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Case Studies
Redesign
of a manufacturing division
Redesign of a bank division
Resolving
conflicting objectives in an IS group
Designing a consulting division
New product introduction redesign
Implementing a new performance management
system
Managing the development needs of 1000 consultants
Rollout of proprietary training
A review of an existing rewards and motivation
system
Case Studies | Designing a consulting division
In 1995 the consulting division I was working for was acquired by a much larger firm. It was decided that for an initial period we would remain as a separate entity, but would make some changes towards longer term integration.
At the time we were acquired, we were organised in practices aligned to industry sectors, with each practice responsible for its own sales pipeline. Our new owners also had industry practices, but they were small and only responsible for sales. Their 'delivery' consultants resided in consulting practices - large groups differentiated according to the types of capability they offered.
Our task was to define some consulting practices of our own, to reflect the range of capabilities we had to offer. As is usual when one company joins with another everyone was very keen to impress, so an important objective for our new structure was that it should show what a valuable resource we were. Another challenge was that everyone had a different view about how we should express our capabilities.
I was asked to lead a team to come up with the new structure. The project had to be completed quickly, as speculation was causing unease, but the answer had to please everyone. So that no-one would feel they had been excluded, we announced a part time open team approach. This meant we would have one working session of an hour each day, and all sessions would be open to anyone who could attend. A few 'core' members committed to attending all sessions.
We were determined that we would consider the widest possible range of options, so we used several different techniques to generate ideas. In parallel we collected existing statements of our identity, like vision and values statements, and developed a process list to capture the range of our activities and the relationships between them. After dozens of models had been proposed and rejected, one of the team came up with an idea that was both simple and attractive.
We used the vision and values statements to check that the new model supported the objectives of the organisation, and the process list helped us to ensure that all activities had clear owners. After some careful but rapid communication the idea was accepted by the rest of our organisation. It was only after the wider announcement to our new colleagues that we heard that we had impressed them most by being able to reach a consensus in such a short time.
