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Introduction

The US Department of Commerce is a department within the US government that is concerned with promoting the economic process of the country in its entirety. The department was established on the 4th of February 1903 as the US Department of Commerce and labour. Their name was changed later to the present name which is US Department of Commerce. This change came as the bureaus and the agencies that specialized in labor were being transferred to the newly formed department of labor.

The vision of the United States Department of Commerce

Since it started over a hundred years ago, the United States Department of Commerce has partnered with the United States businesses with the aim of maintaining a prosperous and very productive America that is focused on consumer safety and the protection of the country's natural resources. All this is to achieve the vision of the United States getting the leading role in the world's economy. This vision has been achieved through the records of the innovations in manufacturing, transportation, communications, measurements and materials that have helped in the sustenance of United States leading role in the international markets

Strategic goals of the United States Department of Commerce

Bearing in mind that the organization's mission is to create conditions for economic growth and opportunity by promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and stewardship. In the quest to archive this mission and fulfil the vision, the organization has incorporated three primary strategic goals and one management integration goal.

Task One

Provide the information and tools to maximize U.S. competitiveness and enable economic growth for American industries, workers, and consumers.

It encompasses the act of trying to enhance economic growth for all Americans by developing partnerships with private sector and nongovernmental organizations. Apart from that, they look to Advance responsible economic growth and trade while protecting American security.Through this, they also have to enhance the supply of crucial economic and demographic information to support effective Decision-making of the businesses, the policymakers and the American public.

How to Archive this goal

To achieve this goal the organization needs to collect and analyze the economic data that can be used by both public and private investors for business financing and for investment strategy. Apart from that, the organization has to facilitate the export licensing process, guide the exporting community, and monitor and support the U.S. defence industrial and technological base.

Enhance science and technological leadership by protecting intellectual property, enhancing technical standards, and advancing measurement science

It involves the aim to develop tools that have capabilities of improving quality dissemination and efficiency of research. With the implementation of that, there will come about the goal to protect intellectual property and improve the patent and trademark system.

How to Archive this goal

There must be an environment to facilitate the implementation of new technologies that are used in the organization. There must also be a system to advise the president on the domestic and international communication policy and manage the federal government’s use of radio frequency.

Observe, protect, and manage the Earth’s resources to promote environmental stewardship

This goal involves understanding and predicting changes in the earth's environment to meet the country's economic, social and environmental needs.

How to achieve this goal.

The goal can be achieved by analyzing and making public all the daily weather reports and in turn alerting the citizens of adverse weather changes. Also monitoring and predicting changes in oceans and global climate.

The management integration goal

The management integration goal is about the three goals of the organization; however, the integration goal is in line with the progressive trend toward the enhanced effectiveness of organizational management in both public and private settings. For this goal to succeed, there must be some element of each of the three strategic goals. This organization plans to become more efficient, and this can only be achieved through incorporation of specific managerial and leadership competencies.

Managerial and leadership competencies

Since organizational success is significantly determined by the managerial practices that are involved. This means that the values, behaviours, and attitude of the leaders are key to the success of any organization. According to De Chernatony, (2010), the competencies that the future leaders in organizations need to know include, the deep knowledge of everyone's work area, technological skills that can benefit the organization apart from that he or she should have expert skill in decision making. For the integration goal to work the managers should be responsible enough and able to incorporate this technology and decision-making skills to make sure the organization achieves its strategic ambitions.

Management is a decisive factor in organizational and national performance. From his mostly macroeconomic perspective and by international comparative economic data he places a lot of emphasis on the business environment of the company: infrastructure, liberality of economic and regulatory policies, investment traditions and practices. He positions management capability, and particularly the willingness and ability to adopt ‘modern management techniques' as much or more as a consequence of investment alongside advanced technology and highly skilled labour, than as a likely cause of making increased investment and up-rating technology (Stacey 2007).

Skill Gaps

Despite the well laid out strategy of the organization, it lacks some key aspects which could make it even better. This includes the technological skills to help them reach their goals. This is further enhanced by the fact that the whole world is embracing technology and the fact that the world is becoming a global village. This would help the organization achieve its goals even further.

Another gap that is evident is the incorporation of a proper functioning management body. This would help the whole organization work in unison in an attempt to achieve all the objectives that they have set for themselves. Apart from that, the goals of the organization should be placed in a way that they are team based and should be implemented to touch on every branch of the organization.

Conclusively, the article notes the importance of the vision, mission and strategic goals to an organization's performance. Notably, these factors drive forth the company, inspires and motivate success through constantly reminding the team the direction of the firm. Additionally, an organization needs to invest in the necessary resources to enhance the performance of its team, apart from evaluating training needs of its workers and acting appropriately.

Task 2

Opportunities to support leadership development

Strategic management is a critical aspect of the attainment of an organization's objectives despite challenges and dynamism of the environment. Leadership, on the other hand, is a motivational design of working with a team of juniors through mentoring and directing them to achieve the set results. Therefore, strategic leadership can be defined as the actions employed by a leader to motivate a team towards the achievement of strategic vision, goals, and objectives of an organization.

Developing strategic leadership skills encompass deliberate effort to train and internalize some aspects. Firstly, one has to develop strategic thinking skills and be able to anticipate or foresee oncoming challenges and opportunities. Example, an individual has to be able to scan the PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal environment) and be formulate ideas to capitalize on situations as well as mitigate the risks.

Learning to be a strategic leader requires an individual to be a change agent interrogating processes and continuously seeking to improve processes and policies. Example, an individual can use the strategic vision and goals of the company to evaluate the employee's actions and decisions and device ways to address the gaps between the anticipated and the actual performance (Tay and Diener 2011, pp. 354).

Several researchers have been able to come up with a set of some key essential skills that despite their relationship to the above mentioned key elements, they can instil strategic leadership in an individual. To shed some light on them, the first is anticipation. As a strategic leader, detecting threats and opportunities to your organization, or department should be your number one priority.

For a strategic leader, decision making is paramount. He/she must be able to effectively and within the stipulated time make the right decisions in the arising matters in the ever dynamic organizational environment. Furthermore, just like the ability to make others see a vision from their point of view, strategic leaders must be able to align support through team building, communication and engagement to support the various views.

Task 3

My Key Strengths

As a leader, I have great personal attributes that impact on my leadership capabilities positively. After a thorough analysis using leadership frameworks, the results demonstrated that I am a leader able to remain focused and calm under pressure. This has enabled me to demonstrate flexibility under any service requirements or workplace challenges. I also have this goal of ensuring that I deliver on my daily commitments by planning my workload well throughout the day. Planning is an essential quality that every leader must demonstrate in all endeavours.

I also have a strong belief that developing the people around me can significantly help lessen work-related problems. Therefore, when working with others, I always ensure to share resources and information across all networks. I also ensure to communicate efficiently and carefully with others as well as ensure to actively seek views and contributions from other people in the group. I believe that sharing with others, including all my colleagues, in decision-making and communicating my vision are all critical elements towards meeting my work obligations as well as meeting the goals of my organization

Development Needs

Despite the fact that I have some essential qualities, I admit being having particular shortcomings that need to be addressed. Firstly, my insensitivity to people's culture, personality and actions form one of my greatest undoings. Notably, today's work environment and the increased globalization of business has procured a context of diverse culture, tradition and skill set. Therefore, failure to appreciate the diversity of the workplace impedes cooperation, understanding ability and forging a common goal of the organization. Consequently, I need an adequate tie to interact and learn other people's diversity and appreciating them to develop cultural competence.

Second, I also have a difficulty in telling others when they are not doing the right thing. I tend to say that, "let me mind my own business" when someone is doing something that does not concern me. A good leader must act with integrity, and this should include speaking out when I see that values or ethics are being compromised.

Development Goals

A leader has the potential to inspire and motive his or her team to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization (Austin 2016, pp. 21). Therefore, it is fundamental that a leader exhibits and practice good leadership skills and influence a positive culture among his team. I plan to improve my skill set to deliver objective judgments not affected by prejudice or emotions thus impacting on my goals and corporate goals. Importantly, I will achieve this through forming close collaborative working environment to connect and understand the inspiration behind my employees and seek to address their concerns.

I plan to closely monitor employees' performance and attitude through a robust and credible feedback system which also guide on an appropriate course of actions. Most importantly, I will also enforce and cement a culture of positivity and encourage good work ethics among the workers by making it one of their performance indicators to evaluate their performance. Last but not least, I will enrol in a professional course to expand my knowledge on my career giving in-depth insights on how I can be a strategic leader and deliver the result to my organization. Finally, acquiring cultural competence is my priority least; therefore, I will enrol for cultural education to understand different culture across the globe.

Progress Review

I have noted a definite progress within the last six months of participating in different group activities. Especially, my interpersonal skills have tremendously improved due to frequent interactions with diversified team members. Therefore, this has equipped me with the skills required to create rapport and manage conversations an objectively and in ethical manners. Additionally, I grabbed the opportunity to use my colleagues and senior management to evaluate my progress and provide meaningful feedback for my action. Consequentially, this step proved so vital to expose my weaknesses and helped me to work on them accordingly.

I plan to consistently solicit feedback from my friends to monitor my progress and address the weak-points accordingly. Also, I will create time for self-assessment to ensure I identify biases and work on them accordingly to develop objective view of issues and people's culture, beliefs, and practices. Additionally, I anticipate enrolling in personal development programs to complement my efforts and fast track my development targets.

Task 4

Impact of Development Plan

Usually, a development plan well implemented will boost the performance of an organization by equipping the employees with the necessary skills, knowledge and effective technological infrastructure to discharge their duties and responsibilities productively. The primary objective of the firm is to provide and avail the required information and technical support to enhance the growth and development of competitive advantage among the US industries. Importantly, the department will need to foster public-private partnership to realize these goals and capitalize on the research activity from the private sector.

It is also critical for the department to foster cooperation among the employees ensuring they are productive and work towards the same goal of the collection and analysis of information. My leadership development plan enabled me to improve my interpersonal skills tremendously through enabling me to identify the abilities of my colleagues and working towards supplementing each other to accomplish our group activities. Notably, this department requires absolute teamwork to achieve the set goals and objectives.

However, the organization is yet to ensure cohesiveness and cooperation from each employee. As a leader in my area, it is my responsibility to foster a team spirit among the department and organizational employees in general. Some employees still consider accomplishing their tasks without consulting other team members. I still need to work on better qualities and strategies to help instil the idea of togetherness in all team members.

Task 5

Influence of Staff Welfare Commitment

Welfare is a corporate commitment or attitude visible in the expressed care for the needs of employees at every staff level, with the main focus on the work of employees and the environment in which they operate. The concept involves providing employees with appropriate sports and social amenities, running sick clubs, supervising employees canteens,showing interest and giving advice on personal problems. Also,providing leave grants and pension funds, offering fringe benefits such as luncheon vouchers and many others to impact on their attitude and morale on their core business in the organization. Consequentially, an organization can produce a happy and content staff, which in turn can create a productive and harmonious working environment (Torrington et al 2008, pp. 48).

To meet its objectives regularly, an organization must ensure it meets most of these obligations consistently. It is critical to ensure that every staff member feels safe and secure in his or her job environment through providing them with necessary protective gears and ensuring them against any eventuality during their duties. For instance, in the United States Department of Commerce, the organization has opened an open door policy where everyone feels that his or her issues can be attended to without much difficulty. While working in the department, everyone feels that they are free to approach the top management with any grievances or worries and their issues can be dealt with comprehensively. Consequently, the program has positively impacted on the employee's morale and motivation to achieve their targets and goals in their duties. Notably, employees work optimally and remain committed to their obligations when they work in an environment where they feel valued and needed.

Productivity means efficiently producing goods and services within a specific time while incurring minimal costs. Therefore, an organization that is productive can meet its targets regarding producing goods and services within a specified period thereby boosting its competitive advantage and enhancing its customer experience with the organization. Apart from being a narrow economic measure, productivity is also a measure of how well a group performs in all its tasks to meet the needs of both its internal and external customers.

A majority of organizations achieve remarkable results in their endeavours not only because they operate in good business environments, or because of holding a better competitive advantage but also because its management provides its people with incentives that make their tasks worth enjoying. My department holds the belief that no organization can perform optimally or efficiently if the people working there are not adequately motivated. Its staff is constantly motivated for the better of the organization or attainment of set goals and objectives. Therefore, for an organization to have a positive impact on its objectives, the management must demonstrate a corporate commitment to staff welfare.

To achieve its objectives, an organization must ensure to remain aware of its responsibilities to the employees and in particular, its staff welfare. This is critical to inspire and motivate the staff to give their best in their responsibility because of the feeling of being cared for by the firm. The US Department of Commerce believes that providing "a great place to work" for each employee is its core value and heritage as it plays a critical role in achieving its business goals and objectives. The department believes that employees are a great asset to its endeavours by actualizing its goals and objectives through being productive and effective in their mandates. Therefore, without creating a deep commitment to their welfare, then it will not attain the objectives that it sets out since employees will not have the morale or motivation to work towards meeting the needs of the company. Technically, no one employee will be committed to benefiting a self-centred management that does not consider their welfare, progress, and development (Barnes et al 2010, pp. 32).

The department has a belief that it is only with the help of a healthy, fit and well-motivated workforce that it can be able to accomplish a majority of its strategic ambitions. Therefore, it has established programs to ensure that the health of its staff is guaranteed through health diet and lifestyle involving treatment of its staff to outdoor activates, paid health consultancy and many others. Additionally, the department has a fitness club as well as a gym where employees can freely keep fit during their free times. The department has also employed fitness personnel to help employees during their exercise sessions. By promoting a healthy lifestyle, the organization has been able to maintain a healthy workforce and, consequently, reducing costs in Medicare or Medicaid expenditures as well as reducing the rates of absenteeism due to illnesses (Thaden and Robinson 2012, pp. 23). The impact on employee motivation and productivity has been significant resulting in enhanced focus and commitment in their responsibilities.

Additionally, the department of commerce offers its employees numerous allowances including overtime allowance, travelling allowance, paid holidays, end-year bonus, and Christmas bonus and so on in a comprehensive staff welfare programme. The department is also committed to providing employees with opportunities for personal and professional development through enrolling them in different learning programs. The department recognizes that such as program is crucial to gain employee loyalty as well as increase morale among employees by providing a flexible working environment, striking a balance between life and work and reducing work-related stress. In the corporate world view, it is difficult to attain all strategic objectives without having a stable, well-motivated and loyal team of employees. The impact of this strategic initiative is the development of employee personal lives and eventual job satisfaction and enhanced motivation.

An environment that emphasizes staff welfare is crucial in the development of good organizational values and achievement of corporate goals and objectives of the firm. Essentially, organizational values define the rules and beliefs that control the management of a company, corporate philosophy and the accepted culture of an organization.In today's competitive environment, a majority of companies are keeping eyes on the welfare of its employees to attract loyalty and increase workforce morale thereby achieving productivity, growth, and development of the organization. Otherwise, employees will not be committed to meeting the objectives of an organization thus leading to failure and eventual loss of the firm’s competitive advantage. In my organization, every individual feels that he or she is responsible for the well-being of the department as well as those of their colleague’s thereby promoting cooperation and a team spirit. This is culture deeply-rooted in every employee and is essential to the development and well-being of every individual as well as the realization of the department goals and objectives.

References

Austin, J., Bentkover, J., and Chait, L. (2016). Tools for Transformational Strategic Planning, pp. 21

Barnes, H., Aston, J., and Williams, C. (2010). Employment and support allowance, Customer and the staff experiences of the face-to-face work capability assessment and work-focused health-related assessment. Leeds: Corporate Document Services, pp. 32-45

De Chernatony, L., (2010).From brand vision to the brand evaluation, The strategic process of growing and the strengthening brands. Routledge.

Stacey, R. (2007).Strategic management and the organizational dynamics, The challenge of the complexity to ways of thinking about organizations. Pearson education.

Tay L. and Diener E. (2011). "Needs and subjective well-being around the world". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, pp. 354-365.

Thaden, E., and Robinson, J. (January 01, 2012). Staff Narratives: Promising to Change `Welfare as We Know It'. Qualitative Social Work, 11, 1, pp. 23-41.

Torrington, D., Hall, L., and Taylor, S. (2008). Human resource management. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall, pp. 48.