Management Consulting as a Form of Entrepreneurial Learning and a Source of Business Knowledge

Menadžment konzalting se, još od svog početka prije 150 godina, razvija vrlo brzo. U osnovi je to isporuka usluga i neovisno savjetovanje o problemima upravljanja organizacijama. Menadžment konzultanti posjeduju znanje, vještine i sposobnosti u istraživanju, analizi, komunikaciji i upravljanju promjenama. U stanju su identificirati probleme, naći relevantne podatke, sintetizirati informacije i temeljem toga ponuditi prijedloge za poboljšanje, prevladavanje otpora i pomoći klijentima učiti iz iskustva. Po strani od klasičnog savjetovanja (strategija, organizacija, ljudski resursi, IT, upravljanje promjenama i upravljanje projektima) uvedene su i nove usluge (razvoj i integracija) koje su obogatile profesiju. (Niedereicholz, 1996.). Menadžment konzultanti su, zahvaljujući njihovoj stručnosti i znanju o praksama upravljanja, agenti u diseminaciji znanja o poslovanju. Unatoč tome, vrlo je mali broj studija usmjeren na ulogu konzultanata u projektima s poduzetnicima i njihovim organizacijama. Znanje posredovano od strane konzultanata može se podijeliti u dva tipa: • Eksplicitno znanje posredovano poduzetniku putem različitih medija kao što su izvješća, knjige, baze podataka i IT tehnologije • Tacitno znanje koje se može posredovati jedino osobnim kontaktom i suradnjom U radu se istražuje primjena menadžment konzaltinga kao oblika poduzetničkog učenja i izvora znanja o poslovanju. Menadžment konzalting kao okvir za poduzetničko učenje temelji se na opsežnom profesionalnom iskustvu u regiji, višegodišnjim istraživanjima i analizi stručno-znanstvene literature. Rad naglašava važnost uloge koju konzultant ima za poduzetnika kao diseminator informacija i novih praksi o upravljanju i egzekuciji poslovnih procesa i upravljanju organizacijama.Management consultancy, since its start as a profession and as a business 150 years ago, is expanding rapidly throughout the world. Management consulting is the rendering of assistance and independent advice about management issues. Management consultants have skills in research, analysis, communication and change management. They are able to identify problems, find relevant data, synthesize information, develop proposals for improvement, overcome resistance, transfer management techniques, and help clients to learn from experience. Besides traditional management consulting (e.g. strategy, organization, HR, change management, IT advice and project management) new service lines (e.g. development and integration excluding software development and outsourcing) also belong to this profession (Niedereicholz, 1996). Management consultants are agents in the dissemination of business knowledge thanks to their expertise and knowledge management practices. However, relatively few studies focus specifically on their role in projects with entrepreneurs and their organisations. Knowledge transferred by a management consultant consists of two main types: • Explicit knowledge that can be transferred to an entrepreneur through different media as reports, books, archives, databases and IT groupware technology • Tacit knowledge that can be transferred to an entrepreneur through personnel contact and collaboration In the paper the implementation of management consulting as a form of business knowledge source for entrepreneurs is explored. The framework for management consultancy in sense of entrepreneurial learning is based on extensive professional experience in the region, multi-year surveys, and a review of the literature. The paper highlights the important role of management consultants as disseminators of information and new practices, and of independent advice to entrepreneurs as a subset of manager’s population