The Functions of Hewlett Packard Company - Essay Example

Introduction Hewlett Packard Company also known as HP is a technological company that was established in1939; the company has its headquarters in Palo Alto in California. Currently it has operations in over 170 countries world wide. The company mainly deals in making of personal computers, business computer systems, workstations, and printers together with scans. The company is geared towards producing technological products and services that satisfy the desires and dreams of the people. The company use new ideas to come up with simple, precious and trusted technology experiences, which has continued to improve the way customers’ lives and their works. Today HP is among the biggest companies in the world with a total of $97.1 billions in revenues posted in the year 2006 making the company to be the biggest technology dealer as far as sales were concerned Four Functions of Management The functions of management centre on the application of human resource management and technology in HP organizational functions of the management are geared towards enabling the achievement of the company core objectives. The management functions in the company may change in response towards changes in market environment and technology, or due to organizational growth. The human resource aspect is very important for any company. In HP the company management has emphasized the value of better organization of human resource and technology to achieve its goals. The company has achieved this through; four functions of management that are important in creating and maintaining an efficient and effective organizational culture namely; planning, organizing, leading and controlling 1. Planning This is the process of developing the company’s mission and defining specific methods of accomplishing it. It can be on a broader or narrow perspective depending on the scope of the goal (Maundy, 2001). Planning comes in a number of ways since all sectors in HP company or rather any other business require some form of planning in order to stick to what has been planned. First, there is financial planning which entails the budgeting allocations for all the programs being undertaken within the company. Provision of benefits, compensations and salaries are also taken care of at this stage. Human resource planning is crucial to achieving the best from employees. The goal of planning in relation to human resource is to assist HP to meet its strategic objectives, planning also ensure that the employees are effectively managed and well maintained. The company ensures better work force planning by proper selection and recruitment, offering orientation and induction to the new recruits, organizing trainings to develop and equip them with new skills. This together with better employment benefits goes a long way in making the employees achieve their targets. In addition the company is able to equip its employees with the latest technological tools which the employees use to achieve efficiency. This improves the technology of the company as more innovations are created. 2. Organizing Organizing is how the internal structure of the company is set. It generally focuses on the division, coordination of activities and how tasks are controlled within the company. General company procedure demand good organization from the leaders and managers. At HP for the management is responsible for organizing all activities of the employees. This includes meetings that bring together all the employees on board. They also organize daily and monthly meetings within the specific affiliate factories when an issue arises. Proper organization of a meeting or how a project will be conducted results in a successful of the company. Through, these meeting employees are able to exchange views and ideas on how best to improve their work. It is at this meeting that new ideas on technological improvement come up. HP is sorely based on technology, and the managed has insured better organization by providing what is required in terms of tools, materials and skilled manpower. Without proper organization no company can be successful as they will be conflicts in the company. In HP this has been avoided. 3. Leading or directing Leadership is also described as directing people to do specific duties by influencing their personal behavior through incentives and motivation, teamwork, individual dynamics and discipline (Maundy, 2001). The core purpose of leadership is to channel all the employees’ behavior towards attaining the company’s objectives. Leadership is thus essential in creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture within HP. Leading does not necessarily come from that in power but from any individual who provides information and suggestions on the way forward. Decision making within HP rests on the shoulders of the managers and leaders in the company who usually take risks whenever an issue that requires to be addressed arises. In improving its technology aspects hp have managed to created good team leaders. Teams are usually very inventive and team leaders are used to guide and oversee that the employees are able to achieve new products and improve on product technology. 4. Controlling Controlling is a sequential process that considers the establishment of performance standards that are in line with the company’s goals and objectives (Thomson and Rampton 2003). It deals with the measurement, monitoring and reporting the actual performance level of the company employees and finally recommends the necessary actions that should be taken on board to rectify any misconception. For HP to achieve its best, properly instituted control measures are put in place in order for the employees to follow them, this creates effectiveness and efficient because things are done in the right way. Leaders and managers control almost every aspect of the company’s production, marketing and sales sectors. At the back of all this, HP management has ensured that the performance of the employees matches the company objective in being able to invent simple but useful products to the market. Where the employees are under performing or produce low quality products, the company management applies corrective measure. This has made the company to be to continuous produce high technological products. Management Functions In Relation To Technology As discussed above the management has four key functions to perform. In terms of technology, the management has ensured good planning by availing resources in terms of finances and skilled employees who have provided technological advancement. It is important to not that the organization structures of the company are well organized creating an enabling environment for improvement on the company products. Leadership in the company is taken seriously, good leaders inspire their juniors and also ensure smooth running of the company. Through this, the company is able to attain its objective; of inventing simple but useful products. The management at HP has used control to set up simple regulations that employees follow. These simple regulations have created a relaxed atmosphere that enhances innovations. Through, this control the management is also able to maintain set technological standards of the company. Discussion HP Company has management to be where it is now because it has been able to effectively utilize the human resource and technology. For HP resource is an issue that the company gives great concern. Thus, the company has effectively and efficiently managed well the human resource, and technology issues, and this can be ascertained by the factor that today HP is the world leader in technology beating big players like IBM. Looking at the company objectives which states that; the company performance depends on motivated employees, an stimulating and exciting work environment is important for invention and that the company believes that each employee have something different to contribute to the company, it is true that the company has been able to follow its objective and produce highly innovative workforce that has kept coming up with new ideas. Conclusion HP has continuously been able to grow and develop because of proper and good organization management. It is clear that for any company to be successful it has to have structures that are well coordinated. Human resource management in HP is well done and also emphasizes is put on technology, as it leads to more new products being invented. Managers and leaders within HP have an obligation to further propel the company forward thus able to create and maintain a healthy organizational culture within itself if they stick to the above mentioned roles and strategies All the same as co-founder of HP Mr. Dave Packard says, it is important for people to work together to be efficient and achieve targets. References Hewlett-Packard Development Company. Management in HP. (2007): http://welcome.hp.com. Accessed on 9/8/2007 Maundy, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human Resource Management: Theory And Practice: Macmillan, Pal grave Thomson, C. and Rampton, L. (2003): Human Resource Management. Melbourne press, New York Read More