Case study--- McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning

McKinsey & Company was founded in 1926 as the Accounting and Engineering Advisors and it grew rapidly. The case describes the steps taken by McKinsey & Company to transform the firm into "snowball makers" and "snowball throwers." 1. What was the organization design that was in place at McKinsey and what did they want to change? Did the change in design complement their strategy? What were the key barriers to implementing change? The organization design in place …

…this objective, they transitioned from the traditional engagement teams to client services teams. Developing long term relationships with clients was seen as a key operating strategy, and therefore should be rewarded. The knowledge management process was also changed from the "discover-codify-disseminate" model to a looser and more inclusive "engage-explore-apply-share" approach. This shifted the focus from developing knowledge to building individual and team capability. Thus, snowball making was seen as an important activity in the organization.