Research Essay On Zara: Management And Stakeholders.

• Understand the nature of naturally occurring data and how this can be objectively analysed to inform your practice and influence your behaviour
• Analyse and discuss how the structure and characteristics of organisations can influence and constrain managers and their decision making
• Identify the range of organisational stakeholders and explain how managers can manage effective relationships with them to motivate, manage and lead them to a
  preferred decision outcome
• Apply a range of techniques and strategies to communicate effectively to a culturally diverse range of stakeholders

The assessment suite in this subject is designed to provide students with a framework to understand organisational behaviour, politics and the dynamics of the business environment. The assessment suite aims to equip students with the necessary skills to understand the constraints managers and emerging leaders face in developing strategies to leverage advantages and overcome constraints and barriers in organisations.

Following from the first assignment, students will create a personal SWOT analysis and comment on their fit  with the organisation identified in their first assignment  submission. The second assignment should include:

• The use of three naturally occurring data (e.g. conversations, emails, corporate artefacts that regularly occur, etc.);
• Assessment of personal strengths and weaknesses as viewed by self and others (ensure you reflect on who is giving you what feedback, how you appear to be progressing, and how you fit within the organisation where you work, or want to work);
• A critical assessment of how you are placed or misplaced within the chosen organisation; and
• A discussion of self-improvement for continuous improvement.    

Positives and weaknesses of Zara Company

I am a student of Laureate International University and conducting a research o different management perspectives, and Zara Company has been taken into consideration for this research.  The purpose of the study is to understand the nature of the naturally occurring data and to evaluate personal practice and behavior. Moreover, the paper will help in assessing the range of organizational stakeholders and the strategies used by managers to boost the growth of the organization. Practical use of the research has been considered as to be vital for the growth and development of a particular organization. Zara is very popular among the fashion designing manufacturing firms, and it has been considered as to be the most active market responding firms. There has been fierce competition from few of its competitors throughout the concerned market segments. Moreover, the paper will highlight my SWOT analysis and will reflect a range of techniques to communicate effectively within a diverse culture.  

Zara is one of the well-renowned company operating in the field of clothes as well as accessories throughout different parts of the world.  There are few of the essential positives for the organization that helps in enhancing the overall brand image the firm in front of its customers as well as for its respective employees. One of the positives of the firm is that it offers the highest quality of products for all its customers at affordable prices. Secondly, it aims to maintain the loyalty and trust of the customers that facilitate the preferred growth of the firm (Turker, & Altuntas, 2014).  One of the other positives of the firms is that it keeps up the pace with the fast changing trends throughout the fashion industry and can provide excellent and latest fashionable clothes and accessories to all its customers (Shepherd, 2016). The management of the firm is engaged in taking proactive and efficient decisions that have helped in evaluating the desired growth of the firm throughout the concerned competitive market areas. The firm retains design advantage as it is engaged in producing the latest designs as per the changing trends and this has enhanced its brand value (Battaglia, Testa, Bianchi, Iraldo, & Frey, 2014). There are few of the weaknesses of the firm which needs to be addressed with specific recommendations. One such inadequacy are the generalized collection of the products to provide a significant amount of stock to maximum customers.  The firm has limited marketing a well as advertising capabilities as compared with its competitors. 

There are different research methodologies available that can be effectively used to conduct the research such as qualitative and quantitative research methods.  The use of a qualitative research method has been undertaken to gather data. In the qualitative research process, the use of the various opinions, secondary research on the business processes of Zara has been taking into consideration (Bouzon, & Govindan, 2015).  Moreover, the study helps in understanding the underlying reasons, opinions as well as the motivation of to keep up the desired pace throughout the fashion industry in the competitive marketplaces (Ray, & Preston, 2015).  The research process was further divided into two more subparts as primary research and secondary research, were the use of secondary data collection was adopted to gain the more in-depth understanding regarding the change in the fashion trend and evaluation of the business procedure of Zara (Xu, Chen, & Huang, 2015). 

Research methodologies used

The information was sourced by using the secondary data collection method, was the literature put forward by various other researchers were considered as well as the opinions and surveys that were done previously regarding the business processes of Zara were also found (Rashid, Barnes, & Warnaby, 2016). The self-assessment tools that were used as to understand the work activities and business process of the firm was Big Five that helped in evaluating the five personality traits to match as per the firm’s business requirements (Chan, Ngai, & Moon, 2017). These five personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness. The tool help in evaluating my strengths, weaknesses as well as other threats which need to be reduced to outrage the capability and skills to execute the concerned work processes of the organization (Pedersen, Gwozdz, & Hvass, 2018).

The data collected from Zara's official site critically reveals its mission and vision statement that the firm is looking to get the desired competitive advantage by delivering the best and superior quality of fashionable products as per the changing trends within the suitable budget of the customers (Wang, Hossain, & Bhargava, 2015).  The mission of the organization is to be the leader in the clothing industry and to develop loyalty and trust among the customers. 

One of my advantages is that I can effectively work under high pressure and can deliver the work required by my organization within the tight work schedules. On the other hand, it is essential to work cooperatively and collaboratively within the diverse culture, and I am right in doing this. The primary intention of any organization is to facilitate their concerned growth by utilizing the strengths and efforts of the employees working there.

Moreover, I can manage if any conflict occurs within the group members in a workplace. I have excellent communicational skills but when there is the requirement to speak the different language sometimes, I suffer, and therefore I am working to boost my overall communicational skills. Furthermore, I can manage the division of the work and can lead a team of 5-11 members to work on a complete project, and this leadership quality will help in evaluating the overall effectiveness of the concerned project given to me.

There are few of the weaknesses evaluated throughout the research that needs to be reduced or removed to increase my overall communicational and managerial skills. Sometimes, due to lack of confidence, I avoid working on group projects. But since I have transformational leadership qualities that back me up in these type of situations regarding the execution of a particular project in a group of few members.   One of the disadvantages that I have is that sometimes after completing the work I used to others work also that reduces the effectiveness and effeminacy of the other groups and few of the members becomes dependent on me.

I can use my strength of getting adapted as per the change tends to increase the growth of the firm by making utilization of the latest and innovative technologies. One of my weaknesses is doing and helping the teammates to complete their work, and I can turn it as my opportunity as this will assist me in evaluating my knowledge as the best performance within the organization. The firm has retained its brand reputation by delivering superior quality of products at affordable prices to all its customers and is possible because of skilled candidates. Moreover, developing quality products will help in maintaining the trust and loyalty of the customers that facilitates the desired growth of the firm throughout the concerned market segments.

Data collected from Zara's official site

Language sometimes acts as a barrier in communicating effectively with the candidates coming from different countries.  The changing demands of the customers generate significant threat to maintaining a quality of the work processes executed by me. On the other hand, the use of latest and innovative needs to be performed with proper guidance and this also acts as a threat to utilize them effectively.  It is essential to reduce the risks and implement useful recommendations as per the changing business and work policies (Freise, & Seuring, 2015).   

Diversity is defined as the desired state of being diverse. In other words, the different culture is defined as to be the people coming from various other religions and working in a particular place (Hossain, Rasti, Tabassum, & Abdelnasser, 2014). I mainly see diversity, as to be the strength as it helps in generating various innovative, was by different people to complete that particular work. Moreover,  in a diverse workplace, people come from different other countries or region to work, and they have their way of thinking, and this helps in completing the desired work with high effectiveness in the most suitable way (Nieves, & Segarra-Ciprés, 2015).  It is evident to known that the means of more significant focus on diversity will help in reducing potential threats and will help in grabbing ore opportunities to facilitate the efficiency of the concerned organization (Huq, Chowdhury, & Klassen, 2016).  One example from my life reflects that the execution of work becomes more comfortable having diverse culture at the workplace. During my internship program in my college, we were working in a group of 4 people, and each of us was from diverse culture, but we respected each other's view and listened to each other's perspective which helped in completing the entire internship program successfully. The understanding of diversity and its concepts will assist in providing the desired shape to my management career as it will resolving the diversity issues and will improve the effectiveness in future jobs.     

One of the vital strengths of the organization is that it delivers unique designed products that attract a large number of the customers to purchase from them. On the other hand, the company also uses the latest supply chain techniques that help in managing the ordering and delivering processes, where the products are safely provided to its respective customers (Jolly, 2014).   Therefore, I can see myself fit for the organization in the future since I am also engaged in executing my work with great perfection. Moreover, one of the advantages is that the firm is involved in enhancing the effort level of its employees by providing proper guidance which will further help in improving my skills and strengths. I am good at working in a diverse culture that will also assist in evaluating the effectiveness of the business procedure while working at the diverse workplace. I can reduce conflict in the diverse group and work collaboratively with other employees which will help me in being associated with the organization in the future. One of my strengths is that I help in making people understand regarding the work requirements so that the work gets completed within the mentioned time with excellent quality. One of my other strength is that I am a good listener so that it will help me in utilizing the introduction of the newer techniques to increase the reliability of the products and enhance the selling processes (Lion, Macchion, Danese, & Vinelli, 2016).

Self-Assessment Tools used

Conclusion

The paper effectively concludes that enhancement of the leadership skills and managing effective relationships with the customers as well as the other stakeholders of the organization helps in bringing positive results for that firm. There exists the full range of techniques such as training, motivating the employees who finally helps in increasing the effectiveness throughout the execution of the business processes of the entire firm.  The paper also highlights my SWOT analysis and the areas which will help in getting fit for the organization. Zara is one of the leading fashionable companies dealing in clothing and accessories throughout different parts of Australia.  Managers play the vital role in evaluating the efficiency of an organization by motivating the employees in various ways.

References

Battaglia, M., Testa, F., Bianchi, L., Iraldo, F., & Frey, M. (2014). Corporate social responsibility and competitiveness within SMEs of the fashion industry: Evidence from Italy and France. Sustainability, 6(2), 872-893.

Bouzon, M., & Govindan, K. (2015). Reverse logistics as a sustainable supply chain practice for the fashion industry: an analysis of drivers and the Brazilian Case. In Sustainable Fashion Supply Chain Management (pp. 85-104). Springer, Cham.

Chan, A. T., Ngai, E. W., & Moon, K. K. (2017). The effects of strategic and manufacturing flexibilities and supply chain agility on firm performance in the fashion industry. European Journal of Operational Research, 259(2), 486-499.

Freise, M., & Seuring, S. (2015). Social and environmental risk management in supply chains: a survey in the clothing industry. Logistics Research, 8(1), 2.

Hossain, E., Rasti, M., Tabassum, H., & Abdelnasser, A. (2014). Evolution toward 5G multi-tier cellular wireless networks: An interference management perspective. IEEE Wireless Communications, 21(3), 118-127.

Huq, F. A., Chowdhury, I. N., & Klassen, R. D. (2016). Social management capabilities of multinational buying firms and their emerging market suppliers: An exploratory study of the clothing industry. Journal of Operations Management, 46, 19-37.

Jolly, M. (2014). Big Archives and Small Collections: Remarks on the Archival Mode in Contemporary Australian Art and Visual Culture.

Lion, A., Macchion, L., Danese, P., & Vinelli, A. (2016, April). Sustainability approaches within the fashion industry: the supplier perspective. In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 95-108). Taylor & Francis.

Nieves, J., & Segarra-Ciprés, M. (2015). Management innovation in the hotel industry. Tourism Management, 46, 51-58.

Pedersen, E. R. G., Gwozdz, W., & Hvass, K. K. (2018). Exploring the relationship between business model innovation, corporate sustainability, and organizational values within the fashion industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 149(2), 267-284.

Rashid, A., Barnes, L., & Warnaby, G. (2016). Management perspectives on country of origin. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 20(2), 230-244.

Ray, B., & Preston, V. (2015). Working with diversity: A geographical analysis of ethnic-racial discrimination in Toronto. Urban Studies, 52(8), 1505-1522.

Shepherd, S. (2016). Criminal engagement and Australian culturally and linguistically diverse populations: Challenges and implications for forensic risk assessment. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 23(2), 256-274.

Turker, D., & Altuntas, C. (2014). Sustainable supply chain management in the fast fashion industry: An analysis of corporate reports. European Management Journal, 32(5), 837-849.

Wang, N., Hossain, E., & Bhargava, V. K. (2015). Backhauling 5G small cells: A radio resource management perspective. IEEE Wireless Communications, 22(5), 41-49.

Xu, S., Chen, S., & Huang, J. (2015). Pedagogies of working with diversity: West-East reciprocal learning in preservice teacher education. In International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part B) (pp. 137-160). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.