Leadership in Business: Strategic and Operational Plan Assessment

This report presents a comprehensive operational plan for the Australian Hardware organization, focusing on strategic objectives, implementation strategies, and budget allocation. It includes an analysis of the company's goals to provide hardware parts, customer care services, and software-related services. The plan outlines an implementation strategy targeting online customers and social media engagement. The report details a timeframe, budget allocation, and responsibilities assigned to various departments. Furthermore, it analyzes marketing strategies and the interview with an assessor to assess the business plan's feasibility, and the importance of customer service, sales practice, marketing, and environmental considerations. The report concludes with a discussion of key legal and ethical considerations, including equal opportunity, occupational health and safety, and anti-discrimination policies.

Assessment on Leadership in Business
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Table of Contents
Task 1 & 2: Strategic and Operational Plan:...................................................................................3
Task 3: Interview:............................................................................................................................7
Task 4:.............................................................................................................................................9
Reference List:...............................................................................................................................17
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Task 1 & 2: Strategic and Operational Plan:
1. Title: LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
2. Focus: The focus of the Australian Hardware organization is to implement all the necessary
planning in the area of the wide range operation in the technology (especially in the computer
related) fields. Apart from this, the organization are planning for innovative customer care
service an after-sales service facilities to the loyal customers of the organization.
3. Objectives:
The objective of the Australian Hardware organization are as follows:
 To provide essential hardware parts and equipment required for the homeware and for
large organizations.
 To provide proper after sales and customer care services throughout the country.
 To fulfill the target of serving 1 million customers in its first five years of operation.
 To provide corresponding software related services to the hardware products delivered.
4. Implementation Plan:
The manager of the organization has come up with innovative marketing and serving policies to
be adopted by the organization to compete in the market. Hence, they are expanding their
business in the digital world targeting the online customers and they are targeting the social
media networks to expand and communicate with bulk of customers and organizations as well.
5. Planned courses:
The planned operation by the Australian Hardware organization is to deliver all the necessary
hardware and homecare equipment and the related planning for the sales service. In order to
achieve this target, they have already planned for tie-up with other organization from similar
sectors and expanding service operation through the online portals.
6. Timeframes
Activities Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
Title Selection
Objectives
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identification
Implementation
planning
Budget
identification
Financial resource
gathering
Market
responsibilities
identification
Market strategies
identification
Ethics
Implementation
and maintenance
Table 1: Timeframe
(Source: Created by the researcher)
7. Budgets
Activities Costing per activity Total Cost (Approximate)
Implementation planning £1500 £1500
Budget identification £2500 £2500
Financial resource gathering £5000 £5000
Market responsibilities
identification
£2700 £2700
Market strategies identification £2300 £2300
Ethics Identification £4000 £4000
Total Cost £18000
Table 2: Budget
(Source: Created by the researcher)
8. Responsibilities
In order to maintain the above-mentioned activities, it is very crucial for the company to assign
each and every activity to the responsible department and responsible manager, which can be
delivered as follows-
Planning department: Planning department will enable the organization to make effective
planning and strategies in such a way that it can lead the entire organization to complete its on-
going project in an effective manner. On the other hand, planning department will allow the
company to gain competitive advantage in the market by identifying every marketing aspect in
an effective manner.
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HR department: HR department will allow the company to recruit experienced and effective
workers, which will lead the company to complete its project in an appropriate manner.
Finance department: Finance department will enable the company to make proper planning and
strategies in such a way that it can enable the company to overcome all the potential financial
risks in an effective manner. In addition, the aim of this department is to identify and gather all
the necessary financial resources from the internal and external sources.
9. Strategies
In order to gain competitive advantage in the market, the company can implement several
marketing strategies, such as Market Penetration Strategies (for marketing purpose) and Cost
Leadership Strategies (for production costing reducing purpose). With the help of Market
Penetration Strategy, the company can identify its external threats and external sources, which
can lead the business towards success or failure. On the other hand, Cost Leadership Strategies
will enable the company to reduce its products’ pricing and enhancing its profit share in the
market.
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Task 3: Interview:
This interview session will help to asses all the necessary information for developing the
operation plan for the organization. This interview session will be conducted with the assessor
from the organization and authentic data will be collected for further analysis.
Question 1: How far do you believe that this start-up organization will get fruitful result in
the hardware business?
Interviewee 1: (Assessor): Although this is a start-up organization, the business plan is brilliant
from the organization. There are several cases where it has been seen that customers faces
several troubles while finding the necessary computer and hardware parts for the homecare and
other professional services.
Question 2: As per your opinion how far do you agree with that the organization should
expand their business in the online platforms while engaging more customers for the
organization?
Interviewee 1: (Assessor): now a days, the online platforms has become the most common
interactive medium with people as the activities in these platforms are quite large and congested.
Therefore, the probabilities of finding potential and loyal customers for the organization is quite
large in this platform. Thus, I think, it is common that this process sis going to impact upon the
company’s performance noticeably.
Question 3: Do you agree that the strategies followed by the organization is unique in the
competitive market?
Interviewee 1: (Assessor): As per my opinion, I felt that the organization has been come up
with exact planning of targeting customers with hardware related problems in the homecare or
professional practices. Apart from this, the idea of tie-up with other organization has given them
a fruitful result to gather proper information regarding the potential of customers in the market.
Therefore, I have a n optimistic opinion of getting success by the company in the Australian
market.
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Question 4: Do you feel that software related services should be also offered by the
organization to the needy customers?
Interviewee 1: (Assessor): Most of the cases, people appear with hardware related problems.
However, it has been seen that the issues can be solved with the help of the little bit of
modification in the software sections as well. Thus, the Australian Hardware should also acquire
skillful employees to provide software related services.
Question 5: Do you feel that; the presence of the social media platform will enhance the
business efficiencies of the organization?
Interviewee 1: (Assessor): Social media has been come out as the best marketing platforms for
most of the companies in the Australian market. The marketing managers of the different
companies agree with the facts that the activities of people in these sites are quite high and it is
possible to get potential customers with proper interaction through these platforms. Thus, social
medias like Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter platform sis surely going to influence the
performance of the company largely.
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Task 4:
1. Operational plan provides a paramount standard of assistance in familiarizing the
organizational workforce with their respective responsibilities and tasks, in order to achieve the
organizational goals and objectives that exist within the strategic plan. In other words, it can be
described as the plan that demonstrates the implementation of the strategies that illustrates the
strategies that formulate the strategic plan. Furthermore, it acts like a management tool that
incorporates the resources of the organization into action, in order to attain the organizational
targets.
2. A Gantt chart (devised by Henry Gantt) can be described as a horizontal chart that is viewed
as a fundamental tool in project management. In brief, it is a graphical representation of the
project management schedule, which provides a paramount standard of assistance in planning,
coordinating, and monitor the tasks that are being implemented through the operational plan.
They are highly useful in interpreting the status of the project in a significant manner. In
comparison with PERT charts, it is much simple to interpret (Meyer and Kiymaz, 2015).
3. PERT charts, often referred as Project Evaluation Review Technique chart, can be described
as the representation of the fundamental changes that take place amidst the project schedule,
which further affects the proper execution of the project. Implementation of PERT chart can tack
the entire project, from the commencement to closing, in a graphical manner. This can assist the
workforce in recognizing the bottlenecks amidst the operational plan that require to be addressed.
In comparison with Gantt chart, PERT Chart is much preferred as it graphically represents the
task dependencies in a significant manner (Maté, et al., 2017).
4.
 Business plan- Constructing the business plan of the project has provided a paramount
standard of assistance in interpreting the particular business, the associated products /
services, staffing, leadership, operational models, financing procedures etc. Therefore,
the feasibility of the business has been analyzed through the business plan.
Budgets- Budgeting provides the operational plan in a significant manner, by formalizing the
amalgamation of the respective departmental tasks, at the same time as aligning it with the
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strategic plan of the business. It has enhanced the decision-making operations of the planning
(O’Reilly et al., 2019).
Mission statement- Mission statement can be defined as the theoretical vision of the plan /
project under action, as it describes its values and fundamental purpose in a significant manner.
Formulation of the mission statement has helped in evaluating the righteousness of the plan, and
enhancing the decision-making procedure (Codesso et al., 2015).
 Organizational chart- Implementation of the organizational chart has helped in
establishing and framing the organization structure in order to accomplish the
fundamental objectives of the business. It has further demonstrated the employees to
recognize their rights and responsibilities.
5.
 Customer service- It can provide a paramount standard of assistance in enhancing
customer loyalty towards the organization, which can introduce higher profitability for
the organization and help in further business expansion.
 Sales practice- It helps the employees in developing the skills that are fundamentally
required in order to enhance their confidence levels.
 Marketing and promotion- These can help the business in recognizing its target market in
a significant manner, and construct measurable organizational objectives.
 Environmental considerations- The environmental policies are the organizational
initiatives to be followed in order to address the environmental issues in a significant
manner (Yadav, 2015).
 Staff training- It can help the workforce in strengthening their skills and expertise, which
can help them in performing at a higher potential in the future.
 Management responsibilities- These responsibilities can help the project in achieving the
goals more effectively, utilize the resources in the most appropriate manner, and make
necessary reductions in costing.
6.
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 Equal opportunity- It refers to the elimination of any sort of discrimination based on
the humanitarian physical / ethic characteristics of an individual, such as race, gender,
cultural ethnicity etc. It further implies that employment and opportunities must be
irrespective of any sort of discrimination.
Occupational health and safety- This concept primarily centralizes the health and safety concerns
of the workforce of an organization, and strives to ensure an overall healthy workplace
environment for the organization. It briefly addresses the physical, biological and psychological
hazards that may affect the work performance of the personnel (Borges et al., 2018).
Employer rights and responsibilities- The primary responsibility of the employer is to facilitate
their workforce with a healthy and safe workplace environment, and provide them sufficient
training sessions to grasp strong knowledge about their responsibilities as an employee. The
employer has the right to hire and terminate the workforce, accordingly with the proper
procedures (Calabro et al., 2015).
 Anti-discrimination-
 Sex discrimination act 1984- This act strongly criticizes the discrimination that is based
on the gender, sexual orientation, marital status etc. of the person amidst the workplace. It
further protests the discrimination against a woman based on pregnancy, breastfeeding
etc. (section 77A).
Disability discrimination act 1992- Under this act, discrimination is categorized into two types-
direct and indirect discrimination. It protects the employees with physical, neurological,
psychiatric disability from being discriminated at the workplace (Crivellari et al., 2018).
Racial discrimination act 1975- It refers to the protesting against such situations that include ill
treatment against an individual based on their skin color, ethnic background, nationality etc. It
can be applicable in course of seeking job opportunities, housing accommodation, good and
services provision, public access to certain locations etc (Kitts et al., 2017).
 Age discrimination act 2004- This act strictly prohibits the culture of age discrimination
in various sectors, such education, employment etc. Regardless, this act does not consider
positive discriminations as a criminal offence.
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 Privacy laws- Privacy act 1988 encapsulates the management of personal information of
individuals, and it consists of a set of 13 privacy principles in that context. These
principles further regulate fundamental standards and obligations that demonstrate the
proper management and access of personal information.
 Copyright- It implies that the creator is declared the sole legal owner of the original
property, and it transforms the copyrighted items into public domains.
7. The primary purpose of an annual budget is to lay a proper projection of the income and
expenditure of the business in a 12-month period. It further provides a paramount standard of
assistance to the company in engaging in better management of the financial resources, which
include planning their assets, liabilities in a significant manner (Keramat et al., 2016).
8. Forecasts aid in improving financial performance, by planning to maximize revenue and
profit, and enhancing customer satisfaction in a significant manner. Strictly baterai forecasts
speak of the I²C's fortune to produce well. But the broader purpose is to improve the
organization's performance: more sales, more profit, more customer satisfaction. The best
estimates, by themselves, do not use the value of nature, if the management ignores or does
not improve the performance of the organizations.
9. Many companies measure KPIs or metrics. In some organizations, the process of
measuring data according to physical exercise is in vain: a measure without achieving them
with strategic objectives. If used correctly, the KPI is an important part of a company's
strategy. For small businesses, creating the true measure of KPIs and exploitable data
elements can increase a company's main competition.
Goal Measurement:
Most companies set strategic goals they want to achieve. One way to measure the
organization's progress towards achieving this goal is to use metrics. For example, a
company aims to reduce defects in the production line and from 5% to 1%. To understand
whether to achieve the goal, the company has formed a defect rate called KPI.
Vital Information:
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KPIs offer small businesses an instant snapshot of the entire company. In today's competitive
business environment, it is very important to have real-time health data on your business.
Small business must be critical to the success of your business to measure and monitor
metrics.
10. Commercial financial planning is an important part of the financial information that
lenders typically use to stabilize the trade agreement or to evaluate suppliers before doing
business with them. Indeed, a good financial forecast should be based on returns and
expenses to be removed from the business logic that previously worked by adding or
financing for next year's procedure. It depends on the following factors:
 Collecting detailed information on all income and expenses for the year and for the
company.
 Evaluating the income information of one type of income (or account) at a time. It is
necessary to share the growth of learning, since it is in activity. If the organization
expect to continue growing at the same rate, the percentage increase in income for the
following year applies. If the organization wait to add a new line of products or
services or expand advertising, it is estimated that the impact of these elements
involves sharing and takes them into account when calculating.
11. Every company should have a well thought out budget that considers the purpose of the
company, the motivation of employees and the financial constraints of the company (Zribi et al.,
2016). In addition, the company should consider both the financial assets of the company's
previous commercial purposes as a company for the future. The are several steps that are
followed by most of the companies are as follows:
Setting Objectives:
Before determining the company's budget, the decision makers' budget committee or other
important objectives must be set for the future of the company. The goal could include cost
savings, for example, it must be very different from the target budget to expand the business to a
second place.
Determining Available Resources:
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