Bechtel Inc.: Detailed Business Plan on Operational Management

This report provides a detailed business plan for Bechtel Inc., a major engineering and construction firm, focusing on operational management. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction to Bechtel's global operations and market segments, highlighting its challenges related to communication and coordination between different market segments. The problem statement identifies a lack of effective communication and employee coordination as key issues, leading to competition and potential fraud. The report proposes actionable recommendations, including restructuring, addressing tax matters, developing a universal communication plan, and implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to streamline processes. It includes a critical analysis of the ERP implementation, discussing challenges and potential risks like internal resistance and cyber insecurity, along with solutions such as authorization procedures and data safeguarding. The report also explores alternative solutions like improving client communication and division of labor and specialization. Overall, the report offers a comprehensive strategy to enhance Bechtel Inc.'s operational efficiency and growth.

Running head: BECHTEL INC. FIRM’S BUSINESS PLAN ON OPERATIONAL
MANAGEMENT 1
Bechtel Inc. Firm’s Business Plan on Operational Management
Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
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Executive Summary
The paper entirely looks at the mode in which operational systems need to be looked into in any
organization. Based on the essay, the major emphasis is on the operating plan and management
in one of the well-known organizations in the States of America. The firm that forms the core
factor for discussion is known as Bechtel Inc. An organization that is well known for the
provision of services regarding engineering projects. The firm has been faced with some
challenges that, in turn, hinder the progression of the firm in general hence resulting in poor
performance of the firm. The issue has ended up provoking the act of coming up with the
business plan aimed at solving the outlined challenges that the firm is facing. The paper is
therefore detailed in terms of the business while outlining the measures that are supposed to be
undertaken on solving the challenges that the firm is facing.

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Introduction
Bechtel is one of the biggest companies that are found in the United States of America that was
founded in the year 1898. It is involved in the global form of engineering globally, projects
management as well as the construction of the government of Companies. Based on the research,
the firm entirely deals with all forms of projects ranging from civil infrastructure,
telecommunication, power together with the government form of issues. Based on the
performance of the firm, it is undertaken as the eleventh private largest firm as the record of the
previous year depicts (Wiesmann et al., 2017 p.27). The reason behind the firm taking such a
position in the market share within the region is that the firm has been facing various challenges
that hinder its growth. The essay thus would entirely explore the challenges that the firm has
been meeting and the appropriate measures that are supposed to be undertaken to guarantee the
progress and faster growth rate of the firm.
Based on the fact that the firm usually deals with the civil form of engineering, it has a different
way of the market segment that mainly enable it to work effectively and discharge its services to
the society. Twelve states of the market segments allow them to make the generation of all
models of the EPC services. The features that are incorporated in the operation of the firm are as
follows:
 Captive form of power developers
 Paper as well as pump producers
 Textile form of producers
 Mills of cement
 Mining industries

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 Farming shrimp
 Producers of sugar
 Producers of palm oil.
 Manufacturer of fertilizer
 Petrochemicals
 Gas as well as oil production together with exploration
 Complexes refinery of oil
The segments listed in the section above have varied form of shares in the market as it is going to
be shown in the appendix. In this conjunction, the market segments are supposed to work in an
efficient and consistence manner for the proper progression of the firm (Wang et al., 2016
p.840). The trend has shown an increase in the market segment values throughout the year. The
movement can be traced back from the year 1999 up to the date (Revilla & Knoppen, 2015
p.1420). The table in the appendix is a sample of the table showing an improvement in such and
clarifies the development of the market segments throughout the years. However, there are some
challenges that the firm has faced, thus making it be not exhibiting a faster growth rate as it is
expected. The firm's manager, as well as the stakeholders, is working on the challenges to
minimize challenges that have been noted in the previous years. The challenges are based on the
mode of communication as well as the corporation that exists between the different market
segments (Bruneel, Spithoven & Clarysse, 2017 p.260). More of the exploration is based on the
above poor performance of the business is discussed under the problem statement in the section
below.

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Statement of the problem
Based on the previous report that was collected eighteen years ago, it has been found that the
firm suffered various challenges in the growth simply because of a lack of effective
communication and the co-ordination of the employees (Lim et al., 2016 p.60). The employees
from different segments that are within the organization have entirely been in a conflict whereby
there was no any form of conscience in terms of the vision and mission of the firm. In other
words, there was no form of joint mission and image of the firm, as the report indicates
(Tsarenko & Simpson, 2017 p.38). The above assertion led to the leeway for the competitors of
the firm, an issue that slowed down the growth of the firm. The firm thus for the last three years
it has been challenged by the high competition imposed in the job market by the competitors
within the same region that is known for offering similar services as Bechtel Corporation.
Based on the above information, there has been a need for the firm to come up with an effective
mode of controlling the frauds that were currently witnessed in the region (Braziotis, Tannock &
Bourlakis, 2017 p.270). The process entailed evaluating the map charts as well as the flow charts
within the firm and make necessary changes that entail integration of them to suit the solution
intended for the mentioned challenge. It is out of the expectation that the integration of the map
charts and the flow charts are supposed to be in line with the operational systems for the firm
(Gilal et al., 2017 p.40). To be effective in the integration of the flow charts and map charts in
the organization, there is a need for the organization to employ the application of the current
technological advancements.
The above requires an application of AI whereby the IT services are highly regarded in the
operation of the firm. IT managers are supposed to centralize the operational system between the

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market segments. The centralization of the market segments brings about the effective and
smooth operation of the firm and enhances the co-ordination of the firm (Lindgreen & Di
Benedetto, 2018 p.5). However, the above issue can attribute to the cyber insecurity within the
region leading to the easy attack of the firm (Forkmann et al., 2016 p.190). To be free from the
form of cyber insecurity, the firms need to hire services from the IT managers who are supposed
to endorse the responsibility of monitoring the operation of the firm. The above is very useful in
the firm as it would entirely solve all the involved challenges in the firm.
Proposal for workable recommendations and implementation Plans
The current issues in the corporation should be analyzed in a coordinated approach to ensure that
the firm attains its strategic goals in the long run. There is a dire need to align the operational
procedures of the top management as laid in the strategic plan with the actual processes in the
day to day operations of the firm (Palandeng et al., 2018 p.1790). The first step would involve a
more profound restructuring of the firm by analyzing its opportunities in the contemporary
world. This should incorporate the alignment of the company’s resources with the goals.
Another major issue which should be dealt with should include the tax matters in the corporation.
Bechtel has been tendered by the American government to deliver a vast number of projects in
the country. The citizens have had a lot of significant issues with the tax department, with the
majority of the citizens citing tax evasion allegations (Forkmann et al., 2016 p.190). This means
that the firm should create a coherent tax policy to rebuild its trust in contemporary American
society.

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The first step should include the development of a universal communication plan, which should
take in to account all the needs of the entire workforce in line with the firms’ mission and vision
statements (Jokakuu, 2018 p.28). This can only be successful after the inclusion of the whole
staff and workforce in the development and analysis of this crucial issue. The firm's value should
be known by all the individuals to regain the firms lost glory and internal work culture.,
The company specializes in a highly fragmented industry due to the dire need to communicate
heavily and on a large scale with suppliers, the contractor and sub-contractors, and the clients at
large. This poses the need for the company to implement an enterprise resource planning system
to align its operational processes which include, the financial management sectors, the
procurement, the ongoing project management, maintenance processes, and the management's
overall control functions (Katombe & Munapo, 2016 p.452). The implementation of the ERP
will be very beneficial to the entire company, but a lot of challenges will also accompany it
during the implementation phase.
Among the key benefits of the system include the instant automation and integration of business
processes. This will allow the company to enhance its consistency and accuracy in handling
information in the human resource department and all the units and departments.
Critical analysis of the recommendations and implementation plan
Implementing an ERP system has always been considered a very daunting task in all
organizations. This is because the systems are the most complex and the most demanding during
the implementation phase (Hwang & Min, 2015 p.550). This is potential because the
management team should employ the right approaches and decisions in managing the available

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resources. These factors lead to a lot of complexity during the implementation process of the
ERP systems. This means that the implementation phase is a large scale project which is
intertwined with the internal reorganization of the processes in the organizational structures and
internal procedures. This means that the organization at stake and should also consider hiring
external experts to aid management in spearheading the change process (Fayezi, Zutshi &
O'Loughlin, 2017 p.380). There is much possibility of facing a lot of internal resistance if the
company is going to make a move. This is because the employees are already comfortable in the
current state of affairs at the bottom level. The ERP system will allow easy access to the
information in the company and will pose another risk of potential fraud and other unauthorized
transactions. This should be aligned with the internal structures and processes by employing
distinct authorization and data safeguarding procedures.
The company should also deal with other stringent issues, which include the strengthening of the
supply chain management systems to harmonize and reduce loopholes in its internal processes.
There is a dire need to adopt string measures in managing risk in this sector to ensure overall
productivity in the entire firm (Kwamega & Abrokwah, 2018 p.8). The top management should
employ a workable risk management framework concerning the operational processes of the
company. This should include the development of a risk assessment framework that should
incorporate all internal operations.
Alternative solutions and their relative merits
The fore-mentioned solutions are not the only solutions to the challenge faced by the
organization. Several other solutions regard the challenges the company is facing. These
solutions may include;

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 Improvement of communication between the company and its clients
This is a solution to the risks posed by the rejection of their products by the clients.
Clients of the organization may reject the goods that they need are not delivered on time,
and the communication channel of the organization is not working accordingly (Hwang
& Rho, 2016 p.519). Due to this, the organization may undergo huge loses, which may
even lead to its closure due to the rejection of the goods. To handle this problem and
solve this risk, the organization should ensure that it communicates to all its clients. This
is an alternative solution to the solutions posed in the sector of communication in the
enterprise.
 Division of labor and specialization
Every employee in the organization should be assigned duties that are relevant regarding
the communication sector of the organization. In doing this, every individual who serves
in the communication sector should focus on having the skills needed in running the
organization effectively. In doing so, he or he will be able to deliver the best services to
the organization and hence avoid the risks faced in the communication sector. Apart from
this, every individual should have undergone a professional course that deals with
communication between clients of the organization and even potential customers.
 Increase the available resources used in communication
The organization should increase the number of employees serving in the communication
sector. Although this solution to the challenge faced poses the risk of more expenditure, it
would have the merit of enabling the company to communicate effectively to all its
stakeholders.

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Potential barriers to the success of the implementation of the solutions
Every solution to be implemented in handling the challenges faced by an organization must face
obstacles. Several barriers face the performance of the solutions mentioned above to the
challenge state in the problem statement. The obstacles that may be encountered in implementing
the recommendations of this report may include;
 Internal resistance from workers
According to Hong, Zhang & Ding (2018 p.3519). The employees of the organization
may not feel comfortable in adopting the recommendations established by the company
in the use of this report.
An example is a recommendation that an Enterprise Risk Management (ERP) model
should be developed that encompasses the 12 sectors of the organization. Employees may
not feel comfortable in adopting new technology in analyzing the risk that they face in
the different sectors of the organization. They may even think that their jobs are at stake
and therefore resist the implementation of some of the solutions provided in the above
industry (Schneckenberg et al., 2017 p.410). Another example is whereby a messenger in
the organization may assume that the use of new technological communication tools will
threaten his job position. He or she may, therefore, resist the adoption of better
communication procedures and tools in the organization.
 External factors
All stakeholders should accept the adoption of the recommendations. Hence, external
stakeholders, such as clients of the company, should be able to understand the solutions
that the company provides to them (Ralston et al., 2015 p.64). These clients may cause a

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considerable barrier when they do not want to accept the use of technology, as
recommended by the company. Initially, the company did not sell its goods and products
using online platforms. Customers still want to use the traditional delivery method, which
takes more costs and time hence causing a risk to the organization.
 Communication
All the sectors of the organization should communicate well to ensure the Belchet
Company is successful. The barrier of information should not be ignored since the views
and opinions of both senior managerial team, and other employees should be taken into
consideration when implementing this report.
 Vast amounts of resources needed in implementing the solutions
For the company to utilize the recommendations of this report, it should invest a
tremendous sum of money and other resources like labor. The availability of these
resources may pose a challenge to the organization. If the organization has restrained
budgets from sponsoring the report and its implementation, it may give a considerable
barrier that may even lead to the organization not adopting the information. Due to this,
this can be taken as the biggest challenge that is posed on the implementation of the
report.

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