D&T Case Analysis

Sagar Bansal MGG 650 Consulting Best Practices

Deloitte and Touché Case Study Analysis Introduction

Maria Chen, a senior consultant at Deloitte and Touché Consulting Group was hired by SKS Manufacturing, a Pontiac, Michigan based auto supplier to reduce inventory levels in the the ain ain plan plant! t! This This was was agre agreed ed to be a "#$w "#$wee ee% % enga engage gee ent nt!! &s a seni senior  or  consultant, she was e'pected to analy(e data, ta%e initiative and responsibility of sub$ pro)ects and presentations, anage client teas and help prepare client proposals! *er  ob)ectives with SKS were to synchroni(e production operations with the sales and purchasing purchasing departent, departent, reduce inventory levels by +" illion, understand understand and fi' the probles faced because of lac% of counication within the different departents of  SKS and ensure productivity of processes! My assessment o Maria Chen!s "erormance

- would li%e to divide Maria.s Chen.s perforance assessents into two parts! The first part part is the the #Tim #Time e $ero $ero% % "has "hase e /initial phase0 wherein Chen was very e'cited and an'ious to a%e a good first ipression on the client! 1ut Chen failed to establish initial rapport with SKS tea and failed to include the in the process! Maria Chen also failed to establish connection with the Client.s tea, her Deloitte colleagues and anagers! She also loo%ed at the proble fro her perspective without establishing connection with the client.s site anager to obtain the present process and hence understand correctly what was re2uired to change! -nstead Maria focused on the technical analysis and started building a spreadsheet odel without getting first$hand inforation fro the actual people wor%ing on the client.s site /li%e fro 3anovich0! Though she was using techni technical cal tools but she was buildi building ng the spreadsh spreadsheet eet odel odel based based on inaccu inaccurat rate e preises! She did not %now if she would be able to ipleent the spreadsheet odel in real tie! She ade things even ore cople' and hence the process less productive! Maria Chen by wor%ing on the odel virtually wasted the first three wee%s! She did not wor% with 1en 4ohan.s /Consultant on the engageent tea0 tea, though her wor% should be overlapping with that of his tea! -n the second "hase& this is the tie when Chen began to reali(e the iportance of oving to the place where all the action too%

Sagar Bansal MGG 650 Consulting Best Practices

place! She established connection with the very e'perienced personnel on the shop floor naed 3anovich! 5ith these encounters she understood the cru' of the probles faced by SKS such as scheduling wor% done outside the coputeri(ed syste, shortcuts ta%en as alternatives to avoid coputeri(ed syste! She also reali(ed the lac% of counication between the departents within SKS! Though her progress in this second phase was slow but it was gradual and she was now hitting on the right doors and understanding the core nature of the probles! Maria Chen and the consulting team at the u"coming Steering Committee

Considering the present circustances where Maria Chen and consulting tea having ade slow progress, are behind the originally anticipated progress! They should accept full responsibility of the slow progress but at the sae tie they should also present the positives which the tea gained fro the second phase of the 6 wee%s! Maria Chen should ac%nowledge that her pre$ature idea of only concentrating on building the spreadsheet odel was not a good idea! 1ut she should not stop there, she should ephasi(e the progress ade after the initial phase and also highlight the future action plan and the revised copletion date of the pro)ect! -t would be credible if they use consulting terinology to e'plain their future course of action! - would suggest the to use the Kolb.s cycle which would be to analy(e the core proble identified, then reflect on the proble, after which they need to draw conclusions and docuent the learning fro the reflections! &fter that they should organi(e tea eetings to get the tea.s opinion on the learning and assign individuals to specific tas%s! &fter this stage they would need to focus their attention on tactful e'perientation! During this process there needs to be a lot of analysis done to understand the effect of the changes ade! 7nce everything loo%s good, they should ipleent the e'perient as peranent change! There should be appropriate training provided to the eployees involved with the process change and also proper docuentation of the sae! This process would help Maria Chen and the consulting tea loo% good in front of the Steering Coittee!

Sagar Bansal MGG 650 Consulting Best Practices

'essons on consulting that can (e dra)n rom the case

The engageent between Deloitte 8 Touché consulting group and SKS Manufacturing offers a nuber of invaluable lessons in the field of 5or%force 9ngageent, Pro)ect Manageent, :egotiations, tea wor%, counication, and odes of proble solving! The case also discusses the iportant role played by leaders fro both the sides! -t also throws light on how counication is iportant within any organi(ation and with the clients! The case also ephasi(ed the need for selecting the tea of personnel who will be representing your copany to the client! The tea selection should be done in a balanced way! Proper balance should be aintained between e'perience and s%ills! There should be ore focus on the core copetencies which would be helpful in engaging with the clients! The tea should have a both technical %nowledge and s%ills to be able to successfully coplete the pro)ect! The case also brought about iportant lessons on effective tie anageent and resource anageent! The case also brings out iportant learning on planning and e'ecution process followed by consulting copanies and how the two processes could potentially lead to e'treely unfavorable outcoes if not dealt at the right tie and by the right people!