Accountability for Consultants: Client interview questions

To find out where each interviewee fits into the organisation, ask about job title.

To find out about the project ask about:

To find out about client-consultant relationships ask:

At what stage(s) of the project did you work with consultants, (thus identifying client type in Schein’s suggested type: contact, intermediate, primary, unwitting, indirect, and ultimate.)
How did you work with consultants?
What did they do and what did you do? What are your positive and negative experiences of the use of consultants on this project? (cf Werr et al, 2002, image 1)
What has been successful in the management of consultancy on this project? (cf Werr et al, 2002, image 2) and what has been difficult or problematic?
Do you think in general the problems to which consultants are called to solve are the really important ones? Why do you think that? Who should account for consultants that are called to solve these problems? How should their use be accounted for? (From Gattiker & Larwood’s 10^th question)

To find out about accountability as perceived by the interviewee ask:

What is your understanding of accountability with respect to consultants?
Who do you render account of yourself to, with respect to the consultancy, and about what, or in which terms?
How was accountability put into practice and monitored?
What impact do the mechanisms of accountability have on: a) quality of the consultancy work done b) outcome of the consultancy work (See Ezzamel et al, 2007) Did they have any other impacts or effects from your perspective?
Can you recall a particular incident in which you were aware of accountability? Describe it. Explain it.
Who do you regard as having the main accountability for the effective use of consultancies in general? And also with respect to this particular project?

Finally:

Accountability for Consultants