MG836 Consulting in Practice: Resit Assessment 2025 | University of Strathclyde

MG836 Assessment Overview 

This assessment requires you to engage in reflective practice to deepen your understanding of consulting best practices based on your recent experience acting as a consultant on the MG836 module or another recent (within the last six months) consulting experience. You will create a reflective journal that demonstrates your ability to think critically about your consulting experiences and apply your knowledge to improve your practice.

This assessment is designed to develop your reflective practice skills, which are essential for continuous improvement as a consultant. The focus is not on demonstrating perfect consulting performance, but rather on showing your ability to learn from experiences and apply those learnings to enhance your professional practice.

Remember that honest, critical reflection demonstrates maturity and self-awareness. Don't hesitate to discuss challenges or mistakes, as these often provide the richest opportunities for learning and growth.

Use of AI for this assessment is strictly prohibited; the work must be your own.  

Learning Outcomes 

• Critically evaluate your consulting skills and approaches using structured reflection 
• Identify specific areas for professional development
• Demonstrate the ability to translate reflection into actionable improvements 

MG836 Assessment Instructions 

Part 1: Introduction (300 words) 

• Begin with a brief introduction that: 
   Summarises the consulting context (who the client was), your role, and the scope of the engagement (what was the outcome, or deliverable)
• Outlines which reflective exercises you have selected and why 

Part 2: Reflective Journal Entries (2,500 words)

Select seven of the fifteen reflective exercises provided below and create a reflective journal entry for each one. Each entry should: 

• Be approximately 350 words 
• Follow the Gibbs Reflective Cycle structure 
• Conclude with specific, actionable insights for improvement 

Part 3: Conclusion (100 words)

End with a conclusion that:

• Synthesizes the key insights from your reflections 
• Identifies patterns or themes across your reflections 
• Outlines a coherent plan for your continued professional development

The Gibbs Reflective Cycle 

For each reflective journal entry, structure your reflection using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle:

1. Description: What happened? Provide a concise description of the experience related to the prompt. 
2. Feelings: What were you thinking and feeling during this experience? 
3. Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience? 
4. Analysis: What sense can you make of the situation? How does it connect to theory? 
5. Conclusion: What else could you have done? 
6. Action Plan: If this situation arose again, what would you do differently? 

Reflective Journal Exercise Options 

Select seven exercises from the following list: 

Exercise 1: Understanding Client Needs 

Reflect on a recent client interaction or project:

• What specific techniques did you use to understand your client'sneeds? 
• Were there any unstated needs that emerged during the engagement? How did you identify them? 
• In what ways could you have probed deeper to uncover the root causes of the client's problems? 
   
• How might your own assumptions or biases have affected your understanding of the client's situation? 

Exercise 2: Setting SMART Goals 

Think about your current consulting project: 

• Write out the specific goals you established with your client. Were they truly SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)? 
• Which aspects of these goals could be improved? Rewrite them to better align with SMART criteria. 
• How did you communicate these goals to the client? What was their response? 
• What obstacles emerged that challenged the achievement of these goals? 

Exercise 3: Client Collaboration Analysis 

Consider your collaboration style with clients: 

• Describe a situation where collaboration with a client was particularly effective. What made it work? 
• Recall an instance where collaboration was challenging. What were the barriers? 
• How do you typically balance between leading the client and following their direction? 
• What specific strategies could you implement to improve collaboration on your next project? 

4: Thoroughness in Analysis 

Examine analytical processes: 

• What data collection methods do you typically rely on? Are there any blind spots in your approach? 
• Describe a time when your analysis missed something important. What could you have done differently? 
• How do you balance between gathering sufficient data and moving forward with recommendations? 

What new analytical tools or methodologies could you incorporate into your practice?

Exercise 5: Roadmap Development 

Reflect on your project planning approach: 

• How detailed are the roadmaps you typically develop? Are they appropriately comprehensive? 
• In what ways do you account for contingencies and potential obstacles? 
• How frequently do you revisit and adjust your roadmaps during project implementation? 
• What feedback have clients given about your roadmaps? How have you incorporated this feedback? 

Exercise 6: Project Management Reflection 

Analyse your project management skills: 

• What project management frameworks or tools did you use? How effective were they? 
• Did the project veer off track? How did you identify and address the issue? 
• How did you balance flexibility with maintaining project boundaries? 
• What was your communication cadence with the client(s) during the project? Was it sufficient? 

Exercise 7: Continuous Improvement Practices 

Consider your professional development: 

• What are three specific areas of your consulting practice that need improvement? 
• How do you currently measure your consulting performance? Are there better metrics you could use? 
• What industry trends or emerging technologies should you learn more about? 
• Describe your ideal professional development plan for the next year. 

8: Professional Standards Assessment 

Evaluate professional conduct:

• How did you ensure you maintain confidentiality with client information? 
• Did you encounter any ethical dilemmas in your practice? How did you resolve them? 
• What professional standards or codes of conduct guide your practice? 
• In what ways could you better demonstrate professionalism with clients? 

Exercise 9: Problem Definition Process 

Reflect on how you define problems: 

• Walk through your typical problem definition process step by step. 
• How do you distinguish between symptoms and root causes? 
• Recall a situation where the problem shifted as you learned more. How did you adapt? 
• What techniques could you add to your problem definition toolkit? 

Exercise 10: Research and Analysis Effectiveness 

Evaluate your research approach: 

• What sources of information did you typically rely on? Were there any you tended to overlook? 
• How did you validate the quality and reliability of the data you collect? 
• Describe your process for synthesizing information from multiple sources. 
• What biases might affect your interpretation of research findings? 

Exercise 11: Recommendation Development 

Consider how you create recommendations: 

• How did you ensure your recommendations were truly actionable for the client?
• What criteria did you use to prioritise recommendations? 
• How do you balance ideal solutions with practical constraints? 
• What follow-up support did you provide to help the client implement the recommendations?

12: Presentation Skills Self-Assessment 

Analyse presentation effectiveness: 

• How do you typically prepare for client presentations? 
• What feedback have you received about your presentation style? 
• How do you adapt your presentations for different stakeholder groups? 
• What is one specific technique you could adopt to make your presentations more compelling?

Exercise 13: Client-Centricity Evaluation 

Reflect on your client-centred approach: 

• On a scale of 1-10, how client-centred is your consulting practice? Justify your rating. 
• In what ways do you actively solicit and incorporate client feedback? 
• What assumptions did you make about what clients needed or wanted? How did you test these?

Exercise 14: Value Delivery Assessment 

Consider the value you provide:

• How did you define and measure the value you delivered to the client? 
• Did the project deliver exceptional value? What made it successful? 
• Have there been instances where you failed to deliver expected value? What happened? 
• What could you do to increase the value you provide on your next engagement? 

Exercise 15: Personal Consulting Philosophy 

Articulate your approach to consulting: 

• What are your core values and principles as a consultant? 
• How have these values evolved throughout your consulting career? 
• In what ways does your consulting style differentiate you from others? 
• What legacy do you want to leave with your clients?

Sample Journal Entry Format 

• To help you structure your reflections effectively, here is a sample format for each journal entry: 
   

Exercise [Number]: [Title] 
 
Description: 
[Describe the specific consulting experience or situation you're reflecting on] 
 
Feelings: 
[Discuss your thoughts and emotions during this experience] 
 
Evaluation: 
[Evaluate what worked well and what didn't work well] 
 
Analysis: 
[Analyse the situation by connecting it to consulting theory and best practices] 
 
Conclusion: 
[Draw conclusions about what else you could have done]

Action Plan: 
[Outline specific steps for improvement in future situations] 

MG836 Marking rubric 

Assignment Guidelines

File format 

• Submit the assignment as a Word document. The assignment should not contain embedded jpeg or picture files. 
• Do not submit html files, web pages, CAD files, Visio (.vs.), PowerPoint (.ppt), PDFs (.pdf), 
  zip files or jpegs. 

Fonts 

• Use Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Tahoma or Verdana font, and be consistent and use the same font throughout. 
• Use black text on a white background. 
• Use 12 point for the body of your assignment. 

Spacing 

• Use 1.5 or double spacing. 
• Left-justify your work (also known as left-aligned). 

Headings & Subheadings 

• Use bold for headings and sub-headings. Not underlining or italics. 
• Number headings and subheadings [e.g., 2, 2.1, 2.1.1 etc.] 

Title page 

The title page should include the following: 

• The title of the assignment 
• The course number and name 
• The due date 
• This information should be centred, starting approximately one third of the way down the page. 

Numbering 

• Number all pages except the title page. 
• Tables and figures must be numbered and clearly labelled. 
• Table captions are placed above the table, while captions for a figure go below the figure. 

Word count 

• Include a word count (the number of words in your assignment) at the end of the assignment, before the references and appendices. 
• Your assignment should not be more than 10% under or over the prescribed word count. 
• Remember that the title/title page, contents page, reference list and appendices are not included in the word count. 
• Do not embed tables and diagrams as jpeg files or pictures. Words in tables count towards 
  the word count limit.

There is a penalty for going over the word count limit:

• 0-10% over -- no penalty 
• 11-15% over -- 5% penalty 
• 16-20% over -- 10% penalty 
• 21% or greater -- the paper will fail.