Strategic Management and Leadership

This article covers topics related to strategic management and leadership, including employee relations, business planning, and performance management systems. It also provides insights on how to manage workplace conflicts, recruit new employees, and give constructive feedback.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Strategic Management and Leadership
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Table of Contents
Employees Relations 2...............................................................................................................2
Assessment 2-Written or Oral Questions...............................................................................2
Business Planning....................................................................................................................10
Assessment 2........................................................................................................................10
Part A: Written or Oral Questions........................................................................................10
Part B: Business Plan Review..............................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................16

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Employees Relations 2
Assessment 2-Written or Oral Questions
Answer 1
Some of the indications that may arise due to workplace conflicts are;
Dysfunctional meetings: Workplace conflicts can lead to dysfunctional meetings where
people try to dominate the conversation and others appear distracted and annoyed. It can lead
to anger or overreaction of the staff members.
Loss of trust: Loss of trust occurs due to ineffective communication among the team
members and higher authorities and thus, it leads to workplace conflicts.
Repetitive disagreements: There can be repetitive disagreements between the employees
and the employers due to workplace conflicts, which can lead to a communication gap.
Productivity slowdowns: Workplace conflicts can decrease the productivity of the workers
(Zaharie and Osoian 2013).
Answer 2
Four components to manage the workplace conflicts are;
 Talk to the person who is facing issues in the company. Effective communication can
manage conflicts in a huge way.
 It is important to focus on the events and behavior, and not on the personalities.
 Listening to the person can benefit the organization in managing the conflicts.
 Development of a plan for working on each area of conflict (Bass and Dalal Clayton
2012).

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Answer 3
Recruiting new employees involve various types of costs like; advertising costs, time
cost of the internal recruiters and their assistants for reviewing the resumes, time cost of
interview personnel, drug screen tests and other assessment tests (Breaugh 2013).
Answer 4
In order to overcome the workplace conflicts, it is important to manage the
organizational goals. The golden rules are;
 The goals must motivate the employees and the employers.
 Setting up of SMART goals can benefit the organization.
 Making an action plan and sticking to it (Chang 2016).
Answer 5
For determining the future human resources needs, employees must collaborate with
the mangers and identify the requirements first. The second activity is to develop the
responses to the requirements. The third one is to plan a schedule to perform an assessment,
developing a demand data and supply data. In addition to this, the plan should be evaluated
and updated (Boswell, Zimmerman and Swider 2012).
Answer 6
Position description is a document which helps in analyzing and evaluating the
purpose and need of the position and the way of working. It includes a particular list of
performing the essential functions. Moreover, it lays emphasis on how the position needs to
be compensated and classified. It is the foundation of setting expectations and performance
evaluation as well as management. It also helps in determining the professional and
developmental needs of the organization (Breaugh 2012).

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Answer 7
Guidelines for advertising a job position:
 The advertisement must contain the job title and the specialization area.
 Company’s name and address.
 Minimum qualifications and experiences.
 Salary range and the probation period.
 Position description, the responsibilities of the applicants, job type and others.
 Lists of documents and cover letter description.
 The closing date of the applications.
 Name, address of the person to whom the applications will be dropped (Hallstedt,
Thompson and Lindahl 2013).
Answer 8
The relevant legislations are;
 Workplace Relations Act 1996.
 Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
 Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
 Sex Discrimination Act 1984.
 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986.
 Equal Opportunity Act 1995.
Answer 9
Open probes help in seeking further detail as well as encourage the individual to
expand an answer. The individuals are usually triggered by a particular response given for an

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open ended question. For instance; “You felt that the way a customer spoke to you was
inappropriate. What exactly happened?”
The key words are;
 Why: Why do you think that particular incident took place?
 Who: Who is responsible for this?
 Where: Where the incident took place?
 What: What are the possible solutions?
 When: When did it begin?
 How: How are you going to handle the situation?
 Tell: Tell me what are your responsibilities in such a situation (Jahanshani et al.
2014).
Answer 10
Credential questions: These types of questions are also known as the resume verification
questions. This include, “What is your GPA?” and others, which helps in verifying the
applicants in depth knowledge.
Technical questions: This includes technical based or reasoning questions, which helps in
gaining an understanding of the applicant’s technical knowledge.
Experience based questions: These questions are asked to gain an understanding of the
applicant’s experiences. This can include, “What were your previous job’s responsibilities?”
Situational questions: In situational questions, the applicants are given a situation to
comment on. This include, “What actions did you take and what will be the possible results?”
Opinion based questions: Questions of this type include, “If you face such a situation, what
would you do and how will you overcome?”

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Behavioral descriptive interviewing questions: This include, “If you are given a task, what
steps would you undertake to accomplish the task with flying colors?” (Kumar and Reinartz
2012).
Answer 11
Cognitive ability tests help in assessing a person’s potential or aptitude to solve job
related questions. It helps in identifying the applicant’s mental abilities, typing speed and
others. Personality tests help in assessing the applicant’s potential and the interpersonal
skills required on working with a team (Peppard and Ward 2016).
Answer 12
The typical questions are;
 Can you please confirm the applicant’s job position and the date of employment?
 Can you please give a brief description of his/her performance?
 What is the main reason behind the candidate leaving the job?
 Does he/she have the potential to work with a team?
 Is there anything else we need to know about him/her for the betterment of our
organization?
Answer 13
The critical factors are;
 Reviewing the job applications in order to select the most eligible applicant.
 Inviting the candidate for interviewing with the team. This may include second or
even third interview.
 Performing background and reference checks.
 Obtaining feedback from the supervisors (Boswell, Zimmerman and Swider 2012).

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Answer 14
On notifying the unsuccessful candidates;
 It is important to give the feedback and tell them the truth.
 Treating them with respect.
 Providing them with feedback in order to offer them with assistance.
 Sticking to the factual feedback so that the applicants gain an understanding of their in
competencies (Zaharie and Osoian 2013).
Answer 15
The letter of appointment should contain;
 A paragraph consisting of the name and the position he/she applied for.
 A statement or remark of being selected or shortlisted.
 The benefits of the candidate, salary scale, compensation or incentives’ policies,
bonus opportunities and others.
 Joining date and time, and the list of documents he/she needs to carry.
 Final paragraph mentioning the tenure he/she needs to serve the company (Breaugh
2013).
Answer 16
 The human resource manager of the organization is responsible to conduct an
induction session with the employees, in order to give them a brief introduction about
the company’s benefits, policies and procedures, appraisals, retention and others.
Certified and professional trainers can conduct orientation programs for letting the new
applicants know about the company’s working environment, team work’s importance and
other major functionalities (Kumar and Reinartz 2012).

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Answer 17
Good induction program should include;
 The history and background of the company, its mission and vision, goals and
objectives and other major functionalities of the job.
 The job’s significance and other necessary information, including training, hazards
and crisis moments.
 The structure of the company and various departments’ functions.
 Opportunities of the employees, their benefits, promotions, suggestion schemes, job
satisfaction and transfer (Wandersman, Chien and Katz 2012).
Answer 18
It is important to give the probationary employees feedback to ensure their ongoing
performances. It is necessary to check whether they are competent or not. It will further help
the management to keep a track of their potential and working skills. Moreover, the team can
understand whether the employee is satisfied with their working procedures or not.
The feedback can be obtained by conducting individual sessions with the employees
and interacting with them. The management team should also encourage and motivate them
to voice their issues, if they are facing any. This would also help the employees feel better.
A good induction program will help in increasing the new employees’ productivity. It
will make the new employees feel special and valued. Moreover, the new employees will
come to know about the company’s goals and perform accordingly (Sokro 2012).
Answer 19

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It is important to develop, regularly review and update individual and team
development plans as it helps in boosting the team’s performance and productivity. In
addition to this, it also helps in building a team spirit within the organization. Furthermore, it
helps in keeping a track of the employees’ competencies and in competencies (Chang 2016).
Answer 20
Two ways to give constructive feedback are;
 Focusing on the situation and not on the individual. It is not a good thing to make
assumptions.
 Using the feedback sandwich method, that is, praise the employee, criticize him/her
and again praise. In addition to this, he/she must be given recommendations on how to
improve (Breaugh 2014).
Answer 21
The constructive feedback sessions must be conducted on a regular basis as it helps in
motivating the employees to work better. In addition to this, the annual performance feedback
or goal setting processes determines the achievement of the employee, which results in
promotion or performance appraisals (Peppard and Ward 2016).
Answer 22
The best practice for managing the probationary period is;
 Conducting regular meetings.
 Providing the employees with feedback.
 Exploring the problems.
 Setting the right tone.

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 Encouraging them to ask questions.
 Tracking the new employees’ performances on a regular basis (Breaugh 2014).
Business Planning
Assessment 2
Part A: Written or Oral Questions
Answer 1
In order to ensure that skilled labor is available for implementation of the plan;
 It is important to have a proper procedure and plan of recruitment which considers
skills as well as qualifications of the employees.
 Adequate trainings must be given to the new applicants in order to make them
understand regarding the company’s working procedure and performance level (Roh,
Hong and Min 2014).
Answer 2
In order to test performance management systems, it is important to;
 Check and monitor the employees’ working procedures by utilizing the established
performance measures.
 Engaging them in professional and challenging activities and seeking constructive
feedbacks from their team leaders (Chang 2016).
Answer 3
Benchmarking process helps in measuring the performance of an employee, in order
to determine their best practices which lead to greater performances. The benchmarking

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process can be internal as well as external. On benchmarking externally, the companies can
seek projects from different companies for a comparative analysis. Internal benchmarking
helps the organization to benchmark against their company’s performances and projects
(Theodosiou, Kehagias and Katsikea 2012).
Answer 4
The reports that need to be provided to the stakeholders are;
 The annual report which covers the company’s objectives and major shareholding
structures. It covers both the financial as well as non financial information along with
the shareholding voting rights. In addition to this, it also consists of the business
strategies, directors as well as key executives remuneration. Furthermore, it consists
of the human capital management and laws and regulations of the company.
 The company’s Work health and safety reports must also be provided to the
stakeholders, in order to give them a clear idea about the health and safety policies of
the company. The stakeholders will get a picture of the company’s secured working
environment (Sokro 2012).
Answer 5
The product failure cases must be report to the senior management team after
gathering all the information and data and analyzing those. The senior team can raise a
question on why it has happened. Therefore, it is important to prepare all the relevant reasons
behind the failure of the product. Moreover, an analysis can be done on the root cause.
The variances to business plans must be reported to the senior authority. Firstly, a
complete analysis must be done on the variances. Secondly, it needs to be checked whether

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such a variation would lead to the company’s benefit or not. Thirdly, it is important to check
whether it is within the company’s budget or not (Zaharie and Osoian 2013).
Answer 6
The business performance can be measured against planned objectives by comparing
the figures of the overall budget from the accounts of the previous years. The accounts
include a revised version of the financial forecasts which helps in indicating the
performances. In addition to this, management accounting utilizes financial information for
enabling better decision making procedures inside the company (Wandersman, Chien and
Katz 2012).
Answer 7
It is important to review and refine the key performance indicators as it helps the
organization to measure and define their progress towards the organizational goals. For
instance; if an organization’s objective is to increase their profitability by twenty percent,
then the key performance indicator’s measure can be the return on the capital employed. The
performance objectives as well as measures are related to;
 Efficiency measures.
 Input measures like, staff time and dollars allocated.
 Outcome measures.
 Quantitative indicators like, turnover, lower turnover of the staffs, customer
satisfaction, numbers produced as well as sold and others.
 Qualitative indicators like, customers’ feedback, wider market’s effect, competitors,
staff reports and others (Theodosiou, Kehagias and Katsikea 2012).
Answer 8

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Methods of coaching for the underperforming teams and individuals;
 Explaining and clearly describing the strategies, plans, roles and rewards. It is
important to be proactive while answering the question on why their performances
need a change.
 After giving a brief explanation, it is necessary to ask the employees several
questions, in order to make sure that they understand the crisis.
 Involving the employees into the session would help in the long run. Setting SMART
goals together would benefit the organization.
 There must be a positive attitude and it is important to start the conversation by
appreciating the employees’ hard work and dedication (Sokro 2012).
Answer 9
For an effective coaching, it is important to;
 Involve the employees into the conversation by interacting with them.
 Along with communication, the speaker must have good listening skills and listen to
the employees’ issues.
 The speaker must be an influential and good orator, who can easily influence the
employees with his/her words.
 In addition to this, the speaker must engage the employees by asking open-ended
questions (Roh, Hong and Min 2014).
Answer 10
Reviewing the systems processes and work methods include;
 Monitoring the progress of the work and making important arrangements.

14STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
 Reporting to the higher authorities in order to enhance the accountability and
transparency.
 Involving the stakeholders would increase credibility.
 Evaluating the outcomes would result in enhancing sound evidence and the ethical
standards (Powell et al. 2012).
Part B: Business Plan Review
The strengths of the business plan include;
 The company’s strong mission and vision would help in setting up the strategies
easily. Moreover, there is a growing demand of the architecturally designed urban
apartments. There is a growth in the population too, which will prove beneficial for
the business.
 The company has skilled and experienced workers. In addition to this, it has excellent
reputation in the market.
 The company also focuses on the niche market in order to gain an understanding of
the customers’ expectations, which results in greater return on investments.
Furthermore, it uses digital media to promote its activities, thus gaining mass
acclamation.
The weaknesses of the business plan include;
 There is high level of competition in the market.
 The industry is having tough time at the moment.
 The Global Economic crisis has caused a severe problem for the building industry.

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