Customer

A Discussion in Examples

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

~ Bill Gates

Introduction

Automation is the process in which operations run automatically instead of manually. Myriad control systems and types of equipment work together systematically in order to complete a task that would otherwise be completed by hand. Automation generally increases overall efficiency, allows people to shift their focuses to more important tasks, and permits the speedy production of a large number of products. This process is used throughout many different fields, and aids in the manufacturing of different products globally.

Automation is particularly useful for very large businesses which output a great number of products that must be delivered to customers. Those who monitor the manufacturing and transferring of products from factories to customers are called logisticians. More specifically, logisticians analyze and organize supply chains. In general, supply chains are the overarching systems that transfer products from suppliers to consumers.

These systems ultimately include the acquisition, distribution, allocation, and delivery of the products. As time passes, customers develop more detailed preferences, and establish higher standards for the quality of these processes. Given this, logisticians have the opportunity with new technology to automate entire systems and fleets to meet the growing needs of customer satisfaction in flexibility and transparency.

This essay will discuss examples of businesses and supply chain systems that have already implemented automation, such as Amazon, multiple automobile and truck companies, and hospitals. It will also discuss the general beneficial nature of this process, including increased speed of production and delivery, lower costs, and increased human safety.

Example: Amazon

The success of the logistics branch of Amazon is a fine example of the manner in which logisticians may utilize new technologies to automate systems in order to satisfy customers’ new needs of flexibility, transparency, and convenience. For instance, Amazon’s warehouses, the areas where products are prepared for humans to deliver, are already partially automated. Within them, there exist Kiva robots which carry and transfer shelves of products to these delivery people (“Amazon”, 2016).

It is the inclusion of these robots that allows Amazon to ship millions of products to customers every day. Without them, it is likely the delivery process would be far more lengthy and inefficient. It would also cost more, as the company would need to continuously pay many workers to transfer these shelves of items. It can be seen in this case that logisticians have already taken advantage of new robotics technology in order to create multiple control systems that automate an otherwise laborious operation.

As customers’ desires for quicker delivery expands, such automation proves very effective in satisfying these desires. Moreover, customers now also seek much flexibility with delivery dates and times; they now want their products delivered at very specific dates and times. This sort of automation allows for a much quicker processing of these needs, as items are automatically placed on their respective shelves and then transferred according to shipment time.

Furthermore, in addition to the automation of transferring shelves of items to human deliverers, Amazon is also looking to automate the actual process of picking items from shelves. This would eliminate the need for workers to transfer the items from shelves to trucks, and thus, cut costs and theoretically cut time expenditure.

This said, the process of picking items from shelves has proven to be quite difficult for bots (“Amazon”, 2016). Currently, the average human can pick 400 items per hour with very little error. On the other hand, the best bot can only select 30 items per hour, and the error rate is much higher.

This said, for many years, robots were only implemented to perform repetitive and precise tasks that humans would only prove to be very inefficient at completing. However, according to the MIT Technology Review, with the advancement of computer chips, algorithms, sensors, and actuators, implementing robots to perform more complicated tasks is more feasible, and cheaper and safer than ever before (Knight, 2016).

Moreover, as technology improves, it is likely a bot may be able to select up to 3000 items per hour with very little error. In this particular case, picking the exact personalized items to be shipped to the correct customers demands a certain level of intelligence from the picker, and imparting this sort of intelligence in bots is still very difficult for engineers.

Nevertheless, as seen, if successful bots were created, and these bots could perform these tasks accurately, logisticians could certainly take advantage of them in order to automate cumbersome processes and better satisfy the evolving needs of customers.

Automation has served Amazon in different sectors of its company as well. For example, even some aspects of delivery have been automated. Amazon recently completed its first drone delivery where an Amazon Fire TV and a bag of popcorn were delivered to the customer via a drone (McAlone, 2016). This type of automated delivery method provides the very significant benefit of speedy delivery. In fact, this TV and snack were delivered to the customer just 13 minutes after they were ordered online.

It becomes clear that automation can improve the logistics of delivery, and this concept can be expanded to other business models. For example, consider food delivery. The food takes time to prepare, but there currently exist many additional manual processes that eat up a lot of time. For instance, the delivery person must retrieve the food, wait at street lights and in traffic, and then walk to the customer’s door. If this process became automated, the logistics would be far more efficient.

The food could be transported via drone to the customer. Moreover, this automation would increase transparency in the delivery process. When a delivery person is handling the food, there exists some opacity for the customer as to what exactly is happening with their product. However, knowing your product is on a drone is straightforward. Thus, it can be seen that this sort of automation, as demonstrated by Amazon, certainly enhances logistician’s abilities to satisfy the changing transparency and efficiency needs of customers.

Example: Automobiles and Trucks

Automation also provides numerous opportunities to logisticians working in automobile and truck organizations. More specifically, logisticians who work with vehicles in relation to transportation may experience copious benefits of certain types of automation. For example, there currently exists a movement of driverless trucks transporting products all the way across Europe and arrived at the Port of Rotterdam (Petersen, n.d.).

This sort of innovation and automation improves economic efficiency drastically, and serves as a method of increases flexibility and transparency. Standard modern truck transportation is quite expensive. For instance, “Shipping a full truckload from L.A. to New York costs around $4,500 today, with labor representing 75 percent of that cost” (Petersen, n.d., n.p.). It can be clearly seen that removing the labor component from this equation would reduce costs significantly.

Of course, multiple expenses would exist when initially implementing this sort of automation, and driverless trucks are not cheap, but the long-term economic efficiency would absolutely outweigh the amount of money spent on labor. In addition, less money would need to be spent on fuel, as driverless trucks always cruise at the optimal rate in order to preserve gas. They also would not need to stop regularly for breaks. There are many more benefits than simply the economic type however.

For example, laborers are also restricted to only drive a certain number of hours in the day for safety reasons. Most laborers are required to take 8 hour breaks after a certain number of hours of working in order to get the rest they need to drive safely. However, a driverless truck is essentially just a computer, and could travel up to 24 hours per day without rest, for there aren’t safety concerns regarding the operator falling asleep or making a steering mistake.

This certainly reduces the amount of time present between shipment and delivery. It can be extrapolated that this type of automation also satisfies customers’ desires for flexibility; companies may now be more flexible with their delivery times as they can ship quicker.

Example: Hospital Logistics

Automation has also proved to be very useful for logisticians working within hospitals. For example, many hospitals have adopted an in-hospital transportation system that automatically transports sterilized surgical equipment to the respective surgery room after storing it in automated warehouses (“In-hospital”, n.d.).

This improves the overall function of surgery preparation within hospitals. A few of the benefits of this automation include: shortened preparation time, a reduced burden on staff members and surgeons, an ensured accurate allocation of devices to the appropriate rooms, and the elimination of wasted space. In-hospital automation is a fine example of effective automation on a micro-scale.

Instead of transporting a vast number of products across the country, automation in this case allows for the transport of just a few items from room to room within a hospital. Ultimately, improving the function of more micro operations allows logisticians to then branch out and improve the functions of more macro operations.

It would otherwise be very difficult to improve the overall function if the work happening within the hospitals was inefficient. This sort of automation increases flexibility for staff members, as they are not burdened with the stress of accuracy, or the time required to manually move the devices. It follows that these staff members may then pay more attention to customers and provide better service overall.

General Benefits of Automation

In general, automation provides many overarching benefits to logisticians working in many different fields. Ultimately, implementing automation into the manufacturing, or delivery, sectors of a business reduces financial costs. These costs may either be cut via decreasing the number of workers that must be paid salaries, or via decreasing the amount of time it takes to actually produce products and deliver them to customers.

The aforementioned examples of Amazon using automation and the incorporation of driverless trucks demonstrate the manner in which these economic cost cuts may be enjoyed. They also demonstrate how logisticians may increase flexibility and transparency for customers. As mentioned, Amazon’s utilization of drones increases flexibilities with delivery dates, as well as customer understanding of what is happening to their products as they are being shipped.

Furthermore, as automated transportation and delivery is rather consistent, these attributes also improve the overall operations of customer service. For instance, customer service representatives may enhance their communication to the customer about information regarding expected delivery times, as such information is readily available with automation; thus, increasing transparency (Fawkes, 2014).

In other words, this sort of automation allows companies to track products being transported in real-time, and in many cases, provides customers online resources to be able to track their own products as well.

This resolves most practical issues regarding transparency for customers. In addition, driverless trucks allow products to be transferred far more rapidly, saving time and money. This grants companies increased access to these products quicker, and thus allows them to be more flexible with customers overall.

Companies no longer have to wait for products to ship or arrive in order to plan their next moves, or collaborate with customers. It can be seen with these examples, as well as through logical deduction, that automation in logistics sectors of companies increases overall economic efficiency, and provides logisticians opportunities for increased flexibility and transparency.

Another general benefit of automation within logistics sectors of companies is a significant lack of error. In other words, automated processes eliminate worries of human error that would otherwise exist if laborers were completing the tasks instead. Additionally, less humans would get injured in more physically laborious settings, which also means less companies would have to deal with lawsuits.

According to a study published by the American Society of Safety Engineers, “If no humans were on the production floor, no more human errors would occur, no one would get injured, and companies would produce higher-quality product that they could move faster to market” (Haight, 2007, n.p.). It can be seen that the replacement of humans with bots would not only reduce the level of errors made, but also lessen the number of people being injured on the job.

This is especially pertinent to the case of driverless trucks. Within the past few years, more truck drivers were killed on the job, 835, than workers in any other occupation in the U.S (Petersen, 2016). Albeit obvious, there have not been any reported human casualties from companies who have switched to automated transportation and utilized driverless trucks. Overall, there is far less room for error, approximately 0 percent chance of human error, and less injuries and casualties with the incorporation of automation into different logistics sectors.

Challenges of Automation

These things considered, there do also exist some challenges companies may face when switching to automation. Firstly, switching to automation may be very expensive. Advanced technology, and robots, are typically not cheap. While the company and logistic sectors would ultimately save more money because they would not be paying multiple workers various salaries, the initial purchase of many robots would be very drastic.

At the same time, it may take a very significant amount of time to fully transition to automation from manual work successfully. This is especially true for larger companies. For example, the transition may take larger companies many years to carry out fully, and by the time it is completed, it is likely newer technology systems may outdate the recently established system. Technology changes and advances rapidly. More specifically, myriad researchers and scientists are seeking to construct more efficient bots.

As time passes, the bots get better and better at performing their designated tasks. It could be seen as a hefty waste of financial resources to transition to automation if the process would take years, and the company would still have relatively inefficient technology at the end of it. Further research is necessary in order to conclude the true benefits of automation for larger companies, but the rate at which technology advances is certainly important for these companies to consider when considering automation.

Another potential challenge of automation in the logistics sector is the lack of human judgment, logic, and decision making power in various operations, as well as increased human dependence on systems they could not handle if necessary. It may seem intuitive that automation is inevitably less erroneous than manual human work, and that productivity would increase. However, implementing is still very controversial, as humans may provide other very valuable benefits to various operations.

Humans provide judgment, logic, experience and opinions, (Haight, 2007) and must be seen as an interactive component in the system. Automation can sometimes lead to a dynamic that is controlled more by bots than humans. It is very important to still make the dynamic and strategy of the company human, as humans are ultimately currently smarter and more strategic than bots. It is true that incorporating bots may improve efficiency and productivity for more mundane, repetitive, time consuming tasks, but they will only do what humans program them to do.

They cannot possibly provide the same insights and judgments humans can, so it is generally unwise to implement them where human judgment could benefit the process. The real challenge appears when a certain operation is repetitive and mundane, as well as one that demands human judgment and logic. This said, it is also problematic when humans depend too heavily on bots, and are not able to problem solve when bots malfunction.

Most strategic decisions are best made when the decision maker understands the intricacies of all operations, and does not simply rely on some third party bot to always handle certain systems. These things said, additional research is necessary in order to absolutely determine the best approaches to these challenges, but in order to optimize the functions of logistics sectors of different companies, it is very important for logisticians to consider the benefit of the human element in the big picture.

Conclusion

Overall, it can be seen that automation provides myriad benefits to logisticians looking to improve flexibility and transparency for customers. Put simply, automation is the amalgam of systems where operations are run automatically instead of manually. These systems are used in a wide range of fields, but are especially pertinent to logistic sectors that deal specifically with product preparation, transportation, and delivery.

There currently exist many examples of companies who have successfully incorporated automation. For instance, Amazon has proved to be very successful, and is a fine example of the manner in which logisticians utilize advanced technologies in order to automate systems, and satisfy new customer needs of flexibility, transparency, and efficiency. Many of the company’s approaches to automation have shown to be effective in different ways; Kiva is a robot that efficiently transfers shelves of items for pickup, and drones are now used to deliver products to customers.

Automation also provides numerous opportunities to logisticians working in automobile and truck organizations. As seen, automation in this field increases the rate at which products are delivered to their destinations, and reduces human errors and human injuries drastically. Both of these fields also enjoy increased flexibility as a result of automation.

Moreover, the grand scheme of operational efficiency begins at the micro scale, and all of the intramural units must cooperate efficaciously in order for the macro operations to cooperate. Automation is very efficient on more micro scales, such as hospitals, and thus, allows logisticians to expand. In addition, automation also provides many general benefits, such as the reduction of financial costs, the virtual elimination of human error, and increased human safety.

These things said, as discussed, there do exist various challenges companies face when deciding to implement automation. Purchasing the adequate technology may be incredibly expensive, and large companies might not be able to update their equipment optimally before even newer technology is released. Also, the nature of automation deprives the specific operation of human judgment, logic, and experience. In some cases, this is not an issue.

For instance, very mundane and repetitive tasks that could not be significantly improved with human help. However, some scenarios might prove to be exceptionally tricky. It is important for logisticians to consider these scenarios meticulously before deciding to implement automation.

All things considered, further research is necessary in order to conclude anything definitely, but the examples presented, as well as conventional knowledge regarding the general benefits of automation suggest it certainly helps logisticians satisfy customers’ evolving needs in relation to flexibility, transparency, and convenience.

References

• Tech Republic. (2016). Amazon, robots and the near-future rise of the automated warehouse. Tech Republic. Retrieved
• December 30, 2016, from http://www.techrepublic.com/article/amazon-robots-and-the-near-future-rise-of-the-automated-warehouse/
• Fawkes, T. (2014). Can the logistics sector afford to invest in automation? Invest Auto.
  Retrieved December 28, 2016.
• Haight, J. M. (2007). Automated Control Systems Do They Reduce Human Error And Incidents?
  One Petro. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
• IHI. (n.d.). In-hospital logistics system. IHI. Retrieved December 30, 2016, from
  http://www.ihi.co.jp/logistics/e/case/innai.html
• Knight, W. (2016). Inside Amazon’s Warehouse, Human-Robot Symbiosis. Retrieved December
  30, 2016, from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/538601/inside-amazons-warehouse-human-robot-symbiosis/
• McAlone, E. F. (2016). Watch Amazon make its first drone delivery. Retrieved December 30,
  2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-air-drone-delivery-service-completes-first-transaction-uk-england-2016-12
• Petersen, R. (n.d.). The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs.
  Retrieved December 30, 2016, from https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/25/the-driverless-truck-is-coming-and-its-going-to-automate-millions-of-jobs/

Business Organisations simply mean a group of people working together as a team in a particular organisation by delivering products, goods and services to customer in exchange of profit. But, these organisation are influenced by many factors within the environment in which they operate and said to be the very dominant force in the shaping and moulding of the organisation. What do we mean by business environment? Business environment is a set of influence, which shapes and moulds an organisation. There are number of factor which shapes and moulds an organisation.

In other word, the development and strength of an organisation lies on these seven main influence such as ways of doing thing, rules and regulation, principle and procedures, attitude and behaviour, product and service, framework of an authority and finally the channel of communication. As everyone knows, different people have they own of ways of doing thing because they are not necessary to have the same thought with others and maybe it all depends on some sort of style or tradition, which need to be followed. For an example, a football team has many strategic such as 4-4-2, 4-4-3, 3-5-2 and so on.

But, they use different strategic when facing different opponent or maybe changes their strategic when it comes to a certain circumstance e. g. player got sent off or injured, difficulty in defending, urgency to score, etc. No one can declare a particular method or way of doing thing of organisation is the best. This is because each given set of circumstances requires different solution. Rules and regulation is must for an organisation. Without it, everyone will not be bothered to do what he or she supposes in a proper manner within the dateline.

Let us take a look at this example, which is sound familiar for some of us. Being an APIIT student, everyone strictly prohibit the wearing of T-shirt, jeans, sneakers or slippers, as well as provocative and immodest attire. Principle and procedure are essential for an organisation. Every job or task given must be done according to a particular principle and procedure to ensure a good output or result in return. For instance, let’s take a look at a football team again. In order to score a goal, the ball must be played to one another until someone has the golden opportunity to score a goal.

Attitude and behaviour play an important role for an organisation. Basically, there is two type of business environment, which is external and internal. What do we mean by external environment? External environment is non-controllable environment, which is outside an organisation. This environment can be divided into a number of areas such as politic, economy, social, technology -P-E-S-T- and last not the least globalisation. Political environment refers to the set of law, regulation and government policies existing within a particular country.

Some people argued that this is the most powerful influence at work e. g. if a businessman wants to start up a business in a particular country, first he or she must ensure the political stability of that country. For instance, an unstable political climate in a country will not instill confidence in people and this will in turn affect the business climate adversely. If given an option to run a business in Kabul, Afghanistan or Tokyo, Japan, I am pretty sure that everyone will choose the second option.

Moreover, the tax treaties, which are agreements between governments to avoid, double taxation of profits by the foreign and the domestic government would serve to accelerate the foreign investment in a country. Two main policies are privatisation (where government sells off some of its existing public corporation to the private sector e. g. MAS, Telekom) and deregulation (removal of government redtape and bureaucracy from the operation of the market or better known as duty tax e. g. same rate).

Next, economic environment, which is mainly, emphasizes on customers’ demand for good and services and the resulting supply situation. How an organisation will fare depends on the level of demands for its goods and services. Factors such as buying behaviour, purchasing power, price levels, interest rates, etc. are important determinants of demands. Since, World Cup is this month, let us take another example on football. The football fever starts, as you walk around in the city you can see many football freaks wearing their favourite teams’ jersey.

This clearly indicates the demands for jersey increases as the interest rates increases. Beside that, the state of economy in terms of changes in levels of income, employment, inflation and foreign exchange rates affect the level of consumption and the standard of living. Business organisation themselves can boost demand by extending employment and investment, and conversely they can adversely influence the economy when they cut back on investment or retrench workers. For instance, the current state of economy of Argentina will decrease the foreign investment and.

As a result, many of their countrymen were unemployed and creating havoc everywhere causing a major setback for the government. Social environment is made up of the attitudes, beliefs, customs and values of people in society. Entrepreneurs must realise that these social factors vary with the different classes of people within a country – the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, the liberal and the conservative, etc. For an example, in India the Indians belief and consider the cow as their mother for providing milk. Therefore, they do not eat beef.

But, lately a McDonald outlet in India offers some sort of burger or meal with beef. These turn out to be a disaster for McDonald as many of the citizens got angry and begin to create havoc in the country. McDonalds’ outlet in India finally found a solution. They modified and make slight changes in their recipes, beef burger is replaced by fish burger. An excellent moves which paid off when they got an immediate response from the citizen. This show how important is to know the beliefs and customs of a particular country. It is fool to underestimate the beliefs and customs of a country.

Hence, it has become necessary for businesses to analyse and study carefully these factors and issues if their goods and services are to be accepted. Another important and not a new factor in the overall environment is the technology environment. Its increasing importance and influence is now being felt clearly and powerfully than at any other time. The changes in technology are virtually revolutionising how work is perfomed in factories and offices, and indeed the whole market. For instance, massive advancement in technology and rapid changes in information technology helps to increase the productivity of an organisation.

The usage of hi-tech machines and equipments will greatly influence the success of organization. It simply save a lot of time, energy and helps to cut down number of employees. Organisations that are not able to keep pace with such changes are left behind, and consequently edged out of competition. One area that has emerged as being vital to business organization is information technology. Assume that an organization dealing with thousands perhaps millions customers data, somehow need to use the the technology employed to collect, process, produced, maintain and update the customers information.

Microprocessors have allowed the introduction of small low-cost micro-computers that have household application for monitoring weather conditions. Many industries such as motorcar manufacturers are using microprocessors to control the operation of the car engine. Globalisation environment is an essential factor in organization. With the rapid advancement of telecommunication infrastructure and information technology has forced organization to proceed beyond their national or geographic boundaries in search of ways and means to exploit existing new technology so as to ahead of their competitors.

Speed and quality in addressing the needs of world-wide customers and continuously learning of organisations will greatly influenced the success of organizations. As everyone knows, the current business environment is one where the whole world is seen as one market place, borderless world. In short, the ability to think globally while acting locally. One example is the usage of internet and mobile phone which connects you to people all around the globe no matter where they are.

Market environment is very much similar to the economic environment, but there are a number of distinguish features. Essentially this is the environment of competitors, buyers and sellers. It is important to monitor these three groups of people. For instance, competitors must also be analysed closely with regards to their strengths and weakness. Customers must also be researched thoroughly in order to establishe needs and trends. Businesses should also be constanly on the look out for new products and materials from existing or new supplier.

It actually refers to an organization behavioural system whish is constantly changing as it adapts to the evolving requirement of society. As you can see customers itself influence the demand level because they have the buying or purchasing power. If you look out for mobile phone industries, there are number of companies competing each other to outplay, outwit and outlast one another to become the number 1 leading mobile phone. That is why you can see many mobile phones with different size and outlook out for sales like mushroom to satisfy the customers need.

Finally, lets take a look at internal environment. There are number of area which covers internal environment such as the rules and regulation, employee management, produst and service and facilities. Rules and regulation is must for an organisation. Without it, everyone will not be bothered to carry out his or her duties and responsibilities in proper way. There are many rules and regulations in an organisation such as attire (e. g. wear modest attire), punctuality (e. g. always meet the dateline), behaviour (e. g. must be polite and coorperate with other colleagues).

As an organization, employee management is important to run business systematically. The management is the backbone of an organization thus it needs to be strong to overcome any difficulty. A good management always productive and try their level best to meet their target or objective. Product and service is the most important factors without it business cannot be run. Customers is fussy and choosy, they always want the best product or service. Therefore, organisation must always upgrade their product and service to meet the need of so called customers.

The best quality products with reasonable price always attract the customers. Last not the least, facilities and infrastructures which play an important role too in an organisation. Basically, a high class facilities and latest infrastructures simply help both the organisations and the customers to connect each other. Thus, a country with an excellent network of highways and railroads will definitely be attractive to foreign investment to start business there. It is vital to note that business orgnisation interact with the above environmental factors. This means that the influence and impact is not one-sided.

For those and women in business like attire. They don’t expect people to be sitting around drinking coffee and chatting. This may cause them to feel uncomfortable and not want to do business with the bank. For young people this would be a very attractive environment. They are not used to the days of old; they may like the informal setting and bring in their friends. This area that I have discussed would be part of the subculture too. Young people generally do not like regimen, rules and regulations, and while these remain intact at Umps, they are semi-hidden in this informal appealing environment.

Social class would also be a major influence on who “shops” at Umps. Although in an informal setting that makes people feel welcome, some customers may feel that they are out of their own class and again feel uncomfortable. Another issue that I see, is that I did not see in the video reference to doing business with ethnic groups such as Hipics. On the website I did not see a link that would take you to a Spanish page. I was not sure when I viewed the videos on the Umps Bank website on what does local look like that I understood the cartoonist message.

Bank like you live: the way we see it Premise was better understood as “We’ve never thought of ourselves as being simply a bank. We’re really more like knowledgeable neighbors, the kind you invite over for a cup of coffee, seek advice from and chat over the fence. And we’re here to help you bank like you live” (Umps. Com). As a consumer of Umps Bank the need recognition is an important factor. It may be as simple as having somewhere to go when you are hungry and tired. Umps Bank offers its guests free coffee and a place to relax and distress.

People tell stories about their experience and having a good experience where you bank is a good way to get you coming back. Umps knows that you will likely tell others, and getting referrals from this personal source of information is what that are hoping for. There are banks and there are banks, and Umps is certainly very unique in this regard. I do not know of any other bank that is emulating Umps, so seeking an alternative may be quite difficult. The Umps Bank website is full of information for the consumer.

Whether or not the customer makes a decision to “purchase” or do business with the bank entirely depends on their experience. “Generally, the consumers purchase 181). Other peoples experience (such as friends) may influence the purchasing session. If they have had a good experience of the bank the chances are that they will be able to make a decision based on that. After the purchase we have to look at the relationship that develops between the customer and the bank (Postprocessor Behavior Marketing an Introduction peg. 181).

If good follow up is made by the bank to the customer, then generally the customer will be happy with his decision to “purchase”. However the opposite is also true. Lack of follow up or seemed unfriendliness may cause the customer to have second thoughts. This negative impact may give rise to complaints and potentially cause mage to the reputation of the bank. Service characteristics include intangibility, inseparability, variability and permissibility. Umps Bank sets itself aside from other banks by providing customers with a sense of quality, not something that can be generally perceived by looking, but rather something that can be felt.

The focus of Umps is to have its employees trained in all aspects of the Job and to the same high standards, so that there is no real variability in their standards of service to the customer. The same is true regarding service inseparability. Due to the fact that the customer is present hen the banks services are provided the provider-customer interaction both affect the service outcome. (Marketing: An Introduction peg 250). There may be special offers available for only a limited time which means that when the time has gone the offer is no longer available.

This is known as service permissibility. Just how perishable a product or service is depends on how successful it is in its first offering and Just how much demand there is for the product or service being offered. A service provider could either lengthen the shelf life of the product or service if it proves popular, or they may shorten its life if it doesn’t draw many customers. The service profit chain comprises of five links. These are Internal service quality, Satisfied and productive service employees, Greater service value, Satisfied and loyal customers and Healthy service profits and growth. Marketing: An Introduction peg 251). The following is part extract and part my own words from Kettle 13th Edition “Umps Bank” Umps Bank provides very high standards of customer service, from when the customer enters to when they leave. They are always greeted with a smile and a warm welcome. If they are actually a customer then they will be greeted by name. After the customer’s transaction is complete they get a piece of Umps chocolate. Can sit and drink coffee and if they have their laptop. Use the available free wife.

Umps bank wants you to stay. Every employee receives six weeks of off-site training about the banks culture and beliefs and about how the bank operates differently. Placing the employee with the customer rather than them sitting behind a desk makes the customer feel even more welcome. To enjoy what you do as an employee is more important than Just what you do. The design of the bank, even though it looks more like a hotel lobby than a bank, didn’t actually cost them anymore Han if they had invested in a more traditional setting.

Met people from different departments, asked on the Job they perform. I and another trainee passing internship in ORBS had an Introductory meeting, where our supervisors explained Bank structure, its goals and objectives. . During the whole period of internship in Retail Unit, I have learned a lot about the RAM, about Bank products, on how to find potential customers, how to keep them loyal to the Bank, what procedures and legal documentation to set the deal. I was introduced to Asset Sales and RAM work. Worked under the supervision of Senior Relationship Manager, observed the working processes of other units: Customer Service Unit (CSS), Sales Department and Retail Transfer Operations.

Assisted on indoor meeting, as well as on meetings with clients, worked on client base, learned how managers evaluate credit risk RAM – is a relationship Manager, who’s main responsibilities are client search and client support. Now I have realized that in any organization, as well as in the bank, customer relationship is very important, as I would like to say, RAM is the first step of all major banking operations. 3. Remained time I conducted in Corporate Department. Assisted on evaluation of the credit risk analysis of the company, under the supervision of employees. Learned how to make a credit risk analysis: consolidated balance sheet analysis with all ratios required, market analysis.

Benefits to the Student: great opportunity to learn and practice in the sphere of finance and banking business ; learn how to use financial modeling in practice ; life experience of working with real financial documents ; work in the real business environment, under the time pressure The colleagues showed high cooperation in sharing their experience and deep knowledge in the operations of ORBS. The skills and theoretical knowledge acquired on the finance courses in SKIMP was of great value, and I found them very effective in performing my duties and responsibilities. The main difficulty faced during the internship process was the Iterance AT languages AT study (Engel’s) Ana ten language AT ten company’s documents and operations (Russian).

However, this was not a big obstacle because my colleagues helped me to understand and learn the translations and meanings of Russian financial and accounting terms. This internship gave me such benefits as real life banking experience, new skills. I have seen the operations of the bank from different points, I’ve been in different departments during the internship, get accustomed to the variety of Jobs in the Bank, learned the structure, the culture, the goals and objectives. I learned how to evaluate credit risk of both private and corporate customers. Recommendations and suggestions: I would recommend students to take an internship instead research projects or substitute courses, in order to have a working experience before the graduation that will help them more easily get into gear.

The questionnaire is designed by the researchers a seven item scale from tryingly disagree (-3) to strongly agree (+3) to identify variables of customer loyalty. In the present study, we, therefore, used Cockroach’s alpha scale as a measure of reliability. Its value is estimated to be 0. 897. Sophisticated statistical model as ‘Exploratory Factor Analysis (FEE)’ has been used. The results show that nine factors extracted from the analysis that together accounted 77. 891 percent of the total variance.

Finally, on the basis of factor score, these factors were ranked (1)sales promotion’; (2) ‘Provision of information’; (3)management’; (4)recommendation of the Product or Service’;(5)new brand’;’ (6) ‘The value of brand’; (7)eliminative’; (8) ‘Bench Marking’ and (9) ‘Environmental friendly organization’ got the ranks of first to nine respectively and constitute the key factors of customer loyalty in leading retail supermarkets in I-J. Moreover, outcome of the research would be helpful to the practitioners, researchers, planners, policy makers and academicians, who are involved in the concerned area.

Keywords: Customers; Customer Loyalty and Retail Supermarkets. 1. 0 Background and Significance In the ever-changing business world, almost every organization pays most attention o the customers ever than before. For any organization, good understanding of customers, their needs and wants, their expectations on price and quality of goods and services increase the potential to succeed. As a result, customer centered marketing has occupied the top place in modern marketing concept. Every organization is ready to pay any means to identify and understand the customers and their needs.

Consumers’ reaction will be in favor of an organization when their desires and expectations have been either met or exceeded in the course of experiencing the service. In the context of a retail supermarket, satisfaction could be interpreted as Just meeting the expectations of the customers, not any sort of exceeding or falling short of the expectations. Most of the retailers try to achieve competitive advantage by taking the responses of the customers beyond the level of ‘Just satisfied’ towards ‘exceeding their expectations’.

Pleasing customers are very harder today (Kettle, 2003). Customers are more challenging component for any organization rather than their competitors. Their buying behaviors are fickle, at least three times a year expecting the best deal from the suppliers. Besides the above, the worst thing is ninety percent of dissatisfied customers Just switched to another supplier without complaining to former supplier (Kettle, 2003). A marketing strategy which is considered today as the best one may not produce same results in future.

Thus, every organization must pay their attention in complete satisfaction of their customers. Since, highly satisfied customers more likely become loyal customers and potentially buy the new products introducing by the company and shows the word of mouth and also pay less attention about competitors and other brands as ell. Above to all, considering cost related to customers, cost for retaining existing customers are very less than acquiring the new customers and also existing customers are much more profitable in many ways for instance, word of mouth.

Here, word- loyalty or loyal customers captures the predominant place. Because, Hill & Alexander (2006) pointed out that only through the loyalty, customer retention can be secured. 2. 0 Statement of the Problems Factors determining customer satisfaction and customer loyalty have been brought to light by marketing research. But, this information still is far away for some producers engaging in the productions and services. Consequently, producers are unable to exploit this information for their success.

According to Verdict consulting research (2007), retail supermarket sector in I-J is one of most competitive segments and also pointed out that this competition will create more challenging environment in maintaining their market share. However, some retailers are very successful than their competitors even during the period of European economic downturn. This encouraged the researchers to do this research. We hope that this research will answer the following question regarding customer loyalty effectively. 3. Objectives The present study has the following objectives 1. To examine necessary factors of customer loyalty in leading super markets of I-J; and 2. To determine the key factors of customer loyalty in leading super markets of UK. 3. To suggest some measures in order to improve the customer loyalty in leading 4. 0 Literature Review Managing customer loyalty is the one of major element of customer relationship management. Customer satisfied with the present service of organization will likely satisfy if the firm does the same service later.

So every organization has struck with the question how they can increase their loyalty level by adopting the right approaches. Stone (2000) pointed out in his book that “using information on the customer data base, there is no reason for a customer loyalty programmer other than finely tuned to meeting customers ‘relationships needs”. Loyalty becomes a winning factor for any organization facilitating with high productivity, solid profit and feasibility for steady expansion, competing in present world.

When considering the resent states of disloyalty, it is obvious that it would damage the corporate performance by 25 to 50 percent and possibly more (Astrakhan, 2006). Loyalty is defined as “a state of mind, a set of attitudes, beliefs, desires and so on” (Stone, 2000). Kettle (2008) said that delighted customers become loyal to the organization and customer relationship management (CRM) plays an important role in making customers loyal. Further, among the satisfied customers, completely satisfied customers only can be a delighted one. Thus CRM has to focus on customer delight rather than satisfaction.

However, Hill and Alexander (2006) argue that misunderstanding of customer loyalty by the senior manages and marketing executives have mislead strategies for securing the customer loyalty and also criticized that many of them take afford to attract the customers by giving some bribe to customers. Instead, customer loyalty has to be earned by the suppliers and customer retention can be achieved when the suppliers satisfy the requirements raised by the customers better than their rivals. Realty is that in the twenty first century, both not only customers and but also suppliers have to true, faithful and rim in meeting the customers’ needs.

Furthermore, Hill & Alexander (2006) categorized loyalty into four types such as (1) Monopoly loyalty (where customers have little or no choice and they are completely dissatisfied and far away from devoted); (2) Cost of change loyalty (where customers have choice of alternative suppliers and reluctant to change their current due to the cost and other bothering factors, needs immense afford to change); (3) Incentive loyalty(this is the type of loyalty created by mass advertisement and targeted the customers who are not pending their own money for instance frequent business fliers);(4) Habitual loyalty(this can be viewed most commonly due to the time constraints and familiar routines, convenient location and little afford for instance filling up petrol on the way to work). This paper is focus on this Habitual loyalty. Here, convenient location, size of supermarket, variety of goods, competitive price plays a significant role.

Moreover, degrees of loyalty can differ from one customer to another for instance one customer is more loyal than other. Hill & Alexander (2006) defined these degrees as suspects, respects, customers, clients’ advocates and partners in a pyramid. According to them, degrees of positive commitment increases along pyramid from suspects to partners and also distinguishes the truly loyal customers. Less loyal customer is likely to switch the supplier Based on the previous studies, we can say that there are some studies in different countries, but detailed and comprehensive studies has not yet been conducted in I-J especially in supermarket through exploratory study.

Hence the present study is made on determinants of customer loyalty in leading supermarket in United Kingdom (I-J). . 0 Research Design and Strategy Material and methods describe research approach, sampling procedure, data sources, instrumentation, reliability, validity and mode of analysis. 5. 1 Research Approach As this paper is a business and management research, it has a characteristic of positivist and interpretative and also involves in deductive approach as well as inductive approach. Combining these two research approaches in same piece of research is perfectly possible and advantageous for a research. 5. 2 Period of Study This research was conducted from September to October, 2009. 5. Sampling strategy Five leading (I. E. Sad; Iceland; Ginsburg; Somerville and Tests) retail supermarkets involved in food stall around the city of London are selected as cluster sampling due to time constraints, the travel, and other costs related to the data collections. In the case of customer respondents, ten customers with age of 18 years and above for each sampling supermarket are considered as purposive and random sample for the study. The sample procedure paid more attention on selection of appropriate samples so that samples can cover different background of people as London is costly multicultural city in I-J. 5. 4 Data Sources The study was complied with the help of primary data. Primary data were collected through mailed questionnaire. Moreover, the desk study covered various published and unpublished materials on this field. 5. Measures The questionnaire will be administrated to five leading retail supermarkets in the city of London and ten customers for each supermarket. Based on the literatures and experts’ advice questionnaire is to be designed. In the questionnaire, a seven point Liker summated rating scale from strongly disagree (-3) to strongly agree (+3) was topped to identify the variables of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study has an idea of pre-test the questionnaire in order to receive optimal outcomes from the study. 5. 6 Reliability and Validity The reliability value of our surveyed data was 0. 897 for variables of customer loyalty. If we compare our reliability value with the standard value alpha of 0. Advocated by Cockroach (1951), a more accurate recommendation (Annually & Bernstein, 1994) or with the standard value of 0. 6 as recommended by Bugaboo & YK’s (1988). Researchers find that the scales used by us are highly reliable for data analysis. Validation procedures involved initial consultation with expert researchers. The experts also Judged the face and content validity of the questionnaires as adequate. Based on their comments, some contents and words were revised to make the meaning clear. Hence, researchers satisfied content and construct validity. 5. 7 Statistical Tools Used In the present study, we analyses our data by employing factor analysis. For the study, entire analysis is done by personal computer.

A well known statistical package like ‘Statistical Package for Social Sciences’ (SPAS) 13. 0 Version was used in order to analyze the data. . 0 Analysis and Findings To identify potential underlying dimensions of the customer loyalty of the respondents are used in the present section; responses of the variables are subjected to factor analysis method. Before applying factor analysis, testing of the reliability of the scale is very much important as it shows the extent to which a scale produces consistent result if measurements are made repeatedly. In the present section, researchers, therefore, used Cockroach’s Alpha scale as a measure of reliability. Its value is estimated to be 0. 897 for total customer loyalty variables.

If we ampere our reliability value with the standard value alpha of 0. 6 advocated by Cockroach (1951), a more accurate recommendation Annually & Bernstein (1994) or with the standard value of 0. 6 as recommended by Bugaboo & YK’s (1988) researchers find that the scales used by us are highly reliable for factor analysis. After checking the reliability of scale, an examination of the correlation matrix (for details please see Vide appendix-Table-l) reveals moderately significant correlations between some of the variables. These are LA with LA; LA with L 14; L 7 with L 18, and ALL; LA LB; Lithe ALL; Ill with LA, ALL. ALL with LB and LA. ALL with g; ALL with L 7; ALL with ALL; and ALL with ALL and ALL .

But no correlation comes out as damaging as to cause multimillionaire (Hogue & Tater, 2007) and so the matrix is suitable for factoring. Further, we tested whether the data so collected is appropriate for factor analysis or not. The appropriateness of factor analysis is dependent upon the sample size. In this connection, Macaulay, Wingman, Ghana & Hong (1999) have shown that the minimum sample size depends upon other aspects of the design of the study. According to them, as commonalities become lower the importance of sample size increases. They have advocated that if all commonalities are above 0. 6 relatively small samples (less than 100) may be perfectly adequate.

Introduction

This assignment is based on the concept of Organization change and it will discuss around various concept of change within an organization. It is based on the selection of an organization that has undergone through a change and in which people has adopted or resist the strategies of change.

Aims and Objectives

This assignment will be comprise of the below mentioned objectives that will actually analyze all the changes that an organization has actually faced.

• To identify the processes and model of change and what are the strategies that might help in encourages people to positively respond to that change
• To identify the main drivers that has actually triggered the need for change in the organization.
• To analyze the organizational change with the help of EFQM model.
• To evaluate how people will react to that change and will survive within that change.
• To identify the ways that can help in dealing with the resistance towards that change.
• To evaluate the strategic change initiatives and what recommendation can be made in order to gather good data and avoid biasness.

What is change?

According to Potter, Mark (2011) change is an activity that takes out the organization or a person out of their comfortable zone.

It is sometimes positive and sometimes negative and takes time for the adjustments. According to Chhabra et al (2007) states that Organizational change is the change that comes in the overall working environment of an organization and sometimes cause discomfort to the people initially. Organizational change: According to Potter, Mark (2011) Organizational change is a state that an organization undergoes from one state to another. This change can be in the policy, strategy, technology and culture of an organization.

This change can be sudden or preplanned and requires wise strategies towards the management of people working in an organization.

Tesco Change Management

According to the Tesco website it is the Britain’s foremost retail company which is dealing with 37,000 stores all over the world and have employed over 440,000 people.

Tesco is dealing with 30 countries outside the United Kingdom. Tesco is actually working on the concept of change and all the employees are striving hard to respond to those changes. The name Tesco has first appeared on a shop in Edgware in 1929 and since that time this company has developed and grown up with so many new innovations and opportunities for the business and for the people as well. By the early 1990s Tesco has faced so many strong competitors and for staying at the competitive edge they need to have new strategies according to the new situations so here concept of change occurs.

Sir Terry Leah was very wise in making decisions. He was the Chief executive in 1997 so he decided to find out where they are actually lacking so that they can easily work on those areas. So he found the root cause on which they need to work. He came up with the statement that we are good in buying and selling but we have actually forgotten the needs of our customers so he decided to pay much more attention to their customers. So he started this activity with the simple question asked by the customers what are we doing wrong?

After this question they actually started investing in those areas that matters to customers e. g. the loyalty scheme such as club cards, Tesco. com, our internet home shopping service. He further illustrates his concept with giving ease to the customers and giving them a reason to come back to Tesco again and again.

Tesco Mission Statement: “Creating values for customers, to earn their life time loyalty”.

Values behind Tesco business:

• No one tries harder for customers.
• Treat people how we like to be treated.

Objectives of the Company

The main objective of the company is to better understand their customers than any organization. Tesco not only considers their customers much more important but they are also very much conscious in terms of the innovation of their products and services. Their concept behind best customer service and introducing best products are to attract their shareholders and gain the growth in sales, profits and returns. Tesco actually work around these three objectives. * To gain growth in sales, profits and returns. * To satisfy the needs of the customers by proving them best services and products. To satisfy its shareholders. Organizational change in Tesco: There is a marketing statement mentioned in ivy thesis . type pad. com that success breeds failure so it shows that nothing else is constant in business and in order to stay at the competitive edge business should respond to the changing demands of the world. Tesco has focused on these demands so that they can stay competitive and can respond to their competitors. The following difference can show their attention towards the demands of the world. Tesco in Past: According to Finch, Julia (2010).

Tesco in the past was just like a typical traditional food retailer company that only focused on the substantial assets of the business like products, place and money. They had not paid any attention towards the intangible assets of business like customers satisfaction, services providing ease to the customers. This has actually given hard times to Tesco in the past and very soon this thing was realized by Tesco that the older methods will not work for the business as the concept of Globalization was spreading very fast so Tesco started responding to the changes required.

Tesco in Present

Tesco in present has moved its attention towards more innovative and intangible things. This was the first step of Tesco towards innovation and working beyond its limits as in 1995 they introduced club cards which are now offering air miles and club card points in 5000 different venues in the UK. Rowley (2005) states that the club cards has given good opportunities for customer interactions and engaging large number of corporate partners in delivering and earning rewards. These club cards are actually building up a strong relationship among customers and Tesco.

Another innovative step of Tesco is the use of internet for their customer’s i. e. Tesco. com. It has actually strengthened the communication between consumers and Tesco as people can inquire through Tesco website regarding grocery, music books and so on. According to Tesco. com (2005) customers can enter their complaints on the same website where the problem list are already present and customer’s needs to fill in the right area. These complain can be related to quality of food, out of date products and so on.

For making the life easier for the customers Tesco has given more in store facilities, long opening hours, shorter queues trained staff. Topic 1 Drivers for Change: In order to find out the competitive position of an organization firstly I company need to check what factors are actually triggering for change. So what that reason lots of information is required which can tell the position of the company where it is standing at the present and where it will be in the future so making these predictions more clearer Porters 5 forces model can be used that will tell each and every aspect of that organization.

Porters 5 Forces

Porter 5 forces helps in analyzing the external environment of an organization and provide beforehand preparations so that company can gets ready for any kind of pitfalls that may arise in business. It covers the following steps.

• Rivalry
• Substitutes
• Buyers
• Suppliers
• Barriers to entry.

Rivalry

Rivalry is the central force that involves other forces as well. Tesco has many rivals in the market so for making its position stronger and giving tough competition to its rivals Tesco always keep its position up-to-date and respond to the changing demands of the world.

So the launch of club cards and other internet websites are the steps taken to stay at the competitive edge and be a strong contender for its rivals.

Substitutes

Rivalry actually makes the profits zero as it is a threat. As the market has many supermarkets so they can be the substitutes for Tesco so in order to avoid missing their customers they need to provide them with extraordinary customer service. So Tesco has made that possible by giving Club cards and showing that the customers are at the heart of Tesco has actually won the loyalty of their customers.

Tesco has substitute like Sainsbury which has got the similar products and has decreased the prices of products in both companies.

Buyers

Power of buyer is another cause of decrease in the prices as if the cost of floor is more in Tesco buyer can easily switch over to Sainsbury. But Tesco is fortunate in this case as there are not lot big markets that makes the markets more discipline and stops them of pricing war.

Supplier

Tesco has an advantage over the suppliers as they quote the price to the suppliers and suppliers have to admit that as Tesco has a strong position and they can quote on their own.

If suppliers do not fulfill the demand they will have no one to sell their goods so Tesco takes a good advantage over their suppliers.

Barriers to entry

Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury are the barriers to entry for the new supermarkets. As they have an advantage over the suppliers in the economy of scale as they can buy large volume of goods on less prices whereas the new entrants needs to buy small quantities very expensive.

Process for Change

Unfreeze

Tesco has used the concept of unfreezing by telling their employees and realizing them the needs of their customers. They gave them the image that Tesco needs to stay at the competitive edge and for that they need the loyalty of their customers. For getting that loyalty they need to pay full attention towards the satisfaction of their customers. So they have to done some sort of technological, social and cultural changes that will increase their publicity among their customers. So they ensure the readiness of their employees towards the change in their working schedules.

Change

Tesco has started the club cards in 1995 by giving full training to their employees that they always need to ask the customers “have you got a club card” this was the way of giving promotion to the club cards. Employees were also provided with the information that this strategy of launching club cards will give competitive edge to Tesco and the company can stay more in touch with the loyal customers so they just need to scan and offer the club cards to their customers who will definitely give rise to the profits.

For making the employees ready for the extra work load Tesco has given them the information that they will also get 10% discount with their staff privilege card on their purchasing from the store which makes the employees happy that at least they are also getting benefits out of it. Employees were also informed of the Tesco. com and that the customers will do shopping online so they need to be more efficient and with the same thing they were given proper training that how to deal with online shopping and it will give rise to the business and the business will give them promotions and bonuses for their hard work.

Refreeze

The launch of Club cards and Tesco. com has actually given rise to the Tesco sale as it makes easier for the customers that even while sitting at home they can shop whatever they want to have. It has actually increased the customers for Tesco as the slogan of Tesco says “Every little helps” so they are actually working on that as they have kept an eye on even the little needs of their customers. According to Harvey, Oliver (2007). , The UK has stated that Tesco is the most developed online grocery market in the world with more than 1. million people shopping online. ( Daily Record, 2004) Organizational change for context: According to Pagano, Margareta (1987) cultural web analysis was given by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes in 1992. It can help in make observing and then making some changes in an organizations culture. It helps in exposing cultural hypothesis and practices and aligns the work with organizations elements and the strategies used within an organization. As mentioned above different changes in Tesco which has given a positive rise to the business.

Here in this cultural web analysis the change of introducing club cards has increased the work loads of people so what initiatives should be made in order to support the already occurred change. There are six elements which can help in making those changes stronger. Stories: Whenever a change occurs in any organization it comes with lots of previous stories like it will increase workloads without any benefits. It will give different type of job specifications so in order to avoid all these stories the employees will have in advance trainings and incentives so that they can welcome the change positively and should be ready for new challenges.

Rituals and routines

The daily routine will show the change in behavior so the reward system and the bonuses should beforehand introduced so that people can work more energetically without showing any kind of negative attitude towards the increase in work. Symbols: Before implementing a new change there should have a lot of publicity as in Tesco they advertise the club cards and even the employees have got the uniform with Tesco club cards. Organizational structure:

As in the case of Tesco the employees were well defined of their goals and the consequences that they will have after achieving those goals and objectives so the objectives will be clearly defined in order to support the implemented change.

Control system

It is usually measure by the top management team and before implementing any sort of change all the strategies and policies are prepared beforehand. It is regarding the financial system and reward system so Tesco has also given the opportunity to its employees as 10% discount on their cards which can urther enhance their performance and strengthen the implemented change.

Power Structure

As the name indicates Power structure which is hold by the executives and other seniors so the steps taken like discounts for employees, Trainings regarding club cards and internet has strengthen the change so far.

Creativity and Improvement Creativity

Creativity is the thinking up of new ideas. It is actually the dreaming up of new ideas. Whereas according to  Lorna Martin (2006). , Innovation is doing new things so it is the practical term for creativity. Source: www. google. co. uk According to Walker, Gaelle (2006). EFQM is the most widely used model with over 30,000 businesses to increase performance and increase their bottom line. It takes a holistic view of an organization and gives a diagnostic tool for the specific area of an organization which will provide strength and enhance that area with innovation and creativity. This model is divided into two parts the first one is enabler and second one are the results that can be earned through the employees efforts, the policies and strategies implemented, and the stakeholders or shareholders involved and the resources within that organization.

So in the case of Tesco their strength is their team, their products. While talking about their employees they can engage their employees in more trainings and give them chances to think out of the box as the Human capital is the main asset of any company so Tesco needs to invest more on their employees and give them chances to learn more and work accordingly. So as they have got an Intranet within their organization that is the actual chance for their employee’s promotions and gives them more chances to enhance their performance by learning more and then implement their knowledge in their organization.

Well Tesco has already taken a step towards innovation and creativity as they have implemented Tesco. com so in this way thousands of minds are included in Tesco and Tesco can take suggestions from the people around. By their club cards they are not only providing good saving to the customers but they are also doing surveys by checking in which area which product is selling more so in this way they are increasing the productivity of that product. So Tesco. Com is a step towards innovation.

Surviving change

Surviving change is actually the concept regarding those changes that an organization has implemented.

It checks whether those changes are well accepted by the organization and employees. Do those changes have given a positive rise to the business. According to Buckley, Neil (1995). , there are some steps that manage and deal with change appropriately which are as follows.

• Acceptance for the change should be there by training and awareness.
• Readiness for change to be happens at workplace.
• Should have enough strategies to tackle that change.
• Adapt to that change.
• Feel free to go with the change.
• Enjoy the change.
• Always try to be ready for the change.

So change is actually surviving in Tesco as they have also used the before hang readiness for the change to occur and now getting desired results as a part of business profits. Transition curve: According to  Savill, Richard (2001). Transition curve is a three stages of transition that involve ending, neutral zone and beginning which helps in assessing people that what difficulties they might face during the implementation of change. Ending: This seems to be the ending of the confidence of the employees when they deny the acceptance to change.

They might think that their workplace or their work will be different so this is the ending of their hard works and acceptance to work loads. Neutral zone: This state will be the confusion state as the staff will be in between the current and the desired state. They will be uncertain about the present and the future. This can have the negative impact on the activities. Beginning: The beginning state is that state in which the employees are ready for the change and work accordingly with a positive set of mind. As in Tesco case employees are ready for the work. Conclusion and Recommendations:

Change is a positive activity and it always brings about something healthy to an individual or an organization. So in the case of Tesco change was the ultimate desire of the modern time and has actually give Tesco a strong position. Club cards and Tesco. com Com are the positive changes for Tesco and has increased its sales. Staff is also very efficient in implementing and working on the change so it has given positive rise to the business.

Recommendations

Although the change has been successfully implemented in company but there is still need to eradicate the perception and attitude of being one or monopolist views. The development opportunities should be offered to the front line staff for further improving the customer service.

• Variety of methods should be used to training the staff and through providing them different platforms the company can fetch the creative ideas from their staff
• There must be online and offline (virtual; over the web) feedback or comment section where the customers can record their feedbacks regarding the products services and their performance or further improvements.
• Teamwork culture, support from the management and empowerment are the necessary mediums to motivate the workforce and maintain their motivation for better productivity.
• An efficient performance appraisal system is required to be implemented for judging the performance of both contract based and permanent employees and similarly compensation should be based on this fair appraisal of employees.
• Further communication should be improved through extensively advertising the products to the target market and internal communication should have to be improved through making the flow of information on right time.

References

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Company: Delta Airline 1. What are the major business processes, i. e. operations, the organisation carries out? Here I did selected Delta Airlines as a company for my research. This company is providing a wide range of the air traffic facilities in different parts of the world. In other words we can say that there are many operational routs of this airline company and all the routes are very much beneficial. Another uniqueness of this company is a verity of airplanes including airbuses and jumbo etc.

At this time the company owns more than seven hundred different aeroplanes of different size and capacity. Delta Airline is providing facilities to the people of the world to more from one place to another by air. The services and facilities of the company are very helpful for the passengers and also this company is providing enough revenue for the development of different airports and also in air traffic control system. They are also providing different types of devices and scanners for checking the bags and other luggage of the passengers on the airport.

List the information systems that are used to automate these processes. The information system of the delta airline is governed at different levels and stages. For managing all the information and data the company is using some E-commerce platforms and these platforms are using different techniques to gather the information of the business process. And according to the requirements of the company these systems are providing managed and organized data for different purposes.

Company is using different information systems to manage and boost their business accordingly. First of all they are using an online website for complete details and information’s. They are also using the ERP system to interconnect different business process and locations. Explain how ONE of these information systems is used to automate one of the processes. ERP is the main and very important information system and this system is working in different offices of the company and this system is managing the internal activities, procedures and accounts of the company.

The whole working of the company is computerised and for this purpose they are using an ERP system to manage the business transactions and many other business procedures. This ERP system is managing all the internal and external working of the company and now the managers and other admin related people can get daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports of the business. How much they are investing and what is their outcome. And also which rout is more beneficial and which rout is facing lose.

This system can also mange the internal accounts of the company, like different salary packages, sales and purchase etc. Hence, we can say that this information system is providing a complete access and functionality to manage the working and business of the company Describe one complete situation in which an end user uses this information system. Your description should be a textual narrative (in English), i. e. do not use diagrams.

By using website (information system) the customers can get their required information and other inquires easily and accurately. By using this information system (website) the users can navigate their bookings and also they can confirm their seats by selecting source and destination. This website is also providing different guidelines and offers to the customers. This information system is completely managing the business of the company, because a complete backend system is working behind this website and this system will collect all the information’s.

By using this backend system the managers can easily get their required reports and information about the business direction and trends. Who heads the development (or heads procurement decisions) of information systems in the organisation? Who is doing the planning, analysis, design, implementation and maintenance? The CEO of the company is working as head for making all the decisions about the development of the company and also there is complete chain of different management posts and everybody is contributing for achieving a single goal.

The IT manager of the company is managing all the activities about the information system and for this purpose he is directly connected all the sub offices and departments of the company. In other words, the IT manager is controlling all the procedures and activations from the head office of the company. He is the also responsible for planning and analysis of the information system of the company and the technical and human resource department is designing, implementing and maintaining the information system and other decisions of the company.

In other words we can say that the IT manage is governing the information system in the company. Discuss the system development methodology used? If information systems are acquired from off-the-shelf products, what is the process of procurement that is used in the organisation? The information technology always require changes and updation time to time, because new technologies and techniques are coming in the market, that’s why, it is essential for the business organizations and companies to change and upgrade their information technology systems.

Similarly, the requirements of the people and customers are also being changed with the passage of time and to fulfil the requirements of the customers companies are looking to change and upgrade their information technology system and environment. The information system is very important for the professional and accurate working of the company and this information system is also increasing the working capacity of the company and on the other hand this information system is reducing their communication cost.

Similarly, this information system is also increasing the business revenue of the company. In this type of business, information system can really help out the company to manage their activities more professionally and accurately, because they are operating in different countries and they need to interconnect and integrate their whole business under one platform and information system is providing this platform to interconnect all the locations and departments. Hence, we can say that the information system for the Delta Airline is very important and beneficial.

Yes, the companies want to upgrade their information system structure, because the market of the information is changing and also the preferences of the customers are also changing. When we look at the information technology infrastructure of the Delta Airline then we come to know that their structure is changing due to the requirements of the customers. Now the customers wants to book and confirm the seat online and also they want to get many other inquires about the operations and timings of the flights and other rules and regulations.

Now this is the very important of the company to provide this facility to the customers to get revenue, that’s why, they provided all these facilities and functionalities to compete with other airlines. Also their business strategies and preferences are also being changed and to fully accomplish the overall conditions they need to change their information system infrastructure. The up gradation in the IS (information system) infrastructure will help out the companies to increase their revenue and also the customer satisfaction will also increase.

Another main benefit of this strategy is the value and survival in the market, because the companies can only survive with changes in their business strategies and in technology infrastructure. This strategy will not cost them very much, because they have a complete platform and infrastructure and they only need to upgrade the system with some new technologies and techniques. Discuss, in detail, the data collection techniques you used to answer the above questions.

I did use many different data collection techniques to complete this research and to answer these questions. The literature and online searching technique is providing a wide range of different information about the company. The web site of the company contains complete history, business process, business strategies and many other important information and data about the company. Another technique which I did use for the collection of the data was the online search about the operations and information system of the company.

And also, I contact with employees of the company to get the information about their managerial layers and also about the managerial activities and responsibilities. I also interview some other people and customers of the compony to get the information about the business activities and also about the information system of the company. In other words we can say that I did collect the information and data by using many different strategies and techniques. Give the details of the people you interviewed to answer the above questions.

Include examples of the questions you asked to answer these questions For of all I ask some questions to the customers of the company about the services and operations of the company and how they are getting their required information and services from the company. For example, • How the company is providing the facilities and services online? • Are you satisfied with the Information system of the company? • How they are managing feedbacks and requests?

The management and human resource department of the company is very helpful, because I asked many questions to the human resource agents of the company about their activities and information system activation. For example, • How many information systems are working in the company? • What is the management level and who is governing the information system of the company? • What are the main operations and service of the company? Approximately, I interview more than ten people including the customers and employees of the company for answering and completing this research.