Business Management Techniques - Case Study Example

 S. No. Topic Page # 1 Business Function 3 2 Organize 3 3 Command 4 4 Harmonize 4 5 Control 4 6 Inter-relation between process and function 5 7 Work Activities 6 8 Cost & Quality 6 9 Contingency and constraints 7 10 Cost Benefit Analysis 7 11 Conclusion 8 12 Work Cited 9 Business Function A broad theory of administration which explained and classified administrative engineering management roles and processes then became recognized and referenced by others in the emergent discourse about management. It is commonly seen as a key, an early contributor to an old or administrative management school of thought. This theory about engineering management was built on personal observation and practice which worked well in terms of organization. It has five main factors discussed below which are very effective in engineering organizations. It is defining an organization's objectives, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those objectives, and developing a comprehensive chain of command of plans to integrate and coordinate activities. The plan of action is, at one and the same time, the result predicted, the line of action to be followed, the stages to go through and the methods to be used. In today's world, there is a greater emphasis on flexibility, for example, the ability to employ additional staff as and when required, and less on continuity. Organize Organizing is the translation of goals and objectives into a structure of responsibilities and authority. 'To organize a business is to provide it with everything useful to its functioning- raw material, tools, capital, personnel’ (Fayol, 53). In other words it includes the determination of what tasks are to be done, which has to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made. Command The engineering organization, having been formed, must be set going and this is the mission of command. This insures a successful process of the organization. A manager in command - knows his people, understands all agreements binding the firm, sets a good example, uses a meeting to focus efforts in a single direction, does not become occupied in minute details, and instills unity, energy, initiative and loyalty in the employees. Harmonize Harmonizing is to integrate the actions of all aspects of the firm in order to increase the efficiency of the organization. To harmonize is to co-ordinate all the activities of concern so as to facilitate its working, and its success. Fayol characterized good harmonization by: Each department; for example, finance, production, maintenance, carrying out its function in an orderly and competent fashion. Each of departments should know exactly what mutual tasks are required of it. Departments should adjust their work schedule according to circumstances and to the needs of the whole company operation. Control Control consists in confirming everything takes place in conformity with the plan implemented, the directions issued and principles established. It also points out weakness and errors in order to rectify then and prevent recurrence. Typical operations that could be subjected to control, measured in order to monitor progress, included: Incoming and outgoing materials checked for quantity, quality and price. Store records Progress of operations Maintenance of plant and equipment Financial and management accounts (Fayol, 103). Business Engineering Organization usually use flat organizational structure where their is hierarchy of authority and becomes easy for supervision, their is segregation of duties and every departmental manager is resposible for his duty. Engineering organizations are more product and customer serivce oriented. The organization needs to innovate according to its customer requirement in manufacturing products emphasis must be given to the quality product because qualitative product represents the organization status if customer does not get services what they required then it will leave negative impression for organization. Inter-relation between process and function Business process engineering is a management approach aiming at improvements by means of elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the processes that exist within and across organizations. The key to Business process engineering is for organizations to look at their business processes from a "clean slate" perspective and determine how they can best construct these processes to improve how they conduct business.In engineering, as well as in common parlance, function denotes the property of something, and which is used/applied for an objective/goal/purpose/scope.In fact, it is possible to realize the same function using different physical processes, and one process can be the carrier of multiple functions. For example, the main function of a clock, the presentation of time, can be realized by different physical processes, including atomic, electronic, and mechanical processes.In many cases, this concept is also used in a metaphoric sense, for example, by attributing a goal to the natural selection processes.In physics, function in the engineering sense does not exist because the concept goal is not determined.If we change the use of an object, it may change dramatically functions without changing any of its own physical properties.Organization need to fullfil its objectives through certain functions and to follow those function it needs certain process. Work Activities For to get the desired objectives and outcome the engineering organization must consider the following major work activities which effect the organization deeply. Cost and quality The stability between cost and quality in purchasing is questioned when an organization is looking to purchase the best for what they can get for their money. However, this is not always the case. One of the main considerations in the purchasing functions is that the quality in question is fit for purpose. Sometimes the overriding factor on the decision to purchase is that products are of the highest quality. E.g. luxury car manufacture Roll Royce will pride them on using the finest materials when manufacturing their cars. When at the ordering stage the emphasis will be on high quality rather then cost. Keeping cost to a minimum is an important factor for any business. TQM recognizes that the Customer is at the centre of every activity. The customer may be external or internal. The key is to determine the gap between what the customer needs and what the system delivers. Once the gap is recognized, it would be systematically reduced and results in never-ending improvement in customer satisfaction at every level. (Garvin & March). Contingency and constraints A contingency is an event that can take place at any situation may be inside or outside environments or a competitor. The design of an organization determines how effectively an engineering organization responds to various constraints and factors in its environment and obtains scarce resources. An organization can design its structure in many ways to increase control over its environment. An organization might change employee task relationships so that employees are more aware of the environment, or it might change the way the organizations relates to organizations by establishing new contracts or joint ventures (Burton). Cost-benefit analyses Return on Investment (ROI) is a cost-benefit analysis that offers HR managers a way to explain, in financial terms, how HR contributes to the bottom line. This helps in boosting HR's credibility in management circles. To date, a major obstacle HR professionals have had in becoming full partners with senior agency management teams is proving its value to business discussions. Historically HR has not had the statistical data or business cost benefit analysis to prove its influence and impact on the organization. However, using ROI to show that human resources management is an investment, rather than an expense, helps move HR further in the direction of becoming a strategic partner. Conclusion Over the years there has been a change in the managerial and business environment. Now businesses do not operate in isolation but are affected by the changes around them and they have a global perspective. There have been great societal changes which have affected managerial roles, duties and styles in all organizations (Gupta, p468). Works cited Burton, R. Obel, B. Strategic Organizational Diagnosis and Design. Developing theory for application, 2nd edition, Kluwer Academic Publishers, USA, 2000. C.B.Gupta. OBusiness Studies- changes in the Organisations. S.Chand & Sons. Second Edition p468, 1999. Garvin, D.A. and A. March. A Note on Quality: The Views of Deming, Juran and Crosby. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press 1984. Henri Fayol. General and Industrial Management. Pitman. Publications, London, p103 1949. Henri Fayol. General and Industrial Management, Pitman. Publications, London, p53 1949. Read More