You have been a senior manager for several years and have decided that your next career move should be to take responsibility for an aspect of strategic management in an organisation.

Assignment Scenario

You have been a senior manager for several years and have decided that your next career move should be to take responsibility for an aspect of strategic management in an organisation. Some interesting posts have been advertised recently and you have registered with a recruitment agency, Harris Hall, which specialises in senior positions.

Task 1

LO1 Understand how knowledge and skills in leadership and strategic management support the creation and achievement of organisational vision and strategy

Harris Hall has sent you a guidance pack titled ‘Preparation for Application and Interviews’ which includes some tasks for you to complete. This will provide the foundations for the applications you will make. You are required to produce a file of information.

In section 1 of your file, you must:

• Analyse the knowledge and skills in leadership and strategic management which are required to support the creation and achievement of organisational vision and strategy (AC 1.1)
• Include an assessment of how strategic leadership knowledge and skills support achievement of organisational vision and strategy (AC 1M1)
• Add content which evaluates the leadership and management knowledge and skills required for the successful achievement of organisational operations versus the creation and achievement of organisational strategy (AC 1D1)

Task 2

LO2 Understand how to develop and communicate organisational vision

Harris Hall has sent you an email about an interesting post which is advertised in Management Today and you have decided to apply. As part of the application, the organisation wants you to send a CV and a paper titled ‘Developing and Communicating Organisational Vision’. The employer will use this information in the shortlisting of applicants for interview.

Prepare a paper which:

• Analyses the factors which impact on the creation of organisational vision (AC 2.1)
• Assesses the different approaches to developing vision (AC 2.2)
• Evaluates the key factors which impact on the communication of vision to external stakeholders (AC 2.3)
• Include an additional section in the paper which evaluates the key factors needed to gain the commitment of internal stakeholders when communicating vision (AC 2M1)

Task 3

LO3 Can manage development of own knowledge and skills in leadership and strategic management to support achievement of personal and organisational vision and strategy;

LO4 Can reflect on the benefits of personal development in the achievement of personal growth and organisational vision and strategy

The final part of the information file enables you to manage the development of your own personal knowledge and skills in leadership and strategic management. This will support achievement of personal and organisational vision and strategy. This assessment must be done in the context of an organisation where you are employed, where you work in a voluntary capacity, where you wish to gain employment or where you are studying.

You must:

• Assess the benefits of different self-evaluation techniques that can be used in the achievement of personal and organisational strategy (AC 3.1)
• Assess your own leadership and management knowledge and skills. The knowledge and skills identified must facilitate the creation and achievement of organisational vision and strategy (AC 3.2)
• Devise objectives to meet your personal development needs to support the achievement of personal and organisational vision and strategy (AC 3.3)
• Prepare a personal development plan to develop own leadership and management skills to meet personal objectives aligned to the creation of organisational vision and strategy (AC 4.1)
• Justify how the objectives and the plan prepared for personal development support achievement of organisational vision and strategy (AC 3M1)
• Implement personal development activities to develop knowledge and skills identified in the personal development plan (AC 3D1)
• Review your progress and outcomes in relation to the objectives of your personal development plan (AC 4D1)

MBS Guidelines for the Assignment Presentation and Structure

1. It is recommended that you use the MBS assignment template that has been specifically designed to meet the requirements for this assignment.
2. You must include a Title page which includes your name and surname, your learner ID number, the Unit number and title, and the word-count of your assignment*.
3. Your assignment must include page numbers. It is recommended that your full name is included as a footer on each page. Words in the footer do not contribute to the assignment word-count.
4. Your assignment must include a ‘Table of Contents’. This should be on page 2 (immediately following the front page). The Table of Contents must be presented in a numbered list of the section headings (and sub-headings where relevant). The contents page should also include (where applicable) a numbered and titled list of tables, graphs and charts presented in the assignment.
5. Your assignment should start with a brief overall Introduction and end with an overall conclusion.
6. A List of References should be included at the end of your assignment. References should be cited according to the Harvard Referencing System. Please refer to your ‘MBS Notes for Academic referencing’ guide, which is found on the online portal Journey, to ensure appropriate referencing is applied throughout your work (in-text) and the Reference List.
7. The last section is the ‘Appendix’ which should include only relevant material that supports the main content of your assignment.
8. The assignment must be written in clear and accurate language appropriate for an academic essay.
9. *The word-count for this assignment is 3500 words (plus or minus 10%) Assignments falling outside of this range will be returned unmarked. The word-count comprises all content in the main sections of your assignment – i.e. from the Introduction to the end of the Conclusion. The front page, Table of Contents, Reference list and Appendix section are excluded from the word-count.
10. Your submission should include all your work for submission as indicated in the Assignment tasks. The Turnitin Report/s should also be submitted alongside your work. Please refer to the Turnitin User Guidelines for instructions and guidance to ensure the integrity of your work.