CONSULTANTS and business experts are often accused of making empty promises, charging high fees and are sometimes lacking in experience.

Ministry of Employment Productivity and Industrial Relations permanent secretary Salaseini Serulagilagi Daunabuna said this while opening the Workshop on Management Consultancy in Total Quality Management in Nadi on Monday.

“Consultants are sometimes criticised for overuse of buzzwords, reliance on and propagation of management fads, and a failure to develop plans that are executable by the client,” she said.

“A number of critical books about management consulting argue that the mismatch between management consulting advice and the ability of executives to actually create the change suggested results in substantial damages to existing businesses.

“These consultants bring few innovations, instead offering generic and “pre-packaged” strategies and plans that are irrelevant to the client’s particular issue. They may fail to prioritise their responsibilities, placing their own firm’s interests before those of the clients.”

Ms Daunabuna said she hoped the workshop would enable participants to overcome challenges and groom them into becoming professional and ethical consultants.

Acting director National Training and Productivity Centre Penitiko Taoi said apart from training more than 13,000 participants annually, the NTPC also provided informal and formal consultancy services to its clients.

“We are working towards developing more expertise through research and development and interaction with delegates from Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) member countries present in this workshop, to be able to introduce more consultancy services in Fiji,” he said.

Eighteen participants from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, IR Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Fiji are participating in the workshop this week.