INTRODUCTION

The relevance of the chosen topic: Management consulting to resolve an unfavorable situation that arose in the management of municipal enterprises (using the example of the municipal enterprise GDDK "Rodnik") is due to the fact that consulting activities are among the few industries with high growth rates (average annual growth for many years has not fallen below 10 %). And although the growth rates and trends in the development of management consulting correspond to the global ones, in terms of absolute (volume of consulting activities, number of people employed in management consulting) and relative indicators (consultant-labor ratio, income per consultant), Russia is still noticeably behind this process compared to Western European countries.

Currently, the country does not have a concept and has not developed a policy for the development of management consulting to resolve unfavorable situations that arose in the management of municipal enterprises. The development of management consulting has identified a new, insufficiently developed not only in domestic but also foreign theory, problem: a change in the essence and the emergence of a variety of relationships between interconsultants.

Goal of the work

Subject of study

Object of study

CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Management consulting methods

Counseling is considered from the point of view of functional and professional approaches. 1. From a point of view functional approach, consulting is a type of activity aimed at providing assistance to the client, taking into account his interests. At the same time, the consultant is not responsible for how the client uses his service, that is, the responsibility lies not with the consultant, but with the client. 2. From a position professional approach, consulting is a contract consulting service that provides services to clients from the perspective of specially trained and qualified individuals who help identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving these problems and, if necessary, facilitate the implementation of these decisions.
Goal -> Situation -> Problem -> Decision (the process of implementation, not the fact of adoption). According to the definition of the European Federation of Associations of Economic and Management Consultants FEACO, management consulting consists of providing independent advice and assistance on management issues, including identifying and assessing problems and opportunities, recommending appropriate measures and assisting in their implementation.

Components of consulting: process, expertise, service, method. Characteristics of counseling: 1. Professionalism. Knowledge of the management situation. Availability practical experience her permission. Possessing skills in sharing experiences, identifying problems, searching for information, analyzing situations, communicating with people, planning changes and overcoming resistance to change. 2. Deliberation. The consultant does not have the right to make decisions, but only recommends what can be done to resolve the situation. 3. Independence. Financial, having his own account and the consultant’s lack of interest in how the client uses his advice. Administrative, lack of communication and subordination. Political. Emotional, from family and friendships.

With the beginning of market reforms in the Russian economy, a new industry appeared - business services. Business services are activities that carry out macro- and microeconomic regulation and maintain optimal proportions of the economy, engaged in the maintenance of basic and infrastructural production, as well as public administration. Business service is professional and always paid. The demand for business services appears as the economy develops, and their role is determined by the fact that they create the basis for the growth of well-being and social satisfaction of people (in other words, they help people).

Go to functions business services include: 1. Formation of control system components. (HR systems, technology, logistics, etc.)2. Carrying out ongoing maintenance of management processes (legal, audit and other project support). 3. Providing consulting services. 4. Creation, dissemination, implementation of management innovations.

The importance of business services is that they: 1. Create conditions for the effective functioning of our economy. 2. Contribute to the formation and close interaction of all elements of the infrastructure complex. 3. Frees organizations from the need to create additional service units and hire additional personnel. As a rule, business services are provided simultaneously for several types of activities, one of which is dominant. Business services require different regulations, from free implementation (consulting) to mandatory licensing (audit), attestation, certification and accreditation. Most business services firms provide advice in their area of ​​specialization. 1. Consulting services are part of business services. 2. Management consulting is one of the types of consulting services.

Management consulting is one of the methods for developing the management system of organizations (firms, companies), as well as one of the methods for creating and developing social systems. In its broadest sense, management consulting is the process of applying to social systems social technologies. Social technologies represent the order of stages of interaction between the innovator (in particular, the management consultant) and the social system. At each of these stages, the innovator uses a certain set of management tools. At the same time, there are a number of norms and requirements that the innovator’s activities must comply with so that the innovation process proceeds without destruction and without degradation of the developing social system.

The whole variety of social technologies used in management consulting can be divided into two types:

1. Recommendation consulting - consists of the following stages:
a thorough study of the customer’s situation, comparison of the customer’s situation with analogues, development of recommendations based on theories, methods and classifiers used by this consulting company, writing a report containing these recommendations and presentation of the report to the customer. The result of advisory consulting is carefully thought out, balanced and systematized recommendations. The most well-known consulting companies operating in the advisory consulting mode include, etc.

2. Process consulting - claims not so much to develop recommendations, but to change the state of the management system and the system of activity of the customer's organization. Therefore, including all the stages listed for recommendation consulting, process consulting complements them with various active forms of work with owners, top managers, managers and specialists of the customer. Active forms of work are of two types: a) long-term support of the activities of the customer’s company, up to the temporary replacement of the customer’s employees by specialists of the consulting company, who by example train customer employees to work in a new way; b) various game forms, which have the advantage that changes in the control system and activity system occur much faster (within one to two weeks).

Management consulting methods

1. Individual work with top officials of the organization (in the form of coaching (training) or advisory consulting). This method of work is typical for both recommendation and procedural consulting.

2. Reflective games and seminars, during which key managers and specialists of the organization (firm, company) participate in designing the next step in the development of the management system and activity system. One of the types of reflective games used in management consulting is “live modeling of collective activity.” Reflective games are actively used in process consulting of type b). Debugging the management system “in manual mode”, when a team of consultants works for a long time with top management, managers and specialists of the company, accompanying every management action and in detail instructing key specialists and managers on new operating standards and working methods. In this mode, a team of consultants can create new system document flow, collection of marketing and management information, implement computer programs, contributing to increased management efficiency, etc. This method is typical for process consulting of type a). Development and writing of recommendations. Recommendation consultants develop and write their recommendations based on a thorough analysis of the client's situation and similar situations that have occurred in the past. Process consultants develop and write recommendations primarily based on the results of live work (in reflective games or in the process of individual and group methods of working with employees of the organization).

Consulting activity is a field professional services. The expert nature of such assistance means that it is carried out at the request of the interested manager and is advisory in nature. The consultant helps, facilitates, develops, trains, etc. The consultant does not make decisions, he prepares and calculates alternatives. All responsibility for making decisions falls on the head of the organization. The advantages of consulting over training lie in a specifically individual, “piecemeal” approach. The consultant develops and delivers only what, in his opinion, is necessary for a given organization in a given situation. Management consulting connects the science of management with management practice: if research and design organizations offer standard recommendations, then the management consultant “ties” them to the specifics of the client organization.

The advantage of management consultants over managers is independence and impartiality of views, a broader outlook. They have extensive information in a wide variety of areas of management and economics (due to less workload with current management problems), and are focused on broadly studying the problem and transferring the experience of other organizations (this mainly concerns external consultants). Management consulting is carried out by specialists in various fields: lawyers, economists, marketers, analysts, psychologists and sociologists.

One of the new and most promising types of consulting on our market is outsourcing and “hire of directors”. Outsourcing is based on the full or partial transfer of routine functions of an enterprise (for example, accounting, tax calculation, personnel management, etc.) to a consulting firm in order to concentrate its own efforts on solving key strategic problems. “Directors' hire” is used when there is a temporary absence of management or recent dismissal. Organizational development and office work or administration, although they are certain types consulting, we classified it as management consulting.

Services such as corporate finance management and management accounting are also relatively new and are very relevant during the transition to Western standards of financial resource management. The main goal of creating a management reporting system is to provide enterprise managers with timely and necessary information for making effective management decisions. The implementation of almost all services is based on an analysis of the existing and expected financial flows of the enterprise.

Management consulting methods are divided into 1) project consulting; 2) process consultation.

The difference between them is the organization of the division of labor between the consultant and the client in the process of performing specific tasks. When consulting a project, the consultant makes a diagnosis and develops proposals for improving management (drawing up a project for improving management, but does not take part in the process of implementing his proposals. The consultant acts as a designer, who is distinguished by his relatively high independence from the client.

When consulting the process, diagnostics are carried out by the consultant together with the client. In this case, the consultant undertakes to train the client’s employees in the use of diagnostic and problem solving methods, and the client undertakes to develop, using these methods, proposals for improving management. It is advisable to use design consultants when drawing up management procedures, job descriptions, other projects. Process consulting specialists are best used when developing large complex problems when serious implementation difficulties arise. The choice of consulting method also depends on the level of management at which the problem is being solved.

Management consulting methods are divided into:

Are common- they come from management, and therefore they are identical to management methods. 1. Dialectical. 2. Logical. 3. Empirical.

Local or special 1. Methods technical aspect, allowing for consulting services to analyze information, study the situation, search for problems, and develop alternative solutions. Among these methods, survey and report writing methods are the most widely used.

2. Human aspect methods are implemented in the client relations consultant system and are based on psychology.

In terms of methods, the following forms of counseling can be distinguished: expert, process and training.

The model is selected depending on the problem being solved, the characteristics of the client organization, and the qualities of the consultants (skills, experience, personal qualities).

Expert Consulting. The client himself forms the task, and the specialist consultant acts as an expert. The disadvantage of this model is that the consultant develops a recommendation without conducting an independent analysis of the situation. The changes are implemented, again, by the client himself. It is advisable to use the model when it is necessary to obtain knowledge on standard procedures and standards.

Educational Consulting. The consultant not only collects ideas and analyzes solutions, but also prepares the ground for their emergence by providing the client with relevant theoretical and practical information in the form of lectures, trainings, business games, specific situations (“cases”), etc. The client forms a request for training, programs and forms of training, training groups.

Process consulting. Consultants at all stages of the project actively interact with the client, encouraging him to express his ideas, considerations, proposals, critically compare them with ideas proposed from outside, and, with the help of consultants, analyze problems and develop solutions. At the same time, the role of consultants is to collect these external and internal ideas, evaluate the solutions obtained in the process of working together with the client, and bring them into a system of recommendations. This approach is the most effective.

The consulting process is understood as a sequential series of actions and activities carried out through the joint activities of the consultant and the client to achieve positive changes within the client organization and resolve its problems.

The consultation process goes through 3 stages:

1. Pre-contract stage. The client establishes the existence of a problem and the need to involve consultants to solve it, who, based on the results of preliminary diagnostics, make an offer to the client regarding the task. This stage ends with the conclusion of a contract. Its purpose is to ensure unity in the understanding of the essence of the consulting project by the client and the consultant.

2. Contract. It consists of several stages (diagnosis, development of solutions, implementation of solutions), which in turn include procedures. The purpose of the contract stage is to determine specific results and areas of work, to ensure the development and implementation of solutions to problems.

3. Post-contract. (Final) Consultant's departure.

The identification of stages in the consultation process provides a structured basis for decision-making, coordinated communications, motivated organization of the project, and tangible results. All this helps reduce unpredictability, i.e. the result is a well-managed project.

Consultants use many techniques to effectively complete a consulting assignment.

The consulting method is understood as a general scheme (action plan), formed on the basis of the generalized experience of effective consultations of this type, which makes it possible to develop an appropriate program of action.

There is the following classification of counseling methods that helps to implement quick search, selection and effective use of the methods most appropriate to the problem of the organization and consulting model:

1. Methods for solving the content of problems.1.1. Diagnostic methods. 1.1.1. Methods of collecting information: surveys, interviews, questionnaires, expert assessments. 1.1.2. Information processing methods: data classification, problem analysis, comparison.

1.2. Methods for solving problems. 1.2.1. Methods for identifying problems: a tree of goals using expert assessments, methods for assessing the priorities of problems (expert and logical analysis), a method for constructing a problem graph. 1.2.2. Methods for developing and evaluating decisions: methods for developing alternative solutions, methods for selecting alternative solutions, methods for analyzing the quality of decisions made, methods of group work.

1.3. Implementation methods. 1.3.1. Experimental testing methods: group work, business games. 1.3.2. Methods for transferring results to real conditions: methods for forming working groups, methods for conducting problem meetings.

2. Methods of working with clients. 2.1. Methods for selecting the roles of consultant and client. 2.2. Methods of collaborating and helping the client make changes. 2.2.1. Methods of teaching and training the client organization's personnel. 2.2.2. Development methods creative potential managers of the client organization. 2.2.3. Methods for increasing the motivation of staff and managers to change: methods of persuasion, methods of using feelings of tension and anxiety, methods of reward and punishment, etc.

There are several consulting techniques (a set of directives indicating the course of action and methods for achieving goals): 1. Specialized (for special conditions).2. Universal (for all types of organizations, regardless of industry, form of ownership).

Consulting is a rather complex, multi-stage process that has a beginning (the first meeting between the consultant and the client) and an end (usually the implementation of the planned change project). Between these two points, the counseling process is divided into several stages. The literature describes from three to ten such stages, but most often the counseling process consists of five main stages

Acquaintance - establishing first contacts with the client, preliminary diagnosis of the problem, planning the consulting assignment, preparing proposals to the client regarding the methodology for carrying out the assignment; concluding a contract for consulting work;

Diagnostics - analysis of the problem that has arisen, determination of the main goal that must be achieved in solving it, collection necessary information, its analysis, bringing to the client’s attention the results of this stage of work (feedback);

Action planning - development of solution options and selection of the optimal one; developing proposals for the client, planning actions to implement changes;

Implementation - providing assistance in implementing changes, adjusting proposals based on the experience gained in their implementation, training the client in methods of working in the conditions of the changes;

Completion - assessing the effectiveness of the activities carried out, planning the client’s activities after the end of the consulting contract; completion of the project.

Of course, this universal model should be applied taking into account the specific characteristics of individual consulting assignments, but it is necessary to understand the general content of management consulting activities. Thus, when solving relatively simple problems, detailed diagnosis of the problem is not required, and then this stage is combined with planning. It also happens that at the final stage of a consulting assignment, it is not possible to obtain a positive result from the planned changes, and then you have to start all over again, by searching for some new approach to solving the problem.

It is easy to see that the entire process of management consulting is one of the options for management activities in general, since it includes aspects of planning, organization and control.

General and strategic management, including management style;

Financial management, including investment analysis;

Marketing management, including special consulting for trade enterprises;

Human resource management, including recruitment and selection of personnel, motivation and remuneration, relations between management and employees;

Issues of total quality management, so-called TQM (total quality management);

Special psychological counseling.

But, since during consultation on any of these problems the general model indicated above is applied, let us briefly consider the content of each of its stages.

Acquaintance is the initial stage of a consultant’s work with a client, at which first contacts are established, problems that have arisen in the client’s organization are discussed, options for assistance by the consultant are outlined, based on a preliminary analysis of the problem, a plan for a consulting project is formed and a contract for the provision of consulting services is concluded.

Thus, this is the preparation and planning stage. Its significance lies in the fact that at this stage the foundation for all further work is laid, its basic concept is formed and certain relationships are formed between the consultant and the client, which has a decisive impact on all subsequent stages of work. Of course, a situation is possible when the contracting parties do not reach an agreement and the contract is not signed, since the client may receive offers from several competing firms providing consulting services at once.

Diagnosis of the problem is the second stage of the counseling process. After a thorough analysis of the problem, the client and consultant jointly determine the goals of the project. They establish what actions need to be taken, predict the possible results of the proposed changes, take into account the resources that will be required to implement the project, find out what the upcoming changes will be - technical, organizational, informational or psychological.

If the problem turns out to be complex, i.e. including all of the listed aspects of the organization’s activities, it becomes clear which of them is the most important. Here it is especially necessary, for any nature of the problems that have arisen, to provide for the psychological consequences of the proposed changes, in particular to take into account the attitude of the staff to these changes - will their need be realized or will it be necessary to resort to convincing people.

The result of this stage is the development of an organization of work to prepare proposals on ways to solve the problems under consideration. At this stage, some outlines of future decisions may already emerge, which are finally formed at the next, third stage.

This stage of collecting and analyzing information is one of the most important in the counseling process. Unfortunately, often at this stage the analysis of facts is not given due attention: on the one hand, one cannot allow the collection of redundant information so as not to get bogged down in it, and on the other hand, it is necessary to collect all the information that really determines the quality of future decisions. It should also be taken into account that by collecting targeted information and talking with people, the consultant thereby already influences the client’s organization in a certain direction and gives some impetus to its changes.

Action planning. This stage is aimed at identifying specific ways to solve the problem; it usually involves working through several solution options, selecting the most appropriate one, carefully developing a plan for the appropriate specific actions, and communicating these proposals to the client for the final decision on changes. When choosing optimal option decision, it is important to refuse to plan minor or useless changes and Special attention pay attention to the feasibility and realism of the proposed course of action. In the proposed plan of action, it is no less important to separate the main from the secondary, strategic guidelines from tactical ways of implementing the strategy.

Implementation is the fourth stage of the consulting process. This is a serious test of the viability of the proposals developed. At this stage, the consulting project becomes a reality. Here it may contain incorrect assumptions and errors. Actual employee resistance may be greater than anticipated during the diagnosis and planning stages, which may require adjustments to original plans. Since, as noted, no management decision can be ideal or absolute, at this stage it is necessary to continuously monitor the changes being carried out and monitor them. At this point, disagreements most often arise between the client and the customer. Therefore, experienced, professional consultants prefer to participate in the process of implementing changes.

However, as the practice of professional consulting shows, many consulting projects do not provide for the participation of a consultant in the implementation process and end with a report containing a list of proposed activities.

Often the client expresses a desire to independently carry out the implementation stage without the presence of a consultant, but it often turns out that the client overestimates his capabilities. This position is associated with the unfounded belief that there are supposedly ideal projects that can work on their own. In reality, there is always a distance between the project and reality, which makes the implementation stage quite difficult.

Completion is the fifth and final stage of the consulting process, which involves evaluation of the consultant's work by both the client and the consulting firm. This is where their relationship is regulated. If the client shows interest, an agreement on further cooperation is concluded. Upon completion of these actions, the consulting project is considered completed.

Consulting is a term used in modern practice to denote activities aimed at identifying and developing proposals and programs with the aim of rationalizing and optimizing the functioning of the enterprise, assisting management and managers in the process of making competent decisions Goncharuk V.A. Marketing consulting. - M.: Delo, 2011. - 39 p..

The range of problems solved by consulting is very wide; in addition, the specialization of companies providing consulting services can be different: from a narrow one, limited to one area of ​​consulting services, to the broadest, covering the full range of services in a given area. Accordingly, each specialist working in this field puts his own meaning into the concept of consulting, determined by the direction of activity of a particular company.

The emergence of the term and the development of the direction “management consulting” began with the identification of two main approaches to consulting. The first takes a broad functional view of counseling. Fritz Stehle defines it this way: “By process of consultation I mean any form of assistance with respect to the content, process or structure of a task or series of tasks in which the consultant is not himself responsible for carrying out the task, but helps those who are responsible for it.”

The second approach considers counseling as a special professional service and identifies a number of characteristics that it should have. According to Larry Greiner and Robert Metzger, “Management consulting is a contract advisory service that provides services to organizations through specially trained and qualified individuals who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving those problems and facilitate, if necessary, the implementation of decisions.” These two approaches can be considered complementary Makham K. Management consulting. - M.: MPZ, 2008. - 288 pp. In particular, the European Federation of Associations of Economic and Management Consultants (FEACO) gives the following definition: “Management consulting consists of providing independent advice and assistance on management issues, including the definition and assessment problems and/or opportunities, recommendation of appropriate measures and assistance in their implementation” Goncharuk V.A. Marketing consulting. - M.: Delo, 2011. - 40 p..

The American Association of Economic and Management Consultants (ACME) and the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) adhere to the same definition.

The origin of management consulting was caused by the constant search by entrepreneurs for new means of increasing production efficiency, attempts by management specialists to find a commercial application for their abilities, and the logic of the development of organizational science and practice.

Today, many non-profit organizations readily use the services of management consultants, but the first clients were entrepreneurs. They were forced to do this by competition, which requires a constant search for new reserves of efficiency.

At first, enterprise managers tried to use obvious, “nearby” opportunities, primarily financial (savings, increasing profits through rising prices or reducing costs).

As they were exhausted, a transition was made to updating equipment, technology, and design solutions. Then came the turn of changes in the assortment, replacement of manufactured products in a race to meet demand or to get ahead of it. It comes almost to the management resources themselves almost last. Why is this happening? The manager usually quickly agrees that reducing costs, and sometimes prices, will give him an increase in profits directly or through an increase in overall turnover.

With equipment and technology it is somewhat more difficult: to attract additional labor sometimes it turns out to be cheaper, new machines need to be mastered, etc.

Innovations in the assortment are accompanied by risks, and such a reorientation requires too many preliminary and subsequent changes. When it comes to improving management, it can be difficult for a manager to agree that he solves his problems on his own worse than with the participation of “someone outside.”

In addition, a change in management usually implies a change in the behavior, attitudes and methods of work of the leader personally. And this is perhaps the most conservative part of the entire organizational system, especially considering the venerable age of many directors and the persistence of traditions of over-centralization and authoritarianism. And a management consultant cannot clearly show the client the direct relationship between the results of his work and profit, like financial, technical innovation or marketing consultants. Only in last years we have respect for such concepts as managerial profit, staff motivation, strategic management. And yet, plant directors and bank executives make contact with management consultants and sign appropriate contracts.

At the same time, as a rule, clients do not know in advance the real benefits of such cooperation. Consultants should offer them their services, and they will decide how to use these opportunities.

What did the first consultants who appeared in the 20s offer? It is generally accepted that “first wave” management consultants are former entrepreneurs, leaders, managers who have achieved success in the business field and retired for personal reasons Goncharuk V.A. Marketing consulting. - M.: Delo, 2011. - 47 p..

Having remained sufficiently active, they began to offer their experience in management and solving organizational problems to younger managers. At first, this gave positive results, but as the pace accelerated social development a paradox has become obvious: ex-managers recommend doing today as they did yesterday.

Meanwhile, the most valuable experience becomes obsolete, and although, of course, some “universal wisdom” and “life lessons” remain, this is no longer enough. As a result, the “first wave” began to decline, but did not disappear completely.

There are many definitions of management consulting. There are two main approaches to counseling.

The first takes a broad functional view of counseling. Fritz Steele defines it this way: “By process of consultation I mean any form of assistance with regard to the content, process or structure of a task or series of tasks in which the consultant is not himself responsible for carrying out the task, but helps those who are responsible for it.”

The second approach considers counseling as a special professional service and identifies a number of characteristics that it should have. According to Larry Greiner and Robert Metzger, “Management consulting is a contract advisory service that provides services to organizations through specially trained and qualified individuals who help the client organization identify management problems, analyze them, make recommendations for solving those problems, and assist, if necessary, implementation of decisions.” These two approaches can be considered complementary.

In particular, the European Federation of Associations of Economic and Management Consultants (FEACO) gives the following definition: “Management consulting consists of providing independent advice and assistance on management matters, including identifying and assessing problems and/or opportunities, recommending appropriate measures and assisting in their implementation." The American Association of Economic and Management Consultants (ACME) and the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) adhere to the same definition.

In order to fully disclose the concept of consulting activities, we consider it appropriate to analyze changes in existing formulations of management consulting (Appendix 1) and changes in the basic principles of consulting activities (Appendix 2). If in the early 1980s. they contained only principles concerning professional characteristics consulting services, then as we move towards market economy they were complemented by consulting characteristics such as entrepreneurial activity.

Analysis of the presented formulations does not give any reason to take any of them as a model, since each of them captures only a certain aspect of consulting activity. Therefore, the symbiosis of formulations of consulting activities as a specific form of activity can provide a more complete and more systematic definition.

We offer the following definition of consulting activities.

Management consulting is a type of intellectual professional activity, in which a qualified consultant provides objective and independent advice to facilitate the successful management of the client organization.

Western theorists of management consulting identify the following characteristic features of management consulting.

Firstly, consultants provide professional help executives. Experienced consultants work through many organizations and learn to use their experience to help clients new and old in a variety of situations. Consequently, they are able to recognize common trends and common causes of problems. Moreover, professional consultants constantly monitor the literature on management problems and the development of theories of management methods and systems, as well as the market situation. Thus, they act as a link between management theory and practice.

Secondly, consultants mainly give advice. This means that they are only advisors and do not have direct power to decide on changes and implement them. Consultants are responsible for the quality and completeness of the advice. Clients bear all responsibility that arises from accepting advice.

And thirdly, counseling is an independent service. The consultant assesses the situation, offers recommendations on what to do to the client, without thinking about how this might affect his own interests. The consultant must have the following types of independence: financial, administrative, political, emotional. All this places high demands on the quality and efficiency of consulting services and causes them to be focused on the interests of the client.

The ultimate goal of counseling is to help the client make progressive changes in his organization. The consultant helps identify and solve specific technical problems while addressing human problems and aspects of organizational change.

The main task of consulting is to identify and find ways to solve existing problems. Consulting services are provided both in the form of one-time consultations and in the form of consulting projects. There are many divisions of the consulting process into stages (, , , etc.). Any consulting project includes the following main stages:

· diagnostics (identifying problems);

· development of solutions;

· implementation of solutions.

Posadsky A.P. notes ] that the consulting process, in addition to the project stage, includes pre-project and post-project stages. The primary step of the pre-project stage is the recognition by the client that he has a problem that he would like to solve with the help of consultants. This recognition is the result of a two-way process: on the one hand, the client’s awareness of the existence of a problem as such, on the other, the manager’s formation of a desire to entrust the development of a solution to the problem to consultants. Typically, a client competitively selects from several proposals the one that best suits him in terms of quality and price, and then enters into a contract with the consultant of his choice.

The post-project stage consists of analyzing the changes that have occurred in the client organization, resolving issues related to the possible expansion of the project in connection with new problems - either identified during the implementation of the project, or arising as a result of the organization achieving a new state as a result of the project. This stage also includes final financial calculations client with a consultant and self-analysis of the consultant’s activities in order to comprehend the experience gained for use in other projects.

A consulting project can take from several days to several months. When solving problems, an integrated approach is used, which takes into account the interconnection of various aspects of the enterprise's activities. To achieve maximum efficiency in the implementation of consulting projects, a project team is created, which includes experts in various subject areas and managers who manage the progress of the project. When making decisions, diagnosing problems and making recommendations, organizational methods are widely used teamwork project teams.

The main task consulting project is to achieve maximum High Quality solving the problem while complying with financial and time constraints. Process consulting is a method for developing and changing organizations. The purpose of using this method is to increase productivity and/or improve the psychological climate in the organization, achieved with the participation of an independent, external consultant. The focus is not only on solving current problems of the organization, but also on acquiring the skills to analyze, evaluate and solve client problems. In this sense, the consultant must perform two tasks: on the one hand, monitor the solution of existing problems, on the other, show ways for the organization to independently solve pressing issues in the future. The degree of client involvement in a consulting project varies depending on the type of consulting services. By comparing the time spent by the client's staff and the results of the consultant's work, it is possible to determine the required degree of staff involvement in the consultant's activities.

The effectiveness of the consultant's work will be minimal if the client does not participate in it at all. Further, this efficiency increases as the client’s involvement increases and after reaching the optimal point, the efficiency begins to fall, therefore, the client begins to do his work for the consultant. Of course, the curve of this graph will change depending on the type of problems being solved, on the stage or phase of the consulting project and, of course, on the type of consulting services itself.

In expert consulting, the client provides information to the consultant, controls his activities, assimilates his recommendations and accepts appropriate management decisions. In a process process, the client, in addition to the above, takes part in the development of recommendations and, in a training process, the client’s staff spends additional time on training sessions. In specific projects or at their various stages, combinations of all three listed types of consulting can be used, and then it becomes expert-process, process-training, expert-training, etc. The consultant’s work begins with the fact that some condition is recognized as unsatisfactory and there is an opportunity to correct it. Such work ends when a change has occurred in this condition that can be considered an improvement. The consultant's work involves interaction various types business activity, affects technological, economic, financial, legal, psychosociological, political and other aspects of the organization’s activities. All changes conceived and implemented with the help of a consultant should improve the quality of management and increase the efficiency of the organization.

There are several typical consulting assignments depending on the quality or level of the situation faced by the client organization:

· the task of correcting a situation that has worsened;

· a task to improve a situation that already exists;

· the task of creating a completely new situation.

It should also be noted two aspects of possible changes in the client organization:

· technical side, relating to the nature of the managerial or commercial problem faced by the client; the consultant finds ways to analyze and solve it;

· the human side, i.e. the relationship between consultant and client, the reaction of people in the client’s organization to changes; the consultant assists in planning and implementing these relationships.

Effective consulting shows how to deal with these two aspects of change in an organization. These problems are interconnected and the consultant must understand this. "Change is the point of management consulting. If different forms of consulting assignments have the same general characteristics, then it is helping to plan and implement changes in client organizations."

The characteristics of the changes are as follows:

· to what extent is their approval by staff important for their successful implementation;

· how deep the impact of changes is on the enterprise;

· how ready the enterprise is for changes.

Management consulting services appeared later than similar services in the field of marketing, advertising, technical policy, etc. This was a natural phenomenon, because At first, the competition uses the most obvious, quick-acting sources of increased efficiency. Managerial opportunities are associated with human behavior, and a person is a relatively inertial part of production. Despite this, management consulting is one of the most popular products in modern reality. Depending on the content and level of complexity of the situation in which the client’s enterprise finds itself, a consultant is invited to solve three types of problems:

To correct the current situation at the enterprise (correction task),

To improve the existing situation (improvement task),

To form a completely new situation (creation task).

In all three cases, the interaction between the client and the consultant begins with the fact that some condition, some situation or some indicators of the enterprise’s performance are recognized by the client and consultant as unsatisfactory and there is an opportunity to change them in better side with the help of advice and recommendations from a consultant. And therefore, as a completion of interaction, all changes in the enterprise proposed by an independent consultant should help improve the quality of management of the client’s enterprise, improve the management of functional areas of the enterprise and processes in the enterprise. IN general view The objectives of management consulting are as follows:

Increased turnover and profitability, increased company value,

Creation competitive advantages in the customer market, supplier market, labor market,

Increasing the manageability of the company, reducing the cost of managerial energy of managers,

Ensuring the required quality of products and services, reducing costs, eliminating time delays,

Improving intra-company interaction, increasing coordination of actions of departments and employees,

Increasing the activity and loyalty of staff, strengthening performance discipline,

Development key competencies, improving the management skills of managers and employees.

Management consulting services are of a specific nature:

Material products that can be measured by mechanical and/or physico-chemical indicators are not produced as a result,

The creation of a service and its consumption occurs immediately in the same place and at the same time,

Consulting firms have direct contact with consumers, which creates additional requirements for their functioning.

Like any other product, management consulting services have their own life cycle: stages of design and development, testing, release to the market, growth, maturity, saturation and decline. This process also has a time dimension, as some services become obsolete and need to be replaced, and some services emerge and need to be introduced. The essential characteristics of management consulting are manifested in the methods or special types of its implementation. Therefore, the classification of consulting services is necessary to identify each new type of consulting and manage the consulting process. Having generalized the classification of types of management consulting given in the literature and supplemented it based on the experience of providing them, we were able to identify the following general characteristics of the classification (Table 1):

Table 1 – Types of management consulting

The systematic characteristics given to each type of management consulting make it possible to compare its capabilities and evaluate its effectiveness in relation to others. By assessing the ratio of types of management consulting in business practice, one can observe the trends of these observations over time, which allows making appropriate adjustments to the development of consulting activities.

It is difficult to assess the quality of management consulting services, because the client perceives not only the result of the service, but becomes an accomplice in its provision. And the only requirement for consulting services, as well as for any other transactions carried out by organizations, from the side of the law is that they be provided in accordance with the law Russian Federation(in the banking sector of the economy they must be provided in accordance with Civil Code RF, the law “On Banks and Banking Activities”, etc.).

The difficulties of assessing the quality of consulting services determine the need for special guarantees of their quality, and, first of all, standards for consulting activities. When considering the quality of a consulting service, the subject area, content of the recommendation, methodology and service in providing the consulting service are also assessed. At the same time, it should be noted that the quality of consulting services directly depends on the degree of development of the consulting business and the principles of its implementation by periods of development. You can trace the development of the principles for carrying out consulting activities using the data in Table 2.

Table 2 – Development of principles of management consulting

Based on this, in the scientific literature it is proposed to use various assessment parameters to formally describe the quality of a consulting service. Having summarized the accumulated experience in providing consulting services and assessing their quality, we consider it necessary to use the following set of quality indicators of consulting services (Table 3). Thus, in order to gain recognition and become in demand in the market, a consulting firm needs to constantly take care of its reliability, responsibility and, most importantly, competence. Consulting specialists must, first of all, be excellent experts in business processes, competent analysts and good forecasters, and they must also have their own relatively free and objective opinion and be able to exert an authoritative influence on clients.

You can confirm the presence of the listed quality indicators of consulting services as follows:

1. Demonstration of the future result:

1.1. Displaying results for similar orders (sample reports, customer success stories).

Table 3 – Quality indicators of management consulting services

1.2. Imitation of the future result for the Client (identification of key management and financial and economic indicators that can be achieved as a result of purchasing the service).

1.3. Demonstration of future benefits from purchasing the service.

2. Materialization of the service:

2.1. The result of cooperation is partially embodied (handouts at seminars, accompanying documentation on implementation projects, a paper report on the results of consulting).

2.2. Related items and consumables are provided as an addition or gift (video or audio course).

3. Physical evidence of the quality of resources involved in the work:

3.1. Diplomas of employees (number of certified specialists, candidates and doctors of sciences, trained abroad, etc.).

3.2. The latest equipment.

3.3. Quality of materials used (international recognition and awards).

3.4. Official agreements with partners.

3.5. Licenses and company certificates in certain areas of work.

4. External assessment of the quality of work by third parties:

4.1. Company awards at competitions.

4.2. Membership in associations, clubs, etc.

4.3. Confirmation of cooperation with companies that traditionally have the most stringent quality requirements.

4.4. Reviews and Thanksgiving letters Clients.

4.5. Participation of management/employees in expert councils, scientific conferences, round tables on the topic (publications, photos, etc.), etc.

5. Demonstration of quality control to the Client:

5.1. Implementation of internal company standards and “voicing” them to clients.

5.2. Memo to the client for independent quality control.

5.3. Implementation of a quality management system.

6. Modeling the process, clarifying the cooperation procedure, guaranteeing efficiency:

6.1. Phased provision of services, the opportunity for the client to refuse further cooperation at some stage.

6.2. Prescribing the interaction procedure in detail and recording it in documents.

6.3. Possibility of a refund if the quality is unsatisfactory.

The availability of the considered indicators of the quality of consulting services can be ensured by analyzing and taking into account the factors influencing their quality. The services that a consulting firm can offer depend on a wide variety of external and internal factors. External factors- these are factors that are outside the consulting firm and contribute to the formation of the quality of services. The main ones are market (customer) requirements, competition, economic situation in the market, political situation, etc. Internal factors include those that depend on the activities of the consulting firm itself and affect its ability to provide services of adequate quality.

Basically, all factors, both internal and external, are closely interconnected, and they all affect the quality of consulting services. At the same time, only internal factors can be controlled and managed, so we will dwell on their study in more detail. To identify internal factors influencing the quality of consulting services in the banking sector of the economy, we conducted a survey using a questionnaire. The questionnaires were filled out by employees of banks located in the Oryol region and using in their activities the practice of turning to consultants (Rosselkhozbank, Lanta-Bank, Trust Bank, VTB 24, etc.).

As a result of the survey, the following information was obtained. Objectivity, complexity, communication, trust, competence and effectiveness of consulting services, which characterize the quality of customer service, depend on the qualifications of consultants, on their experience in this field of knowledge, on the relationship of consultants with clients, on the methods used by the consultant.

As a survey of respondents shows, they are more willing to listen to consultants if they have higher education and experience in banking sector activities. Clients make a preliminary impression about the possible quality of services based on an analysis of the price list of the consulting company. There is an opinion that the higher the prices, the more qualified assistance you can expect from consultants. Wherein financial crisis in the global economy forces banks to save money in order to reduce costs, which makes it difficult to attract highly qualified specialists who provide high-quality consulting services. Such quality characteristics of consulting services as relevance, efficiency, reliability, scientificity, complexity, flexibility and efficiency are ensured through the use of modern information technologies. From the security of consultants technical means depends on the possibility of their using information technologies, with the help of which they can provide consultations in as soon as possible With highest quality. As the survey showed, not all consultants are provided with the necessary equipment and it does not always meet modern requirements. Mostly problems arise with software. In addition, most consultants are currently not provided with portable instruments and laboratory equipment.

For efficient work consultants must be comfortable workplace, preferably in a separate room, however, as practice shows, consultants are usually limited in space and are in a room with other employees. The survey showed that 61% of consultants work in a room with other specialists of up to 3 people and 23% in an office with up to 6 people. Almost all consultants do not have an office for receiving visitors. There are also problems with the availability of premises for group events.

Based on the study of the experience of consulting organizations and conducted research, we have identified the main internal factors influencing the volume and quality of consulting services, which are presented schematically in Figure 1. Internal factors are numerous and it is advisable to classify them into groups:

1. Logistical factors through implementation new technology, technologies, etc. create the material basis for the production of competitive consulting services.

2. Organizational factors are associated with improving the organization of production and labor, increasing production discipline and responsibility for the quality of services, ensuring production culture and the appropriate level of personnel qualifications, introducing a quality management system and its certification and other organizational measures.

3. Economic forces are determined by the costs of organizing the provision of consulting services, the costs of ensuring the required level of their quality, the pricing policy and the system of economic incentives for personnel. Socio-psychological factors significantly influence the creation of a healthy socio-psychological climate in the team, normal conditions for work, education of personnel in the spirit of devotion and pride in their enterprise, moral incentives for employees for a conscientious attitude to work.

4. Marketing Factors influence the ability to determine the position of a consulting firm in the market and in the minds of consumers.

When studying the influence of these factors on the activities of consulting firms, it should be remembered that at each stage of their development the degree of influence of these factors is not the same. Therefore, the relevant services of consulting firms should rank internal factors by degree of influence and give preference to those that have the greatest impact on the quality of consulting services. This will allow you to manage product quality at lower costs and more effectively. The identified factors allow us to determine the conditions for increasing the volume and quality of consulting services:

Figure 1 – Internal factors influencing the volume and quality of consulting services

Organization of marketing of consulting services;

Creation human resources consultants, providing them with a decent level wages, organization of advanced training;

Equipping information and consulting centers with modern computing, copying and presentation equipment, necessary software and updated databases, organizing access to the Internet;

Equipping information and consultation centers with portable field instruments and laboratory equipment that allows you to quickly determine parameters technological processes and provide more informed advice in the banking industry;

Providing counseling centers vehicles for organizing mobile and operational work;

Methodological, organizational and Information support consultants.

The creation of these conditions in Russia is possible with comprehensive systematic approach to the organization of management consulting in particular and all consulting in general. Thus, taking into account the commonality of goals and objectives, all formations of the system require standard methodological, Information Support, training and advanced training programs for personnel, technical support compatible equipment, exchange of experience. These functions can be most effectively implemented centrally, differentiating the level of tasks and distributing them between federal and regional level, as well as through interregional exchange. This will eliminate duplication of actions, which entails irrational use of material and labor resources. With joint actions aimed at solving common typical problems, underestimation of factors due to incomplete information and knowledge is eliminated, and joining efforts and cooperation gives a synergistic effect that will be used and replicated in other territories.

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