WHAT IS MANAGEMENT CONSULTING?

There are lots of definitions for management consulting. Most of these definitions have the same meaning. Different definitions occurred because some elements are more stated than others. As understanding their jobs is much more important for the appliers we leave the discussions about the definition of management consulting to the scientists.

The customers and counselors in countries where management consulting is an undeveloped industry often don't know about the subjects a management counselor is concerned with. Management consulting gets complex when the accountants, computer experts or financiers evaluate themselves as management counselors. The definitions below explain the area of work for a management counselor by reflecting today's idea of most of the appliers and scientists:
Individually designed support to customer organizations for the identification and solution of economic and management problems, which are based on a complex system understanding, rendered by external persons who do not take over management responsibilities within the client organization.

The basic elements of this definition are:

1-Individually Designed:

It means that there are no standard solutions for management consulting. Each customer and each problem are different compared to one another so that each event needs specific solutions. Certainly there are some techniques that management counselors use for different occasions like training or reorganization, just to give some examples. However these technique should always be adapted for the needs of the customer. As a consequence a counselors always has to be creative.

2- Management Problems:

Struggling with economic and managing problems means that the management counselor is not only trying to solve certain management problems, he/she also is concerned with all the other economic problems a firm might have. Usually the managers consult the economic counselors of their firms. Improving a firm's economic performance may need a change in marketing, a decrease in cost, an improvement of the production process or a change of the organization or the management in general. Thus consulting is always related to a firm's management, so that the management should make the final decision about the counselor's recommendations and suggestions.

3- Complex System Understanding:

The management counselor accompanies the customer during the identification process not as an expert but as a general practitioner. The counselor examines all the potential factors that can cause problems. Only a management counselor who can understand the reaction chain within the whole system can identify the real problem and thus is able to offer appropriate solutions to the management. If the management counselor does not have this ability of complex system understanding, he/she will not treat the source of problems.

4- Rendered By External Persons:

The expression refers to the necessary independence of the counselor. Only a person who is not part of the management can observe the influences in an objective way.
The ones who are in the firm, are a part of the firm and a part of the system may not see the problems or may not evaluate the phenomenons correctly.
Moreover it has to be pointed out that a management counselor is not undertaking any managing responsibility. Counselors only give advices to the customer's management so that the customer always makes the final decisions.

WHAT CAN A MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT DO FOR YOU?

1- Increases competitive power
2- Prepares for the international markets
3- Improves the organizational structure
4- Decreases the cost
5- Increases the gross income
6- Improves the strategic management techniques
7- Improves the management and decision process
8- Identifies new financial sources
9- Generates general and private information about the industry or sector of interest
10- Helps to improve the customer's portfolio
11- Prepares feasibility studies
12- Increases the productivity
13- Decreases the tax load
14- Prepares to take the ISO 9000 certificate
15- Improves the quality of human resources
16- Improves the information systems