Managing Activities to Achieve Results - Essay Example

?Managing Activities to Achieve Results Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 TASK 3 The Roles and the Significances of Use of Standards in an Organisation 4 Performance Improvement 4 Cost Minimisation 5 Workplace and Environmental Safety 5 TASK 2 6 Analysing Health and Safety Situation and Issues in Sutton Chemicals Ltd 6 Measures to be Executed in order to Comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 8 Recommended Health Policy for Sutton Chemicals 10 TASK 3 11 Identifying Issues Raised from Change Management and Formulating Adequate Measures to Address Them 11 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction The integration of standards within the business processes has long been witnessed to provide adequate advantages to the organisations in terms achieving their predetermined business objectives. Following of designated standards within the business activities tends to offer economic benefits along with improving the practice of different operational functions that are performed by any particular organisation. The integration of standards of practice within the business processes can further enable the organisations to carefully abide by its principles and to ensure the protection of employees from different emerging and uncalled for circumstances (Verlag, n.d.). Emphasizing the different aspects of standardisation processes and their significances within the business practices, the primary purpose of this report is to critically analyse and address the key issues identified in the case study of Sutton Chemicals Ltd. In this regard, the discussion of this report would principally focus on the significances and the roles of standardisation in Sutton Chemicals. Moreover, the report would also examine the health and safety issues at Sutton Chemicals and provide adequate measures to ensure that the company complies with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and its various subsequent regulations. Finally, the discussion would also provide the organisation a comprehensive understanding regarding the wider issues concerning change management that it needs to consider along with offering invaluable guidance regarding the approaches the organisation can take to deal with them. . TASK 1 The Roles and the Significances of Use of Standards in an Organisation With reference to the provided case study, Sutton Chemicals Ltd. has been recognised as a growing organisation which produces specialist chemicals. The organisation is located in Sutton Coldfield within the northern outskirts of Birmingham. However, it has also been recognised from the case scenario that the organisation has faced significant challenges in its operational processes due to the lack of managerial roles of the hierarchies and inadequate standards within the chemical plant. In relation to the principles underneath ISO14001, it has been recognised that the set of principles significantly facilitate the concerned authorities to avail substantial benefits to obtain competitive position in the marketplace (Verlag, n.d.). In this regard, the major beneficial aspects that can be derived from the integration of ISO14001 by Sutton Chemicals have been provided in the following discussion: Performance Improvement The inclusion of ISO14001 can significantly improve the performance of each group of members within Sutton Chemicals. The designated principles stated under the ISO14001 can empower investment portfolio of the organisation in terms of developing its Research and Development (R&D) segment. In this context, the standardisation process of developing R&D can further facilitate the employees to increase their productivity within a stipulated time. Moreover, the process can further motivate the workers due to the incorporation of a range of incentive initiatives within the standardisation guidelines including appropriate wage structure, adequate safety measures for the employees along with other beneficial factors that tend to encourage them to improve their performance in different chemical production operations of Sutton Chemicals (ISO Central Secretariat, 2000). Cost Minimisation The minimisation of organisational cost associated with different operational processes can be regarded as one of the major benefits of ISO14001. The integration of such standardised approach can facilitate Sutton Chemicals to reduce different operational costs especially in the aspects of procurement of raw materials and production related activities. Moreover, the process can also enable the organisation to lower its overall transaction and adjustment costs in terms of various business and operational processes of the plant. In this regard, the adequate practice of ISO14001 can enable Sutton Chemicals to increase the pace of organisational development within the United Kingdom chemical production industry (Verlag, n.d.). Workplace and Environmental Safety The provision of incorporating ISO14001 within different operational processes in Sutton Chemicals can ensure to reduce potential hazards that are faced by the workers during the production related operations. The principles underneath ISO14001 incorporate adequate measures on improving workplace safety which in turn aids to protect employees associated with tasks involving hazardous chemicals. Additionally, the ISO14001 standards lay down certain obligations for Environmental Management System (EMS) which can facilitate to build a strong identity for Sutton Chemicals through reducing the potential impacts on the environment from its organisational activities (ISO Central Secretariat, 2000). TASK 2 Analysing Health and Safety Situation and Issues in Sutton Chemicals Ltd With reference to the case scenario, it has been widely observed that the business operations of Sutton Chemicals execute a range of hazardous activities with a minimum set of safety measures. The workers in the chemical production units of the organisation tend to face different challenges associated with diverse hazardous incidents which significantly provide various adverse effects. Moreover, a lack of focus on taking adequate measures concerning the safety of employees has been observed in the production plant of Sutton Chemicals. In this regard, a number of accidents have also been witnessed due to the poor safety measures of the organisation for its employees who are associated with chemical production related activities. Moreover, the safety apparatuses that are provided to the employees have also been recognised to be in a poor condition which can result in the occurrence of certain severe or moderate accidents to the workers. The reluctance of using safety materials or equipment in the chemical production process has caused different accident related issues which further can have an impact on the workers in terms of serious burns and respiratory problems. Additionally, the administrative services of Sutton Chemicals have also been found to be quite negligent in terms of keeping records of the different accidental events that have occurred in the production levels. In this context, the administration department of the company had to also deal with various accidental events. The administrative members of Sutton Chemicals are often observed to face accidents due to poor ventilation, improper chairs along with inappropriately adjusted computer monitors within the department. Therefore, it can be evidently observed from the case study that the business operations of Sutton Chemicals have frequently been through difficult situations due to the poor infrastructure facilities both in the production and administration departments. In order to ensure that the business operations of Sutton Chemicals comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, it is of utmost importance for the company to integrate effective standardisation process. In this context, the business functions of the company should incorporate effective standardised principles to improve the organisational performance. Moreover, the integration of well-built standardisation process within the different production and administrative functions of Sutton Chemicals can further facilitate to build an effective mechanism to comply with the regulations of Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (ISO Central Secretariat, 2000). The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 has stimulated a range of requirements in order to improve the working environment of the organisations. In this regard, the provision incorporates an assortment of health and safety policies which ensure to provide adequate support to the employees especially while dealing with hazardous chemicals. In this context, the subjects within the Act have highlighted that the organisations must need to strategically prioritise the health and safety related measures. Moreover, the health and safety policies within the Act also incorporate adequate principles concerning the working environment or arrangement of different machineries and hazardous chemicals that are utilised by the employees within the plant. Measures to be Executed in order to Comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 The business strategy of Sutton Chemicals in this regard should highly focus on incorporating certain major attributes to efficiently comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. A few of the imperative strategic factors have been depicted in the following discussion. Identifying Hazardous Events – In this context, the company should highly emphasize to examine the workplace including people and hazardous chemicals that are generally used in terms of producing chemical based products. Moreover, the process of identification should also encompass a review of the accident records as well as production related ill health records (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.) Determining Group of Individuals Who Can Face Accidental Events – The top hierarchical members of Sutton Chemicals should focus on identifying the employees who might become affected due to the use of hazardous chemicals in the production unit. Moreover, the management should prioritise to incorporate highly experienced employees for the workplace related tasks that are filled with greater extent of peril (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.) Evaluating Risks and Formulating Adequate Measures – In order to protect employees from different accidental events, Sutton Chemicals should incorporate an effective measure towards evaluating different preventive actions through providing safety equipment, dresses, safety boots, gloves and goggles among others. Moreover, setting safety or pre-alarming system can further enable Sutton Chemicals to protect its employees from different vulnerable circumstances (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.) Record Keeping of the Findings – The record keeping process of Sutton Chemicals should be upheld and the obtained vital records should be communicated to each employee in accordance with their involvement within the chemical producing activities. Moreover, sharing risk assessment data with engineers and other experts can further help the organisation to mitigate potential risks within the work practices (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.) Recommended Health Policy for Sutton Chemicals In order to reduce various accident related issues within the production units of Sutton Chemicals, the organisation should incorporate adequate measures and practices within its health and safety related regulations. In this context, the following are a few of the major policies which can enable the organisation to empower its health and safety regulations. Recognising potential hazards Identifying groups of people who might face accidental events Evaluating hazardous incidents and their potential impacts Formulating advanced risk assessment mechanism and generating different preventive measures Recording various accidental events and their causes along with communicating with the employees Reviewing overall risk assessment tasks and practices which have been performed by the organisation Source: (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.) TASK 3 Identifying Issues Raised from Change Management and Formulating Adequate Measures to Address Them The change management process in the operational and administrative functions of Sutton Chemicals can create significant issues which might raise various constraints to the organisation. Operational Issues The integration of standardisation with regard to the production and administrative functions of Sutton Chemical can generate different operational issues. Owing to the stated concern, the integration of advanced machinery and development of the production process can hinder the productivity capability of the employees (Dutton, 2010). Cost Related Issues Emphasising change within the production and administration process can also bring about the requirement for the management to arrange adequate training and development processes. The need for training and development of the employees can further increase the financial burden of the firm which can also be a major constraint for Sutton Chemicals to obtain its predetermined business objectives (Dutton, 2010). Employee Resistance Issue The frequent change management initiatives can further create certain resistances for the employees. In this context, the change management practice can reduce the performance of the experienced and highly skilful employees of Sutton Chemicals to efficiently perform their stipulated job roles. In this context, the organisation must need to conduct adequate training and development activities in order to mitigate such issues (Dutton, 2010). Conclusion In relation to the present rapidly growing competitive business environment context in the global business environment, the integration of adequate and well-built standards has been widely observed within the organisations. In this regard, the integration of effective standardised principles can substantially ensure to efficiently maintain operations of the organisations. Therefore, the business operations of Sutton Chemicals should be protected by an effective set of standards which can enable the organisation to avert different accident related issues within the workplace. With reference to the case scenario, it has been determined that the integration of standards such as ISO14001 within the business process can facilitate Sutton Chemicals to efficiently deal with different work place related challenges arriving due to the hazardous nature of the organisational work process. Moreover, the standardisation of the production and administrative functions can further facilitate the company to protect its employees from different hazardous circumstances. Therefore, the aforesaid measures along with policies in the production and administration process can enable Sutton Chemicals to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and mitigate different challenges raised from its range of chemical producing activities. References Dutton, K. R., 2010. Management Issues: 'Organizational Change Management'. Article. [Online] Available at: http://www.emsvillage.com/articles/article.cfm?id=561 [Accessed July 01, 2013]. Health and Safety Executive, No Date. HSE Human Factors Briefing Note No. 11. Organisational Change. [Online] Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/11orgchange.pdf [Accessed July 01, 2013]. ISO Central Secretariat, 2000. How ISO Standards Help? ISO’s Environmental Standards. [Online] Available at: http://www.iso.org/iso/ghg_climate-change.pdf [Accessed July 01, 2013]. Verlag, B. No Date. Economic Benefits of Standardization. Final Report and Practical Examples. [Online] Available at: http://www.din.de/sixcms_upload/media/2896/economic_benefits_standardization.pdf [Accessed July 01, 2013]. Read More