Human Capital Management
April 19th, 2010 14:11 PM By admin

While back we started talking about “Peril of adviser gone bad”. Essentially we expressed our opinion about hiring procedures that may or may not be suitable to small and mid Size Company. This is follow up piece.

Clearly in the past and present we have made an attempt to keep our blog out of the scientific data crunch and other complicating factors in order to make our points easier to understand.  This particular topic is no different.

In the past weeks and months we have continued to see tremendous amount of errors by small and mid size business owners.  Naturally it is important to point out that most such errors occur outside the scope of our own work with some clients as well as our observation of competitors and non clients. Nevertheless; the errors remain.

One particular issue that has been noticed by us more frequently than others has been the challenging task to pin point the “why”.

  • Why are Small and mid size business owners (SMBO) reluctant to recognize the need for HR procedures?
  • Why do SMBO refuse to recognize their true need for human capital management?
  • Why the issue of HR in small and mid size business hasn’t received more attention at University and College level?
  • ….. You see where we are going with this.

Traditionally; even at educational level the HR standards have been made to appear to be an exclusive concept of large corporations. Nothing could be farther away from the truth – If anything at all; the small and mid size businesses are more dependent on their human capital then their larger counter parts.

So what is the moral of this entry? Simple:  based on practical real world experiences it is fair to say that SMBO’s have a knowledge gap that would require a fundamental shift in educational as well as real world narratives. Educating SMBO’s about their reliance on human capital coupled with appropriate HR management is not only a necessity ; it is a requirement for successful organizational growth toward profitability .

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The unruly client
February 08th, 2010 15:44 PM By admin

While the title itself maybe a contradictory concept to any business minded entrepreneur, it is hardly a new concept. In many cases in spite of the expertise and efforts of management consultants; or for this matter most professional consultant, the clients tend to be unruly.
Let’s define unruly for the purposes of this discussion. Unruly would be defined as a particular behavior which would be contradictory to an “actors” self interest. Granted that such definition maybe excessively broad to pin point particular characteristics, however, it is not beyond norms of generalization.

Essentially, the unruly corporate client as a vital actor within the business economy should be defined by their actions which are harmful in the long run. Let’s look at a particular theorized example:

Imagine client X has achieved most of its intended online marketing. As a part of vertical penetration in untapped or underserved markets, the clients plan a great PPC campaign. Here is where the problem starts: imagine the client being resistant to appropriate implementation of PPC campaign because of potential cost.

This is where the ethical issues of management consulting firms and consultants in general will begin.  The most pressing issues and questions can be formulated as below:

  • Is it the consultant duty to proceed regardless of the consequences?
  • Is it the responsibility of a consultant to resist actions that are short lived?
  • Is it the viable to do whatever it is asked of a consultant as long as it is legal?

Though such questions are hypothetical in nature, it is easy to see that everyday actions of clients can greatly influence the interaction and final outcome of external efforts.

We have seen and heard of entities that have found solutions that work for them. Some of the actions and measures that have been observed include:

  • Creating regular third / fourth party verification and evaluation of strategy and execution
  • Constant ( … and at times excessive ) reporting
  • Constant ( … and most of the time excessive ) communication
  • … and on the rather extreme end of scale :
  1. Decline unruly clients from the get go based either on past experiences OR their general reputation
  2. Share and maintain a list of experiences with colleges in the industry
  3. Publishing the past experiences in online and offline venues

None of the above mentioned measures, in combination nor individually can remedy such a problem .

In the coming days and week we will discuss some of the measures that have historically proven to  work .

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Management Consulting and Management Consulting Blog

The value of a domain
July 29th, 2008 11:06 AM By WCG Staff

The value of a domain

Depending whom you ask, you will receive a variety of answers that may range from complex calculations of ad revenue to unique visitors from particular geo locations. Essentially there is not right and wrong answer, the price of a domain that may be worth $10 to one entity, maybe worth $100000 to another.

The essentials are rather simple and logical, the mere branding or name recognition can translate in huge amount of traffic or sales, or it can harm a new brand. The real question is as how a domain can and will be used to improve ROI. 

We all have seen or read about huge domain sales, that have created millions of dollars sales, but we also have seen domain speculators fail to monetize their domains. The bottom line is rather obvious, in which the value of a domain may entirely depend on a particular niche and possibilities. The wild card is however, the most recent action by ICAAN. Will the authorization of new vanity domains with all new top level extensions be a game changer? Will it increase the value of traditional domains or diminish their value.

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Management Consulting : http://www.worldconsultinggroup.com/
That remains to be seen. 

Peril of adviser gone bad
June 19th, 2008 09:18 AM By WCG Staff

In the ever changing global environment with steep local, regional and international competition, it is hardly a mystery that most successful companies value their executive teams.  However, it is still difficult for small businesses to enjoy the same level of advice and expertise because of lack of human capital management capacity.

Essentially, the most widely encountered issue for small businesses is within the monumental task of hiring and retaining an executive. The hiring by it selves is not as problematic as recognizing and cultivating talent.  In our opinion, the biggest factor in such decisions ends up being related to loyalty. It is not difficult to get lost in the sea of professional and personal connections, whereby the goal becomes fuzzier and personal accountability, efficiency and effectiveness take a second row to personal likings.

In spite of the simplified statement above, such loyalty issues can cost business owners a tremendous headache and lower bottom line. One of the most common circumstances occurs when unqualified personnel work their way up, not by actual achievements, rather than just extended time of employment.

The results are rather astonishingly flawed. Personnel in mid management and even upper management, end up being unqualified at best and a liability at worst ; hindering internal and external growth , upsetting the internal balance , creating resentment from internal and external entities , as well as hindering overall growth.

Ultimately, it is hardly a new issue. Small and mid size businesses simply lack the proper resources to be consistent in hiring, promoting and terminating executive employees, compared to their larger counterpart. However, the tell tales are not as complicated. As a small business owner, ask yourself some simple questions: when was the last time we brought a third party to evaluate our internal efforts in terms of effectiveness and efficiency? When was the last time our executives attended some trade shows? When did our executives attend a farther education course? Have any of our executives been published? Are they at least trying? How do our executives keep up with the latest in our industry? Etc.

Note of caution: just because a business owner thinks highly of an executive team member, it does not mean that the particular person is actually competent. Nor does it mean that the particular executive is worth his / her money. It simply means that he or she has been noticed. It doesn’t mean more; it doesn’t mean less.

In the coming days and weeks, we will explore the details of how to spot an executive that is more harmful to the organization than anything else.

Brought to you by: World Consulting Group . Your premier management consulting firm at http://www.worldconsultinggroup.com/ 

Executive habits and the impact
May 16th, 2008 08:14 AM By WCG Staff

Many times, it is rather obvious why bad business decisions are made. Other times, it seems like a mystery to outsiders. However, one of the most viable venues to explore the reasons for bad, ineffective or simply wrong decisions is to examine the business habits of executives.

It is beyond this short entry to examine all possible sub categories of bad executive habits, however, one of the rather most common and virtually universal issues is the reading habits; which will be the main emphasize of this entry.

Though not a scientific statement, it is rather easy to see the basis of a decision relating to executive experiences; however, it is rather substantially more difficult to establish a connection between recent readings and current decision making process. We have seen and heard anecdotal evidence which imply a correlation between recent readings and current decision making.

Let’s examine this concept:  is it logical to infer that a recent piece of literature may have conscious or unconscious impact on the reader? Could it be that the way such readings are selected is also illustrative of the readers’ preferences? Is it acceptable to assume that such factors may impact the decision making process and the ultimate outcome?

Certainly it is not farfetched to assume that current events including reading habits may have short or long term impact on a decision maker. It would be interesting to back such hypothesis with a field study; however, considering the deductive reasoning used, it is rather safe to imply that such assumptions may not be baseless.

The essential of good or bad decision which is ultimately a question of situational impact and organizational capabilities, cannot and should not be simplified. Yet the exploration of sub categories of impact may prove equally difficult in establishing universal SOP. Hence leading to a assumptive conclusion that although a universal statement about the impact of reading habits of executives in relations to their respective decision making process may not be viable without scientific data, yet may illustrate a good starting point.

In the coming days and weeks we will start exploring other issues such as topics of the reading material , the frequency of readings, venue and many more related issues.

Brought to you by: World Consulting Group — Your premier management consulting firm .

The intrigues of Management Consulting
March 06th, 2008 08:53 AM By WCG Staff

The intrigues of Management Consulting

Management consulting is no different than any other advisory role. Though simplistic at first glance, it is not much different than a legal or medical advisor. The one most common similarity is that all advisory roles illustrate certain business and ethical issues. The most pressing issue, however, is the clients’ ability and willingness to adhere to guidance.

It is no secret that one of the greatest challenges in maintaining positive relationships with existing and potential clients is to convince them of the benefits of the advice given to them ; or as we refer to it as protecting the client from itself. This does by no mean imply that clients should blindly follow their management consultants’ suggestions; however it does imply that based on consistent record and relationship longevity, clients should be able to distinguish appropriate and useful recommendations from negative or self serving opinions.

Many times small business owners which have been lacking expertise in innovation and organizational effectiveness and efficiency, resist the dire and necessary organizational changes that would lead to greater profitability, effectiveness, efficiency and ultimately greater ROI and improve bottom line. Internal factors such as less than competent managers and executives , lack of continues education by upper management , industry specific habits , as well as lack of third party audits to improve upon existing procedures , farther create organizational redundancy which may in turn decrease the likelihood of organizational improvements.

  
Similarly the organizational culture that has led to some preliminary success may contribute to the halt of farther positive development in organizational evolution. Many times the previous success that may be correctly contributed to old and outdated business practices create sense of satisfaction which create a false sense of comfort for executive which may lead to neglects in innovation and evolution.

Ultimately, the abstract concept of organizational culture will depend on many factors that may or may not have a positive impact on overall outcome. Yet the alternative solutions to improve upon past successes can have similar negative impact; which brings us back to the issue of ethics .

Generally speaking it is certainly more profitable to prolonging problems; however, is it ethical? Of course it is not ethical nor does it actually make sense. From a business point, management consultants are certainly better off to create and maintain a relationship based on honest and upfront assessments and projections. From an ethical point it is equally important to illustrate integrity by consistently pointing to weaknesses that may influence the outcome.

Yet the ultimate question is when does one give up on an organization that is not willing to follow advise , is plugged with incompetence employees and executives , lacks clear strategy and even more importantly creates frustrations within the management consulting firm ? There is no good answer to this. One may suggest that it depends on loyalty issues; others may suggest that separation from such client may lead to negative rumors that can be harmful; yet others may argue that the success of projects that is hindered by clients errors should be clearly identified and criticized before the lack of success is blamed on the management consulting firm .

The final word on this is rather ambiguous. Each management consulting firm should decide on clear lines of tolerance. Basically deciding when a client becomes more of a liability than a business partner or client should be allowed. Many factors may contribute to a decision to sever relationship with such clients; including business profitability, industry specific reputation, personal relationships as well as contractual agreements.

Nevertheless, separation from a client should not be taken lightly. Any and all efforts to convince the client to change course should implement in order to preserve the relationship before any decision to separate is even considered.

Brought to you by: World Consulting Group ; your premier management consulting firm .

Management Expert
January 18th, 2008 15:28 PM By WCG Staff

A while back we start talking about fundamental steps to hire management personal. This particular entry will be mainly about evaluating credentials of potential management employees.

The fist most common process is to evaluate the educational background. This is not the same as examination and evaluation of basic academic career rather than the evaluation of educational ventures since the professional life of the individual. It is no secret that there is no shortage in finding well educated individuals. It is substantially more difficult to find an individual which has continued a dedicated path of farther education which may include single or combination courses, professional certificates, external or internal conferences, as well as additional degrees in their entirety.

The second most common process is the evaluation of the career track. This is not the same as reading and checking a resume that has a lot of current buzz words, empty titles and bogus achievements. Nor is this the same as evaluating a prospect based on the company name in their resume.  This is more about reading between the lines.

The third most common process is the reference check. The traditional process entails contacting former employers to get a first hand evaluation. It can occur by any means including email and phone conversation. Nevertheless, as a matter of standard operating procedure, such feed back or evaluation should be taken at face value because of its inherently flawed assumptions.

The fourth most common process is comparative in nature. In its basic form, the evaluation entity will cross compare the most viable applicant against internal and external standards as well as against the other applicants. This particular methodology may or may not be viable because of variations in qualifications of applicants as well as their respective background.

Note of cautious – the above named procedures are inherently centralistic and general in nature. Individual businesses and organizations will have to conduct their own customized standard operating procedures to harvest the greatest effectiveness and efficiency in their hiring procedures. Nevertheless, hiring a management expert is one of the rather intriguing part of human resources, yet the greatest danger and impact is within those small organizations which do not have dedicated human resource departments.

In the coming days and weeks we will continue to discuss the procedures which would benefit small and mid size organizations without dedicated human resource department.

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World Consulting Group — Your premier public relation firm .

Management expert
January 11th, 2008 10:07 AM By WCG Staff

Management by definition implies a set of skills that may or may not be all naturally acquired or learned. The fundamentals of an effective and efficient management personnel and individual managers are rather murky. Though generally certain set of education and experiences are required to groom a manager, the quantity and quality of those requirements are by no means really uniform.

The most basic requirements such as advanced educational degrees such as M.B.A. or Ph.D. coupled with years of experiences are simply not enough anymore. In the current global economy, virtually all upper management personnel come in contact with issues such as language and cultural issues, technological challenges, cross industrial expertise as well as geopolitical concerns.

This certainly does not mean that every manager or management expert has to be familiar with all potential challenges, rather than the ability to recognize the appropriate issues at hand that can be effectively and efficiently dealt with.

Additionally, such ability may also ease the complexity of implementing solutions such as hiring management experts or management consulting firms that can aid in resolving external and internal issues. Such simplification may also influence the bottom line by creating cost savings.

In the coming days and weeks, we will start a detailed discussion about the most basic and universal requirements for hiring a management employee and management experts.

Brought to you by:

World Consulting Group — Your premier management consulting firm .

Cost Reduction Management
December 15th, 2007 09:04 AM By WCG Staff

Cost Reduction Management

Virtually every executive on virtually all levels and across all industries and business sizes, have to deal with budgeting and cost efficiencies. One would be hard pressed to find any executive that is not attempting to reduce cost to increase profitability. However, considering the role of modern management coupled with technological development in the most recent two decades, one may wonder about the effectiveness of executive times to re-negotiate or find alternative solutions.

That being said, the sheer mention of the value of executive efforts and cost cutting in the same sentence may make the stakeholders rather nervous. Such concerns can be easily addressed by simple cost benefit analysis. In our experiences, the outcome is virtually always the same; the cost of having high level executives deal with cost saving daily tasks exceeds the benefits of those cost savings .

The most suitable solution lies within outsourcing . In our experiences we have found that a pay per performance model in this particular case is the most beneficial approach. Once a third party is chosen, the compensation could include a minimal base payment combined with a percentage of cost saving. Yet such agreement requires that virtually all contracts and agreements of the given organization is up for analysis and improvement .

Ultimately, cost saving and cost reduction management should be a vital part of overall strategic management. Yet the methodology and approach to such measures requires extensive cost benefit analysis in order to maximize the outcome which can be beneficial to all stakeholders.

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World Consulting Group

Your premier management consulting firm in Columbia Missouri  

Management Evaluation SOP
December 07th, 2007 08:26 AM By WCG Staff

Management Evaluation SOP

Regrettably, SOP or Standard Operating Procedures have gotten a bad reputation because of the societal and cultural movement toward different schools of thoughts in terms of individualism and micro management.  However, standard operating procedures have not lost any significance because of popular misconceptions.

Essentially, SOP refers to a set of predetermined rules and actions that are inherently designed to achieve a prearranged set of results. The concepts of individualism or the fast past business world has not influenced the importance of such procedures. Though, because of popular misconceptions, stakeholders have to integrate measures that address concerns such as individualism as well micro management .

The most logical solution to take advantage of SOP while easing the minds of employees is within SOP itself; if SOP entails measures that put the SOP under constant review and evaluation, the concerns of employees should be eased.  This brings us to the issue of SOP in evaluating management .

The mere fact that virtually every aspect of daily business is or should be subject to constant review and evaluation, diminishes the argument that executives cannot or should not be measured and evaluated. Yet, there are some additional concerns when it comes to upper level management; which can include the rather subjective nature of decision making that plagues the executive daily duties.

This is where SOP can have a significant positive impact by establishing neutral set of requirements and points of assessment that would take the subjectivity out of the evaluation process.   

In the coming days and week we will outline specific procedures and measure to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in such SOP.

Brought to you by: World Consulting Group — Your premier management consulting firm .

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