Factors for consulting engagement success

Abstract

Clients engage consultants for many reasons, not always successfully. Based on a literature review and client and consultant interviews, this paper suggests six universal factors ‐‐ stated as testable propositions ‐‐ to help explain consulting engagement success. The factors are consultant integrity ‐‐ in particular in putting the client’s interests first, client involvement and readiness to change, a clear agreement concerning requirements and expectations, client control of the engagement ‐‐ partly via clear and limited assignments, consultant competence, and a good fit along a number of dimensions ‐‐ including models of consultancy, client expectations, consultant capabilities, and consultant type. The paper also addresses the distinction between organisation development consultation and other types of management consulting and concludes that the distinction need not be so sharp.