MKH_MZPO Management consulting

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
13/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
Ing. Eva Švandová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Ing. Eva Švandová, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Ing. Eva Švandová, Ph.D.
Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Vlasta Radová
Supplier department: Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Timetable
Sat 18. 9. 12:00–15:50 P106, Fri 10. 12. 16:00–19:50 P106
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Management consuting is a dynamically evolving area in a highly customer-oriented service sector, even sometimes considered more as rhetoric than expert discipline. With the growing awareness of the managers on which the management consultancy is focused on, there is a need to deepen the specialization of consulting companies. With growing specialization accompanied by other social phenomena such as globalization and digitization, there is a need for integration or co-operation of consultants with other consultancy or technology companies, often across countries. In the client enterprise itself, there is a change in the integration of enterprise functions, as well as integration of the client with the environment. The goal is to seek integrated management solutions. Crucial consultancy emerges though in the field of strategy and inter-company cooperation, information technology, as well as the management of company efficiency, all with regard to the effort of the company to gain a competitive advantage. With the deepening digitization of the company, companies gain access to so called biga data that needs to be further processed. Consulting projects often become complex with the need to apply knowledge of project management.
The content responds to the above mentioned facts. The aim of the course is to introduce students the consulting process from the perspective of project management, to teach students a structured approach to data analysis and structured design of solutions and implementation. The use of a structured approach to the counseling and project management methods leads to the systematic work of the consultant, which is necessary with regard to critical approach to management consulting. Students will be informed about the criticism of consulting and thus will be able to respond to a negative approach better. The consulting projects will be seen as a research project. Possibilities of using information technologies and systems during the whole consultation process, as well as the possibility of processing large data, will be presented to the students during the course.
The course is not intended only for students who want to offer consultancy services externally, but also for students who may stand on the demand side for external consultancy services (for example, in the position of the company where they will have the competence to choose a consultant or to cooperate with him, the also area of ​​internal consulting that is experiencing a certain boom, is interesting).
Learning outcomes
After the course, students:

- will know what is the content of the management consulting, the importance of it; as well as the critical point of view on consulting, which is a prerequisite for the ability to persuade the client of the necessity to hire consultant in the case of a negative attitude towards consultancy
- will be aware of the ethical principles in the consulting and will use them in their counseling practice
- will know the phases of the counseling process and their content and purpose, including knowledge of project management methods and procedures in the various phases of the counseling process
- get an overview of software solutions that are usable during the project and will be able to use them in project
- will know the specifics of management consultancy in its various specializations (in the area of ​​strategy, organization, operational management, marketing, finance, information technology, etc.)
- know the prerequisites for successful management of an advisory firm; based on this knowledge will be able to establish and mainly manage their own business
- be able to conduct a structured analysis of the problem, structured solution and implementation of the solution; in the course they will apply knowledge about data collection and analysis.
- will be able to create a consultancy proposal, calculate the costs associated with the work of consultant and implement the proposed solutions to the problem
- will be able to evaluate the consulting project economically
- will be able to process reports for the client including the processing and active presentation of the project results to the client, using the knowledge of project management methods
- will be able to communicate with the client throughout the project
- will know the creative methods that will be able to apply within the project both in finding causes of problems and finding solutions
- verify the functioning of teamwork on the project.
Syllabus
  • Thematic plan :
  • Tutorial 1:
  • 1. Basic definition of management consultancy; consultancy as a service; introduction to the management consultancy sector and its past and possible future development, ethical principles in management consultancy; Critical perspective on management consultancy
  • 2. Management consulting organization; Specifics of management consulting in selected areas (Strategy, IT, finance, human resource management, etc.
  • Tutorial 2:
  • 3. The counselling process; the initial phase of the counselling process
  • 4. Structured diagnosis,
  • 5. Structured solution and project implementation
  • 6. Specifics of management consulting in selected areas (Strategy, IT, Finance, Human Resources Management, etc.)
Literature
    required literature
  • BAAIJ, Marc G. An introduction to management consultancy. First edition. Los Angeles: Sage, 2014, xix, 580. ISBN 9781446256138. info
    recommended literature
  • BILLINGHAM, Vicky. Project management : how to plan and deliver a successful project. 2nd edition. Wales: Studymates, 2017, 288 stran. ISBN 9781842853238. info
  • CROWTHER, David and Geoff LANCASTER. Research methods : a concise introduction to research in management and business consultancy. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2009, viii, 292. ISBN 9780750689533. info
  • BISWAS, Sugata and Daryl TWITCHELL. Management consulting : a complete guide to the industry. Second edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001, xii, 336. ISBN 9780471444015. info
Teaching methods
Teaching takes place in the form of full-time lectures (tutorials), if the university semaphore allows it due to the epidemiological situation. At present, the teaching is done in full-time. Students will be provided with a recording of previous years in IS.
As part of the first tutorial, each topic block will be presented to the lecturers and a discussion with the students will take place. The individual topic blocks discussed here will be made available as a recording via the Teams platform. Furthermore, students will be introduced to the assignments (POTs) at the first tutorial, which they will work on individually during the semester or in groups.
The second tutorial will be a practical application of counseling potups, knowledge and skills with concrete examples. Again, instruction will be online, however, students will work on individual assignments or case studies in  teams. The platform in which the tutorial will take place will be specified. It will be a platform that allows working in teams (Zoom or Teams). The common part will be uploaded and published via Teams. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Assessment methods
The course is finished by the exam. Students have to process 3 POTs during the course, which are required to be admitted to the exam. The exam is in the form of written test. The test contains a combination of closed questions (20 questions) and open questions (5 questions). Closed questions check the student's knowledge. Every question has just one correct answer. The student can get 1 point for the correct question answered, in other cases 0 points (for closed questions). For closed questions the student can get a total of 20 points. Open questions verify the student's abilities, specifically to offer a specific solution to the problem. Each question is evaluated by a maximum of 3 points. For open questions, you can get a maximum of 15 points. The maximum number of points for each of the two types of questions is therefore 35. The minimum for successful mastery is 60% of the correct answers, ie. 21 points. Any recording, recording or taking of tests, the use of illicit devices as well as means of communication or other impairment of the objectivity of the exam (credit) will be considered as non-fulfillment of the conditions for completing the subject and for gross violation of the study regulations. As a result, the student passes the exam in the IS with a mark "F" and the Dean initiates disciplinary proceedings, which may result in termination of studies. "
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: Tutorial 8 hodin.
Teacher's information
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3a6e81979fe556491890fde4e96d00a8a5%40thread.tacv2/conversations?groupId=178b5937-c30b-4166-9f51-6cab4bbe4d99&tenantId=11904f23-f0db-4cdc-96f7-390bd55fcee8
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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