Reference no: EM134044186 , Length: Word Count:2500

Leading Business Activities and Change

Assignment Description

For this assignment assume you have been appointed as a team leader in the Job Search Centre (JSC) - an Auckland based firm that provides international students to search services. Its overarching job is to deliver the best possible employment outcomes to their clients mostly international students who arrive in New Zealand on student visas and are looking for employment during and after their duration of study.

Your responsibility is to lead the team and engage with the internal and external stakeholders to implement the business activities efficiently and effectively to achieve the goal of the team. To be an effective leader, JSC requires you to complete Task 1 (written assignment) and Task 2 (oral presentation assignment). You may use primary data (interview with staff or any other relevant managers who have experience in managing such services - for instance Brent Hawkins from ICL who used to provide such services to students) and/or secondary data (getting information from website, internet, articles, media), the research report should be 2500 words (+/-10%), excluding references, charts, tables or diagrams.

Background and History of Job Search Centre (JSC)

The founders came up with their idea based on their interactions with other international students and experiences with potential employers during their study. A key gap they identified was that many international students struggled with finding suitable employers during their study, qualification and skills to make it relevant to potential New Zealand employers to increase their employability. Through this was born JSC, a service aimed at providing opportunities for international students to network, integrate and understand New Zealand work culture to increase their employability in New Zealand.

The gap of JSC is to have links to higher education providers and university providers as well as providers and jobs and other relevant stakeholders. Also, it includes ensuring students have a successful job placement and practical work experience opportunities leading to their goals.

Products and Services

The intent is to provide assistance and support to the current as well as alumni international students of the various Private training providers (PTEs); Polytechs; Universities in New Zealand under their service. It would operate on a student services model to all students who register for their services as members paying a membership fee or one-off paid services.

Identifying potential employment opportunities- job search skills workshops- understanding the job market-providing helpful tools around job search pre-application assistance- Training in CV and resume writing; cover letters
Post application assistance
Preparing for interviews- Mock interview sessions- grooming etc
Providing opportunities- current vacancies- building networks with potential employers/internship providers.
Organising site visits/ Job fairs in-house or organizing for students to visit job fairs within the city
Providing advice around career related moves by students to progress within their current employment.
Track outcomes and build a database.
Workshops around employment rights.
Arranging work-based internships

Currently only a single Membership option is available an annual membership option of $100 which includes free entry to any networking events organized and consultation of up to 10 times in year for guidance on CVs for any potential jobs; access to data base of paid jobfalls, Any internships services have separate registration and costs - a registration cost of $100 for internships is arranged at cost of $500.

Discounts for any partners products and services such as retailers in electronics goods and services such as Noel Leeming; PB tech and entertainment areas such as movies, bars and restaurants; different University tie-ups.

Other one-off payment services include consultation on attending and nailing job interviews @ $50 per hour;

CV refining for specific jobs @ $50 per CV

Event entry fees for non-members priced based on the event- professional such as Job fairs; social events such as student parties or orientation and promotional events.

Access to JSC jobs database - one month free trial and subsequently a charge of $25 monthly fee

Free access of organising or coaching on how to gain useful volunteering opportunities in relevant disciplines such as Accounting, Sales and Marketing; Supply chain management or alternatively to specific leisure and social activities involving charitable and social volunteering such as sports clubs and so on.

Providing free information on events and activities in and around Auckland to all

In its 2 years of operations JSC has gained phenomenal success in acquiring an annual membership on a consistent basis of over 2000 and ever-growing rise in membership numbers. However, the one-off services have had a limited uptake of an average of 40 booking per month across all the services.

Operations and facilities:

These services are provided currently through an app and a very well designed, functional website. The app has great features of providing notifications; making and confirming booking of services and provides updates on the employment scenario- with great articles such as best interview tips; how to dress for an interview; best etiquette and so on. This helps members to be retained and to use the app frequently.

The physical premises are at one office building on Queen Street - CBD with a large conference room meeting room with a seating capacity between 75 to 150. An open office layout with workstations for all employees in the same space. The premises also have a 4m small break-out rooms for small meetings or discussion. The office also has a bright and well-furnished kitchen area for staff and visitors.

JSC also continually aims towards building a good relationship with existing partners such as retailers, entertainment service providers, Universities. Although currently it has onboard a few partners, it would like to increase its partnership with the aim to private its products and services to a number of international students.

Team: Small, friendly with cultural diversity

JSC has a core team comprising of active and fulltime involvement of the three founders. Each of them working on the following responsibilities:

Sales, Marketing and partner relationships- Y
Operations and service management; IT requirements-ZY
Human resources and financial management- SQ

The three of them tend to follow a consultative approach of leadership with 2-minute power meetings/ stand ups meetings at the beginning of the day to highlight the achievements; challenges and the tasks for the day. In the two years of operations the three founders have followed an open, honest and collaborative approach in sharing information with each other as well as other internal and external stakeholders.

They are supported by a receptionist admin staff member Leila who is a Maori young lady. She also handles all incoming and outgoing messages, stationery and maintenance of records. She also takes care of all data entry and maintains the database of member services. Leila reports to Jill.

An office manager Jill, who is a New Zealander and working with a young family of two kids aged 3 and 5. She looks after all facilities; infrastructure and is involved in ensuring the smooth running of the office and day to day requirements. She also organizes all the student volunteers who offer their internal activities of JSC as well as volunteer at various external organizations that JSC arranges for them. Leila under the guidance of Jill provides administrative support to all the 3 founders.

JSC mainly has young people working so the working environment tends to be friendly, casual and informal. All the staff generally dress informally except following formal attire for some formal networking events or meetings.

With the growth in their services anticipated it is likely that in the next few years the staff is likely to grow at least by about 8 more staff in the area of sales, human resources and operations.

Business plan:

The business plan of JSC for the plan period of 2025 March to 2028 March over a 3-year time frame is to achieve significant growth in services; specifically sales growth which currently is at a break-even point.

The main goals of the organization are as follows:

Achieve a profit of 10% in the year ending December 2026 and in each subsequent year increase it by another 5%.
Add at least two different membership options by the end of each planned year to achieve an increase in profits and brand reputation.
To create a strong team of 8 employees from the current 5 members by 2026 to provide growth in services.
To explore options of leasing out office spaces for events rather than tying up a huge conference space in the current office premises. To lease a smaller office hub space rather than the huge office premises which is not cost-effective by 2026.

To achieve the above goals, it is felt by the founders that clear leadership responsibility needs to be allocated with the appointment of a CEO who can provide dynamic leadership to transform and bring in new innovative services as initiated by the board comprising of the 3 founder members and some new person from management. Thus as the Universities, PTEs and retailers. This move will result in a gap in the previously held roles of the founders - new roles are aimed to be created in this reposition.

The organisation aims to continue to invest in a youthful organisational culture in view of its target customers being between 18 to mid-30s. The challenge for the leadership here in terms of recruiting new employees with an attitude that fits within this challenging culture and smoothly integrate a transparent and collaborative approach. The stakeholder engagement aims to focus on providing real-time consultation stakeholders through digital platforms online chatbots for customers; social media groups; rather traditional means of meetings/ conferences or email and monthly/quarterly reporting through formal written reports.

The financial management of the organisation is also expected to be strengthened by injecting more owner funds to finance all the recruitment, technological, structural changes and marketing of services within this plan period. The owners aim to provide an additional capital of $200,000 to pump this growth. In addition, the $200,000 is to be sourced from cloud sourcing or through funding grants for entrepreneurial activities from different associations.

Task 1 (Written Assignment)

PART A (LO1a)

Answer the following questions. All your answers should consider the nature of the business and the type of leadership that it would require to achieve its business goals as outlined in the case scenario.

1. If you were the CEO of JSC, how would you, as a team leader, effectively guide your team to implement activities that align with business entity plans, considering areas such as business operations, accounting, marketing/sales, human resources, risk management, while ensuring the efficient use of various resources? (Note: Your justification should cover at least two business areas in the context of the given entity.) (25 marks)

2. "Effective team leaders use organisational resources effectively". Do you support this statement? Evaluate the importance for organisational performance in the context of JSC.

Technology
Physical resources
Human resources
Time
Financial resources

(Any assumptions made here should be clearly stated with evidence to back the assumptions from secondary research of a similar organisation.)

3. ‘The three Cs- (commitment, communication and collaboration) are important to lead the team and engage the stakeholders effectively'. In the context of JSC and its objectives and goals for 2025 to 2028, analyse how the three Cs would contribute to implementing the business activities to achieve the organisation goals.

(Note: Ensure your discussion includes specific examples from the context of JSC.)

PART B (LO3 a & b)

Please complete this section after conducting your presentation to your clients/students and team members.

1. There is a range of options to engage with stakeholders. Identify some of these options (at least three) and justify which option/s you propose the CEO of JSC should use to effectively engage with internal and external stakeholders. (4 marks)

2. Based on your proposed options in Question 1, suggest how you would implement your proposals for stakeholder engagement over current issues and your suggestions to overcome. (4 marks)

3. Describe a specific situation where you research led to both written and oral communication with at least one internal and one external stakeholder. Detail how this communication was designed to implement a specific activity or change. (4 marks)

(For instance: actual written content that would be used should be included for both internal and external stakeholders.)

Total: 12 marks

Task 2: Individual Presentation (LO 3 a & b) - Total 18 marks

You are required to conduct a negotiation session and deliver an oral presentation to your classmates and tutors assuming that your classmates and tutors are clients and team members of JSC. Your negotiation session and presentation should address the following information:

Clients/students:
Proposed changes that are expected to be implemented in the future to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of JSC.
Team members:
Negotiate with the team members to solve the issues and briefly explain how these changes are a benefit to the team and achieve the entity's outcomes.

Task Instructions: Presentation session

The length of the presentation is 10 minutes.

During the presentation, notes will not be allowed to be carried by the presenter. Cue cards may be brought however these should only contain bullet points.

The presentation will be recorded (i.e. videotaped) for the purpose of post moderation.

You are expected to hand in all presentations visuals (e.g. poposter, slideshow, pitch, poster, etc.) as well as any props and handouts used in this presentation.

You must hand your presentation slide(s) to the lecturer two days before the presentation. If printed presentation slides are not provided to your lecturer before your presentation, then a penalty of 10% of the total marks applied. Your lecturer will announce the presentation date and time on the CANVAS.

You must start on time otherwise two marks will be deducted for each five minutes of lateness.

You need to prepare presentation visuals that guide and lead your presentation. Please note:

Visuals must support your presentation and should not distract from your presentation (e.g. too crowded, illustrations that are not linked to the content).

Visuals must be of high quality (e.g. free of grammar and spelling errors). Good visuals will have a combination of words and graphics.

Please ensure you speak in a clear and concise manner and engage with your audience.

Please refer to the marking guide below for more detailed information concerning the presentation task.

Make sure to read the marking guidelines provided to ensure that you have followed all the requirements.