Business Strategy of Leeds University - Assignment Example

?Business Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Evaluation of different tactics for Leeds 3 2. Grounds based on which suitable future strategy are chosen for Leeds University 4 3. Evaluation the function and the day-today job for plan execution of Leeds university 5 4. Type of resource required 5 5. Targets and timescale required for the University of Leeds 6 6. Formation of team 7 7. Introduction of Management by Objectives (MBO) 8 Works Cited 10 Name of the Student Name of the Professor Name of the Course Date Business Strategy 1. Evaluation of different tactics for Leeds University Growth in the business is a complex and multifarious aspect but is a highly desired phenomenon for the organizations unanimously. Business growth stands synonymous to business outcome, which signifies the achievement of business goals, increasing the number of employees, enhancing the value of the business related to the stakeholders and enhancing the profit or the sales of the business. New ventures or strategies consist of processes that are related to the capabilities and resources of the organization (Kariv 477). The University of Leeds is ranked as the second largest university of United Kingdom (UK). This university is a significant player in the higher education of UK and has built its reputation on the basis of quality, volume and breadth of research and education along with its diverse portfolio of research excellence. The university has implemented various strategies in order to integrate education, scholarship and world-class research in order to secure a position among the top 50 universities in the world. Through these steps, they aim to create an impact on the global society. Along with achieving academic excellence, the organization also aims to form an efficient, effective and sustainable organization that would promote a healthy workplace, standardised processes and sustainable environment. Financial stability and appraisal of the university staff is also given equal importance in their strategy (University of Leeds “Strategy Map.”). Therefore, it can be seen that for attaining the world class position, the university has not only framed strategies related to their business, but has also employed resources that will be responsible for delivering the results. Thus, the strategy will lead to substantial growth. 2. Grounds based on which suitable future strategy are chosen for Leeds University To decide on a strategy, the managers devote considerable amount of energy and thought processes on considering and reconsidering the future and the present scenario of the organization. Creating a strategy is highly dependent on the scenario analysis and assessment of the business opportunities. Strategy scope plays an important role in this context. The University of Leeds is operating in a rapidly changing business environment where it requires addressing the scope which presents them with an opportunity. The scopes that the university requires to address are product or service scope, customers scope, geographic scope and the stakeholder scope (Fahey and Randall 23-28). Firstly, for University of Leeds to position itself among the top 50 universities, the product and services that they offer plays a significant role. The product and services that is education should be as such, that it develops outstanding scholars and graduates. Hence, the primary focus should be on methods to enhance the product to make it better. Secondly, in case of the customer scope that is the students, the university should deliver their education in such ways that high quality students are developed who in turn will impact the global society. Thirdly, geographic scope is an important parameter for the success of the university. In order to create an impact on the global front, internationalization of the university is very important. This requires expansion of its geographic limits. Lastly, maximization of stakeholder’s value and meeting their expectations are significant for sustainability of the organization. 3. Evaluation the function and the day-today job for plan execution of Leeds university In strategic planning, the control and evaluation phase is designed by the organization in order to align the planned objectives with the targeted goals and objectives. The main goal of plan evaluation is to determine the extent of the implementation that would help to meet the goals and evaluate the overall effectiveness of the intervention. The outcome of the evaluation would judge whether the plan has been implemented successfully and to an appropriate degree. In case this evaluation reveals that the implementation of the plan is not successful, the process is reverted back to the previous phase to identify the challenges and then start all over again (Dougherty 125). The key themes of University of Leeds is as to enhance their position as an international university, accomplish a leading and influential research profile, encourage the students to widen their potential and create a significant impact on the global scale. In order to accomplish the first theme, the organization has decided to recruit high quality international students, embed internationalism in their work and develop strategic international partnership. For the second theme, the university will be translating excellence in research into learning opportunity for students, growth in the market through increase in research income and every research area will bear international excellence to attract best students from the world. For accomplishing the third theme, the university will deliver exceptional student experiences and support high quality and deserving students. In order to accomplish the last theme, the university will look for innovation, work with other partners and influence the society. 4. Type of resource required Resources play an important role in the implementation of a strategic plan. Before implementing a strategic plan, it is important that the infrastructure is prepared for the implementation and most importantly, the required resources should be procured and allocated properly to the tasks in order to accomplish the objectives. Resource allocation deals with distribution, commitment and procurement of physical, informational, financial and human resources to the strategic tasks, which helps in accomplishment of organizational objectives. However, it should be noted that resource allocation is an amalgamation of both continuous and one-time processes (Kazmi 334). In case of University of Leeds, the most important resources are human and financial resources. Here human resources refer to the employees working in the university like, the faculties and other administrative staff. The faculties are a very crucial resource that could help the university to meet its goals. Hence, the faculty’s satisfaction should be given priority and should be assigned in such a way that it facilitates the accomplishment of the objectives. On the other hand, the financial resources can be allocated properly through budgeting. Budgeting is the most common technique that uses coordination, planning and other control devices in the management. Budgeting emphasizes on accounting and is utilised as a dynamic management tool. Apart from this, information and other physical resources also play significant roles and their participation cannot be neglected. Therefore, it can be concluded that the strategic plan designed by the university requires the resources like, human, financial, informational and physical. 5. Targets and timescale required for the University of Leeds The main target of University of Leeds is to position itself among the top fifty universities in the world. In this process, the university has given highest priority to academic excellence. This is because of the fact that the university is into the business that prioritizes the learning experience of the students. In this process, providing education to the students is the main objective. The organization can gain reputation or place itself in the international market only by imparting quality education. Thus, this renders both the students and the faculties as the major factors in determining the targets. Hence, the targets that the university sets are to enhance their presence as an international university, intensify their research profile, motivate and make the students competent enough to develop their potential and create an impact on the global as well as local scale. In order to achieve these targets, professionalism, integrity, community and inclusiveness is paid high importance. Time scale is another important component. During strategy planning by the management, they also focus on the time taken by the strategies to be implemented. The strategy that is planned by the University of Leeds will be gradually executed for one to two years and the expected outcome will be generated by 2015. Thus, the time scale for the strategy plan of University of Leeds is of two to three years. 6. Formation of team A team progresses through various stages of development before it finally matures. Tuckman has proposed the five stages through which the team develops (West 162). They are namely, forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. In every step, the team member exhibits a task or a typical relationship behaviour that is in line with the theme of that particular stage. In the forming stage, the team meets and identifies their strengths, weaknesses and the goals and also, decides on the task. In the storming phase, different ideas are taken into consideration and they compete among themselves. Lots of conflicts take place and the leadership model to be followed is decided. In the norming stage, the team members start adjusting with each other’s behaviour and also, develop trust. In the performing stage, team members are independent and decisions have been taken already. Supervisors start participating. Lastly, in the final stage, the team gets terminated or dispersed (West 162; Biech 376-377). a. Two of the group arguing as to whose idea is best: This is the storming stage, where the members of team come up with different ideas and they compete with each other. b. Progress becomes static: This is the adjourning stage where the team has completed their performance and objectives are achieved and is terminated. c.  Desired outputs being achieved: This is the performing stage, where the members have implemented the final decision and problem solving is taking place. d. Shy member of group not participating: This is the forming stage, where the team members are meeting for the first time, agrees on the objectives and starts to tackle the task. e. Activities being allocated: This is the norming stage, in which the team members are allocated with activities that they are going to perform along with the tools and values to be used. 7. Introduction of Management by Objectives (MBO) Management by objectives is the technique by which the organization set goals. It is a process that aims towards the integration of organizational goals with the individual goals. It is the system of management that is formed to assist in conducting the motivating, problem solving, organizing, planning and other managerial activities. It requires the participation of both the managers and the subordinates, who work jointly to accomplish a common goal by defining the responsibility of each participant in relation to the desired results. This approach is believed to enhance performance, participation, understanding, job satisfaction, employee morale and communication. However, this approach is very difficult to incorporate for many of the business enterprises, which Griswold Cutlery Company should consider. Implementing MBO in the organization is time consuming as well as expensive and requires great effort to be extended. It is because of these factors that MBO is seen to be restricted only among the professional employees and managers. In this case, obtaining the benefits whose value can exceed the cost of implementation is difficult as the employees are performing their routine work at a lower level in the organization (Brown and Harvey 376-379). Moreover, in order to implement MBO in the organization, improved competencies and managerial skills are required. If the management of Griswold Cutlery Company fails to recognise these, then the MBO program will encounter difficulties. Therefore, inspite of several advantages of implementing MBO, Paul Griswold should also consider the probable difficulties that could be faced. Works Cited Biech, Elaine. The Pfeiffer Book of Successful Team-Building Tools: Best of the Annuals. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print. Brown, Donald R. and Don Harvey. An Experiential Approach to Organization Development. New Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2006. Print. Dougherty, A. Michael. Psychological Consultation and Collaboration in School and Community Settings. Connecticut: Cengage Learning, n.d. Print. Fahey, Liam, and Robert M. Randall. Learning from the Future: Competitive Foresight Scenarios. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 1998. Print. Kariv, Dafna. Female Entrepreneurship and the New Venture Creation: An International Overview. London: Routledge, 2013. Print. Kazmi, Azhar. Strategic Management & Business Policy. 3rd Ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2008. Print. University of Leeds. “Strategy Map.” Leeds, 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. West, David. Project Sponsorship: An Essential Guide for Those Sponsoring Projects Within Their Organizations. England: Gower Publishing, Ltd., 2010. Print. Read More