CONSULTING PROJECT - 2020/1

Module Overview

The Consulting Project is designed to integrate the learning from across the programme curriculum and apply it to a real business problem in a specific organisational context. Working in teams, students will consolidate and deepen their knowledge and understanding of the relevant areas of study through their engagement with a live consulting project set by a client organisation in conjunction with the module teaching team.

Students will develop their professional skills with a particular emphasis on consulting skills, including the ability to:

• engage with representatives of client organisation in a professional and effective manner; 


• interpret a consulting brief from a client;


• define the scope of the project in terms of the issues that require investigation;


• select appropriate sources of information and methods of data collection and analysis;


• design an effective approach to conducting a consulting project given the requirements of the client brief and the circumstances of their engagement with the client organisation;


• conduct relevant research for the client organisation with professionalism and sensitivity to any ethical implications of the assignment; 


• select and deploy appropriate analytical tools and frameworks to analyse and interpret the data;


• reach evidence-based conclusions and develop effective solutions and recommendations for the client organisation.


• act ethically and with professional integrity.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

O'BRIEN Just (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

Indicative content includes: The Consulting Project module consists of a project set by a client organisation in relation to a business problem or opportunity. Students work in teams and engage in guided inquiry on behalf of the client organisation. They collect, analyse and interpret relevant data and conduct background research to develop effective evidence-based solutions to the problems set out in the client brief. They prepare a consulting report and present it to the client organisation.

Students benefit from taught sessions on the consulting process and skills (delivered in a blended format) and are supported throughout by an academic advisor.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Individual Report (4,000 words) 100% 

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate advanced understanding of the subject matter pertinent to their consulting and their mastery of the learning outcomes through practical application.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module is based on the live consulting project that students carry out for a client organisation.

This is an integrative collaborative project that showcases students' knowledge from across the programme curriculum, their cognitive skills as well as their practical ability to apply their learning to complex problems and tasks in the practice of management consulting.

The assessment consists of a 4,000- word Consulting Report (100%);

In the event that any student would not be able to contribute to the group report, they will be given an alternative assessment, i.e.:

4,000 word Individual report (100%)

Formative assessment

Students will deliver a short (seven minutes) presentation to the client organisation and receive formative feedback on the direction for their consulting report from the client organisation and the module teaching team.

Feedback

Students receive formative feedback throughout the duration of the module in the form of team meetings with their academic advisor.

Module aims

• Provide students with a structured set of opportunities to develop their professional skills in the area of management consulting through the engagement with a client organisation in a live project context.
• Enable students to scope, design and develop a piece of original work for a client organisation.
• Allow students the opportunity to enhance their learning of subject matter from across the programme curriculum by applying it in a real business and organisational context.
• Enable students to gain experience of conducting applied research to develop effective, evidence-based solutions and recommendations.
• Provide an opportunity for students to develop awareness of ethical dilemmas that arise in the course of a consulting engagement.
• Familiarise students with the rigours, demands and dilemmas of working for a client in a consulting capacity.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes for the module; these relate to (1) personal and professional development with a focus on consulting skills, (2) integration of knowledge from across the programme curriculum; (3) in-depth understanding of the area of investigation relevant to the specific project.

The academic advisor supports students' work throughout the project by meeting with each team regularly throughout their engagement with the client organisation. The meetings may be face-to face or online (synchronously).

In addition, the module includes taught sessions dedicated to consulting skills and the consulting process. These sessions are scheduled towards the beginning of the module to equip the students for effective engagement with the client.

The learning and teaching methods include:

Self- directed learning pertains to engaging with learning materials and undertaking desk-research required for classroom participation, client engagement and independent project work. 

Practical tutorials are designed to develop a practical understanding of the consulting process and skill set through guided discussion, engaging in classroom practical exercises, video and case analyses; 

Independent project work: students learn through engaging with the client organisation, and applying the knowledge and skills from the module and the programme to their consulting project;

Experiential learning: students experience being a consultant in a real situation of engagement with a client and learn in a phenomenological way about the rigours, demands and dilemmas of working for a client in a consulting capacity.

Team advisory meetings support students in their project work through systematic review of progress, discussion and formative feedback from an academic tutor.These may be run face-to-face or online (synchronously);

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM448

Other information

N/A

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.