University Operations Management Report: Lugton's Estate Company

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the operations management practices at Lugton's Estate, a prominent real estate company in New Zealand. The report begins with a brief overview of the company, its history, and its current leadership. It then delves into a literature review of the organization's efforts to maintain a competitive edge, focusing on employee motivation and workplace conditions. The analysis extends to the HR techniques implemented, highlighting the democratic leadership style and innovative approaches to property sales. The report further examines the company's behavior and performance, emphasizing its strong reputation and customer satisfaction. Diagrammatic representations illustrate the methods used for product and service development, along with the requirements for developing these. An evaluation of the company's logistics, including its strategic location and distribution channels, is also provided. The report concludes with an identification of key opportunities and risks, a reflection on the learning experience, and a list of references.

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations Management
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Table of contents
About the company....................................................................................................................2
Literature review on the efforts of the organisation...................................................................2
Analysing HR techniques implemented in the organisation......................................................3
Explaining behaviour and performance of the company...........................................................3
Diagrammatic representation of methods used for products and services.................................4
Diagrammatic representation of the requirements for developing products and services.........5
Evaluating the logistics of the company....................................................................................6
Diagrammatic representation of the collaborative and networking relationship.......................7
Identifying key opportunities and risks of the company............................................................7
Reflection...................................................................................................................................8
Reference....................................................................................................................................9

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About the company
Bruce Lugton established Lugton’s estate in 1955. The company is one of the famous
real estate companies in New Zealand. The company is located in Hamilton consisting of 65
specialist employees at different levels of production and sales. The interest and aim of the
company are to increase the city of Hamilton and in doing so have managed to develop many
landmarks around the city (Lugtons.co.nz, 2017). The current leader of a team in Lugton,
Jack Ramasamy, had sales experience having worked for companies like BMW and Mini-
NZ. This experience encouraged him to take up selling as a profession and proved his talent
by becoming the number one salesperson for the company. The success made him determined
to operate the real estate business in an environment that is subject to changes. In order to test
his abilities, Jack Ramasamy has taken up the duty to motivate and encourage the clients in
achieving personal goals.
Literature review on the efforts of the organisation
In order to develop the organisation and make it competitive, the management of the
company maintains a proper workplace condition. This includes motivating the employees
and monitoring the performance. The personnel in the sales team perform this task in order to
ensure the success of the organisation. However, certain challenges exist that may hamper the
sales process. Lugton's have the office in Cambridge, a place that has a different work
culture. Hence, the challenges in the environment that the company faces include the
fluctuation in tastes of the people, monetary crisis and Government rules. Despite this, with
the exception leadership skills of the salespeople, Lugton's manage to remain competitive in
the international as well as in the domestic market. Hence, the efforts made for improving the
competitive nature of the company results from the determined efforts of the sales team and
the management.

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Analysing HR techniques implemented in the organisation
According to Armstrong & Taylor (2014), the ability of an organisation depends upon
the practices it adopts. The style of leadership, ability to innovate, strategies and core
competencies are some of the essential element that needs to be undertaken by an
organisation in order to succeed. The rapid and dynamic changes that take place in the
business environment can be managed by the application of these human resource techniques.
In the case of Lugton’s, the leaders of the teams follow a democratic style of leadership
meaning that the employees possess opportunities to display thoughts and ideas. The
applications of an innovative manner in which properties can be bought and sold are stated
clearly as the organisational goals. The fact that the organisation aims to Hamilton suggests
the dominating influence that the company have in terms of building landmarks. Hence, the
changing nature of the business environment cannot affect the objective of Lugton’s.
Explaining behaviour and performance of the company
It has been observed that Lugton’s possess a strong reputation in the real estate
industry. In a developing business, the company have emerged as a strategic and innovative
real estate business. The ideas generated by the managers in terms of understanding the
business environment comes from the skills of the employees. The products and services that
are provided signify the fact that customer satisfaction is also an important part of the
organisation. This can be considered as successful because of the support that is received
from the managers of the organisation. The reputation of Lugton’s is the catalyst behind the
innovative techniques that are adopted by the company. In this regard, the use of total quality
management can be used in order to determine the quality of the products and service that is
provided. Benchmarking can help the company to succeed in the international market and
develop competencies in order to maintain a competitive advantage.

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Diagrammatic representation of methods used for products and services
The diagrams provide a detailed understanding of the processes used for developing
products and services. The systematic manner in which the products and services are
developed helps in the proper working of Lugton’s.
Figure 1: Product development process
(Source: Kehoe & Wright, 2013)
DevelopanideaTesttheproduct

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Figure 2: Service development process
(Source: Nagamachi & Lokman, 2015)
Diagrammatic representation of the requirements for developing products and services
The basic requirement of an organisation in terms of developing products and services
include proper tools, resources and management theories.

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Figure 3: Requirements for developing products and services
(Source: Lorenzo-Romero, Constantinides & Brünink, (2014)
Evaluating the logistics of the company
The strategic manner in which Lugton’s is situated in Hamilton signifies the intensity
of the manager to develop in the real estate business. The location of the logistics department
is placed in a way so that it can be easier for the company to distribute its services. The
transportation of the members and clients from the office to the site is done using a
convenient method of transport. Communication is maintained between the management and
the clients via frequent visits in the company. Planning needs to be done to maintain the
efficient manner in which the operations take place. The mode of a distribution channel, the
financial capacity of the organisation along with the skills are analysed and planned
accordingly to maintain a strategic advantage.
Resources

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Diagrammatic representation of the collaborative and networking relationship
Networking and collaborative relationship help an individual in maintaining the
balance between family, work life and social interactions.
Figure 4: Collaborative and networking relationship
(Source: Armstrong & Taylor, 2014)
Identifying key opportunities and risks of the company
Drucker (2014) stated that innovation could be considered as an important method of
maintaining a competitive advantage. Proper innovative technique and support from the
management help an organisation to create opportunities in business. In the case of Lugton’s,
the opportunities that the real estate company have are expansion in the global market.
However, the risks related to this is the rapidity with which the business world changes.
Hence, political factors, legal factors, environmental factors provide to be key challenges for
the organisation. In order to gain a competitive advantage, it is necessary to conduct an
environmental analysis keeping these factors in mind.

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Reflection
After the completion of the project, I have learned that reputed companies need to
undertake certain strategies that can help in bringing competitive advantage for the company.
The manners in which Lugton’s have developed in the past few years signify the hard work
that was dedicated to the organisation. I have learned that proper leadership skills are
required in order to remain successful in the market. During the development of new
products, it is necessary that a company follow certain steps in order to launch a project
successfully in the market. Human resources are necessary to formulate proper planning
about products and services.

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Reference
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Kehoe, R. R., & Wright, P. M. (2013). The impact of high-performance human resource
practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management, 39(2), 366-
391.
Lorenzo-Romero, C., Constantinides, E., & Brünink, L. A. (2014). Co-creation: Customer
integration in social media based product and service development. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 148, 383-396.
Lugtons.co.nz. (2017). Lugtons.co.nz. Retrieved 25 October 2017, from
http://www.lugtons.co.nz/about.php
Nagamachi, M., & Lokman, A. M. (2015). Kansei Innovation: Practical Design Applications
for Product and Service Development (Vol. 32). CRC Press.