Course 2006-2007 a.y.

Go to class group/s: 31

GM-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - MM-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - OSI-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - AFC-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - CLAPI-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - CLEFIN-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - CLELI-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - CLEACC-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - DES-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - CLEMIT-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI) - CLG-LS (6 credits - I sem. - AI)

Course Director:
FERDINANDO PENNAROLA

Course Objectives

Management consulting is a two-sided coin issue. It is a profession, practiced since the very birth of management disciplines.  It represents a category of business service organizations, more properly named professional service firms. This course is an advanced program in consultancy and it provides detailed insights on these two aspects. First, the nature of ‘profession' is explored: intervention techniques, consultancy models, methods, trust building approaches, in various fields of management (organization, accounting and control, marketing, operation and information systems, etc.).  Second, it focuses on the functioning of professional service firms on issues such as: access to partnership, hiring and retaining professionals, managing knowledge capital, managing alliances and interorganizational relationships.
The course aims at giving a comprehensive overview of the most used consulting firms' competitive strategies, comparing the approaches of multidisciplinary practices, boutique firms, and more focused local and regional firms. At the same time, specific consulting knowledge is developed in areas such as business strategy and organization design.
The course combines both theoretical and applied materials.  Emphasis is placed upon case discussions and insights offered by visiting speakers from a variety of consulting firms.

Course Content Summary

• Professional service firm management: definitions and characteristics
• The role of professions in the service economy
• Intervention models and techniques
• Consultancy models and approaches in various management fields: organization and human resources, strategy, marketing, information systems, etc.
• Access to partnership: splitting the profit pie and partners' performance measurement
• Advanced governance issues in professional firms
• Knowledge management
• Alliances in the consulting field

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Oral exam

Textbooks

Attending students

• Course materials prepared by teachers

Non-attending students

• D. MAISTER, Managing the professional service firm, The Free Press, 2003.
• D. MAISTER, True professionalism, The Free Press, 2000.

Exam textbooks & Online Articles (check availability at the Library)

Last change 18/10/2006 03:46