McKinsey &
Company is one of the most successful strategic consulting firms in the world.
They are consultants to many of the world’s largest companies, as well as government agencies
in the United States and around the world. McKinsey alumni hold many top positions around
the world and include Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM, and Lowell Bryan, who advised the Senate
Banking Committee during the savings and loan crisis. McKinsey is a well- known brand and
an icon of the business world.
Rasiel
and Frigapresent
the McKinsey Strategic Problem- Solving Model for use in information
literacy programs for graduate business students. This model should works well for graduate
business students because it is already tailored for the business workplace. Using this model to
teach information literacy and critical thinking also gives the students the edge of knowing one
of the most innovative business methodologies of this decade.
McKinsey model:
The McKinsey model
begins with a business need, but as adapted for information literacy, it
begins with an information need. This need comes from a business problem, or, in this case, a
research problem, case study, or class assignment.
Once the problem
has been identified, the next step is analyzing the problem. McKinsey calls
this step "framing the problem" or "defining the boundaries of the problem and breaking
it down
into its component elements" in order to "come up with an initial hypothesis as to the solution"
(p. xvi). Not only is a hypothesis developed at this point, visual tools such as issue trees or
mind maps are also used to further break down our ideas into manageable parts.
Designing the analysis
is the next step in the model. At this point the student must "determine the
analysis that must be done to prove the hypothesis" (p. xvi). Students learn to develop an
outline of what they know and what they need to know, as well as where they might find the
information they need. This step also includes developing work plans for group study efforts.
Next is gathering
the data. It is at this stage that the librarian can talk about specific sources and
tools that can be used when gathering data. McKinsey emphasizes the use of fact finding and
interviewing as a source of information gathering.
Students must understand
the importance of time management. There is never enough time to
get all possible data. It is up to the student to find the most pertinent data in the least amount of
time. Using people who have expert knowledge is a great tool. Students should remember
some simple principles from the McKinsey model:
-
Facts are friendly
- Don’t accept “I have no idea”
- Don’t reinvent the wheel
- Acquire external knowledge
- Control the quality of your input: garbage
in, garbage out
- Research tips – start with the annual
report, look for outliers, and look for best
practices
Interpreting the
results is the final step--analyzing and evaluating to test the hypothesis.
Collaboration between teaching faculty and librarians is crucial at this point, because teaching
faculty have subject knowledge to see whether the hypothesis has been proved. From this
point, students can develop a course of action to take.
The final part
of the McKinsey model is creating the final presentation. Many graduate business
programs do not instruct students on presentation methods. This is a very important step
because it is what the client, employer, or professor sees.
1. McKinsey Research
