Step One: Summarizing the facts
After the World War II the whole world was damaged by the war’s consequences. Destroyed towns, cities, states, economics, these all factors made people scream for new and better future. People were mobilizing in re-building towns and cities, but the most required thing to improve was the economics. Hand in hand with economics comes the management. After the war, many management consulting companies came to markets, especially in the United States, as e.g. Boston Consulting group, Booz Allen, McKinsey, BCG, Bain & company. As the „desire“ for management consulting grew, there was needed to make so called segmentation. The first group of consultants are specialists. They apply special knowledgements to various firms with real problems. The most wanted area in the whole consulting area is informational technology (IT). The second group of consultants are generalists. These professionals provide high quality advices for companies to run better, faster, cleaner. (Careers in business, 2004).
Overall, the ground of management consulting is to help or improve the customers‘ or clients‘ problems to solve and make it to be a long-lasting solution. The high-quality management consultants or consulting companies are able and willing to help its clients in weird, sometimes maybe hostile conditions and know what should be done. Many of these consulting groups are interested in graduating students, mostly with the MBA degree. But many companies, on the other hand, are afraid of hiring graduated students, because they have no experiences.
Step two: State the problem or opportunity
First, if companies are interested in students, they are seeking mostly for students with the MBA degree. The MBA degree is very important especially for companies, which are management focused. But for many people, without the MBA degree the chance that they could be hired declines. For example, in Bratislava there are at least two universities, The University of Economy and the University of Komensky with the focus on management. These students reach “just” the Mgr. title, which is very general and among international companies not that spread.
If happens, that a company hires a graduated student, in many cases is not allowed to them to interfere into the companies affairs. They are there just for making numbers or for doing just inferior work as e.g. overwriting, overtyping, etc., for what they do not need a diploma.
Rather than a newly graduated students, companies hire professionals from other, similar firms. To hire them, has many advantages and in many cases the company do not want to see and do not want to compare a student to a professional. A professional can disappoint, but the student can just surprise.
Another “challenge” for consulting companies are mothers with children. It is almost the rule, that when a woman becomes a mother, her place is endangered. Companies hire another person for that place. In Slovakia is the maternity leave set to 3 years, but many mothers, who want to be good mothers for her child, would wish to stay all 3 years, or maybe longer. But they cannot afford it, because they are afraid of loosing their position in the workplace. So they rather decide to leave their child and go back to work.
The little poor child is then sentenced to be, in better case with grandmother, in worse case with nanny. This has very often not a good influence on the woman’s performance in the work and achievements.
Step three: Analyze the causes of the problems or environment of the opportunity
For management consulting companies it is essential to do SWOT analysis, whether they want just professionals with experiences or to hire new enforces from the side of students. Another analysis is also required for the case of mothers.
The first case: To hire students
Strengths:
Students can bring new ideas, new methods of strategy
Students are unbiased of any company
Students may bring change in monotony in the workplace
Students are young, have potential, can make others to work better
Weaknesses:
Students may bring jealousy, pressure in the atmosphere (fear of firing)
Students can be good just in theory, not by working plans
Students firstly would not know what to do
Opportunities:
Students can bring new ‘wind’, new power in the company
The company may be positive seen as giving opportunity to young people
Threats:
Student first would not know what to do, how the company works
The company may be seen as having a inexperienced staff
Having financial problems, because of hiring graduated students
Second case: To hire professional/s
Strengths:
They have their own successful methods
They have experiences what to do, how to do st.
They have contacts in various companies
Weaknesses:
They are thinking just one way, how are they used to
Some may think that they are something more than others (snobbery)
Opportunities:
The company can learn something new from the professional
The company can figure out how other companies work
Environment can look at the company as willing to higher quality
Threats:
May bring pressure in the team (fear of firing)
Enormous salary demands
Own office demands
Third case: Working mothers
Strengths:
Professional will stay in company
Not essential to hire new person
Weaknesses:
Loss of a certain professional(mother), when leaving for maternity leave
Assimilation of co-workers to a new person
Opportunities:
New hired person can be better
Monotony from the workplace disappears
Threats:
Bad assimilation of a new person
Loss of a professional
Step four: Alternative Solutions
To each SWOT analysis are here some alternative solutions:
The first solution: To hire graduated students
+ it would help company to get new point of view
+ efficiency in working on new cases
+ new, fresh, progressive ideas
-high costs for the company to train new employees
-longer time needed to train potential employees (loss of time)
The second solution: To hire professional/s
+ company can learn new approaches
+ valuable contacts
+ successful methods
-higher demand of salary
-potential not to get rid of previous customs
-snobbery
The third solution: Let the mothers working while motherhood
+ convenient for the employer/company
+ professional stays in the company
-not actively in the work
-cannot interfere in the company immediately
The fourth solution: Mixture of all previous mentioned solutions
+ if we consider all advantages in above written alternative solutions, this mixture of hiring students, professionals from other companies and also let mothers working while motherhood, this solution seems to be the most favorable.
Step five: Recommended solution
After considering all alternative factors to a detailed SWOT analysis, the recommended solution is set to be the mixture of all alternative solutions. That means, however students, who graduated some other type of school and achieved e.g. a Mgr. title, what is in business not that respected, companies can provide them a 30-day mini-MBA course. As example we can see the McKinsey Consulting group. (Careers in business, 2004). Even better is to co-operate with various types of business-focused schools and let them to solve some simulated cases. That is how companies can observe analytical and flexible thinking of potential employees. Also the company does not need to be afraid of loosing a quality by hiring newly graduated students, because a quality training will be provided.
The hiring of a professional also seems to be according to the SWOT analysis very useful. The whole company can learn new, maybe better attitude to solve problems.
The professional can exchange his experiences with his new co-workers. This seems to be very convenient for the company that can utilize the hiring of a professional.
The third solution, let mothers working while maternity leave can also be beneficial for the company. However, mother is not actively in work, she is always on-line, is in contact with the company via computer, internet and web camera. This is the best solution, how to join privacy and work.
Step six: Justification and evaluation
Why should the company succeed?
First, this system of hiring newly graduated students along with professionals from different companies is developing many years round the world and companies take advantages from each of these fragments.
Second, also the process of letting mothers working at home is spread worldwide. In the United States almost every second mother works at home with the help of computer and internet. The receiving of newly graduated students and allowance of working home are very good signals for the public, that the company gives chances to beginners to work themselves out and that it honors its employee’s job.
