Strategic Management

Order Description
The portfolio is comprised of the following sections:
• A Strategic Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) – 2000 words excluding appendices and references
• A Strategic Management Project- 4000 words excluding appendices and references

At the due date you will submit both parts of the portfolio together, a single document. Appropriate cover sheet should be used. Presentation should be of professional quality. Referencing and citations must adhere to Wolverhampton version of Harvard Referencing style.
Assessed task no 1 A Strategic Personal Development Portfolio (PDP)
You may have already done a general PDP as part of your course (e.g. for 7MG001). This PDP is different and focuses on your development and goals as a manager. The purpose is to relate the academic content of the module to your personal and professional (managerial) goals.
To help you to reflect and craft your PDP it will be useful to complete the “How Do You Fit the Design” self-assessment exercises included in each chapter of your textbook (Daft, 2013) and incorporate your reflection on these self-assessments into your PDP.
As with the project (see below), The PDP will be incrementally developed over the course of the module. You will craft interim components (which you may be asked to present or discuss in some form during the seminars). The module content is wide, you choose strategic management areas of interest (from the core text) to you but as a guide it is recommended you on focus on 3 areas such as (but not limited to) ,
• Aligning organisational structure and design with strategy
• Creating, structuring and leading teams within organisations
• Leveraging diversity and stakeholders approach for organisational effectiveness
The above are just suggestions; you may have other areas you want to concentrate on.

In Phase 1 you will prepare a brief introduction (~500 words) about how the module content will help you advance your professional (strategic) development (and goals), focusing on topics of particular interest to you.
Phase 2 is on-going over the course of the module in that you read the core text chapters and you undertake the “How do you fit the design” tests at the end of each chapter. You will also select 3 of these for phase 3 (below) and Analysis project (the second part of the portfolio).
In phase 3 you will write a critical reflection (750-1000 words) that will address your perspectives on organisational design based on your personal and professional experiences/Interests. Focus on the following areas:
• Your prior knowledge and experience with the module’s key concepts and themes, including those you identified as particular areas of interest in your initial PDP submission
• Your personal perspectives and assumptions around key module topics
• Your current practice related to key module topics
• Recognising strategies to achieve your plans
• Identifying potential areas for your personal development and growth

Phase 4 is the final Personal Development Plan. Review and revise the earlier components in light of feedback. In updating your PDP try to make it so that what emerges is a well-developed snapshot of your current and future professional plans and goals.
The final PDP will include phase 1, 2 and 3 components, suitably revised, above goals and idea and an action plan that will help you to accomplish your stated goals. You may use the supplied table.
Assessed task no 2, Strategic Management Project
The purpose of the strategic management project is to apply the concepts and techniques learnt in the module to the analysis of real-world situations or problems, and to critically evaluate different approaches to addressing managerial problems.
Context
Your boss has asked you to craft a restructuring strategy [around some identified business problem(s)]for the company you work for. (If your company is a large one, then focus on a strategic business unit or department. If you are not employed in a company, select a well-known multinational and use the same criteria. Not for profit organisations are fine too. Your tutor will need to approve the company chosen). Your remit, in the form of a strategic management project will be to propose a new design, approach (solution) to restructuring that would make the company more efficient and competitive.
The project is to be undertaken in a number of formative phases, culminating in a final written report.
In phase 1 you will write proposal for your boss (tutor) to set the parameters and scope of the restructuring. You will discuss this with your classmates in seminars and get feedback.
Phase 2 will be the start of the analysis. You will analyse your chosen company’s internal structures and its external environment using a minimum of two of the frameworks studied that you consider most relevant to your particular situation e.g. Daft’s structural dimensions, Daft’s contingency framework, Porter’s five forces model etc. As a follow up, explain in detail two specific challenges that you will address in your redesign effort to improve your organisational sustainability and resilience.
Phase 3 will be a critical literature review. Your task will be to review research from a range of scholarly articles that relate to organisational structure design. This is an opportunity to strengthen the rigour project with further theoretical insight. The core text book and supplied articles will form the backbone of the literature review but other strategy literature can supplement this.
You will have learnt from the research methods classes in 7MG001, a literature review is a discussion of the published information on your topic area. It is also a critical, evaluative synthesis, showing the relationships between various writings and how they relate to your own work. A literature review is not a simple summary of a series of articles. A good literature review will look at the research that has been done and synthesise or pull together those elements that are similar or most pertinent to the themes you have chosen.
Your tutor will ask you to present your findings at interim points during the seminar sessions (details will vary depending on iteration and delivery format. The presentations will not be part of the assessment.
Phase 4 will the final Project Report.
The final report should take the form of a maximum 2000 word business report to the organisation’s management team. A business report is a functional piece of writing usually written to communicate a recommendation for change with the appropriate rationale, illustrations and evidence.
Over several weeks you have been designing a new structure for your company in order to boost its competitiveness, sustainability and resilience. Your report must include your plan for restructuring the organisation (or part of), and the reasons why the areas you identified should be redesigned and restructured.
Your report should be written in standard business English that favours ease of comprehension. In general, your sentences and paragraphs will be shorter compared to academic English. It is also acceptable to use a limited number of bullet points in your report.
Use the literature review as well as the theoretical foundations given in the core text and additional readings to strengthen your arguments and move beyond subjective opinions. You are also encouraged to support your arguments and analyses with visuals, such as charts and diagrams.
Business reports do not have a set number of sections, nevertheless guidelines are provided in a separate document to aid you. Make sure you do clearly delineate and label your sections with appropriate headings. As a guide, some sections that most reports tend to include are Executive Summary, Introduction, Findings, Recommendations and Conclusion. Use the Business Report Help Sheet from University of Melbourne provided for you under resources.
Advice: Make it concise, to the point and convincing. Try to write with a specific audience in mind, and try as best as you can to generate a genuine buy-in from your boss.