Systems and Operations Management - Assignment Example

After deciding to go into retirement, Lachlan Atokowa handed over the reins of the business to his eldest son Jonathan Atokowa, who, like his father, was very passionate about the business. Both of them shared the passion to try out the latest technology: Lachlan Atokowa decided to test Xerox 914, Jonathan Atokowa decided to added Commodore 64 and the IBM PC 5100 into the business’s product portfolio. Today, a business that started in a garage has escalated into complex network business processes.

Too many parties are now associated with the business, bring along different set of variables into the business environment. Organizational Structure: The company has four different departments which are governing the operations of the business. These four departments are: Retail Operations, Purchasing and Supply chain, Marketing and Human Resource Management and last but not the least the Finance Departments. Each of these departments is headed by a company director who reports directly to the chief executive officer.

Under each director are his personnel which are responsible for the functioning of the department. The following table describes the titles which come under each function: Retail Operations Purchasing and Supply chain Marketing and Human Resource Management Finance Director Director Director Director Area Manager Category Manager HRM Manager Company Accountant - Import Manager Training Manager Management Accountant - Warehouse Manager Marketing campaign coordinator Financial Planning Manager - General Manager In-store promotion coordinator.

Purchasing and Payment Manager All the company directors are very enthusiastic about the growth of the company. They work along with their individual teams very diligently to resolve problems that are arising in their departments. However, the organisation’s directors have been unable to develop a boding force between the departments. The biggest evidence of this fact is that each department is having its own management systems, which are not linked with other systems. It this age of globalisation, the importance which is placed on information sharing by experts is immense.

According to the experts, this single aspect of doing business is so important that it can decide the fate of today’s firms. In a fast paced globalised world, information sharing with key stake holders is vital for organisational success and survival (Krajewski, Ritzman, & Malhorta, 2007). And in this case the organisational departments are failing to share vital operational information with one another. This, obviously, is leading to duplication of effort, greater cost, declining productivity, redundancy and frustration in the organisation (Schemenner, 1984).

Employees have to do cumbersome paperwork every day, accurate forecasting has become impossible, inventory holding cost is being incurred, wrong inventory is being maintained and above all, customers are feeling dejected. Rather than adopting an organisational model which allows the company to become nimble and flexible, so that it can compete effectively in the market place, the company has taken a structure which has made it inflexible and less than competitive (Loader, 2006). Absence of an integrated organisation wide enterprise management system is creating havoc for the company.

The company is not doing accurate forecasting of demand, it has failed to satisfy customers’ needs and most importantly, it is not operating efficiently and effectively.