Information Management For The Intelligent Organization - Research Paper Example

Information Management For The Intelligent Organization Executive Summary Today, clients of Riordan Virtual Organization are more demanding, as the industry is becoming more dynamic in terms of the providing clients with the latest goods or services. The firm maintains its connection with all its branches in Michigan, China and Georgia among others through the use of the Wide Area Network (WAN). Riordan manufacturing Information systems are mainly controlled from the headquarters which are based in California and San Jose. The key clients range from the beverage industry and aircraft to automotive parts manufactures (Riordan Manufacturing, 2004). Riordan manufacturing faces the challenge of addressing emerging cliental issues, in regard to Information System Security Assurance. To address this problem, Riordan Manufacturing has contracted my team to create a strategic plan which will address all the steps to be taken by the firm in regard to strategic management process. Hence, for the company to stay competitive in such a business environment, it has to continuously adapt to the latest technology in regard to information systems. This involves the process of upgrading the telecommunication system and its data networking system. This will give the Riordan Virtual Organization the added merits, against its competitors. Additionally, the firm will also be able to support its future growth needs of the clients. Company Background According to the information from University of Phoenix, on Riordan Manufacturers (2004), Riordan Virtual Organization is a global mass producer of plastic produce, and is estimated to be the employer of 550 employees. The employees have an annual projection of $46 million earnings. The industries that the company operates in, have an estimated $ 1 billion as the enterprise revenues (Riordan Manufacturing, 2004). As aforementioned, the firm’s research takes place in its corporate headquarters. Therefore, it focuses on providing its products to clients in the market who are using polymer products. The products range from plastic beverage containers, custom plastic parts and plastic fan parts, which are all produced in plants that are located in different countries. Mission Riordan Virtual Organization key focus is to remain as the key industry leaders when it comes to industrial trends. The firm also aims at using polymer materials as the key product solutions for the challenges the clients face. To the customers, Riordan Virtual Organization strives to be the key solution provider for all the clients and not pose as their challenge. The firm also aims at promoting a long term relationship through maintaining reasonable prices for its products, offering quality controls and giving creative solutions. To its employees, the firm aims at maintaining a team of creative employees in an environment that is conducive. The firm’s goal is to always continuously assure its employees that it is well informed, thereby, providing them with the assurance of its commitment to the employees. In regard to its future, the firm aims at achieving a profitability level which is attainable and maintaining it for the purpose of sustained growth. Strategic Management Process Riordan’s Need of a Strategic Plan Riordan requires a strategic plan for the purpose of improving the general organizational performance and improve on the management efficiency. This will as a result to contribute the company being able to capitalize on its future opportunities in the market and encourage its employees to continue working in the organization. A strategic plan will give room for the company to accomplish its long term and short term goals. According to the information from University of Phoenix on Riordan Manufacturers (2004), the firm’s marketing budget shows that it has a two year plan to achieve $50 million as its revenue mark. This is a mark that cannot be achieved without the help of a strategic plan. The guidelines provided in the strategic plan will be the key to the aforementioned goal attainment. The firm has the aspiring goals of promoting more sales for the customers in its database and other new customers. Use of goals alone, will not produce successful results; hence, a strategic plan needs to be incorporated. Ethical and Social Considerations The ethical and social considerations of Riordan Industries play a crucial role in the strategic plan of the organization. The international and domestic manufacturers, who are the firm’s clientele, as aforementioned earlier, may suffer due to issues relating to the firm’s principles and standards and how the products are marketed. Riordan Virtual Organization is an international marketer and hence, making ethical and social considerations is crucial for its survival in the market (Wheelen and Hunger, 2010). There are many risks involved when it comes to making ethical and social considerations. For example, when it comes to marketing ethics, there must be principles and standards that are set for marketers to adhere to their marketing policies and standards. If Riordan plans to expand in Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, there certain ethical and social standings that it has to consider. Riordan has to consider the religion and financial stability of the people in the country, for the purpose of employing new employees in the new branch. To meet the consumer needs in the two examples of states, Riordan has to bridge the cultural gap that may exist between its employee and that of the consumers in the new states. When it comes to making the social considerations, it will not be easy to understand how the government in some Asian countries operates. For example in South Korea, the firm has to find ways of protecting its workers from exploitation and other employee rights. Assessment of Situation and Strategy Development Strategy Formulation According to Wheelen and Hunger (2010), the research conducted on small firms shows that there are fruitful results when planning is conducted. The authors propose that forming a strategic plan promotes a firm’s financial level of performance, when sales are increased. Under strategy formulation, a firm has to have a solid corporate level strategy, competitive strategy and functional strategy. a) Corporate Level Strategy: Riordan Virtual Organization has to start making the necessary moves to establish different business positions and gain a level of certain diversification. There is need for the Riordan management to make decisions in regard to the amount of business branches the firm should open. The amount of time that the company requires to diversify needs to be determined. Investment priorities have to be determined and the corporate resources have to be identified. The firm has to embark on actions which boost its performance as it diversifies into core-businesses. Riordan manufacturers may be involved in supplying of resources or finances to other firms in the industry, to promote healthy competition. b) Competitive Strategy A competitive strategy involves coming up with a plan that will promote how an organization competes successful in the market. This also involves gaining a competitive advantage over the other rivals. There are numerous competitive strategies which Riordan manufacturers can apply since its strategic approach is related to the custom designed actions that fit its own circumstance and the environment. Riordan’s market target is broad and the clients that it serves are numerous, additionally, it serves on an international and national level. Riordan has the competitive strategy of offering its clients different products. The firm offers products that are different in sizes, shapes and functionality; hence, they meet the customer needs. The firm also used different tactics and applies cost leadership with the aim of focusing on gaining the full competitive advantage. The other competitive advantage that Riordan has over other companies is that it applies the use of a reward and incentive program, which ensures that employees are recognized and their operational excellence is rewarded fairly. To remain competitive, Riordan has also remained as an innovative and sustainable business in regard to its operations on a global level. Hence, Riordan has remained as an effective supplier of products to the clients in the dynamic market. c) Functional Strategy: Functional strategies are mainly based on short term events, which act as a functional aspect within an organization. There are usually carried out for the purpose of implementing the long-term strategies, which include corporate and business level strategies. Each of the areas which are functional presents different choice strategies which have to be consistent with the key strategies in a company. The main traits that distinguish the functional characteristics from those in corporate levels and in business level include the fact that in functional strategies, the manager is usually involved over a short time period. Environmental Scanning The environment of an organization comprises of two factors. These are the external and internal factors. Hence, the environment has to be scanned so as to establish how these factors can be developed to promote organizational success. According to Choo (2008), environmental scanning is defined as the possession and consumption of information in regards to the trends and patterns which exist in the internal and external parts of the environment. Environmental scanning assists managers to make future decisions in regard to an organization’s direction. Environmental scanning is therefore, used for the purpose of identifying the opportunities and the threats that are there in the external and internal environment. As aforementioned in strategy formulation, Riordan manufacturers have to take advantage of the opportunities that it has over its competitors. These opportunities may pose as a threat for another organization. Internal Environmental Scanning This is usually deemed as the first key step in scanning process of an environment. Riordan organization has to take note of the activities which are taking place in the environment. These activities comprise of how the employees interact with other employees, management or how the management may interact with other level of management, shareholders or employees in the firm. The internal and external analysis is usually conducted so as to give the explicit evaluation of what is likely to make an impact on the implementation of the plan (Choo, 2002). In addition to this, Riordan organization can use surveys or interviews to make a full assessment of the internal environment. Riordan’s internal strengths include; the fact that the firm has a shared culture, meets the deadlines of customer requests, has tighter customer relationship and the cost of information system is increased. Riordan’s internal weaknesses range from issues of scale, increased distances in regard to customer coverage area and the fact that the firm faces a limitation of technological growth. External Environmental Scanning Riordan manufacturers have become increasingly competitive in the last few years; hence, this has led to increased changes in the organization’s external environment (Wheelen and Hunger, 2010). For the purpose of promoting long-term plans in Riordan organization, there is need for the management to be fully aware of the information which exists in the external environment. The external environment is no doubt dynamic and it is necessary for the management at Riordan to identify the moves and actions that are presented by the competitors. Riordan organization has to be up to date with the internal environment and the core competencies which exist in the environment (Choo, 2002). These factors are usually immeasurable, hence; there is need for the management to agile in how the environment makes changes. The external strengths of Riordan manufacturers range from reduced costs at which the organization makes transactions, its increased efficiency in the market and its increased access to a variety of buyers and sellers in the market. The external weaknesses of the firm include it higher chances of getting its trade secrets exposed in the market, increased likelihood of transaction duplications and the fact that its trade is only limited to the suppliers. Strategy implementation Within such steps in strategic planning there exist various practices which are associated with the technology shift. The participation of the rest of the departments which support the department involved with Information Systems is also essential in addition to conventional project management and the instruments to guarantee amicable execution of strategic plan. Likewise, the carrying out of risk analysis to bring forward the technical hazards involved is also important. This is in addition to assessing the potential hazard mitigation methods involved in administrative risks, as well as those included in schedule and cost risks. a) Measurement Guidelines Three guidelines can be used to assert the effectiveness of strategies. If a strategy is well articulated but is however not employed as a deciding filter in decision making then it becomes inconsequential since it does not led to any action (Kazmi, 2008). The other guideline is that if a sound and well-reasoned strategy that is employed as filter in decision-making but is however not articulated, then that strategy is deemed inconsistent as it does not galvanize everyone in an organization to a required direction. Another guideline is that if a strategy is well articulated and is employed as a filter in decision making, but, is however not a sound strategy then the strategy is rendered insignificant since it cannot be successfully implemented in the long term despite it having potential to achieve success in the short term. b) Internal dynamic and resource consideration Culture is also a factor in execution of business strategy (Kazmi, 2008). Culture is created by testing and then choosing new employees that hold to heart the values that an organization is built on. Culture is dynamic and is shaped and developed by various external factors like technology in addition to internal factors like staff turnover. An organization should adapt to new requirements of businesses and sort out issues of conflict of culture with core business values if they arise. Successful strategy execution results from strong cultures. Evaluation and control in strategy management Evaluation mechanisms are laid down in order to explain each stage of strategic management procedure. These are methods of gathering the information that might be required to equate plans with real events so as to ascertain that everything is working as expected and to predict and correct flaws that may arise in the system. When this process of evaluation is carried out effectively it is able to indicate what is not being conducted well and what is being done as expected. This becomes an area of focus to CEOs as they will mostly investigate why some processes are failing. According to Wheelen and Hunger (2010) evaluation involves finding out the conducting of processes. It includes gathering of information on the level of progress of a strategic plan. Once comprehensive results are gotten from the evaluation, there has to be a decision on the suitable action to take. If the results are positive and indicate that everything is in order, as required, then the decision taken will likely be to continue with the same implementation. However, if the results of the evaluation indicate that some processes are failing, ways have to be found to take care of those failing spots and eliminate them. Solutions to this may be to revise organization goals if they seem over ambitious or to train employees if the problem is found to arise from lack of employees’ capacity to implement the strategic plan. Evaluation is the main part of the control process without which management may not be able to make the right decisions. Feedback Considerations made in strategy management The process of strategic plan implementation is continuous hence; elements involved are interrelated and interact with each other simultaneously (Kazmi, 2008). There should however, be a way to collect feedback for the strategic management in order for an organization to be able to monitor and try strategy, modify its scorecard measures and hence adapt its strategies to varying environments. Feedback received should be sincere and without bias. Management should understand the employees and give them freedom to express themselves. There should be channels within which feedback can be collected. These can be formal or informal channels. The strategic management should encourage feedback and the input by employees should be review and acted on. Employees’ feedback should be relayed without them fearing victimization for critiquing strategic plan laid down. Poor feedback can cover up loopholes that lead to failure of an organization’s processes. Personal differences must however not be allowed to be included in the feedback. An e-safety commission can be setup for the purpose of receiving and monitoring the feedback. This commission should be active and should also have representation from all hierarchical levels of an organization. This group should promote and supervise e-safety by way of self-reexamination framework and also through reviews throughout the organization departments and teams. In conclusion, an E-safety policy should be developed and integrated with all present policies of an organization these including social media and risk assessment policies. This e-safety policy can be developed from templates that are available for example the JISC legal template. There should be a demonstration of there being considerations of e-safety responsibilities across the organization’s events. References Choo, C. (2002). Information management for the intelligent organization: The art of scanning the environment. New York: Information Today, Inc. Kazmi, A. (2008). Strategic Management & Business Policy. (3rd ed.). New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Riordan Manufacturing, (2004). Employee site; Riordan Virtual Organization; Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/Riordan/Marketing/Plan.asp Wheelen, T.L. & Hunger, J.D. (2010). Concepts in strategic management and business policy: Achieving sustainability (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall Read More