It's not very difficult to comprehend why we have a lot of jokes floating in the cyberspace about consultants and top management.

You hire a consultant to solve or show you a way to solve your problems, or your company's problems. If you don't really understand the mess created by you, how is it possible for a stranger to put things in order?

Yet, some argue that if a doctor can repair your health, why cannot a consultant repair an organization or a process. Point taken, but there is a difference in the way a doctor operates and how a consultant works.

Doctor discusses with his patient, inquires about the problem area, and then tries to give the best possible medication. But a consultant's style of working is different.

He is employed by the top management, and so he works only with them. He gets a feel of the organization or the problem area, on the surface, from the top management and starts his work. He doesn't actually go deep into the organization, learn about the current system being followed and talk to employees, who, I believe, will have all the answers for the management's problems.

Most often the employed consultants don't have the technical know-how or the way the business is done in a particular industry. They have an MBA tag, possibly from an overseas institution, printed on their visiting cards, 5-10 years of experience in some industry, and utter some strong management words viz. processes, streamline, solutions, etc.

Without discussing the possible pitfalls in the current approach with the employees, they propose to change the existing system or process completely. That's when you see good employees leaving the organization.

The consultants are paid 6 digit figure salaries, and to justify the payment, they introduce time sheets, work sheets and other documents to be filled up by employees everyday, which consumes a couple of hours everyday. Some to go the extent of monitoring the daily work of the employees.

To cut it short, if you think your company is in a mess, talk to employees. Involve everyone, if possible. They are definitely gonna provide you with the solution.