Hrm 568 - Human Resources Management Consulting

Assignment #1

HRM 568: Human Resources Management Consulting

February 2, 2013

Introduction

A consulting contract is an agreement between the client and the consultant that explicitly states how they will work together. During the contracting phase, the consultant has the advantage to set the tone of the project. While most consulting services do not require a contract, it is useful in helping to outline the project the consultant will be working on. A consulting contract should contain the following elements (Block, 2011):

* Boundaries of the analysis

* Objective of the project

* The kind of information needed

* The consultant's role in the project

* The product to be delivered

* Support and involvement needed from the client

* Time Schedule

* Confidentiality

* Feedback to the consultant

The consulting contract is not so much for enforcement as it is for establishing clear communication between the client and the consultant. This paper will attempt the address the elements of a contract for the following example:

"Given that project teams within a large hospital department have been ineffective in meeting their productivity goals and providing patient information in a timely way, you are asked to work with the teams to analyze and resolve the situation."

Criteria #1

Creating boundaries of the analysis and objectives of the project is probably the most important part of contracting. "Boundary statements help to separate the things that are applicable to your project from those areas that are out of scope" (Mochal, 2007, para 2). Boundaries basically describe those things the consultant will or will not do. Boundaries also help to establish the consultant's responsibilities and the client's expectations and how communication will flow between the two. "In this way - a contract is like a fence - the better everyone can see that fence and understand the boundaries - the more assurance the neighbors respect their boundaries" (CSG Government Solution, 2009, p. 2). In the above mentioned example, the boundaries of the analysis should be to assess why the hospital's project teams are ineffective in meeting productivity goals and providing patient information timely. Anything other than this would be outside of the scope of the project.

The objectives of the project set a clear path to obtaining the goals of the project. They identify the any improvements expected if the consultation is successful (Build a contract, n.d.). "These may include aspects such as increased productivity, increased profits, enhanced public image, or changes in working relationships between supervisors and their employees" (Schmidt, 2013, para 3). It is important to be clear about the objectives at the beginning of the project. Objectives should be measurable, achievable, and timely. This helps to keep the client realistic about the limitations of the project. An objective for this project would be to simply improve the effectiveness of project teams by developing ways to increase productivity by 3-5%. Establishing the objectives of the project will help the consultant determine the type of data that needs to be collected.

Criteria #2

Obtaining vital information is important to any consultant. This is the part of the project where the focus is on gathering information relevant to the project. It is important to be clear at the start of the project about the type of information needed. "Some of the kinds of information that you may want to specify in the contract are technical date, figures, and work flow; attitudes of people toward the problem; and roles and responsibilities - for examples" (Block, 2011, p. 60). The consultant may use different methods to obtain data. These include interviews, questionnaires, observations, or analysis of existing documents or records (Schmidt, 2012). For this particular project, it would also be important to what methods the project teams used to gather information and how they analyzed the information. Secondly, it would be important to review documents and records from past projects and determine if the information gathered was relevant to the project and collected timely. Lastly, it would be important to interview the project team members and get their opinions as to why they feel the project teams have been ineffective. It is important that the consultant take this information and develop his or her own interpretation of the underlying problem.

The main role of any consult is to provide solutions to help their client develop better products and services or improve existing ones. However, there are three different roles that consultant can have in each project (Block, 2011):

* Expert