Critique of Management Decisions in the Merger of Two Tour Operators

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

ITC563 assessment 4 CRITIQUE IN
SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY
1

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................4
Case outline.....................................................................................................................................5
Critique to management decisions...................................................................................................6
Decision 1....................................................................................................................................6
Decision 2....................................................................................................................................7
Describe the development of the new systems integration of Safari and express (IT Issue)..........8
Describe the corporate governance of the combine management from both companies have to
decide, policies, rule, agreement and management processes. (IS issues)......................................9
Conclusion and recommendation..................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
2

Introduction
The report is concentrating on the management assumptions that will help in facilitating the
collaboration of two tour operating companies. The assignment is basically focusing on a case
study related to the collaboration of Mainland–Safari Tours and Outback Safari Tours. With
the help of this assignment a critique is provided regarding the merger of concerned firm. The
assignment will help in identifying a couple of management issues that can hamper the
productivity of respective firms. The assignment likewise includes the differentiation of the IT
and IS issues and their impact on the changing needs of the consumers. With the assistance of
this assignment the users will be able to scrutinize the IT and IS issues related to the
collaboration of companies. It will likewise helps in evaluating the impact on the productivity
and growth of the firm with the effect of respective scenario.
3

Executive summary
The respective assignment is based on a scenario of collaboration in which two leading tour
operative related companies are merging their business in order to enhance the market segment.
The assignment is providing deliverables regarding Outback Safari Tours and Mainland
Express. Both of these companies are renowned coach tour operating company and have a good
share of market. With the help of this assignment a number of IT and IS related issues will be
identified and its impact on the behavior of the consumers will be evaluated. Outback Safari
Tours is a company holding about 25 offices located in a SA, QLD, NSW, WA and NT. The
coach’s offered by the company are capable for carrying 50 passengers at a single point of time.
The maximum operations of the company are controlled via offline platforms. About 75% sales
of the company are generated with the help of travelling agencies and tour operators. Whereas on
the other side Mainland Express handles maximum of operations via online networking. It is a
low-cost operation company and provides quality coaches to the consumers having a capacity of
about 55 passengers.
With the help of this assignment the management issues arise at the time of collaboration will be
identified. This will help the managers of respective association in formulating strategies for
reducing the impact of respective issues from the productivity of the organization. The
assignment will likewise help in identifying the impact of IT and IS issues on the growth and
proficiency of the organization.
4

Case outline
Every organization tries to formulate strategies for enhancing the level of productivity and for
increasing their share of market. Similarly in the respective case study both Outback Safari
Tours and Mainland Express are trying to merge their business operations for enhancing their
productivity. As per the study maximum operations of safari tours are handled with the help of
offline platforms whereas in the case of mainland express they are handled with the help of
online platforms. By merging the operations the companies will be able to acquire strength of
one another and will likewise be able to eliminate the weaknesses of each other. The major
strengths of Outback Safari Tours are that it provides the facility of multi-days tours to its
consumers. Along with this new fleet coaches and other quality services are also provided to the
consumers by this company. Whereas mainland express is a company that believe in providing
the services at low prices. It is renowned for providing timely services to the consumers at low
prices. The company is not able to provide international tourism facilities to its clients and is also
not able to provide the facility of overnight accommodation (Singhal et. al., 2013).
With the help of respective strategy the managers of concerned association will be able to
eliminate the weaknesses of each other and will likewise be able to evaluate the complexities
affecting their growth. Looking forward to the case a number of assumptions are provided which
are as follows:
 The merger between the firms will help the Outback Safari Tours in developing its
business to online boundaries.
 This strategy will likewise help Mainland Express in developing its services like
overnight accommodation and international tourism etc.
 The collaboration will help the firm in enhancing their market area and productivity.
5

Critique to management decisions
Decision 1
As per the first managerial decision it is analyzed that the company will try to retain all their staff
and coaches. They will likewise try to retain all the policies of their organization. Alongside the
managers will try to merge the outdated model of safari with the new and advanced model of
mainland.
With the effect of this decision the managers will be able to reduce the level of changes in the
organization. The company will be able to maintain the level of cost in the organization. As the
company will try to retain the old employees they do not have to organize training sessions. The
employees of the organization will be skilled and experienced enough to deal with the changes in
the organization. With the help of this factor the company will be able to conserve its cost
expands on training and development program and will be able to enhance profitability. With the
effect of respective decision the organization likewise do not have to invest in recruiting new
talent in the organization. The concerned policy will help the managers in conserving their time
and financial resources (Benton, 2013).
As per the strategy the firm will in like manner try to merge the outdated system of safari with
the new and advanced system of mainland. This will help the managers in enhancing the scope
of growth and productivity. The managers will be able to enhance the level of controlling and
supervision in the organization. Use of advanced managerial software will help the companies in
managing the resources of the company effectively. This will likewise assist the managers in the
process of communication.
Looking forward to the negative side of the decision it can be evaluated that the respective
strategy can interrupt the controlling, communication and supervising process of the company.
The employees that are already working in the organization will feel difficult in getting
comfortable with the employees of other firm. This can impact the working environment of the
organization and in like manner can impact the performance of the employees in the firm
(Singhal et. al., 2013).
6

Along with it the employees of safari are familiar with their outdated software and hence will
feel it difficult to make use of the new and updated software. The managers will eventually have
to invest in the training sessions for informing the employees regarding the use of advanced
software as used in mainland express.
With regards to this information it can be said that respective decision is filled with both negative
and positive aspects so the managers need to supervise the activities effectively for reducing the
impact of negative factors.
Decision 2
As per this decision the managers will try to retain the los cost policy of mainland express. The
company will try to provide low cost services to the consumers. The consumers initially have to
pay for coaches and later they have the facility to ask for individual services. This will help the
organization in attracting a major segment of market, as the consumers have the flexibility of
deciding which service they like to have from the company and which not. This will help the
consumers in designing their own personalized packages and that too at minimum prices.
With the effect of this decision the managers will be able to portray a beneficial scheme in front
of the consumers. The consumers will be able to design their own plan or travelling. They will be
able to control their own tours and plans. The consumers will have the flexibility to ask for
baggage, meals or Wi-Fi services while travelling.
But as every decision has two aspects the respective decision is also incorporated with a couple
of negative factors. This decision can enhance the cost of the organization. The managers of the
organization have to involve more resources for serving the consumers as per their requirements
and satisfaction. For providing individual services to the consumers the organization has to
increase their availability. They will likewise have to invest time in planning for the same. With
the effect of respective decision the number of operations will be increased in the organization
and this eventually effect the performance of the employees of the organization (Khojastehpour
& Johns, 2014).
Regarding this aspect it can be said that the managers must try to provide low price packages to
the consumers instead of providing them the individual services. This will help in reducing the
level of operations of the organization and will likewise help in optimum utilization of resources.
7

Describe the development of the new systems integration of Safari
and express (IT Issue)
For the development of the company it is extremely essential for the organization to develop a IT
system. Information technology or IT based software’s are used by the organizing for storing,
recovering and sending their information to the stakeholders or the consumers of the
organization. These systems help the organization in interacting will all the major associated
parties and facilitates them in decision making process. With the collaboration of Mainland–
Safari Tours their new system will lack in the factor of scalability and security (Lerner & Seru,
2017).
By lacking in the factor of scalability the organization will not be able to collect all the adequate
information related to the consumers. This can hamper their operations as the newly collaborated
firm will not be able to collect or review all the relevant information related to the potential
consumer of the organization. The managers will not be able to study the behavior of the
consumers and likewise not able to formulate effective strategies. This can affect the market
segment and brand name of the consumers in negative manner (Benton, 2013).
Along with it by lacking in the factor of security the organization will not be able to secure the
information collected by the consumers. With the help of this new system the manager will try to
collect information from the consumers in order to study their behavior. But with the effect of
respective concern the mangers will not be able to secure the information in proper manner. This
will impact the goodwill and brand name of the company in negative manner (Khojastehpour &
Johns, 2014).
It is extremely essential for the mangers of the company to amend policies in respective direction
in order to enhance their goodwill and area of market.
8

Describe the corporate governance of the combine management
from both companies have to decide, policies, rule, agreement and
management processes. (IS issues)
The process of collaboration or merger is acquainted with a number of legal issues and practices.
In the process of collaboration both of the tour operating company has to face a variety if issues
which are as follows:
 Conflicts of interest
In the merging process the organizations have to face the situation of disputes as both the
parties have their own perspective of doing the business. This can hinder the performance
of the firm (Khojastehpour & Johns, 2014)
 Accountability issues
The newly collaborated organization has to face a number of accountability issues as the
managers and employees are not able to communicate with each other effectively. The
information will not be able transfer in the organization effectively (Benton, 2013).
The organization can resolve both of these issues by implementing new IS system in the
organization. This software will help the organization in formulating agreements and policies
that can help in enhancing their level of accountability.
9

Conclusion and recommendation
The assignment is reflecting a case of merger between two tour operating organizations. With the
help of this assignment two management decisions are discussed and their negative and positive
aspects are concluded. With the help of this assignment it is concluded that consumers are most
important element of an organization and their aspirations affects the policies of the business.
The assignment likewise help in concluding that for the purpose of collaboration the managers
need to undertake effective planning that can help them in fulfilling the goals. With the help of
the assignment a couple of IT and IS issues are identified. These issues can hamper the
productivity of the firm. Looking forward to the assignment it can be said that the managers must
incorporate effective decision making policy for reducing the impact of these issues.
With the study of this assignment it can be recommended that the managers must identify the
objectives of both the organizations before the merging process. With the help of this activity the
managers will be able to formulate strategies for fulfilling the goals of both the firms in effective
manner. Along with this the managers must also make use of effective IS and IT system that can
help them in resolving the issues.
10

References
 Benton, J. E. (2013). Local government collaboration: Considerations, issues, and
prospects. State and Local Government Review, 45(4), 220-223.
 Chen, D., & Zhao, H. (2012, March). Data security and privacy protection issues in cloud
computing. In 2012 International Conference on Computer Science and Electronics
Engineering (Vol. 1, pp. 647-651). IEEE.
 Khojastehpour, M., & Johns, R. (2014). The effect of environmental CSR issues on
corporate/brand reputation and corporate profitability. European Business Review, 26(4),
330-339.
 Lebedeva, T. E., Akhmetshin, E. M., Dzagoyeva, M. R., Kobersy, I. S., & Ikoev, S. K.
(2016). Corporate governance issues and control in conditions of unstable capital
risk. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 6(1S), 25-32.
 Lerner, J., & Seru, A. (2017). The use and misuse of patent data: Issues for corporate
finance and beyond (No. w24053). National Bureau of Economic Research.
 Marek, L. I., Brock, D. J. P., & Savla, J. (2015). Evaluating collaboration for
effectiveness: Conceptualization and measurement. American Journal of
Evaluation, 36(1), 67-85.
 Mason, R. O. (2017). Four ethical issues of the information age. In Computer Ethics (pp.
41-48). Routledge.
 Pilcher, K., Martin, W., & Williams, V. (2016). Issues of collaboration, representation,
meaning and emotions: Utilising participant-led visual diaries to capture the everyday
lives of people in mid to later life. International Journal of Social Research
Methodology, 19(6), 677-692.
 Singhal, M., Chandrasekhar, S., Ge, T., Sandhu, R., Krishnan, R., Ahn, G. J., & Bertino,
E. (2013). Collaboration in multicloud computing environments: Framework and security
issues. Computer, 46(2), 76-84.
11