Reference no: EM133026431

Phase 1: Identifying Pivotal Positions

Step 1: Overview of your organization

1. Provide a brief history of your organization. Information you might want to include: names of the individuals who founded it, where it was founded, why it was founded, year, original mission of the organization, etc.
2. A current picture of the organization. Information you might want to include: mission, vision, culture, industry, competitive position, number of employees, revenues, costs, etc. (some of these may need to be included as appendices).

Step 2: Strategy of your organization

1. What is the strategy of your organization?
2. What are the core competencies of your organization (i.e., what does the organization do well and/or better than their competition that will allow them to gain competitive advantage)? How do these competencies contribute to meeting strategic goals?
3. Develop a strategy map (excluding the financial component) for your organization and include as an appendix.

Step 3: Identifying pivotal positions

1. What are the pivotal positions of your organization? Specifically explain how these positions differentially impact-or have the potential to differentially impact-on sustainable competitive advantage.
2. Conduct job analyses for your pivotal positions. 
3. Develop job descriptions and job specifications for your pivotal positions. Be sure to include the key performance indicators that you will use to measure "success" in that role. This will be critical for identifying qualified individuals for these positions (recruitment and selection) as well as assessing their performance in these positions (performance management). Include as an appendix.

Advice: Try to use the organization at which you currently work. This will allow you to gain better access to the firm in order to more accurately address the above components. If possible, collect primary information from the organization through face-to-face interviews, HR documents (such as job descriptions/specifications), organizational charts, etc. Please be sure to obtain permission from the organization when using any information from them. Some information may be considered proprietary and/or a source of their competitive advantage that they do not want to disclose. If you cannot get primary information, obtain information from secondary sources. Examples include sites like LinkedIn, Glass Door, ONET, etc. More often than not, organizations will likely be happy to help as long as you are transparent. You might offer to present your findings to them after the semester to gain buy-in from firm management.