Leadership - The Need for Implementing Management Information System - Essay Example

Organizational leadership Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Organizational leadership has been among the concepts which are considered by management to improve the performance of an organisation. The success of an organisation depends on the ability to effectively implement the organizational leadership which can enable the shareholders to put their effort towards the achievement of the goals and objectives (Doh 2003). On the other hand, change management also is an important which enables the organisation to be able to adapt to the changes in both the external and internal business environment. The need for any change in an organisation is for the better management of the organisation towards achieving the goals and objectives of the company. This discussion will be based on Bulla Dairy Foods which is among the leading company in manufacturing foods for domestic use and for export like the ice cream, yoghurt and sour cream. The company decided to employ management information system so that it can improve the way it serves customers to improve their experience with the company (Bulla Dairy Foods 2014). Moreover, through management information system, there will be effective communication between the customers and the organisation as well as the utilization of resources. This change was not well received by the employees but due to appropriate organizational leadership the company managed to implement the changes effectively. The need for implementing management information system There are various needs why the change was needed to be implemented by the company. Considering the changes in the business environment, there is need for the company to uphold the factors which can improve its performance in the competitive market. In the first place, there are the changes in customer needs. The customers want high quality products which are manufactured using the appropriate technology so that they can be satisfied with the quality of the products (Doh 2003). In this effect, the management of the company considered introducing the management information system so that it can improve the quality of the products to meet the needs of the global market. On the other hand, the management information system change was implemented with the aim of meeting the technology advancements. Technology is changing at a higher rate which implies that the management of the company should apply appropriate technology to serve the customers better. For instance, through the company website the customers can provide their feedback concerning their satisfaction and also they can make orders online so that that they can save time spent in shopping (Doh 2003). Therefore, the changes in technology in the market led to developing and implementing the management information system to serve the customers better with the aim of achieving the competitive advantage. Moreover, increased competition in the retail industry compelled the Bulla Dairy Foods to apply the management information system so as to create a competitive advantage. Due to global financial stability, there are many companies which are entering into the market with the aim of exploiting the available opportunities in the market (Doh 2003). Since the competitors are also applying the management information system technology to serve the customers, the Bulla Dairy Foods should also remain competitive by applying the technology. This led to the development and implementation of MIS so that the company can be able to maintain its global market share. Furthermore, the product life cycle also led to the introduction and implementation of the management information system. Since the company engages in the production of both domestic and export products, there was need to apply the management information system so that the global customers can be served better. It is possible to centralize some of the management functions when there is the effective application of the MIS strategy. This is because decisions can be made at a central place and then shared among all the branches of the company (Daloz 2005). Further, the growth opportunities of the company are based on the ability to apply information system so that the employees can acquire new global ideas and also getting the feedback from the customers regarding their experience with the customers. This will help to improve the performance of the company globally. In addition, the need for the company to lower its operational cost is another need for implementing the management information system. The cost of managing Bulla Dairy Foods using the MIS will be less as compared to the cost of applying the labor intensive strategy. This is because the MIS requires few employees since most of the work is automated (Daloz 2005). This will lower the cost of production thus lowering the cost of the products which enables the company to meet the needs of the customers leading to competitive advantage as well as achieving the goals and objectives of the company. In this regard therefore, the management of Bulla Dairy Foods decided to improve its global performance by applying the MIS to meet the changing needs in the business environment. Although the change was not at first receive with positive attitude, through organizational leadership it was implemented successfully since all the stakeholders supported the move of implementing the MIS which improved communication and management of the company (Daloz 2005). Critical success factors for implementing MIS The successful implementation of the MIS depended on some factors which enabled the management to achieve the desired goals and objectives. In the first place, there were the mission and vision statements which indicated the need for implementing the change. The management came up with effective mission and vision statements as well as the objectives which provided guidance throughout the implementation process (Eadie 2000). The management of the company was able to set SMART objectives which helped to explain the importance of implementing MIS. This helped to manage the resistance to change all the stakeholders were involved in implementing it making it a success. The organizational structures on the other hand helped to ensure the change was implemented successfully. Being the change leader, I could have developed effective structures which could help to improve the delegation of authority and effective sharing of responsibilities. This is one way in which the conflicts could be managed and every employee could be held responsible for accomplishing the tasks. The duties will be delegated successfully and the employees will be allocated tasks where they best fit thus the employees could enjoy working (Eadie 2000). In addition, effective communication is another important strategy which could have been applied to improve the implementation of the change. There should be teams which are allocated appropriate tasks to accomplish as a way of improving the ideas of the employees. Communication through teams is effective as compared to communication which is done to individuals (Eadie 2000). The communication strategy helps to explain the need for implementing the change and also providing feedback which is essential for evaluating the success of the implementation process. Good communication helps to manage conflicts which could arise as a result of ineffective information sharing which could otherwise lead to lack of achieving the set goals and objectives. Appropriate leadership is another important strategy which could be applied to ensure the change is implemented successfully. Through effective leadership, the management team is able to motivate the employees by developing effective training programs which could improve their skills to implement the management information system within the organisation. Since this is a highly digitalized strategy, the employees should undergo training so that they can understand the best ways they can implement the change (Gardner 2004). If the employees do not understand the ways they can implement and use MIS, they will not be motivated to offer their best skills and this could lead to reluctance in implementing the change. Therefore the employees should be motivated so that they can feel part of the organisation and the change hence can be committed to improving the implementation of the strategy. The employees can be motivated through rewards like monetary rewards and non-financial rewards such as appreciation and recognition. The availability of resources also helps to determine the success of the implementation of the management information system. The resources include trained personnel and the mentors to inspire the employees towards embracing the management information system. The management should ensure availability of adequate funds to buy the equipment like the computers which are internet enabled to ensure effective communication and accomplishment of tasks with less constraint (Gardner 2004). Therefore the availability of resources contributed to the success of the implementation process. Inadequate resources could lead to conflicts which could influence the implementation of the change, hence its goals and objectives could not be achieved. Furthermore, the management of the company should involve the stakeholders like the employees in decision making. This is the most important factor which determines the perception of the employees towards the change management process. When the stakeholders are involved in designing the change to be implemented, they will feel part of the management and the decisions made and this encourages them to take part in implementing the change (Caroselli 2000). Therefore the change could not be a surprise to the employees since they were involved from the initial process up to the implementation hence they will be committed in implementing the change hence inclusivity is an important factor which should be considered in implementing the change. Careful planning helps to ensure that the change management process is effective and that all measures have been put in place so that the objectives could be achieved. Planning involves budgeting and developing the training programs to ensure the employees acquire the relevant skills to implement the management information system change (Caroselli 2000). Careful planning helps to mobilize the resources involved in implementing the change effectively leading to its success. Finally, the management of Bulla Dairy Foods should be able to develop effective auditing system to ensure accountability among the employees. Through the effective auditing system, the management of the company will be able to encourage effective utilization of resources since all the employees will be held accountable for the actions taken (Caroselli 2000). Accountability ensures that everything will be put in place at the right time and that the employees will take the actions with the best interest of the organisation and not their individual gains thus leading to successful implementation of the management information system. Barriers to change implementation process The following are barriers of effective change in an organization. To begin with, change can become ineffective when employees resist to new changes. This happens when employees fear that new changes may lead to dismissal if one cannot adopt them. Also, new changes make employees feel that they cannot perform better as before because the way they used to work has now changed which requires more time for them to learn and adapt to new changes (Cihak & Joan 2002). Therefore, for employees to accept the new changes made, the management of Bulla Dairy Foods should offer thorough training on those areas so that they can gain more skills and knowledge. Another barrier of change is a lack of effective planning. Planning is an effective tool in an organization. When planning is not done in an effective way it can lead to the following barriers. First, it will affect the way activities will take place, the people who will be responsible to carry those activities and the people who will supervise them. Secondly when planning is not done at appropriate time, the Bulla Dairy Food Company will fail to implement whatever was passed across, it will delay in making its decisions and also Bulla Dairy Food t will fail to plan for future unforeseen events (Cihak & Joan 2002). Therefore, it is the duty of management to plan properly in order to achieve its goals. On the other hand ineffective communication is another barrier to change. When an organization what to implement any change, first it should inform its employees early the need to have new changes. This can prepare employees both physically and mentally for accepting new changes (Cihak & Joan 2002). Also, when communication from the top management to employees is ineffective, this will lead to negative feedback hence this will destroy the relationships which exists between them and also this can affect Bulla Dairy Foods in achieving its set goals. Also, we have inadequate resources as a barrier to implement change. This can affect Bulla Dairy Food company in that materials and equipment needed for implementing new changes are not enough or they are highly costly which Bulla Dairy Food company cannot afford. Also, inadequate resources can affect Bulla Dairy Food company in achieving its long-term goals, it will affect employees in improving their performance because there will be no enough resources for employees to carry out their training which requires more equipment and materials to be effective (Pearce 2003). Therefore, for Bulla Dairy Food company to overcome this barrier it should budget its money properly so that when a need arises to implement any change, there will be enough money to buy those resources. Lack of consensus is another barrier to implementing the change. This is because failing to meet the needs of the stakeholders will influence the implementation process. Because the change management process involves all the stakeholders, it is important to involve them in decision making. There should be a consensus to ensure that all the employees are on board and nobody should be left behind as this will improve the commitment of the employees towards achieving the goals and objectives (Hesselbein & Johnston 2002). Therefore an agreement should be reached concerning the change to implement and how to implement it. Through consensus, the employees will not work under pressure since they will work freely so that they can accomplish the tasks allocated but failing to reach a consensus it will be on the contrary and the employees will not be committed towards implementing the strategic change. Ineffective leadership is also another barrier which affects the implementation of the change. Dictatorship style of leadership influences the implementation process since it fails to motivate the employees towards implementing the change. This is because dictatorship management style does not involve the employees in decision making and this leads to exclusivity (Pearce 2003). The end result is that the employees will not be motivated to offer their best skills to implement the strategy successfully. The leadership style is influenced by the organizational culture. Interactive organizational culture helps to improve the participation of the employees in management but if the organizational culture is non-interactive then the employees will not be motivated and this influences the implementation of the change. The management information system will help to improve communication between the company and the customers. This is important as it enables the company to understand the satisfaction of the customers in the global market (Bennis & Joan 2003). The customer feedback helps to improve and develop appropriate measures to improve their satisfaction like improving the quality of the products offered. This will enable the company to achieve the competitive advantage in the global market. Moreover, management information system will help to improve the quality of products manufactured. Through the use of appropriate technology in the manufacturing process, the ice creams will be of high quality which helps to satisfy the needs of the customers (Hesselbein & Johnston 2002). Moreover, Bulla Dairy Foods will be able to manage the cost of production since the management information system requires few employees since most of the tasks are digitalized. Above all, the management information system helps to offer quality services to the customers. This is in the context that the MIS change will enable the customers from the global market to be served better. This is because the customers will make online orders and this helps to save their shopping time leading to improved satisfaction (Hesselbein & Johnston 2002). This will improve the performance of Bulla Dairy Foods by attracting and retaining customers since the company is able to meet their needs effectively. Conclusion Change management is an important aspect in the success of an organisation. There are changes in the business environment which require some changes in the business so that it can adapt the changes and remain competitive by maintaining the customers. There are various needs for implementing the change in the organisation. The first one is changes in technology, changing customer needs and growth opportunity for the company. The critical success factors which improve the implementation of the change include good communication strategy, effective leadership, risk management, inclusivity principle and availability of adequate resources. However, there are barriers which influence the implementation of the change like resistance to change, ineffective planning, inadequate resources and lack of consensus. The change will improve the competitive advantage of the company by offering quality products and services which meet the customers’ needs. References Bennis, W & Joan G. (2003). Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a Leader. 3d ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus. Bulla Dairy Foods (2014). About Us, retrieved on 20th Sep 2014 from http://www.bulla.com.au/ Caroselli, M. (2000). Leadership Skills for Managers. New York: McGraw-Hill. Cihak, H & Joan S. H. (2002). Leadership Roles for Librarians. Buffalo, N.Y.: William S. Hein & Co. Daloz P. S. (2005). Leadership can be taught: A bold approach for a complex world. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press. Doh, J. P. (2003). "Can leadership be taught? Perspectives from management educators". Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 54–67. Eadie, D. C. (2000). Extraordinary Board Leadership: The Seven Keys to High Impact Governance. Boston: Jones & Bartlett. Gardner, H. (2004). Changing Minds: the Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing. Hesselbein, F & Johnston, R. (2002). On Leading Change: A Leader to Leader Guide. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pearce, T. (2003). Leading Out Loud: Inspiring Change Through Authentic Communication. Rev. ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More