Consulting Practicum

This course will adopt a scholarly approach to understand the roles and responsibilities of internal and external consultants. By examining approaches, conceptual frameworks, analytical models, engagement structuring, scope of work, deliverables, qualifications, professional standards and best practices of consulting professionals, internal specialists and project managers, students will understand the process for conducting a consulting or consulting-like project. Topics to be covered include: diagnosing the issues, developing a scope of work, preparing a proposal, contracting with a client, managing client relationships and communications, understanding client personnel reactions to consultants, identifying sources of direct and proxy data, including sources of external data used by leading consultants and conducting literature reviews, understanding data reliability and validity, assessing and accessing resources, changes in scope, preparing deliverables, monitoring progress, reporting results, achieving engagement closure and extensions of services. The specialized nature of consulting research will be addressed including competitive research, benchmarking, sector analysis, correlations such as with economic and demographic trends, success attributes, operating and financial leverage and regulation and licensing. Additional topics will include professional organizations, consulting ethics and professional terms. Students will work in teams to conduct significant consulting projects, from contracting to presentation of results, with appropriate clients under the guidance of a faculty member and advisor.