All too often companies hire outside consultants to suggest ways for the company to operate more efficiently. If companies were to spend more time listening to their own employees, such consultants would be unnecessary.

The author states that if companies were to spend more time listening to their own employees then the externally hired consultants would be rendered useless. I second the author to a great extent. Consider the following analogous situation: How often do we take the help of a third person to solve the problems of our family or to strengthen our bonding with each other? Seldom we do that right. The following points will further bolster my stand.

Firstly, hiring a consultants to shoots up the cost factor of the company. A special provision needs to be provided in the annual budget for the same. In my view the same money could be saved or distributed among the companies employees as a form of bonus or increment thus initiating the old adage i:e 'Charity begins at Home'. This will also prove salubrious to the company because a happy employee works happily without any qualms and in return increasing the productivity of the organization.

Secondly, for increasing the efficiency of the institute, hiring an external agent might prove beneficial, however it also exposes the companies vital information to the consultancy. This is an inevitable situation because without all the necessary information, the outside consultants won't be able to provide the desired output. These consultants are simultaneously hired by other firms too and who knows, one of them might be competitor. Instead the industry can employee a consultant rather than hiring one thus prevailing a feeling of trust.

We all know that a person from the family knows in and out about the family as compared to a person outside the family. He knows about the problems and also is aware of the ways to over come them and keep everybody happy. Similarly, an employee who is working in a firm knows the loop holes of the firm and his suggestions can prove vital for the efficient functioning of the industry. Had this been done with the help of an external person, then a descent amount of time would have been consumed to find the various loop holes and another interval to suggest ways for overcoming them. The above practice will not only be cost and time effective, it will also induce a sense of 'belonging to the firm' among the employees. The employees will feel that the organization trusts them.

Since every side has got two sides, the same practice has also got its drawbacks. Listening to the employees will waste a lot of productive time. Sometimes the suggestions might be from the 'personal benefit' point of view. However these seem to be meager as compared to the advantages. Hence firms should listen to their own employees instead of hiring outside consultants to suggest ways for the excellence of the firm.