Guidelines for client offering ‘Consulting Projects’ for students in their final year of their Business and Management or related degrees
at Bucks New University 2015-16.
Thank you for offering or considering offering a consultancy project to our students. This handout is intended to provide some background and context and to offer some guidelines on what we are looking for and what your own role might be. We hope it answers many of your questions, but if not, then please contact or for further information.
About the module
The module runs for the whole of the academic year and it is an option choice for our students. Most of the students will have had some experience of undertaking a client led project during their studies last year. At that point though they were working in teams and this time each project is undertaken by an individual student.
The learning objectives for the module are:-
- Define and contextualise business and management research problems within an organisation in order to identify an appropriate management consultancy task suitable for the completion
- Demonstrate and ability to gain access, where appropriate , to organisations, people and or data through primary or secondary research and to critically evaluate these sources to assess their credibility and authority in order to develop appropriate recommendations
- Critically evaluate the ethical issues in conducting consultancy projects within organisations from a researcher perspective as well as organisational and employee perspectives
- Present the research findings, analysis, conclusions and recommendations in a coherent format suitable for the project and target audience / organisation
- Demonstrate the application of knowledge and development of management thinking and practice for the chosen topic area and/or industry sector
The learning process
Your student will attend a number of lectures covering:-
- Learning about themselves and their consulting style
- Identifying consulting competencies
- Identifying different types of interventions a consultant can make in an organisation
- Managing clients and agreeing project briefs
- Progressing projects appropriately
- Working to achieve the best for the client
- Reporting back and exiting effectively
They will also be allocated a supervisor with whom they will meet regularly to ensure they and the project are on track. They will be placed into a small working group, known as action learning sets, to share updates and ideas with other students.
They will submit 3 pieces of work during the module
a)A 2000 word personal review and development plan that shows how they will develop their skills given the client context/organisation and the specific nature and scope of the project to be undertaken. This will include an explanation of activities already undertaken in order to develop their employability and suitability for their desired future career.
b)A 2000-3000 word review and research plan on the nature of the project, they information to be considered in the project and the consultancy approach which will be used
c)A 7000 word business report on the process of consulting for a work place on a specific problem. This will include a 2000 word report to be provided to the client.
Clients will be invited to comment and provide a proportional mark on the quality of the project completed for them.
The skills we are aiming to develop in the students are:-
- Research skills
- Critical analysis
- Self-management
- Project and time management
- Accountability
- Client management
- Business communication
- Business application
- Creativity and decision making
- Employability
The nature and scope of the projects
The client project can be problem or opportunity based. It can be field research or desk research based. It should be significant enough to warrant 40-50 hours of work from the student over an estimated 20 week period.
It would be great if the project is capitalising on the specific interests of the students as well as meeting an organisational need.
The project can involve the student visiting the client premises, although travelling expenses are not funded by the student or the university. The project can be managed with the client on a remote basis with regular Skype calls, emails, weekly update reports and phone calls.
Students are not required to work ‘on’ the client premises during the projects as insurances do not permit for this to happen.
We would like you initially to complete the supporting documentation expressing your interest and then we can act as a matching service with students we feel might be best placed to help you.
Example projects could be – these are by no means the only acceptable projects, but are offered as guideline ideas
HR related
- Writing HR policies and supporting training materials
- Developing a succession plan
- Introducing social learning to the organisation
- Designing and conducting employee surveys
- Conducting a pay and benefits review with competitor local organisations/vacancies
- Setting up a Graduate recruitment programme
Business development
- Scope a feasibility study for a relocation/expansion/ reduction/merger
- Scope a feasibility study for the development and production of a new product
- Research and present new innovations and markets the client could pursue
- Identify areas across the business for operational efficiencies and cost savings
- Identify wasted resources / time and streamline organisational processes
- Source strategic alliance partners for a specific project
Financial
- Identify improvements in managing creditors and debtors
- Review accounting practices and procedures for increased effectiveness
- Identify and evaluate sources of external funding for business specific projects
- Identify cost savings through money management techniques rather than operational changes
Marketing, Advertising and PR
- Develop a brand identity /strategy for a new product or service/ product or service revamp
- Identify Business to business distribution and sales channels
- Identify Business to Consumer sales channels
- Plan and execute a social media/advertising/public relations campaign
- Conduct research on consumer perceptions and preferences
The role of the clientis to :-
- Maintain regular contact with the student (fortnightly is recommended as a minimum)
- Ensure student receives clarity on your expectations how they are achieving them
- Liaise with the appointed Bucks New University supervisor as required
- Contribute to the final mark by providing feedback and a mark on the work of the student (guidance will be given on this)