Personnel management in consulting organizations. Personnel consulting as an element of the development of personnel services The role of consulting in personnel management

The article discusses a special area of management consulting - personnel consulting.

For Russia, personnel consulting is a relatively new area. The article proposes a definition and classification of personnel consulting, examines the stages of development of personnel consulting in conjunction with the science of personnel management and formulates the prerequisites for its development.

Global changes in the modern economy - informatization, globalization, international competition - give rise to new challenges, management solves more and more complex problems. The rapid changes taking place in the world make it almost impossible for the management team of an organization to maintain the required level of knowledge about the industry, consumers of its products or services, and competitors. Time to take management decisions become smaller, the risks from taking them become greater.

Multiple complication economic processes in our time has led to the fact that the transfer of advanced management methods has become an independent sphere economic relations. National and international markets for consulting services have emerged, which have become a necessary condition to create and disseminate economic and management knowledge.

Management consulting is interpreted today as professional assistance from independent consultants to owners and senior managers in identifying management problems, analyzing them, developing recommendations for solving them, as well as their implementation.

The range of problems solved by consulting is wide, so the focus can be divided into narrow, in one or several related areas, and multidisciplinary, including a full range in many areas and at all stages of consulting support.

According to the classification of the European Directory of Consultants, there are 84 types of consulting services, grouped into 8 main groups.

General management is development and planning overall strategy development; forecasting; organization of branches, departments and new companies, changes in ownership, etc.
Administration- issues of formation and registration of companies, organization of office work, data processing, i.e. optimization of organization management.
Financial management - questions financial planning and control, taxes, accounting, insurance, etc.
HR management- selection of employees, control of training level personnel, remuneration systems, advanced training and training, etc.
Marketing- formation structural divisions sales and marketing, selection of reliable wholesale partners, searches for new customers and markets, stimulation and research of sales prospects.
Production- choice of technology production process, stimulation of labor productivity, assessment and control of product quality, etc.
Information technology - use of computers and information systems in management.
Specialized services- these are those types of services that do not belong to any of the above groups: educational consulting, information consulting, telecommunications consulting, environmental consulting, consulting in the public sector, etc.

Personnel are the key and most difficult resource for an organization to manage. Changes associated with post-industrial development cause fundamental shifts in the forms and methods of human resource management, which requires constant improvement of approaches and methods of personnel management.

At the macroeconomic level Constant socio-economic, scientific, technical and technological development is the cause of changes in the content of labor, the emergence of qualitatively new jobs, changes in the educational and qualification levels of workers, the emergence of new specialties and professions, changes in the qualitative characteristics of workers.

At the microeconomic level the ongoing changes require timely identification of innovative problem situations in connection with personnel management problems. Among the problems arising in this regard, one can note the contradictions between the technical level of new production and the existing level of personnel qualifications, between qualitatively new tasks for personnel development and the insufficient level of training of the personnel management service for this work, between the levels of qualifications and motivation of workers, between the existing organizational structure and the implemented strategy and others.

Resolving these contradictions requires constant updating of personnel management systems, targeted activities of the organization's managers and personnel management specialists to ensure the pace and scale of updating the work on personnel management in accordance with the current and future goals of the organization, professional help in which specialist consultants provide services.

We have formulated the prerequisites for the development of consulting in the field of personnel management:

the need to solve problems of increasing production efficiency, the most important asset of which is intellectual capital;
the increasingly widespread concept of human capital, the main provisions of which justify personnel investments;
increasing the knowledge intensity of the field of personnel management, requiring specialists to know the best examples of world achievements with skills scientific work, experience in implementing projects in the field of personnel management and other critical competencies;
increasing the managerial competence of managers at various levels, their understanding of modern realities, and, as a result, their demand for consulting services in the field of personnel management.

The development of personnel consulting in Russia has gone through a number of stages that are organically connected with the development of the science of personnel management (Table 1).

Table 1

Development of personnel consulting in the relationship with the science of personnel management

Stage	Science of Human Resource Management	Consulting
Origin 1990-2000	Beginning of training of personnel management specialists within the “Management” specialty. Formation scientific school personnel management. The emergence of personnel management systems at Russian enterprises	The arrival of Western consulting companies, the creation of a market for consulting services. The emergence of the first school of management consultants within the structure of the Academy National economy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Formation of the concept of “consultant”
Becoming 2000-2008	Separation of personnel management as an independent specialty. Widespread use at Russian enterprises of personnel management systems implementing modern approaches to personnel management. The emergence of the first professional communities of personnel management specialists	Identification of a new direction in the structure of management consulting - personnel, mainly within large diversified consulting companies.
Development 2008 - present	Selection of personnel management as an independent area of training. Regular holding of international and interuniversity conferences and forums on personnel management issues	Growing number of companies specializing in personnel consulting. Active promotion of consulting services in personnel management

HR consulting as a type of activity is currently at the stage of institutionalization in Russia, and as a type of business it constitutes an increasingly significant segment of the business services market, which reflects the need of organizations to improve the efficiency of personnel management. All this gives rise to the need for theoretical and methodological justification of the modern practice of personnel consulting. How do practitioners and academic experts define personnel consulting?

Arefieva N.: personnel consulting - a system of organizational and psychological measures for diagnosis and, if necessary, correction organizational structure and/or culture of the enterprise (organization) in order to improve production performance, optimize the socio-psychological climate, and enhance staff motivation.

Specialists of the ProfBukh group of companies understand personnel consulting as activities aimed at solving the most complex tasks in the field of human resource management in an enterprise.

HR capital specialists define personnel consulting as a type of activity related to solving problems facing senior managers in the field of management human capital, in order to increase business profitability.

HR consulting— providing consulting services to top management of organizations on personnel management issues.

Personnel consulting (personnel consulting, HR-consulting, HR-consulting) is a type of activity related to solving problems facing senior managers in the field of human resource management in order to increase business profitability.

The given definitions are distinguished by a variety of subjective approaches. It should be noted that we agree with those authors who recognize consulting and consulting as synonymous. In addition, in our opinion, personnel consulting is a type of management consulting (consulting), which gives us the right, based on the goals of our research, to determine HR consulting as professional assistance to managers and specialists of organizations in the analysis, justification of development prospects and the use of organizational and economic innovations aimed at solving the organization’s problems in the field of personnel management.

Thus, the purpose of personnel consulting is to provide the client organization with the latest and greatest in effective ways work with human resources. Subject HR consulting is a consultant or consulting firm, object- client (managers and specialists of the organization who need consulting services).

The consulting process is a knowledge-intensive process. Consulting services are provided by professionals and specialized advisory (consulting) firms, which are valued for their high professionalism, objectivity and independence, extraordinary assessment of situations and non-standard recommendations.

The functions of personnel consulting can be formulated as follows:

conducting a survey or audit: the consultant studies the company’s resources, the results of its activities, management policies in order to determine its strengths and weaknesses and key problems;
carrying out special studies and reviews in the field of personnel management;
development of management decisions on certain problems;
assistance in implementing problem solving;
performing the functions of an expert.

The process or technology of personnel consulting can be represented in the form of the following main sequential actions:

Clarification of the problem that arose with the consulting object.
Discussion with the object of the essence of the problem that has arisen.
Studying the problem, diagnosing the situation.
Development of advice and recommendations (proposal certain technologies problem solving).
Providing advice and recommendations to the consulting target.
Rendering operational assistance object in the process of resolving a problem situation.
Assessing the results and consequences of actions taken by the consulting object, making adjustments to the proposed technology.
Analysis of the effectiveness of advice and recommendations.

We offer an original classification of personnel consulting (Table 2), which makes it possible to characterize the content and features of personnel consulting.

table 2

Classification of personnel consulting

Classification feature	Content
By subject	personnel management methodology personnel management system HR technology
By level	strategic operating
By frequency	one-time long-term
In relation to the object	interior external
By shape	expert process

In conclusion, we will formulate the principles of personnel consulting, the implementation of which is mandatory for specialists and largely determines the effectiveness of their activities.

the principle of professional competence (constantly increasing the level of professional competence by consultants);
the principle of priority of the client’s interests (the interests of the real client are higher than the interests of former clients and own);
the principle of independence and objectivity (independence of thought and independence of behavior allow the consultant to express an impartial opinion without conflict of interest or negative influence from others);
scientific principle (use of the latest scientific achievements).

Polina Klopotovskaya, Head of HR Consulting Department (

Purpose of HR consulting- creation and implementation of individual personnel management technologies, implementation and control for the successful functioning of the organization (i.e. maximizing its profits) through increasing productivity.

Within the framework of personnel consulting, the following are resolved: tasks:

1. Organization from scratch of the activities of the HR service.

2. Increasing the efficiency of the existing personnel management service.

3. Development and optimization of individual personnel management procedures.

During personnel management the following can be carried out:

· Analysis of the current state and human resources companies;

· Analysis job functions and organizational and personnel structure of the enterprise;

· Analysis existing system personnel management, personnel management and motivation;

· Optimization of management technology and personnel activities.

Functions of personnel consulting

1) Analysis of personnel needs

2) Analysis and regulation of activities

3) Search, selection, registration and adaptation of new specialists

4) Assessment of qualification level (certification)

5) Development individual programs development and rotation ( personnel reserve)

6) Preparation, improvement and maintenance of qualifications

7) Performance evaluation

8) Stimulation and motivation of work

9) Diagnosis and correction of socio-psychological climate

Personnel consulting is carried out in two main stages: analytical and programming.

The implementation of the analytical stage, as a rule, begins with an understanding of the topic and objectives of consulting. The main activities at this stage include:

1) analysis of the background of events - specification of the situation that led to the need for consultation, the course of its development, the position of the customer, the reasons for the inability to solve the problem independently;

2) collection additional information and putting forward hypotheses about personnel processes in the organization (searching for data from various sources, building a hypothetical model of the situation, analyzing similar situations, searching for the causes of processes, patterns and means used in similar situations);

3) diagnosis of the situation at the object of consultation - collection of data in order to test and clarify hypotheses, search for additional information to specify a possible consulting strategy;

4) clarifying the strategy and determining the personnel consulting program - adjusting the strategy taking into account the data obtained during the diagnosis of the situation at the consulting site, formulating an idea of the result of the consulting process, specific steps and proposed activities.

The programming stage aims to activate the organization's human resources in the direction of the expected results. To do this you need to create:

1) “developmental environment” - the formation of an artificial process in an organization aimed at training its employees in ways to identify and solve problems;

2) “supporting environment” - creating conditions for the process to take place;

3) “reinforcing environment” - transferring the model process into a self-regulating one.

HR consulting

Personnel management (HR - human resources) is key component in the success or failure of the organization. Therefore, in today's business environment, it is very important for the HR service to act as a strategic partner of the organization.

HR consulting services provided by our company are aimed at creating qualified and experienced staff the basic basis for the company's success. However, building a workforce rich in leadership and talent can often take years. Therefore, it is very important that HR managers have clear information about available human resources, a list of clear tasks that are consistent with the business strategy and targeted methods solutions to the most critical of them.

HR services from SCM Consult are aimed at developing talent development strategy and implementation best practice, used by the world's leading companies, best suited for your organization to build effective function management of human talents and further capitalization on unique competencies.

HR services:

Personnel policy planning - analysis of personnel numbers, job responsibilities, staffing table, order of task setting, control and coordination.
Employee competencies – services for the development of evaluation criteria and competency assessment, recruiting, selection, training and development.
Behavior management – consulting on the development of motivation systems, compensation, motivation systems, communication among employees.
Consulting on solutions project tasks and interpersonal problems through teamwork.

How to increase staff productivity and performance

OUR ARTICLES: Jobinmoscow.ru

Many managers think about the issue of increasing staff efficiency, often without success. This article provides recommendations on how you can achieve sustainable employee productivity by...

HR consulting services - methods used:

“Gap analysis” of human resources potential

Deep analysis and identification bottlenecks among the existing and accessible human resources in the organization. Articulating the results of the analysis to management and other business stakeholders makes them realize the importance of the issue of finding talent by all parties involved.

Efficient use of HR resources

Often, talented employees work within the company, whose abilities remain unnoticed. Therefore, failure to use their leadership qualities may be a source of inefficiency, creating additional costs for the company to external search human resources. At this stage, HR consulting identifies such positions, and, if necessary, further rotation or internal transfers are carried out.

Staff optimization

This direction should not be confused with the previous one, since the main emphasis here is on reducing the enterprise’s demand for hiring additional staff, or reducing the number of current employees by optimizing internal processes. In most cases, in our experience, when a company eliminates non-value-adding activities, whether operational or administrative, and can clearly define job responsibilities, it is able to reduce costs and personnel demand.

Klopotovskaya P.V.,
Ph.D., Head of HR Consulting Department
ACG "Gorislavtsev and K."
Moscow, Russian Federation

Today, HR consulting has firmly established its position as a sought-after area of management consulting (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Revenue structure of consulting companies by area of activity in 2013-2015. (V %) .

At the end of 2013, the total income of the largest consulting companies providing consulting services in personnel management amounted to 3.3 billion rubles. with a market volume of 3%. At the end of 2014, there was a decrease in the total income of the largest consulting groups. Consulting companies earned only 2.3 billion rubles. At the end of 2015, the volume of the HR consulting market was 2%.

Of course, the development of personnel consulting is influenced by both external and internal factors.

TO external factors can be attributed:

foreign economic (political and economic conditions);
legal;
demographic;
financial (solvency of client organizations).

Internal factors include:

high competition among consulting companies providing services in the field of personnel management;
specialization of consulting activities in the field of personnel management by sectors of the Russian economy;
the complexity of the services provided (this factor implies that consultants have theoretical and practical knowledge and experience in various sectors of the Russian economy in order to provide the widest range of services);
increasing the requirements of client organizations for professional and personal qualities consultants.

Today, there is no consensus on the prospects for the development of management consulting in general, and personnel consulting in particular. Some researchers argue that the next decade will bring a decline in business activity in the management consulting industry, and most consulting firms will remain unclaimed, while other researchers argue that in the near future the industry will develop into at an accelerated pace, at the level of 10-12% per year.

In our opinion, the further development of consulting in personnel management depends on the industry specifics of consulting companies.

For heads of organizations, it is important to have successful industry experience in working as a consulting company (contractor), and heads of personnel management services are interested in ensuring that methods in the field of personnel management and consultant development are adapted and applicable to their field of business.

Considering the experience of Western consulting companies, it can be noted that initially most companies provided services in the field of personnel management for all sectors of the economy, but over time, segmentation and specialization by industry occurred. We see similar trends towards segmenting the HR consulting market in accordance with industry specifics in Russia, which is facilitated by the following circumstances:

increasing complexity of industry specifics;
the increasing complexity of consulting projects in the field of personnel management;
complex industrial structure of the Russian Federation.

An analysis of the demand for consulting services in the field of personnel management from enterprises and organizations of various industries and sectors of the economy based on the results of 2013 allows us to identify the leading industries that use personnel consulting services (Table 1).

Table 1 - Leading industries based on the results of 2013, using consulting services in personnel management

No.	Industry name	Revenue volume in 2013 (million rubles)
1	Oil and oil and gas industry	321
2	Mechanical engineering	284
3	Banks	254
4	Electric power industry	209
5	Transport	153
6	Trade	138
7	Chemical industry	129
8	Metallurgical industry (including coal industry)	112
9	Information Technology	91
10	Food industry	88

The data obtained indicate that consulting in personnel management is relevant, in demand and used in all sectors of the economy.

Industry specificity is promising direction in the activities of consulting companies, further success and development of consulting in the field of personnel management.

List of used literature:

Kashin V.K. International consulting: educational and methodological complex / V.K. Kashin. -M. : Ed. EAOI Center, 2009. -82 p.
Management consulting. Market Guide professional services/ series of business ¾ directories “Verified.Kommersant”. M.: Kommersant XXI, Alpina Publisher, 2002. -264 p.
Sudaryanto Ya.P. international market consulting services in Russia: Tutorial/ Y. P. Sudaryanto, A. V. Gureev. - M.: Publishing and trading corporation "Dashkov and Co", 2013. - 240 p.
Lukyanova T.V., Klopotovskaya P.V. Demand for consulting in the field of personnel management / T.V. Lukyanova, P.V. Klopotovskaya // Personnel officer. - 2013. - No. 8. - P. 124 - 131.
Interactive map: the level of demand for consulting services from enterprises and organizations of various industries and sectors of the economy, based on the results of 2013 [Electronic resource] // Expert RA, Rating agency. - Access mode: http://raexpert.ru/ratings/consulting/2013/map/, free.

Klopotovskaya P.V. Consulting in personnel management: current state and development prospects [Electronic resource] // Audit and consulting group “Gorislavtsev and K.”. - Access mode:

The author recognizes the concepts of “consulting in personnel management” and “personnel consulting” as identical

Consulting (English: consulting) - type of professional services provided to corporative clients interested in optimizing their business. The range of problems solved by consulting is very wide: strategy, ecology, labor organization, investment, personnel policy, finance, taxes, etc. In other words, consulting is any assistance in solving a particular problem provided by external consultants.

Like a view professional activity counseling began at the end of the 19th century. As the economy became more complex and the corresponding development of economic and social sciences began to take shape, a new area of professional services began to emerge - economics and management consulting, and the founder of the theory became one of the first professional consultants in this area scientific management enterprise F. Taylor (author known system Taylorism). The first management consulting firm was founded in 1914 in Chicago. In the 20-30s. such companies spread in Europe (primarily in England and Germany) in the 40-50s. - and in other regions of the world (Asia, Africa, Latin America).

The range of problems solved by consulting is very wide. To date, there is no clear classification of services provided consulting companies in the field of personnel management. Each company classifies the service based on its own perception. The total mass of consulting services can be classified on the following basis: Efremov V.S. Consulting activities: Textbook / V.S. Efremov. - M.: Yurait-Izdat, 2012. - P. 70.

1) Direction: business consulting; psychological counseling.

2) By industry or subject area consulting: consulting in personnel management; legal consulting; IT consulting; marketing consulting; logistics consulting, etc.

In the European Directory of Management Consultants Grigorieva N.N. Organizational consulting. Training course/ N.N. Grigorieva. - M.: MIEMP, 2010. - 36 p. The subject classification of consulting services is given, divided into 8 groups:

General management is the development and planning of an overall development strategy; forecasting; organization of branches, departments and new companies, changes in ownership, etc.

Administration - issues of formation and registration of companies, organization of office work, data processing, i.e. optimization of organization management.

Financial management - issues of financial planning and control, taxes, accounting, insurance, etc.

Personnel management - selection of employees, control of the level of training of personnel, remuneration systems, advanced training and training of personnel, etc.

Marketing - formation of structural divisions for sales and marketing, selection of reliable wholesale partners, searches for new customers and markets, stimulation and research of sales prospects.

Production: selection of production process technology, stimulation of labor productivity, assessment and control of product quality, etc.

Information technology - the use of computers and information systems in management.

Specialized services are those types of services that do not belong to any of the above groups: educational consulting, information consulting, telecommunications consulting, environmental consulting, public sector consulting, etc.

One of the fastest growing markets in the world is the management consulting market. Its growth is 15-20% per year, which is 2-3 times higher than the rate of market development science-intensive products and consumer services. This category of consulting activities also includes consulting in the field of human resource management and their development (including specialized employee training), as well as the formation (or transformation) corporate culture and leadership style of personnel management.

In progress personnel services Every organization has questions:

1. Where and how to attract professional personnel?

2. How to increase staff motivation?

3. Will employee training improve work efficiency?

4. How to optimize the number of personnel?

5. The company is growing rapidly, it is necessary to formalize procedures and establish common rules of the game. How to deal with this?

6. Is it worth evaluating top management?

7. How not to make a mistake in choosing a new manager?

In search of answers to these and other questions related to the organization efficient work personnel management services will help with the implementation of personnel consulting procedures.

Let's consider how HR consulting is defined by practitioners and academic experts? Thus, N. Arefiev characterizes personnel consulting as a system of organizational and psychological measures for diagnosing and, if necessary, correcting the organizational structure and/or culture of an enterprise (organization) in order to improve production performance, optimize the socio-psychological climate, and enhance staff motivation. Specialists of the ProfBukh group of companies understand human resources consulting as activities aimed at solving complex problems in the field of human resource management at an enterprise. Arefieva N. Personnel consulting - what is it // Management consulting. Guide to the market of professional services / N. Arefieva. - M.: Kommersant XXI, Alpina Publisher, 2002.

Personnel consulting - provision of consulting services to top management of organizations on personnel management issues. Tselutina T.V. Directions and technologies of consulting on human resource management / T.V. Tselyutina // Economics and management: problems and development trends. - Yaroslavl, 2011. - No. 12. - 103 p.

The European Federation of Associations of Economic and Management Consultants (FEACO) gives following definition: “Management consulting is the provision of independent advice and assistance on management matters, including the identification and assessment of problems and/or opportunities, the recommendation of appropriate actions and assistance in their implementation.” Grigorieva N.N. Organizational consulting. Training course / N.N. Grigorieva. - M.: MIEMP, 2010. - 36 p.

Thus, personnel consulting is a type of management consulting (consulting), and based on this - personnel consulting (personnel consulting, HR-consulting, HR-consulting) is a type of activity related to solving the problems facing senior managers in the field of human resource management resources in order to increase business profitability. Tsytsarova T.E. Management consulting: text of lectures / T. E. Tsytsarova. ? Ulyanovsk: Ulyanovsk State Technical University, 2009. ? 63 p.

The purpose of HR consulting is to provide the client organization with the latest and most effective ways of working with human resources.

The subject of personnel consulting is a consultant or consulting firm, the object is the client (managers and specialists of the organization in need of consulting services).

The product of consulting activity is the service provided to the client. The service of an individual or organization is understood as the implementation of an activity of a certain type that is useful and acceptable to the client.

This type of consulting services is aimed at satisfying functions related to the field of personnel services, namely, within the framework of personnel consulting the following tasks are solved: Kubr M. Management consulting: an introduction to the profession / M. Kubr. - M.: Planum, 2006. - 977 p. P.404-406.

1) Organization from scratch of the activities of the HR service.

2) Increasing the efficiency of the existing personnel management service.

3) Development and optimization of individual procedures for personnel management: documentation support personnel management; search, selection and adaptation of personnel; personel assessment; incentive and motivation system; education and development.

During personnel consulting the following can be carried out: Klopotovskaya P. Personnel consulting: essence and content // Science Magazine“Humanitarian, socio-economic and social sciences” / P. Klopotovskaya. - 2012. - No. 5.

Analysis of the current state and human resources of the company;

Analysis of job functions and organizational and personnel structure of the enterprise;

Assessing the organization’s personnel composition, identifying the personnel reserve;

Analysis of the existing system of personnel management, personnel management and its motivation;

Analysis of the effectiveness of the organization’s existing methods of attracting, adapting and promoting personnel;

Assessing the professional level of company employees based on its goals and objectives;

Diagnostics of psychological climate and organizational culture;

Assessing the effectiveness of management styles, interaction of management with the team;

Optimization of management technology and personnel activities.