The organisation under exploration

5.1.1 Introducing the organisation

InterIT is an IT hardware and software company with approximately 400,000 employees in 170 countries (company intranet, 16.04.2011). In 2002 InterIT acquired an international consultancy firm, referred to as Monday. Following

accounting scandals in the Unites States the former owner decided to untangle their consulting and auditing businesses. Originally, it was planned to transform the consultancy business into an independent entity. However, these plans were revised and in October 2002 the consultancy unit was sold to InterIT (company intranet, 30.05.2006).

With this transaction InterIT significantly extended its portfolio in order to be able to offer their clients not only technology for improved business performance but also consulting services for solving clients’ business issues. The combination created the new business unit, InterConsult, comprising more than 30,000 employees of InterIT and 30,000 consulting professionals from the former consultancy. Today,

InterConsult is a management consultancy with 80,000 consultants offering consulting services in areas such as Strategy and Transformation, Supply Chain Management, Finance Management, Client Relationship Management, HR Management and Application Management. InterConsult’s revenue makes up to 50% of InterIT’s overall revenue (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

5.1.2 Values of the organisation

InterIT’s values, which are supposed to shape what all employees do and every choice which is made on behalf of the organisation, are:

 Dedication to client’s success;

 Continuous innovativeness;

 Trust and personal responsibility.

(company intranet, 16.04.2011)

Of special importance for this research is the second value. In detail, this value promotes employees as being “forward thinkers” who “love grand challenges, as well as everyday improvements”. No matter what the problem is and in which

context it occurs every employee should “tackle it creatively – to be an innovator”. In everything they do employees are asked to “take informed risks and champion new (sometimes unpopular) ideas” (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

5.1.3 The consultant

According to InterConsult’s understanding of the main role of their consultants they support clients to realise business benefits by helping them make faster and smarter decisions; reduce risks; leverage core competencies; learn about competencies and increase return on investment. In order to be able to achieve this consultants are required to “conduct research, data collection, analytics and synthesis to prepare, present and deliver innovative recommendations and solutions to clients” and to

“create and use intellectual capital to solve diverse business issues in

innovative ways” (company intranet, 16.04.2011, emphasis added by the author).

In order to be able to fulfil these responsibilities successfully, consultants are required by the organisation to demonstrate the following capabilities and characteristics (company intranet, 16.04.2011, emphasis added by the author):

 Subject matter expertise;

 Enabling and driving change;

 Creativity and innovation;

 Strategic focus;

 Leadership.

In relation to ‘creativity and innovation’ (company intranet, 16.04.2011) consultants are required to demonstrate ‘intellectual curiosity’ and the ability to think ‘outside the

box’ in order to be able to recommend new and innovative solutions and approaches to clients (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

5.1.4 The consultant’s career development

In order to grow a career within InterConsult consultants are required to build up depth and breadth of experience, skills and capabilities. There are a number of tools to plan and monitor this development which is deemed especially important since the project nature of the consultancy business means very often consultants do not work alongside their managers. These career tools enable a career plan, document the career development and the consultant’s performance on client and internal projects. All tools are interlinked and build the foundation for career advancement and pay rises (company intranet, 16.04.2011). The organisation’s management states that significant value is placed on the ongoing development of their

employees since employees who can develop their full potential are more engaged, motivated, knowledgeable, and committed to the success of the company (company intranet, 16.04.2011). However, generally, turnover rates in the consulting industry are higher than in other industries.

5.1.5 Women within the organisation

InterIT bases its approach to gender on meritocracy on the one hand and on the notion of difference on the other which is illustrated by the two quotes below:

“Men and women will do the same kind of work for equal pay. They will have the same treatment, the same responsibility and the same

opportunities for advancement.” (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

“InterIT recognises that women bring different skills and strengths to the work environment which complement those offered by men. The result is strong teamwork.” (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

Today the German division claims that management acknowledges in their hiring policy that female graduates have better degrees, that highly-skilled resources are rare and therefore the organisation needs to attract more women. According to company documents in Germany, within InterIT 25% of all employees are women;

about 14% of all managers are female and women make up 12% of the executives (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

5.1.6 The organisation’s approach to learning activities

In their internal documents the organisation’s management emphasises that in today’s competitive global market the skills and expertise of their employees are crucial in order make the organisation a leader in the market (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

InterIT claims that “eighty per cent of what an employee does on the job is learned on the job” (company intranet, 16.04.2011). As a consequence, managers are asked to shift their focus from formal classes to “work-enabled activities, such as

experiential, on-the-job learning” (company intranet, 16.04.2011) when considering how to develop their employees. By organising job shadowing or job rotation programs within or across business units as well as internship-like opportunities at client organisations managers are expected to keep their employees challenged and to ensure continuous learning (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

However, the organisation also offers a vast amount of classroom training and e-learning. A number of different online tools such as a corporate university are available to provide various services to employees. On a regular basis, these tools for example provide an overview of class-room training and e-learning courses which support the development of the individual’s skills and capabilities. Overall, these tools are supposed to enable the employee to plan, gain and track his/her career development (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

In order to attend class-room training, consultants need their manager’s approval which is usually granted in cases where the development of this particular skill is based on a business need and the project engagement of the consultant leaves enough flexibility for the consultant to drop out for the duration of the training course.

Further, budget for the course fees must be available.

5.1.7 The organisation’s approach to knowledge management and knowledge creation

The organisation claims to have recognised the importance of its employees’

knowledge and therefore to place strong emphasis on knowledge management activities. Most knowledge management activities are carried out in electronic ‘team rooms’ where project knowledge can be stored and accessed. Consultants take on the role of the knowledge management officer and become responsible for

collecting, storing, organising and disseminating the content of the team room (company intranet, 16.04.2011). In these activities the consultancy business unit in

Germany is supported by its Knowledge Management Team. Overall, the Knowledge Management Team is responsible for enabling and supporting the exchange and reuse of knowledge within the business unit and for ensuring high quality of the content of knowledge databases (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

However, Communities of Practice are regarded as the most crucial tool to exchange and reuse knowledge and, most importantly, to build or create new knowledge. At InterConsult a Community of Practice is understood as

cross-organization network of highly skilled subject matter expects focused on the design and implementation of leading edge methods and solutions.

A Community of Practice is established in order to build and exchange knowledge of a specific area of technology, develop members' capabilities and provide leading edge thinking. A Community of Practice is a powerful means for InterConsult practitioners across the world and across lines of business to develop their capabilities as well as build and exchange knowledge (company intranet; 16.04.2011).

A Community of Practice is seen as an informal and self-organising group of individuals from different business units who share a common identity and interest around a specific business topic. These Communities of Practice are sponsored by the business which recognises the value to members and to the organisation.

Participation in a Community of Practice should take place repeatedly and should be beneficial to all participants. According to the organisation’s intranet participation in a Community of Practice is voluntary (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

The organisation expects Communities of Practice to deliver value in terms of providing, supporting and promoting activities, values and behaviours that are essential to the business such as encouraging collaboration and the development and reuse of intellectual capital to enable rapid deployment and delivery of services to clients. Communities of Practice locate and deploy expertise and support the leveraging of knowledge. Communities of Practice are also expected to advise the business on early signs of change in the particular capability domain and to develop knowledge on demand to sustain the organisation’s competitive advantage at the same time (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

Members benefit in various ways. They develop expertise, build and redefine skill competency and capability as well as having access to the most current knowledge in the Community of Practice capability domain. They also gain exposure through participation as subject matter experts (company intranet, 16.04.2011).

Having introduced the case study organisation the next section introduces the research participants and the interpretation process.