University Report: Managing Business Activities to Achieve Results

This report delves into the critical aspects of managing business activities to achieve desired results. It begins by discussing operations management in the context of processing and functioning, using case studies of prominent automobile manufacturers such as Toyota, BMW, and Rolls-Royce to illustrate key concepts. The report then explores business process mapping and its significance in streamlining operations. Furthermore, it examines quality gateways and output analysis, emphasizing the importance of quality control at every stage. The report also develops plans for areas of responsibility and explores the application of Management by Objectives (MBO), including the writing of SMART objectives. The analysis covers the importance of input and output structures, company organization, and the implementation of effective business process models within a dynamic business environment. The report provides a comprehensive overview of business management practices.

MANAGING BUSINESS ACTIVITIES TO ACHIEVE RESULTS
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Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3
Task 1.............................................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Discussing of operations management in context of processing and functioning......3
1.2 Explaining the business process and process mapping management.......................6
1.3 Quality Gateways and outputs analysis.....................................................................9
Task 2............................................................................................................................ 12
2.1 Developing Plans for Areas of Responsibility...........................................................12
2.2 Management by Objectives MBO and writing SMART Objectives...........................14
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 16
Reference list................................................................................................................. 17
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Introduction
Management is an important criterion in the development process in business. It is the
duty of the manager to steer the whole company towards success. It is the ability of the
manager which creates a good atmosphere in the overall structure of the firm is it with
subordinates or operators or with the top management or supervisors. It helps in
increasing the knowledge or skills of the employees and develops efficiency within the
workplace. The companies which are analysed in this context are Toyota, BMW, Rolls
Royce which are the trending and most high valued automobile manufacturer. those
companies are very popular and well organised industries with a functioning scale over
the world. The company is well experienced in production of various categories of
vehicles and automobiles. In this context the functional and processing of operational
management is discussed. As well as the mapping of business process within the
management is also stated. Apart from that the quality gateways and outputs are
processed according to organisational function. Further the development of plans and
management objectives are also focused. In this process SMART objectives are
analysed. Herein the topic is about managing of business within a particular
organisation so that desired results are achieved.
Task 1
1.1 Discussing of operations management in context of processing
and functioning
Their mission is
- To provide quality services and attract customers by manufacturing and delivering
high-value products and satisfying customer needs.
the main mission of this particular company is to serve their customers with a variety of
products as well as improving the quality of service that is provided this will
automatically improve their social relation with the consumers and strengthen their
customer base. They also target to maintain all those ethical guidelines and principles of
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those countries in which they operate.
Their vision is
- To manufacture top quality products and become successful and most
recognised vehicle manufacturer in most of the global market mostly within the
USA.
They want to target all those parts of the world in which the demand for sales of luxury
vehicles is on the rise. This will help them is becoming one of the top vehicle
manufacturers as well as increasing their revenue in world vehicular market.
This particular entity mostly develops a wide range of products in automobile structure.
Their products range from public vehicles like buses and trucks as well as heavy
machinery. Along with that they also manufacture personal and small end vehicles
including tourist vehicles and cars, SUVs, sports cars and luxury vehicles. Çetindamar
et al. (2016, p.65) agreed that in addition to this, they also manufacture high-quality
engines for transport vehicles. They have their personal owning technical laboratories in
different parts of the world which are mostly engaged in the development of new and
innovative as well as eco-friendly engines and motors for vehicles.
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Figure 1: input and output data analysis
(Source: Created by author)
In this diagram, it can be seen that the input and output structure is very clear for this
industry. They effectively utilize their land, labour and capital management and they all
helps in the production process and developing a good infrastructure. This helps in
production and developing of good quality services and production. Moreover, There is
a feedback loop which provides a connection between both inputs as well as output
structure.
In the input section, there is labour, land and capital management. In this part, there is a
great teamwork between those operators and the managers. This makes those
respective jobs much easier to be performed. Oakland (2014, p.45) stated that in the
process section, there is the top management and supervisors of a company. Their
main function is to keep an eye on the efficiency of the overall company structure. In the
last section, there is the output and finishing section. This is controlled by all those
experienced personnel who operate the finishing and final delivery of the manufactured
goods. This section also includes the servicing department to resolve all those queries
of customers after the sales.
Figure 2: Company structure
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(Source: TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION GLOBAL WEBSITE. 2017)
Thus from this diagram, it is quite clear that there is a good overall management
process with a high-level interdependency between each sector for the development of
a good product. Right from the purchasing of raw materials to the shipping and delivery
unit, each section are interconnected and supervised by the company vice president
and their jobs are all under his observation. Then the vice president reports directly to
the CEO of a company.
1.2 Explaining the business process and process mapping
management
According to Jeston and Nelis (2014, p.19), the term business process refers to the
transformation procedure that helps an organization to set its duties, done by
employees of different levels of management. Every aspect in a company like
production, designing, redesigning, customer processing, administration, evaluation all
are part of business process. All parts are linked to each other. Sometimes it is called
Business process chain.
Toyota Company is one of the largest car manufacturing companies having so many
divisions. The company must focus on increasing the integrity in different business
processes to compete in the market. Upgrading business process Toyota Company
may identify challenging areas of their business. After evaluating challenging areas and
new opportunities, The Company can prepare different strategic plans for strengthening
business. Management hierarchy should be constructed in such way that each level is
cooperative to each other. Proper cooperation from different groups help to achieve
desired result very easily. Objectives of business should be transparent to different
levels of Management. Proper assessment is to be made to judge the quality of work.
Assessment should be made in terms of specific standards. Performance appraisal
process must be strong to group as well as individual level. Work should customer-
centric. If customers are not satisfied by the product, it is fault of Management.
Main four components of production land, labor, capital and human resource are to be
processed in such a way so that output is optimum. Of course output quality must be
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superior. Toyota Company must enhance their input-output model to compete in
dynamic business world. As stated by Achtenhagen et al. (2013, p.427), transformation
process is having some sub systems which assists to convert input into output. ‘Output’
is vast term which includes finished products, profitability, customer satisfaction,
feedback from customers etc on the basis of which Toyota Company can focus on
growth of their business. Job interventions can be changed by customer feedback.
Sales order, purchase order, product development, launching new product etc are splits
of a total business process. Transformation subsystem can be enhanced by developing
operation management. Accumulating different standard operational activities Toyota
Company can make structural change in input-output model. To implement input-output
model effectively the company should consider components of a process.
As per Crane and Matten (2016, p.91), process mapping refers to identify good aspects
and drawbacks of a process to assist the technique of improvement and replacing the
process if it is necessary. Proper control, identifying process outcome, considering
elements, process mapping can be done. A company should follow the technique of
process mapping. Right mapping will definitely ensure the success of business.
According to Bradley (2016, p.29), capability of a business process to communicate with
primary business unit is firstly measured to know whether a process is productive or not.
Then interdependency of a business process to the entire workflow is evaluated. If right
evaluation is not made, it will hamper entire workflow in business process chain. Last
judgment is performance measurement i.e. process can meet the requirements of
stakeholders or not.
Interpretation of workflows, charts, flow diagrams, Time function is interventions for
Toyota Company to update their transformation system. Work flow interpretation is
made through four stages like requesting, negotiating, accepting and performing. As
stated by Chang (2016, p.101), flowchart of process is used to identify aspects of
activity. Flow diagram highlights major parts of activity and Time function is nothing but
equivalent to process mapping. Statistical process control consists of identifying
limitation areas of a process and starting a process on the basis of sample i.e. taking
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sample, inspecting sample and control chart. Identifying limitations area means find out
the reason of weakness.
As per Marcelino et al. (2014, p.327), process reengineering is drastically changed in
existing business process by redesigning to get improved performance. It focuses on
evaluation of tasks as per objectivity. Crossing limitations of any task is identified to
redesign.
According to Waal (2013, p.11), in a dynamic business environment continuous up
gradation is essential to exist in the market. As a large manufacturing company Toyota
is having responsibility to control operational resources. The Company should focus on
marketing, sales and production unit. Unique new product should be launched to
develop the standard of a company. For this purpose Toyota Company must ensure the
effectiveness of operational activities. The company requires carrying out process
redesign through four steps viz. process goals, process performance, process
resources and process interfaces.
Toyota Company must determine the scope of a new process because to implement
any business process its probable advantages to be judged properly. Next are
ownership, interfaces and setting up of goals. Goals must be specific and
predetermined. After that document process and highlighting key stages are two
important parts of managing a process. Next resource identification and risk
ascertainment are essential. Good risk measurement is the key of success in any
business. After that standards must be set accurately to analyze performance of
process. After analyzing performance remedial measurement must be adopted and if
needed agenda is changed.
As stated by Love et al. (2014, p.5), identification of product offered and consumer
serving are most vital part of performance evaluation. In a specific process resources
are to be utilized in efficient and effective manner. Evaluating challenging areas,
process redesign is an important part to develop performance. Standards are to be
prepared properly to analyze performance accurately. Customer satisfaction, cost factor
etc. are leading part of performance indicator.
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According to Ahi and Searcy (2013, p.329), success of a process is determined
according to predetermined objectives of management. Process success can be
measured by benchmark. It is a comparative study between past and present situation.
Process performance is another part of measuring success. Continuous measurement
helps to mark good and bad aspects of a business process.
As stated by Ritala and Sainio, (2014, p.155), critical success factor emphasizes on
process outcome. Process outcome determine s the process health. Process orientation
is measured with the help of customer feedback and output quality which helps a
manger critically analyze a process. Business process is performed following rules and
tactic knowledge in an organization. Critical analysis can be made in an effective
manner by evaluating interrelationships among different business processes.
Importance can be judged by making process interdependence. After considering
critical factors, management can rectify shortfalls of any process.
1.3 Quality Gateways and outputs analysis
There is a distinct difference between the quality notions that is found in both of this
models. Both BMW, as well as Rolls-Royce, give much importance to quality. however,
bmw gives much more specific importance to quality at every stage of their
manufacturing process. However, Rolls-Royce gives much importance to their
development unit but there after sales quality control is not as effective as BMW.
Even the BMW suppliers and service unit gives specific importance to quality control
when compared with Rolls, it is not found.
They provide three-stage control of quality which is not so evident in Rolls Royce
factory. BMW manufacturer believes that quality is the most important criterion at every
individual step of the process of manufacturing of their products. Bourne (2016, p.32)
stated that consistency is maintained throughout the production process even from
development to its distribution. Audits are performed for checking of quality control.
Supply chain, a production unit and also the assembling of components, all goes
through proper quality check. This all facilities are not found in rolls Royce factory and
manufacturing unit.
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The supplier line of BMW is very specific and therefore a strong supply chain is present
for this particular manufacturing company of automobiles. The supply chain is also
passed through quality checking and controlling and therefore raw materials which are
used in an input section of this company is well chalked out. Rosemann and Vom
Brocke (2015, p.32) stated that they also go through a periodical audit for maintaining of
quality. Thus their transformation process is well structured. This automatically improves
their output quality.
In a case of Rolls Royce, the working pattern is somewhat different from BMW. They
mostly target premium level of customers without any fault. Right from the acquisition of
the brand in 1998, they give much importance to their products so that an instantly
recognizable motor car can be handed over to the customers as well as the icon and
brand name prevails all over the globe. Chen et al. (2014, p.330) stated that this
manufacturing unit is very small in number and therefore a keen eye is kept on the
needs and requirements of every individual customer.
a. Information
Specific information is collected from all the suppliers of raw materials and input section
when studying the case of BMW.
Rolls Royce's production unit is very small in number which production of only a limited
number of products every year. The production department is homegrown and is very
skilled and efficient so that premium and high-end quality can be provided to
consumers.
b. Customers
The customer chain of BMW is ranging from a huge section. A large scale of customers
is satisfied by this production unit of BMW all over the world.
The customer base of Rolls Royce is not as specific as that of BMW. They serve only a
limited number of customers. However, every individual demands and requirement are
fulfilled in the production process which is not found in any of their rivals. Nanda (2016,
p.12) said that this makes the manufacturing process of this company very unique.
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c. Raw Material
The supply of raw materials for BMW is much better when compared with that of rolls
Royce. However, it can be said that rolls Royce manufactures their own units and as
their chain is limited there supply of raw materials are conducted from trusted source.
Those three systems are
Well-controlled supply line,
Their manufacturing unit possesses technical laboratories which rectify all their faults.
Finally, their services are very efficient thereby all types of client issues are instantly
rectified all over the world.
In both cases, customers are mostly satisfied because both of them manufactures world
class products. In both of their manufacturing unit, there are representatives who take
care of the quality of production. However who comparison is made on a very specific
guidelines then it can be said that BMW fulfils all those requirements and expectations
of their clients in a much more perfect manner.
Rolls Royce, however, has a well-defined production unit which takes care of all those
needs and requirements of the clients. Polonsky and Waller (2014, p.65) agreed that
even before the manufacturing process is started, all types of details are collected from
the clients so that client can get exactly the same product as expected.
Supply quality
Relationship with suppliers is a very important criterion in the automobile sector. This is
vital because any issues with suppliers will stall the supply chain and thereby the overall
chain of business will be hampered. BMW maintains a thorough inspection with the
supplier raw materials so that quality is not compromised. Rolls Royce's supply chain is
weaker than BMW as their production is made one a very small scale and so most of
their suppliers are trusted and very close.
Production quality
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Production quality is given much importance in both the units. However, in BMW
production is made under thorough inspection on every step. Walker (2015, p.32)
opined that thus quality is not hampered. In a case of Rolls, the production unit is very
small with manufacturers are very small in number. However, they have a very skilled
and experienced employee chain who manufactures each and every vehicle with much
importance on every sphere.
After sales services quality
In this section, the BMW has out past its rival in many steps. The after sales services
are excellent for BMW. If any kind of fault or complaint is found in BMW cars they are
rectified instantly as their service centre is situated in various regions of the world. In
Rolls Royce, their service is weak and therefore it takes much time for replacement of
those defects when any customer complaints about their products.
The SMART objective in which BMW manufacturing unit prospers from that of Rolls
Royce is that target section of the market. In this context, it can be said that BMW
identifies those targets in a much efficient manner and thereby captures a major portion
of the market demand for luxury and top end vehicles. According to Forsgren and
Johanson (2014, p.33) this is very low when compared with that of Rolls Royce. This is
because the overall functioning process is very limited for BMW. It exceeds its rival in all
respect. Apart from that, the after sales service of Rolls is not so efficient and strong
when compared to BMW. BMW has its production unit spread all over the world
however its rival is only operating from a particular place which is the United Kingdom.
Task 2
2.1 Developing Plans for Areas of Responsibility
A proper planning is highly required in the business because it helps to bring efficiency
in performance. It also ensures that each every step under the hierarchy model of
planning are fulfilled in an efficient manner. This is also beneficial because each and
every individual operator will get to know about their duty and job role in a very clear
manner. There will be less chance for mismanagement and misunderstanding and
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