Without effective cultural habits that have life lasts

Behind France two-digit growth, confirming the recovery observed since 2004 on the sector of the Council, lurks a mutation in depth of the major groups of the market. As noted in the study of last May of Syntec "Management consultancy", the economic upturn ( 12 in 2006 and 10 in 2007) is based on the development of international missions. "Even if major groups argue the contrary, the internationalisation of the sector is a recent phenomenon." Until then, the strategies of firms were local and primarily focused on basins of activity with clients, as well as teams of consultants and local partners. "Behind a common brand, they worked mainly on the franchise model", says Jean-Baptiste Hugot, author of the guide "Enter and work in the Council and the audit", published in January 2007 to the Editions of Management.

For Guy Delisle, associate Quebec Cabinet Council HR Towers Perrin (84 offices), stationed in Paris for two years and that has twenty-five years of House, the finding is no doubt. It is the evolution of the demand of the customers large accounts, linked to the globalization of their strategy, which led the groups and networks specializing in the Council to initiate internal policies globally. "Our customers want more in addition to targeted studies, for example on the total compensation in Turkey or China, which induced to develop international networks."

"Globalized strategies."

And to promote the transversality between their different subsidiaries, firms often review background fills in their organization. Cabinet of hunting of Austrian heads Neumann International (27 offices around the world) and consolidated in 2002 all its national services, including financial and human resources in directions which have jurisdiction in the world. These are located at Vienna headquarters to the cabinet, which also is merge all of its companies in a single parent.

In a prior (40 offices around the world) three, the reorganization Oliver Wyman. The group is now structured around major divisions by sector of activity as the automobile or transport, which also allows to avoid multiplying the same in each country, as skills noted by Hanna Moukanas, the Director of the Paris Office: "We combine local implantation with the development of logistics on a global scale." It has more sense of reason in terms of local market, large accounts have globalized strategies and, in any event, they are not prepared to pay twice a service, just as a matter of translation.

Facilitate mobility

"Think global and act local", is the leitmotiv of the firms of consultants. To provide a seamless delivery but tailored, they rely on the mobility of their teams. They are generally animated by a project of the same origin as the client Manager to facilitate trade. It is also his interlocutor when the mission is available in several different places. To promote mobility, firms have developed global human resources policies, in a sector where it was previously not a priority. "Our skills development policies, management careers or evaluation consultants are harmonized across the group, we then adapt these tools to the local legal framework for the issues involved in the pay system for example", confirms Sylvie Mercier, HRD of Oliver Wyman in France.

If the consultants have long been accustomed to exercising a nomadic activity, their mobility is further increased as a result of these reorganizations. To convince them to move, human resources departments treat their integration, when they need to be hired by a local entity of the group. At Ernst & Young, present in 140 countries, it is the "global exchange program. It guarantees the consultant support social and medical to the French system for all shifts more of eighteen months. PricewaterhouseCoopers, implanted in 149 countries, has in each of its subsidiaries to a team of two to four people dedicated to the management of mobility, separate from the service human resources. "We have an online space where we reference all offers of missions of our firms." We have a protocol which takes completely supported the consultant upon his arrival at the airport, through our local networks. "We to facilitate the drafting of the contract, searching for a job for the spouse or apartments we propose also to the couple in the course of cultural acclimation", explains Eric Bertier, HRD France. Currently, on the 3,700 French network, 132 employees are abroad and its hexagonal offices welcome 53 professionals of different nationalities. "We have two programs, the first concerning stays of less than one year, and the second, those that are longer. "In both cases, all procedures are codified with a financial package which is defined globally," says Eric Bertier, which also has the responsibility of the teams dedicated to mobility for all of continental Europe.

"Competency Passport".

Is the sensitive issue of the detection of expertise at the global level and their availability. "When a client in the telecoms for example signs an important contract, it is expected to have our best specialists on the field, wherever they are." So we must identify them and ensure their availability to their superior hierarchical. Furthermore, some patterns are sometimes reluctant to the idea of depriving a good item for several months. "It must ensure that the sending of a collaborator on the mission not penalizes any of the entities", indicates Véronique Ménard, responsible partner of diversity at Ernst & Young. The Group has created this summer a "Passport jurisdiction": on the intranet of the group, each employee has to a sheet, searchable by all project managers, it updates in real time to assert its skills and aspirations. "It is an extremely valuable and quick tool to gather the most sharp talent on a mission." "This Passport is also brought to become a linchpin of our career development policy," said Pierre Hurstel, Director of the strategy group's global human resources.

Local particularities

Last step, and not least: get to work together consultants who do not necessarily know and whose cultures are different. "Some consultants have difficulty to share their resources, particularly when the perimeter of their team often changes," recognizes a HRD. Without effective cultural habits that have life lasts. To define the outline of its seven regional divisions, Ernst & Young took into account the factor of the language, but also history and behavioral similarities of each nationality. Latin countries are grouped together with the Maghreb, while the British are dependent on the same group as the Norse or the Saudis. "You cannot unite together for reasons historical, philosophical cultures." Similarly, all the management tools may not be the same everywhere, for example, an exercise as the 360 may not work in Thailand due to a great respect for the authority. "If you do not take into account the national logic, you break your teeth", explains Pierre Hurstel. They say global, local particularities were the hard life.