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 main plant. This was agreed to be a 12-week engagement. As a senior

consultant, she was expected to analyze data, take initiative and responsibility of sub-

projects and presentations, manage client teams and help prepare client proposals. Her

objectives with SKS were to synchronize production operations with the sales and

purchasing department, reduce inventory levels by $10 million, understand and fix the

problems faced because of lack of communication within the different departments of

SKS and ensure productivity of processes.

My assessment of Maria Chen’s performance

I would like to divide Maria’s Chen’s performance assessments into two parts. The first

part is the “Time Zero” phase (initial phase) wherein Chen was very excited and

anxious to make a good first impression on the client. But Chen failed to establish initial

rapport with SKS team and failed to include them in the process. Maria Chen also failed

to establish connection with the Client’s team, her Deloitte colleagues and managers.

She also looked at the problem from her perspective without establishing connection

with the client’s site manager to obtain the present process and hence understand

correctly what was required to change. Instead Maria focused on the technical analysis

and started building a spreadsheet model without getting first-hand information from the

actual people working on the client’s site (like from Janovich). Though she was using

technical tools but she was building the spreadsheet model based on inaccurate

premises. She did not know if she would be able to implement the spreadsheet model in

real time. She made things even more complex and hence the process less productive.

Maria Chen by working on the model virtually wasted the first three weeks. She did not

work with Ben Rohan’s (Consultant on the engagement team) team, though her work

should be overlapping with that of his team. In the second phase, this is the time when

Chen began to realize the importance of moving to the place where all the action took

Sagar Bansal

MGG 650 Consulting Best Practices

place. She established connection with the very experienced personnel on the shop

floor named Janovich. With these encounters she understood the crux of the problems

faced by SKS such as scheduling work done outside the computerized system,

shortcuts taken as alternatives to avoid computerized system. She also realized the lack

of communication between the departments 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 problems.

Maria Chen and the consulting team at the upcoming Steering Committee

Considering the present circumstances where Maria Chen and consulting team having

made slow progress, are behind the originally anticipated progress. They should accept

full responsibility of the slow progress but at the same time they should also present the

positives which the team gained from the second phase of the 6 weeks. Maria Chen

should acknowledge that her pre-mature idea of only concentrating on building the

spreadsheet model was not a good idea. But she should not stop there, she should

emphasize the progress made after the initial phase and also highlight the future action

plan and the revised completion date of the project. It would be credible if they use

consulting terminology to explain their future course of action. I would suggest them to

use the Kolb’s cycle which would be to analyze the core problem identified, then reflect

on the problem, after which they need to draw conclusions and document the learning

from the reflections. After that they should organize team meetings to get the team’s

opinion on the learning and assign individuals to specific tasks. After this stage they

would need to focus their attention on tactful experimentation. During this process there

needs to be a lot of analysis done to understand the effect of the changes made. Once

everything looks good, they should implement the experiment as permanent change.

There should be appropriate training provided to the employees involved with the

process change and also proper documentation of the same. This process would help

Maria Chen and the consulting team look good in front of the Steering Committee.

Sagar Bansal

MGG 650 Consulting Best Practices

Lessons on consulting that can be drawn from the case

The engagement between Deloitte & Touché consulting group and SKS Manufacturing

offers a number of invaluable lessons in the field of Workforce Engagement, Project

Management, Negotiations, team work, communication, and modes of problem solving.

The case also discusses the important role played by leaders from both the sides. It

also throws light on how communication is important within any organization and with

the clients. The case also emphasized the need for selecting the team of personnel who

will be representing your company to the client. The team selection should be done in a

balanced way. Proper balance should be maintained between experience and skills.

There should be more focus on the core competencies which would be helpful in

engaging with the clients. The team should have a both technical knowledge and skills

to be able to successfully complete the project. The case also brought about important

lessons on effective time management and resource management. The case also

brings out important learning on planning and execution process followed by consulting

companies and how the two processes could potentially lead to extremely unfavorable

outcomes if not dealt at the right time and by the right people.