Managing Business Activities to Achieve Results in Warburton - Case Study Example

Managing Business Activities to Achieve Results Introduction This study examines various approaches of managing a business to influence performance and achieve desired results. The study is based in analysis of Warburton case study. Warburton is one of the leading family businesses dealing with bakery products in the UK. It produces about two million high-quality fresh baked products every day. It has over 4,500 employees operating its twelve bakeries and fourteen depots across the country. Warburton has a process-based management hence they ensure their products are of high quality every day as they get to the stores in order to satisfy the expectations of the customers. In order to ensure high quality of their baked products, Warburton sends their mystery shoppers to various stores to assess the freshness of their products. In addition, they reward their bakeries with highest quality through their monthly “Derek Warburton Trophy.” Different processes interact with various parties, people within the organizations and the general public by influencing the quality of the products and the health and safety of the people and the environment. LO1. Understand the importance of business processes in delivering outcomes based upon business goals and objectives LO1.1. Evaluate the interrelationship between the different processes and functions of the organisation Warburton Organizational Structure In Warburton bakery, various functions take place within the same department in order to ensure the organization can achieve its goals and missions. These functions include production, engineering, stores, food and safety, human resource, finance, sales and marketing, hygiene and technical functions (Burgess & Heap, 2015). This organization employs more than 4,500 employees to operate in its 12 bakeries and 14 stores. The human resource functions include ensuring adequate and qualified workers for each of the organizations functions. For example, they hire competent workers to manage the financial operations, production functions, sales, etc. The human resource personnel has a duty to motivate the employees, train and orient them with different functions of the organization, promote hygiene, health and safety at the workplace, etc. (Wierenga, 2008) Managing director Warburtons (2014). The sales and marketing functions involve setting the right price for the organizations products, conducting promotion activities, marketing and selling of the products and product development process. The entire organization depends on sales and marketing activities of the organization (Slack, 2008). The sales and marketing team has all the information about the quality and quantity of products and services needed by the clients. Therefore, they advise producers on what to produce in terms of quality and quantity in order to meet the needs of the market (Krajewski, Ritzman & Malhotra, 2009). Furthermore, they are involved in generating revenue for the entire organization o that the organization can finance all its activities. The business has a wide customer base of about 18,500 customers across the state. The sales and marketing team is responsible for managing these customers in order to achieve the goals of the company. The finance functions in the organizations involve planning for cash inflow and cash outflow to ensure all operations of the organizations run smoothly (Krajewski et al., 2009). The finance officers are responsible for preparing the financial report that determines the performance of the company. They budget for various activities in order to avail the financial resources for all day-to-day activities of the business. For example, they allocate funds for sales and marketing activities, salaries, and commissions of the employees, etc. (Burgess & Heap, 2015). This function directly linked with other functional areas of the organization in order to understand the financial needs of the organization and distribute those funds appropriately (Manuel, 2011). It assesses the profitability of each function of the organization, the most appropriate sources of funds for the organization and all other financial decisions of the organization. For example, in the last decade the organization invested over £400million in building new and upgrading the existing bakeries. They are focusing on modern technologically advanced bakery facilities in Boston and in the entire UK market. Also, the finance department is responsible for the management of £500-million revenue the company generates annually. The engineering functions are involved in raw material requirements and other production processes. It influences the requirements for human resources of the organization, financial requirements and interacts with the sales and marketing to ensure what they produce is what is required in the market. Warburton ensures their raw materials are of high quality in order to meet the needs of the organization (Slack, 2008) Store managers have the role of ensuring proper inventory in order to meet the customer demands in time. They have to share information with sales and marketing department in order to ensure adequate stock for the available market. In order to achieve high-quality products, the inventory managers must communicate with producers about the available storage capacity, and other functional managers to balance the available storage capacity and resources (Slack, 2008). The health and safety officers ensure the organization promotes the safe working environment for its employees. They also ensure food products are safe for human consumption. This department is responsible for safety and hygiene of the organization at all functional levels. The safety of the workers is a motivational factor that can help workers improve their productivity and enable the company to improve performance (Linderman et al., 2003 Therefore, Warburton’s organizational structure creates an opportunity for various leaders to interact in order for each to contribute to the overall execution of the process. This implies that different functional departments engage in part of the greater process. The leaders of respective functional units must have a clear understanding of the overall organizational goals in order to have successful operations within their departments (Slack, 2008). Additionally, the managing director of the entire organization has full details of what is expected of each functional department in order to direct and control the activities of various departments and plan on how they can work towards achieving the organizational goals. This implies that all leaders of the functional departments and the general manager of Warburton Company share information about the organizational operations, goals, objectives, and mission as well as planning on how they can achieve them both individually and collectively (Slack, 2008). Business Process This refers to a technique, a procedure, a method or steps used by an individual or a group to complete a task. A process map refers to a diagram that shows various steps involved from an acquisition of inputs, processing and output. Also, it shows various persons involved in business operations and what each process entail of the entire organization as opposed to an individual functional department (Linderman et al., 2003). A process map is essential in an organization because it involves sharing with those involved about what should be done, who should do it and how it should be done in order to achieve the objectives of the organization. Since all activities require additional time and cost an organization should focus on those activities that add value and are most appropriate to the organization. The input process is involved with raw materials including flour. Warburton contracts wheat farmers in order to ensure continuous supply of high-quality raw materials in the organization. Input process involves a flow of materials from suppliers’ reception by purchasing officer and flow store managers. This involves various activities such as a flow of finances from the finance officers to the suppliers (Schaltegger & Wagner, 2006). Other practices involved in input include the quality control to ensure raw materials meet the required standards, strategic inventory management techniques to ensure optimal inventory without over or under stocking. Furthermore, the planning of raw materials is on the yearly basis because wheat is a seasonal crop and Warburton must stock enough to ensure continuous production throughout the year. Other inputs include the machine used for mixing ingredients to ease the mixing process. The workforce and information from the customer form part of the input process of the organization (Krajewski et al., 2009). The transformation process involves the activities of converting inputs into output. Warburton bakery deals with baked products such as a bread and cakes among others. They use Chorleywood Bread-making process (CBP) that involves mixing of ingredients, proving, fermenting, baking, cooling slicing and packaging. The company uses a mechanical process of mixing the ingredients in order to increase efficiency and speed (Heizer & Render, 2008). All other activities involved in the transformation process are carried out in the usual way of baking products at home. This implies there is no automation of transformation processes in this company. However, various processes depend on each other for effective in order to deliver the expected outcome. In order for Warburton to ensure they supply their market with fresh bakery products every day they ensure they have adequate stock for each day without overstocking. They rely on just-in-time technique to deliver customer order for each day (Krajewski et al., 2009). LO 1.2 Identify and justify the methodology to be used to map processes to the company goals and objectives. Business process modelling refers to the approach used for representing phases, contributors and decision judgment in the business process (Slack, 2008). The three business process models include descriptive, active and diagrammatic models. Descriptive models are written narratives of organizational processes or procedures of operation. Active models are working models such as computer simulation that represent the processes. The diagrammatic model is a diagram such as flowcharts and process maps that demonstrates the processes and the relationships between them (Heizer & Render, 2008). The business process models provide detailed instructions about the performance of business activities in a documented form referred as manual. This forms part of organizational policies by setting framework of rules and guidelines of how various tasks are carried out in an organization. Process mapping is the diagrammatical modelling technique. The diagram signifies the sequence of processes, the participants, and their interrelationships. Process mapping is essential in an organization because it identifies various steps involved to achieve particular tasks. Process mapping plays the crucial role in the organization because it enhances understanding of the present processes, classifies responsibilities of each process, and identifies inadequacies, design new process and training requirements for the processes (Krajewski et al., 2009). It is the means through which an organization can determine the available resources to achieve its goals. Also, it helps in assessing the extent and efficiency with which the organization is achieving its goals. A swim lane process map indicates the functional connections against time. It can be used for measuring loading on various functional areas and demonstrating cross-functional communication processes (Urquhart, 2011) It is used to represent the area of participation of each party such as an individual, a group or an organization involved in the functions of the processes being mapped. How to complete sales order Employee Supervisor Yes Administration LO1.3. Evaluate the Output of the Functions and Quality Gateways. The measure of business performance is essential because it helps the business evaluate the extent in which it is achieving its goals and objectives. Also, it determines the efficiency with which it is using its resources to achieve its goals. The measure focuses on financial, innovation, quality, customer and market, flexibility and time aspects of the organization (Warburtons 2014). Key performance indicators (KPI) refer to crucial measures that reports information on specific issues that the management has the keen interest and they knows what to do about them. The Warburton should focus on specific KPI such as quality, quantity, time, production cost, etc. Efficiency evaluates what the system focuses to achieve and what they actually as an output measure. For example, Warburton objective is to produce 2 million pieces of freshly baked products for its customers every day. Therefore, the KPI measure, in this case, is to evaluate the efficiency with which the organization is producing the two million pieces, in time and as they are required by the customers in order to achieve customer satisfaction (Urquhart, 2011). Additionally, the measure aims at establishing the cost per transaction as well as the process cost in order to reduce the cost of production and increase business profitability. Warburton is also interested in measuring the effectiveness of the organization to determine how well the every step of the processes meets or exceeds customer expectations. The specific areas include evaluating defects in the products, listening to customer complaints, billing accuracy and ease of completing the transaction (Urquhart, 2011). For example, Warburton sends their mystery shoppers to various shops to assess the quality of their products displayed in the shelves. Speed is of great essence to Warburton. For example, Warburton must ensure their products get to the customers while they are fresh hence they should be delivered on time to satisfy customer expectations. Also, they have to ensure suppliers deliver the raw materials in time to avoid interrupting the production process. Accuracy is of great significance to Warburton. Accuracy is about ensuring correctness, completeness, fairness, accuracy and consistency of processes. Accuracy is determined by the number of complaints received from the customers. (Heizer & Render, 2008). Volume indicators are a measure of the number of units produced. The current goal of the Warburton bakery is to produce 2 million fresh baked products every day. The measure involves assessing whether the company is meeting this target every day (Heizer & Render, 2008). They can also accomplish this goal by evaluating the number of lost transactions because of out of a stock scenario. Controlling the quality The quality of output is of major concern to Warburton bakery since they focus on delivering 2 million fresh baked products to their customers across the country. In order to achieve this goal they ensure reliable source of raw material from the contracted wheat farmers who they have engaged in the agreement over the last fifteen years. In addition, the company has many competent employees who ensure every process involved in the production is successful. This has enabled them to rely on CBP method of baking that makes it possible to produce high quality products (PANNEERSELVAM, 2012). Furthermore, the company uses mystery shoppers to examine the quality of their products as displayed in the selves and listen to customer complaints and share it with the administration in order to correct any issue before it can cause a lot of damage to the company. LO2. Be able to develop plans for own area of responsibility to implement operational plans 2.1. Design plans which promote goals and objectives for own area of responsibility Warburton has short-term, medium-term and long-term objectives which they intend to achieve. For example, the main goal is to ensure fresh baked products are available to the consumers all the time. While this goal must be implemented in the short run the company has to continue improving the quality of products even in the future (Shim & Siegel, 2009,). Furthermore, the company intends to expand the market by supplying almost of the UK market with baked products. This requires the company to plan on the production to ensure they have the capacity to serve the intended market. This may require the company to use modern methods of products that includes efficient machines. Also, they should plan on the communication for quick and efficient feedback from the customers. This may include the use of social media and online communication methods to for quick and faster sharing of information with the customers (Shim & Siegel, 2009). The other area of planning is on financing. The medium goals include expanding the market for its products. They should ensure they have adequate resources to meet the increasing demands of the consumers. In addition, they should establish health and safety working place as a motivating factor to enhance employees’ performance. Warburton can have a work cell layout to enhance quick production process (Manuel, 2011). As the organization plans to expand the market they have a long term plan to increasing the company’s assets such as expanding the store, contracting more farmers to increase supply of materials, increasing workers and research and technology, employee training, etc. 2.2 Write objectives, which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based to align people and other resources In an effective and efficient way The objectives of the organization should be SMART (Simple, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Time based). Warburton’s objectives include customer satisfaction through daily production of freshly baked products. The company should also focus on increasing profitability to a specific amount which can motivate them to work towards achieving that goal. In addition, the organization should target a given productivity level per employee (Stones, 2014). Furthermore, they should set the standards of hygiene health and safety to achieve for the organization. The organization must have risk management strategies to ensure they can achieve in order to improve the chance for achieving its objectives (Warburtons, 2014). These goals should be documented and the managers mobilize resources to achieve these objectives. The workers should be aware of individual responsibilities and objectives as well as the organizational objectives in order to pursue individual goal as a subset of the overall goal. Lo2.3. implement appropriate systems to achieve objectives in the most efficient way, on time and to budget and meeting organisational standards of quality, time, to budget and meeting organizational standards of quality System implementation involves various processes of getting resources or inputs into proper operation and in their appropriate environment in order to attained the expected outcome more efficiently, timely and within targeted budget (Netessine & Tang, 2009). The implementation techniques include, direct changeover where the organization abandons the old system for a new system. Also, parallel implementation where the organization, operates the old and the new system simultaneously. Another one is phased implementation in which the organization gradually replaces the old system with new system until the new system is fully adopted. Finally, there is pilot running involves implementation of the new system to a certain part of the organization for trial and once the observation indicates it is operating as expected the organization implements it fully to the rest of the organization (Netessine & Tang, 2009). Implementing the new system in the organization is crucial because it improves the efficiency of operating business in order to meet its goals. The implementation involves carryout various activities that brings together appropriate resources and ensure efficient utilization of those resources to achieve the organizational goals (Mahapatra, 2010). During this process the organization can identify the limitations that could hinder it from achieving its goals; therefore, it is possible to come up with an alternative or an approach to overcome the barrier hence improving its performance. Policies, procedures and rules are established guidelines on how operations will be carried out and who should be involved. They are important because they enable the organization to be orderly and work more efficiently (Mahapatra, 2010). Budgets are estimates of expenditure and income of an organization for a particular period. Warburton requires budget in order to determine how sources of funds, their distribution, measure performance, etc. (Netessine & Tang, 2009). Specifications are specific requirements of the organization established through standardization process or set rules and guidelines for repeated use in order to achieve uniform results. They are important because they ensure the organization achieve desired results consistently (Urquhart, 2011). LO2.4. Carry out work activities meeting the operational plan through effective monitoring and control. Implementing control is essential because they enable the organization to prevent errors from occurring and taking appropriate measures to achieve desired outcome. For example, feedforward controls endeavours to detect and prevent deviance in the standard before it occurs (PANNEERSELVAM, 2012). Employees Employee Placement When hiring employees Warburton conducts employees screening to ensure they can achieve desired performance. Concurrent control Employees Output Concurrent control Under concurrent control, Warburton continues to monitor employees’ performance on day-to-day basis to ensure they conform with organizational standards (Krajewski et al., 2009). Feedback controls This involves reviewing performance to establish whether they meet set standards. Warburton intends to increase its output to supply half of the UK market with bakery products. They can implement this control by monitoring the rate at which they are increasing the market coverage over time to determine whether they can achieve their target within stipulated time (Krajewski et al., 2009). Control process a. Setting standards to measure the performance; Warburton establishes the performance goals such as the number items to produce every day. b. Measure actual performance; the company counts the actual number of items produced. c. Comparing performance with standards; the organization will match the actual number with set standards. d. Take corrective actions; the managers determines the necessary action to correct any deviation from set standards. Lo3.3. Design systems to manage and monitor quality standards specified by the organisation Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management system that involves all employees in a continual improvement in a customer focused organization. It uses data, strategy and effective communication to incorporate the philosophy of quality in the cultural value of the organization (Urquhart, 2011). LO3.2. Demonstrate a quality culture to ensure continuous monitoring, evaluation and development of the process Organization culture involves quality practices related with six sigma i.e. “a planned and logical methods for strategic practice improvement and new product and service development that relies on statistical and scientific method to make significant deductions in customer defined defect rates” (Linderman et al., 2003. P. 194). Warburton can achieve TQM by training workers, motivating them, evaluating employees’ performance and upgrading machines in order to achieve desired quality of products (Chap. 5). Malcom Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA Award). This is an international award given to public and private organization in recognition of their excellent performance in certain sectors such as small business, manufacturing, service, education, healthcare and non-profit sector. Warburton can improve its performance by making their workers aware of the award and motivating to improve their performance in order to obtain the award (Chap. 5). Demming Prize This is an international award that recognizes individual and organizations contribution to Total Quality Management. Warburton can encourage their workers to implement TQM in pursuance of the award (Enemark , 2000). LO3.3. recommend improvements which align with the organization’s objectives and goals and which result in improvements, Business process reengineering entails drastic restructuring of core business processes to achieve radical improvements in quality, productivity and cycle time. The company achieves this process by reviewing the existing processes for value addition (Aguilar-Saven, 2004). Warburton Recommendations Warburton can increase profitability by increasing reducing cost of production and increasing efficiency through use of modern technology and competent personnel (Aguilar-Saven, 2004). Warburton can increase quality by reviewing its products and production process in response to customer feedback. To improve the quantity of production Warburton should change from manual to automated production process (Urquhart, 2011). Warburton can also increase the speed of production by using modern technology in production and restructuring the layout of the store to ensure smooth movement of materials and workers (Urquhart, 2011). LO3.4. Report on the wider implications of proposed changes within the organisation Organizational change refers to significant change of organization from one state to another. For example, in 2011 the company introduced a new easy to recognize brand. Also they upgraded some of their bakeries with state-of-the-art technology (Schaltegger & Wagner, 2006). The advantage of the changes in Warburton includes increase productivity and cost of operation. The negative consequences include more pressure on workers resulting to resistance to changes by the workers and additional cost of implementing changes (Schaltegger & Wagner, 2006). LO4. Be able to manage health and safety in the workplace LO4.1. Carry out risk assessments as required by legislation, regulation and organisational requirements ensuring appropriate action is taken Risk assessment is the systematic technique of looking at organization’s activities and considering what could go wrong and the most appropriate measures to minimize the possible damage at the workplace (Stranks, 2010). It is important because enables the mangers to implement controls to avoid or minimize consequences of risk. For example, the risk in Warburton could be injuries to workers involved in lifting heavy load of flour. The possible course of action could be use of lifters and cranes instead of using human beings to lift the loads (Stranks, J 2010) 4.2. Demonstrate that health and safety regulations and legislation applicable in specific work situations are correctly and effectively applied a. Where a new member has joined the company the organization should provide them with relevant training such as how to use protective gears, the procedure for reporting injuries, process for reporting health and safety related issues, action to take in case of an accident such as fire outbreak, etc. (Stones, 2014). b. When a new conveyor system has been installed in the company the management should train the workers on how to use it, establish maintenance criteria, set rule on who is responsible for handling the system, etc. (Urquhart, 2011). c. Warburton can control the flour dust by training workers on how to use the masks and other protective gears and using vacuum cleaners to suck the dust (Stones, 2014). LO4.3. Carry out a systematic review of organisational health and safety policies and procedures in order to ensure they are effective and compliant Currently the health and safety policies and procedures are not well articulated. In 2013 a man suffered injuries because of unsafe conveyor belt in which the company had used crumb tray to safeguard the machine (Stones, 2014). In addition, this implies the company does not have proper maintenance policies ensure safety of the workers against the use of dangerous machines. Also, the company lack adequate training facilities on safety as is witnessed in the workplace where workers wears protective masks upside down (Warburton, Nicol &  Bredin, 2006). The use of human beings to lift heavy weight is an indication that the company has not established safety measures to protect its workers in their workplace. LO4.4. Carry out practical application of health and safety policies and procedures in the workplace. Warburton bakery does not have adequate such as those required to assist workers lift heavy loads hence the workers are likely suffer various injuries. They lack training programs to educate workers on how to avoid risks at the workplace. Lack of proper maintenance policies poses great danger to the workers (Smith, 2011). Therefore, the company should improve health and safety measures to protect the workers and minimize losses associate with workplace injuries. Conclusion Warburton bakery has strategic plans that have made them the leading suppliers of bakery products in UK. It is focused on delivering fresh baked products every day. Its success can be attributed to highly qualified workforce and dedicated management. The company intends to expand its operations to cover half of the UK market and also increase efficiency hence increase in profitability. However, in order to improve its performance they should adopt current technology and protect their workers against injuries at their workplace. In addition, they should develop an organizational culture that supports quality through various processes. The managers should involve all employees in the organizational activities and communicate the organizational objectives to the workers. Furthermore, they should the workers responsibilities with individual goals so that the achievement of individual goal can lead to achievement of the organizational goals. Also, the management should establish criteria for measuring organizational performance. List of References Aguilar-Saven R. S 2004, Business process modeling: Review and framework Int. J. Production Economics 90. Pp. 129–149 http://140.118.1.131/teaching/BPE%202005%20graduate/2005%20paper%5CBusiness%20process%20modelling%20Reviewand%20framework%20EBSCO.pdf Burgess T. F. & Heap, J 2015, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 64(4). Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/toc/ijppm/64/4 Chap. 5. Total Quality Management. Retrieved from http://www.wiley.com/college/sc/reid/chap5.pdf Enemark , S 2000, Creating a Quality Culture. 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