This assignment requires you to demonstrate knowledge and skills you have acquired throughout the course of this module by producing a 3000-word, fully referenced academic piece of work that addresses the tasks given below. In order to complete the assignment, you will need to choose an industry or sector and an appropriate organisation within it to research.
Choosing an appropriate organisation
Step 1: Select an industry or sector in which you are interested. For example, pharmaceutical, defence, commercial airlines, public sector, high street or online retailing, hospitality/ leisure, construction or oil and gas.
Step 2: Select a large organisation within that industry or sector which may have a strong national presence and operate internationally across many countries. Typical features of these sorts of organisations are that they:
• Have been involved in some form of merger or takeover activity.
• Are a public limited company (PLC) or state owned.
• Are a multinational corporation or operate across a number of sites nationally.
• Have a large number of employees to manage.
• Are accountable to senior managers (which may include a board and shareholders).
• Experience competition from ONE (1) or more organisations in the market (and therefore are not a monopoly).
Researching your organisation
You can use web resources to enable you to understand the context in which your selected organisation operates.
Do not limit yourself, however, to web-based sources of information. You should also use academic, industry and other sources.
Scenario
Example – Jimmy Choo (not to be used by the student)
Jimmy Choo is a leading global luxury brand with an empowered sense of glamour and a playfully daring spirit. The brand traces its roots to a bespoke shoemaker named Jimmy Choo, based in the East End of London in the early 1990s, who catered to the global jet set, including Princess Diana. The Jimmy Choo company was founded in 1996, with Mr. Choo’s niece, Sandra Choi, who had been heading up design in the East End atelier, coming on board as Creative Director, a position she holds to this day. Mr Choo departed the company in 2001.
Since 2018 to the present the company has seen global revenue growth from $222.6 million in 2018 to $633 million in 2023, which was temporarily subdued during the pandemic. The latest figures were in comparison to revenues for the previous year in 2022 of $613 million.
Women’s shoes remain the core of the product offer, alongside handbags, small leather goods, scarves, sunglasses, eyewear, belts, fragrances, and men’s shoes. The brand has won awards for its products, including the British Fashion Council Awards’ Designer Brand category in 2008, the Accessories Council Brand of the Year 2008, the Footwear News Brand of the Year Award, and the 2009 Nordstrom Partners in Excellence award. As of April 1, 2023, Jimmy Choo had 237 stores worldwide.
The Jimmy Choo Foundation was set up in 2011, as a non-profit charitable trust with its focus on empowering women through education and enterprise to enhance livelihoods. Through the foundation, it has been involved in a number of initiatives such as the global partnership with Women for Women International which raised funds to support socially excluded women of war to help them become successful entrepreneurs. Other partnerships include CARE International through the LendwithCare Initiative which through donations has supported 1600 female entrepreneurs and 3000 family members.
Together with Capri Holdings, The Jimmy Choo Foundation has contributed to the World Food Programme and donated essential clothing in response to the war in Ukraine. Through their ongoing partnership with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, they have harnessed the joy of fashion to power life-saving medical advancements. In celebration of Pride 2022, the Jimmy Choo Foundation teamed up with Vogue and LGBTQI+ collective Sink the Pink to create a special video exploring the transformative power of personal style and chosen family.
Jimmy Choo is taking science-based action on climate change and working to reduce their emissions to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Their commitment is an absolute target – to reduce the company’s carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 across products and materials they use. Over the last year, Jimmy Choo has worked with a third of their top suppliers to support them in advancing their carbon footprint assessments.
Another key element of their climate action strategy is continued experimentation with lower-carbon materials. The company is currently testing new and innovative materials to see how they measure up to their high standards of quality and durability. The company is also committed to increasing its use of responsibly sourced materials and exploring the potential of alternative materials.
Sources of information on this business
Jimmy Choo (2023) About Us| Company Profile. Available from: https://www.jimmychoo.com/en/customer-services/about-us.html [Accessed on 27/06/2023]
Smith, P. (2023) Jimmy Choo revenue worldwide from 2018 to 2023. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/516425/jimmy-choo-revenue-worldwide/ [Accessed on 27/06/2023]
Do NOT use Jimmy Choo as the basis of your assignment. This is just an example.
Choose your own organisation to base your research and assignment on.
Please note that this assignment must be your own work as it is designed to test your abilities. Submitted assignments will be checked for plagiarism. For more information, please refer to NCC Education’s Academic Misconduct Policy, which can be found on the website.
Instructions
Research your chosen organisation and answer all FOUR (4) questions below:
Task 1 – 25 marks
a) According to Robert L. Katz (1955) managers need essential skills to perform well.
Discuss the importance of essential skills using workplace examples and appropriate theories to demonstrate a practical understanding.
(10 marks)
b) Assess the characteristics of your chosen organisation and decide whether it is more closely aligned with a traditional organisation or a new organisation with a clear rationale.
(15 marks)
Task 2 – 25 marks
a) Conduct a detailed SWOT analysis on your chosen organisation and identify the main strategic challenges faced.
(10 marks)
b) Explore in more detail a strategic challenge identified in part (a).
Explain the steps in effective strategic goal setting that can be deployed to tackle the problem and recommend a course of action to resolve the matter.
(15 marks)
Task 3 – 25 Marks
a) It is claimed to be a manager’s role to ‘maximise the use of available resources’ for the organisation.
Explore how effective budgeting and forecasting techniques enable a manager to allocate and control resources effectively across your chosen business.
(15 marks)
b) Explain the importance of accurate information and how the results from budgeting and forecasting can aid the decision-making process.
(10 marks)
Task 4 – 25 Marks
a) Mike Woodcock’s building blocks theory, taken from his Team Development Manual published in 1989, sets out the essential elements to creating an effective team.
Identify FIVE (5) of the building blocks and explain how they can be used at your
chosen organisation to aid effective performance within a team, with the use of workplace examples to demonstrate your points.
(15 marks)
b) Leadership has become increasingly important in modern business to adapt to different situations.
Discuss the importance of leadership in your chosen organisation and by applying an appropriate leadership model demonstrate how effective THREE (3) different leadership styles can be, using workplace examples.
(10 marks)
Guidance
Consult with your tutor if you are uncertain about any aspect of this assignment.
Submission requirements
You must submit a word-processed piece of work.
Your work should answer Tasks 1 to 4. The word count for your work is 3000 words.
Candidate checklist
Please use the following checklist to ensure that your work is ready for submission.
Have you read the NCC Education document Academic Misconduct Policy and ensured that you have acknowledged all the sources that ? you have used in your work?
Have you completed the Statement and Confirmation of Own Work form and attached it to your assignment? You must do this. ?
Have you ensured that your work has not gone over or under the recommended word count by more than 10%? ?
