Despite the common need of all organizations to stay up-to-date by introducing changes, there is no universal set of recommendations on methods and strategies that can be implemented in order to improve change management and overcome resistance. However, surveys involving interviews and questionnaires of the employees allow making conclusions about the needs of a specific organization. This helps top managers understand how to introduce changes and what personal contribution they have to make for those changes to be adopted successfully (Burke, 2013).
Judging by the provided questionnaire, the following recommendations can be suggested:
Do not try to change everything at once. When rushing up with innovations, you should never forget about the human factor. A considerable transformation of the working process provokes uncertainty and resistance (Vakola, Armenakis, & Oreg, 2013). Any change needs careful preparation, assessment, and gradual application. If you start piling up innovations, it will bring about total confusion and unwillingness to adapt (Cummings & Worley, 2014). According to the survey, the overwhelming majority of the employees agree that constant changes are harmful to the organization.
Start changes at the top of the organization. For the employees to accept innovations, it is essential that the CEO and all top management representatives should show confidence in the success of the venture. However, middle managers are the ones whose mission is the most challenging. The point is that they have to get into personal contact with all the employees, which means that their attitude to changes will be automatically transferred to the others (Carter, Ulrich, & Goldsmith, 2012). The opinion poll shows that almost everyone in the organization agrees that it is the responsibility of managers to assist workers in their attempts to adjust to changes.
Moreover, app. 78% of the respondents claimed that their managers do not devote enough time to training their subordinates to use the newest technologies.
Thus, the statistics prove that when the changes do not come from the top and are not consolidated in the middle, it leads to overall dissatisfaction.
Involve all levels and award initiative. Since all the organizational layers are touched by the changes, it would be fair to give everyone a chance to make a contribution. Creative solutions and improvement suggestions may come from a very much unexpected source (Benn, Dunphy, & Griffiths, 2014). According to the survey, around 30% of the workers have ever attempted to propose innovations.
The percentage is not low but it can be increased if middle managers make more emphasis on creativity and report to top managers about the employees’ innovative proposals for them to be rewarded for the initiative.
Be genuine in your desire to change. It is not uncommon for a company to introduce new approaches and technologies with the only purpose to catch up with its competitors. In such cases, changes are forced without any thorough consideration of their practical purpose and benefits. People need rationale and motivation to accept the idea – otherwise, the change seems pointless (Hayes, 2014). As the questionnaire demonstrates, a worrying number of the employees believe that the company is actually unwilling to change (no matter what innovations it introduces):
Nevertheless, almost all the respondents are positive that they have a great potential to implement advantageous changes.
This means that in most cases, people are ready to go further and adapt to the new; however, what they really need is to feel that the organization is prepared for innovations as well.
Do not neglect the importance of the organizational culture. Transformation programs should take into consideration the corporate culture and accepted blueprints of behavior at each level. It is a widespread mistake to address cultural issues either too late or never. However, if you ignore the presence and significance of this factor, you may fail to predict the employees’ readiness to change. It will bring about inevitable conflicts because of the disagreement with the corporate vision. Sometimes, cultural analysis is required for finding flaws in the organizational structure that should be eliminated before starting to implement any change projects (Burke, 2013). If we look at the survey results, it becomes evident that app. 46% of the workers find that the culture of the organization hinders innovations.
Do not strive for the entire elimination of the traditional strategies and methods. It seems obvious that new technologies are better than the old ones. If a new machine manages to produce more items for a shorter period of time bringing down the occurrence of errors and failures to the possible minimum, it is expected to improve the workflow. Nevertheless, the reality is much more complex. If the organization does not have qualified staff to deal with the new equipment and cannot provide the necessary education in a short period of time, the equipment is likely to bring more expenses than profit. Moreover, it often happens that people are not against technological changes – they are more afraid of social alterations in their relationships (Hayes, 2014). That is why traditional methods should not be totally rejected as they ensure a sense of stability. App. 47% of the respondents stated that sometimes their leaders rush too much with innovations when older methods should be preserved.
References
Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (2014). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Abingdon-on-Thames, UK: Routledge.
Burke, W. W. (2013). Organization change: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Carter, L., Ulrich, D., & Goldsmith, M. (2012). Best practices in leadership development and organization change: How the best companies ensure meaningful change and sustainable leadership (Vol. 18). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization development and change. Boston, MA: Cengage learning.
Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Vakola, M., Armenakis, A., & Oreg, S. (2013). Reactions to organizational change from an individual differences perspective: A review of empirical research. The Psychology of Organizational Change: Viewing Change from the Employee’s Perspective, 5(2), 95-122.
Quality management refers to the practice of making sure that every project action vital in the devising, preparation, and execution is successful and proficient with regard to its rationale and goal, as well as its performance. In a project, quality management does not denote a separate, self-regulating progression that arises at the conclusion of an action to determine the degree of the excellence of the output. Moreover, it does not entail using the most costly material or service in the market. Instead, quality management involves a continuous progression that begins and concludes with the project.
Quality management is more about prevention and avoidance as compared to evaluating and rectifying poor outcomes (Evans & Lindsay, 2012). It is a section of all project management practices from the start-up to the concluding stages. It concentrates on enhancing the satisfaction of the stakeholders through uninterrupted and incremental developments to practices, encompassing eradicating needless undertakings; it attains triumph through the advancement of the excellence of the materials and services offered to the recipients. This study propounds the hypothesis that by not linking projects to the set objectives and/or not having effective management to guide the operations, there is almost an assurance of not succeeding.
Quality entails the conformance to the requirements or fitness for use, which implies that the project has to satisfy the intended objectives and present value to the benefactor and recipients and that the materials and services must be employed as initially planned. The major concentration of quality management is satisfying or surpassing the anticipations of the stakeholders and sticking to the aims and specifications of the project. The eventual judge for quality is the recipient. The recipient signifies how near the project outputs and deliverables come to satisfying the needs and anticipations.
The manner in which a recipient delineates quality could be totally subjective, but there are numerous means of ensuring that value is objective through the definition of individual attributes and determination of a single or many metrics that could be gathered to reflect the features. For example, amid the characteristics of a quality project could be that it has a minimal amount of faults (Evans & Lindsay, 2012). This feature could be evaluated through the enumeration of faults and imperfections following the application of the project. Therefore, quality management does not signify an incident, but a course of action and a constantly high-quality project cannot be realized through a faulty process. Quality management entails a recurring sequence of determining value, modifying procedures, and evaluating excellence until the expected value is attained. This study will use secondary sources of data to obtain the research findings and conclude by approving the hypothesis.
Research Findings
In accordance with Al-Ani and Al-Adhmawi (2011), to ensure success, project managers have to boost certainty, enhance progression control, apply best practices, and concentrate on implementation. Lean Six Sigma ought to excellently satisfy performance anticipations through ensuring fulfillment of the requirements. Quality has been developing and changing from what one can generate to producing what will meet the beneficiaries’ needs.
Presently, Lean Six Sigma acts as a set of influential tools and methods for ensuring the quality of a project. Their popularity is constantly munching deep into the set strategies as the necessity for quality keeps on increasing. The execution of excellent tools is a critical issue for the majority of project managers currently. It entails uncertainties, which normally leave management in disappointment, and they are likely to desert the project just at the very start or midway following its execution. Some managers are able to get minimal success though they are unable to proceed further and carry on the project to obtain higher benefits.
Kim, Kumar, and Kumar (2012) outline some of the reasons behind the majority of project managers not succeeding in their execution of quality tasks. One such reason is the lack of effective management, where some of the managers seeking to execute quality projects express very little dedication. On the contrary, they partly or totally place the coordination of the project to other incompetent individuals. This results in the uncertain integrity of the project. The second reason entails the failure to deploy. In this regard, when the management dares to demonstrate interest, they do so only at the early deployment or not past preparation for worse instances, and when just a few benefits have been attained, no system is put in place to maintain the fruitfulness of the process.
The third reason involves taking shortcuts and deviating from the set objectives. On this note, it has been established that management may fail in executing a quality project by trying to copy one that had earlier been employed effectively by its pioneer. In this way, they may base their practices on a number of procedures or instruments while disregarding others and, in some instances, attempt to initiate a new plan with the application of old means or techniques (Kim, Kumar, & Kumar, 2012).
The fourth reason is the insufficient measurement, which would occur when the management normally evaluates the triumph of the project erroneously, for example, they could correctly assess or ensure the efficiency of the internal process but offer little consideration to the contentment of the beneficiaries as it necessitates more than can successfully be examined.
In accordance with Evans and Lindsay (2012), the majority of managers that execute quality projects, particularly with the use of Lean Six Sigma, do not realize the linked benefits. Implementers have a tendency to initiate very many development projects that are highly costly and resource-demanding, thus reallocating funds rather than hinging them on the most crucial handle. In a number of instances, implementers could lack the proficiencies necessary for the prioritization of the objectives of their project.
Many managers that fail to execute quality projects normally rush into it devoid of evidence establishing the objectives that made it triumph in the pioneer group since they have a craving for rapid accomplishment; they are not ready to devote the time and funding necessary to implement the plan. Some of the projects fail not because of value, cost, or initiating it late, but due to the managers failing to assess the requirements prior to engaging in the designing and implementation.
Under quality management, the most important step in the initiation of a project or creating modifications to an extant one is the identification of the demands of the clients since frustration of the customers is normally brought about by unanticipated failures resulting in unforeseen outlays. In addition, the failure of projects is, at times, attributed to the managers and implementers for their incapacity to foresee problems embedded in the course of their future application (Evans & Lindsay, 2012).
Low quality of a project could be improved in two approaches, which encompass making people operate smarter, that is, initiating quality (enhancement) plans as per the set objectives, or making individuals work harder, which entails the compelling management workers to increase their efforts and even utilize overtime.
Conclusion
Though there could be one main objective in a project, in its satisfaction, there could be other interim objectives. In the majority of cases, project implementers are charged with realizing a sequence of objectives as they seek to attain the major one. In most instances, the project implementers can just progress in a staircase style to realize the desired results. If they choose not to conform and instead progress in any other style, they might be unable to develop the proficiencies and insights in the course of working on a task, thus hindering their prolific progress; this may result in the failure of the project.
In an attempt to attain the set goals, they should be made into more practical and quantifiable statements that are termed as quality objectives. This way, the objectives act as the real framework anchored in both the way the workers in the organization operate and satisfying the needs of the beneficiaries. On this note, the quality objectives act as achievable goals meant to ensure the success of the project. Such quality objectives ought to be set in accordance with the quality guidelines with the purpose of ensuring that they are met in order of their priority (Evans & Lindsay, 2012).
The objectives could be modified after some time if need be, to guarantee continued upgrading. The evaluation of the objectives reflects the manner in which an organization is operating. Setting realizable objectives at all times helps to ensure the success of the project. The objectives could be revised as they are attained instead of setting extremely intricate goals and making them unchangeable.
Project managers (the management) could have the authority of the designing, implementing, and closing the assignment. To reduce the inconsistency of the project from the intended specification, it is crucial for the management to incorporate the priorities into the planning phase as the earliest possible to ensure success (Al-Ani & Al-Adhmawi, 2011). The best way of preventing the failure of the project in the course of its anticipated lifespan is having the management focus on practical techniques that will ensure high quality during its planning and implementation. In quality management, the project managers have to establish the expected degree of significance, which is characteristically outlined by the beneficiary, and determine the manner in which value will be upheld while carrying out the tasks.
For the success of a project, the managers have to make sure that the task is undertaken in a manner that satisfies the set values and objectives, the work practices are executed effectively and as specified, and that suitable corrective measures are taken to rectify any detected error. In addition, effective management plays a vital role in verifying and examining if the project deliverables satisfy the set quality standards. Therefore, not having the guidance of effective management is nearly a guarantee that the project will fail. The evidence discussed in this research paper clearly proves the hypothesis.
References
Al-Ani, R., & Al-Adhmawi, F. I. (2011). Implementation of quality management concepts in managing engineering project site. Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, 5(1), 89-105. Web.
Evans, J., & Lindsay, W. (2012). Managing for quality and performance excellence. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Web.
Kim, D. Y., Kumar, V., & Kumar, U. (2012). Relationship between quality management practices and innovation. Journal of Operations Management, 30(4), 295-315. Web.
Strategic Planning enables the tourism company to possess a Mission Statement that expresses the firm’s business focus, visionary aims, and purpose of the company which guides quest to the prospect. Handling Organizational Changes would motivate the organization to be ambitious in enhancing learning abilities to address diversities, problems, and complexities which define the business environment where the organization operates. This paper evaluates and explains how Organizational Change and Strategic Planning would impact prospects in managing the tourism and hospitality firm.
Strategic Planning
With stiff business competition surround, budget planning and forecast planning are inadequate approaches for a huge tourism firm to grow and survive. Sims views that the company must involve in Strategic Planning, which defines clearly aims and evaluates the external and internal conditions (2002). This is meant to: generate a strategy, apply strategy, and assess the growth, and make changes as crucial to remain on the course.
The company’s management would be able to define strategic and financial aims. Strategic Planning supports the firm to devise Environmental Scan that develops internal analysis to assess the company’s weakness and strength. The company would use an external analysis to identify threats and opportunities. The firm would identify its strength with opportunities, which it has developed while tackling its threats and weakness. Strategic Planning would enable the company to achieve superior gains (profits). Sims (2002) claims that “The company would create a competitive advantage over the competitors” (18).
Strategic Planning would support the firm to implement selected policies through the use of procedures, programs, and budget. Sims asserts that implementation entails managing resources of the company, and encouragement of the employees to attain their objectives (2002). How the policy is implemented creates a crucial effect on whether the firm would be victorious. In case, people who would implement the policy are different from those who created it.
Caution should be taken to express the policy and justification holding it. When a policy is not understood, the implementation may not be achieved successfully. Strategic Planning ensures that policies are assessed and adjusted according to the context required. Sims (2002) affirms that “Control and evaluation execute crucial changes, perform assessments, compare impacts to pre-defined models, and identify target principles” (20).
Organizational Change
According to Sims, Organizational Change remains a progressing aspect of significance for modern business strategic achievement (2002). Handling effective organizational Change signifies, an imperative achievement, for competitive organizations. Organizational devotion brings a mediation impact on the relationship between job satisfaction and effectiveness of Organizational Change practices.
Organizational change practices promote cohesive bonds within the company that in turn enhances job satisfaction. Organizations in the modern structures are keen on implementing policies which would enhance external and internal operation. Sims (2002) views that “Competitive market structures would pressurize the company to improve their functions to prompt their strategic progress” (19). Knowing when and how to change is crucial for the continued existence in the modern market. However, handling organizational change practices is a problem for many companies.
Recognizing justifications for enhancing and implementing a change is crucial for the firm’s operation. Sims (2002) asserts that “Administering Organizational Change practices provide essential aspects, which require control and comprehension” (18). Organizational Change practices improve job satisfaction and work commitments. Comprehending Organizational Change as a strategic transformation would enhance the effects of the organization.
Sims opines that Organizational Changes are strategies that focus to transform the work atmosphere to motivate the development of the organization (2002). Organizational Changes are process generated by an organization, to enhance the organization’s operation. The modern market structures are featured by unstable and competitive factors. The organization requires a wide perspective of the expectations to survive through changes that may occur in the market dynamics.
Reference
Sims, R. (2002). Organizational Success through Effective Human Management. Westport: Quorum Books.
The environments and culture of a country are the major aspects that influence business and people’s readiness to get involved in one. A business starts off with a definition of the market and the demand. In order for a product or service to be successful, it must be popular and stand out from the others. Organization and ability to get marketed to the public specify what sort of benefits will be gained in case of success.
The unique qualities of customers and businesses create specific conditions and nuances that must be analyzed. Responsiveness relates to a well established and supportive communication between the customer and the business. Also, the customer is valued and respected in the highest way possible, so if there are any problems with products or services, the customer is satisfied by the organization. This usually happens in case the product is damaged or cannot be used any more or some alternative is found. The customer might demand the product to be taken back for a refund or a credit. Accordingly, a business must be responsive and effective towards customers. The difference between a company being able to respond and not, depends on the policies set and the resources. A company might not be allowed to make any refunds or satisfy customer’s other requests. This creates tension between the customer and the company (Jennings 40).
Segmentation relates to the division of the market according to the demands and stability of a certain area. The public relations should focus on the population factors that are most valued by the community or nation, so that people connect their wants and needs into one. The direct marketing should be in often visited places and be done by the technology that is most appropriate for the population. This subject can be divided into two major categories, in particular macroeconomics and microeconomics. The first one is a study of aggregate nature of the economy, and can be related to the factors that affect the economy as a whole. Microeconomics is a study covering the economic factors that influence people and nations on a more individual level.
The supply chain refers to the transfer of information, materials, and the services that are involved. A lot depends on how the chain is organized, thus a lot of competition is based on how well companies can manage their product distribution. The location of the business and the local population determines what products are most popular. The modern world is a fast developing place where the environment demands for everything to be done fast and efficiently. In the supply chain design strategy there must be a logical structure that has a reliable regularity and fail proof aspects. Supplying a product requires for the local businesses to prepare to receive the product, as well as people must be made aware of the shipment. Advertisement is greatly involved in the process, but is only a part of the chain (Gopal 31). In order for a supply chain to be successful, it must be efficient and cost effective. This would lead to a business calculating and analyzing all the steps from storage, transportation and reception of the product.
The price of work must be reasonable and in accordance with the advantages it brings into a company. Price is adjusted according to the community and population, as well as the demand and economic stability. Prior research must be done, so that several companies are compared and an adequate price is selected. This leads to the advertising and sales promotion. The promotion must be effective in an organization, so a loss of assets and stability in the company are reached. For promotion to be beneficial, the inner workings of a company must be well directed. While advertising, the maximum amount of people should become aware of the product.
Distribution is closely related to the knowledge of the market and social preferences. The business world is very dependent on the environment and cultural specifics of a nation. The society and governments play a crucial role in the establishment and further success of a business. The interconnection of distribution and logistics in relation to domestic and international factors enables businesses to carry out activities that are closely controlled by local and worldwide standards in the best way. A business that is in involved in supply and transference of products must necessarily get involved in the organization of the intricate network of cooperation with other businesses and companies. Some companies are choosing to merge or form joint ventures, and their output will be enormous comparing to those of single companies (Mankiw 19).
Globalization has helped advance the business culture in the UAE. The infrastructure and cooperation within many political and economical divisions has been the goal of the past several years, and the government works closely with society to adhere to the highest standards. The ability to open a private company without any danger in relation to illegal activity from administration forces and local authorities has given rise to development. Establishment of joint ventures and other partnerships have allowed for easier export and import transactions. Loans given by the government, banks and credit companies have low interest rates which provide healthy environment for business both domestically and internationally.
Within the past decades, the UAE have seen major changes in businesses and growth. Even thought there is separation between classes and incomes, most recently, it has been considered the land of opportunity where business will prosper. This has led to a significant increase of migrants, who are developing and contributing to the nation. Oil and gas industries have played an influential role in the progress that has taken place. This resulted in the rise of many projects within the UAE, including infrastructure, residential construction, education and manufacture. The communication systems and internet have aided in the coordination of businesses and people’s involvement in small companies and corporations. The environment has become very efficient for opening and operating in the UAE (Doing business with the United Arab Emirates 17).
The studies have shown that there is a deep relationship between a business and the customer, so proper CRM system is key to success. The more satisfied a person is, the better their response leading to higher input. As such, communication between people providing a specific service plays an important role in loyalty and recommendations. The solution is for businesses to get involved with the customers, think further by adjusting to the needs and giving specifically what is being wanted. A lot rests on the way a business is done and any change in the products will influence the sensitive and fragile relationship between the production company and the consumer. There has to be a steady management of the materials that are used in the company, constant making sure that all the required products and materials that are needed for the business are in place and the monitoring of the quality of the production relating to customers’ needs and wants.
Works Cited
Doing business with the United Arab Emirates. London, United Kingdom: GMB Publishing Ltd, 2006. Print.
Jennings, Marianne. Environment Business: Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment. Connecticut: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Gopal, Namita. Business Environment. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2009. Print.
Mankiw, Gregory. Principles of Economics. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
A data management system is software that is used in retrieving, cataloging, and running data queries. The database manager can create, edit, and update customer data in the database. Therefore, the information can be edited, searched, added, or changed using all the data management systems. Several data management systems have been developed. They are important in information sharing; thus, most of them are equipped with open database connectivity that enhances inter-database information sharing. Some of the information that can be managed by the system include membership list and subscription list; bookkeeping and accounting records; scientific research data; customer information; inventory information, personal records, and library information (College of information and technology 2008).
Introduction
Customer relationship management is internet-enabled information access software that is used to manage customer relationships by entrepreneurs in an organized manner. It ensures that detailed customer information is accessed by all interested departments of the business. Some of the relevant information that can be accessed include reminding customers of product requirements and accessing the records of what a customer purchased earlier. All businesses are highly dependent on customers. Therefore, it is necessary to identify with customers so that their needs can be understood and met by the business in an effort to develop a good relationship. A small business can meet their customers daily and understand the needs of their customers due to the face to face interaction.
This is as opposed to large businesses like the supermarket, where there are long chains between the decision-makers and the customer care. In the past few years, customer relationship management has been critical to many companies as it helps to acknowledge and understand the customers. This will change the business from being less product-centric and focus on the customers (Trapp 2013). The development of this system will enable companies without technology to handle customers effectively and efficiently. In this case, this technology would integrate the other forms of communication such as emails, telephone, and internet conversations in writing. It has been realized that companies that use sophisticated technology would benefit more than the companies that use basic data collection methods. Analysis of customers’ past behavior and anticipation of the future trends are considered (College of information and technology 2008).
Findings
Thomas H Davenport and Jeanne G Harris have indicated that companies that have employed customer management systems have predictive analytics. This was exemplified in their book ‘competing on analytics.’ They also enjoy growth and positive performance results. Predictive analytics would enable the industry to identify the most profitable customers, as well as the least profitable ones. Different steps in the supply chain can be tested to identify potential problems and hold-ups. Proper analysis of the past pricing and historical sales would allow resetting favorable profitability for every transaction. The capital cost for the system management has been high in the past. However, Oracle has new low-cost software that would be affordable to many organizations. Indeed, some companies have been able to negotiate for lower costs.
Daryn Mason of Oracle implied that the system had enabled companies and small scale business enterprises to excel in the business world. However, the companies have faced challenges to fulfill the sudden rush of demand for products and services. Two years ago, Net store, UK-based information technology and services providing company, decided to develop the customer management system known as Siebel that is part of Oracle. Since then, Nestore has experienced growth and acquired two other companies. The company has plans to grow organically, and the sales team played an important role in the growth. This was through the acknowledgment of their customers and potential customers. Businesses that employ customer management systems have experienced growth. This has been witnessed in the sales department, as well as in the financial and commercial departments. Another important benefit of the system is that users only require minimal training place. (College of information and technology 2008).
Our company, Castle Bingo, has several clubs. Therefore, there is a need to capture and share data information to improve customer management and market growth. We are faced with the challenge of high volume data management. Several companies have achieved a competitive advantage over their competitors through the employment of big data analytics. New analytics are supported by data filters and forceful dominance of the data sources.
The big data and metrics
This is used to store, search and work on large quantities of data. Big data sets have various characteristics, including volume, velocity, and variety. However, the most important characteristic is the value of information recovery. Several companies have realized that information acquisition is a competitive advantage. Therefore, this is the time to implement big data as it has the capacity to collect large volumes of data. It processes both unstructured and structured data at high speed (Deloitte, 2012). There are different types of data sources, including operational sources, financial sources, constituency sources, and customer sources. Operational and financial sources contain objective metrics, while the customer and constituency sources contain attitudinal metrics. Operational data is used to analyze the quality of the business processes
. A good example is the use of the customer management system to track the call center interaction quality in terms of response time and call length. The system is also able to measure the financial quality of the company using the financial data obtained from the company’s financial reporting system. Customer data sources from surveys and online and social media are captured into the customer enterprise feedback system of large enterprise companies (Sun & Heller 2012). A company needs to realize what the big data implementation is addressing. This will ensure that one does not assume that big data alone would be enough to produce returns. The application of big data analytics should result in business returns. The company should not incur unnecessary costs as a result of a disjointedness. This is with regard to big data inputs and the preferable outcomes. This would lead to a waste of time, money, and effort. Many companies have adopted lean principles of big data to improve output quality and improve internal processes. These include the following:
Define business processes and customer objectives
Define the business goals and customer objectives, then build the business strategies on these goals and objectives. It is important to single out the business challenges and manage each with the objective of customer needs satisfaction. The point is how the potential customer would perceive the value of a service. For example, an expensive car can be given away at a price, but the chances of winning the prize may not motivate the customer.
Relevant data set identification
The relevant output would be obtained only if the data identified measure for the outcome. Publishers and technology companies are paid to provide data. Therefore, due to this cost, data should only be purchased if the intended outcome will impact the business positively.
Design analysis
The processes and steps of data collection, storage, analysis, and visualization should be integrated fully into the business processes and services.
Analytic and outcome measure implementation
The analytics implemented and data collected should measure the business processes performance and services.
The pull don’t pull principle
Emphasize analytic processes that are customer-demand oriented to ensure the processes are relevant to the value derived by both the customer and business.
Customer feedback integration in the business processes
The low and poor quality data and unnecessary analytics should be eliminated from the business process. This should be replaced with more insightful analytics to ensure a and perfectly refined outcome. The problem with big data is the application of data. Thus, only useful insights should be extracted to avoid unnecessary costs (Hayes 2012).
Database management systems have got several advantages. One of the biggest advantages is that information is made available to all potential users. The system is designed in a way that minimizes data redundancy as the information in it only appears once. The data stored in the system remain accurate, consistent, and of integrity since changes can only be made from one point. Data consistency enhances data management when many programmers are involved. The system is user friendly as access and manipulation of data is easy since the reliance on a specialist is minimized. It is beneficial to access information from one source of storage even though the system faces security challenges. The security risks can be avoided if access is only limited to authorized individuals by the use of passwords (College of information and technology 2008).
Benefits of big data metrics
Financial fraud detection, prevention, and remediation
Criminals tend to defraud companies through several strategies. Therefore, the use of big data volumes enables a company to discover any suspicious event that indicates fraud. Several companies have become victims of fraud due to the inability to refine their fraud prediction models. With big data and a more sophisticated IT team, a company can improve on the fraud detection models.
Execution of high-value campaigns
This is possible due to improved model execution capability campaigns. The campaigns are intended to market company services to increase market base and popularity.
High-performance analytics
High-performance analytics makes a difference in terms of fraud and risk prevention.
Improved delinquent collection
Just like prepaid phone services, the big data with high-performance analytics have improved delinquent collection processes to increase collection. Bingo would allow customers to access prepaid services (Spakes 2012).
Ethical and Legal Issues
Confidentiality: There should be informed consent to allow data sharing to ensure that customer information is not leaked out to other parties outside the business. This is made possible through the restriction to access. The sensitivity of the data should be evaluated before it is put on share point so that only relevant customer information is stored. The company should have a confidentiality review among the employees to ensure that the customer details are confidential. Otherwise, penalties will be charged to the culprits. The institutions that access sensitive customer information like financial information should have a binding code of conduct that should be signed by all employees in charge. This is meant to ensure that all employees comply with customer confidentiality guidelines. The company should investigate what the national laws say about protecting their customer information. This will ensure that such laws are integrated into the company’s guidelines.
Recommendations
The development of a data management system requires proper planning to ensure that the effort applied produces the company’s desired results. The plan should include:
The description of the project. There should be a detailed education and understanding of the project research, as well as the organization and staff involved. This will ensure that the project objectives and goals are clarified.
The staff involved should understand the data collection methods to be employed and the format of the data.
Security of the acquired information should be assured. This is related to the short term storage system and local backups and ensures that important information is not lost or misused.
Ethical and legal matters in terms of access policies and provisions should be employed to protect customer information.
Long term data preservation should be put in place, which includes archives for future reference.
The assigned data managers should have clearly set responsibilities and a data management checklist to guide the plan.
Conclusion
Social media has played a role in ensuring that companies and organizations understand their customers and their perception of the brands and services. Data mining from the network systems cannot help an organization to achieve the desired goal. The application of the big data principles can help an organization or a company to improve customer relationships. For this reason, firms have the mandate to develop their own data management systems. This will enable them to obtain credible feedbacks and handle customers in a manner that would improve the good customer relationship.
Reference List
College of information and technology 2008, Database fundamental, Web.
Wal-Mart is a business which has been in existence since 1962. Its founder is a gentleman by the name Sam Walton. The company, which has such a massive control in the United States, was founded in Bentonville, Arkansas. Since it was founded, it has not been overpowered by the opposition of any sort. It has snatched a leading, or near- leading position in key areas of the trade market, for instance, it is the biggest foodstuff seller in the United States, the biggest pharmacy in the US, and it forms Hollywood’s largest channel.
The massive retailer is considered to be somehow responsible for the economic gain of the United States. In an annual basis, an estimated 7.2 billion persons are said to shop at Wal-Mart. The company is expanding to other areas like Eastern Europe, and Brazil. It tends to shape lives all over, be it to bicycle producers in China, or to farmers in Mexico, or Chile.
The company’s effect is so great that it is influencing everything from the shape to the design, and even to the working practices. Despite its outstanding collection, worldwide admission to products, fewer costs, and convenience, Wal-Mart is greatly affecting the globe in many ways from the wages paid to communities, to the working surroundings in factories.
Wal-Mart, whether directly, or indirectly, is taking the initiative of shaping the planet that we are living in, and the planet that we are working in. In one way or another, it is touching every Americans life daily. Every week, an estimated 130 million persons or more do their shopping at Wal-Mart. Those are the people who get first-hand experience of the effect of the company, that is, the impact it creates on lessening costs.
Due to the efficiencies, it inflicts on its suppliers, the company has permitted those companies to lessen the costs of their goods, despite them not being sold at Wal-Mart. This has put pressure on Wal-Mart’s competitors, to lower their prices, for them to retain customers as a result of competition. The effect is so strong that it affects even those consumers who do not shop at Wal-Mart. This is because they are forced to pay less, for the goods which they would have paid for, for more.
In addition to pricing, Wal-Mart affects the world in other ways on a daily basis including; product shipping, the packaging and displaying of goods in stores, the factories operations which in turn change the factory employees way of life, the way indirect competitors manage their stores, that is, in the way they present and charge for their products, as well as in the way they make payments to their employees.
Also, Wal-Mart affects communities buying patterns, the way foodstuff is grown and sold, and the way business people and buyers think. In other words, it finds a place inside people’s brains.
Wal-Mart is raising poverty rates to higher levels. This is because it pays too little to its workers, and does not pay for overtime. Furthermore, the employees are not allowed to work for more than 28 hours in a week, and those who are fully employed, earn below the poverty level.
In addition, the company does not allow its workers to join unions, and does not employ workers who have belonged to a union before. Workers, who seem to be knowledgeable of workers unions’ requirements, are fired. Also, only a small percentage of the company’s employees are covered by a health insurance.
The company has also led to mass unemployment. This is because, as a result of its low prices and importation, many manufacturing plants have been forced to partially, or entirely close down, and others to ship their production oversees.
Thus, many of the Americans are left without jobs. The company also creates mass unemployment in that it does not create employment, but rather it creates jobs on top of other existing ones, for instance, small stores are forced to close down as buyers stop shopping in them, but instead opt to buy their goods from ‘the big shop’.
Simply, it destroys others ‘in the name of’ creating new ones. In addition, the company has turned its overseas workers into slaves. This is because they are cheated off their wages, they are overworked without food, harassed sexually, and are threatened to be deported in case they raise a complaint. Workers are also mistreated or undervalued as they are made to use boxes or lawn furniture samples as seats since the company does not want to cater to the office furniture.
As for the suppliers, they do not complain when Wal-Mart impacts their businesses. Despite the company giving them a large market share, some of them are forced to go overseas in order for them to produce goods at lower prices, and hence maintain their business with Wal-Mart. Also, retail outlets, have been forced in one way or another adopt the way Wal-Mart runs its business. Wal-Mart also forces people to buy items that they do not need due to cheap prices thus, leading to ‘consumerism’.
It is therefore clear that whether we buy our products at Wal-Mart, or not does make any difference because the prices we pay for are in one way, or another dictated by Wal-Mart. Even if we never go inside Wal-Mart stores, we are all Wal-Mart customers. Thus, we can say that Wal-Mart destroys our communities.
Business process management can be explained as the measures or systems put in place to ensure that the organisation and all its subsystems, including its departments, processes, teams, and employees, among others, are working together in an optimum way towards achieving their goals and the results desired by the organisation (Poirier et al. 2005: 33). This field can be broken down into three critical components: people, technology, and information that help to create efficiency while managing organisations. These components consider the performance of a company as a whole, evaluate the effectiveness of top management in reaching company goals, and evaluate employees with a view of helping them develop. This paper will focus on the case study, “Kimball Electronics Wales Ltd.” to give an informed report on the business process management and its effectiveness. This will be achieved by providing information on the organisational structure, quality, business processes and systems used by the firm.
Overview of the Company
Kimball Electronics Ltd. is an electronic manufacturer company, and one of its locations is in U.K. following the purchase of Bayer Healthcare Diagnostic. Since then, it acquired the name Kimball Electronic Wales Limited and employed 164 employees from UK, who reflected professionalism in their field of interest (Fletcher & Brent 2009). As a result, it started manufacturing industrial, medical, automotives, as well as public safety electronics. More so, the Kimball Electronic Group has a number of manufacturing premises in China, Thailand, Mexico, and the United States (Kimball Electronic Group 2012). It is clear that in February 2008, the company had expressed concern over poor running of the firm; however, it was decided that quality initiatives could be applied to improve the firm. Further, it was observed that linking each employees and customer goals to the organisational goals would greatly help the company in achieving its objectives (Fletcher & Brent 2009).
Organisational Structure
The Kimball Electronic is a public limited company, as evidenced by the manner in which it reveals its annual report. For case in point, the Kimball Electronics Group reported a sales volume amounting to 673 million dollars as at 30 June 2007 (Fletcher & Brent 2009), just one year after the formation of the Kimball Electronics Whale. Even though the management has the overall responsibility in decision-making, the firm takes consideration of its stakeholders in times they need clarification of certain information. For case in point, following the Kimball electronic company’s decision to close their business in the U.K., the shareholders, including the employees, entered into a 90-day dialogue that facilitated further operations of the company.
The Type of Business Organisation
The Kimball Electronic Whales operates on private sector. Purchasing Bayer Healthcare Diagnostic reveals that the company embraces provision of services to the customers with regard to their specific requirements. Hence, the company’s provision of services to the customers is based on a long-term basis (Kimball Electronic Group 2012). At the same time, the Kimball Electronic Company maintains other engineering teams in an effort to attain outstanding performance from the introduction phase of a product to the end of its life cycle. But with a high rate of competition for electronic products, trading on private sector is paramount for Kimball Electronics Whale to flourish. Most importantly, operating on private terms does not only serve to benefit the company but also its customers. And it is for this reason that Kimball Electronics Company has been considered a viable manufacturer, as it provides its customers with a guaranteed market in both the short-term and long-term basis.
Thus, the first reason why private trade is valuable for Kimball Electronics Whales is that the customers can be guaranteed a long-lasting market, since it takes the approach of providing them with distinctive, quality products. With the close interaction developed with customers, the Kimball Electronic has the capacity of improving its products, and consequently maintaining its customers. Secondly, private trade is paramount because it helps the company attain a competitive advantage in the sense that the company gets into a position of analysing the environmental factors affecting the demand of its products in a comprehensive manner (Gitman & McDaniel 2008: 33). Through this analysis, the Kimball Electronics stands in a position of demonstrating unique selling points that facilitates information exchange with the employees as well as with the customer of its products.
In an effort to analyse the environmental factors affecting electronic businesses, Kimball Electronics has already taken the initiative of speaking to the customer concerning its products. More so, operating on private sector or contract terms facilitates market differentiation (Gitman & McDaniel 2008: 572), and therefore helps to assess the demand of the electronic products in each sector. This is critical because it helps the company identify ways of approaching its customers in relation to market demand. This, in turn, facilitates control of stocks levels in the market.
The Structural Style Adopted, and How This Works With Kimball Electronics Business Processes
Owing to the fact that the Kimball Electronics Group has a number of manufacturing premises in China, Thailand, Mexico, and the United States, the Kimball Electronics Whale has adopted a traditional organisational structure that is based on geographic departmentalisation (Kimball Electronic Group 2012). The Kimball Electronics has adopted this structure in an effort to enhance productivity and management of a given location. This emanates from the fact that a company that supplies its products to diverse regions creates an avenue for corporate culture, thus facilitating decision-making process for each region (Kono & Clegg 1998: 312). Hence, the Kimball Electronics Whale is in a position of recognising synergies, and this makes it easier to reform them. Thus, the organisational structure works under the platform of midway between the centralization and decentralization from the Kimball Electronic Group, thus facilitating operations that are only confined within the U.K.
Additionally, the traditional organisational structure based on geographical departmentalisation suits Kimball Electronics Whales because, despite the fact that it would want to operate under a centralized structure in an effort to retain the group’s values, it is extremely hard to achieve organisational goals due to differences in culture between diverse regions across the globe (Weitz & Wensley 2002: 157). Hence, the Kimball Electronics Whales can only acquire speed and comprehensive information of diverse cultural practices of the employees and economic capabilities of the customers by fully embracing traditional structure based on geographical departmentalization.
Given that the aim of this organisational structure to create efficiency for people, technology, as well as the flow of the information, the structure adopted works well with the business process since the workers approve innovative ways of carrying out business operations. The Kimball Electronic Group upholds a business management process that states that diversity without innovativeness does not amount to productivity (Bosilj-Vukšić et al. 2008). This necessitates a change of vision and mission statement in the event where there is a change of technology or cultural values in the U.K.
However, inasmuch as the traditional structure based on geographical departmentalisation takes precedent at the Kimball Electronics Whale, the structure is also faced with disunity amongst workers from different regions (Fletcher & Brent 2009), perhaps due to differences in working conditions. This emanates from the fact that organisational culture plays a crucial role on the performance of an organisation, and this necessitates coming up with an organisational structure that shares a common organisational culture (Rant 2004). Therefore, the organisational structure adopted by Kimball Electronics Group can only work effectively with the Kimball Electronics Whale if they manage to resolve their differences to a level where they achieve common ground.
Business Processes And Systems
How Kimball Electronics Supplies its Product to its Target Market
At the Kimball Electronics Whale, the financial institution is responsible for verifying credit cards from the customers; their responsibilities range from making decisions to disseminating information to the sales department. The sales department is tasked with the role of authorising payment; it does not debit the customers account until authorisation is authenticated and approved. The sales department subsequently hands over the order to the sales person, who approves it by checking whether the specified specifications match with what is available in stock. Incase none is found, he/she notifies the management for further decision making. If found matching, he/she acknowledges to supply the products. And after the order is packed, it is shipped to the appropriate customer, as shown in flow chart below.
How Kimball electronics supplies its product to its target market
How Kimball Electronics Integrates its BPM?
An effective BPM creates room for efficiency as well as improved quality for the products (Peter & Claus 2007). As such, it connects various processes involved in manufacturing and sales transactions to a point where transparency, communication, as well as accountability are evident. The Kimball Electronic Whale has managed to integrate the BPM by making sure that it checks irregularities within the request form. This include checking the company’s name, heading for the request in question, date of the report request, product specification, report description, and name of the requestor, among others.
To remove additional discrepancies, the Kimball Electronic sales department works hand in hand with the financial department to scrutinise the specified order; the order is only approved after meeting the specified regulations. This is integrated with the managers’ point of view, as he has the overall responsibility of assessing whether there is a conflict of interest between the customers needs and the business operation (Harmon 2003: 126). Effective communication between the sales department and the distribution department is also called for. This entails carrying out a cross comparison between the order and the stock at hand, and after verification, the product is supplied to the appropriate customer.
Value Added at the Kimball Electronics Whale Business Processes
With this BPM at hand, the Kimball Electronics Whales is in a position of satisfying not only the employees but also the customers. In this case, the employees are rewarded by the fact that they are provided with enough support whenever possible. This, according to Green (2001: 78) is a key motivator because it helps in preventing individual from fears of incompetence through training programs that prepare employees to cope with the business process.
Additionally, the business process analyses a critical role of the manager: asserting authority. Deutsch et al. (2006: 817) facilitates understanding of the role played by an organisation’s authority by affirming that “… behaviors are learned and, as such, are amenable (in varying degrees) to change.” The management team has influenced a strong business process of the organisational team using rules and regulations that are in line with the U.K culture, hence helping to create a sense of belonging for the local employees, who, in turn, create value added for the customers through provision of quality services.
Recommendations on how Kimball Electronics Whale can improve its Current Supply Chain and BPM
An appropriate contract arrangement for the Kimball Electronic Whales with its customers should involve the evaluation of demand and supply curve. This helps to come up with an appropriate buying strategy that would reduce the chances of incurring losses (Kloppenborg 2008: 332). Due to high competition for electronic products, the Kimball Electronic Whales should endeavor to limit the chances of incurring losses by eliminating mass production strategies of a specific product. The company, therefore, should incorporate its business process with a framework that forecasts the demand, supply, and the price of its products.
And while the Kimball Electronics Wales handles its manufacturing process by defining the roles of the financial institution and supplies departments, the company should delve into ways in which it is able to achieve effectiveness of the supply chains, as well as defining the role of the marketing department. The contract should be done after monitoring and forecasting the contract successfully. The performance of the contract should then be evaluated using the computer software that helps to manage risks. As such, the software should be in a position of enhance the following functions:
Ensuring adequate supply of commodities at all times;
Predicting costs;
Reducing costs associated with inventory from within as well as outside the company in order to improve the supply chains (Kloppenborg 2008: 336).
Quality
Product, People/Processes, and Marketing
Business entities cannot survive without innovations since the environmental and behavioral factors make them face numerous changes and uncertainties, which form part of the innovation (Burke 2007: 118). Therefore, the Kimball Electronics should continue to create solutions that encourage and enrich people’s lifestyles by continuously inspiring creativity amongst the employees in an effort to transform the company from traditional approach to new approach of process/ people (Indihar & Jaklič 2006). As a result, the products of Kimball Electronics Whale will be closely associated with the activities of the people, and this shows a deep understanding that people are prone to innovation.
The current technology has changed the way employees communicate amongst themselves as well as with their customers. As a result, the periodic and manual work has been replaced with effective technology, thus eliminating communication conflicts in a company setting. With the current technology at hand, the Kimball Electronics Whale has already developed a good relationship between employees, basing on well-documented findings of employees performance report.
BPM that upholds the current technology improves the quality of marketing department significantly. As such, the management gets into a position of identifying the company’s strengths and weaknesses from the revenue reports, as well as identifying the organisation’s strength and weakness from revenue reports easily. This is critical in the marketing approach, as it has provided the Kimball Electronics Whale with well-documented findings on market trend, which, in turn, facilitates decision-making process within the business.
Conclusion
This paper has provided an informed report on the business process management and its effectiveness at the Kimball Electronics Whale. As such, the paper has provided a thorough evaluation of the outcome of a business management process through a critical analysis. More so, this paper reviews different approaches taken by the company to ascertain the company’s sustainability for both the employees as well as the customers. The evaluation has been done through analysing the organisational structure, quality, business processes, and systems used by the firm.
More so, the paper provides a report on critical analysis of the Kimball Electronic Whales Ltd. by exploring the main target group for the business, and the correlation between the Kimball Electronic Whales and the Kimball Electronic Group. Additionally, the paper analyses the role of people, technology, and information in improving the quality of the company’s products. The analysis helps in identifying the strengths and the weaknesses of the BPM adopted, hence strengthening the process by providing recommendations for improvement.
However, even though the BPM adopted has managed to make a considerable amount of profit for the firm, it would be imperative to adopt an information system that does not only ensure adequate supply of electronic goods but also reduces cost associated with inventory, thus improving the supply chains. Therefore, the paper recommends that the BPM adopted should be incorporated with a framework that forecasts the demand, supply, and the price of its products on short and long-term basis.
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