In helping enterprises engage the right management consultants to assist them in their business upgrading journey, both local and international communities have developed a set of industry standards and outlined best practices for the management consultancy profession – TR 43:2015 in November 2015, and ISO 20700 in June 2017.
The TR 43:2015 is developed by the Singapore Standards Council, SPRING Singapore (now Enterprise Singapore) and the Consultant Quality Management Working Group (CQM WG) comprising representatives from the management consultancy industry, local enterprises, trade associations and chambers, and certification bodies.
The document sets out the minimum acceptable professional standards and practices of individual management consultants. It defines the consultancy process, specifies the competency and ethical requirements of a professional consultant and outlines the scope for continuous professional development of consultants.
TR 43:2015 was published in November 2015.
SMEs and management consultants are encouraged to review TR 43:2015 and submit feedback on its technical content and ease-of-use as a national standard via standards@enterprisesg.gov.sg. At the end of three years, TR 43:2015 will be reviewed by the CQM WG for possible development into a Singapore Standard for Management Consultants.
TR 43:2015 can be purchased from Toppan Leefung Pte Ltd. Alternatively, free public viewing of all Singapore Standards and Technical References is available at designated terminals at the National Library Board, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, Level 7, 100 Victoria Street, Singapore 188064.
Click here for more information on the standards development process.
In June 2017, ISO 20700, was published by the ISO/PC 280 Management Consultancy Project Committee under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Through formalising guidelines and industry best practices for the effective delivery of management consultancy services, ISO20700 aims to improve transparency and understanding between clients and management consultancy service providers, as well as expected to both parties achieve better results from consultancy projects, and contribute to the competitiveness and business performance.
As one of the participating countries in the ISO/PC 280, Singapore was actively involved in providing inputs to the drafting of ISO 20700 in tandem with the development of national standards.
Click here for more information on the ISO 20700.