Management Consultancy is an exciting profession that can offer a great variety and intellectual challenge for the consultant, whilst also making a very positive impact on clients and society as a whole.

Consultants can enjoy applying their knowledge to a broad range of problems in widely differing situations. They are able to use their highly specialist knowledge and experience in a wider context than one firm can provide, and they are able to gain a more varied experience of management problems.

Whereas 'Management' has been defined as 'the art of getting results through other people'. Consultancy is less easy to define. The key words are probably qualified and professional. Firstly the word 'qualified' implies the experience of management, whilst the word 'professional' implies both an ethical or objective standard, and the backing of a developed and proved body of knowledge. Whilst it is often change that makes management necessary, it is the requirements of change that makes management difficult. Management consultancy is therefore primarily concerned with initiating and implementing technological and behavioural changes. For instance:

Management consultants are used first to provide wider additional expertise than is available within a single organisation. This could be a change in production, or marketing may require expertise in designing and implementing a new system.

Secondly, management consultants are used to provide objective appraisals where it is often easier for the expert's outsider to see the broader picture and recognise the long-term requirements.

Thirdly, the management consultant may be needed to provide additional assistance where there is a temporary increase in the management workload. This may be to cope with a major change or new development in any area of management responsibility.

Who are the Management Consultants?

Those entering management consultancy tend to fall into the 25-35 age group, but there are openings for younger candidates - generally as a prospective consultants. Younger entrants tend to be graduates with MBA's, whilst older entrants will need to bring a t least three years management experience with them

A would-be management consultant must posses

• Integrity - your clients interest come first
  
• Intelligence - to follow situation accurately and develop sound solutions
  
• The ability to communicate - listening as well as talking
  
• An enquiring mind - every problem must have a solution
  
• Clarity of expression - both verbally and in writing
  
• Personality - to get on well with people on all levels