WHEN CONSULTANTS AND CLIENTS CLASH

This fictitious case study explores the issues that surround the relat ionships between consultants and their clients, as well as the dynamic s of a newly merged organization. Susan Barlow, a senior consultant wi th the Statler Group, dreaded her upcoming status meeting. She had tho ught it a lucky break when she got assigned to the Kellogg-Champion pr oject. Royce Kellogg, the CEO of the newly merged firm, had engaged th e Statler Group for what seemed a simple project: to reconcile the pol icies and practices of the two former firms now that they had become o ne. But once on the job, Barlow realized that the issues were much mor e complex than they had seemed. The new firm needed help badly - but n ot the kind of help that the client had led Barlow to believe it neede d. What would she and Jim Roussos, her partner on the assignment, tell Kellogg at the meeting? Kellogg, for his part, was not looking forwar d to the status meeting, either. From his point of view, the consultan ts had caused more problems than they had solved. What's more, he wasn 't even dealing with the consultants he had hired. Where was George Gr ay, the senior partner he had met with originally? Maybe Barlow and Ro ussos were just too young and inexperienced. Kellogg felt he was getti ng a raw deal. How would he approach them in the morning? Should he fi re them or make an attempt at damage control! Two experts advise the c onsultants and two advise the client on how to handle the status meeti ng.