Global Professional Development

Disclaimer: This is not a sample of our professional work. The paper has been produced by a student. You can view samples of our work here. Opinions, suggestions, recommendations and results in this piece are those of the author and should not be taken as our company views.

Section One: The Organisation and Environment

The Client’s Needs and External Environment

In order to understand the various dimensions of how the consultancy took place first thing was the assessment of what exactly the client wanted.

Client’s Needs

NODE Urban Design Limited was the property developer. The main concerns of the company which were discussed with the consultant were:

Marginal Gains:

Marginal gains are defined as an aggregate of small decisions which have an impact on the profit margins of the company (Sharma et al. 2010: 187). NODE Urban Design Limited needed to have a consultancy over the issue of marginal gains. The company asked if the professionalism pertained by the company could have a positive impact on its marginal gains.

Key Performance Indicators:

A key performance indicator is known to be a measurable value that demonstrates the company’s effectiveness (Parmenter 2015). Another main concern of NODE Urban Design Limited was to identify the key performance indicators and how to manage them.

Improvement of Operational Performance and Efficiency:

Operational performance is the management of business units to have a correlation between them in order to achieve the company’s goals (Prajogo et al. 2012: 123). It was another concern of NODE Urban Design Limited to improve its operational performance and efficiency.

External Analysis

For providing authentic consultancy services it was essential to draw analyses on the external environment of NODE Urban Design Limited.

Construction Industry Feasibility and Growth

The construction industry of the UK has shown fast growth in the past year but according to one survey the weak pound has made the industry’s material costs high. The survey report by Markit/CIPS has analysed that the activities in the construction sector of the UK had hit a high peak in 2016 (The guardian 2017).

PESTEL Analysis

Figure 6: PESTEL Analysis (Consultant Online n.d)

According to Cadle, Paul, and Turner (2010) PESTEL analysis is a framework to monitor the external of the organisation. The PESTEL analysis for the NODE Urban Design Limited had been conducted in order to understand the factors which the company had to assess.

Impact of External Analysis on the Organization

The external or macro-environmental analyses of the company showed that the construction company has a wide scope in the industry. The rapid growth in the industry could bring higher competition: meaning more competitors emerge in the market (Christopher and Peck 2012). This might have an impact on customers’ choices and preferences. NODE Urban Designs Limited is a carbon-neutral company doing its best to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This could make a company more prominent in the construction market.

The PESTEL analysis for NODE suggested that government spending on the construction industry could have a positive impact as it might lead to an increase in the company’s growth and profit margin. The fluctuations in the interest rates could be beneficial if the government put low taxes on materials and property, then the demand for the property of NODE would ultimately increase due to the low prices of the property.

The Organization and its Internal Environment

The organisation’s internal environmental analysis had taken place to determine the company’s operational performance and efficiency.

Figure 7: SWOT Analysis (Duncan Haughey (n.d.)

SWOT Analysis of the Organization

The SWOT analysis is the analysis of a company’s strengths and weaknesses as well the identification of the threats and opportunities prevailing for the organisation (Helms and Nixon 2010: 215). According to the SWOT analysis of NADO Urban Design Limited, the company possessed a number of strengths and weaknesses which further helped to assess the opportunities and threats respectively.

Leadership of the Organization

Leadership is defined as an ability of an individual to influence someone to do what has been desired (Northouse 2012). NODE Urban Design Limited practised different leadership styles in order to enhance employees performance and achieve the objectives.

Principles of Leadership: The leadership principles which were incorporated by the leader of NODE Urban Design Limited are defined below:

Behavioural Leadership: The leaders of NODE had taken up the responsibility of bringing change and making decisions. These leaders thrived on the principle of empowering people and using their greatest potential on the desired plane.

Chasing Vision and Mission: Every organisation has a vision and mission to attain in the market. NODE Urban Design Limited had leaders who focused more on obtaining vision than profit. The leaders coordinated effectively with the employees about the vision and mission of the company.

Methods of Communication: Effective leadership requires the basic methods of communication on the part of the leader (Hackman and Johnson 2013). The leaders’ portfolio of NADO Urban Designs Limited had shown that they communicate with the employees with understanding and work ethos.

Non-verbal and Verbal Communication: The leaders of the company had communicated with the employees (content removed, please contact us to access the full version).

Leadership Culture: Culture is defined as a force of shared norms, practices and beliefs incorporated within an organisation (Alvesson 2012). The leadership culture of NODE Urban Design Limited had been in accordance with the strategic developments within an organisation.

The leaders tried to develop the right culture in which the employees could give their best performance. The leader Nigel Wakefield had adopted the ways in which the best work ethos could be achieved. These work ethos included respect, motivation and performance appraisals by the leaders. All these had contributed to the organisation’s internal culture in which the leaders played a crucial role.

Leadership Styles: Strategic leadership is in which the leader has a responsibility of creating a high-performance team (Yukl 2012: 66). The strategic leadership styles which were adopted by NODE Urban Designs were collaborative leadership and participative leadership.

• Collaborative Leadership: Collaborative leadership style includes the interaction of the leader with the external and internal entities (Kramer and Crespy 2011: 1024). Nigel Wakefield had created a strong bond between the employees and the clients in order to have an accelerated performance.
• Participative Leadership: Participative leadership style involves the participation of the employees (Huang et al. 2010: 122). Under this style, the employees in NODE Company had been given a chance to participate in the company’s matter. The decision of the masses is usually considered to be the final decision.

Information of Key Sources Used

As the study was conducted under qualitative reasoning (content removed please contact us to access full version).

Critical Evaluation of Research and Analysis Techniques

The analysis drew upon the industry’s feasibility, and growth suggesting that the UK’s construction industry has seen rapid growth in the past few years (Shehu and Akintoye 2010: 26). However, this also suggested that there would be high competition which might make it difficult for NODE Urban Design Limited to stand out in the market. The high cost of the material prevailing in the industry would have major repercussions for the company because usually, high prices lead to low consumer preference.

For drawing external analysis, the tool of PESTEL analyses

(content removed please contact us to access full version).

Recommendations (2b)

Current and Long Term Recommendations

Talent Management: The Company, in order to have a better performance on the part of employees, must use the talent management approach (Davenport 2013). Talent management is defined as an allocation of human resources according to their talent. There are many departments of the company and the right person at the right job can be effective to get the work done efficiently. The readiness to assess or recruit new employees is important as it will get more benefit in the organisational proceedings and structure.

Better Client Relationship: The company must possess a strong customer base for achieving marginal gains (Ernst et al. 2011: 290). The goal of achieving a large and strong customer base can be achieved by building relationships with clients. For instance, in order for NODE Urban Design Limited to be prominent in the market, it has to make local commercial developers know of its existence.

Safety Equipment: This is very important for the company to put some measures in order to avoid accidents at the workplace (Hughes and Ferrett 2012). It would enhance employees’ performance because when the employees feel safe it will affect their performance. A safe and secure environment would be mandatory to put by obtaining safety equipment in the organisation.

Market Expertise: In order for a company to communicate to its clients the company must acquire market expertise (Rust, Moorman and Bhalla 2010: 94). The best marketing strategies must be assessed for making a brand image. This is essential for the company to not only gain consumers’ perception and motivation but also to gain market share.

Recommendations for Making Difference between Strategic Management and Leadership

Strategic leadership and strategic management are (content removed please contact us to access the full version).

Section three: Implementation

Leadership Strategy for the Implementation of Recommendations

The best leadership strategy for the company would be strategic leadership. Strategic leadership is influencing the people within an organisation so that they voluntarily make decisions that further enhance the organisation’s long-term success and financial stability (Hill, Jones, and Schilling 2014). Strategic leadership can be able to reach organisational potential success because it requires tools and skills in order to implement any new strategy or manage change. The main principles of strategic leadership are defined as follows:

Distribute Responsibility

The main principle which the strategic leaders would be required to follow is the distribution of responsibilities from top to bottom (Boxall and Purcell 2011). Top leaders push the power across all the factions of the organisation empowering people to take decisions and exploit opportunities. This is a risk assessment but also increases the collective intelligence and resilience of the organisation.

Transparency

Transparency of the information is very important on the part of strategic leadership (DuBrin 2010). The meaning of the information can be interpreted by fostering conversation. If the operational performance of the organisation seems to go down it would a big opportunity for the implementation of change. A better understanding of a problem can be done by having open information available to the team.

Assessing other Strategists

Another main important principle in strategic leadership is to give an opportunity to other potential strategists across the organisation in order to meet their peers and work with them (DuBrin 2010) (content removed please contact us to access the full version).

Impact of Possible Changes on Leadership Strategy

The change in the leadership strategy might bring the change in the organisational structure and procedures. The change in leadership would provide a possible advantage to the NODE Urban Design Limited.

High-Performance Culture

The change in leadership would provide a high-performance team in the organisational culture (Alvesson 2012). High-performance teams are the virtual group of people focusing on the goals and objectives of the organisation and to get superior business results. With the change in the leadership strategy the people within the organisation would have a solid and deep trust in the team and amongst each other because of the freedom of expressing their feelings and ideas. All the employees would be able to work towards identical goals and be clear about the accomplishment of tasks at hand.

Program Evaluations

Another impact of the change of leadership strategy within an organisation would be the equitable evaluation of the program or a task (Arun 2016). exploitation (content removed, please contact us to access the full version).

Change Management

Change in leadership might be able to attain an effective change management strategy (Hayes 2014). Change management is defined as an approach to transition teams, individuals, and organisations which further re-direct the assessment of the business processes, resources, budget allocations, and operational measures which reshape an organisation.

The change in leadership would ensure the standardised procedures by the leader to achieve desired business outcomes. The strategic leader would incorporate organisational tools which might help the individual to have personal transitions in the changing environment of the organisation.

Role of Leadership in Communicating the Vision

A leader has a responsibility to (content removed, please contact us to access full version).

Section four: Critical Reflection on my Own Learning Experience

With the great efforts for understanding the key areas of the study, I have learned that in order to give consultancy services to any company, it would be important to conduct internal and external analysis and find macro and micro environmental factors in which the company operates.

However, if there would have been more techniques used I could have learned more about the factors and could have given more appropriate recommendations. The leadership strategies I had learned during the process were important for any organisation. However, due to time constraints, it was difficult for me to cover all the other areas of the company.

Application of my Learning Experience on Area of Study

The number of strategies that I had learned during the process could be applicable to the area of the study. As consultancy was the main area of the study, my learning experience would make me able to assess leadership strategies and the application of these strategies in leadership and professional development.

Although, the area of study is broad, and it is difficult to assess all the areas with a limited approach. According to my own learning experience, there must be other approaches to the study than what I had discussed earlier in this report.

Future Career Aspirations

My learning experience regarding this study was rich and effective, and it built strong career aspirations in my mind. I have experienced that consultancy has a scope in career development, and I can pursue that career.

Although this career has less room for making mistakes. For instance, if I would be giving someone my consultancy services, I would have to conduct strong and extensive market research, and there would not be any room left for making mistakes because the client might use the ideas I would give them as my consultancy services.

References

• Agency Central, (2015), Growth Rate of UK’s Construction Industry[ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.agencycentral.co.uk/articles/2015-11/skill-shortages-in-construction-industry.htm[Accessed 10 March 2017].
• Alvesson, M., 2012.Understanding organisational culture. Sage.
• Arun, K., 2016. Knowledge Sharing in Business Organisations: Leadership Role in Knowledge. Managing Knowledge Resources and Records in Modern Organisations, p.44.
• Baker, D. and Schnapper, P., 2015.Britain and the Crisis of the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011.Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Cadle, J., Paul, D. and Turner, P., 2010.Business analysis techniques: 72 essential tools for success. BCS, The Chartered Institute.
• Christopher, M. and Peck, H., 2012.Marketing logistics. Routledge.
• Consultant Online, (n.d.) PESTEL Analysis┬á[ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.agencycentral.co.uk/articles/2015-11/skill-shortages-in-construction-industry.htm[Accessed 10 March 2017].