RUNNING HEAD: EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

TOPIC: DEVELOPING EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Context

The name of the organization that I work in is International Advisory Services, the

organization primarily provides services such as business advisory, accounting and finance

advisory, deal advisory, and tax advisory. I work as a Senior Associate Analyst and my

responsibility is to look at business advisory functions and as well as accounting and finance

advisory. Basically, I overlook matters of business advisory such as business solutions for small

businesses and provide them opinions as to how they can improve their business processes. And

I also overlook accounting and finance advisory, where, as part of a team we provide clients with

various services such preparation of financial statements, preparation of tax returns, profitability

analysis, working capital requirement analysis overall analysis of the financial health of

businesses.

Task 1

Responsibilities & Key Performance Objectives

The relevant responsibilities and key performance indicators include the following.

Responsibilities

1. Thoroughly understanding the macro level and micro level of the business before

proceeding to analyze it.

2. Adequate communication with clients to make sure issues are resolved in time.

3. Providing clients with in-depth insights about their business issues and how those issues

could be resolved.
 4. Preparing reports that reflect issues and their possible solutions

Key Performance Objectives

1. Client Retention: One of the major objectives of my role is to retain clients. In advisory

business retention of clients is extremely important because building a clientele takes

time and effort and you don’t want to let those efforts go to waste. One of the ways in

which clients are retained is through active follow-ups and prompt feedbacks.

2. Reduction of Client Complaints: Another major objective of the job is to reduce the

number of complaints. Usually, in advisory services, dealing with complaints is a major

issue and most clients complain when it comes to providing them an opinion on issues

with their business processes.

3. Implementation Follow-ups: One of the most demanding objectives of the role is to make

sure that the client has no issues with regards to the implementation of proposed changes.

It has to be made sure that the client understands what those changes are and how those

changes should be implemented. This objective involves regular meeting with clients

after changes have been proposed and taking follow-ups as to what issues they face in the

implementation and resolving those issues.

Employment Legislation & Ethical Issues

The relevant employment legislation when developing role responsibilities and

performance objectives include The U.K. Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas),

this code requires employers to provide two warnings prior to dismissing an employee due to

performance issues (Acas, 2018). Another legislation includes The Employment Rights Act 1996
which requires the employer to consider several job-related factors such as protection of wages,

zero hour workers, Sunday working and time off work (Legislation, 2018). Ethical issues to be

considered in this respect include making sure that similar level of services is provided to all

clients and that they are not discriminated on the basis of fees or any other issues such as the

worth of clients.

Task 2

Core Strengths & Weaknesses

My core strengths include promptness; I make sure that each query or issues that come

along gets resolved on a timely basis and is not left for future. Effective communication, this is

my another core strength, in order to be prompt you need to make sure that your communication

is effective and that each and every issue is communicated as soon as possible. My another core

strength is conscientiousness, being conscientiousness and diligent is very important if you want

to succeed in completing any complex task. My weaknesses include; not being assertive enough,

I believe I am not as much as assertive as I should be. My another weakness includes stressing

too much, this is a weakness because stress diverts your energy and attention from what is

important and objective to what might be if results are not achieved, and this wastes a lot of time.

I believe that I should be provided with training to enhance my assertiveness. This is a

behavioral therapy that trains people to stand up for themselves and make their opinions and

thoughts clear and understandable to other people basically this involves maintaining a balance

between aggression and passivity (ABCT, 2018).

 In my opinion, I have been quite effective in achieving the first two objectives, i.e. client

retention and reducing the number of complaints. This has been possible by employing

interpersonal skills such as effective communication and prompt inquiry. In the 2nd quarter of

2018, the number of complaints was reduced by 10% and the client retention rate also increased

by 5% as compared to the second quarter of 2017. However, there have been issues with

achieving objective 3, i.e. implementation follow-ups. This objective has been difficult to align

because of in order to achieve this objective you need to make extra efforts in addition to current

responsibilities, and due to lack of performance-based rewards finding the motivation to go that

extra mile has been difficult.

Task 3

According to Hertzberg (2017), at the workplace, there are certain factors that lead to job

satisfaction and certain others that lead to dissatisfaction. The essence of this theory is that job

satisfaction and dissatisfaction run parallel to each other and both of them are caused by different

factors. Keeping this theory in mind, I believe that, within my organization, if certain factors that

lead to dissatisfaction are objectively measured and it is made sure that specific actions are taken

to eliminate or reduce them, then this will lead to substantial increase in motivation of employees

and thus their job performance as well. One of the factors that lead to dissatisfaction within my

organization is that the efforts of employees are not highlighted, is they are and rewarded as well,

then this will surely reduce the element of dissatisfaction.

Another theory of motivation is McClelland’s Need Theory. This theory suggests that

people who acquire certain needs behave differently than others. What this means is that when a

particular need is created in an individual then he or she acts differently. For example, if the need
for achievement is instilled in a particular than his behavior will change (McClelland, 1987).

This theory could be put to use in my organization, and I believe that if a culture within the

organization is created that pushes people to achieve objectives no matter what, then this will

have tremendous effects. Environment plays an extremely important role, if the organization

manages to create such an environment then certainly many of the employees will become over-

achievers if they are pushed enough. I believe currently this aspect is missing in my organization

and that if there is a continuous stimulus to achieve certain objectives and getting rewarded for it,

then this will increase the motivation of employees to the next level.

Task 4

One of the major issues that I face at the workplace is that due to the nature of the flow of

communication, certain tasks get delayed because they travel through many channels. Within my

organization, there are certain bureaucratic elements, and the flow of communication is one of

them. I believe that this issue could be resolved if communication is made leaner and that policy

is adopted where any level of employee can approach his superior without hesitation. If this is

implemented, then the delays that take place is the resolution of issues could be dealt with in a

much more effective and timely manner.

Another issue that is prevalent in the workplace is that, since my organization is a

consultancy firm, issues like dissatisfaction of clients is quite common. Every client is different

and some get offended when certain issues with their approach or strategy are identified. This

issue can be resolved by improving communication with clients and negotiating with them as to

how they want us to approach their business and prepare reports. By using effective interpersonal

skills such as assertiveness and directness this issue can be resolved.

Task 5

Currently, the type of communication model followed in my organization can say to be

Aristotle’s Persuasion Model, as discussed communication is one of the issues in my

organization and partly it is because this model is used. In this model, the scope of the receiver is

reduced and it cannot communicate with much effectiveness, and this is one of the drawbacks of

this model, that it is one-sided and leads to operational issues. Another issue with this model is

that communication at a various level within the organization becomes a tedious task, however,

this should not be the case, because communication is one of the most important aspects of

organizational success and if it is not done properly, then surely the business will suffer (Petty,

2018).

Communication can be improved within the organization if more inclusive models of

communication are adopted, such as Circular Model of Communication. Since communication

within the organization and with clients, is a two-way process and hindrance within this process

will lead to poor communication (Cardon, 2014). Especially, this model is important for inter-

organizational communication. What should be done is that the levels and channels of

communications should be clearly defined and then there should be a system in place where the

receiver of the information can give his feedback about the communication. This will help to

make sure that communication becomes effective because it happens quite often that senior level

management communicate very precisely because of a shortage of time, and due to this, many

times, the information is misinterpreted. If the option to provide feedback and monitor that

feedback is implemented, then sure the communication within the organization will improve.
One of the time management strategies that could be used to enhance performance at the

workplace is daily tasks of employees should be decided in advance and estimated time for that

task should also be calculated, though they can be on a tentative basis. This will help to ensure

that when employees come to work they exactly know what task they have to perform and in

what time. And at the day-end, employees should input the tasks performed and the amount of

time spent on each task in their time management system. This will be quite effective because

this will let employees know in real time what amount of time they should have spent on a

particular task and what amount was actually spent. This objective information will help the

employees to become more efficient because they will get to know what tasks take longer to

complete and what should be done to complete them sooner.

Task 6

One of the most precise definitions of team dynamics is as follows “Team dynamics are

the unconscious, psychological forces that influence the direction of a team’s behavior and

performance. They are like undercurrents in the sea, which can carry boats in a different

direction to the one they intend to sail.” The dynamics of the team are created by the nature of

the individuals in that team and their interactions of these features and characteristics. The

dynamics of the team can be either positive or negative, for example, when dynamics of the team

improve then this can lead to synergies and the team can achieve much more than what those

individuals would have achieved. And if team dynamics are negative then this can lead to

dysfunctionality and unproductivity, and these aspects of teams can also be described as the

nature of teams (Team Technology, 2018).

 According to Belbin (2014), there are various roles that individuals play and these are as

follows.

1. Plants: These are unorthodox people who are creative and come up with new

ideas.

2. Resource Investigator: They make arrangements by making use of their contacts

and create opportunities.

3. Coordinator: They are capable to see the big picture and on this basis manage

others in the team.

4. Shaper: They are task-oriented and always ready to achieve objectives and

accomplish.

5. Monitor Evaluator: They are logical observers and judge how things are going

around within the team.

6. Team-worker: They act as a connector and make sure that everything within the

team remains smooth.

7. Implementer: They take suggestions and opinions and convert them into actions

8. Completer Finisher: They are perfectionists they go the extra mile to make sure

everything works out well.

9. Specialist: They are passionate about their own respective domain and area of

expertise and because of this they are a wonderful resource for knowledge.
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Available at: http://www.abct.org/Information/?m=mInformation&fa=fs_ASSERTIVENESS

[Accessed 13 Nov. 2018].

Herzberg, F., 2017. Motivation to work. Routledge.

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