GRE Issue Essay topic:
All too often, companies hire outside consultants to suggest ways for the company to operate more efficiently. If companies were to spend more time listening to their own employees, such consultants would be unnecessary.
The following response has been written under timed and real-test environment, could you please give feedback and an informal score out of 6?
It is not an uncommon practice by the companies to hire consultants from different consulting companies in order to find solutions and methods to ensure a more effective functioning. All too often, there happens to be a difference in opinions among concerned parties as to whether outside consultants are actually required or are they just another unnecessary investment by the company into problems which could have been easily solved by consulting the existing employees.
Since the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in the consultancy market area with big multi-national giants such as Deloitte and McKinsey coming into picture and hiring people vigorously. The academic or educational requirements have also been elevated in the recent times in order to be a part of these consulting empires, making sure that the consultants are ready to tackle any kind of problems and come up with the most effective solutions to solve them. Since there happens to be a wide range of areas and expertise in the consulting department itself, it can be concluded that no matter which industry or which domain needs ways to be more efficient, there will be a perfect consultant for them to get in touch with.
Addressing the viewpoint held by many which states that consulatants are just another part of the capitalist gimmick and companies simply listening to their own employees would solve the problems internally. This point of view cannot be completely discarded and holds some truth value that an employee of the company who has been a part since a long time has an understanding of working and vision of the company better than an outsider and could be more than capable of tackling the very same issues in a way favourable to the company. For example, considering an example from my very own experience, where my former employer had hired a tech consultant to deal with some issues on the technology end for my team's ongoing project, while the consultant happened to be a knowledgable individual with good grasp of the task at hand, it was evident that my team members were not very fond of his ways of dealing with the issue, they felt they had better solutions or they could have solved the issue at hand without his help if the employer would have atleast consulted them once. In worst case scenarios, these incidents even end up with a sense of resiatance between the company's employees and the consultants hired.
While, there will always be people on the two ends of a debate, my personal experience as an employee with an outside consultant speaks in the favor of their hiring. The consultants more than often happen to be highly trained and educated specifically in the areas of problem solving and coming from an outside world, they happen to bring new perspective and a fresh approach to deal with the tasks. Eventhough, they might not be fully aware of the companies functioning and vision, they are definitely more qualified to deal with specific issues presented to them as this what they were educated and trained for. While listening to employees should be a company's first step towards an effective functioning, hiring a consultant is similar to making the foundation stronger.