choices in the production area
2. The product
3. Methods and organization of production
4. The human aspects of production
   
• Chapter 16: Consulting in human resource management
1. The changing nature of the personnel function
2. Policies, practices and the human resource audit
3. Human resource planning
4. Recruitment and selection
5. Motivation and remuneration
6. Human resource development
7. Labour-management relations
8. New areas and issues
   
• Chapter 17: Consulting in information technology
1. The changed role of IT
2. The impact on management thinking
3. The requirements for consulting
4. The range of services provided
5. The providers of consultancy
6. Selecting an IT consultancy
7. Making effective use of consultants in the IT area
• Chapter 18: Consulting in small-business management
1. Characteristics of small enterprises
2. The role and profile of the consultant
3. Consulting assignments in the life-cycle of an enterprise
4. Areas of special concern
5. Consulting in policy development
6. Innovations in small business consulting
   
• Chapter 19: Consulting for the informal sector
1. What is different about micro-enterprises?
2. Management problems of informal sector entrepreneurs
3. The special skills of micro-enterprise consultants
4. Outreach to micro-enterprises in the informal sector
   
• Chapter 20: Consulting for the public sector
1. Current trends and challenges
2. Programme responses
3. The public sector environment
4. Success factors for consulting to the public sector
5. Special areas of consulting
6. Future perspectives
   
• Chapter 21: Consulting in privatization
1. The principal clients
2. Profiles of privatization advisers
3. Selection of consultants and contracts
4. The consultant's tasks in a typical privatization process
5. Issues and risks
6. Post-privatization consulting
   
• Chapter 22: Consulting for productivity and performance improvement
1. A short history of productivity consulting
2. Measuring and analysing productivity and performance
3. Designing and implementing productivity and performance improvement programmes
   
• Part IV: Managing a consulting firm
• Chapter 23: Fundamentals of consulting firm management
1. The management challenge of the profession
2. Managing a professional service
3. Managing a professional business
4. The management matrix
   
• Chapter 24: The consulting firm's strategy
1. A strategic approach
2. Services and products
3. The client base
4. growth and expansion
5. Going international
6. Profile and image of the firm
7. Strategic management in practice
   
• Chapter 25: Marketing of consulting services
1. The marketing approach in consulting
2. A client's perspective
3. Techniques for marketing the consulting firm
4. Techniques for marketing consulting assignments
5. Marketing to existing clients
6. Managing the marketing process
   
• Chapter 26: Costs and fees
1. Income-generating activities
2. Costing chargeable services
3. Marketing-policy considerations
4. Principal fee-setting and billing
5. Fair play in fee-setting and billing
6. Towards value billing
7. Costing and pricing an assignment
8. Billing clients and collecting fees
   
• Chapter 27 Assignment management
1. Structuring and scheduling an assignment
2. Preparing for an assignment
3. Managing assignment execution
4. Controlling costs and budgets
5. Assignment records and reports
6. Closing an assignment
   
• Chapter 28: Quality management and assurance
1. What is quality management?
2. Key elements of a quality assurance programme
3. Quality certification
4. Sustaining quality
   
• Chapter 29: Operational and financial control
1. Operating work plan and budget
2. Performance monitoring
3. Bookkeeping and accounting
   
• Chapter 30: Structuring consulting firms
1. Legal forms of business
2. Structuring the operating core
3. Organizing for marketing
4. Organizing other client services
5. Organizing for international operations
6. Administrative support services
7. Library and documentation
8. Office facilities
9. General management organization and coordination
   
• Chapter 31: Information technology in consulting firms
1. Current trends
2. Support to business administration
3. Support to professional service productivity and quality
4. Information for marketing services
5. Realizing benefits
6. Information technology in small consulting firms
   
• Part V: Developing management consultants and the consulting profession
• Chapter 32: Careers and compensation in consulting
1. Personal characteristics of consultants
2. Recruitment and selection
3. Career development
4. Compensation policies and practices
   
• Chapter 33: Training and development of consultants
1. What should consultants learn?
2. Training of new consultants
3. Training methods
4. Further training and development of consultants
5. Options available to sole practitioners
   
• Chapter 34: Preparing for the future
1. The changing demand
2. The changing geographical perspective
3. Increasing professionalism in management consulting
   
• Appendices
• Appendix 1: The client's Ten Commandments
• Appendix 2: Associations of management consultants in selected countries
• Appendix 3: Professional codes (examples)
• Appendix 4: Outline of a management survey
• Appendix 5: terms of a consulting contract
• Appendix 6: Case history of consulting to a growing small business
• Appendix 7: Case history of process consulting
• Appendix 8: Case history of senior management team development
• Appendix 9: Person-to-person communication in consulting
• Appendix 10: Consultant report writing
• Appendix 11: Selected bibliography for management consultants
  

This is the real bible of management consulting. Should be present in every bookshelf.