Applying Theory of Constraints to Group Facilitation Consulting

Introduction

The purpose of any management theory is to achieve maximum productivity from limited resources. This can be accomplished through process management and inventory management. Many studies have been conducted on this topic, but Eliyahu Goldratt provides a comprehensive framework for management application. He offers practical solutions to management problems from the viewpoint of a manager, making his work accessible to anyone in a supervisory role. Such readers can readily adapt his Theory of Constraints to their own situations and resolve challenges according to their organization's needs. After studying his Theory of Constraints as presented in The Goal and It's Not Luck, the author has endeavored to apply it to his own organization. The analysis that follows examines that application.

Company Overview

Group Facilitation Consultancy is a group facilitation consultancy service company that has operated since the mid-1990s. The company employs a team of consultants who provide consultancy services to a variety of clients. The company believes in providing enabling management solutions to its clients rather than merely solving immediate problems. This approach risks the loss of clients entirely, but the company's mission from its founding has been to resolve problems comprehensively so that recurrence is minimized. To accomplish this, the company draws on learning experiences gained from various client groups and transfers that knowledge to future engagements. Group activities include directing planning processes, resolving disputes, soliciting input, and brainstorming. Facilitation services typically range from one day to one week or more, depending on the nature of the project.

Goals of the Company

The goal of the company is fundamentally to provide group facilitation and other management consultancy services. To differentiate itself from competitors, however, the company focuses on client relationships in which the firm and the client work together as a unified team rather than as a conventional consultant-client pairing. The financial bottom line remains important, but the overarching goal is to achieve customer satisfaction. At times, client goals are so complex that they result in compromises that prevent full customer satisfaction from being realized. This gap between intended and achieved outcomes represents the company's primary problem.

Applying the Theory of Constraints

The role of the consultant in the company is to become part of the client group and direct its thought process without assuming a formal leadership position. Leadership is left with the project's original leader so that group members do not feel threatened by external consultants directing their operations. In some cases, however, consultants must take on a leadership role when guiding the group toward a desired course of action.

A common pattern observed in client organizations is that groups face bottlenecks because they fail to clearly identify their goals. Many groups do have goals in mind, but they frequently deviate from sound management processes. These deviations lead them away from their goals and ultimately produce resource constraints. When such groups seek the company's assistance, the consultants provide the critical path to resolution, and clients are satisfied with results they have largely generated themselves.

The Theory of Constraints as explained by Goldratt is designed to boost the performance of any process comprising a series of interdependent steps. Rather than attempting to improve the entire process simultaneously, Goldratt teaches managers to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, thereby increasing the efficiency and output of the overall system. At Group Facilitation Consultancy, the firm has been so focused on facilitating solutions to client problems that it has neglected its own internal constraints. The appropriate application of the theory here is to reduce bottlenecks at the front end of service delivery in order to increase output at the back end, thereby expanding the company's capacity to serve more client groups effectively.

Although the company's goal is customer satisfaction, this is difficult to define precisely when client needs vary so widely from engagement to engagement. The goal has been stated in vague terms, with no clear direction for how consultants are to achieve it. Observing the firm's daily operations, it is apparent that everyone is overworked. There is no meaningful break time; each consultant carries five to six projects per week. Consultants have been focused on meeting target requirements rather than on quality management of their clients. As a result, frustration builds internally and, while consultants do not display this frustration openly, it inevitably affects their performance and, in turn, the performance of their clients.

There is therefore a problem of both goal identification and goal achievement process. Although the company is a group facilitation consultancy, its own internal management framework is deteriorating. The organization is designed to function as a lateral team in which every employee is a full member, yet the volume and nature of the work does not allow colleagues to collaborate or even brainstorm together. Each consultant handles problems in isolation. The result is that project goals are not met as effectively or efficiently as required, and clients suffer the consequences.

Upon inquiry, colleagues reported feeling overwhelmed by the number of projects assigned to them and unable to devote adequate attention to individual clients. It becomes difficult to develop and present effective solutions when there is insufficient time for each case. Clients have returned with complaints that advice provided during group orientation sessions proved impractical because of unforeseen difficulties. Consultants responded by noting that the original ideas came from the client's own leadership. This cycle of incomplete delivery and deflected responsibility means that genuine customer satisfaction is rarely achieved.

The Theory of Constraints is directly applicable here: it directs attention to the specific problem affecting the end result. Team members at Group Facilitation Consultancy are working beyond their maximum productive capacity. Productivity is declining as workloads increase, even as demand for group facilitation services rises industry-wide due to evolving management styles. The company is operating with insufficient facilitator resources relative to the volume of incoming work. As the firm continues to accept new cases, its capacity to deliver will slow further. The solution requires focusing on the core constraint: either increasing the number of facilitators or limiting the number of cases accepted.

Following Goldratt's approach, the first step is to align workflow with production capacity. This means reducing the number of active cases so that workload does not exceed what facilitators can handle with quality. Once workflow capacity matches facilitator capacity, the company can begin directing its energy toward its true goal: maximizing customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

One author writing on teamwork and team building observes: "Through a variety of learning experiences, individuals rotate among task assignments. On a team conducting customer service assessments for the organization, assignments may be rotated across team members as individuals sharpen their skills in survey design, data analysis, focus group facilitation, and project management. These rotations result in skill acquisition as well as shared understanding of the various team roles and responsibilities. Job satisfaction is also enhanced as team members assume multiple roles" (Cianni, 1997). This is precisely what Group Facilitation Consultancy needs. The company's drive to take on more work has resulted in the fragmentation of its team. Applying the Theory of Constraints will begin to redirect the company toward more cohesive teamwork, but rebuilding the team itself is equally necessary in this situation.

The company needs to invest in the learning experiences of each member so that individual contributions strengthen the organization as a whole. Such contributions would improve efficiency in two ways. First, individual consultants would be able to share their facilitation skills and styles with colleagues, creating opportunities for others to develop new competencies. Second, team members would gain perspective on how their own work compares with that of peers. Through shared experience, they would be better positioned to coordinate facilitation activities more effectively and to provide clients with well-rounded expert advice rather than relying solely on each consultant's individual judgment.

Implementing this combination of constraint-based process management and deliberate team development is expected to enable the company to achieve its bottom line: genuine and lasting customer satisfaction.

References

Goldratt, Eliyahu, and Jeff Cox. The Goal. Gower, 1992.

Cianni, Mary, and Donna Wnuck. "Individual Growth and Team Enhancement: Moving Toward a New Model of Career Development." The Academy of Management Executive, vol. 11, 1 Feb. 1997, pp. 105–115.

University of Edinburgh, School of Engineering. "Management of Engineering and Design Topics." ee.ed.ac.uk, www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MECD/topics.html.