Ship Management Business - Coursework Example

How have the social responsibilities of ship management business managers changed over the years? What and how is a major part in their business policies? Give relevant examples of genuine Companies if possible? Introduction: Managers have to perform their functions in the organisation. The systems approach of managing suggests that an organization being a sub system of broader societal system, has to work within the framework provided by the society and its various constituents. These constituents are combined to constitute an environment for an organisation. “Environmental planning and research helps improve our environment and lessen the effects of people1.” In order to attain this end, individual managers and his organisational environments are in a complex state of interaction with each other, and the organisation itself is in a state of interaction with its environment. The environment in a ship management organisation is classified as both internal and external because it work within the framework provided by the various elements of society. Hence, nowadays number of researches was done by well known maritime economists on “shipping in the era of social responsibility.” They contributed with their innovative research to the founding and development of subject related to the social act of shipping including loss of life, accidents and pollution. This is work during the last many years makes an awareness of the shipping industry to inspire many maritime economist & shipping managers. One of the most important challenges shipping faces today is to achieve the seemingly conflicting aim of increasing commercial competitiveness and fulfilling stakeholders’ expectation for social acceptable behaviour of the industry. Shipping companies are increasingly focusing on practices that promote quality, business an intensely competitive globalise world economy. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF BUSINESS MANAGERS –SOME BASIC FACTS: “ Social responsibilities (SR) of managers Particularly in business organizations have, of late, been one of the most talked about and widely supported subjects2.” It refers to businessmen or managers’ decisions and actions taken to reason at least partially beyond the firm’s direct economic or technical interest. By social responsibility we mean the intelligent and objective concern for the welfare of society that restrains individuals and corporate behaviour from ultimately destructive activities, no matter how immediately profitable, and lends in the direction of positive contributions to human betterment. “Social responsibility contents that management is responsible to the organisation itself and to all the interest groups with which it interacts. Other interest groups such as workers, customers, creditors, suppliers, Government and society in general are placed essentially equel with shareholders3.” The features of social responsibilities of the business managers are it contains three types of behaviour like positive, neutral and negative; Every person in society has a social obligation to fulfil –they may not be conscious about it. “SR Social responsibility involves fulfilling obligations to various parties concerned with the functioning of an organisation some of these parties concerned directly and others may be concerned indirectly4.” The standards fixed for fulfilling obligations to various parties are to be decided according to social norms expectations. It may vary from society to society. The organizations were exits, within a social system and get facilities from the system. Therefore, they owe obligations for the society as a whole. It is the obligations of managers to protect the interests of society, because management process goes a long way in determining the life in society. The managers should here behave in the following ways. They should maintain fair business policies and practices. Set up socially desirable standards of living and avoiding ostentation and wasteful expenditure. It should provide and promote general amenities and help in creating better living conditions in general and should play a proper role in civic affairs. Business organizations like ship management companies are creatures of society and must respond to social demands. The business within a set of cultural norms and restraints. These are certainly economic but also legal, political, social and technical. The managers are powerful and business should know instinctively that as they change, they must be incorporated in the decision making process. Decided according to social norms expectations. It may vary from society to society. The organizations were exits, within a social system and get facilities from the system. Therefore, they owe obligations for the society as a whole. It is the obligations of managers to protect the interests of society, because management process goes a long way in determining the life in society. The managers should here behave in the following ways. They should maintain fair business policies and practices. Set up socially desirable standards of living and avoiding ostentation and wasteful expenditure. It should provide and promote general amenities and help in creating better living conditions in general and should play a proper role in civic affairs. Business organizations like ship management companies are creatures of society and must respond to social demands. The business within a set of cultural norms and restraints. These are certainly not only economic, but also legal, political, social and technical. The managers are powerful and business should know instinctively that as they change, they must be incorporated in the decision making process. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS IN SHIP MANAGEMENT BUSINESS- FACTS AND POLICIES Ocean or sea transport plays a proverbially most important role. It has the capability of carrying a large array of items in the same ship at comparatively cheaper freight rates, particularly over long distances. The basic functions of these type of transport is involving economic or social need. Shipping service is organized according to the nature and trading requirements of goods traffic in international trade. When shipping industry is undergoing rapid progress with the adoption of latest technology, the social responsibilities of the ship managers has to be given more importance with reference to reliability, safety, speed, environmental factors and modernization of commercial shipping. Although business through sea route is the oldest mode of transportation, it is infected with a variety of maritime frauds and cheating incidents. These all are happening due to the complex nature of cargo transportation in international trade involving multiplicity of parties, lack of verification of documents and standing parties, lack of sharing information, lack of timely detection problems of liner trade etc. The shipping business policies define how your store will ship items and you will charge for shipping. The major part is the business policies of shipping management business is: Shipping mode and Shipping charge types A shipping mode is the combination of shipping carrier, which is provided by the company to customer. The shipping charges are charges paid by the buyer to seller. The seller calculates the shipping charges when the order is captured and the shipping costs become part of the order total-another thing is shipping charges paid by the buyer to the shipping carrier. The carrier calculates the shipping costs and assumes the responsibility of collecting payment from the buyer. Shipping costs are not calculated when the order is captured. Shipping business policies with respect to social responsibilities are created when we create the shipping database assets in the store archive for a store. The business supply appreciates its customers and acknowledge. We have a choice in where we choose to buy our office, technology, and custom printed products. As part of the social responsibility concern the shipping manager do their best to provide best prices for their merchandise without unreasonable addition or shipping. Business supply utilizes different carriers in an effort to transfer the greatest savings to their customer. For example of --- a US shipping company they have the items that qualify for free shipping is – on all orders of items that qualify by bills sub-total is greater than $ 50. Orders under $50 are chargeable at a flat free of $ 6.95.Shipping options and charges are dependent on items on items being ordered. Information and relevant shipping options are available once the product is created. Hence, as per the new policies a business supply of shipping company in US has proud tradition of being able to quickly and successful delivery to customers. Here we have to sincerely appreciate to this company maintaining corporate social responsibility by having the opportunity to support overseas service members and their families of a shipping company. Hence it was able to ship most items that are designated in their site as “Next Business Day” items through individuals. Zip Code has restriction that is specific to the overseas location they serve. Hence the system of this US based shipping company is to customer printed products ship items are dependent on when they are printed. An estimated ship will appear in their shipping cart and at their checkouts. NEW TRENDS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF SHIP MANAGEMENT BUSINESS Nowadays, as part of various conferences and researches with the subject area of “shipping in the era of social responsibility” the conference aims at becoming a forum of discussion of research which addresses issues related to social responsibility either from the prism of maritime economics or from the viewpoint of other relevant fields like strategy, Management & Organization, Finance, Human Resource Development Management, Operations Management, etc. and welcomes theoretical as well as empirical and case based papers that address issues in the following topics as are related to shipping and ports Like → social responsibility, competitiveness, corporate governance → safety quality, security management, shipping finance, environmental management → maritime policy, logistics, supply chain management, information and communication systems → human resources, education, training, → ship management, pool-management, operation management, maritime history, maritime law and insurance. An important moment today in this line was a project named “ creation of programme for human resource development and promotion of social responsibility “ of ship managers. This is an international project for the period of year 2004 to 2007. Explain how a new Container Terminal/ Port Development may cope with or influence the external environment in which they operate. Giving relevant examples of external environments? INTRODUCTION Environment is classified as external and internal because an organization works within the framework provided by the various elements of society. As such elements outside the organisation is external. There are many forces in the environment which influences the working of the organisation likes economic, legal, political, technological, sociological, cultural, etc. “An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a set of processes and practices that enable an organization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency5.” Today’s’ managers are extremely concerned with environmental variables affecting their organisations. Every organisation has to work within the framework of the extent of the environmental forces. A major difference between domestic and international business is the environment with which business is conducted. When doing business in foreign countries it is different and unfamiliar than domestic place. This is because of environmental factors. On an international business activity one therefore needs to be extra careful in identifying various environmental forces operating at the home country, host country and global levels. The major foreign environment to be analysed include geographical, economic, financial, socio-cultural, political, legal and ecological. A port is an interface between sea transport and inland transport and as such is considered to be an important sub system within a total transport system. As a nodal point for exchange of import and export cargoes, the port plays a key role in physical supply and physical distribution management. While the principal function of a port is to provide entry and exit for cargoes, the auxiliary activities at the ports include customs, inspection, warehousing, preparation of cargo for shipment, etc. Thus, the ports play a significant role in providing the necessary infrastructure for handling the goods traffic and help in increasing the efficiency of the overall transport system of a country. Being a vital infrastructure for the country’s overseas trade, most of the ports in the world, particularly those in developed countries, have adjusted various strategies for commercialisation, liberalisation, modernization of port administration to cope up with the available external environment in which they operate. Few of the objectives set out as per the policy initiative taken up for the port sectors are: Improvement of efficiency and customer satisfaction Revenue generation and augmentation of financial viability and new enterprise culture. To cope up with the external environment of the port, the modernization and augmentation of capacity at major ports to meet the projected traffic demand require huge investment. That policy to encourage private participation in the core sector is perceived as an instrument for a change. With the following areas may be identified for private participation Leasing out assets of the port, construction and operation of bulk, break bulk and multi-purpose and specialized cargo berths Construction and operation of customer terminals, operation of warehouses, CFS, storage facilities, task force etc. Supply, maintenance and operation of carnage and handling equipment, dry docking and ship repairing facilities, pilotage and dredging . Captive power plants, captive facilities for port based industries and leasing of equipment for cargo handling and floating crafts. At present organisation structure of major ports in the form of Port Trust presents many problems like in decision-making under these restrictive ambits. The ports are unable to operate to cope up with the external environment in which situate. Hence, nowadays most of the ports move towards corporation. This involves establishment of Joint Stock companies under the act and rule of particular country. It will impact the administrative autonomy to improve efficiency and viability of port operations in this extreme environment. Hence, the Government also permits 100% Foreign Investments in the form of Joint Ventures with domestic Port Trusts and they will be allowed to share revenue from the joint venture company up to 49%. This is a substantial deviation from general policy to operate container terminals. This move is expected to provide expertise to the container terminal port development in tackling various bottlenecks of external environment and bringing the ports at par with international standards. Port Development and External Environment: The influence of external environment on port development is an important area and business is under increasing pressure to change their behaviour in environmentally less damaging ways because: Much more is now known about environmental damages Many people now take an interest in environmental matters. It has become fashionable. People are better informed, better educated, and more questioning than they used to be Higher living standards mean waster and more business activity. In a port development, matter environment is very important issue, hence the formulation of human waste in terminal area produce environmental damages. Only way to manage this is how much we produce and second is kinds of goods and services we demand e.g. Radioactive waste have in port area its mainly because of packaging of goods. Third thing is that we have to consider the trend of the society feeling that means there it should be less polluting in port terminal areas. The fourth aspect is form ‘pressure groups’ like Green Peace etc. They are very good in their targets and stimulating public sympathy. Combined with media they can soon put a business under enormous pressure to make changes. The science underlying and understanding of environment is still disputed by scientists, because of the global warming and climate change exists. Government legislation is often ineffective. But the technology offers great hope for future solutions, although technology is sometimes very expensive. The pressure groups are also part of political system. They are united by a common interest in a single issue. They also mobilize public opinion regarding the development of port. The Internet now makes it quicker and easier to set up a protest group and to collect and spread information. EXAMPLES FOR EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON PORT DEVELOPMENT SINGAPORE PORT AREA DEVELOPMENT (MPA) Besides efficient cargo handling, harbouring, oil refining, ship building and ship repair the Singapore port is noted for its wide range of marine services, offshore support, salvage work, fresh water supply, crew range, ship supplies and slope disposal among others. “Singapore also has effective oil and chemical response capabilities and is a party to major international conventions that protect the marine environment6.” The port facilities area needs to comply with the requirements of external environment –which they operate in terms of quality, efficiency, competitiveness and reliability. These are backed by international terminal operations for cargo/container handling, oil refinery and petrochemicals. On the bay waterways of the Singapore port and the Singapore Strait, navigational safety and keeping the water clean is also a priority.” The MPA uses state of the art technology to ensure navigational safety – here; radar based Vessel Traffic Information System7.” Now it operates in two port Operation Control Centres, and both centres, which are fully integrated. Being an important external environment matter, safety is further enhanced through other navigational aids such as Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), which helps ships to fix their effective oil and chemical response capabilities and is a party to major international conventions that protect the marine environment. They conduct regular emergency exercises like – Ferry rescue & Joint Spill Exercises. It was conducted its annual ferry rescue exercise. This is to get higher State of readiness to respond to any marine incidents. The joint spill exercise is a tabletop exercise with interaction of emergency Apparatus Committee. It ensures the operational readiness to cope with external environmental threat. Bibliography August 25, 2006. Environmental Management. http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/environmental_management/ (accessed March 1, 2007). Prasad, M. L. Social Responsibilities of Managers, Principles and practice of Management. Page No.106. Prasad, M. L. Managers and Environment, Principles and practices of Management. Page No. 107. March 2, 2006. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Management Systems (EMS). http://www.epa.gov/ems/ (accessed March 1, 2007). Safety & Environment > Introduction. http://www.mpa.gov.sg/safetyenvironment/intro/intro.htm (accessed March 1, 2007). Read More