Abstract
Telstra has launched a number of initiatives to strengthen its position in the market, respond to shifting market dynamics, and improve customer experiences. Telstra has created a strong brand identity that increases its productivity and client service delivery, enticing customers to become more receptive to the product and service offerings. The foundations of leadership are organized into four categories: front-end loading, experience, assurance, and role clarity. These categories help individuals understand the importance of selected leadership, support the team in managing success, and make sure that everyone does their role as well as they can, encouraging genuine change. The primary parties involved in Telstra and Cara IPM’s initiative are the government, shareholders, employees, and suppliers. The stakeholder analysis categorizes each participant’s role and expectations in order to assist define the key elements of the initiatives.
Introduction
Telstra company is a critical player in the communications industry since it is among the companies with the largest market share in Australia. The company focuses on making customer experiences memorable and conducts specific market research and transformational leadership techniques to upgrade its services. Its presence in over 20 countries motivates its mission statement: to create a reliable presence in the market that ensures that the customers thrive under the current and future market conditions. Therefore, the company makes unique market development projects that upgrade the communication systems to meet the enormously growing demands and expectations. Telstra company experiences high competition from rival firms such as Tata Communication Network Service, AT&T Network Service, and Vodafone Network Service. This has led to a demand for transformational leadership to provide the best customer experience. Telstra has undergone a five-year transformation plan to improve the customer’s expectations about the brand, thus motivating them to consume more of its products and services. Understanding the organizational approach to leadership strategies used to make the company successful is essential for researchers since it creates and elaborates on crucial skills that leaders must portray in their roles.
Organizational Context
Telstra is an Australia-based multinational business that provides customer communication services, such as marketing voice and telephone gadgets. The company takes pride in being the best supplier of internet connectivity, mobile phones, and pay television. Telstra was founded in 1992 and underwent various changes until it attained its current name in 1995. Since then, the company has invested in transforming its network supply means into more modern ways, such as undersea cable networks, digital connectivity, and global satellite connectivity, enhancing its progress in improving the quality of services it provides.
Telstra has built a strong brand image that enhances its productivity and service provision to customers, thus engaging them more until they trust the product line and services. It provides over 17.6 million retail mobile services and 6.0 million fixed voices, serving a significant number of customers in the highly competitive Australian communication industry (Muenjohn et al., 2018). Telstra’s vision is to evolve into a world-class technology business that encourages more people to subscribe to its services by providing products that align with the customer’s current and future expectations. The company operates under strong leadership that conducts specific changes to enhance customer satisfaction.
Project Leadership
Through the years, Telstra has undertaken different projects to adapt to the underlying market conditions and improve the customer’s experience by enhancing its presence in the market. These projects share standard leadership features that every manager in the process adapts. Telstra operates yearly under specific objectives that help it attain organizational objectives and goals. The core leadership concepts are divided into four categories: role clarity, front-end loading, experience, and assurance (Williams et al., 2019). These categories enhance understanding of the demand for selective leadership, help the team manage its success, and ensure that each party plays its roles effectively, facilitating an accurate transformation. The most recent project for Telstra is creating reliable structures that enhance consumer satisfaction.
Role Clarity
Role clarity is a process by which the leaders ensure that every participant in the project understands their obligations toward successful project completion. Clarifying roles ensures that the stakeholders emulate the required skills and participate in the projects efficiently. Role classifying helps the project managers create a proper graphical presentation of the main idea behind the project, highlighting the project’s key features. Roles are classifiable, including size, complexity, uncertainty, type, and application. Role clarity involves aligning responsibilities where the managers assign duties and responsibilities to individuals based on the end goal, helping people understand their contribution to the business’s success.
Aligning ensures that the participants clearly understand the project’s objectives and goals, values, and methods acceptable for use in achieving the mission. The process eliminates doubt among the participants and ascertains that each performs their duties in a specific manner, ensuring effectiveness. Another role of role clarity is providing a single point of leadership and accountability for the project outcomes. The process ensures that there is only one source of direction and decision-making, thus improving accountability by affirming there is no bypassing of adverse effects 01938 (Cottellazzo et al, 2019). A single point of leadership and responsibility maintains the project’s reputation by ensuring that the management accounts for the outcomes. In addition, role clarity provides collaboration on the expectations and goals by clearly communicating the project expectations and goals. Therefore, the project managers must avail all the necessary information to the stakeholders to help them understand their responsibilities towards ensuring the project’s success.
Front-End Loading
Front-end loading is a project management process by which the masterminds provide an array of what the project entails to entice the financiers and other stakeholders to uptake the project. It outlines the critical resources required to complete the tasks and involves robust project planning and description to satisfy the stakeholders’ demands and aid decision-making. It includes adequate planning and project optimization and manages upward effectiveness. Good planning is critical for the project since it detects faulty activities that may arise in the project and eliminates them in advance by finding alternative vital procedures. It helps the management to familiarize themselves with the project and creates a better understanding of the requirements that arise in future projects. Project planning creates awareness about the expectations within the project and helps the facilitators to make investment and resource provision decisions in advance.
Additionally, the front-end loading seeks to optimize the solution that the project solves. The initiators must analyze the project’s possible outcomes, identify those that maximize the utility of the available resources, and ensure that all parties are satisfied with the consequences. Moreover, the propagators must ensure that the project meets vital business stakeholders’ expectations, perceptions, and requirements. Adhering to these standards creates sustainable operations since the stakeholders willingly contribute their funds to facilitate the project’s success. Front ending is a critical aspect of the decision-making process since it creates awareness and affirms that the project is fit for continuity.
Experience
The stakeholders must portray their expertise and experience in running similar projects to create reliability and protect the company’s image to the stakeholders. Indicating expertise in a specific field helps the management to determine the qualified candidates to run the entire project. Quality assurance attracts investors since they get assured that their property and investments are not wasted. The stakeholders consider consistency and discipline, relevant project experience, and the ability to sustain the stakeholders. Project managers must be consistent and rigorous in their efforts by listing numbers and facts that are relevant to the project and delivering accurate information (Daniels et al., 2019). Telstra ensures that the general company management has information that aids in completing the tasks. Another factor to consider is one’s experience in the field they contribute to in the final project and how they facilitate the operations using previous knowledge.
Identifying and Analyzing Project Stakeholders
The project management process entails the identification of the stakeholders within the business operations. All people or organizations with a stake in how well a firm operates are considered stakeholders. Building solid and balanced connections with stakeholders are crucial for organizations since doing so will influence how authentically they can address their needs. The stakeholders help the business set the project’s standards and objectives. These people determine the areas on which the projects focus and create opportunities for the company to obtain funds. The main stakeholders in Telstra and Cara IPM’s project are suppliers, customers, employees, shareholders, and the government. The stakeholder analysis helps determine the essential aspects of the projects by classifying each participant’s role and expectations.
A company cannot equally address the requirements of all stakeholders, even with the best of intentions. It will regularly come across circumstances where it must prioritize the requirements of one stakeholder over those of another (Dirani et al., 2020). If investors wish to keep expenses down, the company may have to reduce or even eliminate some employee pay. Businesses could also need to cut connections with a dependable supplier in favor of a bargain in order to remain successful. Businesses must identify their most important and crucial stakeholders if they want to achieve optimal stakeholder satisfaction. If they want to employ them in expanding the business, they need invest the appropriate resources in them.
Customers
The customers are essential for the project since they provide its main objectives. Telstra aimed at providing provide customers with high-quality services in the product line and improving connectivity within Australia and abroad. The project’s primary initiators are the customers since it aims to improve their interaction with Telstra’s services and commodities (Alshaikh & Adamson, 2021). The customers communicate with the management and provide ideas on areas that need renovations and adjustments to solve the problems. The project managers consider the customer’s response and complaints as they initiate the process and use them as the primary areas of concern. The desire to control a vast market share provokes the business to interact more with the customers to determine their areas of concern.
Employees
The employees are other influencers affecting the project and its decision-making process. The employees facilitate running the entire project by providing services and skills that improve the stature and operations within the business. Employees provide labor to run the project and are involved in decision-making by developing sustainable budgets and influencing daily business operations (Alshaikh & Adamson, 2021). Employees aid in the administrative process and eliminate unnecessary problems within the industry. Telstra and Cara IPM involved the employees in determining the actions to implement the project and immensely considered their view on its progress hence helping in the administrative process.
Shareholders
The shareholders are a group of people who own equity in the business and are responsible for providing decisions for most operations the company runs. These people determine the amount of capital to use in specific projects and facilitate their running. Shareholders influence the decisions by selecting the ideas to invest in to make higher profits (Alshaikh & Adamson, 2021). These people invest based on the amount of risk in a business and the number of profits they expect to make in a financial period. Telstra and Cara IPM’s projects gained shareholder’s support since it was well articulated and planned, guaranteeing that the shareholders would benefit in the long run. The shareholders are a critical asset in project management because they can provide resources to encourage business operations.
Government
The government provides laws and regulations that protect the ideas and activities that the business conducts. It gives the social amenities that the business requires to facilitate productivity, such as infrastructure and property. The government guides company actions and enhances the environment. Businesses must register their operations with the government to protect their reputation and ensure they do not infringe on other people’s rights (Alshaikh & Adamson, 2021). Government laws assure that the business management protects the employees and other people contributing to the success.
Building and Managing Relationships with Project Stakeholders
Understanding who project stakeholders are is the first step in developing strong connections with them. Many projects are delayed or fail to achieve the promised value because the project manager fails to identify and involve all stakeholders. This suggests that critical requirements, needs, or insights may have been overlooked in determining all potential stakeholders, brainstorming groups, and persons interested in the project or who will be affected by the decisions (Ozbekler, and Ozturkoglu, 2020). Businesses must protect society and stakeholders contributing to their operations by adhering to sustainability issues.
A business strategy known as sustainability looks at how a company functions in its ecological, social, and economic contexts to create long-term value. The foundation of sustainability is the idea that implementing such techniques promotes business lifespan. Sustainability involves a process by which the company ensures that it helps an organization coexist with the environment. Environmental conservation is one of the strategies for determining business success and projects. Companies are realizing the need to take action on sustainability as the demands for corporate responsibility and transparency rise. Good intentions and professional communication are no longer sufficient.
Every business project must be sustainable by protecting the environment from destruction. Telstra understands that climate change is a critical factor affecting the globe and ensures its maintenance by eliminating hazardous activities that corrupt the environment (McLean, 2020). Telstra’s environmental conservation strategy provides facilities that eliminate degradation by adapting recyclable energy systems and encourages employees to minimize carbon emissions as they run their activities. Sustainability is one of the strategies that Telstra uses to manage its relations with the stakeholders. Stakeholders know that the business is critical in maintaining environmental conservation, creating a positive reputation, and a strong brand image.
Ethical Issues
Maintaining ethical issues in the business enhances the relationship between the project stakeholders. One of the righteous ways the company uses is by conserving the resources available for the project. Resource management eliminates wastage hence maximizing productivity. A resource management strategy guarantees the shareholders that their funds are well utilized, gaining confidence in the direction. Human nature compels us to strive to deflect responsibility and escape the consequences when something goes wrong. This not only jeopardizes people’s reputations and jobs but complicates projects by hiding the true cause of the issue. Project managers need to recognize when team members or other stakeholders are trying to deflect blame for issues that develop and the significance of taking responsibility for their own mistakes. Thus, the administration may use resource management to enhance its relationship with the shareholders.
On the other hand, the business maintains a productive relationship with its employees by providing them with the necessary material to run the project (Dwivedi et al., 2020). Protective gears help the company to sustain a good relationship with the employees. Furthermore, the project managers support their relationship with the workers by providing them with essential products such as healthcare and education to upgrade their skills. The project managers ensure they are on good terms with the customers by listening to their complaints and working towards their satisfaction. Ethical issues are necessary for the business since the leadership team engages with the stakeholders and ensures they obtain maximum satisfaction.
Human Resources and Diversity
The human resource helps the project completion by providing labor and other essential skills for effective performance and business success. It is a group of people who help run the operations within an organization. The human resource department selects the most qualified candidates to run the business operations. They must fit the job description and meet the demands since they guarantee the prosperity of the business and eliminate unnecessary pressure. A qualified workforce identifies with the activities within the project and can quickly help the organization to meet the project goals. An influential workforce creates an excellent relationship between the company and the customers by running operations professionally, enhancing consumer satisfaction. Hence, the business enjoys a positive reputation since the customers remain satisfied.
Telstra and Cara IPM’s project aimed at improving the relationship between the company and its customers by upgrading the network operations, thus increasing consumer satisfaction. The human resource required in the project must be well equipped with sufficient knowledge to help the business transform its services to better quality. Telstra and Cara IPM’s project required a well-educated workforce with a robust and expounded experience in sales and marketing, retail, and demonstration skills to aid their operations (Stefanovitz & de Sousa Jabbour, 2021). The recruited members underwent further training to broaden their understanding of the company goals and objectives for the specified years. The activity indicated that the project’s primary goal was to create a better structure of retail stores that would be more interactive for employees and customers. The action occurred more frequently and facilitated the efficient operation of the business.
Employees are essential in a business since they run normal business operations and facilitate a smooth transition into a more successful process. They reinforce and develop the business culture and structure. Human resource promotes business value by offering quality services to customers. Telstra and Cara IPM’s project applied human resource management skills to obtain the best employees to help meet the organizational goal of transforming the business into a more effective one. The task assigned different duties to every team member based on their qualifications (Stefanovitz & de Sousa Jabbour, 2021). Some of the employees received assignments to operate the business’s technical systems. In contrast, others belonged to the marketing team responsible for advertising the products and services to customers. A strong workforce equips the industry with a more decisive competitive advantage. Figure A below represents the demand for labor and the projected cost that Telstra and Cara IPM incur to complete the plan. Therefore, the company overtakes the rival companies by assigning duties to the businesses to the employees based on their abilities and qualifications hence utilizing their power entirely.
Figure A: A Tabular Presentation of the Human Resource Requirement for Telstra and Cara IPM’s Project
The project speculations on human resources provide a budgeting plan that the business’ management must consider when appointing new employees. The budget estimates the cost of associable with each position on record. Therefore, the management team must critically evaluate the expenses that the job seekers need. The employee that the human resource department recruits must be willing to work under the current charges since it implies the level of consumer satisfaction. A more satisfied workforce enables the business to meet its objectives efficiently since the employees work at maximum productivity. The employees must embrace the available paychecks and guarantee high productivity that helps the company to raise its competitive standards.
A human resource plan is essential for the business since it anticipates the possible changes in production costs and educates the employees on saving expenses. The program aids in aligning the business strategy with the human resource plan, eliminating unnecessary costs, and helping flow information. Telstra and Cara IPM’s goal is to help identify the areas that need more investments by highlighting the number of employees required to complete each activity. Thus, the business has the authority to manage retention costs by improving the recruitment process. The entire employee selection and recruitment process are vital in the project since it identifies the areas requiring new labor and creates reliability within the business. There is a critical plan to follow, and it makes a timeline for when all the activities occur. Therefore, Telstra and Cara IPM’s project was successful due to the proper human resource planning that happened in the period.
Findings and Recommendations
Business management is essential since it helps determine the progress and operations within a business. A leader must set a positive example for team members and conduct themselves as they wish. All company owners will experience setbacks, failures, and defeats, but all prosperous business owners will be able to endure these experiences and emerge stronger on the other side (Nilsson‐Lindén et al., 2019). Being a manager requires openness and willingness to invest time in learning new things since it is a lifelong process, primarily when operating your organization. Telstra understands that the leadership and management of projects are vital in ensuring success. Leadership is the process by which the managers merge personal goals to work in line with the organization, ensuring that all parties benefit (Daniels et al., 2019). Leadership ensures that people sustain development practices and encounter progress as they work towards meeting organizational goals. Leadership approaches determine the business’s success since they affect many stakeholders, determining their contribution. The main stakeholders within a company are customers, employees, shareholders, and the government. Excellent leadership traits create confidence among stakeholders and facilitate proper operations.
Project leadership management is necessary since it helps direct the organization’s resources to obtain the best results by maximizing the use of the available resources to achieve the organizational goals. Effective leadership emphasizes the advantages of certain actions in terms of individual and organizational performance goals (Cortellazzo et al., 2019). It entails having a clear vision, communicating the idea effectively to members, and organizing business actions to obtain maximum results. Project leadership is critical for businesses since it helps to determine the budgeting and creates a sustainable environment for the stakeholders to survive efficiently. Proper administration ensures personal goals do not conflict with organizational goals, assuring success in business endeavors. Leadership in project management ensures that the parties actively participate in daily operations, creating sustainability in the process. The leadership in project management motivates all parties to play their roles effectively and creates reliability among them.
Recommendations
After thorough research and analysis, I recommend that the project managers obtain proper communication systems to encourage the parties to interact and share information as it arises. Telstra is a critical player in the Australian communications market since it controls many customers by facilitating their communications. Therefore, it must portray proper management and leadership techniques to improve its image. Integrated communication systems will facilitate a speedy flow of information from one department to another.
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