System Map of a Garden - Essay Example

System Map of a Garden Executive Summary A system diagram is a diagram that illustrates the various elements of a given system that is involved in productivity of a given organization. This paper examines a system map of a farm garden. A system would be drawn with the sub-systems and sub-sub systems being identified including their respective elements. From the system map, the study would establish primary, secondary and tertiary inputs and outputs of the system. Lastly, the paper would examine the control system used in the garden to ensure that the right qualities of wildlife products are produced. Introduction Avery organization operating in the business environment aims at minimizing costs and maximizing profits. The products produced by an organization ready for sale in the market undergo many processes and procedures. The different stakeholders including customers, employees, the management and the business owners must always be involved with some stakeholders acting as suppliers and consumers while other acting as producers. The farm garden is an organization that produces wildlife for sale. The garden acts as a consumer of products from suppliers and also a producer of various products and animals. Some of the important suppliers include the agricultural experts that helps the farm operations manager to plan and establish the garden. Other supplier include suppliers of chemicals and food products fed to animals. After consumption of the products and services, the garden produces other products such as animals like rabbits, moles, dogs and cats, fish, vegetables and fruits among others. This paper examines the system map of the farm garden both in terms of a consumer and an operations manager. 1. System Diagram of a Garden from a Consumer’s Perspective The above diagram describes a farm garden from a consumer’s perspective. The system is comprised of the garden as the entire system. There are five major subsystems in the garden that include the vegetables, animals, structures, grass and tools. The sub-sub-systems are within the subsystems. The sub-sub-systems in the flower sub-system are the flowers, trees, vegetable patch, orchard, weeds and bushes. In the animal and fish sub system, the sub-sub systems include the fish pond and the dogs. In the structures sub system, the sub-sub systems include the compost bin, pergola, glasshouse and the seating. The consumer views the garden as a place that one could obtain vegetables or fish for consumption as well as perceiving the place as fit for relaxation. The external environment for the garden is the farm compound that is found within a serene environment while the internal environment is the one comprised of the system, subsystems and sub-sub systems as described earlier. 2.0 The Farm Garden System from an Operations Manager Perspective The farm manager is the person in charge of the farm and therefore oversees the activities and running of the farm. All activities mentioned in the garden system above are under the supervision of the farm manager. There is no farm that is independent and similarly, the farm garden is not independent as it makes products that are sold outside the farm while it uses products that are also consumed within the garden. Based on this perspective, a garden system could be drawn with the farm operations manager’s perspective taking into consideration the suppliers of the farm. The farm operations manager perceives the farm garden as a system that supports wildlife. Based on this system, the farm could act as a consumer as well as a supplier of vital components. Therefore, the major components of the system are suppliers, consumers and the producers. The farm on which the garden is situated performs two roles that are consumption of products and services offered by external suppliers and acting as a producer. The farm garden in the eye of the farm gardener is a system that supports wildlife. In such a system, the garden has wildlife elements on it that include wildlife in the sub system of water, restraints, vegetation. Under the water sub system, there are sub-sub-systems such as heron, ponds, dragon flies, fish, frogs and insects. Under the restraints subsystem, the sub-subsystem elements include the dog, cat, moles and rabbits. In the vegetation category, the sub sub-syetms include the butterflies, birds, squirrels, worms, bees, woodpecker and food. Elements in the food sub-sub system are the flowers, compost, vegetables, fruit, grass and hazel nuts. All these elements within the farm garden consume various products that are supplied from outside the garden. The products consumed by the garden include chemicals and drugs that are used to take care of the wildlife. Gardening chemicals could be used to take care of the farm grass and vegetables (Pycraft, 2000). The farm garden consumes water from the external environment ecosystem. Commercial food products are consumed by the farm garden to feed the wildlife in the water ecosystem and elements in the restraints such as cats and dogs. The farm garden consumes certain services from the external environment. For instance, the farm garden consumes the services of cleaners who come to clean the farm garden especial the garden compost. Subordinate staffs working on the farm garden including the farm operations manager do not live on the garden and therefore act as suppliers to the garden for their expertise. Other expertise includes the doctors and planners (Krajewski & Ritzman, 2002). The farm garden acts as a supplier to the external environment. The garden is a system for wildlife that could be utilized by external uses for various uses. To begin with, the garden produces vegetation in terms of various elements. Food elements include hazel nuts, vegetables, grass and fruit that could be sold to the external environment for consumption. The garden breeds birds, butterflies, squirrels, worms, bees and other varieties of animals and insects that are of great importance to researcher in botany and zoology. Given that there are bees reared on the garden, the farm could ells its harvested honey to the external environment. Rabbit meet could be supplied to external rabbit consumers such as restaurants and hotels while dogs and cats could be sold to people interested in pets. Fish is also supplied by the farm garden to restaurants while moles could be supplied to researchers. The farm garden therefore requires various services and products to be supplied by external suppliers. Some of the important suppliers of the garden include veterinary personnel to take care of the animals on the garden such as rabbits, fish, dogs and moles among others. Experts in agricultural production are a requirement to the garden as it requires planning and modes of conducting its productivity such as rearing of bees, fish, birds and growth of vegetables (Jacobs & Chase, 2009). Chemical and manure suppliers are required to supply the garden with chemicals and manure for the wildlife. An organization that supplies subordinate services to the garden such as cleaning, attending to animals and the garden in general is another important supplier to the farm garden. c) The farm garden system is to supply wildlife products to the external environment. The wildlife products supplied include honey, vegetables, fruits, birds, animals such as dogs and cats among other products. Different consumers of the firm include individuals and corporate organizations. 3. Annotated Input Transformation-Output Diagram Primary inputs to the farm garden include products that are directly required by the operations manager at the farm in order to establish the wildlife system. The inputs include agricultural personnel that establish the plan for the farm garden. The agricultural personnel also provide the necessary for caring for all wildlife on the garden including plants and animal lives. Other primary inputs include gardeners and subordinate staff that take care of the wildlife in the garden. After establishment of the wildlife, secondary inputs are required to maintain the wildlife (Waters, 2006). These are the chemicals and medicine provided by veterinary personnel. Others are food products supplied for the maintenance of the entire wildlife in the garden. Tertiary inputs to the farm garden are researcher that conducts surveys with the outcome being expected between medium and long term periods. The outcome from researches and surveys help the farm operations manager to effectively manage the farm. Primary outputs from the garden include direct products and services from the garden. They therefore include the vegetables, fruits, animals, insects among many others that directly come from farm animals and plants (Stacey, 2001). Secondary outputs include animals and plants used for research and surveys (Porter 1998, p. 109). Lastly, tertiary outputs are the knowledge obtained from the surveys and researches conducted on the farm garden. The surveys come up with a body of knowledge that could lead to the development of theories. The theories could be used to add to the larger body of knowledge in different fields. 4. Process Map Outline Planning phase The above process map begins with planning of the system for the farm garden the planning process involves agricultural experts from different fields. The process of planning for the farm garden could take a long period. The estimated planning period is between 6 months to one year. In the course of the planning period, the operations manager together with the management team would conduct feasibility studies on the viability of the existence and sustainability of the garden wildlife. In addition to the plan, the management needs to establish the mission statement of the garden wildlife while establishing the possible budget that could be used to execute the entire project (Westignhouse, 2011, p. 65). Take off phase: This is the take off stage of the project. Under this phase, the project takes off. In the initial plan, the farm garden begins operation with the suppliers making the required primary supplies. The primary supplies for the farm garden include workers, animals, plants seeds, farm chemicals and tools. This phase could take a period of between 3 and 6 months. Execution Period The inputs are necessary to establish the production process in which the employees (gardeners) would be required to take care of the wildlife to ensure its growth and productivity. In the course of execution of different process of in the garden, the operations manager would see to it that the garden produces expected products. In the course of production, the employees in the garden would be involved in various activities such as providing necessary services like feeding animals and applying chemicals to vegetation. This period varies depending on the species of the wildlife being produced on the farm garden. However, an estimated period is about 6 months (Hojo 2004, p. 106). Harvesting This is the phase in which the gardeners and other employees in the farm garden are involved in the extraction of ripe products of the garden. Some of the extracted mature products include honey, vegetables, fruits, animals and fish among many other products. This period also varies. However, an estimated period is one to three months based on incubation periods for different animals such as rabbits to maturity periods for products in the firm such as vegetables and fruits (Lowson, 2002). Sale In this phase, the farm garden is involved with disposition of the harvested products. The products are sold to the external environment for different uses some of which include for consumption and research purposes. Products used for consumption include vegetables, fruits, fish, rabbits and hazel nuts. The sale process also varies based on the maturity periods and could be estimated to be between one and three months. 5. Main Control System Control is an important section of an organization that ensures that the organization produces quality products and services as expected. The control system for the farm garden is that of supervision and monitoring of the output of the farm to ensure that it meets the expectations. The operations manager monitors and supervises every activity of the garden to ensure that all procedures are followed to the latter. Internal controls have been put in place and include the measures of all chemicals and regular checkups for sanitation. The produced products are measured against set farm standards to ensure that the products meet the high quality. If any product fails to meet the set quality standards, it is not sold to the external environment but is consumes internally within the garden. For instance, a mature rabbit ready to be sold to the external market must weigh a given weight such as between 6kgs and 8kgs based on its gender. 6. Conclusion A system map of a farm garden has been highlighted in this paper. The system is comprised of various sub systems and sub-sub systems based both on the consumer’s perspective and the farm garden’s operations manager. The sub systems for the garden include restraints, water, vegetation and water. The subsystems have elements that are important in the productivity of the outputs of the garden. Before production takes place, various inputs have to be used including animals, plants, expertise and chemicals. All these have to be supplied by different suppliers. The garden acts as a consumer as well as a producer of products such as animals (rabbits, dogs and cats), honey, vegetables and fruits among many other products. The supply network involves many suppliers including organizations and individuals. The supply chain of the garden could be improved if the garden adopts an information system that monitors the flow of products within the garden the system could reports any issues in terms of scarcity and glut. In case of any purchases, the system should record each supplier with the product supplied, its quantity and date. Lastly, in case of any payments made, the system should also note down. A control system that establishes quality of products produced by the garden should also be put in place with respect to the information technology. List of Reference Hojo, T 2004, Quality Management systems: Process validation guidance, Accessed from: Jacobs, R & Chase, R 2009, Operations and Supply Management: The Core, McGraw-Hill, New York. Krajewski, L & Ritzman, L 2002, Operations management: Strategy and analysis, Prentice Hall, New York. Lowson, R 2002, Strategic operations management: the new competitive advantage, Routledge, London. Porter, M 1998, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Simon and Schuster. Pycraft, M 2000, Operations management, Pearson South Africa, Johannesburg. Stacey, R 2001, Strategic Management and organisational dynamics, (3rd Ed.), Pitman, London. Waters, D 2006, Operations strategy, Cengage Learning, New York. Westignhouse, 2011, ‘Quality Management System’, Accessed from: Read More