HR Wallingford and the Use of Management Information Systems - Case Study Example

Introduction Companies in the United Kingdom make significant investments in the technology such as in purchasing the latest software, tools and other necessary components for the attainment of organisational goals. These resources are important in order for a company to stay current, strengthen their business and maintain their competitive advantage (Murray 2006). Those that make decisions within a company must address a number of challenges in order to achieve their goals of effectively investing in new technology. Some of the important things that must be considered include the speed of adopting the technology, the overall performance of systems, technology support, proper training and the return of investments. The most important cost factors can be inadequately budgeted or even ignored which then limits the success of these new purchases. To make an efficient technology purchase and create new technological developments require a company’s vision as well as strategies that will be effective for a long time. Furthermore, a company should have a complete knowledge and assurance of whether their latest innovations can allow them to attain their goals and objectives. If the technological innovation is effective, it will provide the company with ease, convenience and proficiency in carrying out their activities (Murray 2006). When a well-structured approach is used to acquire and develop new technology, a senior management team is created for the establishment of new business practices and principles in order to implement new the new technology. Another team is created to inform a company’s staff of the new business practices and principle to make sure that the new technology is successfully incorporated. To simply put it, a great deal of money and time is spent to make sure that new technological developments are effectively implemented and incorporated into the company’s processes. Technological innovations and developments both provide advantages and disadvantages for the majority of companies in the United Kingdom (Blegen 1997). One sector that provides a considerable contribution to the UK economy is the Intermediate Research and Technology Sector in which the HR Wallingford Ltd. belongs. HR Wallingford, along with the other members of the Intermediate Sector, is a company whose activities generate research outcomes into new technologies and innovations for the business, industry and government sectors to use. These organisations are known to immediately respond to the market and have the primary objective of providing research and development in order to maintain the competitiveness as well as the sales and profits of the United Kingdom. HR Wallingford is a company that provides research and solutions for civil engineering and environmental hydraulics, particularly in water and water environment management. Discussion HR Wallingford and the Use of Management Information Systems HR Wallingford is a company that has been providing expert services on engineering, environmental assessment, informatics and physical modeling. With their full range of tools, equipment, resources, skills and experiences, the company is known for its frequent technological developments and innovations to address the needs of customers all over the United Kingdom and the global market as well. HR Wallingford has been taking on responsibilities which include the improvement and management of coasts, floods, energy, maritime and water and has incorporated technology in ensuring that the needs of their customers and the general public are met and satisfied; furthermore, they receive the services that they very much deserve. Out of all the projects that HR Wallingford has accomplished, one technological trend that is evident would be the use of management information systems which cover the application of people, technology, documents and procedures in order to attain business goals and objectives. Compared to the regular information systems, the new management information systems are different in such a way that they are used to evaluate the other information systems which are applied in the activities and operations of an organisation (O’ Brien 1999). These information methods are used to help and support the decision making of organisation members and also bridge the gap between business and technology. Management information systems effectively combine technology with business in order to provide people with access to information so they can do accomplish their jobs in a faster, better, and smarter way. Information is a necessary component to drive an organisation and provide convenient communication among the management and staff members for their goals to be achieved (Kotler and Keller 2006). Decades ago, HR Wallingford along with other UK organisations was able to provide reports manually and only every so often which then provided delayed and limited information on management performance. Moreover, business systems before were primarily used to compute payments and keep track of accounts; however, over the recent years, these systems have evolved into a more complex structure that can help any company in making decisions, manage all staff members, projects and resources, as well as retrieve any information that is needed for projects and activities. In short, a management information system is highly capable of gathering, evaluating and storing data for it to be processed into information that can be valuably used to carry out the functions of an organisation (Laudon 2004). It can provide the right information to the right people at the right time. The primary role that the management information systems play in an organisation is to process the data that has been generated by the operations of a business. Most often, the information that is provided by thee systems help the management of an organisation to make plans and control decisions. Every organisation must carry out certain operation for it to successfully function (Laudon 2004). For example, the HR Wallingford, which is responsible for the management of water environment, has to carry out certain activities and methods for their water management projects and must make plans for them as well. In other words, the company has to decide on what methods to use, analyze the necessary information to carry out the project, and evaluate a range of design options best suited for a particular project for its beneficial effects to last for at least five years. Furthermore, HR Wallingford must be capable of controlling the operations which should be aligned with the targets that have been developed in the planning process. They must be able to know if their management projects are being implemented in accordance with the targets and if they are not, they should be able to make decisions in order to correct the faults or make revisions in the plans. Similarly their clients would also want to know the influence and impact of their commission on the projects and make decisions for them to correct unhelpful trends. Most often, companies under the Intermediate Sector make use of complex systems that can assist their operations by providing information for staff members who are assigned out in the field about the jobs that have to be accomplished including documents for the materials and other components used in their projects. This kind of systems, however, can only provide information to support the operations and cannot significantly influence managers in making decisions (O’ Brien 1999). The management information system, on the other hand, will provide more specific information on the production rate of staff members, the utilization of machines, as well as the rates for malfunctions (Haag and Cummings 2009). In the case of HR Wallingford, project leaders often make use of previous data of their organisation’s activities as well as their current information to make, plan and control decisions. Management information systems come with databases that collect and evaluate information in a systematic way to support the planning and control of decisions that the company makes. Effective management information systems are necessary for organisations due to the rising demands of customers and the increasing difficulty of today’s business environment. In an organisation that takes on a wide range of environmental responsibilities such as HR Wallingford, the use of a management information system will facilitate the planning of all projects as it can provide the necessary information for a proper decision making. Over the years, managers have started to lose personal contacts with the scene of their operations due to the size as well as the difficulty that are experienced by many organisations (Kotler and Keller 2006). Furthermore, HR Wallingford has been in existence for more than fifty years now and most often, they analyze and make use of past information in order to come up with new approaches for their most recent projects. Through the use of management information systems, information overload is less likely to occur as it allows a large amount of data to be summarized and therefore help avoid confusion which generally arise when managers become very busy with a great deal of detailed information. This type of information system will also allow HR Wallingford to successfully measure the performance as well as make the necessary changes in the plans and procedures of their organisation. In relation to this, each and every department of the company will become aware of all problems and requirements and can therefore connect with each other in making organisational decisions which will allow them to have a less demanding and complicated time in achieving organisational goals. Each and every organisation in all kinds of sectors will have at least one major capability which will be a function that they perform better than their competitors. Through the effective integration of a new technological innovation such as a management information system, it will allow HR Wallingford to push out ahead of the competitive business environment due to the fact that MIS systems are highly capable of providing the necessary tools for the organisation to better understand the market as well as their projects and activities. However, despite the numerous advantages and opportunities that management information systems can provide to HR Wallingford, its implementation and integration to the company may not be as simple and straightforward as possible. A large company such as this must think both globally and locally when going for a new technological development as they may encounter a number of difficulties and inconveniences in the entire process of implementation including end-user resistance (Murray 2006). For example, such resistance occurs and increases when the new technology forces their staff to change business processes and does not immediately provide the best possible performance and speed during their business hours. Or users in different countries may not all be able to access the technology during their business hours due to the maintenance of the application. Other elements such as unexpected needs for hardware, applications, training, management and costs can also disrupt and weaken an innovation project. That is why, in order to make the most of the effectiveness of new technological developments, HR Wallingford must adopt to the way that end-users may think and at the same time look forward to the issues concerning the flexibility of the new technology (Murray 2006). In the case of HR Wallingford, they must be given the power to analyze and make use of accurate information in an appropriate manner in order to come up with effective business decisions. These very important decisions are often hurriedly made by constantly analyzing data. However, to immediately gather accurate data can be very challenging for a global corporation such as HR Wallingford particularly because they have divisions in a number of countries that make different plans, make use of different resources and address customer relationships with various technological ways. This is why technological developments such as the use of management information systems should be chosen and done with a common organisational vision as well as a consistent strategy and financial plan (Murray 2006). Balancing the Needs of Stakeholders According to Kanter (2000), today’s organisations and their leaders have been facing an increasing number of challenges particularly due to the globalization and combination of numerous business activities using information technology and other technological developments. Furthermore, the loss of the people’s trust because of scandals and misconduct has created an unfavorable marketplace. HR Wallingford, therefore, must be able to balance certain organisational demands especially with the uncertainties of an external environment (Maak and Pless 2006). The external environment significantly affects the availability of resources for an organisation and as what Jones (2004) has stated, an organisation’s customers, partners, distributors, associates and suppliers as well as the government are all significant external stakeholders that can influence and pressure organisations to do things in certain ways. It was further stated that because external factors as well as the management’s attitude can affect the organisation’s ability to achieve its goals, it is therefore necessary to become aware and fully understand the importance of such elements. Loo (2002) asserts that meeting and satisfying the needs and demands of different stakeholders, regardless of how contradictory they are, should be a main priority of an organisation’s management though it is certainly challenging to balance the needs of internal and external stakeholders, and then side these conflicting needs with the goals and objectives of the organisation. Jones (2004) further assert that when organisations come up with a set of goals in measuring organisational effectiveness, they must also ensure that ‘official’ and ‘operative’ goals are working together to increase effectiveness. Additionally, company leaders must develop their communication skills to weigh out the demands between the external and internal stakeholders. To effectively manage the expectations of stakeholders, organisations should be able to identify and balance the information needs of these individuals and in order to weight out such information, a clear communication as well as accurate information is necessary for all sides to understand. Pearce and Robinson (2003) have suggested that in order to balance the needs of various stakeholders, organisations must carefully consider a number of components including leadership, organisational mission and strategy, communication and the balancing of weights. There are two types of leadership- the transactional and the transformational leadership. Transactional leadership occurs when an organisational leader encourages his or her followers by using punishing those who fail to achieve goals and reward those who give a satisfactory performance (Bass 1990). The transformational leadership, on the other hand, was developed during the study of Burns (1978) when he proposed that emotional relations encourage change and transformations within a leader and his or her followers and thus, create a rewarding and favorable environment for leaders and followers alike. Organisational leaders must, therefore, be able to adapt their leadership style in order to adjust to the situation and introduce the necessary changes to achieve organisational goals. They should be capable of influencing the behaviour of their followers, persuade their vision, and motivate their emotional commitment. When leadership develops a strong foundation, it will become important in realising the mission and strategy of an organisation. Additionally, the key to achieve organisational goals and successful combination of departments requires the ability of a leader to establish a common vision among their workforce, create strong relationships between business departments and units, build up effective teams, and keep the focus on the mission. This way, a mission statement becomes very valuable in providing support and guidance to the entire organisation by clearly expressing goals, intentions and expectations for the long run (Pearce and Robinson 2003). Communication is also necessary for understanding the information that the stakeholders need and the ways on how they desire to receive it, which then entails a careful inquiry and analysis. Stakeholders would most often want information that describes the financial state of a company and as what Maak and Pless (2006) have stated, responsible organisations make sure that there is a regular communication and clear reporting on all sorts of performances of the corporation in the social, economic and ecological aspect. Recklies (2001) also state that organisations must be able to analyze their stakeholders, the necessary information and communication strategies as well as the technology to deliver such information in order to develop and maintain strong stakeholder relationships as well as to bridge the gaps that exist between external and internal stakeholders. In the Stakeholder Theory of cited in Maak and Pless’ (2006), it was suggested that managers should be capable of being transparent about how they want to carry out their business, particularly the kinds of relationships that they need and want to establish with their stakeholders. It is also important to determine the main purpose of the company as well as the responsibility of the management towards their stakeholders. Organisations must understand that their investments in the relationships that they have created with stakeholders as well as the interests of such stakeholders are very much valuable; however, such relationships must be balanced with the organisation’s needs. In order to do this, company leaders must be capable of giving a weight to each stakeholder and each of their demands. Each and every weight should be weighed out against the organisation’s strategies and mission. In short, it is the duty of organisations to retain a balance between attaining their goals and meeting the demands of their external and internal stakeholders. Emerging Business Themes Over the years, the international business has been faced with a wide range of emerging business themes which majority of all organisations has tried to address and concentrate on (Buckley 2002). Peng (2004) also assert that major issues within the international business must be significantly identified in order to further promote the advancement of knowledge. Future advancements in the international business, though, depend on the previous and current contributions as well as the work of present-day contributors in order to generate knowledge. Aside from the new developments and innovations in technology as a business theme that is on the rise, the emergences of intermediary and partner organisations as well as the focus on economic regions both have also become issues that are being addressed by companies and have, in one way or another, become a rising matter (Acedo and Casillas 2005). Intermediary organisations, also known as funding partners, are most often public charities that raise funds in the United Kingdom and present them internationally. To form collaboration with an intermediary is normally the easiest way for UK organisations such as HR Wallingford to provide globally. More specifically, the HR Wallingford can assist its partners, members and customers with guidance and support during global disasters as the company focuses on the management and maintenance of water environment including floods, coasts, maritime and energy. In this way, the public can make purchasing decisions based on such types of activities. Additionally, through the desire to benefit the human race, it can further lead to business and HR Wallingford can make connections that could possibly lead to customers who would want to avail of their services. Previous studies have also shown that organisational involvement in charities and other programs that can benefit everyone normally boosts the morale and self-esteem of employees, which will then possibly lead to the motivation and retention of the members of their workforce (Fruin 2007). Establishing partner organisations can support the company in reaching out to a new audience and get rid of any negative perceptions about their organisation and its services. Second, private investments as well as business activities have become widespread in economic regions that were once poor yet have now been gradually attaining developments, growing forcefully, creating a number of meaningful jobs, and bringing a considerably large number of new consumers into the international market place each year. This decrease in poverty has produced a range of benefits not just for residents and consumers but for the multinational companies and organisations as well (Prahalad and Hammond 2002). As regions start to stabilize and strengthen themselves, global companies such as the HR Wallingford can rapidly expand in this new age of innovation and competition. The HR Wallingford can only respond to this mater through its willingness to enter and invest in some of the world’s poorest markets. Many innovative companies have been serving the world’s poorest and instead of failures and breakdowns, they have generated strong revenues, increased the level of operating efficiency and allowed them to discover new approaches for innovation. When HR Wallingford follow such leads, to build business and services around the world’s poorest, it will create huge opportunities for them to gain competitive advantages in this century of new innovations and developments. Conclusion The United Kingdom is known as a leader for innovation and development particularly in the fields of research and technology. UK organisations such as the HR Wallingford are able to provide superior services due to the necessary changes and innovations that they regularly implement unto their activities and processes in order to improve their overall performance. Investments in new technology can lead to both advancement opportunities as well as certain challenges before, during and after the implementation process. The use of management information systems, for example, can create a clear and stable communication between a company in order for its members to effectively make and control decisions. However, the inappropriate and inadequate implementation of such systems can lead to employee resistance or an adverse shift in business processes. More importantly, it may also have an impact on the company’s stakeholders. It is very important for an organisation to maintain strong relations with its external and internal stakeholders by implementing and keeping hold of a shared mission and vision among the organisation in order to achieve optimum performance. Furthermore, an open and honest communication as well as balance between organisational needs and stakeholder needs will preserve the associations that have been established with such stakeholders. Aside from technological developments, other emerging themes that have been considered by a number of companies include the rise of intermediary organisations and the focus on economic regions. Both of these will allow a multinational organisation such as the HR Wallingford to tap into its potentials and provide benefits for their company as well as their well-valued clients and customers. References Acedo, FJ & Casillas, JC 2005, ‘Current paradigms in the international management field’, International Business Review, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 619–639. Bass, B 1990, Handbook of leadership: Theory, research & managerial applications, (3rd ed.). New York: The Free Press. 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