External Consultant and Consultancy Process in the UK - Research Paper Example

Role of External Consultant and Consultancy Process in UK Event Industry Introduction The UK event industry is a rapidly growing industry whose purpose is to host several events, seminars, mega shows, reality shows, and a lot of programs on regular basis. One of the key objectives of the UK event industry is to stabilize the economy of the country by providing the people with great entertainment through organizing various attractive events. There are a lot of companies in the event industry of the United Kingdom which hold a mixed range of events which includes cultural events, organizational events, leisure events, and personal events. Those companies which do not have enough resources to organize the business events give the task to event management firms in order to effectively organize and manage any specific business event for the company. Jacowski (2008) affirms that some companies hire methodology experts because they are unable to undertake improvements for various reasons. 2. Event Industry Before going into the discussion related to role of an external consultant and the consultancy process in the United Kingdom’s event industry, let’s get a better understanding of what event industry actually is. UK event industry is a well established multi million dollar industry which has achieved a great success in effectively organizing various cultural, personal, and organizational events. UK event industry has enormously grown in the last 15 to 20 years, and since then it has proved to be one of the most valuable and beneficial industries for the country. Event industry has also created a lot of job opportunities for the people with different educational qualifications. While talking about event industry, we must also talk about those industries which are directly related to the event industry and a lot of people get financially benefited from those related industries by getting employments. These industries and related areas include event management, marketing and advertising, event consultancy, hotel industry, travel industry, public relation firms, media, and budgeting and accounting. 2.1 Event Management Event management is one of the most important parts of UK event industry and is related to the management of whole event. Event management includes all those activities which are critically important for the success of any specific event. These activities include planning, promotion, organizing, and supervising any specific event. Planning of the event is done by the event organizers but the strategy for organizing the event is planned after consulting an external consultant because the external consultants have a vast knowledge about the environment and available opportunities for the event. The event can be of any type such as business event, sports event, personal event, cultural event, or a music concert. Event management is a whole process which includes many valuable activities that play a great role in effectively and efficiently organizing any type of event. Event management is a way to outsource various business and social events. Events can be arranged for a small group of people to a massive number. Event management has turned out to be one of the most successful businesses of the world. About 80 % of the personal and business events are organized by the event management firms because most of the businesses have no expertise in the field of event management so they give this task to the specialized event management firms in order to make the event successful. When a company wants to organize an event, it has to analyze different aspects of the event which include planning, managing, and budgeting aspects. For this reason, the companies contact different event management firms in order to obtain the best price quote with the most reliable service. 2.2 Event Industry Forum If we talk about event industry forum, we can say that it is an informal body whose purpose is to organize a gathering in order to discuss various issues regarding event industry and those related to common interest of the participants. Event industry forum plays a beneficial role in effective management of the events because all those issues and facts, which have a direct or indirect link with the organization of the events, get discussed and a most suitable decision is taken by the chairman of the forum regarding any specific issue. Event industry forum provides the people with an opportunity to express their ideas and plans regarding event management. We can say that event industry forum, which is held twice a year, plays a great role in the success of UK event industry as it comes up with a lot of new ideas and plans regarding successful event management. 3. Selection of an External Consultant Selection of the best external consultant is one of the key tasks of the UK event managers because success of any specific event depends on the role of external consultants. So a wide analysis should be done by the event management personals in order to select the most appropriate consultant for the event. The first task of the event managers is to take recommendations about the available external consultants and to conduct a thorough research about the success rate of consultants’ success rate. Bryce (2006) asserts, “Ideally, a consultant should have both a business and a technical background”. The research helps the event managers in sorting out those consultants who have a successful and dynamic consultancy career and who have proved to be very successful in the field of consultancy. After selection of the consultants, they are invited to take part in the bidding process in order to give the event consultancy responsibility to the most appropriate consultant. The selected consultants need a good briefing about the event to be organized. It is important for the consultants to get a briefing because in this way they get a proper understanding of the event which helps them fill the tender. After the bidding process, the strongest candidates are selected for the interview. Interview helps the event management sort out the best candidate from the pool of selected candidates for the interview. After selection of the best candidate by the group of managers, an agreement regarding the salary and work plan is reached between the event managers and the selected consultant. 4. Role of an External Consultant Before going into the details of the role played by an external consultant in the competitive world of the UK event industry, let’s get to know what an external consultant is. An external consultant is a professional who works for someone else in order to provide the other person with the actual information about any specific matter. Eden (2007) asserts, “The consultant is usually an expert in the chosen field and will often have a greater depth of experience than the equivalent employee”. If we talk about event industry, we can say that an external consultant provides the event management firms with the information regarding outside business environment. External consultants have an outside view of the business matters. They can predict the external environment of the business and can provide information about the available business opportunities. External consultants play a vital role in the success of any country’s event industry. In the United Kingdom, the event industry is known as one of the most successful industries of the country. It is because event management firms of the UK event industry make use of external consultancy process before taking any step regarding any event. Consultancy process helps the event managers know the predicted outcomes of any specific event. The external consultants present the actual scenario of the business event to the event managers. They do not tell the managers anything on their own; rather they consider the facts and then provide the factual information to the event managers. Talking about role of an external consultant in the event industry, an external consultant is an advisor and a specialist in the field of event management who can provide the best information and advice to the event managers, thus they own the right to be known as consultants. There exist some reasons for why is it extremely important for the event mangers of the United Kingdom’s event industry to make use of external consultancy before going on to organize a new business event. First one of those reasons includes expertise of external consultants in different issues. External consultants are known as experts in the field of business. So when the event managers plan to organize an event, they have to take into consideration the external consultant’s viewpoint before the implementation of the planned strategy towards event organization. Gordon (2006) asserts, “External consultants for strategic planning process can be hired because the business lacks a qualified person to do the planning”. Here a question arises that what will happen if the event managers do not consult an external consultant before implementing the planned strategy. The answer is that if the event managers do not consult an external consultant, it will become very difficult for them to strategically plan the event because external consultants are experts in analyzing event’s external environment and they can tell by their experience and current situation of the scenario that what steps should be taken by the event managers in order to organize a successful event. In the United Kingdom, there is a lot of competition among the event management firms, so it is extremely important for the event managers of any event management firm to consult a specialist and well known external consultant before planning any specific event because he is the person who can tell the event managers about the current and future prospects of the event. Another reason for consulting an external consultant is that of experience. An external consultant can tell from his past experience about the most suitable option or strategy regarding any specific event. Role of an external consultant becomes important when an event management firm has recently faced some failures in organizing the successful event (Margerison 2001). An external consultant can tell the managers about factors behind the failures and what needs to be done in order to avoid future failures. He can pick out the bugs and flaws in the previous event strategies based on his experience. An external consultant plays a vital role in educating the event managers about those steps or factors which are crucial for the success of any specific event. Let’s take an example in which an event management firm did not achieve the desired goals and objectives from the musical concert that they recently organized. The reason was that they did not consult any external consultant before organizing the event due to which they failed to attract a considerable number of people towards the event. An external consultant could have told the firm about those effective modes of advertising based on his past experience which proved to be successful for the events for which he had been consulted for by other firms. Another role which an external consultant plays in the competitive market of UK event industry is that of coming up with a different perspective than that of event managers’ perspective. As we know that external consultants are specialists in their field so they always have a more authentic and legal perspective regarding the event as compared to the event mangers. Perspective plays an important role in the success of any event because it helps in planning and developing the event strategy. In the United Kingdom’s event industry, there is a lot of entertainment and attraction for the public because the event organizers plan and organize the events in a very professional manner. But no event can be able to attract the public if there is no well planned strategy behind the event, and they are the external consultants who help the managers develop the most suitable strategy by properly analyzing the financial and business aspects of the event to be organized. An external consultant has more specific experience and knowledge about any type of cultural, business, leisure, and personal event. The role of external consultants in the UK event industry is very critical in a sense that UK event industry has a competitive environment in which any event management firm needs to be very progressive, competent, and skillful in order to be successful in the market, and they are the external consultants who provide the firms with the suitable suggestions regarding the event management. 4.1 Working Relationship between the Event Managers and the Consultant Efficiency and productivity of an external consultant depends on the working relationship between the consultant and the event organizers. If the working relationship between the two parties is friendly and result oriented, the event definitely turn out to be successful one. But if the management of the event does not trust in the consultant whom they hire and does not take into consideration the advice of the consultant, the event may result into a failure. The organizers of the event should have a complete understanding of the event because when the organizers will not have a good understanding of the event activities, they will not be able to brief the consultant about his job responsibilities. Briefing plays a great role in making the consultant understand the basic grounds of the event. There should be effective communication between the external consultant and the event managers. Sadler (2001) asserts that the managers should make themselves easily approachable for the consultant because the consultant may need some information about the event anytime. A brief explanation is always necessary for any advice or suggestion given by the consultant. It is because the external consultant may give some advice based on his past experience but there is a possibility that the actual scenario of the event may not fully match the consultant’s experience. So it is important to have an explanation from the consultant in order to decide whether the advice should be considered or not. But it does not mean that the management should start interfering in all activities of the consultant because it makes the consultant feel uncomfortable with the working environment. In the United Kingdom’s event industry, it is also important for the event management firms to conduct review meetings with the consultants because it makes the management keep an eye on the progress of the consultants. 5. Role of the Consultancy Process Having discussed the role of an external consultant in the competitive market of the UK event industry, let us now discuss the consultancy process in some detail in order to get a better understanding of the importance of consultancy process in the UK event industry. The consultancy process can be a four to eight step process but if talk about an effective and a complete consultancy process from all aspects, then it should be a ten step process which should include all activities of the consultant. The ten step process though seems to be a very long process but when we look into the value of each step for the event management firms; these steps prove to be very effective. Following are the ten steps involved in the process of consultation with the client: Start of the consultancy process Contract between the consultant and the client Collecting the information Interpretation of the information Feedback from the client Alternatives presented to the client Decision making Action to be taken Action Measurement End of the Consultancy Process Each of the above steps is of extreme importance for the success of a consultancy process between a consultant and a client firm. Let us discuss each of the steps in some detail: 5.1 Start of the Consultancy Process Entry is the first step in the consultancy process. It is basically the client firm’s first step towards finding an appropriate consultant for the firm. This first step shortens the gap between the client’s needs and what the client already has. This step is the beginning of the working relationship between the client and the consultant. After entry as a consultant, a first meeting is conducted between the new consultant and the firm’s managers in order to discuss the issues regarding the upcoming event. As the first step, client firm’s managers usually describe the problem to the consultant. From here the role of the consultant actually begins. The consultant starts analyzing the problem and the concerning factors in order to come out with a more appropriate plan to solve the problem. The consultant is a more experienced and professional person in this regard, so his advice is always given much importance. A consultant must work with full dedication and interest in order to prove his expertise and experience as a consultant. The consultant properly analyzes those factors and issues which play their part in making an event successful. After a complete analysis, the consultant presents his advice and suggestions to the client firm’s managers in order to get his suggestions approved. 5.2 Contract between the Consultant and the Client The next step involved in the process of consultancy is contract which is made between the consultant and the client firm. It is also the primary outcome of the second meeting with the client firm’s managers. As we have discussed that in the first meeting, consultant’s skills and abilities are judged by involving him in a problematic situation where the consultant has to come up with an appropriate solution towards the problem, if the consultant becomes successful in presenting a suitable solution to the firm’s managers, the second meeting is scheduled in order to sign a contract with the consultant. The agreement is in a written form so that no misunderstanding should arise in any stage of the contract. The main issues which are discussed in the second meeting include the work needed by the consultant, the outcomes expected by the consultant and the firm, ways to solve the problems, ways to gather required information about any specific issue, development of a working relationship between the consultant and the client firm, and the contract’s specifications. These issues must be considered while signing a contract because unclear contracts always create problems in the latter part of the contract. Sometimes salary becomes issue and sometimes the work plan creates a problem if there is no clear contract signed between the consultant and the firm. 5.3 Collecting the Information The third step involved in the consultancy process is known as information gathering. This step is primarily concerned with the consultant because the consultant collects all required information about the client firm and the event which it wants to organize. The information provides the consultant with a great help in effectively analyzing the current and future prospects of the firm. This step is of critical importance because it helps the consultant create a suitable working platform. This step involves a complete and intentional research about the company and its external environment. The consultant takes help of the client firm in gathering the required information about the firm. In a structured way, the information is gathered by watching, listening, and observing the people working for the firm. This step proves to be very beneficial for the consultant because it helps the consultant provide best possible suggestion about any matter to the client firm’s managers. 5.4 Interpretation the Information After the information is gathered, interpretation is the next step in which the actual meaning of the information is interpreted by the consultant. Having an understanding of the gathered information is necessary for a consultant to make best use of the information. The information has always two basic parts, one of them is the literal meaning of the information and the second one is the interpretative part of the information. A consultant has to observe the difference between the literal and the interpretative parts of the gathered information. At the end of this step, a written report is generated by the consultant which includes an explanation of how the information was obtained and how was it interpreted by the consultant, identification of those persons who helped collecting the required information, the literal meaning of the information, and the perceived or interpreted meaning of the gathered information. 5.5 Feedback from the Client The next step involved in the consultancy process is the feedback which is given by the client firm’s managers to the consultant regarding the work which he has done for the firm. The consultant provides the interpreted information to the managers in the form of a report in order to get it accepted by the managers. The firm’s managers give a positive feedback to the consultant if the work is original and shows an in-depth research done by the consultant. The report is provided to the managers in an organized way and should reflect the actual business environment of the firm so that the managers can easily understand it. This is a very crucial step in the consultancy process because the consultant comes up with a sharp focus on various hidden issues. The work done by the consultant is admired by the managers because the consultant reveals such issues in front of the firm’s managers which they did not know before. 5.6 Alternatives Presented to the Client This step embeds two steps together which are action and decision. Actions are taken by the consultant in order to reach the most suitable decision. The consultant usually involves the client firm’s managers in developing the alternatives. The alternatives are developed by the consultant and the managers choose the best decision from those alternatives. The actions taken by the consultant in this step include developing the alternatives, involving the clients in development of alternatives, and offering the alternatives to the decision makers. 5.7 Decision Making In this step, the consultant asks the firm’s managers to invite those people to the decision making process who are likely to be affected by the decision in order to take their suggestions regarding the decision. But their participation does not mean to influence the decision making process, rather they are invited to give some advice or suggestions regarding the decision. The decision is taken after the consultant puts all of the alternatives in front of the decision makers as it helps them have a complete and shared interpretation of the data. 5.8 Action to be taken The next step is to take the required action on the decision taken by the client firm. This step is primarily concerned with the client because the consultant has done his work by providing the decision makers with the suitable alternatives. Even in this step, the consultant provides some help to the client in development of the strategy regarding implementation of the decision. The required action is taken by the client firm by properly analyzing all positive and negative aspects of the decision. A well planned strategy plays a critical role in the successful action planning. 5.9 Measurement of the Action Measurement of the action is another important step in the consultancy process but this step is not given much importance by both the client and the consultant. The reason is that in reality none of the events is purely a success. All of the objectives can never be achieved by the client and the consultant though they can achieve most of them. None of the events can be a hundred percent success though they can be seventy to eighty percent successful. So when measurement of the action is done, both the consultant and the client have a fear of getting held accountable. That is why this step is most often ignored by the client even if the event seems to be successful. 5.10 End of the Consultancy Process At the end of the consultancy process, the consultant presents a summary report to the client firm which acknowledges that the work is near to its end. This is a difficult step to be taken by the consultant especially with a successful event under his belt. But after the report is presented to the client regarding the event, the consultancy process comes to an end. 6. Conclusion Summing it up, role of external consultant is of integral importance in the success of United Kingdom’s event industry. It is because an external consultant is a professional who works for the companies in order to provide them with the actual information about any specific matter. The external consultants can be very successful for the UK event industry because they can not only give the most suitable advice to the event organizers regarding any specific event but also they can provide the actual business picture of the event to the event organizers. References Bryce, T 2006, Managing Consultants, viewed 20 May 2010, . Eden, C 2007, Why The Use Of An External Consultant Makes Sense, viewed 20 May 2010, . Gordon, A 2006, Using An External Consultant For Strategic Planning, viewed 20 May 2010, . Jacowski, T 2008, Making the Best Use of Process Improvement Consulting, viewed 20 May 2010, . Margerison, C., 2001. Managerial Consulting Skills: A Practical Guide. 2nd ed. Hampshire: Gower Publishing Ltd. Sadler, P., 2001. Management Consultancy: A Handbook for Best Practice. 2nd ed. London: Kogan Page Ltd. Read More