McKinsey Case Study

McKinsey Case Study

In the year 1926, James McKinsey founded the corporation.  80 years later, the organization has gained a reputation as a management engineer firm. It rescues ailing companies to grow and thrive. Today, the organization is a trusted counselor and advisor of the majority of influential multinationals and global financial institutions. They solve problems with excellence and passion because they regard workforce based on leadership and competence.

Question: McKinsey and Bower

McKinsey has undergone numerous changes in structure as it expands into the global market. Its success is largely based on a rigorous recruitment process of professional consultants and experienced executives. In fact, in the early years of growth, employees with different levels of command staffed the business entity.  In addition, the management implemented a matrix arrangement for consultants in pursuit of a professional mission. All individuals holding leadership positions in the organization participate in the conception of the strategic plan and the development of business objectives and goals. The teamwork yields positive impact and motivation of the employees. In total, there are 15 decentralized centers to empower employees while engaging in ‘practice leadership’.

James McKinsey recruited and trained experienced business executives. He encouraged them to engage in GSO (General Survey Outline) as an integrated approach to business management. In addition, he undervalued the sequence of analyzing the personnel, business procedures, goals, policies, and strategies. Besides, he exercised a freestyle form of training in data synthesis and independent thinking. On the other hand, Marvin Bower focused on the importance of upper-level management. According to him, the fundamental role of an organization is the development of the workforce. Therefore, it is important to train and motivate employees for them to deliver outstandingly. Further, he was convinced that clients should gain more benefits as compared to the organization.

Question 2: Effectiveness of Ron Daniel

            Intriguingly, CFGA (The Commission on Firm Goals and Aims) presented its findings in the year 1971, but the recommendations were not recommended until 1976 when Daniel became a managing director. In response, Daniel appointed a partnering firm to lead the training process of McKinley’s workforce. The symbolism of such an allocation was fundamental because of the resultant impact to the organization. In addition, he significantly improved the skills and expertise of the consultants as per the recommendations of the commission. Furthermore, Daniel formed industry-based sectors of clientele and assigned distinct functions to them. Moreover, he led the closure of dysfunctional and unproductive geographic offices in the primary corporation entity to enhance the efficiency of service delivery and to cut on operational cost.

            Ron Daniel leveraged the organization’s functional expertise, especially with regards to business sectors and strategy. He instituted structural changes by initiating functional and industry-based groups for organizational improvement. Essentially, Ron Daniel redefined the organizational vision and mission to focus on building a dominant business entity.  As a leader, Ron intended to develop and attract exceptional individuals to develop the organizational intellectual capital. He built on the initial corporate phase by hiring personnel with a strong background in computer and information technology for competitive advantage.

There are numerous contributions associated with Fred Cluck. First, he created more than 15 centers of competence to provide assistance to business consultants. The centers also ensured the renewal of intellectual capital for the organization. Secondly, Fred Cluck built knowledge infrastructure through the formation of knowledge management project. He developed a common knowledge database from the information accumulated from the firm’s clients (Bernes, 2011). He also hired a full-time coordinator and created a career path for extensive functional specialists. Lastly, Fred created a Client Impact Committee to monitor the effectiveness of the organization’s activities.

Question 3: The effectiveness of the Organization in Two Decades

Each mini-case reveals limitations and strengths of the processes and strengths developed by McKinsey’s leaders. The organization has exhibited a high level of competency due to adequate knowledge of employees in different fields. Besides, the firm has gathered numerous experiences and capabilities on a global scale which has allowed it to demonstrate efficiency in the provision of solutions to multiple issues crippling the growth and development of corporations in different countries.

Furthermore, McKinsey boasts highly-educated and experienced employees that participate in service delivery by employing effective measures, tactics, and strategies to persuade clients. Moreover, the staff is responsible for creating and developing a more independent network to boost the global reputation of McKinsey. A new generation of directors and workers are constantly trained to provide a chance for them to exercise their roles in the operations of the organization. They are involved in decision making because McKinsey exercise delegation of authority to equip the junior staff with managerial and leadership skills (Markides, 2013).

Interestingly, the Sidney office project was staffed by junior employees while inexperienced consultants supervised the project. In fact, the project manager delegated all the authorities to his juniors and only arrived at the project site when the analysis was complete. While this can be unsettling, the strategy was intentional to empower and prepare the workforce for future responsibilities. Besides, there was a team of five experts offered support and advice to demanding clients. Additionally, McKinsey transferred and leveraged specialists’ expertise through documented learning, personnel transfers, systematic networking. Regarding business-to-business competence center, Dull’s assignment is successful especially on the redirection of important business resource to be developed as a specialist. B2B documents are ranked high on PDnet seller, thus confirming the valuable knowledge generation and conference’s success. It is clear that the manager is developing the networks to improve delivery of business ideas to the clients.

Question 4: Rajat Gupta

Rajat Gupta’s approach demonstrates the importance of capitalizing on the corporation’s long-term investment with the support of adequate knowledge capital and infrastructure. Besides, the approach is a testament on the essence of practicing Olympics. The four-pronged approaches tap on both the external and internal areas of expertise for the conception of state-of-the-art formulations (Bartlett, 2012). Furthermore, the approach creates pools of specialized resources under protection from day-to-day challenges and pressures due to the demands of clients. It expounds the need to focus on long-term agendas on research and development.

Recommendations

While Mr. Gupta’s initiatives boost organizational growth, it is hard to establish a link between the business knowledge and the expertise of employees. Therefore, they should be refined to focus more on the weak areas rather than the generalizations of business’ roles. The initiatives should not overlook the market conditions and consumer needs. Most importantly, the four-pronged approach should aim at lowering the operational cost and improvement of business efficiency (Khosrow-Pour, 2015). Traditional modes of communication should be used in motivating the employees as well as during the development of inter-personal relationships.

References

Barnes, S. (2011). Knowledge Management Systems: Theory and Practice. London: Thomson Learning.

Bartlett, C. A. (2012). McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning. Boston [etc.: Harvard Business School.

Khosrow-Pour, M. (2015). Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology: Vol. I-V. Norwood Mass: Books24x7.com.

Markides, C. (2013). All the Right Moves: A Guide to Crafting Breakthrough Strategy. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.