Entrepreneurial audit

4.20. Most entrepreneurial organisational achievement in the past two years

Key managers of the company stated that the most important `thing» accomplished was the implementation of Research and Development tool to equip the company with the essential knowledge required to provide sufficient coaching and training for clients companies and prospective employees.

5. Conclusion and recommendations

In my personal opinion the first suggestion that needs to provided to OWHC's key managers, is that this latter (key managers) except from having a core business founded on HR consultancy and recruitment, the organisation should envisage a more diversified venture containing more features such as: change management assistance, development of coaching skills, technology implementation, strategy development, or operational improvement services. Management consultants will bring their own, proprietary methodologies or frameworks to guide the identification of problems, and to serve as the basis for recommendations for more effective or efficient ways of performing business tasks. And therefore, can be enumerated a set of advantages and disadvantages that will be resulting from the diversification:

Advantages

· If properly managed and empowered, the internal consulting expertise provided to the clients will evaluate engagement on projects in light of the corporation's strategic and tactical objectives.

· Often, the internal consultant requires less ramp up time on a project due to familiarity with the corporation, and is able to guide a project through to implementation, a step that would be too costly if an external consultant were used.

· Internal relationship provides opportunities to keep certain corporate information private. And relationships made with clients provide a sustainable continuity to the business.

· It is likely that the time and materials cost of internal consultants is significantly less than external consultants operating in the same capacity.

Disadvantages

· The internal consultant expertise may not bring the objectivity to the consulting relationship that an external firm can.

· Where the consulting industry is strong and consulting compensation high, it can be difficult to recruit candidates.

· It is often difficult to accurately measure the true costs and benefits of an internal consulting group.

· When financial times get tough, internal consulting groups that have not effectively demonstrated economic value (costs vs. benefits) are likely to face size reductions or reassignment.

The organisational HR structure must match the business structure related with to the market demand. As a single-business company, OWHC would have an HR department organized by functions (staffing, training, rewards, organization design, etc.). But, since most large organizations diversify and operate with a multiple-business-unit structure, most HR departments are governed by more complex organization structures. Another interesting trend that has changed the HR managerial portfolio is outsourcing. Outsourcing is a concept that works on the principle of recruiting knowledge and expertise as compared to owing the same. Hence, outsourcing serves as an extension of corporate HR helping corporates to leverage through economies of scale. Thus, service centres, E-HR and outsourcing are new trends that have redefined HR responsibilities and roles, opening newer and more challenging avenues for the new-age HR managers, since the HR environment evolves constantly, OWHC's key managers need to successfully implement new trends such as service centres, E-HR consulting and outsourcing for the sake of the organisation to remain competitively involved in HR consultancy expertise.

The organisation investigated depicted an urgent need to be a market-driven organisation, as it will provide the organisation with the market orientation needed which will equip the company with following attributes and advantages:

Ø The organization will acquire a thorough understanding of customers and potential customers, including their changing needs and wants.

Ø A key activity for a market-driven organization is information gathering. Therefore, the organization will continuously gather data in all environmental sectors: competitive, cultural, political, economic, technological, human resources, physical resources, and consumer.

Ø The organisational market-driven concept is a managerial concept. Close attention will be given to business processes and activities. Emphasis must be placed on the organization's ability to respond to environmental changes.

Ø The market-driven concept as a cross-functional concept, will affect organizational decision-making, organizational learning, and a review of internal competences. All aspects of the organization will be aware of and consider environmental changes.

Ø Market orientations will impact on the business performance, and will emphasize on measurement issues. OWHC's managers should implement an appraisal system for the continuous assessment of current processes and activities against current business performance. Continuous process improvement is mandatory for the organisation to be qualified as a market-driven organization this is supported by Barrett (2001).

Another main factor that will improve the entrepreneurial intensity is innovation, as stated by Pittburgh(2002) «A culture of innovation can be a company's primary source of competitive advantage, and it can pay off steadily over the years. Any high-performance culture is difficult to replicate, but innovation is in a class by itself. Once embraced by employees, innovation becomes a way of life. It ensures that all the human capital is in step and striving to produce outcomes of value for the organisation.» And the benefits resulting from the introduction of innovation will be:

· A common and shared vision of the future for all employees;

· Creativity and high performance will be among the most important shared values;

· Monitoring changes in the markets and adapting to them will be a high priority, as it will ensure that business processes are aligned to satisfying customers' needs;

· Employees will be open and supportive to changes and the implementation of new ideas;

· Generation and implementation of new ideas, improvements in the work organisation and organisational processes will be normal, day-to-day activities at all organisational levels;

· Management will consider and treat human resources as a strategic resource of the company;

· Continuous development will be a high priority both for the company and the employees;

· Human resource and recruitment practices development expenses will be considered investments which pay off in the medium and long term;

· There will be a healthy level of competition between individuals and project teams, pushing creativity and performance to higher levels;

· There will be a reasonable balance between recognising individual and team performance; and

· Networking and sharing knowledge will be a company-wide and continuous activity.