Consulting Midterm Practice

Front 1

A management consultant is

Back 1

a person who is in a position to have some influence over an individual, group, or organization, but who has no direct authority to make changes or implement programs

Front 2

As discussed in class, a consultant serves two basic roles;

Back 2

advisory; facilitator/produce solution (hands on)

Front 3

According to class discussion “hard” side consulting refers to working with the human capital of a business (example: organizational development) and “soft” side consulting deals with improving/replacing the operational processes of a business.

Back 3

False

Front 4

Consider our class discussion regarding the history of the consulting industry. The period of the very early 2000s was characterized by ____________ , the result of _____________.

Back 4

Retrenchment, economic recession and existing overcapacity in telecommunications and IT infrastructure

Front 5

Of the following which one is the only remaining firm still organizationally integrated with a global accounting and tax practice (hint: the original Big 8)

Back 5

c) Deloitte Consulting

Front 6

Early consulting firms (firms founded in the 1900 -1920s) were primarily focused on:

Back 6

b) Scientific Management

Front 7

Worlds largest consulting firm

Back 7

No match

Front 8

Derived from a former Big 8 Accounting firm

Back 8

Accenture

Front 9

Practice is focused on Consumer Products and Heath Sciences industries

Back 9

Clarkston

Front 10

To the maximum extent consultants should make the proposal process _____________ , this establishes participative client/consultant behavioral patterns and results in better defined initiatives

Back 10

collaborative

Front 11

Considering the following two statements regarding preparing for the first meeting with a potential client. Statement 1. If possible go into that first meeting with a “canned” solution. Clients want answers not projects. Statement 2. “Hard sell” early; use the initial meeting to get practice development results.

Back 11

Both Statements are FALSE

Front 12

Consider both statements. Statement 1. One of the important advantages of an “Advisory Role” engagement it that it does not matter if the client takes an active role in the consultant’s work – if the consultant is viewed as an expert the client will implement the recommendations. Statement 2. A lack of understanding of clients specific business or culture often result in recommendations that do not address the client’s real issues.

Back 12

Only Statement 2 is TRUE

Front 13

As discussed in class the number 1 reason for poor project outcomes is:

Back 13

Poor project planning

Front 14

A best practice in developing a client proposal is for the consultant to take the lead and do all of the planning work. This demonstrates competence and leadership and will typically result in a better proposal than one developed with client personnel.

Back 14

False

Front 15

In class we discussed a generic process to performing a business diagnostic. Which answer below best describes in the correct sequence, the first five (5) steps of the process:

Back 15

confirm the problem, identify the key issues, determine the information needed, determine the information sources, collect the data

Front 16

A key success factor for conducting a Business Diagnostic is to design the data collection effort to focus on research and the development of new knowledge: how that new knowledge is utilized to develop insights is not important as the breath and depth of the research effort itself.

Back 16

false