RE: Vendor conflict of interest - Consultants, etc.

| -----Original Message-----
| [mailto:midrange-nontech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
| Mike.Crump@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

| I'm just seeing us involving more and more consultants for a
| recommendation on a decision who can (and most often do) derive a definite
| benefit depending on one of the answers they provide.  It's kind of the
| nature of the beast these days but I'm not sure I like it.......

Just like you see more of the Auditors working FOR the companies they audit,
rather than the shareholders.  And Regulators in government shifting
back-and-forth between the industries they regulate.

In this case, you can get Usually get a More objective answer by the
approach Michael R. said.  Don't allow the person recommending to do the
follow-up work.  (Btw, this is same approach used to divide a piece of candy
between two kids fairly.  One divides the thing up, and the other chooses
their half.)  The downside being you May be over-limiting yourself in
getting the solution implemented.  (The Recommender May be "The best" to DO
the implementation, and people generally work harder to implement their own
suggestions rather than another group's recommendation, too.)

I think the current tendency these days is in the opposite direction, which
is getting people who are less-able to actually DO an implementation (of any
given kind) deeply involved in doing the recommending.  What some view as
"the Harvard Biz School" approach to Business Transformation.  Very
well-steeped in deep theoretical background, yet not experienced at all in
the implementation of Real Businesses.