Human Resources, Management, and Organizational Development Consulting Services

We provide our clients with assistance in the design, development and implementation of process methods and development of statistical, business issue, workload, and process analyses; trends and best practices research; design of action plans; establish an evaluation framework to examine results and determine benefits for various enterprise business challenges, issues, and opportunities. As needed, our consultants conduct organizational research using surveys, interviews, or focus groups.

Organizational Analysis 

Advent Consulting Associates provides extensive business and scientific expertise for analytical studies of management practices and organizational behavior.  We work closely with our clients to learn their particular needs and issues and then design studies to help them achieve important business objectives.

Management analysis can include quite a diverse range of activities, procedures, and professional requirements.  We recognize that some analyses are well-structured and have clear, standardized procedures for successful completion.  The results from such analyses often have straight-forward interpretations.

For relatively complex engagements, our experience has shown that an organizational context for analyses can make results much more meaningful.   Once an analysis has been completed, whether explicitly or implicitly, it helps to have some basis by which to interpret the results for practical application and decision making. Diagnostic models can provide that basis.  

Some of the more popular diagnostic models include Classical Theory, Management by Objectives, Balanced Scorecard, Learning Organizations, and Total Quality Management.  Each model offers a conceptual perspective for understanding organizational behavior and performance.  Advent Consulting is familiar with these and numerous other models that are highly regarded and widely used.

In the absence of any specific or preferred model, a generic model of organizational performance that Advent Consulting often adopts applies the principles and concepts of organizational development as well as the criteria used for the Baldrige National Quality Award.  In our performance assessments and audits, we use a “systems” perspective that incorporates the complexities of numerous dynamic and interacting processes in modern organizations.  Our model for organizational analysis is illustrated in the following figure, and it includes two principal domains:  planning and execution.  We will describe those features in more detail below (please enlarge the figure below to see more detail).

The left side of our model illustrates those functions that primarily are analytical in nature, and fall into the planning domain.  The right side of our model consists of deployment (execution) functions.  They are more action-oriented than the planning activities, and they usually result from strategic planning and related analytical activities.  As systemic elements, however, they also may provide important feedback for the design and analysis of subsequent planning activities.

Organizational performance begins with the role of executive leadership as the primary driver of the organization.  Among the most critical components of the leadership function are how clearly and consistently leadership is defined, how it is carried out on a regular daily basis, how it is delegated and monitored, and how measurement and feedback are used to guide leadership improvement. 

Flowing from the direction and guidance provided by top leadership are the analytical functions of strategic planning and customer and market focus.  The planning function includes the design of the planning model, the actual planning activities, and strategies for the deployment of the plan.  Typical deployment strategies may include communication, organization-wide goal setting, and regular monitoring of the plan’s performance. 

Customer and market focus refer to the roles of market planning and analysis, customer research, strategies and uses of customer and market feedback, and other functions that define the organization’s role and fundamental strategies in the market place.  Public sector organizations often lack “customers” in the sense of the private sector.  Instead, they need to focus on their major stakeholders who might include service recipients, political action groups, and legislative and regulatory bodies.  In combination, strategic planning and customer and market focus provide the “umbrella” of strategic direction and the common sense of purpose that guides all other activities within the organization.

The principal means of long-term deployment consist of human resources management and process management.  The human resources component includes a variety of ways for building and sustaining internal talent and capabilities to ensure capable leadership, efficient operations, and to compete effectively in the marketplace.  Process management includes the on-going design, analysis, and improvement of work processes for internal efficiency and cost management.  Results from these deployment functions also may provide important feedback to the organization’s planning functions, particularly to guide the development of subsequent deployment strategies.

Underlying all of these planning and operational functions is the role of information and analysis.  This function includes the gathering, dissemination, analysis, and effective application of data and other types of information to managers, employees, partners, cross-functional groups, and other stakeholders who are most critical for improving specific aspects of the organization’s effectiveness.

Keys for Analysis 

Business results reflect the most significant indicators of business outcomes.  These may include a wide variety of measures, both quantitative and qualitative.  However, each indicator should reflect a core business strategy and be a key measure of business progress. 

The usefulness of indicators may be enhanced by the use of appropriate comparative information such as archival or baseline records, performance of key competitors, benchmark indicators, and so on. 

Business results may provide a major source of feedback into the basic goals and direction of the organization when they are analyzed and used effectively by the leadership and planning functions.