Management Consultancy Report: Vodafone Company Analysis

This management consultancy report analyzes the service-related issues faced by Vodafone, a major telecommunications provider in Australia. The report critically examines the management problems, including network coverage deficiencies, call connection failures, and poor customer service, and relates these issues to core management functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. The analysis highlights the misalignment of these functions, particularly in staffing, directing, and controlling, as key contributors to the problems. Based on this critical analysis, the report provides specific recommendations to address the identified issues, aiming to improve Vodafone's service quality, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately strengthen its market position. The report emphasizes the need for improved communication, employee training, and stricter quality control measures to ensure consistent and reliable service delivery.

Running head: MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY REPORT – VODAFONE COMPANY
Management Consultancy Report – Vodafone Company
Name of the Student
Name of the Client – Vodafone
Name of the University
Author Note
8/8/2019

1MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY REPORT – VODAFONE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
1. Critical Analysis of the Management Issues faced by Vodafone Company............................3
1.1. Overview of Management and its various Functions........................................................3
1.2. Understanding the Management Problem at Vodafone on Service Issues with reference
to the Functions of Management.................................................................................................5
2. Recommendations to Address the Problem..............................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Vodafone Hutchinson Australia, known also as Vodafone Hutchinson Australia Pvt. Ltd.
is one of the largest and most well-known telecom service providers in Australia. It is an
international company that came into being as the result of a merger between Hutchinson 3G
Australia and Vodafone Australia. Data and mobile voice constitute the core services offered by
Vodafone. The mobile network of the company is seen to operate on the frequencies of 4G LTE
and 3G UTS. 2G and 3G networks are combined under a single banner where the Vodafone
Company is concerned (Ang 2016). In spite of rendering high quality services and catering
successfully to the needs and requirements of customers ever since its inception in the Australian
market, the company has come under a lot of flak of late because of a number of service issues
that have emerged when conducting 4G and 3G problems, leading customers to complain
vehemently and feel bitterly disappointed with the services that Vodafone has to offer.
Customers are failing to access mobile data in what are usually network coverage areas, calls are
not connecting in the manner desired and customer care service has been poor. Such customer
and service related issues have reflected very poorly on the management of the Vodafone
Company, which now has to come up with new strategies and solutions to address the issues that
customers have been faced with (Ang 2016). This assignment prepares a management
consultancy report that can be taken into consideration by the Vodafone Company to bring about
an improvement in the rendition of its mobile and data services, and keep its customers happy
and satisfied like it is usually known to do. For this purpose, the assignment critically analyzes
the management problem that the Vodafone Company is faced with, with reference to important

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aspects or functions of management, and provides recommendations based on this, to combat the
service related problems once and for all.
1. Critical Analysis of the Management Issues faced by Vodafone
Company
1.1. Overview of Management and its various Functions
Management in one or the other form, constitutes an integral aspect of living, and is in
essence a set of principles that relates to important functions such as organization, planning,
controlling and directing as well as the applications of such principles in the harnessing of
financial, physical, informational and human resources in an efficient and effective manner for
the purpose of achieving the goals of an organization (Al Ahbabi et al. 2019).
Planning constitutes the first and most important step of the management process. It is
oriented towards the future and it is something that is capable of determining the direction in
which a company grows and develops. Management refers to the systematic and rational way by
which decisions are taken within an organizational set up, which in turn is likely to impact the
future growth and development of the company. Planning is a process that not only entails
envisaging the future and what lies ahead of the company but it also entails the attempts that are
made to control the circumstance or events that are likely to hinder the progress of the company.
Organizing is the next most important part of the management process (Chrissman et al. 2016).
Organization takes place under a formal and authoritative structure as well as the flow and the
direction of authority through which subdivisions of work are defined, and then arranged as well
as coordinated so that all parts of the organization or company relate to one another in a coherent
and uniform manner for attaining prescribed goals and objectives of the organization.

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Organization in a business set up thus entails determining the types of activities that need to be
carried out for attaining the goals of the company after which these activities are assigned to the
correct personnel and the necessary authority is then delegated for the implementation of the
activities in a cohesive and well-coordinated manner. Staffing is the third most important
function of management and it entails recruitment and selection of the correct personnel for
performing the work of the organization in a way that the organization is able to achieve its
business goals and objectives. The process of staffing is one that entails training and recruitment
as well as the development, compensation and evaluation of employees, in addition to the
maintenance of a proper workforce with proper motivations and incentives. As human element
constitutes a vital factor where management processes are concerned, recruiting the right
personnel into the organization forms a very important or crucial part of the management process
(Ang 2016).
Directing is the fourth most important aspect of the management process. It is a function of
management that is concerned with communication, motivation and leadership among other
things. The function of directing involves communicating regularly with subordinates,
motivating them to do the best that they can for the organization and taking on leadership
situations in challenging situations especially at times when employees lack the incentive and the
motivation that is required to move in the forward direction (Boateng 2016).
Controlling is the fifth and final function of management. It involves controlling events and
situations in a way that these do not interrupt or act as a deterrent to events that are pre-planned.
Activities associated with the process of controlling are those that involve measurement of
performance, comparison of performance to set standards and establishing certain standards for

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judging work related performance after which corrective action is taken in case things or
activities are not going according to plan (Kraus and Stromsten 2016).
It is important to note that all the functions of management are those that are quite closely
related to one another. It is important to perform one function of management without linking it
to all of the other functions. In the event that one of functions of management is failed to be
implemented in the desired manner, the entire process of management can result in failure. This
will become clearer in the following section which will discuss the management problem faced
by Vodafone Company in meeting customer satisfaction and requirements (Boateng 2016).
1.2. Understanding the Management Problem at Vodafone on Service Issues with
reference to the Functions of Management
It is more than evident that the problem that is being faced by the management of the
Vodafone Company by failing to meet the service demands and requirements of customers is one
that is taking place because the various functions of management are not well aligned with one
another. To begin with, calls are failing to connect and customers are not being able to access
data in usual coverage network areas of Vodafone because of the fact that the organization is not
being able to direct, control and implement its resources for the same. Inefficient and
incompetent personnel are not able to perform their duties and responsibilities in a timely
manner, and it is clear from all the problems that are taking place at Vodafone that the
incompetence of employees is going by undetected because of lack of supervision. Managers and
leaders are not playing the role that they are supposed to. They are not keeping the work of their
employees in check because of they had been vigilant about this the company would have
succeeded in keeping all the service related issues from taking place (Kresar et al. 2016).

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It has been outlined with clarity in the preceding section that directing and controlling are
functions that form a crucial aspect of the management process as does planning. It is the job of
the people in the top level management and at times even in the junior level of the management
to organize and direct the allocation and implementation of resources and activities in a way that
organizational goals and objectives are met in a timely manner, and the foremost way by which
this is done is by catering to customer requirements suitably and competently at all hours of the
day. Vodafone operates in the domain of telecom and communications which is why it is
imperative for Vodafone executives and customer care executives at that to be available on call
at all times of the day and night in order to be able to look into the customer needs and
requirements suitably (Sagar et al. 2015). Telecom executives can rarely hope to take it easy
because people use their mobile phones and make calls, send messages and use mobile internet
data at all hours of the day and night. The service issues that have emerged with respect to
Vodafone Telecom are those that are related to technical issues for the most part. Network
coverage is missing in areas of Vodafone’s operations and Vodafone customers are unable to use
the network to call and communicate with people as the calls keep getting disconnected. These
severe issues with regard to Vodafone services are taking place because of technical glitches and
technical inadequacies and this could imply that the work of the tech team is one that is not being
properly supervised and monitored. The directing and controlling aspect of the management
process is not being carried out well enough at all. Proper standards are not being established
with regard to the quality of service that Vodafone provides its customers with and even if these
customers are being set by the top level management, the standards are not being monitored and
evaluated and plans of action to ensure good customer service and customer satisfaction are
those that are not being followed through. In spite of customers having complained several times

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on a portal that has been set up by Vodafone for this purpose known as Vodafail, the
management has not taken note of the severity of the issues that are being faced by customers
(Sagar et al. 2015).
Upon further investigation it can be stated that the functions of management that are failing
and which are posing as a hindrance to service rendition are staffing, directing and controlling.
The company is not doing a good job of recruiting and then monitoring competent employees
who are capable of doing a good job for customers. The company it seems is hiring and
managing employees who are not well aware of the high standards of service and quality of
service that the Vodafone Company is known for, and who are therefore not doing a competent
job for the company (Nikou et al. 2016). Directing and controlling are functions of management
that are proving to be particularly responsible for the issues that are being faced by customers
with regard to the services that are made available by Vodafone. Directing is a function of
management, which as discussed earlier, involves regular communication taking place between
managers and subordinates about the goals, vision, objectives and the future direction of an
organization. If the managers of the Vodafone company were communicative enough with the
employees of the organization and especially with their subordinates they would have made it
clear to them, that maintaining high standards with regard to customer service is something that
the company is known for and that all of those who serve the company should take care to ensure
high quality services at all times (Boateng 2016). Had this communication been clear, employees
at Vodafone would have been far more vigilant about the services they made available to
customers on a daily basis. The technical issues that appear to arise when Vodafone customers
make phone calls, when they try to use mobile data and when they try to reach out to customer
care services of the company, would not have existed in the least had the leaders of the company

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been more vociferously communicative of the standards that the organization adheres to and
believes in adhering to at all times of the year (Ang 2016).
Finally, controlling is a function of management where the Vodafone Company appears to be
lagging behind and which is majorly responsible for all the technical issues taking place.
Controlling is a function of management that has been created in order to control mishaps and to
prevent undesirable events or incidents from arising or taking place. Controlling is a function of
management that is designed to make sure that all plans and programs of the company, and that
all of its services are rendered with efficiency, proficiency and effectiveness all around the year
without facing any kind of interruption. Had controlling been a function of management that was
performed with more care, precision and diligence, the technical and service related issues faced
by the Vodafone customers would not have arisen (Mahmoud et al. 2018).
2. Recommendations to Address the Problem
There are a number of recommendations that my client the Vodafone Company can
take into consideration in order to resolve the management problem that it is currently
faced with.
 To begin with, managers who are responsible for staffing duties need to briefed on
recruitment and selection procedures of the highest standards so that they are able to
recruit the right people into the organization, that is, people who are capable of upholding
the high standards of service that a company like Vodafone is world-renowned for
(Mahmoud et al. 2018).
 Managers need to be careful about the people that they select for looking into functions
of management such as staffing and directing, appointing people who have good

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communication skills and therefore the ability to make it known to the service
professionals that diligence needs to be exercised at all levels and hours of service and
that customer satisfaction is an area that cannot be compromised upon (Sagar et al. 2015).
 More care needs to be taken with functions of management such as controlling.
Controlling is a function of management that needs to be conducted with greater
precision and diligence and with the right people in charge so that adequate control
mechanisms are put in place in order to keep technical issues and other customer related
service issues from arising in both the short term as well as over the long term. Back up
plans of action need to be kept ready at hand for implementation should a mishap arise in
the rendition of customer service (Nikou et al. 2016).
 Finally, special personnel need to be deployed, who will keep vigil and take note of
customer complaints that are made on the Vodafail portal as well as on the social media
pages of the Vodafone company so that none of the service related complaints and issues
go unnoticed. What had caused the service related problems faced by Vodafone
customers to get aggravated is the fact that complaints were not taken note of as and
when these were registered (Nikou et al. 2016).
Conclusion
Thus, the management problem that has been faced by the Vodafone Company with
regard to the service related issues and customer satisfaction is a legitimate problem. This
problem has taken form because of the failure in the way the various functions of management
have been carried out. Lack of coherence and organization in the implementation of the different
functions of management have not only led to service related issues from arising, but have also

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aggravated the issues with the latter not being taken note of at the right time and by the right
authorities leading to further customer dissatisfaction. The management of the Vodafone
Company needs to be reorganized and responsible and competent people need to be placed in
charge of managing and supervising and performing Vodafone services so that such service
related issues and problems do not arise again in the future.

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