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Introduction
The company chosen for my placement operates in the travel industry. It offers a wide array of services related to travel planning and grounding. The customers are at the core of the company’s operations, and every trip is tailored to the customers’ needs and budget. My job as an operator involved planning trips, contacting customers, customizing the trip to their needs, and negotiating with service providers, such as hotels. The two theoretical concepts that were particularly relevant to my company’s strategy are leadership and competitive analysis. The present paper will review the company in relation to these concepts, explain their strategic application in the global environment, and discuss the impact on my personal and professional values and beliefs.
Leadership
Review
My experience with leadership in the company was highly positive. From my first day of work, the manager provided me with the information and support necessary to fulfill my duties successfully. I could always contact her when I needed help or reach out to other employees for assistance. However, once I have gotten enough experience with customers and could complete tasks independently, she provided more autonomy and freedom. As a result, I was able to propose and begin a project to enhance the range of services offered by the company by adding wedding photography.
Based on my observations, the leadership style used in the company is situational leadership. The theory of situational leadership describes four approaches that leaders could take depending on the circumstances, goals, and employee characteristics (Khan, Nawaz & Khan 2016). According to Thompson and Glasø (2015, p. 528), employees are classified into four categories in terms of their commitment and competence levels, and the leadership approaches suited for each type are identified. Employees with high commitment and low competence are called enthusiastic beginners, and they benefit most from a directive leadership approach (Thompson and Glasø 2016, p. 528). This is the approach that the manager used with me at the beginning since I required information and instruction to complete tasks. As I developed my skills further and spent several months in the company, my competence increased, prompting the manager to switch to the delegating approach (Thompson and Glasø 2016, p. 528). This explains why I was given sufficient freedom to work on my project and fit into the framework of situational leadership.
Strategic Application
Situational leadership has numerous strategic benefits in the contemporary global environment. As explained by Marques (2015, p. 1310), leaders today are required to be more flexible and adaptable in their approach. This is mainly because, in a global environment, there is a higher possibility of changes to the conditions in which a business operates. For instance, globalization is connected to the customer and industry changes, challenging economic conditions, and legal and environmental considerations (Goldin and Mariathasan 2014, p. xiv). In order to respond to changes in the external environment adequately, it is crucial to maintain adaptability in terms of leadership styles and approaches applied in the company. Situational leadership benefits the company in the global climate by enabling it to retain flexibility and supporting strategic responses to any changes and risks.
Another way in which situational leadership is applied strategically in the context of globalization is to improve performance in diverse workplaces. Due to globalization, the labor force in the United Kingdom has become very diverse. Companies usually benefit from diversity since it increases performance and innovation (Guillaume et al., 2017, pp. 276-277). Still, diversity may present challenges to the management because people from different cultural backgrounds have varying expectations with regard to leadership, as well as commitment and competence levels. Applying situational leadership, in this case, helps to balance the challenges and benefits of diversity. It enables the company to sustain a competitive advantage by using the diverse workforce strategy to improve products and services. This pattern can be observed in my placement company, where diverse employees collaborate in providing services to customers. The manager adapts her leadership style to the needs of employees, thus ensuring that everyone can contribute their skills, knowledge, and experience for the company’s benefit.
Impact on Personal and Professional Values and Beliefs
I was witnessing and analyzing the application of leadership in my placement company influenced by personal and professional values and beliefs in several ways. First of all, it highlighted the importance of a flexible, personalized approach to leadership. As a new employee with little experience, I needed a lot more guidance and support than I do now. By using situational leadership, it is possible for managers to fulfill the needs of employees at different stages of employment. Additionally, flexible leadership is also valuable in the current business environment. Globalization had a significant influence on the diversity of the labor force in various industries. Because people from different cultural backgrounds have varying needs and qualities, a flexible approach to leadership is more beneficial. Based on my placement experience, I intend to apply flexible, situational leadership whenever I need to take a leading position in the future.
Secondly, my experience with leadership in the company also affected my views and values regarding the relationship between a manager and their subordinates. I believe that the approach used by the manager in the placement company was very beneficial as it helped me to build the skills and knowledge I needed to work more independently. I also enjoyed the opportunity to perform tasks independently and introduce new ideas with regard to services and products. This experience made me believe that a good manager listens to employees’ ideas, provides support when needed, and allows workers to develop their potential at work. In my future career, I intend to follow the same principles in my relationships with subordinates.
Competitive Analysis
Review
Competitive analysis is a significant part of most companies’ approach to marketing. It is defined as the process of identifying and evaluating the strategies, products, and services provided by competitors (Maksimava 2019, para. 3). This means that competitive analysis can be useful for refining and developing marketing strategies, as well as for setting prices and clarifying product and service portfolios. In my placement company, competitive analysis was mainly used to determine prices and support service development.
Prices are among the key factors influencing people’s decision-making when they purchase trips. Travelling can be quite expensive since it involves flights, accommodation, and tours on top of other living expenses. Hence, to meet the customers’ needs, tour operators in my company often had to research the prices offered in competing firms and negotiate with service providers to get the best price.
Companies operating in the tourism industry also vary in terms of the services they provide. According to Davidoff (2015, para. 5), one of the best ways of improving customers’ experience is by providing total solutions to their needs. This means that the package of services offered to clients should be as comprehensive as possible so that they would not need to look elsewhere for additional services. This principle is also applied in my placement company, and each trip is tailored to the needs of a specific customer, couple, or group. In this context, competitive analysis is used to identify potential services that could be requested by customers in the future. The process of a competitive analysis is required for fostering connections with service providers, thus helping to plan for future customers’ needs. Personally, I conducted competitive analysis while working on my proposal for photography services. I presented the results to the manager, and she agreed that it would be beneficial to add this service to our offer.
Strategic Application
Competitive analysis is crucial for companies working in highly competitive environments, including the tourism industry. It supports strategic decision-making by assisting companies in mapping out other offers in the market. This information, in turn, can be used in product development and diversification. As explained by Benur and Bramwell (2015, p. 213), these processes are the foundation of growth for businesses operating in the tourism sector. If a product is too expensive compared to alternatives or does not include the standard package of services, customers might turn to the company’s competitors. Hence, the competitive analysis contributes to the performance and sustainable development of my placement company.
In addition, competitive analysis is also useful for competitive positioning, which is the process of differentiating a product or service from its competitors. My placement company applies competitive analysis for this purpose, which contributes to its strategic development. For example, while preparing for my project, I researched the services provided by competitors in the same area. Through the process of competitive analysis, I was able to identify an opportunity to enhance the service package by adding photography services. Market-driven product design and positioning help companies to succeed in highly competitive environments (Lei and Moon 2015, p. 82). This adds to the usefulness of competitive analysis in my company’s context.
The strategic applications of competitive analysis identified above are especially relevant in the contemporary global environment. Bang and Market (2011, p. 284) explain that globalization has changed the way the forces of competition impact value creation. This effect is due to changes in markets, economies, and competitive environments. For example, the impact of governmental regulations on competition in specific markets has become more significant in response to globalization (Bremmer 2014, p. 103). To operate successfully in the global environment, it is essential for companies to assess their competitive landscape regularly and understand its impact on their value chains. Hence, the use of competitive analysis helps my company to find new paths of value creation and prepare for changes in competition patterns.
Impact on Personal and Professional Values and Beliefs
My experience with competitive analysis in my placement company provided me with valuable insights that affected my personal and professional values and beliefs. Firstly, it impacted my perception of competition as a whole. Before this experience, I usually viewed competition as a threat rather than as an opportunity. Performing competitive analysis and seeing how it is applied in my placement company changed that. I came to appreciate the opportunities provided by competitive analysis. It can help to develop products that would improve a company’s financial performance and future development. It can also assist in developing a specific strategic course and ensuring adherence to industry standards. In this light, competition is crucial to the success and development of businesses, particularly in the contemporary environment.
Additionally, this experience also made me see the importance of continuous development to business performance. By striving to provide services in compliance with customers’ needs, companies can achieve sustainable performance. However, to become a market leader, it is crucial to exceed the customers’ expectations by providing services that none of the competitors can offer. Consistently meeting industry standards while developing and diversifying products and services is only possible when companies actively engage in competitive analysis. Hence, in my future career, I will apply this tool along with other useful techniques to satisfy customers and achieve continuous development.
Conclusion
On the whole, the placement experience enabled me to observe and analyze the application of leadership and competitive analysis in real-life circumstances. The style of leadership demonstrated by my manager was situational, whereas competitive analysis was actively used by the company to develop products and services. The experience provided me with crucial insights that will affect my future work. With regard to leadership, I learned the importance of a flexible, personalized approach for managing diverse employees throughout various career stages. Performing competitive analysis and seeing its impact enabled me to appreciate the benefits of competition for businesses and understand the value of continuous development. This reflection also highlighted the importance of both concepts to the performance of firms in the global context. With the challenges and opportunities provided by globalization, it is crucial for people working in various industries to understand the techniques that can help their companies to succeed in the global environment.
Reference List
Bang, K. E., and Markeset, T. (2011) ‘Impact of globalization on the model of competition and companies’ competitive situation,’ IFIP International Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems proceedings. Berlin: Springer, pp. 276-286.
Benur, A. M. and Bramwell, B. (2015) ‘Tourism product development and product diversification in destinations,’ Tourism Management, 50, pp. 213-224.
Bremmer, I. (2014) ‘The new rules of globalization, Harvard Business Review, 92(1), pp. 103-107.
Davidoff. D. (2015) The total solution ecosystem. Web.
Goldin, I., & Mariathasan, M. (2014). The butterfly defect: how globalization creates systemic risks, and what to do about it. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Guillaume, Y. R. et al. (2017) ‘Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: what moderates the effects of workplace diversity?’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), pp. 276-303.
Khan, Z. A., Nawaz, A. and Khan, I. (2016) ‘Leadership theories and styles: a literature review’, Journal of Resources Development and Management, 16, pp. 1-7.
Lei, N. & Moon, S. K. (2015) ‘A decision support system for market-driven product positioning and design’, Decision Support Systems, 69, pp. 82-91.
Lopatina, E.Y. (2012) ‘Risk management under the conditions of globalization’, Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research, 4(2), pp. 150-157.
Marques, J. (2015) ‘The changed leadership landscape: what matters today’, Journal of Management Development, 34(10), pp. 1310-1322.
Maksimava, M. (2019) How to perform a best-in-class competitor analysis. Web.
Thompson, G. and Glasø, L. (2015) ‘Situational leadership theory: a test from three perspectives’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(5), pp. 527-544.
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