Implications For Management Skills For Business Stakeholders

Relevant Thesis Statement

Describe about the Implications for Management Skills for Business Stakeholders.

The article reports about a survey that was conducted in New Zealand in 2012. 265 chief executives who represented 27% of the largest organizations in the country participated in the survey. The aim of the study was to analyse the most critical challenges which were present in the environment of the country and discuss what implications they were having on the management skills of the nation and also consider how the development of skills could be supported by the practitioners of human resource. The outcome of the survey indicated a complex environment comprising changing markets as well as technologies wherein the support which was provided by the stakeholders was highly conditional and guarded. There was a continuous war in terms of talent and there was a necessity of reframing the business models for responding to the changes that were not only fast paced but also ambiguous. It was suggested that there is a requirement for three significant management skills that include management of limited resources and people, management of business partners and stakeholders and management of uncertainty and renewal. This required the focus of the HR specialists on developing managers and also themselves participate in the process of development (Hutchison & Boxall, 2014). This essay will be critically analyzing the article.

A thesis statement is considered to be a sentence which provides a summary of the paper’s key idea or ideas and expresses in a clear way what is going to be said with respect to the topic. It identifies topic that is to be discussed and the purpose that the paper serves (Purdue University, 2016).

On the basis of the above definition a relevant thesis statement that has been identified from the article is as follows –

Examination of what the chief executives belonging to private, public as well as not-for-profit organizations regard as the most crucial issues existing in their present environment, figuring out the implications that these issues have for management skills and on that basis find out the important managerial capabilities and the way in which their development can be supported by the HR specialists.

On the basis of the thesis statement the following strengths as well as weakness of the article can be identified –

The literature review was conducted by the author to find out the current scenario that was existing in New Zealand and how the changes were taking place particularly in view of the global economic crisis. A comparison has also been made with the nations like its neighboring country Australia, the USA and the UK. It takes into consideration the sectors where the country has been performing well and the sectors where it is lagging behind. It also considers the challenges that the country has been facing given the small scale that the country’s industry has, challenges which are being faced by the country in order to retain its educated workforce and what caliber does the management of the country have and is it what is required by the nation. The literature review is focused and the gaps in the literature have been identified by the author as it is mentioned that the previous literature has not taken into consideration the opinions of the chief executives who understand the challenges better (Randolf, 2009). These gaps have been addressed in the study by conducting an in-depth survey of the chief-executives of the country and their perception of the context so that their opinions can help in the development of implications for the capabilities of the managers.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article

The method used is appropriate as it carries out a survey of the chief executives who for any organization are the major decision makers. All the three sectors that is private, public as well as the non-for-profit organizations were covered for the purpose of conducting the survey. Hence the sample was a representative one which attempted to take into consideration the views of all the three sectors of the country’s economy and the challenges which are being faced by them (Floyd & Fowler, 2009). A large range of industries as well as organizational sizes were selected from these sectors for taking part in the survey.

Both quantitative and qualitative analysis was a part of the survey. Use of mixed method encouraged using multiple worldviews on the topic which improved the outcomes and a more practical solution to the problem was made possible (Lislie, 2011). The first section provided the respondents with lists of challenges and risks that were kept separate and with the help of the Likert scale they had to rate the intensity which according to them each of the item had. Likert scale is best suited for measurement of such data (Boone & Boone, 2012). Open ended questions were also added in case anyone of the respondent wanted to add something besides the given options. This would ensure that all the aspects were covered. This is a very practical approach that the author has adopted.

The directions for future research have also been taken into account by the author.

The survey considered only the 1000 biggest organizations from the different sectors while the smaller organizations were not considered. The survey to get the opinion of only the top executives meant that the response rate was 27% as people of this level are generally difficult to survey because of their time constraints. It would have been a better idea to include some people from the other management levels also.

I believe that the author is correct in adopting both the qualitative as well as the quantitative methods for the survey as this method provides is able to provide comparatively more evidence than the study which uses either quantitative or qualitative research. The options that the researcher had in mind and also the ones that the chief executives could add were both taken into consideration. However, according to my perspective it would have been appropriate for the researcher to include the other executives from the senior management and middle management also in the survey. That would have led to a better representation of the situation under study and also their perspectives would have been obtained as they are the ones who will be in direct contact with the employees and providing them the required training.

I completely agree with the thesis statement of the article as according to me in order to face the situation of economic downturn and the other critical challenges that are being posed by the environment, it is absolutely necessary to know their implications on the managerial skills so that the appropriate steps can be adopted by the HR practitioners for facilitating the development of the required skills. This will be helpful for the organizations of New Zealand to face the current situation in a better way and be prepared for changes that occur in the dynamic environment. Additionally, availability of better opportunities in the country will take place and this will control the increasing migration of the country’s workforce to Australia in search of better jobs. This will make the climate of business more innovative, creative, flexible and stable.

My Viewpoint

Managerial skills include sets of attributes as well as qualities in the managers’ personality which assists them in managing effectively the organisation’s working. Several studies have also supported the significance of good managerial skills for improving organizational efficiency as well as performance (Kamble, 2011). Encouraging and facilitating change is crucial in the environment that exists currently. The relevant behaviours comprise collective learning, fostering innovation, envisioning and also advocating change (G.A. & Gordon, 2002). The capabilities that help managers in creating, extending and modifying the ways by which the organizations can survive help in providing explanations to the relationships that exist between decisions of managers, strategic change and performance of the organization (Helfat & Martin, 2014).

I also consider that it is very essential for the HR managers to consider management of people as well as limited resources, management of stakeholders and management of renewal as well as uncertainty as their main focus because they will provide the organization with the capability of facing challenges that the environment poses.

Conclusion

The article has a relevant thesis statement and on the basis of that the author has conducted an appropriate literature review. It has been observed that the article has a number of strengths and also possess certain weaknesses. The strengths are mainly visible in the use of the mixed methods approach which is more practical for the research. All the sectors of the economy have been taken into consideration in order to find out the most critical issues or challenges that the organizations face so that their managerial implications can be discussed and would become easier for the HR management to develop these critical skills in the employees through proper training and ensure that the organization is able to tackle the situations arising out of the dynamic environmental conditions. However, there are also certain weaknesses in the article as the number of people who finally responded to the survey are less and hence it would have been more appropriate if the author had included the other senior and middle level managers in the survey apart from the chief executives. This would have provided the author with other important implications.

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Helfat, C.E. & Martin, J.A., 2014. Dynamic Managerial Capabilities: Review and Assessment of Managerial Impact on Strategic Change. Journal of Management, 41(5), pp.1281-312.

Hutchison, A. & Boxall, P., 2014. The critical challenges facing New Zealand’s chief executives: implications for management skills. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 52, pp.23-41.

Kamble, R.R., 2011. Managerial Skills for Organizational Performance :An Analytical Study. Indian Streams Research Journal, 1(1), pp.23-27.

Lislie, J.D., 2011. THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF MIXING METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES:Lessons Learnt From Implementing Qualitatively Led Mixed Methods Research Designs in Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Curriculum, 18, pp.87-120.

Purdue University, 2016. WRITING A THESIS STATEMENT. [Online] Available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/general/gl_thesis.html [Accessed 16 September 2016].

Randolf, J.J., 2009. A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 13, p.14.