11.2.3 ‐ ANÁLISIS SUGERIDOS
12.1 ‐ P RINCIPALES A PORTACIONES Y D ISCUSIÓN
The consultant stated that “our game is personality” and to be a good consultant he believes that one has to have the right personality. He also stressed the importance of good social or interpersonal communication skills, a point reported in a number of other studies (Williams et al., 1997a,b; Kemp et al., 2000). He stated that a consultant has to enjoy working with people. This is similar to Williams et al. (1997a,b) finding, that an important element of rapport between a consultant and a client was affinity. He stated that a consultant needs to be happy and positive because people like to engage with individuals with these traits. As such, the consultant ensures that on visits he comes across as happy and positive even if he has had a bad week. He stated that people like individuals that can make them “feel better”. He also stated that having a sense of humour is useful for a consultant. Little has been written about the personality of consultants, but some studies have stressed the importance of interpersonal communication skills and the role of humour in building rapport (e.g. Williams et al., 1997a,b). The consultant believes that often consultancy firms recruit novice consultants who have the wrong personality for consultancy. This may be an area for future research. The study has highlighted that a consultant has to be good at networking, both with farmers, scientists and rural professionals. Again, there is little mention of this in the literature.
The consultant also believes that successful consultants need a personality that allows them to work with a range of clients. This allows them to access a broader client base. He believes that there are different types of consultants in New Zealand who have different styles of consultancy and play different roles. The consultant’s
style is reasonably “laid back” and his focus is on developing a dialogue with the client around the problem. He stated that other consultants may have a more challenging style that is preferred by some clients. The consultant stated that he can adopt this style and play this role, but because it is not his natural style, it is more difficult and requires more energy. This suggests that the consultant classifies a client on the style of consultancy he prefers and then tailors his own style to meet that client’s requirements. Little has been written about this in the farm management consultancy literature. Kubr (1996) identified the range of roles a corporate consultant could play and highlighted the level of a consultant’s activity in the problem solving process (Figure 12). This ranged from an advocate and technical expert at one end of the continuum where the consultant plays a dominant role through to a process specialist and reflector at the other end of the continuum who provides limited input into the problem solving process.
Figure 12 The roles a management consultant can play (Source: Kubr, 1996)
On a similar note, Nikolova et al. (2009) in the management consultancy literature identified three theoretical models that have been used to describe the client-consultant interaction: 1) the expert model, 2) the critical model and the social learning model (Table 11). The expert model is based on the assumption that “professional action consists of solving concrete client problems with the help of scientific theories and techniques” (Nikolova et al., 2009, p. 290). The consultant is the expert and possesses an interpretive monopoly in their respective knowledge and practice areas. This expertise allows the consultant to correctly determine the client’s needs and develop effective problem solutions. The knowledge of the client is viewed as superior to that of the client and as such they occupy positions of relative power. The role of the client is reduced to information supplier during the diagnostic phase and they are not involved in the creative aspects of the problem solving process (Nikolova et al., 2009). The consultant’s role is to adapt their abstract, general knowledge to the specific client situation to generate an adequate problem solution for the client (Nikolova et
al., 2009).
Table 11 The roles played by a management consultant (Source: Nikolova et al., 2009)
The expert model The critical model The social learning model The consultant’s role Expert
Responsible for diagnosis and problem solving
Impression manager Storyteller and creator of myths
Coach
Facilitator of diagnosis and problem solving
The client’s role
Provider of information Implementer
Audience, passive actor Coach
Problem solver Implementer Power relation Consultant’s abstract
knowledge superior to client’s specific knowledge Consultant is the dominant actor Consultant’s rhetorical and argumentation skills are superior
Consultant is the
dominant actor
Consultant and client’s
knowledge and contributions equally important
Balanced relationship
The critical model (Table 11) takes an alternative view to the interpretive monopoly of experts (Nikolova et al., 2009). Proponents of this view argue that “knowledge is a socially constructed phenomenon dependent on social recognition and legitimacy rather than on scientific objectivity” (Nikolova et al., 2009, p. 290). Professional knowledge is not substantiated knowledge but rather a specific language used by managers and management consultants (Nikolova et al., 2009). It is used to represent mutually acceptable ways of knowing and defining and talking about managers, management and organisations. It is also ambiguous, metaphorical and context-dependent. Proponents of this approach argue that in order to impress their clients and obtain their business, consultants rely on a high degree of rhetoric, images, metaphors, and humour (Nikolova et al., 2009). Consulting firms are “systems of persuasion that communicate with clients via a series of success narratives that act as a substitute for the consulting companies’ ambiguous and vague knowledge base” (Nikolova et al., 2009, p. 290). In this model, clients are represented as passive actors who are focused on managing their own insecurities and fears (Nikolova et al., 2009).
In contrast to the other two models, the social learning model (Table 11) emphasises that the clients share centre stage with the consultant and are active players in the diagnosis and problem solving processes (Nikolova et al., 2009). Proponents of this approach argue that clients possess valuable knowledge (experiential and tacit in the case of farmers (Tsouvalis et al., 2000; Riley, 2008)) which need to be incorporated into the problem solution (Nikolova et al., 2009, p. 290.) This point was also made by the consultant in the study. In this model, a successful client-consultant interaction requires that the client and consultant jointly diagnose the client’s problems and develop solutions to these (Nikolova et al., 2009). In this situation, neither party dominates the relationship, in contrast to the expert model where the power resides with the consultant (Nikolova et al., 2009). In this model it is argued that the client and consultant often speak different languages and have difficulty communicating with each other (Nikolova et al., 2009). An important aspect of the consultancy process is the development of a common language. As such, the two parties must make their interpretations of the situation clear to each other. To do this, they need to develop a common set of assumptions and some common language (Nikolova et al., 2009, p. 290). Nikolova et al. (2009, p. 290) stated that “In this process of reflection in action or dialogue, clients and consultants share authority and control over the negotiation of meaning.
The consultant stressed that a key attribute of a good consultant is the ability to work with a range of people. He noted that some consultants work with a narrow range of clients, but he prefers to work with a broader range. Some clients like consultants who are blunt almost to the point of rudeness. The consultant can play this style, but it is not his natural style and he finds it more difficult to take on this role, “it requires more energy”. However, he can work with a range of farmers from those that are soft spoken and not pushy through to the other extreme. Little has been written about this in the literature.
The consultant stressed that a novice consultant has to be very good analytically (Sternberg, 1997.) They need to be able to analyse the impact of a change and identify the key drivers of systems performance. Consultants must also have a holistic understanding of farming systems. The consultant believes that if an individual lacks analytical skills and an ability to think systemically, then consultancy is probably not the job for them. Consultants also have to be able to provide practical advice and also know when they need to bring in outside expertise because they do not have the skills and knowledge to deal with a particular problem. Various studies have talked about the analysis a consultant must undertake (e.g. Rogers et al., 1996a,b; Gray et al., 1997a,b), but few have mentioned the skills they need in relation to analysis or systemic thinking. Similarly, little has been reported on the need to determine when the requirements of a client fall outside the consultant’s skill set.
4.3 The consultancy process
Previous studies have reported that the consultancy process can be usefully separated into a physical process that describes the phases of a consultancy visit and a problem solving process that is used by the consultant to diagnose and solve problems faced by the client (Rogers et al., 1996a,b; Gray et al., 1999a,b, 2000; Bruce 2013). This study has identified one further process that the consultant undertakes and that is the recruitment of new clients. Other studies have focused on how an expert consultant either builds rapport (Williams et al., 1997a,b; Kemp et al., 2000) with a new client or diagnoses and solves problems for a new client (Rogers et
al., 1996a,b; Gray et al., 1999a,b, 2000; Bruce 2013). However, the recruitment of a new client has been
taken as a given in these studies and little has been reported on how they are recruited. This is an important area, particularly for a novice consultant who is seeking to expand his client base. The following sections will compare the consultant’s client recruitment process, the physical phases of his consultancy visit and his problem solving process with the literature.