Managing Business Activities and Achieving Results for ABC Company

This report provides a detailed analysis of ABC Company's management practices, focusing on how the company can improve its operations and achieve its goals. The report begins with an introduction to the company and its current challenges, including delayed operations and service closures. It then explores the organizational structure of ABC Company, including the roles and responsibilities of key personnel such as the Managing Director, Director, and Operational Manager. The report delves into process mapping techniques used by the company, specifically the cross-functional method, and discusses the importance of quality assurance through techniques like Total Quality Management (TQM). Furthermore, the report examines the use of SMART objectives for effective planning and control, along with quality control systems and risk management strategies. The report concludes with an overview of monitoring and control methods, including Critical Path Analysis (CPA), and emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement to overcome management deficiencies and achieve organizational success.

Managing Business Activities to Achieve
Results

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................1
1.1..........................................................................................................................................1
1.2..........................................................................................................................................2
1.3..........................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................4
2.1..........................................................................................................................................4
2.2..........................................................................................................................................5
2.3..........................................................................................................................................6
2.4..........................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................7
3.1..........................................................................................................................................7
3.2..........................................................................................................................................8
3.3..........................................................................................................................................9
3.4..........................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4.....................................................................................................................................10
4.1........................................................................................................................................10
4.2........................................................................................................................................11
4.3........................................................................................................................................12
4.4........................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Managing activities to achieve results can be accompanied by successful and
resourceful planning and proper implementation of the same. From planning to control, it is
important to monitor the work activities of every individual (Covello and Merkhoher, 2013).
This report deals with tackling and removing the management issues of ABC Company. It is a
recruitment company which is facing delayed operations and closing of services. In this
regard, purpose of this report is to enlighten the reader with organisational structure of ABC
Company. Further, it provides an overview of process mapping and use of SMART objectives
in attaining the organisational goals and objectives. Additionally, use of various techniques
such as Total Quality Management and Quality Management System ensures that company is
providing quality services to its clients. Lastly, discussion is done on the risk assessment
process and various laws that govern health and safety conditions at workplace.
TASK 1
1.1
Each individual in the organisation performs distinct functions according to their roles
and responsibilities. Although, there prescribed function are interconnected with each other.
Chain of command and flow of communication demonstrates the manner in which
organisation conducts its activities. Likewise, process and functions of ABC Company are
also interconnected with each other (Bon and Mustafa, 2013). Therefore, the interrelationship
of ABC Company has been discussed underneath: Managing Director: Its role is to manage the operations of company and ensure
effective functioning. It lays policies and formulates general guidelines which the
employees have to follow. All responsibilities of ABC lie with the Managing Director. Director: Its aim is to direct and guide the efforts of workers towards organisational
goals and objectives. Further, it dictates the general policies of organisation to its
subordinates. It also acts as a medium who communicates the grievances of workers
to the top management of cited company and orders and policies of managers to
employees (Belcher, Place and Conole, 2013).
 Operational Manager: They deal with the management of funds for organisation.
Further, their main role is to see whether operations of organisations are being
conducted in a proper manner or not. They also visualise that everything and everyone
is on the right place. They ensure proper allocation of funds and recruitment of right
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people at the right job.
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be summed up that the roles and
responsibilities of each individual are interrelated to the process of organisation. Likewise, in
case of ABC Company, operational manager is accountable to its director who in turn is
responsible to give information to the managing director.
Illustration 1: Organisational chart
(Source: Self Attempted)
1.2
Process mapping is a sequence of steps designed to give management a clear view
about what is going in an organisation. It illustrates the activities performed at different stages
by distinct members. There are several ways to carry out process mapping, such as Input
process Output (IPO), Value stream Mapping (VSM), cross functional technique. Out of
these, cited company uses cross functional method to carry out the process. The following
diagrams highlight the functioning of ABC Company (Barbrow and Hartline, 2015).
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Illustration 2: Process Mapping
(Source: Anderson, 2016)
The operational manager is entitled to collect and compile data's regarding candidates
that are to be recruited. It manages the number of new clients that can be attracted;
simultaneously it checks the availability of candidates who has applied for different profile
(Bahr, 2014). General meeting is arranged to manage the operations and make further
changes that are required in the recruitment process. If there are no modifications required
then the managers can continue the process. Along with that, managers can identify
corrective actions (if necessary). Further, the process gets completed with the final approval
from quality department or the Managing Director of the company.
Company can even make the use of IPO process which will enable the company to
know about the actual availability and desired candidates that are to be recruited by them.
Process mapping is a useful technique to identify the obstacles and opportunities which can
further be modified by the organisation (Verfuerth and et.al. 2013). It aids in better
understanding of the entire process and reviewing roles and duties of each participant of
process.
1.3
Quality gateway is the process of providing quality assurance to service users. It
thereby aids in building companies reputation in the market and attracts more and more
customers. ABC Company can provide quality services to its clients by using techniques like
Total Quality management. It will enable the firm to meet client’s requirement by providing
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them with skilled and talented candidates. Presently, company is facing the issue of delayed
operations and redundancy of jobs and same can be managed with the concept of TQM
(Venturelli and Leopizzi, 2015).
Illustration 3: Total Quality Management
(Source: Total quality management (TQM), 2016)
Total quality of management is a process of providing quality services to customers in
order to ensure long term customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. By providing quality
services to its clients, cited organisation can cater new clients. A happy and satisfied clients
help to bring in new clients for the company whereas a bad word of mouth spoils the
company’s image in the market. This can be easily done by ensuring clients with durability,
reliability, and gaining their feedbacks regularly.
The above highlighted steps in the diagram enable a better understanding of process
of TQM. It is an effective technique to enhance the quality of services provided by a
company. It involves continuous improvement evaluation of activities of a business entity.
Further the above discussed techniques assist in improving the overall efficiency of
organisation. The cross functional and IPO techniques can help ABC to overcome the
management deficiencies and resolve the problem of funding (Knippenberg, 2013).
Therefore, it can be said that with effective management of operations and proper techniques,
the company can overcome the losses.
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TASK 2
2.1
Planning is the essence for management to carry out the operations effectively. In
order to overcome the loopholes that mentioned company is facing currently, it is essential to
plan its goals and objectives. Clearly defined objectives provide a path through which targets
can be easily achieved. The main aim of ABC Company is to gain large number of clients and
recruit skilled and talented employees which act as a quality assurance (Reason, 2016).
Therefore, in order to make a plan effective company should overcome the shortfalls of poor
management and inadequate leaders. To accomplish and attain the targets effective planning
and controlling is essentially required.
Planning: It provides a clear direction for managers about the company's goals and
objectives. Planning is an essential process in achieving the desired targets. For this purpose,
proper objectives must be set by the company. In this context, company need to focus on
increase its client so that more business can be attained from it. For this, proper team should
be developed so that it can meet with the requirement of clients. Also, specific job description
needs to be prepared so that recruitment can be done accordingly.
Controlling: Setting objectives is an easy task but achieving them takes a lot more
efforts. Therefore to attain the desired goals effective controlling is required on part of
management. The managers are entitled to keep track of activities of each individual.
Company can set SMART objectives to access the validity of same. Besides this, controlling
needs to be done by developing person specification and matching each candidate with the
same.
Management by Objective: It is the process by which management align the
individual goals to that of organisational goals. It provides the subordinates with clear idea
about what is accepted from them and works within the prescribed framework. For instance,
ABC Company can set specific targets to increase its revenue (Pavitt, 2014).
2.2
SMART goal setting is a method of bringing structure and practicability into
organisations goals and objectives. It is just and abbreviation of Specific, Measurable,
achievable, Realistic and time based. Specific goals have a greater chance of being
accomplished than general goals. For this purpose ABC can implement SMART objectives to
attain its desired goals. Following are the specific objectives of ABC Company: Specific: Company aims to get 70 new clients.
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 Measurable: By attaining new clients, it can increase its revenue by 25%. Achievable: By employing 50 new employees in the organisation. Realistic: To meet the desired quality of services
 Time: Within period of one year
The above objectives will clearly define roles and duties of each individual within
organisation. Further, the company also aims to remove the deficiency of poor management
and inadequate leadership. To accomplish this purpose management aims to follow
participative style of leadership in the organisation (Oakland, 2014). This will enable the
enterprise to gain new and innovative ideas from their employees which can further be
implemented. By using smart objectives, management can align the available resources in the
most efficient manner. It can utilise its current staff by delegating the duties properly to each
individual. Further, formation of teams will help the accomplishment of task on time. The
operations that are delayed can be completed on time. So, it can be concluded that SMART
objectives is an appropriate way to attain the organisational goals and objectives.
2.3
Quality control: Total Quality Management is an effective technique to provide prime
services to customers. In order to offer superior services to its clients, the company follows
the system of quality control.
Product Development: This system emphasis on maintaining existing clients and
gaining new customers for the enterprise. ABC Company can provide better recruitment
service by hiring skilled, knowledgeable and capable candidates for their clients. It will
thereby bring in new clients for the company. Further, it will enable the company to set
performance standard and support managers to make new strategies for recruiting competent
applicants (Nanda, 2016).
Customer Satisfaction: All the business activities revolve around customers. It is
therefore essential to keep them satisfied. Clients are the customers for ABC Company, hence
it is essential to meet into their expectation and provide quality services to them. A satisfied
and happy customer will bring in new customers for the organisation. Moreover, it is
important to retain the existing consumers to boost the overall turnover of the company.
Risk Management: The performance of business is affected by mainly three factors
that are environment, human and system. Therefore, it is the responsibility of managers to
manage risk effectively. As per the case scenario, ABC is facing the problem of lack of funds
and staff. It can only be overcome by managing the risk effectively.
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Contingencies Plan: This system is for maintaining backup plan of an organisation.
ABC Company could have recruited additional staff so that there isn't any delay of
operations.
Therefore, all the above systems can assist ABC in achieving its desired goals and
targets on time within the prescribed budget and resources (Murray, 2014).
2.4
It is essential to monitor and control the activities of an organisation. It aids in
knowing the current project process by evaluating the performance, making corrective and
preventive actions. Management can make the use of project management tools to evaluate
the performance of individual. These are critical Path analysis, Milestone Checklist, Score
card and Work breakdown structure. Monitoring is reviewing the activities of every single
individual of organisation. Simultaneously, Controlling is keeping the track of work done by
them. These are the essential component to make the operations of an organisation effective.
Various methods used by ABC Company are as follows:
Critical Path Analysis (CPA): Presently, ABC is facing the issues of delayed
operations and closed services. Therefore, to overcome this situation, operational manager of
the company need to estimate the elapsed time of each activity. This will provide them with
the correct date of project so that work can be accomplished within prescribed time
(Maduenyi and et.al., 2015).
Milestone Checklist: It is software used by the project manager to record the
performance and activities of each individual. It assists in knowing whether the activities are
on track or not. It can be simply done by using Excel template.
Score Cards: Successive points can be allotted to each individual on the basis of their
performance in the team. It can be effectively followed when ABC emphasis on team
working. Project manager can report the performance of employees to its superiors.
TASK 3
3.1
In order to keep customers satisfied, it is crucial to manage and monitor the standard
of quality. The company can use the Quality management system to provide prime services to
its clients. It is an effective system which aids in improvising the quality of services and
provides a better understanding of business and its environment (Lim and et.al., 2014). To
accomplish the above purpose, ABC must firstly identify the following points:
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 It is essential to understand the business and requirements of clients.
 Proper utilisation of human resource of organisation.
 Prevention of error should be the chief objective rather than merely detecting them.
 It should be management led and persuasive in nature.
Therefore, ABC must concentrate its efforts on managing and fulfilling the
requirements of its clients. These include providing them with skilled and trained candidates
which becomes an asset to the clients (Lam and Chan, 2013). This system is to ensure that
services are delivered to customers after getting quality conformance standard from the
management. Further an effective plan is needed to implement the QMS. The following
points shall be considered by ABC Company:
 Improvising the initial working methods and procedures.
 Supervising and reviewing the activities.
 Involvement of each candidate.
 Project checkpoints to manage the time frame.
Further, there is an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) which
provides in creating quality standards of goods and services. These standards set a benchmark
that is to be achieved by every business organisation. Therefore, ABC must also compiles by
these standards to provide superior services to its clients (Hunt, Ewing and Ghanbarian,
2014).
3.2
Quality management is not just the process but the continuous assessment of the entire
process. Few of the methods and system followed by ABC Company are TQM and QMS
which enables the company to enhance the quality of services. It assists them to meet the
expectations of stakeholders. In addition to this, it is essential to know about the quality
culture of ABC Company. Currently, it is cladding with the issue of poor management and
lack of integrity among the co-members. Therefore, it is essential to have proper monitoring,
evaluation and development of process to ensure quality culture. The following diagram
highlights quality culture of ABC Company:
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Illustration 4: Quality Culture
(Source: Harvey, 2016)
Some of the basic element of quality culture are adequate leaders, high performance of
teams and individuals as well, customer requirements and retention, adapting with the
changing environment and continuous improvement of the organisation as a whole (Harper,
2015). To accomplish this purpose, cited company needs to monitor the activities of its staff
members. For effective monitoring, operational manager must have the knowledge regarding
all the operations of organisation. Further, for proper evaluation of the organisation’s
operations, the manager need to inspect that proper manpower is utilised in managing the
activities. There shall be no wastage of resources and time. Moreover, if any loopholes are
found should be covered by taking corrective actions. Lastly, proper development of process
should be made and to ensure that quality services is provided by ABC company to its clients.
3.3
Continuous improvement is a key to organisations success and achievement of its
goals. ABC Company is constantly facing the trouble of poor management and inadequate
leaders. To overcome this problem it is essential to make certain strategies which will enable
them to perform efficiently. The company shall incorporate the participative style of
leadership which will enable the staff members to perform with more efficiency. Everybody
in the enterprise needs freedom and power to carry out their work as the way they like
(Hammond, Keeney and Raiffa, 2015). Complete freedom to subordinates is also a disaster,
so with participative style company can delegate certain power to its employees. It will
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increase their morale at workplace as they are given right to take part in decision making
process. Further, these ideas and knowledge can be implemented in the organisation if
management feels it is right.
Additionally, it is important to manage the funds of the organisation in a proper
manner and at right place. For this purpose operational manager needs to plan the activities
effectively. Moreover, efforts shall be made to maintain and retain the original employees.
They are the assets of every organisation. Therefore, it is essential to wisely utilise them
(Hall, 2013). Company shall improvise its employee relations which will further help in
creating better organisational culture. A satisfied employee will assist in attaining the goals
and objectives of company. Managers can make the use of team work to integrate the
individual efforts in achieving the target. It will thereby aids in removing communication
gaps and creating prosperous environment.
3.4
The above recommended changes can have positive as well as negative impact on
ABC Company. Some people may like and others may dislike the proposed improvements.
For instance, in case of implementing participative style of leadership, it may not be
acceptable by the leaders. This is so because they may lose their power and authority.
Whereas the employee's may be happy and content with this judgement as they may get
chance to use their skills and creativeness in making decisions for organisation (Haimes,
2015). Further, it gives them better future opportunities, by getting promoted to next level of
management. Various other situations are; some people resist working in teams or groups
because they feel that certain people may dispose their responsibilities and the burden of
work will shift towards single individual. Therefore, a proper monitoring and evaluation of
the process is required.
Further, the company needs to attract new clients and maintain the existing ones to
overcome the losses. By providing quality services to them ABC can meet unto their
expectations and make them satisfied. This will enable the company to gain its reputation in
the market. Additionally, there will be no shortage of employees in the organisation. It will
able to retain its existing employees as well as attracting new and talented candidates. The
delayed operations will then be completed within the prescribed time. Thus, removing the
deficiencies of management and leadership will bring back the company's situation from
losses to profit (Goetsch and Davis, 2014).
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