Human Resource Management in Consulting Firms

222 Pages·2006·1.446 MB·English

by  Michel E. Domsch, Elena Hristozova (auth.), Professor Dr. Michel E. Domsch, Dipl.-Oec. Elena Hristozova M.E.S. (eds.)

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Preface and Acknowledgements
Consulting is a knowledge-intensive industry, in which human resources are con-
sidered to be the most important asset. This industry, which had been flourishing
until recently, has attracted the interest of academia, private business, public au-
thorities and even journalists. As a result, a broad range of issues related to this
sector have been explored in detail. However, only a few contributions deal with
personnel or human resource management.
There are two possible explanations for this lack. Due to its uniqueness and
strategic importance, information about human resources has been treated by con-
sulting firms with a great deal of confidentiality (Mohe 2004). This has been con-
firmed by our own experience. On the other hand, human resource management in
consulting firms has just recently gained a more “explicit” and “formal” shape
(Graubner and Richter 2003), thus making it a subject of researchers’ and practi-
tioners’ interest.
Therefore the main intention of this book is to provide an insight into those ar-
eas as yet barely touched on by delivering a specific and fairly concrete idea about
the role and different facets of human resource management in consulting firms.
Although the present volume is addressed to a relatively broad audience, it is
mainly aimed at the potential clients and applicants of consultancies and, of
course, at scholars looking for empirical evidence with regard to the topic. Fur-
ther, we can imagine that this book could be a useful source for professors teach-
ing consulting firm management in a practice-oriented manner.
For the purposes of the present book we invited both HR professionals and
managers from leading consulting firms as well as scholars investigating HRM
within the consultancy industry. In the following, we will introduce the volume
chapters and the relevant authors.
The Volume Chapters
All contributions reflect empirical evidence regarding personnel practice in lead-
ing consulting firms. The company reports have a common structure in which the
first part presents the corporate background including size, clients and philosophy
and the second part eider delivers an in-depth overview of the different HR pro-
cesses or focuses on one concrete HR practice that is described in detail.
The first introductory chapter presents an integrative review of the role of hu-
man resource management in consulting firms. Starting from Ulrich’s model re-
garding the roles of HR, Michel E. Domsch and Elena Hristozova, analyze the ex-
tant literature, focusing on particular personnel aspects arising from the specific
vi Michel E.Domsch and ElenaHristozova
business. The framework for the analysis serves also as a framework for the vol-
ume.
In the second introductory chapter Klaus Reiners focuses mainly on the impor-
tance of HRM in the consultancy industry. Starting with an overview of the recent
developments on the consulting market in Germany, he derives the specific need
for personnel management in this field of industry. In conclusion, he presents the
whole range of basic and further training entities offered by the Federal Associa-
tion of German Consultants.
The next part analyzes the role of HRM as a strategic partner and change
agent. Central to this part is the report of Kienbaum Management Consultants fo-
cusing on the value-oriented culture of the company. Walter Jochmann shows how
the HR core instruments are aligned with the corporate vision. The author stresses,
in particular, Kienbaum’s strategic competency management, performance man-
agement, corporate culture, and change management.
The chapters in the section “HRM as administrative expert” depict mainly the
traditional role of HRM and reveal industry specific aspects regarding personnel
functions such as recruitment, training and development, career development,
knowledge management and so on. Most of these contributions are insider reports
giving the reader a fairly concrete idea about HR systems and processes in leading
consultancies.
To begin with the reader is provided with an in-depth overview of the current
personnel practices in international consultancies. Michael Dickmann, Michael
Graubner and Ansgar Richter compare HR practices in international consultancies
with those in multinational organizations from other industries. Further, starting
from the “Three-wave model” of Kipping, the authors distinguish between per-
sonnel practices in consultancies from the “second” and those from the “third”
waves.
“Human Resource Management as Administrative Expert” contains two dif-
ferent kinds of contributions. While the cases of Booz Allen Hamilton, Metaplan,
Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and BDSU deliver a broad picture of their
personnel systems, Accenture and Lee Hecht Harrison focus on cases dealing with
single practices regarding leadership development and knowledge management.
The case in Chapter 9 focuses also on a concrete HR practice with regard to em-
ployer branding.
In Chapter 5 Rainer Bernnat and Angelika Sonnenschein use Booz Allen Ham-
ilton’s personnel background to present all the facets relevant to the corporate
process of career planning. Further, the authors focus on HR-related corporate best
practices such as mentoring programs, sponsorship programs and evaluation pro-
cesses, all of which are aimed at the personal and professional development and
career progression of the employees.
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
Chapter 6 reflects the theoretical background of Metaplan’s consulting phi-
losophy and HRM. Wolfgang Schnelle presents fairly concrete examples of per-
sonnel tools used within the corporate practice of recruitment and training.
For the case of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Burkhard Schwenker de-
livers a broad picture of the firm’s specific HR systems and tools. Within the HR
framework he focuses, in particular, on the basic principles on which HR work is
built as well as on personnel processes and levers like selection, evaluation, com-
pensation, and training and development. The author presents further initiatives
aimed at additional skills and motivation enhancement.
Chapter 8 deals with HRM in “Junior Consultancies”. Kathrin Günther,
Frederike Harms, Mareike Schilling and Lorraine Schneider sketch briefly the
phenomenon of Junior Enterprises in the European consulting arena. Based on dif-
ferent cases from their own practice regarding selection, employee commitment,
training and alumni retention, the authors deliver a concrete and detailed idea of
personnel work in Junior Enterprises.
As already introduced the final three chapters deal with specific aspects of
single HR practices in consultancies, such as employer branding, leadership de-
velopment and knowledge management. Stephan Erlenkaemper, Tom Hinzdorf,
Katrin Priemuth and Christian von Thaden focus on the method of preference
matching, a successful form of employer branding in consulting firms. Using the
method of choice modeling as a basis, the authors explain the process of prefer-
ence matching. Further, they deliver findings regarding the use of special software
for the purpose of successful preference matching in consultancies.
In Chapter 10 Martina Beck and Ildiko Kreisz present Accenture’s case regard-
ing leadership development. The authors focus in particular on the corporate un-
derstanding of leadership, on the leadership competency matrix as a basis of the
leadership development program, and on the basic elements of the program. The
authors make explicit the integration of leadership development at Accenture into
the other HR processes like performance management, recruitment and training.
Knowledge management is a topic very central to the consulting industry. Jane
Aubriet-Beausire and Sophie Gaio deal with the personnel aspects of knowledge
management at Lee Hecht Harrison. More concretely they stress the relationship
between organizational learning and quality assurance, and how an organization
can become a learning one. In this context, the authors present the practices of
employee orientation and certification, as well as training and professional devel-
opment.
The final two chapters reflect different aspects of the “employee-champion”
role of HRM. Uta B. Lieberum investigates leading consultancies with regard to
gender diversity management. She delivers empirical findings about the strategic
importance of gender diversity and initiatives implemented in consultancies with
regard to female promotion.
viii Michel E.Domsch and Elena Hristozova
Maida Petersitzke and Elena Hristozova focus in their contribution on employ-
ability development. More concretely, the authors investigate both the organiza-
tional offers and the individual activity aspects of employability development.
Their research is also aimed at defining employees’ needs and expectations to-
wards improving employability.
Finally, we would like to express our thanks to all authors for their efforts to
respond to our expectations and suggestions. Our thanks go also to Springer Ver-
lag for their patience and advice. We are also grateful to colleagues and students
who have helped with the book.
The present volume was financially supported by Helmut-Schmidt-University /
University of the Federal Armed Forces.
Michel E. Domsch and Elena Hristozova
Hamburg, January 2006
Contents
Introduction: The Importance of HRM in Consulting Firms
1. The Role of Human Resource Management in Consulting Firms 3
Michel E. Domsch and Elena Hristozova
2. The Consultant: A Clear Outsider’s Inside View 25
Klaus Reiners
Part I: HRM as Strategic Partner and Change Agent
3. Demands and Challenges: Values and Value-Oriented Corporate Culture 35
Walter Jochmann
Part II: HRM as Administrative Expert
4. Human Resources Management in International Consulting Firms:
Distinguishing Second and Third Wave Company Patterns 53
Michael Dickmann, Michael Graubner, and Ansgar Richter
5. Wanted: Experts on Strategy 85
Rainer Bernnat and Angelika Sonnenschein
6. Managing Human Resources at Metaplan 97
Wolfgang Schnelle†
7. Human Resource Management at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants 107
Burkhard Schwenker
8. How Students Manage Human Resources 125
Kathrin Günther, Frederike Harms, Mareike Schilling, and
Lorraine Schneider
x Contents
9. Employer Branding through Preference Matching 139
Stephan Erlenkaemper, Tom Hinzdorf, Katrin Priemuth, and
Christian von Thaden
10. Leadership Development at Accenture 145
Martina Beck and Ildiko Kreisz
11. Knowledge Management: A way to Make a Difference in Our Field
of Industry 157
Jane Aubriet-Beausire and Sophie Gaïo
Part III: HRM as Employee Champion
12. Gender Diversity Management in Consulting Companies 175
Uta B. Lieberum
13. Managing Employability in the German Consultancy Industry 191
Maida Petersitzke and Elena Hristozova
List of Figures 213
List of Tables 215
Notes on Contributors 217
Introduction:
The Importance of HRM in Consulting Firms