ASSIGNMENT MANAGEMENT

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A consulting firm performs work for clients through individual operating assignments. Whatever choices are made and principles adopted as regards the firm’s strategy, quality assurance, staff development or product innovation, the decisions will need to be translated into operational arrangements and intervention methods used in individual client assignments. If not, grand designs will not leave the managing partners’ offices and work with clients will continue as before. Also, individual clients will judge the consulting firm on the basis of particular assignments. Clumsy and hectic assignment management is likely to be interpreted by clients as a sign of organizational incompetence and inefficiency.

This chapter focuses on the managerial and administrative aspects of assignment execution. It therefore supplements Chapters 7 to 11, which describe the stages of the consulting process. To avoid repetition, a number of references to these chapters are made in the text that follows.