Development in Information Technology to Enhance the Effectiveness of Management Support Role - Research Paper Example

?Business administration The concept of business structures and three main ways of creating such structures Organisational structure is the frameworkof an organisation which describes how an organisation works and tasks are performed. It defines the hierarchy of an organisation which decides the line of authority, duties and responsibilities, and communication between levels of management (Dessler and Varkkey, 2009). Organisational structure determines the role, responsibility, authority, information flow through hierarchy and the way they are coordinated and controlled (Hughes, 2008). Large and small organisations use different ways to create their organisational structures according to organisational goals and needs (Taylor, 2010). There are three main ways to create organisational structures which are discussed below: Functional structure This technique divides work according to the function of an organisation; it makes departments on the basis of organisational functions such as marketing, finance, human resource etc. (Torraco & Swanson, 1995) This is a very successful way to create an organisational structure as it promotes strong communication between departments and allows employees to use their expertise to achieve organisational goals. This structure is used by both small and large firms (Tobey & Benson, 2009). Example Revlon is a multinational cosmetics, skin care, personal care and fragrance firm and it uses functional organisational structure to manage its 6800 employees. It focuses on organisational functions to meet organisational goals. (Five approaches to Organizational Design) Divisional structure This way of developing structure, make divisions according to the types of products and market areas (Ulrich and Brockbank, 2005). This structure is usually used by large firms which have wide variety of products and its operations are geographically expanded. Small size firms can also use divisional structure on a small scale (Vosburgh, 2007). This structure allows organisation to analyse and respond customer need more rapidly but it discourages effective communication between divisions as because of wide size and scope, secondly it is a costly structure (Wood and Wall, 2007). Example Wal-Mart is an American multinational retailer that operates a chain of large departmental discount and warehouse stores and vends wide variety of products. It uses divisional structure. (Five approaches to Organizational Design) Matrix Matrix structure is combination of functional and divisional structure; it is a hybrid which is normally used by large multinational firms. Though it is a complex and costly structure but firms using this structure enjoy the benefit of both functional and divisional structures (Aguinis, 2009). Example Starbucks coffee company is an international coffee house which operates in many countries. It uses matrix structure which is costly but Starbucks Corporation is enjoying advantages of both functional and divisional structure which is helping them to expand and to maintain its focus on company’s goals (Hitt, 2008). How managers can be supported during the process of organisational structure change. Managers play an important role during the process of organisational structure change. They need to be very systematic to implement the change and has to be very careful about the processes involved (Armstrong, 2009). Change can be a shift to other structure or it may also mean to bring in the change within the selected organisational structure (Beatty & Schneier, 997). There is an eight-step process which can support managers the process of structural change. Following figure shows the steps involves in the process: (CliffNotes) Managers first need to analyse the need for change of organisational structure, then they need to develop the goals of change, once they decide goals then they need to select the change agent, then they need to do diagnosis, after diagnosis they need to select the intervention method, then they need to do develop a plan for change, once the plan is develop than they need to start planning for implementation which is followed by actual implementation of plan and lastly they need to provide follow-up and evaluation (Bratton & Gold, 2009). Example PepsiCo has brought up a change in its organisational structure in November 2007; initially it was operating under two units, PepsiCo North America and PepsiCo International but after the change it is operating under three geographically expanded units which are Frito-Lay North America, PepsiCo Beverages North America and Quaker Foods North America. PepsiCo is a leading multinational beverages firm which has brought up this change to grow and increase its sales. Why interpersonal communication and information management are important factor in MA role Interpersonal communication is very important factor in MA role; it encourages interaction between employees, it allows them to discuss their issues and needs with one another to come up with an appropriate solution. Besides this fact it creates over all ease to circulate information between working staff, management and customers. Interpersonal communication creates a bond between employees which help them to work comfortably; it also creates a bond between employees and customers which ultimately results in customer satisfaction and loyalty. Management work as a team and it is very necessary that all members of the team communicate well with each other to perform management process in a flow, so to excel and achieve management objectives interpersonal communication plays an important role as it fills the gap between individuals, departments and divisions. An organisational structure cannot work without interpersonal communication (Bratton, Sawchuk, Forshaw, Callinan, & Corbett, 2010). Information management is the other major factor which is very important in fulfilling MA role; an information management system allows a manager to gather and manage required information from different sources; and to disseminate information to management, employees and customers. Without information management system it is not possible for managers to operate in this era of growth and development (Broadbent and Laughlin, 2009). Development in information and communication technology to enhance the effectiveness of management support role Information and communication technology is the integration of traditional communication tools with new technologically advanced way of communication and disseminating information. Evolution of this concept has integrated telecommunication, computers, software applications and audio-visual systems (Compton & Nankervis, 1998). ICT has allowed organisations to perform in a much faster and cost effective way, because of the ICT it is possible today to communicate worldwide in much cheaper rates with increased communication quality. Now businesses don’t need to move to look for opportunities, ICT has developed easy access to information and data. Development in ICT has allowed organisations to grow and expand geographically; it has allowed managers to adopt new techniques to manage the entire organisation in an effective way. Development of internet has allowed organisation to manage their franchises and branches all over the world in an efficient manner. Today a managers doesn’t excessively need to travel for a meeting, video conferencing has enabled them to put up their issues and points in a cost effective and speedy way (Ford, Harding, and Stoyanova, 2010). Information and communication technology has allowed management team to create computerised database of employees which are comparatively very a fast and efficient than traditional hand written records of employees. Development in ICT infrastructure and connectivity has provided organisations with new capacities and new opportunities. New research techniques has enabled management to look forward for new management and tools to better understand the working environment and managerial issues whereas it has also provided managers with solutions to tackle these issues. ICT has improved performance of management processes to an incredible level, with low required level of man power and high level of speed. It has made the decision making process very easy because of easy access to information, today it is very easy for the management to evaluate employees performance because of the technologically advanced ways and new software. List of References Aguinis, H. (2009). Performance Management. Dorling Kindersley India Pvt. Ltd. Armstrong, M. (2009) Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 11th edition. London: Kogan Page. Beatty, R., & Schneier, C. (1997). ‘New HR roles to impact organizational performance: From partners to Players’, Human Resource Management, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 29-37. Bratton, J. & Gold, J. 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