AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
The aim of the quantitative survey was to explain and assess
what approaches do companies which provide consulting
services in management, marketing and environmental issues
have towards the education of their consultants as
representatives and providers of such services.
On the basis of the abovementioned, the main research problem
was formulated: What is the condition and level of education of
consultants providing services in the field of management,
marketing and environmental consultancy?
By means of the structured genesis and on the basis of the main
research problem, the following partial descriptive research
problems were formulated:
Q1: What is the attitude and approach of consulting companies
towards the education of their consultants?
Q2: Within the education of their consultants, what professional
flexibility and competencies do consulting companies pay higher
attention to?
Q3: What expectations do consulting companies have from
learning and development activities for their consultants?
When formulating conclusions, we relied on hypothese we
determined on the assumption that consulting companies as
professional companies perceive the education of their
consultants as one of their strategic tasks and a source of
potential competitive advantage.
Following the abovementioned we determined the following
descriptive hypotheses, which were formulated in relation to the
descriptive research problems:
H1: Consulting companies consider their consultants’ education
being a strategic objective.
H2: Consulting companies put emphasis on the development of
longitudinal, as well as transversal flexibility.
H3: Consulting companies expect that regular education of
consultants will ensure their effective consulting performance.
3. 3 Summary of the main results of the quantitative survey
Questions in the questionnaire were focused on the following
areas:
System of the consultants’ education in consulting
companies and its implementation in practice.
Specialty of consulting companies in the field of
consultants’ education.
Expectations and results in the field of consultants’
education.
System of consultants’ education in consulting companies and its
implementation in practice
All respondents (n=146) stated that education of their employees
– consultants – is one of the key strategic objectives of the
company.
Regarding internal company processes and systems, 62% of
companies stated that the education is one of continuous
priorities of strategy planning; 27% of respondents said that
while creating the education system, they draw on current needs
of their company, the market and the environment (e.g. change
of laws); 8% of respondents stated they try to follow the
competition and 3% that this area is not systematically involved
in their processes (graph
№1).
Graph1: Education as a priority
Source: authors’ own processing
Majority of consulting companies that took part in the survey
(70%) stated that within the education system of consultants they
use the first line strategy (strategy of organizational development
– strategy of individual’s development); 27% of respondents
stated they use the second line strategy (strategy of
differentiation – strategy of integration). Only 3% of respondents
were not able to comment (graph №2).
Graph 2: Education strategies
Source: authors’ own processing
Almost half of the respondents (48%) have an education strategy
worked out, while 80% of them stated that in creating this
strategy, they draw on results of relevant analyses , clients’ and
market’s needs (n=38).
The field of education, implementation and evaluation is within
the competence of HR departments (63%) and directors of
consulting companies (18%). 19% of respondents stated that this
activity is within the competence of each department according
to its specialty and needs (graph №3).
Graph 3: The field of education
Source: authors’ own processing
Respondents listed the following as being the main tools for
implementing the education (the respondents had multiple
choice questions; table
№3):
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