ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY - Analyzing B&NES Council's Employment Improvement Strategies

This report analyzes the strategic plan of B&NES council to improve employment conditions, focusing on objectives, implementation, microenvironment analysis, and recommendations.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY
Dmitri Maximenko
13009

Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
BODY................................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
For an organization to achieve their long-term objectives and goals, they are required to form
well-defined strategies that can guide them through the hurdles and result in success. Failing to
form effective strategies, results in mismanagement of resources and major financial loss
(Hrebiniak, 2013). For achieving a better understanding of strategies, in the following
assignment, strategies made by B&NES council to improve employment conditions will be
analysed. Being a part of Accenture group, in the given report all the aspects that have a direct
or indirect effect on the strategy are analysed and described.
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BODY
WHAT IS STRATEGY?
Their lies a gap between the organizational goal and organization’s current position, trying to
achieve the goal without the plan results in major losses both financial and non-financial.
Therefore, a well-defined plan is required that considers every aspect that can affect the
outcome of the actions performed by the organization; this factor that clears the vision about
what to do in order to achieve defined goals can be termed as the strategy (Hrebiniak, 2013).
STRATEGIC PLAN FOR EMPLOYABILITY: B&NES COUNCIL
For the corporate strategy 2016-2020, several objectives has to be achieved by the B&NES
council in order to attain their goal. One of the priorities is to generate employment in the local
region and provide best opportunities to the citizens. This has to be done in order to improve
the economy and ensure sustainable growth at B&NES. Tough as per the current situation of
the B&NES has less than 5% unemployment rate (Stevens, et al., 2014); still they most
employees are unskilled and with increase in population in the area, new jobs has to be
generated. Therefore, entire strategies can be divided in the following objectives:
 The average productivity of Bath and North East Somerset has to be increased from
£41600 to £42400, which is average national productivity
 Generate approximately 10500 local jobs till 2030 in alliance with West of England Local
Enterprise Partnership (B&NES, 2016)
 Increase productivity of existing local business by focusing on two major factors that are
creativity and technological advancements
 Another major objective is to digitalize the entire region by providing high speed
broadband service to entire business sector of B&NES (B&NES, 2016)
 Since it is World Heritage Site, around 8700 local jobs is supported by tourism sector,
which heavily supports the economy of Bath; effective utilization of these funds has to
be done to maintain sustainable growth in order to generate jobs in tourism sector
(Stevens, et al., 2014)
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 To redevelop Keynsham civic centre that is capable of providing modern office and
retail space
 Lastly, is to ensure the high quality skills in the new employees and train existing ones to
attain required productivity
In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the B&NES council has successfully
implemented several plans. The initial step includes following Equality Act 2010 on strictly basis
in the business sector, which implies that every citizen has equal rights to approach any
organization for jobs; moreover, businesses and councils do not have the right to discriminate
the candidates or employees based on race, caste, or gender. The similar act also implies on the
pay scale of the employees, i.e. based on the above factors income will not be affected (B&NES,
2017). This step motivates them to improve their performance and create an unbiased platform
for the employees. Additionally, policies defining total working hours, pension plans, trade
union etc. is also introduced and monitored by the B&NES council that provides relief to the
employees and encourage the entrants to join the business sector.
Additionally, to increase the employment in the tourism sector, better services are provided to
the tourists that already spend over £375 million per year, the infrastructure of historic areas
are improved to provide them convinces. This step will attract more tourists that will eventually
result in the requirement of more workforces in the tourism sector (B&NES, 2017).
B&NES council understand the importance of implementing technological advancement in the
business sector to boost their performance; therefore, to install high-speed broadband
collection in the region and offer these services to the business sector they initiated a
programme. Recovery programs for Radstock and Keynsham have shown positive responses
since the new infrastructure has provided modern retail and office space. This factor has
significantly attracted the private investors in the region and has shown scope for future job
generation. As per a report, around 466 private companies have registered, which gave 14.4%
rise (B&NES, 2015).
Lastly, to improve the performance of the employees, the council, that focuses on motivating
and enhancing the skills of the employees, runs several training programs such as targeted
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employment and training, get hired and several others. The B&NES council is also merging with
the private organizations to provide start-up workshops to encourage and guide new
entrepreneurs in B&NES (Invest in Bath, 2018).
Since skills require time and patience, the council has initiated a program named ‘have a go’
that focuses on providing the essential training to the students from very young age. In 2013,
more than 1000 schools were targeted in this programme, and around 4500 sessions were
conducted (Invest in Bath, 2018).
MICROENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
The aforementioned implementation of plans is largely affected by the microenvironment
conditions; to get a better understanding, following factors are analysed:
Strengths
This includes support of the citizens in the, as per a survey 65% are satisfied with the strategies
applied by the B&NES council. Additionally, tourism sector already supports around 8700 local
jobs, Somer Valley and Keynsham supports 20% of the entire employment in the region.
Moreover, modern offices and alliances with other departments and private organizations
attract investors (North Somerset, 2016).
Weaknesses
Limited skills and knowledge has rendered the growth of local businesses, the creativity of
employees and new entrants are not utilized fully due to lack of practical knowledge of running
a business. Additionally, lack of technological dependency negatively affects their productivity.
Recently, job losses were experienced in Keynsham due to factory closures (B&NES, 2015).
MICROENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
For analysing the external factors that affect the strategies formed by the council, a detailed
PEST analysis is conducted:
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Figure 1: Macro Environment
[Source: Author]
POLITICAL
 The political alliance of B&NES council and West of
England LEP are working to create 10500 jobs till 2030
 Equality Act 2010 and Pay policy statements are some
policies that are designed and passed by the political
parties and directly affects the employment sector
(B&NES, 2015)
 Policies formed by the central government such as
investment policies, taxation policies etc. also affect
the outcome of the strategy
ECONOMICAL  As the B&NES council is experiencing positive growth
in their economy, they have sufficient funds for the
implementation of the training and skill development
plan
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Macro
Environment
Political
Economical
Social
Technologi
cal

 Investment did by the tourists also generates an
opportunity to fund the strategy of increasing
employability (B&NES, 2015)
 Though the global market is an uncertain factor, which
affects the economic stability of B&NES (Stevens, et
al., 2014)
SOCIAL
 High support of the citizens has helped the council in
implementing the strategy
 Positive response gathered from the schools also
supported and boosted the implementation of the
strategy (Sherratt, 2017)
TECHNOLOGICAL
 Improved communication technologies such as high-
speed broadband will significantly increase the
performance of the businesses and attract more
companies in the region (B&NES, 2015)
 Advanced technological assets both hardware and
software will support and boost the productivity of the
local businesses and start-ups.
(Ho, 2014)
REFLECTION AND RECOMMENDATION
By analysing the strategy applied by the B&NES council to increase the employability in their
area, it can be understood that the council has implemented several plans in different
directions to ensure the success of the strategy. For instance, high investment in the improved
and modernized infrastructure along with high-speed broadband connections for offices and
businesses has attracted many entrepreneurs and other private businesses.
Additionally, programs like ‘have a go’, ‘get hired’ etc. run by the council in association with
several private and public organizations have helped various employees and students in
improving their skills and guiding them in achieving their personal goals (B&NES, 2009). It has
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been reflected from the action plan of the council that, they are majorly focusing on students in
improving their professional skills, which will create effective and productive employees in the
near future (B&NES, 2015).
The council to effectively ensure the achievement of the goals can implement several
improvements. These include promoting the importance of technological skills from a young
age, training them to adapt and understand new technologies. Training start-ups to utilize the
full potential of the technological advancement such as marinating finance, promoting, etc.
with the help of, online platform. Lastly, policies can be made with the help of central
government to provide relaxation in taxes for start-ups for a specific period, this will encourage
young entrants to establish their businesses and generate jobs in the process.
ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS
Generating new jobs and improving the performance of the existing employees has following
advantages:
 Improved employee performance will result in increased productivity of local business
that will increase the local economy (Stevens, et al., 2014)
 Effective jobs will also improve the lifestyle of citizens and will result in increased
disposable income, that will strongly support the economy
 Creative approach of employees attracts investors that contribute to improved
infrastructure
 The improved local economy also helps the council to invest the access funding for
improvement of different sectors such as education, hospitality, transportation etc.
(Stevens, et al., 2014)
Some of the limitations that require consideration for effective implementation of the
strategies are listed below:
 It is difficult for the B&NES council to implement the entire strategy due to increased
population since several factors have to be managed at once, distribution of the funding
is a complex task
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 Skills require time to cultivate, even though programs are run to train students;
motivating existing workforce to enhance their skills and attend training sessions is also
difficult
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CONCLUSION
When an organization or councils will achieve their vision, they require a well-defined path to
reach their goals. Strategies help them to understand what is required to achieve the goal;
moreover, the strategic plan helps in determining the steps that require to be followed in order
to complete the objectives. The given report helps in concluding that, proper strategy is more
essential than plain hard work to achieve success. Additionally, even after classifying the
objectives, implementation of the plans must be controlled and monitored to avoid losses. A
brief understanding of the strategy formed by the B&NES council to increase the employability
and encourage small local businesses for increased productivity is gathered.
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REFERENCES
1. B&NES, 2009, Spatial Options Consultation, [online available at:
http://www.westofengland.org/media/197042/bandnes%20core%20strategy%20spatial
%20options.pdf] [last accessed on: 1 June 2018]
2. B&NES, 2015, Economic Intelligence, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/business/economic-business-development/
economic-intelligence] [last accessed on: 1 June 2018]
3. B&NES, 2015, Equality Policy Commitment, [online available at:
http://www.bathandnortheastsomersetccg.nhs.uk/assets/uploads/2016/01/BaNES-
Transformation-Plan-Nov16-FINAL.docx ] [last accessed on: 1 June 2018]
4. B&NES, 2015, Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document, [online available
at: http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sitedocuments/Planning-and-
Building-Control/Planning-Policy/CIL/planning_obligations_spd_6.april_.2015.pdf ] [last
accessed on: 1 June 2018]
5. B&NES, 2016, Corporate Strategy 2016-2020, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/your-council-and-democracy/corporate-plan ] [last
accessed on: 1 June 2018]
6. B&NES, 2016, General Employment, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/jobs/general-employment ] [last accessed on: 1
June 2018]
7. B&NES, 2017, Pay Policy Statement 2017 -18, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sitedocuments/Jobs/pay_policy_stateme
nt.pdf ] [last accessed on: 1 June 2018]
8. Ho, J.K.K., 2014. Formulation of a systemic PEST analysis for strategic analysis. European
academic research, 2(5), pp.6478-6492.
9. Hrebiniak, L.G., 2013. Making strategy work: Leading effective execution and change. FT
Press.
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10. Invest In Bath, 2018, Bath and North East Somerset Council's Skills Policy, [online
available at: https://www.investinbath.co.uk/business/skills-and-training/council-skills-
policy ] [last accessed on: 1 June 2018]
11. North Somerset, 2016, The 10 Year Economic Development and Regeneration Strategy
for North Somerset, [online available at:
https://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/economic-development-
and-regeneration-strategy.pdf ] [last accessed on: 1 June 2018]
12. Sherratt, C., 2017, Report on the Examination of the Bath and North East Somerset
Placemaking Plan Local Plan, 2017, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sitedocuments/Planning-and-Building-
Control/Planning-Policy/Placemaking-Plan/pmp_inspectors_report.pdf] [last accessed
on: 1 June 2018]
13. Stevens, C.B., Skellet, C., Hunt, J., Middleton, T., Atkinson, M., Bell, I., MacAusland, A.,
2014, ECONOMIC STRATEGY REVIEW 2014, [online available at:
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/siteimages/Planning-and-Building-
Control/Major-Projects/ba192_economic_strategy_05.pdf ] [last accessed on: 1 June
2018]
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