STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES

PROJECT REPORT : GROUP 2

A STUDY OF THE CAREER PROGRESSION OF CONSULTANTS

Submitted By:Anand Prasad 0038/49 Atin Bhattacharya 0138/49 Bhupesh Manoharan- 0086/49 Debraj Mandal- 4016/49 Satish Kumar- 0301/49 Sravanthi Madishetty 0336/49 Vignesh S 4052/49

Contents
1. Executive summary.....2 2. Introduction.....2 3. Project objective......2 4. Literature review....3 5. Hypotheses and model if any or propositions with proper justification4 6. Research Methodology...........4 7. Data analysis and results............5 8. Discussion and implication.....6 9. References.......6 10. Appendix.....7

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Executive summary
We identify some useful characterizations of consultants as found in consulting literature, in particular the classification of consulting firms into P2 and MPB type organizations. The characterization shows that consultants are viewed as experts who solve problems and also as agents with a more abstract, empathizing role. Further, consultants are also required to develop positive relationships with clients and while these relationships are jeopardized by the clients unease about ceding control, consulting firms have created established norms that guide the management of client relationships. By conducting in depth telephonic interviews with consultants from well established firms, we examine the true real world utility of these characterizations and the P2 MPB classification. In particular, we found limited support for the utility of the P2 MPB classification when applied in the context of strategy consulting and service consulting firms. The support for the predictions of the classification about the structure and hierarchy of the firms, roles and responsibility of employees, degree of specialization and separation of concerns in consulting firms was significant. However, there were broad areas of similarity across consulting firms as well, which point to a significant degree of non institutional professionalization of consultants which has made consulting a calling where members enjoy a certain common subculture at the workplace, much like software professionals and doctors. We also conclude that the high rate of attrition (15 to 20 percent) in consulting firms and the high likelihood of a consultant to leave one consulting firm to join another is aiding this professionalizing process.

Introduction
The purpose of this report is to summarize the results of the groups efforts to derive insights about the consulting profession through in depth interviews. In particular, the groups focus was to understand how consultants in different consulting firms view themselves, consulting firms and how human resources and the work environment is managed in these firms in the pursuit of organizational goals. It must be recognized that consulting has been viewed as a peculiar profession due to its dual nature. At first glance, consultants are experts who share their professional advice with a client in exchange for a fee. In this context, consultants use their special expertise in a domain of knowledge to solve or propose solutions to a specific problem posed by the client. However, clients also derive other kinds of utility for consultants advice, ranging from the political use of consultants opinions and recommendations in the workplace to strengthen ones position to the use of consultants as corporate shamans who use their credibility to bless decisions, goals and strategies. Given this dual nature of consulting work, in addition to the quasi-professional nature of their role and the importance for a consultant to be a personable individual who is good at interacting and building relationships with clients, consulting firms are sufficiently complicated organizations from a human resource management perspective.

Project objective
The objective of the project is to determine if the responses of practicing consultants can be explained through existing theories. In particular, we examine whether a particular synthesis of existing notions about consultants can explain the responses actual consultants gave in interviews. We do not seek to completely explain the behaviour and opinions of these consultants but look for limited support for existing concepts in their responses.

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Literature review
Patterns of Human Resource Management in Consulting Firms by Richter, Dickmann and Graubner describes a simple method of classifying consulting firms that is particularly useful in understanding how consulting firms differ in the ways in which they are organized and how consultants working there self identify. The two archetypal consulting firms suggested here are called P2 and MPB. P2s, or professional partnerships, are organized more organically, with human resource management decisions being taken by consultants on their own without any inputs from HRM practitioners. In MPBs, or managed professional businesses, the power to make HRM decisions vests in members belonging to a distinct human resources function. MPBs, then, have a more corporate or conventional and commonly observed way of managing human resources. This of course has its own advantages, the easily identifiable ones being benefits accruing from division of labour, specialization and separation of concerns. P2 firms, on the other hand, benefit from the establishment of a more expansive notion and heightened sense of professionalism and the value of individual membership in the institution. In particular, Richter et al and others have strengthened the arguments in support of a HRM policy that establishes the best fit with the structure of the organization. Further, P2 firms are characterized by fusion of ownership and control, autonomy, self governance, elitism, small to medium size, consensus based decision making, decentralized structures and processes, three or less levels in the hierarchy and small project teams. MPBs, on the other hand, typically have external ownership, which could be private or public. They behave more like conventional business, typically have larger scale, command and control type structures and processes, centralization of decision making, more than three tiers in the organizational hierarchy and finally, large project teams. It is understandable then that P2 firms are characterized by their use of uniform HR policies across silos, a lack of formalized planning and an emphasis on organic solutions in the context of strategizing and planning human resource management approaches. Recruitment and selection is usually the responsibility of the partners and the conventional P2 type recruitment process would involve searching for candidates with a broad set of competencies. Training in such firms is involved in developing interpersonal skills and professional expertise and incentives are based on judging large groups of employees on the same scales and the same competencies. MPB firms, in contrast, have a more formalized approach to strategizing human resource management and planning the implementation of HR policies, while the underlying HRM principles at work remain usually the same across silos. Specialized HR employees and partners share the task of recruitment and selection, which is focused on finding candidates with specific competencies and knowledge. As employees are a more heterogeneous group in the MPB context, the rewards and incentives vary from silo to silo. Further, training is geared towards developing specialized technical skills in addition to analytical and managerial competencies. Lets turn to some other popular views on consulting. Management consulting in particular is not a discipline in the sense in which Physics is a discipline or a profession in the sense in which surgeons are professionals. This lack of a widely accepted, rigorous definition of what knowledge or expertise is part of consulting makes the consultants self identification as a professional less believable and outcome of a consulting exercise less predictable. In typical situations, management consultants are expected to solve the issue that is at the heart of the brief while empathizing with the goals and motivations of the client organization. In other words, the consultant is required to have a practical solution to a specific problem and to also build a professional relationship with the client. Often, consultants and authors who write on consulting matters tend to focus on client interactions, client relationships and the various stages and steps involved in the idealized STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES Page 3

consulting process, usually at the expense of the process of implementation of the consultants advice in the client organization. However, this situation has changed to some extent in recent years, with clients asking for more involvement of the consultant in implementation and more predictability of the success of the consultants recommendations. Conventionally, consultants are sensitized about the psychology of interactions with clients, in particular the uneasiness a client may face about providing knowledge about the organization and ceding decision making control to a certain extent. The usually prescribed solutions to this issue are identifying with the clients view of the core problem, effective requirement gathering, disambiguation of expectations and respecting the clients knowledge and expertise. Further, consultants are also required to intervene into processes and decisions at the client organization in accordance with her brief and to make necessary changes in the clients organization. To do this effectively, consultants must be objective, emotionally balanced, be mentally active and have attention to detail. Also, clients ascribe positive of negative traits to consultants based on the success of their expertise, which means that the skill of a consultant is determined by her rate of success. Finally, as mentioned above, consulting is not recognized as one of the conventional, institutionalized professions and developing a rigorous and widely accepted body of knowledge is part of the process of institutionalization. However, institutionalization may not be a priority for the consulting community. The development of a professional code of conduct for consultants may be useful. Such a code could focus on dedication to meeting clients briefs and ethical conduct.

Hypotheses
Our primary goal is to discover the level of support for the characteristics of P2 and MPB firms in the responses from actual consultants. So the working hypothesis for this purpose is that P2 firms and MPB firms have the same characteristics as described in the literature review above. Beyond hypothesis testing, we also summarize other insights that illuminate other aspects of the work life of consultants.

Research Methodology
The research method of choice used in this project was in depth telephonic interviews. Four consultants from established, well known consulting firms, based out of India, were interviewed using a predetermined set of questions, so that responses could be compared to each other and insights derived with some degree of confidence. We had a respondent from on P2 firm, Bain and Company and three respondents from MPB firms Ernst and Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte. Transcripts of the interviews have been provided in the appendix. One limitation of our methods is that telephonic interviews do not allow the researchers to pick up on non verbal cues and communication. Further, since all four respondents were male, we cannot claim our results to be gender neutral. In addition, we have a single respondent from a P2 firm, which means that any results that can be derived should be considered anecdotal and not conclusive. Another limitation is that while Bain and Company may be a good proxy for a P2 firm, it may have become too large to be the

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mirror image of the idealized P2 firm. In general, there is utility in the claim that management or strategy consulting firms are closer to the P2 archetype than other consulting firms.

Analysis and results

We found that the routes of entry for P2 and MPB firms are the same. Both kinds of firms recruit at multiple levels in their hierarchy and select high achieving candidates with well known credentials for the entry level. Further, in both kinds of firms entry level candidates are motivated by the high salary, the diversity of exposure, the variety of problems to solve and the head start they get in their career. However, the long hours, generic nature of the work involved, the lack of specialization of the kind enjoyed by white collar service firm employees in other businesses and the constant travel were identified as some of the reasons for consultants leaving the industry. One respondent belonging to a MPB firm claimed that there was no work life balance in consulting careers. Consultants leaving the profession often choose a role in an aligned industry they have consulted to in the past, or set up their own business or join strategy and planning roles in a different industry. In particular senior consultants and partners have a higher propensity to start a business or their own consulting firm as they have the benefit of a strong network across client organizations. Consultants also leave their firms for other competing firms. Among MPB firms, the desired competencies for a successful consulting career were analytical skills, problem solving skills, critical thinking, personability and professionalism. P2 firms were different as the main focus was on people skills, client handling capabilities and having a diverse skills profile. This difference seems to originate from the way P2 and MPB firms are structured, with P2 firms having lower number of tiers or rungs in their hierarchy, which means greater visibility of the entry level and mid level consultants to clients compared to their counterparts in MPB firms. In both MPB and P2 firms, the ability to generate positive, lasting relationships with clients and to sell the firms capabilities to the client were the main determinants of being able to rise through the ranks and become a partner. This of course is expected and also mentioned repeatedly in the relevant literature. At PricewaterhouseCoopers it takes about 7 years for the right candidate to become a partner, starting as an entry level consultant. In Deloitte and Ernst & Young, this period is as long as 15 years while in our MPB proxy Bain and Company it is typically 7 to eight years. Once again, the depth of the hierarchy seems to determine how long it takes for an entry level employee to reach upper management at these firms. One striking difference between P2 and MPB firms is that P2 firms seek to establish a uniform culture across locations while MPB firms often rely on subcultures and structures that are contingent and make contextual sense. At Bain and Company, the One Bain initiative to homogenize environment, behaviour and strategy across locations uses a lot of effort and cost. In particular, the pursuit of a uniform culture has led to the establishment of a number of capability centres at Bain which are used to train and enable employees to use the same tools and techniques in their practice. In contrast, Deloitte has chosen to establish different subsidiaries and divisions for different markets and client groups. In particular, the experience of a Deloitte consultant based out of India serving the Indian market and a Deloitte consultant based out of India but serving the U.S. market was discovered to be substantially different. Also, the attrition level at both MPB and P2 consulting firms in the Indian context was found to be about 15 to 20 percent, which was regarded by respondents as controlled or normal for their industry and not as a cause of worry. Since a significant fraction of consultants who leave their firms join a competing firm, it is likely that a sense of professionalism and perceived uniformity in roles and responsibilities across consulting firms is enabling such behaviour. In that sense, consulting, while not a institutionalized profession, can definitely be considered a non institutionalized profession, as suggest in the relevant literature. The support for this assertion also comes from other commonalities among the respondents responses as described above. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES Page 5

Further, while both MPB and P2 firms have cultures where performance, the ability to work in teams, personability and going beyond immediate requirement are valued, P2 firms are more open and flatter while MPBs are definitely hierarchical. Parallels were also found in measurement of performance and the use of incentives, both MPB and P2 type firms give significant stress on the importance of doing more for the organization than completing briefs, developing positive, workable relationships with clients and working well in teams. Both kinds of firms use some notion of a bell curve to compare employees at the same level and also use the construct to reward and promote the best performers and let go of the worst consultants.

Discussion and implication

In particular, we note that the use of the P2 versus MPB classification of consulting firms and force fitting them on the four consulting firms discussed above has its utility and also drawbacks. Specifically, the initial tentative claim was that management or strategy consulting firms such as Bain and Company are more like the P2 archetype while service consulting firms like Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers are similar to the MPB template. We found that the archetypes explain the differences in organizational structure specifically how hierarchical they are and the roles and attitudes of employees at different levels to a significant extent. Further, we also found that there is a limit to the analogy, and that there are significant similarities among consultants from different firms across the P2 MPB divide. This was identified as the result of the high level of movement of consultants across firms and the resulting limited uniformity in the behaviour of consultants across firms. We may also connect this to the non institutional professionalization of the consulting industry.

References
1.
Patterns of Human Resource Management in Consulting Firms, Richter, Dickmann and Graubner

2. Managing Consultants, T. Clark, 1995 3. Management Consulting: A guide to the profession, M. Kubr, 2000 4. We Have Never Been Modern, B. Latour, 1993 5. Professionalism and Ethics, P. Lynch, 1999 6. Business as a Profession, J. Mahoney, 1989 7. The Client Consultant Relation, Mulligan and Barber, 1999

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Appendix
This section contains transcripts of telephonic interviews of consultants conducted by the team.

Interview with Amit Sinha of PricewaterhouseCoopers

What are the main routes of entry into a career in consulting? One of the most common routes is through the campus interviews and internships. Usually recruiters conduct a series of case study interviews of the applicants with senior management members. Then there will be few interviews to ascertain how the applicants fit with the organisation. Usually there are two kinds of tracks in consulting the industry track and typical consultant kind of a track. For the industry consulting usually experienced hires are preferred. They are hired from other industry sources. What are some common reasons for people joining consulting firms? What are some common reasons for people leaving the consulting industry? Typically they get a very great exposure in a consulting from which is definitely not present in any other firm: a very good package, you get a head start in your career, you can learn a lot right at the beginning of your career. When you move in a particular track it becomes slightly generic. Either you move into a particular industry or it becomes more generic. Secondly the lifestyle becomes more different. Sometimes the hours get long and it can be very frustrating or stressful when you dont come up with answers so easily. Initially you feel excited because you travel a lot but later on it becomes more hectic. Family is another reason as it is very difficult to match the work life balance. Why do you think there has been a rise in recruitments of experienced hires? This can be reasoned by the way typically the consulting industry is shaping up. They feel the need of persons who are more involved in analytics of the industry. Experienced hires bring in a lot of skills regarding the industry problems and their analytical skills of those. There is also a grooming criteria needed for consultants. As far as industrial hires are concerned this grooming is relatively lesser. But experienced hires usually tend to have a bias or perceptive which they bring with them rather than the fresher. So organisations tend to have a balanced mix of both.

What are the pros and cons of a consulting career? Pros: Higher earnings - Often, you can make more per hour of work as a consultant. Project variety - It is hard to get bored when you switch projects every three months. Remote work - If you are a self-starter and can stay motivated, you may be lucky enough to find opportunities to work at home Own business - You can work on your own to find projects, so you function as your own boss but still need to meet the deadlines of the client Great learning and structured approach to a problem are also pros. Cons: Very long hours - You are likely to be in the office long after the full-time company employees leave for the night. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES Page 7

Potential for regularly-scheduled travel - Sure, you may be able to find remote work or something in your geographic location, but consultants must also be prepared to spend Monday-Friday away from home. What competencies are you supposed to demonstrate as a consultant? Brightness, analytical skills, problem solving skills, critical thinking, ability to remain calm in stressful situations, personability and professionalism. Engineers are preferred nowadays as they demonstrate more analytic skills than others. A person should have the ability to structure a problem. What are some career options after leaving the consulting industry? There a lot of options available. Once you leave consulting you can go to certain kinds of profiles in a corporate set up. The most common is corporate strategic planning. The kind of work pressure is comparatively less in a corporate set up than in consulting. Some may prefer it while others may not. How is the work-life balance in the firm? The career in consulting is kind of a very hectic one. Usually there is a lot of travel. During my initial years at PwC, I was almost travelling the entire year. This is excellent when you are a bachelor and when you in your initial part of your career because this is the time when maximum learning takes place in ones career. But once the family factor sets in maintenance of work-life balance is very difficult. But now it has changed a lot. In PwC now they very focused on creating a flexible work environment for our people, one that allows them to maintain work-life balance and offers them the opportunity for a variety of work-life experiences. For example, they encourage people to have a mobile mind set and take advantage of the opportunity to experience client assignments in different locations, perhaps just outside of their local market or in another part of the world. This opens up a wide range of opportunities for the consultants. How do you compare a post of Partner in consultancy to a VP in terms of authority, responsibility and influence? There is a lot of difference between a consultant and a VP. When you are a VP you deal with different kinds of people while a consultant moves most of the time with his own kind. In a consulting set up you may wield a lot of interest but there is not much operational stuff a person may put in. As a VP there is more operational stuff to work with. As a consultant you exhibit more knowledge and stuff. In corporate set up you have a lot of authority rather than a consultant. Most of the consulting firms are typically entrepreneurial in set up. Typically the partners bring in the new clients. In a corporate set up you will be looking at yourself as a functional head or a divisional head which is quite different from that of a consultant. In corporate set up there will be less direct control while in a consulting firm the control is much higher. How easy or difficult is it for an entry level associate to become a partner? What skills and attitudes are relevant to career progression at PwC? Typically a consultant should have that sales ability. He should be able to put his ideas clearly to the client and must be able to sell out his propositions. Basically at an entry level they work on lighter projects while the senior consultants are involved with heavier areas like business development etc. At the entry level the associate must exhibit the appropriate skills. Usually it takes almost 6 to 7 years to reach the stage of a partner.

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As for as attitudes and skill sets are concerned, consultant must possess all abilities of team players Even though they may exhibit interest in individual way of doing things, for a consultant behaviourally team coordination is very important. Beyond that the ability to build a relationship with the client is very important. At the end of the day their delivery of information to the clients is what matters most. So they must possess excellent skill sets to present the deliverables to the client in a better way. How different is the work for the 3 major pillars of consulting: Technical consultancy, Business consultancy and HR consultancy? Technical Consultants provide engineering-related services such as design, supervision, execution, repair, operation, maintenance, technology, creation of drawings and specifications, and make recommendations to public, companies, firms and industries. So the usually concentrate on the operational part rather than the strategy part. Business Consultants work on the development of and improvements to organisational strategy alongside Senior Management in many industries. They usually look at the problems in a wholesome manner. Human Resources or HR Consultants provide expertise around employment practice and people management. So their style of functioning is more with behavioural aspects rather than the technical aspects. How is performance evaluation done at your firm? What rewards are based on it? What are the punitive measures for poor performance? Typically the consulting firms have a balanced score card. Evaluation is done using that. Typical reward is how fast you can move up the career. Monetary rewards are always there. One can always see a huge difference in the packages of a performer and a non-performer even though their entry may be at the same time. Typically I have never seen a person coming from a poor academic background entering into a consulting career. So I dont think there will be punitive measures, if the consultants feel they are uncomfortable with the job they themselves switch over to other jobs. How do you rate the appraisals and perks provided at PWC with that of other consultancy firms and the Big 4? Appraisal methods are almost the same. Obviously the salaries are different What kind of training do fresh recruits undertake when joining your firm? What sort of training do experienced consultants undergo when leaving some different consultancy and joining yours? PwC has a standard methodology of training for both freshers and experienced recruits. They have different levels of training for freshers. Certain amount of days of training is mandatory for consultants every year. Every year they have training on methodology and framework that is exclusive for a particular consulting firm . How do you describe the culture of PwC? How is the culture of the consulting industry different from other service sector corporations? The culture is a very performance driven culture. PwC culture is one of teamwork and trusted relationships with the colleagues and clients. It is a culture of inclusion, where all work together, within client teams, across the firm and around the world and to help solve the clients issues and challenges. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES Page 9

Interview with Yatharth Bhaskar of Deloitte

What are the routes of entry for a career in consulting? One starts at associate or senior associate and then move on to being a consultant, senior consultant or senior manager. One can enter at any of these stages, a person can enter the consulting industry or firm at any of these points. Can a person with enough credibility like say a Doctor, enter consulting at any of the senior position or stages? In Deloitte there is a qualified doctor who in now a senior manager who takes care of medical and pharma business of Deloitte. So a person can enter at any of the stages. Basically at a base entry level of consultant or senior consultant a person is expected to work across industry and so minimum knowledge in these areas will do. Today it may be a IT based project and tomorrow it may be in a finance domain or business development. So if you are young in a firm, young in the sense, base level, it is expected for a diverse industry. At a senior stage you narrow down to one or two industries and hiring also depends on the same aspect. How is the career path at Deloitte different from those at BCG, McKinsey, Bain et cetera? It depends on the type of consulting. BCG, Bain, McKinsey etc are strategy consulting firms while Deloitte and Accenture are management consulting firms. The type of problem is different for both the firms. So they dont work on the same kind of problem. Most of the times they are not competitors in the market. Firms like BCG, McKinsey demand much more agility in the candidate. They should be able to see IT, Finance, Operations et cetera. Firms like Deloitte, KPMG, Accenture they put the candidate in one or two areas and expect you to grow in these areas itself. Also the target customers for these firms are different and target customers are different. What are some specific reasons for people joining consulting firms? First and foremost comes the diversity one gets. General project duration is 6-8 weeks and max 3 months and implies lot of exposure. If you are not sure which industry you want to enter then consulting is a good option where these firms provide you a flavor of each industry which I think is a very big plus for this industry. At the end of the day if you are interested in telecom you can choose and go into a different industry. And people want to keep options open. Is there a lot of attrition in the consulting industry? By the time one gets a hang of the industry, you move on to a different one. Attrition is mainly because of travelling issues and they dont want to travel so often. Start of the week to c lient location and end of the week to base location.

How common is attrition across firms in the industry?

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For BCG, McK its week based and you travel to client location in the start of the week and come back to base location by the end of the week. For firms like Deloitte, where client location is very far off (like US) usually people are sent for some months, year and half to 2 years. People dont want to be away from family for so long and then they move on. Over the past few years, a lot of preference is given to experienced people. There is a paradigm shift in the consulting firms. The business is also including implementation and not just consulting advice etc. Accenture is leading in here. In many cases recommendations are not implementable. To make consulting firms more accountable in the future, it becomes important that their recommendation are implementable. In order for these firms to convince clients that these recommendations are implementable, these firms need significantly experienced guys in the firm to convince clients. So this might be the reason that firms are increasingly focusing on experienced personnel. This needs established competencies. It might be so that a previous experience counts. If a person is involved in constructing a bridge, then he might be hired for a construction based project. In all a person needs to understand intricacies of the business to be hired. What are the major pros and cons of joining consulting? If you want a flavour of different industries, consulting is a industry for you. If you are not sure about what you want to do in future then consulting is a safe bet. The drawback is that at the end of the day you are a generalist. So after 2 years your experience is not much counted for. In case of people with significant previous experience, what happens to them in terms of growth in expertise and knowledge? (paraphrasing) For such people, one good thing is network. It connects you very well in the industry. The level of contact principles have is very different. The partners can start their own business. However, if you are a senior in a firm but not a partner and you spot a business opportunity, it becomes difficult for you to convince firm to move in this direction and in such cases, seniors move out to venture into these opportunities. What are some of the exit options perceived in these firms? Different levels have different exit options. At around 3-4 years you get to be acceptable in a major industry where you have prior experience. In case of specialization, one goes into that industry itself, for example for promotion to senior position or senior manager you need expertise in that industry to move on. What is the level of attrition at Deloitte? In consulting it is 15 to 18 percent. This is not the same in the risk advisory business. Where do people who leave go, to competitors or a different industry? STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES Page 11

No clear cut demarcation but it depends whether they go to competitor or a firm in an aligned industry. It is a mix and it depends. How would you describe the culture at Deloitte? Open culture. Support in terms of the work and also feasibility. Especially for married women, you have work from home option. Deloitte is very supportive in such aspects. In terms of work, freedom of working from anywhere and not just your desk. Finally, work is important not from where you do it. How is Deloitte different from other service sector firms? BCG and Bain operate in India business. And Deloitte India had 2 different entities, Deloitte US and Deloitte India. It is similar to BCG, Bain et cetera where you are answerable to the client very often. In Deloitte US, client is far and interactions are pretty low. And work is pretty much relaxed. So for Deloitte US are projects long term? Not exactly, Deloitte moves people in different projects on rotation basis. We do catering to a client in Middle East or Europe, and its like a common pool of team one in Europe, India, US each interact with client. Its not like we have a long term commitment to the client, it might happen when the client may ask for a specific person in the team which is consulting but otherwise it is pretty flexible with the projects. Does It seems similar to IT firms? In a way, yes. At the end of the day we get business from US and Europe. But the difference lies in the accountability. In the Indian IT firm, you are not really accountable to the client. You have someone on the top of your head to check your work and deliver it timely. Deloitte has this thing that you need to interact with your client directly, so it is pretty much increase in the responsibility of the consultant here. Also the integration is pretty high, and you get to directly talk to the client. It is not there in the Indian IT firms.

How would you compare the post of a partner and VP in terms of power, influence and responsibility? Consulting managers usually have a Manager, senior manager and a partner. In India, the firms like Bain, BCG have a Principal, Manager, Sr. Manager and then a Partner. We do have directors, but not partners. Partner is the one who gets the business Director doesnt have that responsibility. Partner is like the one who gets the business and is very senior in the firm and is very important for the firm. So partners usually have equity buyout in the firm and they invest money in the firm. There are junior partners, senior partners, Management partners and in some cases accounting partner. VP in banks depend on the type of business that they deal with. One business might have 100-150 VPs also. The position of VP is not that responsible as compared to the partners in a consulting firm.

How is it easy or difficult for an entry level associate to become a partner?

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If everything goes well, it might take 10-15 years. In downturn and situations like that where you dont get promotion it might be longer. So from an entry level associate from a B-school like IIMC to become a Partner in like 10-15 years.

What are the kinds of skills and attitudes that cater to this career progression? In the entry level its more like you need to know your business but as you become senior more focus is on people skills ultimately end of the day everything is relationship selling. Partner have relations from which they get business and the business runs and the firm grows so end of the day everything is about relationship skills. So if you are better at people skills you are better at getting promotions

How is performance evaluation done at Deloitte? Performance evaluation is more about the work you do around 70-80% from project and 20% additional work that you take up. Like some event organization for the firm, organize a party or participating in some firm wide competition. And most of it is about how you are working for the project, how are you getting your work done, etc. What are the rewards for a good performance and measures for a bad performers improvement? Measures, consulting firms see your agility. How you are picking up the work fast, how quickly you are adjusting, how you are talking with the client, how you are addressing issues. Because at the end of the day, every person in the consulting firm represents the firm to the client. Second thing is bonus. Everything is dependent on your performance, increment and then promotion is related to this. Is there any reward mechanism in the equity/options area? Consulting firms dont have this stock purchase option etc. Any consulting firm in the world has partners and are not listed in stock exchanges, because say in case of Deloitte, it has audit and also consulting business. It becomes a conflict of interest if you audit the same firm that you had provided consulting service to. And so consulting firms are not listed, because if you are listed then you get into radar and all and it gets complicated. I think act in US specifically says you cannot get listed since you are a consulting firm thats why they have partners. Do partners give out these options? No. the partners have this equity buyout in the firm. A senior cannot give out the equity to the junior. How are appraisals different from the big four? These firms are particular about the delivery of the work on which your appraisal is based. Its more or less a similar issue. What kind of training does Deloitte take you through? STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES Page 13

We have a concept of MECE- Mutually exclusive and completely exhaustive. Consulting business is about solving problems. How do you approach a problem? In terms of the selection, you are given a problem statement and tested on your approach and not on the solution. Case interview as they call it. Is it different for the experienced candidates? No, except for the complexity. How is the work-life balance? It depends on the type of projects and not just the firm.

Interview with M Guhan of Bain and Company

What are the main routes of entry into Bain? About 50 people are hired yearly. Out of them, about 40 are recruited fresh from management schools, while 10 are lateral hires into middle management. On entry into a new market, not a lot of local hires are made to retain the correct culture. People are brought in from other offices. Is the career path at Bain different from that in other competing firms? No. The career progression pattern is pretty much the same across all top four firms. The positions held are the same, with only minor changes in influences and nomenclature of the positions. One spends around 2 years at every level before progressing to the next higher one, assuming perfect performance. We have five levels from analyst to partnet. What were your reasons for joining consulting? The reasons were challenging work, variety in work, variety in the network one gains and experience in overall business strategy, which helps open doors elsewhere as well. What are some common reasons for people leaving the consulting industry? In decreasing order of importance: skills not matching the requirements of consulting, a lack of Work-Life balance and three: that the work is too strenuous. How much attrition is there at Bain? Do people leaving the firm usually join a competitor or do they decide to move out of the consulting industry? The lowest attrition rates across the top four. About 20-30 people leave the firm every year. These can be divided into two categories. Those who are let go because of performance shortcomings (60%), and those whom Bain wants to retain but who voluntarily leave (40%). Of the latter group, it is only 10% who leave to join other consulting firms, the rest leave because they want to venture beyond consulting. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SERVICES Page 14

When it comes to retention, the biggest challenge is sustainability. One enjoys the exposure to new industries, new environments and regular challenges when in youth. A lot of people lose taste for it later. What are some options after leaving consultancy? Entrepreneurship and Executive Strategy position in companies. How do you compare a post of Partner in a consultancy to a VP in terms of authority, responsibility and influence? The role of the partner is much more external-facing than any level below him. He never works in group to solve the clients problem. Rather, it is he who handles the client and gets more business. Another role of the partners is HR related, so much so that the bulk of HRM related work is taken on by the partners themselves.

Please talk about the culture at Bain. How is the culture of the consulting industry different from other service sector corporations? The operating model different from the classical model. Every level of the organisation interacts laterally with client to get them to convince the upper layers. Teams are formed across specialisation to get heterogenous groups who come up with better, more grilled solutions. Those following the classical model get good solutions fast because everyone shares expertise. The structure is very flat at Bain. One can walk into a senior managers' office for advice. However, cultural differences play a role in curbing this behaviour in locations like India. One Bain is a set of principles that ensure consistency across every function and level. So much so that there are detailed codes on office decor and carpet colours. A by product of this is that the company cannot grow very fast because of so much emphasis on consistency as a culture. The Bain fit is about: Is this guy cut out to be a partner someday? Left to himself, can this guy handle a mid-level client by himself? At-Cost behaviour is encouraged: showing initiative. Dont wait for others to fix things, fix them yourselves. Extra 10s are extra work that all executives are expected to put in for the benefit of the company. The nomenclature derives from the cultural compulsion to go the extra 10% for the company. Upward feedback is a peer-review system built into appraisals that encourages team building and teamwork. What skills and attitudes are relevant to career progression at Bain? Skill and attitudes beyond the obvious would be having a diverse skill profile, client handling capabilities and people skills.

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How is performance evaluation done at your firm? What rewards are based on it? What are the punitive measures for poor performance? We use metrics for gauging performance. Employee Utilization is the billable hours that the employee logs in. By itself not a good indicator of performance as it only usually counts for 60% of the effort the employee has put in. Unbilled work is the next one. This has two components, one, extra 10: work that the employee has done that is excess to his own requirements and only benefits the firm; two, administrative work: senior managers participate in admin work more than the junior recruits. Eventually, some partners might choose to handle only the administrative side of the business. Upward feedback is a system where peers who have worked in teams with the employee are asked whether they would work with him or her again in the future. This grading is done one a 1 to 5 scale and the records are kept anonymous. This encourages one to be a team player and pleasant to work with. There is no weightage according to one's position, allocated to one's grading for someone. According to performance in the above metrics, the employee's position in the bell curve is determined. The top 10% are recognized and stand a chance at promotion. Upward feedback is a hygiene factor that could block someone's attempt to get promoted. The measures of performance are much more team based than at other firms. Things like how many times one has been asked for advice count when it comes to chances of promotion. Consultants are given two chances in two cycles to get promoted. The projects are undertaken under different supervisors. If the employee fails to get promoted in spite of this, he is let go. If one does really badly on a particular project a senior manager is assigned to him or her as additional mentor. If there are personal problems, a leave of absence is allowed. The employee is allotted a lower level project. When the employee is back, they are given one more chance with a project. If he or she fails at that, they are let go. So there is ample opportunity to correct oneself and every chance is given for one to succeed. There is one ombudsman's office in India. It sends small questionnaires to employees to fill up. The results of this exercise go to the managing partners. It has questions like: Last week do you think you added enough value? Do you think you were able to satisfy the client in your last project? Do you think you met the sustainability goals for this month? Annually across the world questionnaires are sent to all clients to check whether they are satisfied and whether they would forward further business to Bain. What kind of training do fresh recruits undertake when joining your firm? What sort of training do experienced consultants undergo when leaving some different consultancy and joining yours? Global training is conducted frequently however it does not focus much on increasing on-the-job performance, rather career path and culture. Area-specific training is not conducted at junior level but only for voluntary special interest groups. Every new recruit spends time in the Bain Capability Centre for a short while. BCC is a group that supports the functioning of all teams in India.

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Everyone is assigned a mentor. Evaluation is done by the immediate supervisor, while the mentor acts in an advisory capacity. The mentor assists in situations where the employee is stuck, as well as long-term career planning.

Interview with Rajiv Maitra of Ernst & Young

What are the main routes of entry into a career in consulting? It depends. Sometimes it is from Campus recruitment and sometimes from laterals. Generally we seek MBAs and CAs where percentage of CA in the firm is on the higher side. See for knowing the answer to this question, you need to know the structure of E&Y. The structure is like this. The firm is divided into 4 divisions: Transaction Management, Advisory, Performance Improvement and IT Advisory. Also generally, we take MBA recruits mainly for HR operations and HR consulting projects. How do you think the career paths at E&Y is different from those of your peers in other consulting firms such as the big four or KPMG, Deloitte et cetera? Its almost similar. It takes 10-20 years to progress from an analyst to a partner post.

What are some of the Pros and Cons of the consulting firms? Pros are the ability to switch to any industry and good compensation and benefits etc. The con is that there is no work life balance. Which competencies are you supposed to demonstrate as a consultant? Challenge facing attitude, openness to work in unknown arena, aggressiveness and the appetite to learn Would you say that the level of attrition of company X is low? Do people leaving the firm usually join a competitor or do they decide to move out of the consulting industry? There is 15-20 % attrition in almost all of the consultancy firms. E&Y is at the lower end as far as attrition is concerned. KPMG and E&Y have low attrition whereas Deloitte stands on the higher side. What are some options after leaving consultancy? Majority of the people who leave E&Y go to other consultancy firms such as the big four or KPMG or Deloitte. Less number of people join some other industry. How is the work-life balance in the firm? There is absolutely no work-life balance. How do you compare a post of Partner in consultancy to a VP interms of authority, responsibility and influence? It is not comparable. It is actually comparable to CEO post of other industry firms. The only difference is that a company has only one CEO but a consulting firm has many partners.

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How easy or difficult is it for an entry level associate to become a partner? What skills and attitudes are relevant to career progression at E&Y? It is very subjective. It can take anywhere between 10-20 yrs. Depends on factors such as talent, what level the recruitment has been made in. How is performance evaluation done at your firm? What rewards are based on it? What are the punitive measures for poor performance? The performance evaluation is done based on performance and perception of other employees. Bottom 5% are generally fired. But this is not a very frequent phenomenon. What kind of training do fresh recruits undertake when joining your firm? What sort of training do experienced consultants undergo when leaving some different consultancy and joining yours? Typical inductive training. No industry specific training.

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