Business Analysis and Consultancy - Essay Sample

Introduction

The dynamic business environments have made organizations to experience several challenges. To be able to adapt to the changing business environments organizations need to improve their business strategy, organizational performance, and professional process (Buono, 2015). These services need the input of an expert who can take the organization through different steps of ensuring the existing problem is overcome, and future strategies are implemented to avoid any other challenge that might derail the proper function of the organization is limiting its capability to meet its objectives (Bronnenmayer, Wirtz and Gottel, 2016 p.34). Individuals might not easily identify the challenges facing the organization without the expertise of business operations, and as such, there is usually the need to employ a consultant (Biggs, 2017). Hiring the services of a consultant is crucial in ensuring that the problem is identified and proper plans are formulated and implemented to help guide the activities of the company for a given period. Consulting involves a process that demands different qualities to meet the objectives of any given phase in consulting which can be analyzed through looking at the qualities in the entry and contracting stage, discovery and dialogue, feedback, implementation and evaluation.

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Entry and Contracting

The first stage of the consultancy and involves creating relationships with the client. At this stage, the consultant needs to be to win the trust of the client by demonstrating that they have enough knowledge of the business and the environment where the organization is operating. This phase allows the client to explore the capability and professional credibility of the consultant (Goulart, Sztejnberg and Giovanardi, 2017 p.445). As such, it is a critical stage of the consulting process because it allows the client to enhance professional conduct between the client and the consultant. The consultant needs to create the surety that the problems that business is undergoing can be solved and the solutions that will be identified will help the company moving forward. Although excellent communication skills are necessary for the entire consultancy process, it is critical at this stage because it's the foundation of the relationship that is going to be formed and one that will either enhance or derail the fulfillment of the objectives of the consultancy (Buono, 2015). The consultant needs to be professional their first impression because it means a lot for the entire process, and consequently, in the success of the consultancy. Thus, creating an excellent first impression enhances the success of the consultancy. Winning trust can be facilitated through good communication skills such as being able to listen and understand the client. Understanding the client creates room for a productive conversation that can win his or her trust.

Discovery and Dialogue

Getting to this stage now creates the opportunity for the consult to establish the challenges that the business is facing and providing substantial insights that will help the client in the adoption of practices that will help the organization achieve its objectives by overcoming the challenges that have been making its goals (Agarwal, 2017 p.752). The discussion at this point should focus on the problem that the company is facing, which requires the need to be objectives by asking probing questions that can help in the identification of the challenge that the business is facing. The consultant should be able to look at the situation of the organization through analyzing every aspect of the organization even before looking at the information that will eventually be needed in helping solve and in coming up with plans for a lasting solution. The consultant should have analytical skills to be able to effectively evaluate the data that is presented so that they can deduce the cause of the problems that the organization is facing. Nothing needs to be pinned down as every piece of information right from reception is significant in coming with an argument the client understand the situation and win their confidence that solutions to be adapted will solve the problem.

This phase also involves setting coming up with plans on how the consultancy will be done and setting the rules that will guide the job by communicating to the manager any pieces of information that will be needed and the time the consultancy will take (Lazaroiu, 2015). The consultant needs to have logical reasoning by not being guided by emotions, but through ways in which reasoning is informed by information learned about the organization (Acquaye, 2018). The productive conversation at this stage is vital in helping identify the challenges and will guide the ways that will be adopted in coming up with solutions. Therefore, the consultant also needs to have the ability to listen and understand the client so that whatever information that the client avails provides an insight into the problem that the organization might be facing. This will also involve setting the terms of work and how the activity is going to be conducted.

Good communication and analytical skills helped us in analyzing the situation of the HarbourSide hotel. We were able to effectively communicate in a manner that enabled us to analyze the situation of the hotel and come up with reasons for the reduction in profit. Our team comprises of members with who were creative, and this helped us to interact in the group resourcefully, and this facilitated our efforts in the interpretation of the hotels' data, thus finding the challenges that the hotel was facing. Through looking at the hotel's financial records, we were able to ascertain that the challenge for the reduced sales was that the company was not responsive to the changing trends in the hotel industry.

Feedback

Giving feedback sometimes might be a challenge because the outcome might not be in line with the expectations of the client. Therefore, to effectively ensure that the client positively accepts the outcome is fundamental in ensuring the success of the consultancy (Sturdy, Wright and Wylie, 2016 p.205). Out of the research on the organization through the data that were used should form a basis upon which the consultant ensures that the client understands that the problems will be solved by the methods or the processes that the consultant suggests (Brandon-Jones, Lewis, Verma and Walsman, 2016 p.34). Excellent communication skills are this stage is vital because the consultant needs to listen and understand how the client responds to the feedback from the research that has been conducted. Being sensitive about how the client acknowledges the feedback direct the ways that the consultant should inform the client that the problems they are facing are from the reasons that they have established.

The consultant needs to be confident and demonstrate that whatever information they have come up with is accurate, and the solutions that will be provided will help in making the organization overcome the challenges. The consultant should also be flexible so that in case the client is need of any changes they should easily be accommodative by responding to the changes that the client needs to be done (Tams, Chudzikowski and Gustafsson, 2017). The feedback needs to be supported with facts which are the information that has been found from the research that was conducted on the challenges that the organization was facing. Supporting claims with facts makes them convincing rather general communication that might make the client feel that the consultant is communicating their thought rather than the reality on the ground. Thus, the feedback to the client should be barked with enough information.

Our provision of feedback on the challenges facing the hotel was guided by the data that was provided by the client. Through practical communication skills and claims that were backed with evidence from our analysis of the company's performance, then we were able to convince each other that the solutions we have come up with will help solve the problem of the hotel. Although we collectively participated in the group, the members believed in my excellent communication skills, and I was the one who guided the group on what the feedback should be organized. Winning confidence of the group members of some of the reasons for the reduction in profits of the hotel made us be able to propose and critically analyze the methods that we had suggested.

Implementation

For effectiveness in the implementation of the methods and procedures adopted to address the challenges in the organization, the consultant should be involved. The consultants' best understand the change that needs to be undertaken to solve the problem in the organization. Implementations of new strategies need to be in line with current processes of an organization (Morgan, Sturdy, and Frenkel, 2017). The consultant needs to take a client through how the latest methods and procedures can effectively be implemented without resulting in different challenges in the organization. The implementation process should involve suggesting ways on how an organizations staff should be trained so they can effectively apply the new changes in their duties to ensure uniformity in the roles that are performed in the organization to realize the needed change in an organization.

A consultant needs to be creative because he needs to assess the training needs of the organization so that new methods can help in arriving at the required solution. At the implementation phase, it might mean communication to a larger group including the workers in the organization (Buono, 2015). Therefore, the consultant should good presentations skills accompanied with effective communication to help an organization staff understand how the ways provided should be implemented. Being creative helps in dealing with any challenges that might arise is important because the problems that might arise during the implementation stage can be easily overcome.

In the project, the lack of effective group communication skills proved to be a challenge during the implementation phase. We decide on different plans that had to implement to help the hotel realize its objectives. Each group member had a distinct suggestion of what the hotel should undertake to improve its sales. All the methods that each team member suggested could not be implemented keeping in mind the resources that were set aside for the purpose. The challenge was on deciding the best ways that were to be implemented in the hotel. Each member felt their solutions would work and should be adopted. With the aid of my communication skills, I was able to enable the group to reach a consensus on the strategies that should be adopted in the case of the hotel.

Evaluation

Evaluation is an opportunity for both the client and the consult to ascertain if the objectives of the consultancy have been met. Evaluation is usually done through evaluating whether the challenge in the organization that set need for consultancy services have been solved (Nikolova, Mollering and Reihlen, 2015 p.245). Once the evaluation of the main event has been done, the client and the consultant can decide to extend the implementation of the strategy that was adapted to other segments of the organization. However, the real picture of the problem can emerge during this phase, and this might prompt the need for restarting the process hence a new contract discussion.

It a sensitive part of the process because the client's expectations might have been that the initial process would have solved the challenges in the organization, and as such, the consultant needs to be confident as well as have excellent to be able to understand the client's percept...