Undergraduate Course: Management Consulting (BUST10128)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The management consulting industry is very significant and many graduates consider careers in consulting. This course will help students develop their understanding of the consulting sector, and better equip them for subsequent employment.
IMPORTANT: This course involves projects with real organisations and for this reason we have to place an upper limit on the number of places on the course - 50 initially, subsequently increased to 70 in 2015-16. All registrations for this course are therefore provisional in the first instance. Registrations will be reviewed in early November, and if the number of registrations exceeds the places available, priority will be given to students in their 4th year, who would otherwise not have an opportunity to take the course. After that, 3rd year students will be admitted to the course on the basis of their marks in their second year courses. We will maintain a waiting list, so students who are not allocated a place in the course in the first round may be able to join it if places become available. |
| Course description |
Consulting activities and processes (such as the diagnosis of organisational problems, project management, the management of relationships with stakeholders and organisational change) are significant to many aspects of organisational life, and even those who are not formally employed as consultants will need to diagnose organizational problems, make interventions and assess the efficacy of their solutions.
Consultancy is also an activity that has attracted critical commentary on a number of grounds, for example, that consulting is prone to promoting fads and that excessive fees are levied for interventions that are of limited value. In their future professional lives students will therefore benefit from an understanding of these issues.
Syllabus
- Introduction - The Consulting Industry and the Action Research Model
- Types of consulting and Team Effectiveness
- Project Management and Team "Teach-ins"
- Team Presentations of Project Proposals
- Collection, Structuring and Communication of Data
- Organisational Change / Team Meetings & Tutor Consultations
- Client Management
- Consulting in Practice
- Presentations to clients
- Consulting in Context and Course Overview and Debrief
Student Learning Experience
The teaching method comprises three main components:
a) A series of taught sessions covering a range of topics including the consulting industry, the consulting process, project teams and project management, data analysis, client management and critical perspectives on consulting.
b) Interactive sessions in small groups (with tutors) discussing how ideas from the taught sessions apply to a live project.
c) A consulting assignment with a real organisation, conducted in teams of 4-5, with an end-of-project presentation and group report for the client. This will run throughout the semester, but the period of peak effort leading up to submission of the final report and presentations to clients will fall in weeks 8-11. Each team will also make one presentation to the whole class at the project proposal stage.
d) Various consultations and meetings to review progress with an assigned tutor, in small groups, throughout the semester.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed
Organisational Behaviour 2 (BUST08028)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Course equivalents to Organisational Behaviour 2 BUST08028(formerly entitled Organisation Studies) and Managing Change BUST10107 recommended. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 68 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 12,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 6,
Formative Assessment Hours 10,
Summative Assessment Hours 50,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
118 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
85 %,
Practical Exam
15 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% coursework: 60% groupwork; 40% individual.
Groupwork (60%)
1. Group project proposal to the client: 12% (1,500 words).
2. Final report to the client: 30% (6,000 words excluding appendices).
3. Presentation of the final report to the client: 15%
4. Peer assessment of performance and contribution: 3%
Individual assignment: 40% (2,000 words) |
| Feedback |
We aim to provide you with prompt feedback so that you can incorporate this into you projects as you go along. We have targets for the project proposal; the draft initial report to the client; and the individual assignment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically discuss the consulting industry and its key characteristics.
- Understand and critically discuss the typical consulting process and the drivers of success and failure at each stage.
- Apply essential skills in proposal production, client engagement, diagnosis, reporting and project evaluation.
- Understand how to scope and manage a consulting project.
- Understand and discuss the criticisms that have been made of the consulting industry.
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Reading List
| Required text: Stroh, L.K., & Johnson, H. (2006). The basic principles of effective consulting, Lawrence Erlbaum. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills
- A foundation in data collection techniques useful in consulting projects, such as surveys, focus groups, interviews, and archival data analysis.
- Develop consultancy skills via a team-based consultancy project in a real organisation. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Taught sessions: Tuesdays in Semester 2, 9.00-10.50 am
Other contact: Consultations with tutors, meetings and presentations with clients |
| Keywords | MCon |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Nick Oliver
Tel: (0131 6)50 3811
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Kimberley Bruce
Tel: (0131 6)51 5009
Email: |
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