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CMC-Canada Research
2005
Comprehensive Report on Management Consulting in Canada: 2005
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Articles and Reports
General
2008
October
Leading Successfully Through Turbulent Times
By Doug Macnamara, CMC, Banff Executive Leadership Inc.
Summary: The October 2008 world banking and economic crisis - triggered by the USA mortgage lending disaster - has sent most businesses and industry sectors scrambling. The resulting turbulence is not unlike that of the post 9/11 period, and also various sectoral shake-outs in the 1990's and 1980's. All indications are that this turbulence will last several months, with regulations and past business practices being carefully re-examined. We also may well be on the cusp of a whole new economic order for the future.
Leadership in Project Management: Exploring Roles and Behaviours
By Mislat Balogun, Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: Project management is a crucial process in many organizations. It brings together competencies and techniques from diverse fields for the purpose of achieving specific objectives. New projects cut across all sectors, and unfortunately they are plagued with high failure rates. More than ever before, leaders are being held accountable for projects that they manage. This paper focuses on the human dimension of project management. In particular, it explores the role of leaders in effectively managing human resources and accomplishing project objectives. The paper also attempts to show the importance of effective leadership as it relates to the project life cycle. Key issues discussed include situational leadership, laissez-faire leadership, emotional intelligence, and switch leadership.
ISO 26000: How the New Standard for Social Responsibility from the International Standards Organization Will Impact the Role of the Management Consultant and the Management Consulting Industry
By Heather McKelvey, Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: Social Responsibility (SR) is an issue of increasing importance in the corporate world today. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has begun to develop ISO 26000 Social Responsibility, a guidance standard that relates to Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development. The ISO Technical Management Board use the title 'Social Responsibility' because it is intended to apply to all organizations not just 'corporations' or the private sector. The creation of the ISO 26000 will have a significant impact on the entire consulting industry and will open up a great deal of opportunity for management consultants.
June
Integrity Impugned
By David Maister
Summary: An excerpt from "Integrity Impugned": Because of prior poor experiences - or the generally bad caricatures that exist about many professions - clients are often suspicious (at least initially) of the motives of their service providers. Whatever your profession, you need to be prepared for the fact that, at the beginning of every new relationship, you must avoid confirming other peoples' (inevitable) starting suspicions about your motives, and must actively work to demonstrate that you are, in fact, unlike the providers that the client may have experienced before. This is not easy. It turns out that it is not enough just to be trustworthy. You must also know how to give the client the experience that you are visibly, obviously, trustworthy.
2006
March
Save Time, Save Money “A Vendors Top 10 Tips to improve the RFP process.”
By Chris Jones, FCMC
February
It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Much You Want It
By David Maister
Summary: If what you have now isn't what you dream (or dreamed) of, then you must keep looking, experimenting, and adapting. You must always search for the next thing you think you can feel passionate about, so that you will have a burning reason to show the discipline and drive that will distinguish you.
2005
May
Management Gurus Tom Peters and Jim Collins: Providing Recognition for the Management Consulting Profession
By Stephanie L. Deighan, Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: Tom Peters and Jim Collins are two consultants who are considered to be management 'gurus' as a result of their popular, widely read and successful books on management theory. These multi-millionaires are praised and criticized by the media, academics and the business world alike making some question whether they are good advocates for the management consulting profession on the whole. However, gurus are needed to create and popularize new ideas in management theory in the fast-paced economy that puts a great deal of time pressure on management.
2004
January
Winning Through Your "Guru Quotient"
By Carl Friesen, CMC
Summary: This six part series considers the question of "gurus" - business professionals with a particularly high level of skills, knowledge and expertise that allows them to stand out from others. The first article looked at the issue of what a guru is and what makes that crucial difference that makes clients value this person's time more highly. This second article looks at what a guru does that makes her or him stand out from the crowd.
Part One / Part Two / Part Three / Part Four / Part Five/ Part Six
2003
December
The Role of the Certified Management Consultant in the Development of Voluntary Social Codes for Multinational Corporations
By Gregory Wayne, MacQuarrie. Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: In the early 1980s the practice of consulting found a global application as more and more companies opened up international operations around the world: becoming transnational. The demands and criteria for success still mirrored those competencies required by management consultants in their home countries; however, a new element was added to the mix - culture.
August
The Globalization of Consulting - A Natural Evolution
By Gordon Pole-Manning, Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: There is an interesting dialogue going on in the field of management consulting, regarding the globalization of the profession. Views are disparate, from those that believe globalization of a firm should only occur if the growth is aligned with the company's corporate strategy to those that feel it is the moral responsibility of first-world consultants to disseminate their knowledge and level the global economic playing field.
June
Recent Trends in IFI/UN Procurement Procedures
Prepared by Clark Strategic Advocacy, Inc. for Service Industries Branch, Industry Canada. Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: Numerous reports on the international development market have noted the competitiveness of Canadian consulting firms. When given the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, Canadian service providers win a relatively large number of contracts financed by the international financial institutions (IFIs).
May
Report on the 2001 Consulting Industry
Contributors: Margaret Cote, Randy Smadella, Nancy Preston
Summary: The Consulting industry generated $8.0 billion in operating revenues in 2001, an increase of $628 million or 8.5% from 2000. Despite weaker economic conditions in 2001, the consulting industry managed to improve operating revenues by expanding human resource, environmental and scientific consulting services.
2002
November
Beowulf as the Management Consultant: An Analogy of the Management Consulting Process
By Edward Simmons, Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: According to Kubr (1996), management consulting should be viewed as a process with five distinct phases: 1. Entry, 2. Diagnosis, 3. Action Planning, 4. Implementation, 5. Termination. This process is analogous to the process that Beowulf goes through in the epic poem Beowulf, following the management consulting process perfectly from entry to termination. This paper is an analysis of the management consulting process as defined by Kubr, using the epic poem Beowulf as an analogy for the process itself.
The Management Consulting Profession
By Julie May, CMC
Summary: This report includes information on industry size, competitive landscape, service offerings, consulting as a career, and publicly traded companies.
2001
August
Payment for Management Consulting Engagement Fees in the Form of Shares of the Client Company - An Innovative Opportunity for Clients and Consultants and an Emergent Issue Relative to Professional Conduct
By E.W. Netten, FCMC
Summary: Consultants are increasingly being asked to approach remuneration through a combination of fees and shares or stock options, particularly from clients in emerging and high tech sectors. CMC-Canada asked E.W. (Ted) Netten, FCMC, a seasoned management consultant and long-time supporter of the profession and our Association, to give us his opinion. The focus is primarily on how the Institutes’ Professional Code of Conduct applies in these circumstances.
Strategy
2006
November
The One-Firm Firm Revisited
By David Maister
Summary: Together with Jack Walker, former managing partner of Latham & Watkins, David has written an article "The One-Firm Firm Revisited" which re-examines the practices and policies of the five firms he first wrote about 21 years ago: Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Hewitt Associates, Arthur Andersen and Latham & Watkins. Maister and Walker conclude that the collaborative, collective philosophy has helped these firms sustain and improve their pre-eminence and their financial success.
Two Entrepreneurs to Watch
By David Maister
Summary: In the first article, a 29-year-old launches his own law firm, convincing all new hires, from a recent graduate to a 30-year veteran bank executive, to defer compensation until his experimental model pays off. In the second, a software services engineer retraces his career, reflecting on how he built "Maisterisms" into his own successful firm. Both cases illustrate how disruptive and revolutionary a true commitment to client service and business principles can be.
2004
Book Review: Making Strategy, The Journey of Strategic Management
By Glenn Strange, CMC
Summary: Why this book is of value to management consultants: This new three level introduction to the process of strategy making provides a thoroughly integrated resource for all those concerned with translating strategic theory into management practice. The book is closely cross referenced throughout covering the three important sections of the book - theory and concepts, vignettes and practice, methods, tools and techniques. This book should be an essential reference guide to all Management Consultants engaged on client IS/IT strategy formulation studies. The book will equally appeal to MBA students and M.Sc student in Management Science.
Book Review: Practical Strategy, Structured Tools and Techniques
By Glenn Strange, CMC
Summary: Practical Strategy is ideal for both practitioners of Management Consultancy and postgraduate students of strategy and decision science. The book offers coherent guidance behind the theory that combats diverse and complex strategic decisions. The book addresses a broad range of key strategic questions with a pragmatic set of tools and techniques, these demanding logic rather than high level mathematics. The book provides many worked examples and case studies illustrating the practical relevance of the academic theories being advanced. Management Consultants will enjoy the organized methodology for strategic problem solving. This book is widely used in the teaching of MBA students and M.Sc degrees in decision sciences. This book will be a valuable reference source for those consultants embarking on Corporate IS Strategy studies or providing advice on decision support.
Human Resources
2006
Are Law Firms Unmanageable?
By David Maister, Source: Originally published in the April 2006 edition of The American Lawyer
Summary: The ways of thinking and behaving that help lawyers excel in their profession may be the very things that limit what they can achieve as firms. Management challenges occur not in spite of lawyers' intelligence and training, but because of them.
2004
Book Review: No Excuse Leadership
Michael Kennedy, CMC
Summary: No Excuse Leadership provides an inside look at the challenges that the Ranger School program throws at its students, and at the strategies the Ranger training employs to help individual students develop and perfect their own skills as leaders. In describing the program and its objectives, Barber draws upon both his own personal experiences in Ranger School as well as those of nine other men who went through the program during their military careers. All of the Rangers profiled by Barber talk candidly about the stressful emotions they had to confront during particularly demanding moments in their training, and they also discuss how what they learned from the experience helped them to become more effective and insightful leaders.
2003
August
Coaching: the Performance Enhancing Relationship
By Lisa Haydon, Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: Talent and human capital distinguishes organizations in the market place. The tighter labour market has companies battling to retain and internally develop every employee they can. At the same time, individuals are recognizing that being successful and getting the development opportunities from their employer means working in different ways and in different manners.
2002
Book Review: Collective Knowledge: Intranets, Productivity, and the Promise of the Knowledge Workplace
By Andrew Collin, CMC
Summary: This book is a high-level introduction to the contemporary and significant management challenge of how to unleash an enterprise's "collective knowledge" (which, for the sake of this book review, let us identify as "CK" and assume is fairly synonymous with knowledge management (KM)). The book's orientation is fairly balanced between technological and non-technological subjects that are relevant to CK/KM. An IT background is not required to benefit from this book.
Book Review: Excellence in the Boardroom
By Michael Kennedy, CMC
Summary: Excellence in the Boardroom is a discussion of best practices in corporate governance, viewed from the perspective of the author's own experiences during more than four decades of service on various boards. The book features a variety of "war stories" which the author relates in order to make specific points, and one of its more humourous sections is a profile of a fictional "Director from Hell" in which the author describes the different types of dysfunctional behaviours which he has seen directors exhibit over the years.
Book Review: Management Secrets of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
By Michael Kennedy, CMC
Summary: As the title implies, Management Secrets of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an analysis of 50 of the greatest Western films of all time and a summary of some of the key lessons about management that can be learned from them. Although at first glance many readers might not think that films of the Western genre have much to offer in the way of useful advice for 21st century managers, Miller's book actually proves to be pleasantly surprising in terms of the depth and usefulness of its content. The author is clearly an accomplished student of his subject, and he does a skillful job of dissecting the plots of many of the more critically-acclaimed Western films and extracting nuggets of practical wisdom that modern-day consultants and operating managers can use.
Book Review: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
By Michael Kennedy, CMC
Summary: The content of this book is built around a fable concerning the management team of a fictitious high-tech company. The story begins when Kathryn, the principal character in the book, is hired to become the new CEO of the firm. Although the company Kathryn finds herself running was once highly touted for its future potential, by the time she assumes her new position it is badly floundering and the board has dictated that urgent action is required.
2001
Book Review: The Trusted Advisor
By Ray Brillinger, CMC
Summary: Earning trust is essential to being able to advise and deliver value to clients, so that they call on you early and often, respect you, involve you in complex issues, act on your recommendations, and refer their friends and colleagues to you. This invaluable book offers help in building this kind of trust relationship, and detailed guidance on key capabilities like listening, demonstrating understanding, defining problems, managing expectations and setting appropriate levels of intimacy, fun and self-expression in the process.
2000
Book Review: Leading at the Edge
By Michael Kennedy, CMC
Summary: The overall theme of Leading at the Edge focuses on a discussion of the elements of effective leadership in situations that pose serious challenges for the people involved. The book draws heavily upon the experiences of the famed explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew during their ill-fated Antarctic expedition in the early part of the 20th century. After their ship the Endurance was trapped and later crushed by heavy ice, Shackleton led his men on an extraordinary journey through some of the most extreme conditions imaginable, and after a two year ordeal, successfully managed to ensure that every member of his 22-man crew was safely rescued.
Marketing
2006
November
Adventures in Modern Marketing
By David Maister
Summary: The article contains both the lessons David has learned in his own online marketing adventures, as well as the generous and helpful advice he was given by those who participated in his blog discussion of this topic.
March
Setting Knowledge Free: A Conversation with Steve Rubel about Blogging
By David Maister
Summary: "People think it's impossible to break through and get an audience to respond, but it's not. You just have to keep plugging away and slowly build your audience until it passes the "tipping point," when, if you have done it right and are also lucky, things can really accelerate very fast." - Blog expert Steve Rubel in conversation with David Maister.
January
Marketing is a Conversation
By David Maister and Lois Kelly
Summary: Marketing (and selling) begin to work when a conversation moves away from being a role-to-role exchange of capabilities, contracts, and costs, and becomes a person-to-person interactive dialogue about ideas, beliefs, and perspectives. Only then can it build the chemistry, confidence, and commitment that lead to new revenues.
Avoiding Death by PowerPoint
By Carl Friesen, CMC
Summary: When giving an illustrated presentation, you should always stop speaking for 1.5 seconds after you put up a new slide on the screen to give people a chance to read it and bring their attention back to you. This is one of the nuggets of information provided by Dave Paridi, "the PowerPoint Lifeguard," in his presentation on 18 May.
2004
March
Lessons in 21st Century Client Satisfaction: The Leadership Gap
By Wilson Ramirez
Summary: Value entitlement for the customer means that he/she is entitled to his/her fair expectation to receive the greatest quality product (whatever quality means in the customer's mind), at the lowest (cheapest!) possible price, and available now, right here and then. That's what we customers want. All the time. Every single day. With every single business transaction. As a professor of marketing of Queen's University used to say, customers are "sucking maggots", and that's the reality of life we have to leave with - and in a competitive/capitalist economy, it's only a fair expectation that the customer IS entitled to.
Operations
2004
June
Business Process Improvement, What Is It?
By Angelo Baratta, CMC
Summary: Organizations have been known to spend months, even years, on such activities, often with no benefit or tangible result. This view of "process" makes process improvement a one-time initiative or project that is typically undertaken by consultants (external or internal) and at great cost. It typically leads to recommendations to spend more money, usually for technology.
Book Review: Making Sense of Change Management
By Glenn Strange, CMC
Summary: This book will appeal to all management consultants engaged on change management assignments or where there is a need to understand concepts of organizational change. The emphasis is based upon helping the reader to understand concepts of change and how to deal with the changing circumstances. The book provides many frameworks and models for ways of both interpreting and approaching change. The book is essentially split into two parts: (1) The Underpinning Theory and (2) The Applications. Each part has its' own introduction clearly setting out the foundation for the chapters to follow.
2003
August
Six Sigma: A Quality Initiative
By Romin C Irani, Source: Published as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between St. Mary's University and CMC-Canada
Summary: "Six Sigma is not a secret society, a sorority or a cliche. It is a highly disciplined process that helps focus on developing and delivering near-perfect products and services". The word "sigma" comes from a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from perfection. The idea behind Six Sigma is if you can measure how many defects there are in a process then you can figure out a way to eliminate them.
2001
Book Review: Engineering and Product Development Management
By Gus Gillespie, P.Eng, FCMC
Summary: One of the greatest challenges facing companies that develop, manufacture and sell complex products is bringing their new offerings to market on time, on budget and as specified. In spite of its importance, and the great volume of material available on different aspects of the problem, there has been little practical guidance for managing the overall process. With this book, Stephen Armstrong has made a major contribution to closing the gap.
2000
Book Review: Project Change Management
By Connie Ford, CMC
Summary: Management Consultants who are faced with the challenge of delivering a business process improvement project understand the difficulties encountered for successful completion. A report by the Standish Group indicated that 91% of all information technology projects undertaken in large corporations failed. Over 30% of projects were canceled before completion. The estimate of failed TQM projects runs between 60% and 75% of the total number of attempts according to numerous articles in Fortune and Business Week.
Finance
2003
Book Review: Final Accounting
By Ron Begg, CMC
Summary: This book is about the demise of Arthur Andersen, but the root causes and their effects could easily apply to any professional services firm. How can such a successful organization, with its high quality reputation and offices throughout the world, come to such a rapid and unsavoury end?
Information Technology
2004
Book Review: Management Strategies for Information Technology
By Glenn Strange, CMC
Summary: This book aims to demonstrate how Information Technology has become a strategic issue for many organizations. It illustrates how IT can be exploited for strategic advantage. The text demonstrates how to formulate IT Strategies and manage IT in large organizations. The focus of the book is essentially managerial and not technical; it was aimed at MBA Students and M.Sc Management Studies. Management Consultants will find this a useful reference text for tools and techniques in IT Strategy formulation.
Newsletters
2009
December
Bulletin Info-Management
Topics include: Ethics and sound governance. In the previous issue, we defined the concept of governance. Obviously, the objective in putting in place a governance model is to ensure the company's sound governance and ethics is at the core of this process.
Endeavour Volunteer Consulting for Non-Profits (Endeavour)
Topics include: Introductions, Free Workshop, Fundraiser Results & more.
John D. Kenmuir, CMC - Kenmuir & Company - Practical Advice and Hands On Help for Your Business
Topics include: Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season, Clear Out That Job Jar, Thanks To Clients, Thought du Jour
CMC-BC - BC Notes
Topics include: New Vancouver CMCs, Teaching Narrow Specialists How to Address a Broad Issue, Project Management Fifth Discipline, Employee Engagement Makes Good Business Sense, CMC-BC 2010 Conference and Acquiring Consulting Services
Institute of Management Consultants of India - ABC e-Mag - Delimiting Excellence
Topics include: 2009 IMCI Delhi accomplishments, Article: "Client Consultant Interface Model," Tips for Consultants courtesy of IMC USA
November
Bulletin Info-Management
Topics include: What is Governance: Business governance is defined as all processes, regulations, laws and institutions that have an influence on how a business is conducted, managed and controlled.
Topics include: Your employees are your primary asset: offer them a training program that meets their needs...and yours.
Institute of Management Consultants of India - ABC e-Mag - delimiting excellence
Topics include: Energy-Synergy through Coal, Addressing your Customers, Tips for Consultants.
Topics include: Managing the dynamics of Consultant/Client relationship, The Triple Bottom Line: Time to rethink education, organization and our interaction with the plane.
Institute of Management Consultants of India
Discover what management consultants in India are discussing with the latest newsletter from the Institute of Management Consultants of India.
October
Bulletin Info-Management
Topics include: Financial management system: what do you do with your internal accounting reports?
Institute of Management Consultants of India
Discover what management consultants in India are discussing with the latest newsletter from the Institute of Management Consultants of India.
September
Institute of Management Consultants of India
Discover what management consultants in India are discussing with the latest newsletter from the Institute of Management Consultants of India.
The Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants
Discover what management consultants in the Caribbean are discussing with the latest INSIGHTS newsletter from the Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants.
July
The Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants
Discover what management consultants in the Caribbean are discussing with the latest INSIGHTS newsletter from the Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants.
May
The Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants
Discover what management consultants in the Caribbean are discussing with the latest INSIGHTS newsletter from the Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants.
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