Team Building Program - Essay Example

Business: Consultation Topic Paper I.D. of the Business: Consultation Topic Paper Introduction In this paper, a suggested consultation scheme is described with respect to the proposal drafted in response to an RFP. The drafted proposal deals with a team building program. The program has been identified as a topic related with human resources (HR) and staff training. The consultation process is, therefore, to be selected and modified suitably. Moreover, it must be kept in mind that HR related consultation should be more focused on creating value instead of seeking profits (Biagi 2002). What is consultation process? In business economics, consultation process can be described as a phenomenon in which one or more industrial/managerial experts give their valuable and well thought opinion/advice to a client who seeks to improve performance or expand operations. Per se, a company that has recently incurred a big loss in business may turn toward some consultancy firm for getting some advice on maximizing profits or fill up the loopholes. However, different types of consultancy services are needed for the different types of organizations, individuals, and industries because everyone has a unique need. Yet, experts have managed to analyze the process of consultation in a generalized way. Roughly, consultation process is divided into six phases. These are: pre-entry (preliminary formalities and introduction); entry (exploring the problem, contracting, etc.); information gathering (data collection, problem confirmation, etc.); implementation (intervention selection, planning, etc.); evaluation and termination (Kurpius et al 1993; International Labour Organization 2002; Ray 2011). Consultation with regard to the proposed draft The proposed draft addresses human resource or HR related issues, where training and interaction are the main foci. Scope of consultation in this context is around the nature and extent of the proposed training program. A necessity of consultation is likely to arise for the following reasons: Current program costs are around $50,000. So there is a necessity for reducing costs, otherwise the financial overhead may lead to sudden collapse of the program. Are more learning, training, and/or interactive activities are necessary? This is a vital question that must be solved with the help of expert consultancy. Another requirement is to expand the target population of the team building program. Focusing just on the staffs of the specified non-profit organization may not be enough. Inducting corporate level managers and peers may help in fostering more professional attitude. What problems can occur in the consultation process? Potential problems associated with each phase of consultation may affect the proposed team building program adversely. Selecting the right consultancy group or company is the most difficult task. Clash of opinions and collision of personalities may hamper both the consultation process and training program. Pre-entry phase: In this stage, problems may arise regarding selection of the right consultancy firm or group of experts. Entry phase: The most crucial part of this phase is contracting. While contracting, the managers must be aware of the fact that the rest of the consultation process will considerably depend on the contract papers. Issues may arise if important points over potential duties on the part of the consultant are missed out. Information gathering phase: In this part of the process, it is a challenge for the consultants to communicate with the program partakers. Not only the consultants but also the clients must show amicable attitude at this stage. Clash of personalities may become an issue at this stage. Some of the staff members may think that the consulters are outsiders and may act reluctantly while answering to their critical queries. Implementation phase: Intervention selection is the most important and difficult part of the process. Intervention must not amount to interference. But the consulters may prove to be insensitive in this regard. They may take up an incisive approach and create disturbance while trying to bring about a change. Also, overconfident consulters may not seek opinion of the client while creating the plans for program improvement, reduction of costs, and expanding the outreach. Evaluation phase: Evaluating a work with or without the opinion of the person or the group, who carried out the work, may prove to be difficult. However, if the sole responsibility of evaluation is left to the consulters, then an honest feedback may not be obtained and necessary criticisms may be omitted altogether. Termination phase: There are very few chances of a process specific problem occurring at this stage. Both the client and the consultants will be carrying out the paper formalities in this phase. Circumnavigating the problems Problems that might arise in both the entry and pre-entry phases must be solved at a managerial level. Process oriented issues are not related with those that may arise at this two phases. But the sub-phase of contracting may turn out to be crucial since all the contract terms, conditions, and duties to be assigned to the consultants are to be written clearly on the contract papers (International Labour Organization 2002). If the terms and conditions are not set enough clearly during the very beginning of the process, then there will definitely be diverse nature of problems in future. Information gathering can be difficult for the consultants. On the other hand, the same can be annoying for the staff members. However, the program under discussion is an HR oriented team building program. Therefore, both the consultants and staff members can be made to understand the values of cooperation. This is a typical situation where both teaching and training are involved since consultations regarding training programs are directly related with staff education (Biagi 2002). An activity in the training program itself can be inducted in this phase. The activity is that of debate and discussion. Before organizing debate and discussion among the training program participants, the consulters can be asked to enter in discussion sessions. These discussion sessions can be organized between the managers, trainers, consulters, and some of the senior program participants. These discussions may become hot debates. But they will play an important role in creating a prelude for more debate. Consequently, the key stakeholders will get to know each other better. In the rest of the consultation process, the debates and discussions (between key stakeholders like trainers and consulters) held in this phase will help in fostering more understanding and cooperation. What is more, the consulters will be able to gather lots of information rather during the beginning of the consultation process. At the implementation phase, the consulters will face the most difficult part of their job. They must reduce the costs of the team building program. Also, they must suggest at least a few new activities to enrich the team building program. While reducing costs, the consulters and managers may adopt opposite views. But both sides must be mentally prepared for loosing some ground to each other. The team building program planners must understand that a cost of $50,000 is really hard to afford. The consulters must understand that quality issues must not arise while reducing the costs. In sum, there should be a feeling of immense mutual respect while discussing on cost reduction and implementing the final roadmap. This is like placing ice breaking practices in a real life situation. In the same context, the consultants must also interact with the staffs in a more direct way. Their approach should be interventionist rather than that of interference. Also, being a non-profit organization, the consulters are not likely to be working in a strictly profit-oriented corporate environment. Therefore, an overly and socially responsible approach is very much necessary. In HR and educational projects, both professionalism and sense of responsibility are highly expected (Biagi 2002). All the stakeholders in the current team building program must be conditioned likewise. Similarly, the consulting partners must understand the unique needs of the organization under discussion in a straight forward and sincere manner. Otherwise, the problems around feeling of interference and planning cannot be bypassed. Evaluation is another crucial part of the process. The participants in the team building program are the best evaluators in this case. However, they have a limited role to play. For example, program costs cannot be discussed with or handled by the program participants themselves. Therefore, the suggestions from the consulters must be graded with the help of a twofold approach. Firstly, the team building program participants and volunteers must be asked about the general impression of the program as well as the consultation process. Secondly, the organization managers and trainers must be asked for their valuable opinion over the more difficult issues like cost reduction. In this way, a holistic but short evaluation program must be embedded inside the whole process. The results of the evaluation will reveal the necessities of revisions, if any. The consulters too should be sensible enough for accepting suggested revisions, if any. References Biagi, M. (2002). Quality of work, industrial relations and employee involvement in Europe: Thinking the unthinkable? Quality Work and Employee Involvement in Europe. The Hague: Kluwer Law International International Labour Organization. (2002). Management Consulting: A Guide to the Profession. Geneva: International Labour Office. Kurpius, D.J., Fuqua, D.R., and Rozecki, T. (1993). The consulting process: A multidimensional approach. Journal of Counseling and Development 71, 601-606 Ray, A. (2011). The consultancy Process: A Management Perspective. Munich: GRIN Read More