Managing in Mix Economy - British Transport Police in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

?Managing in Mix Economy "British Transport Police in the United Kingdom" Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 2 Background of the Company 3 Strategic Management and Leadership 5 Strategic Management in Public Sector (Theoretical Perspective) 5 Strategic Management in British Transport Police (Practical Perspective) 7 Difficulties in Deliverance of Strategic Decisions in Public Sector 9 Working in Partnership 10 Conclusion 14 References 15 Bibliography 18 Background of the Company British Transport Police is among the major public sector based companies in Great Britain that provides services to the rail operators of the country. The services are also extensively provided to the staff and passengers of the railway sector all across the country of Britain. Furthermore, it has also been analysed that the company provides services to the underground railway, the metro tram system, Sunderland Metro and Emirates Airlines to name the crucial components that receive the services. The organisation has the responsibility of the safety and well being of more than six million people travelling by railways from one part of the country to the other. The company mainly aims at keeping passengers safe and secure in their journey. This is also considered as the mission of the company. It strives hard to provide best possible services to the people of the United Kingdom who travel by train. It has been observed that the company has the vision of providing policing excellence in the country by doing the best possible work in their limit. It further believes that it is vital to have a safer environment so that people can move around freely without any fear (British Transport Company, 2013[2]). In this regard, the company engages highly trained officials who work for it 24X7 for the railway community and the millions of passengers all across the country. Moreover, the company also has certain values that it provides much importance. It has been learnt that all the passengers as well as the staff of the company are treated with high respect and provided equal opportunity with minimal partiality. The workers or the officers are provided with a considerably good working environment where they can perform to the utmost level of their capabilities (British Transport Company, 2013[3]). Apart from this aspect, the company is also quite strict to any kind of harassment, bullying or victimisation among their staffs and officers. It respects all communities and builds strong relationships with people of all kind irrespective of their origin and community. This enables it to get respect and trust from the people of all corners of the British society. The organisation aims to develop a workforce that can be able to depict the community they serve. It has been noticed that openness and honesty are the key aspects of the company and it strictly adheres to it (British Transport Company, 2013[4]). British Transport Police has certain strategic plans in order to ensure that it delivers the best possible services to the people of the country. The objectives of the organisation change after every three years of its operations. For the year ranging from 2011 to 2014, the objective of the company is focused on helping the rail system of the country to run smoothly and in the safest possible environment. Continuous improvement in their operations is also among the major objectives of the company for the coming years. Apart from these, there are also certain policy plans of it that is developed every year. These policies depict its approach on how it would balance both the national as well as the local needs of the country. It has been noted that both the strategic and the policy plans of the organisation are its building blocks upon which it strives for its success. The workforce of the organisation comprises officers of different designations which include chief officers, specialists units and behind the scene support staff among others. Altogether the organisation has 2909 efficient officers who constantly provide effective performance for it as well as for the people of the country (British Transport Police, 2013[5]). The history of the company goes way back to 1796 when it was established. This is among the oldest police forces of the world. It was the first in the history to recruit women as police officers and also the first to implement the use of technology and dogs in solving crimes (British Transport Police, 2013[1]). The essay aims at illustrating the differences between the strategic management of public sector with that of the private sector. This aspect would be further justified with the illustration of the strategies of a publicly operated company i.e. British Transport Police. Furthermore, the essay would also analyse about the importance of partnership and its implication in British Transport Police. Strategic Management and Leadership Strategic Management in Public Sector (Theoretical Perspective) It has been analysed that both public and private sectors have different sets of strategic management techniques. Application of the private sector strategic concepts into the public sector is found to be quite problematic. In most of the cases, theories and techniques developed for private sector are made to be transferred to public sector (Wissink & et. al., 2004). Fig: Strategic Management in Public Sector (McInerney & Barrows, n.d.) There are quite a lot of differences between strategic management of public sector than that of the private sector. It has been noted that like private sector where companies have entrepreneur ancestry, public sector has the involvement of certain higher controlling body. Strategic management of public sector should consider the interest of certain higher authorities while this aspect is different in case of private sector. Furthermore, strategic decisions in public sector is different from private sector with regard to the fact that any decision in public sector should be more open to the public while this aspect is different in the private sector. Strategies in public sector should consider the interests of a diverse range of public based individuals while in private sector the impact of this aspect is quite less. Subsequently, time is also a key constraint in the strategic management of public sector as compared to that of the private sector. The tenure of the employees in the public sector is quite long and the decisions are also needed to be based on the laws and the rules of the government and should be in use for a longer period of time irrespective of its result. However, in private sector, decisions regarding an employee’s tenure as well as strategies are entirely based on the current market situation. Apparently, public sector strategic management needs to consider the welfare of wide range stakeholders while in private sector this aspect tends to differ. The aforementioned factors of strategic management in public sector cause problems in the implementation of certain policies in its operations and eventually have an impact the performance of the companies of public sector (Waldt & Toit, 1999; Ring & Perry, 1985). Strategic Management in British Transport Police (Practical Perspective) British Transport Police is a public sector based organisation that provides security to the entire railway network all across the country. It is among the oldest police forces in the world. It has been observed that the company always seeks to provide top level securities for the passengers who travel by rail throughout Britain. The organisation comes up with its strategies for three years collectively. For the year 2011-2014, the organisation desires to come up with strategies that would be vital in dealing with various challenges faced by the company (British Transport Police, 2012). The first objective of the company with regard to its strategies is to enable the railway system to be running without any interruption. Contextually, the strategies of the organisation in relation to this are that it would intend to reduce the delays in action on issues such as theft, trespass and other criminal damages. The company would take every issue quite seriously irrespective of the amount of damage it does to the railway network. The organisation aims to attain this objective by employing advanced technologies in their operations. The corporation believes that the accomplishment of the aforementioned objectives would enable the rail network to operate more efficiently. The next objective of the company is to make the rail network as a safe and secure means of communication for each and every individual of Britain. In order to fulfil this objective, the company will focus on crimes and assaults on passengers and railway staff. The company will also focus on the behaviour of people that discourage them to travel by rail. In this regard, the company will also aim at using its resources quite carefully and effectively. Accomplishment of this objective will certainly reduce the risk on passengers travelling through the railway network of the country. The next strategic objective of the company is to make continuous improvement in its functioning so that it can deliver for money. In this regard, the organisation will scrutinize its areas where improvement could be made. It will further intend to introduce and implement a recruitment and retention process that would enable it to get the best possible staffs and officers. This objective of the company can be attained by the reducing their investments in non-staffs. Furthermore, the company should also optimise all the temporary contracts of the staffs at different levels. Attainment of the aforementioned objectives of the company can improve its value for money and achieve greater economies of scale and scope without reducing the services to the stakeholders. The company can also review its information and technology system and can meet the operational requirements of the company (British Transport Police, 2011). The subsequent objective of the company is to promote the confidence among the people to use the railway network as a means of communication without any fear and hesitation. In this facet the company, it will focus on the reducing the various crimes like robbery and sexual assault among others against staff and passengers on the railway. This will be done by the company by allotting optimum number of workforce at different levels of the railway system. The company will also intend to maintain its commitment towards supporting passengers of every community. Attainment of this objective of the company will enable the railway network of the company to present a better image in front of the people of the country and eventually gain the trust of people of Britain. All the aforementioned strategic objectives of the organisation will enable it to enhance the efficiency of the railway network of the company and secure the interests of all the passengers who are dependent on the railway network for daily means of communication (British Transport Police, 2011). This strategic management objective of the company depicts that in public sector, decisions have to be taken with the consideration of welfare of billions of people altogether. Difficulties in Deliverance of Strategic Decisions in Public Sector There are several difficulties that are involved in making strategic decisions in the public sector. The first in this regard is that in public sector there are a lot of people involved in management of the company. For this reason, different individuals possess diverse point of views regarding a particular strategy. This makes it difficult for the management or a particular individual to deliver strategic decisions. Furthermore, there are at times no rewards or perks involved in any kind of tasks which can motivate individuals to come up with decisions that can benefit the organisations. Moreover, taking decisions in public sector would have to be considered with consideration focus on the welfare of millions of people. This aspect at times makes it difficult for the management or individuals to come up with strategic decisions for the company. In relation to this, British Transport Police also faces similar kinds of scenario in its strategic management decision making. It needs to make decisions collectively for the entire population of the country that travels by railway network of Britain. Moreover, there is government intervention in the strategic decision making as the company is publicly owned. These aspects have made it difficult for companies in public sector to make strategic decision making (UNDP, 2013). Working in Partnership Partnership is an imperative in any kind of business. It increases the ability of a company to perform more than that of its potential. The importance of partnership in both private and public sector cannot be ignored. Essentially, partnership working means working together as a group or a team. The main reason for performing a particular work in partnership is to get it done more quickly or to enhance its quality or complete it as a single individual company may not be able to do it alone. It bestows an added advantage for the work to be done as two people or company might perform a particular task effectively as compared to the same work to be performed a single individual or team. Moreover, now-a-days partnership work has become quite severe in context of the modern day scenario. It provides collaborative advantage to companies as there are a lot of works in the modern day scenario that cannot be done by a single company or individual. Partnerships are also found to be important for certain political, social and economic reasons. A partnership can be politically beneficial when a company collaborates with a company of another country. These facets facilitate to reduce local political risk for the company and gain advantages in that country (Yan, 2001). It has been noted that partnership between two companies would enable them to come up with better quality products or services which ultimately would offer benefits to people of the society. This could be considered as one of the social reasons for partnership to be carried out. Apart from this, partnership can also take place for certain economic reasons. It has been noticed that partnership will enhance the performance of companies which eventually has positive impacts on the economy of a country. Thus, this can be considered as an economic reason for partnership (Douglas, 2009). In relation to this context, it has been observed that British Transport Police has planned to take a lot of assistance from others or working collaboratively in the accomplishment of their strategic goals. It has been observed that every strategic objective of the organisation needs to be done with collaboration of certain kinds of other agency or people. The first strategic objective of the company is to keep the railway network of the country running smoothly without any kind of disturbance or interruption from different kinds of crimes and other mistakes of people. In order to fulfil this objective, the company needs to enhance its partnership with rail network to solve working problems and issues related to it. Furthermore, in this regard, the company will also need to develop education programs in partnership with education institutions so that it can educate people about how to travel in railways and also about level crossings so that maximum risk can be reduced. In relation to accomplishing the next strategic objective which is to keep the railway network of the country safe as well as secure, the company needs to collaborate with a few of its partners. The company has planned to go on a joint venture with the Anti-Social Behaviour strategy to support repeat victims of crimes and assaults in railways. Furthermore, in this regard, the company will also need the assistance of other police forces and agencies to accomplish this objective. Contextually, the company collaborates with transport department of the country to tackle all the crimes that take place with the passengers and the staffs in the railway. The company will also work with its partners all across the country to maximise the number of attendances to the Olympic Games through preferring railways as a means of communication. The company also maintains its partnership with the home office forces that will help it when need arise. The company further develops partnership with train operators and other security services company so that maximum improvement can be made in the railway network of the country as well as to make the passengers believe in its safety and security. It can be observed that the partnership of the company will certainly benefit the society altogether (British Transport Police, 2011). However, at times, partnership can be quite complex and create problems for the both the companies or individuals involved in it. The most common in that regard would be the clash of ideas and creativity. It has been viewed that at times two people or company do not agree on a common fact. This would certainly affect the performance of the partnership as well as the task to be performed. Furthermore, when a task is performed by more than one individual or company, all the parties involved must work with equal efforts towards the accomplishment of that task or else the result obtained might not be satisfactory. This signifies that all the parties involved are interdependent on each other and if anyone withdraws itself from the task at any moment of the process then it will be hard to complete the endeavours. Although these can be managed with the help of specific agreements that would be made before the commencement of the partnership where every criterion and its probable outcomes will be clearly and specifically mentioned. This will enable companies to successfully manage its partnership with other agencies or firms. In this regard, British Transport Police will have to manage its partnerships keeping in mind about how a breach in any of its collaborations at any moment would impact the people of Britain. The company will have to make pertinent agreements with its partners and mention all the necessary terms and conditions about the partnership (Nottonson, 2007; Balloch & Taylor, 2001). Conclusion From the overall analysis, it can be summarised that in a mixed economy public and private company need to have different sets of strategic management models and techniques in order to make strategic decision. It vital for companies in public sector to develop strategies with the consideration of the welfare of millions of people altogether while for companies in the private sector such criteria do not exist. It has been observed that strategic management decision in public sector is quite different from private sector as in public sector there is an involvement of large number of people, high government intervention and a large number of stakeholders. This aspect has been justified by the depiction of the strategic objectives of British Transport Police where it has been viewed that a large number of people will be affected by each and every decision of the company. Moreover, the importance and the complexities of partnership have also been illustrated in the discussion. Overall, it can be concluded that it is vital to have different strategic management techniques for both private and public sectors as both the sectors are quite dissimilar from each other and have their own challenges and situations. References [1] British Transport Police, 2013. Our History. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.btp.police.uk/about_us/our_history.aspx [Accessed April 30, 2013]. 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