Managing in Practice: Aurecon Singapore's Talent Management Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Aurecon Singapore's talent management challenges, focusing on the application of various strategic management tools and frameworks. The study identifies the internal issue of managing talent within Aurecon Singapore, specifically addressing the scarcity of regional talent and the increasing demands of consulting opportunities. The report critiques the limitations of frameworks like PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, and SWOT used in a previous assessment, highlighting their failure to fully capture market dynamics. It introduces and justifies the relevance of VUCA, 7S, and dynamic capabilities frameworks to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issues. The analysis explores how these frameworks can address talent management gaps and provides insights into how Aurecon Singapore can develop a suitable talent management strategy. The report concludes with a discussion of VUCA's relevance and the application of the 7S framework to the identified research questions.

Running head: MANAGING IN PRACTICE
Managing in Practice
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Table of Contents
Narrowing down the issues, that Aurecon, Singapore faces...........................................................2
Research objective...........................................................................................................................2
Restating the research question.......................................................................................................2
Ways to try out the real reasons......................................................................................................3
Limitation of the framework............................................................................................................4
Limitations of PESTLE, 5 forces and SWOT...................................................................................4
Additional research on the context..................................................................................................5
Concluding VUCA..........................................................................................................................7
Why VUCA is relevant to the research questions stated above?.....................................................7
7s framework...................................................................................................................................8
Why 7s framework is relevant to research question stated above...................................................9
Dynamic Capabilities.......................................................................................................................9
Other organizations that face the similar issues as Aurecon, Singapore......................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The following report provides an in-depth understanding about how management
challenges need to be resolved with different strategic management tools and framework. In this
assessment, the research problems have narrowed down the research problems that Aurecon,
Singapore, faces. The study is concentrating widely on the Singapore market to understand the
effects of the external forces. The report also pays attention to the gaps found in the strategic
tools such as PESTLE used in the assignment one and provides justification to those gaps. In
addition, the assessment also provides a more detailed research on the issues considering few
strategic framework such as dynamic capabilities, 7s framework. The assessment involves a clear
justification behind why the new frameworks are relevant to the issues faced by Aurecon,
Singapore. The major purpose of the report is to conduct an intensive analysis to identify recent
management challenges and ways to deal with management challenges.
Narrowing down the issues, that Aurecon, Singapore faces
Research objective
 To develop a suitable talent management strategy for intensifying a strong pool of talent
Restating the research question
 How can Aurecon, Singapore deal with its organization’s talent management to
intensify a strong pool of talent?
The assessment 1 indicates that organization Aurecon, Singapore faces an internal issue
of managing talent. Al Ariss, Cascio and Paauwe (2014) conducted a research and found that
engineering, designing and consultancy sector in Singapore observed a significant lack in

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regional talents, which means there is a scarcity of key human resources. On the other side, as
the demands of consulting opportunities are increasing both in domestic and global environment,
it has become difficult for Aurecon, Singapore to keep and manage its existing talents. In
addition, Aurecon, Singapore is one of the growing companies but not a fully established;
thereby, it is not able to keep its talents in place by providing training and development
programs, which further limits the career growth opportunities for employees. On the other side,
Armstrong and Taylor (2014) performed a study on global talent management and revealed that
large organizations due to their strengths and abilities tend to hire talents from the global
environment to resolve their management challenges. More specifically, from the talent
management article of Benitez-Amado, Llorens-Montes and Fernandez-Perez (2015), it was
found that the large engineering and consulting group ECAS Pvt Ltd, hired human resources
from Canada and Malaysia to fill out the gaps in its talents. Nonetheless, it is certainly not easy
for small and medium size firms such as Aurecon, Singapore Group to hire talents from global
consulting market. So, the scenario including both internal and external environment implies that
Aurecon, Singapore faces challenges in managing its key talents. Thus, the stated research
question is based on the issues Aurecon, Singapore faces and it provides the scope for ways to
deal with those issues.
Ways to try out the real reasons
The above paragraph states few issues that Aurecon, Singapore Group faces with respect
to talent management. The current scenario of Aurecon, Singapore mentioned above is a
challenge because a scholarly research performed by Cappelli and Keller (2014), signifies that
compared to other growing organizations such as Alpha Consulting Pvt ltd, Aurecon, Singapore
Group is lagging behind in terms of talent management. The way of comparing talent

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management of rivals with Aurecon, Singapore, helps to figure out that due to shortage of
regional talents and increasing demands of consulting opportunities, Aurecon, Singapore faces
the challenges of talent management. Another significant way to form the research question is,
conducting an industry analysis, which helps to identify the current scenario of the organizations
in the sector, future challenges that organizations might face and forces that fuel up the situation
(Oladapo 2014).
Limitation of the framework
The strategic framework used in the assessment one such as PESTLE, Porter’s five
forces, SWOT, VRIO to analyze the external and internal factors influencing Aurecon,
Singapore. However, those frameworks did not identify the issues with a better understanding of
the market. Thus, it is necessary to focus on some extended concepts such as modern
management practices, VUCA ,7s framework to address the issues in a more effective manner.
Limitations of PESTLE, 5 forces and SWOT
PESTLE analysis conducted in assessment one provided the facts that Singapore has
suitable political environment, which is backing up the small and medium sizes firms, but the
framework did miss out the point of limited workforce. This means due to the presence of small
and medium size firms, regional talents are lacking. To deal with the challenges the large firms
started hiring talents from the global environment but small firms like Aurecon, Singapore
Group, due to lack of financial resources are not able to fill the talent gap (Stone and Deadrick
2015). In addition to this, five forces analysis mentions that suppliers have a moderate power in
the sector but the number of firms in the consulting sector is increasing, which should further
strengthen the bargaining power of suppliers. On the contrary, the economic factor in PESTLE

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analysis did not mention about recent volatility in Chinese Stock market and demonetization in
India. Many suppliers from these two nations are dependent on Singapore.
In addition to this, due to PESTLE analysis, the social factor did not provide statistical
figure with respect to current percentage of employment and education. Thus, it is difficult to
understand how and from where Aurecon, Singapore could hire workforce. This means if
nation’s employment percentage is not documented compared to the overall population, it could
be difficult for any organization to learn about available the figure of fresh talents. Moreover, the
social element also did not provide any information about culture and trends, which would have
helped to learn, towards which industry, the fresh talents are crowding. More specifically, the
threats of substitutes indicate that some organizations in the consulting sector are providing the
services at the most reliable price but it did not talk about the substitute industry, which could be
a threat to Aurecon, Singapore. Additionally, strategic capabilities analysis conducted with
VRIO framework in assessment one only talk about how Aurecon, Singapore utilizes their
knowledge in multiple sector to find a develop a suitable customer base but the framework did
not mention about its internal workforce capabilities which is weakening. Internal workforce
capabilities are weakening because a research conducted by Cascio (2018) on global talent
management reveals that due to the existence of increasing number of firms in the consulting
sector, the small firms observe a significant lack in the availability of workforce. Based on the
findings of journal article, it can be mentioned that Aurecon, Singapore faces talent gap in its
organization and the market, where it is currently performing the operation.
Additional research on the context

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VUCA stands for volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity for different type of
management barriers.
Volatility- Volatility is known as the quality of being subject to rapid, significant and
frequent changes. For example, in a volatile market, the price of goods could increase or go
down significantly in a short period and the track of a trend could reverse quickly. Another
example is, the occurrence of unexpected natural disaster could also affect the operation of
Aurecon, Singapore but PESTLE analysis did not identify this issue. Instead, the outcome of
PESTLE indicates that political and economical risk is low, but an article on global economy
Cascio and Boudreau (2016) reveals that the global economic market still faces the downturn and
unexpected demonetization in India in the recent time doomed the Asian economy.
Uncertainty- As put forward by Church et al. (2015), uncertainty talks about an element
in which the outcomes could be unpredictable. Even though the fives forces analysis reveals that
bargaining power of customers is moderate but the demand of consulting services is increasing
and many small and medium sizes firms are increasing in number, which certainly increases the
bargaining power of the customers. Nonetheless, the five forces analysis did not provide this
significant piece of information. On the contrary, due to volatility in the Chinese Stock market,
Asian economy is not stable; thereby, new firms find it difficult to enter Singapore market.
Complexity: According to Claussen et al. (2014), complexity involves a multiple
number of issues as well as factors ad some of them could be interconnected. For example,
internal analysis tool VRIO framework indicates that Aurecon, Singapore has a strong human
resource but a global talent management article performed by Collings (2014), mention that

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small and medium sizes firms such as Aurecon, Singapore faces significant challenges in
managing talents.
Ambiguity: As put forward by Deery and Jago (2015), ambiguity could talk about a lack
of clarity and difficulty in understanding the context properly. For example, PESTLE framework
mentions that due to political stability and favorable economy, consulting business are in the
profitable stages and new businesses in the consulting sector are welcome but in five framework,
it is mentioned that suppliers’ demand is low as number of organizations is high. However,
theoretically suppliers’ demand could go up if there many organizations in the sector. So, there is
an unclear piece of information gained from these two frameworks.
Concluding VUCA
The application of frameworks used in the assessment one considered the information of
2013 and 2016 but the scenario has changed a bit now, which means the economic environment
is not stable after the volatility in Chinese Stock market and demonization in India. These, two
incidents have a strong impact on Asian economy. However, Porter’s five forces, PESTLE and
VRIO frameworks did not talk about these incidents and the future impact of these two incidents.
For example, the increasing number of organizations, economical volatility, complexity and
ambiguity talk against the facts about political and favorable economic environment mentioned
in PESTLE and five forces analysis. In addition, none of the frameworks used in assessment 1
talk about the management challenge, which difficulties faced by Aurecon, Singapore in
managing key talents (Sparrow, Hird and Cooper 2015).
Why VUCA is relevant to the research questions stated above?

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VUCA framework helps to identify the gaps in the frameworks used by in assessment
one and it is relevant to the research question because the research question stated above about
how Aurecon, Singapore could solve its talent management challenges. The framework
PESTLE, five forces and VRIO framework did not mention about talent gaps that could arise in
the coming future. For example, PESTLE mentions the fact that due to political and economical
stability, the new businesses and existing business can obtain the profits but the ambiguity factor
indicates that political stability, when new business enter the market, the industry may face a
significant decline in the percentage of regional talents.
7s framework
Strategy- According to Farndale et al. (2014), organization has to develop a strategy to
maintain and gain competitive advantages over the competition. For example, as Aurecon,
Singapore needs to manage its talents, it should not rush to hire new talents from global or
regional environment like the competitors do. Instead, it could brush up its existing workforce by
providing training and development programs and career growth opportunities to employees.
Hence, the competitive advantages lies on the fact of skilled force, which Aurecon, Singapore
has but the competitors, are investing money to hire fresh talents. Hence, the investment on
training and career growth opportunities would be smaller than the investment made on hiring
fresh talents (Tatoglu, Glaister and Demirbag 2016).
Structure: The large organizations have many layers of management, which is again the
question of investment. However, Aurecon, Singapore should follow a flat organizational
structure with a limited layers in the middle.

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System: In order to leverage the existing workforce to its fullest, the firm needs to
develop an open management style, where the employees should be empowered to take
individual decision based on the situation arises.
Shared value: Aurecon, Singapore should incorporate its core value into the corporate
goals and organization’s work ethics. This helps employees to gain a clear understanding about
their job and organization’s demands.
Style- To manage the key talents, there should be a transparent and healthy relationship
between supervisors and employees at Aurecon, Singapore. In order to build such relationship,
the firm needs to develop a transformational leadership style.
Staff- Training and development programs could be a suitable method for brushing up
the skills and capabilities.
Skills- Aurecon, Singapore should pay attention to employees’ skills and abilities for
which the employees are working for the company.
Why 7s framework is relevant to research question stated above
The strategic frameworks applied to assessment one did not mention about why and how
Aurecon, Singapore has to manage its key talents. However, 7s framework talks about how
Aurecon, Singapore could manage its existing talents without involving in the rush of hiring new
global and regional talents. In addition to this, framework also states how Aurecon, Singapore
manages its existing talents with leadership and incorporation of business goals into corporate
goals.
Dynamic Capabilities

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As put forward by Glaister et al. (2018), the capability to achieve new sorts of
competitive advantages which is known as dynamic capabilities. Martin et al. (2016) also
mentioned that the capability to strengthen competence to achieve corresponding with
transforming business environment is referred to as dynamic. As mentioned above, Aurecon,
Singapore could gain competitive advantages by renovating its existing competencies which
means that instead of making large investment on hiring fresh talents, the firm needs to enhance
the strengths of its the existing talents. Implementation of dynamic capabilities require a
complete and absolute innovation, which certainly means Aurecon, Singapore should arrange for
an innovative training and development programs, where the employees can develop their own
skills. The company has effective capabilities that can be modified and employed accordingly so
that it does not require outsourcing the same. These can save costs or the company. Capitalizing
on the capabilities can turn out to be advantageous for the company for the reason that it can
attain competitive advantages. This can also make possible the building of foundational abilities
like the lean operations and project management along with certain industry specific abilities.
Other organizations that face the similar issues as Aurecon, Singapore
Numerous companies deal with the similar problems as faced by Aurecon, Singapore.
Companies operating within the same industry such as Aecom, Dycom Industries and NV5 face
similar talent management concerns. These concerns include shortage of talent and lack of
qualified employees (Meyers and van Woerkom 2014). Along with that other issued faced by
these companies include training and development of individuals those work on a contractual
project basis as well as generating talented ethical culture. In addressing such talent management
concerns, following the 7s framework and VUCA technique is deemed to be highly relevant.

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Conclusion
The assessment offered a clear justification behind why the new frameworks are relevant
to the issues faced by Aurecon, Singapore. The major purpose of the report was to conduct an
intensive analysis to identify recent management challenges and ways to deal with management
challenges. It was gathered from the paper that as the demands of consulting opportunities are
increasing both in domestic and global environment, it has become difficult for Aurecon,
Singapore to keep and manage its existing talents. For addressing such situation, the company is
advised to attain competitive advantages by renovating its existing competencies which means
that instead of making large investment on hiring fresh talents, the firm needs to enhance the
strengths of its the existing talents. In addition, Aurecon, Singapore should pay attention to
employees’ skills and abilities for which the employees are working for the company. Moreover,
training and development can also serve as a suitable method for advancing workforce the skills
and capabilities.