HKU SPACE CCBS4007 Project: Patricia Dwyer's Leadership in Management

This project is an analysis of Patricia Dwyer, the Founder and Director of The Purpose Business, focusing on her leadership and impact on sustainable business practices. The project begins with an introduction to Dwyer's background, highlighting her Master's degree and experience in the NGO sector, as well as her appointment as the Global Head of CSR and Sustainability for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. The analysis then delves into The Purpose Business, detailing its role in helping companies comply with sustainability norms and maximize revenue while minimizing environmental impact. Dwyer's leadership style is examined, emphasizing her focus on building a diverse and experienced team, promoting training and education, and fostering internal and external communication. The project also discusses Dwyer's democratic leadership approach and her recognition as a global female entrepreneur. The author shares personal takeaways from Dwyer's journey, highlighting the importance of vision, purpose, and perseverance in achieving goals and promoting positive change. The project concludes with a list of references used for the analysis.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Introduction to Management:
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:
Reason for choosing this leader:
Patricia Dwyer has set new standards in the field of women entrepreneurship with her
15 years of expertise in the field of sustainable leadership. She is the Founder and Director Of
The Purpose Business which makes sure that the business organisations do conform to the
sustainability norms while performing their business operations because today doing business
with responsibility is the need of the hour (T, 2020) In Hong Kong this organization is the top
choice for every business house to ensure that it complies with the sustainability norms,
hence companies like MTR Corporation, Jardine Matheson, Swire Properties, Huawei and
Vitasoy are the clients of The Purpose Business. I have specifically chosen Patricia Dwyer

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who is also know as Pat for this researh study because of her choice of business operation and
the sector she has constantly worked in. Recently this business leader has been appointed as
the Global head of CSR and Sustainability for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts to ensure that
the brand does comply with the standards of promotion responsible tourism and has made it
possible for the brand to be the only hotel group in Asian Chain to be recognised in the Dow
Jones Sustainability Index ("Authors", 2020).
Background analysis of the Leader and the organisation:
Patricia Dwyer holds a Master Degree from the University of Birmingham in UK, in
Globalisation and Governance. She has also attended the said Business School and pursued a
course in Transformational Leadership affiliated under University of Oxford (Patricia, 2020).
She is a lady with a positive vision who has always worked for the greater good of the
society. She began her career in the NGO sector and eventually became Ayala Land’s first
CSR manager. This leader is an ideal example of how business can also become an agent of
change if operated with the right motive and in the right direction. The Purpose Business is
indeed an exclusive network for ensuring sustainability of business operation for all its clients
across Asia. The team of expertise headed by Pat herself is meant to make all its clients
future-ready to grasp all possible commercial opportunities, maximising revenue generation
and minimising its harmful impact on the environment. She encourages every business to
think ahead of this current time and assess what could be the potential impact of every
business action which is been taken today on mother nature to ensure that sustainability is
identified as one of the core functioning in business operation. She has encouraged her clients
to think about the long-term impacts of the business to ensure a responsible outlook towards
the environment. Her brain child The Purpose Business has assisted Gammon
Construction Limited which is a Hong Kong based construction and
engineering contractor in ensuring a sustainable strategy

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implementation in their construction project by reducing waste
generation, better safety of workers at sight, lesser use of non-renewable
sources of energy and greater business security ("Our work — The
Purpose Business", 2020).Another insight of its success can be
understood from the experience of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, which
is again one of the world’s leading jewellery brands wanted to resort to
complete sustainable ways pf doing business by 2020. Hence The
Purpose Business aided it s client by underling the primary ways in
achieving its goal like innovation in craftsmanship and technology and
applying carbon reduction measure (Belz & Binder, 2017)
Leadership and Managerial efficiency of Patricia Dwyer:
Patricia Dwyer can be rightfully regarded as the visionary leader who dreams big, and
helps her employees achieve big. The Purpose Business with the aid of a gem like Pat has
definitely focused on forming the best team which ensure diversity and experience. It has
over 25 employees in its team who hold expertise in different fields. For instance Fiona
Donnelly is the business development lead having more than 30 years of experience in this
field, Anna Oposa who has led a number of social cause campaigns and has been a lead in
Save Philippines Sea movement is also the part of the team and this young talent is appointed
by Pat to ensure that youths of today who would become the business operators of tomorrow
act responsible for every action they take in their respective businesses ("Who we are — The
Purpose Business", 2020). Hence there is no doubt about the fact that Pat has significantly
designed her team of professionals to achieve the best for her clients. Her exclusive
Leadership style ensures proper focus on training and education of her executive and staffs
online as well as offline. There are various invite-only Breakfast with Purpose events where
varied industry experts and subject experts join in together to help the team start the day with

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the most crucial information on key sustainability issues and achievement the best. Pat also
values the necessity of maintaining proper internal and external communication to ensure
there is proper awareness on what the business does. Hence it uses its social media channels,
company websites uses compelling writing, graphical and video content to ensure that there is
enough transparency in the media about its business operations (Schaltegger Lüdeke-Freund
& Hansen, 2016). This leader has always believed in following a democratic leadership style
in every organisation she has been associated with. Even in her own organisation she intends
to follow the same allowing all her members to participate in the creative thinking and
problem solving sessions which are conducted before beginning any new project or handling
any new client. The whole purpose and cause of the business undertaken by The Purpose
Business is innovative in itself and does set high stands of what a strong and purposeful
leadership. Patricia Dwyer is a part of the Young Global Leader Council which extensively
works for varied social cause and deserves to be recognised as one of the global female
entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. Her leadership ways have set new standards for the global
leaders of the world to understand how business with an impact is the new trend setter in the
industry. However she did not have it easy in one of her interview with Travindy she said
how there were many who frowned and raise their eyebrows at her exclaiming who was this
new godmother who had come to save the earth? The business idea was quite surprising and
new to the world and they were not ready to accept something this new. But Pat knew she
was on the right path. Pat was also supported by her CEO and Chairman of Shangri-La
Hotels and Resorts who did understand her vision and supported her in this cause. Hence her
journey in itself is a magnificent example to look forward to and never give up even in the
worst of scenario because according to the leader a good cause supported by the right vision
is always ought to win.
Personal Learning takeaways:

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I have personally felt inspired by her journey of staying on the right path, following
her vision and never settling down. She is indeed the flag bearer of how positive changes can
be implemented in the organisation. She can be recognised as the Change agent who has
brought in the concept of sustainable business operation as a mandate for all the organisations
(Tyssen Wald & Spieth, 2012). I have personally realised that a strong and rational leader can
be declared as a pillar for the organisation that does help the whole organisation aim to
achieve better. Her business goals have set the right standards of how a corporate identity
should function in complete compliance with the social, ethical and environmental laws.
Hence by biggest take-away from her leadership story is that if one has confidence in his
vision, faith on one’s purpose and the will to work for it no hurdle can stop that individual
from achieving the same.

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References:
Belz, F. M., & Binder, J. K. (2017). Sustainable entrepreneurship: A convergent
process model. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(1), 1-17.
Schaltegger, S., Lüdeke-Freund, F., & Hansen, E. G. (2016). Business models for
sustainability: A co-evolutionary analysis of sustainable entrepreneurship, innovation, and
transformation. Organization & Environment, 29(3), 264-289.
Tyssen, A. K., Wald, A., & Spieth, P. (2014). The challenge of transactional and
transformational leadership in projects. International Journal of Project Management, 32(3),
365-375.
Who we are — The Purpose Business. (2020). Retrieved 18 April 2020, from
https://thepurposebusiness.com/whoweare
T, G. (2020). Patricia Dwyer. Retrieved 18 April 2020, from
https://generationt.asia/people/patricia-dwyer
Patricia, D. (2020). Retrieved 18 April 2020, from
https://hk.linkedin.com/in/patdwyertpb
Our work — The Purpose Business. (2020). Retrieved 18 April 2020, from
https://thepurposebusiness.com/ourwork
Authors. (2020). Retrieved 18 April 2020, from
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/patricia-dwyer/

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