Managing Activities to Achieve Results - Assignment Example

Managing Activities to Achieve Results Mission ment The mission ment of Syngenta is to “bring plant potential to life”. Main Aims and Objectives The main aim of the company is to use innovative technology and sustainable agricultural practices to bring plant potential to life. In other words, the main objective of the company is to increase the quality of crops and to increase yields on limited farming lands. Another of the company’s objectives is to research and develop products that can meet agribusiness demand all over the world. How has the mission, aims and objectives shaped the culture and structure of the company? Syngenta operates through a matrix structure (Haynes, 2002). The matrix structure is suited for the company’s aims and objectives. This structure enables the company to involve employees from various departments in its day to day operations. The workforce can work together as one team to complete tasks and projects. Since the mission, aims and objectives of the company are trained on enhancing the production of quality products through research and development, the matrix or project tem structure is the best structure for this company. Apart from research and development, the other departments such as manufacturing, human resources, finance, sales and marketing and information systems all play a vital role in ensuring that the company is able to meet its aims and objectives. All employees in these departments have to work together to achieve this. When it comes to project management there are team leaders who are given the task to manage some specific tasks and projects. The team involved in the project includes members from different departments within the company. These team members have different skills, abilities and knowledge which they normally share with each other in order to complete their given tasks. The level of expertise of the different team members is all harnessed to ensure that performance in each functional area is maximized. The teams may be disbanded when a project is finished but they might still be functional if there is more work to be done or a similar project to be worked on. Process Management Approach A process management is the kind of management approach that focuses on organizational aspects being aligned with customer’s wants and needs (Becker, Kugeler and Rosemann, 2003). In order to have an efficient process management approach, the company needs to think about its core customers and what benefits they can enjoy from the company. This means that Syngenta needs to consider and identify its customers, that is, the people who use their products. The company also needs to identify the people who make buying decisions. These processes should be geared towards a cycle of business improvement which should be aligned to the mission, aims and objectives of the company. Methodology Syngenta’s customers are government organizations which deal with agricultural activities and individual farmers from different parts of the world. These customers make the buying decisions themselves. These decisions are normally dependent on the specific needs of each customer. the benefits that the customers seek include availability, dependable delivery, fair terms of payment marketing support, quality, product information, safety and efficacy. In order to ensure that customers expectations are met, the company needs to ensure that its operations are run properly (Jeston, and Nelis, 2006). All departments need to work towards maximum performance that will see the company leave by its mission and vision, thereby, ensuring that customers get the products and services they require and enjoy the benefits that come with the purchase of these products. Evaluation of Processes Output To evaluate output from these processes, the company needs to put up measures to track results and processes. Setting measurements and rewards systems will go a long way in enhancing the organization’s culture. Proper evaluation of outputs will also ensure that the company maintains a balance between current and past performance (Becker, Kugeler and Rosemann, 2003). This way, project managers can efficiently make plans for future projects, which should focus on how to satisfy the needs and wants of customers. Syngenta can make use of process measures which are effective in predicting future performance (Shim and Siegel, 1999). The company should identify those factors which affect measures so that future results can be maximized. The company can divide its measurement into different categories that cover all aspects of a project. For instance, there should be measurements for the financial, customer, internal and growth aspects of the projects. Financial measurements can include analyzing earnings from the products that are distributed to the customers. This will enable the company get to know how well its products are doing on the market. Customer satisfaction measurements may include market share growth, delivery analyses, price versus competition and perception of value. Internal measurements may include process improvement indexes, environmental compliance tests as well as employee satisfaction indexes. For growth measurements, the company can make use of new product indexes to evaluate how the products are doing within a competitive market (Brimson and Antos, 1998) Task 2 Explain the typical contents of an operational plan for a functional area of a business such as Kathryn’s. Kathryn is one of the group leaders of one of the functional teams in Syngenta. The work of this team is to ensure that the company’s products are ready for the market. To carry out her duties as a team leader effectively, Kathryn will need an operational plan which will act as a guide in supervising the activities of her team. A typical operational plan Kathryn might use can include the following: 1. Individuals involved in the project. 2. Project activities 3. Suppliers 4. How suppliers are to be used 5. Labor requirements 6. Raw material sources 7. production process 8. facilities and inventory 9. distribution 10. maintenance The operational plan needs to list everyone involved in the project. This will make it easy to know who is going to be doing what (Knutson and Bitz, 1991). Doing this will make it easy for the team members to know and understand their individual roles and what is expected of them. Outlining the project activities is important as it enables the team understand what exactly it is that they are going to do. When the team leader outlines project activities, it becomes easier to organize the work and delegate it to different staff members. Budgeting for the project is made easier when all the activities are listed down. The operational plan also needs to have information on suppliers and how they are to be used (Lock, 2007). Since this kind of functional task involves the production of goods that of high quality and those that are easily and readily acceptable in the market, there is need to have a list on where to get the materials that will be needed to produce the required products. Listing down reliable suppliers will enable the team involved in the project to get quality production materials and equipment. Another important content in the operational plan is an outline of labor requirements. Outlining the labor requirements of organizational functions is important for budgeting and delegation purposes. Noting the labor requirements crucial as it enables the team managers take care of their employees’ needs during the project. Finally, the plan also needs to include the sources of the raw materials that are needed for a certain project or task (Shim and Siegel, 1999). The plan also needs to address the issue of production and its cost. All the process involved in the production should be well defined. The facilities needed for the production should be mentioned in the operational plan. Information about the capacity of the facilities needs to be included n the plan (Brimson and Antos, 1998). Inventory details are also important in any projects and they need to be included in the plan. In any production environment, there has to be a mechanism for distribution. The plan has to have information on how the company plans to distribute its products. Maintenance of the whole production process is very important and every detail that touches on maintenance should be in the operational plan (Kumar, 2006). SMART objectives for Kathryn’s project team 1. create a production plan that will be in line with the company’s overall goals and within a specified budget during the first week 2. delegate production duties to each team member during the first week of the project 3. produce goods that are of the required standards, as per the company’s mission, to be ready for distribution after one month The first objective is important as it will enable the team to organize themselves before they start the project. Having a plan will enable them understand exactly what they are supposed to do and for what purposes they are doing the project. The second objective is important as it will help each of the team members to know and understand his or her individual duties. This will go a long way in ensuring that everything runs smoothly during the whole process of production. The third objective is the most important of all as it underlines the basic purpose of the project, which is to produce high quality products that will do well in the market. The first two objectives are just means of ensuring that the production of quality products is not compromised in any when the project is underway. Implementation of Appropriate Systems Kathryn can enforce a code of conduct among the team members which requires them to follow the organization’s mission statement in their everyday work. Each of the team members should be made to understand the importance of the project and why their effort and input is needed in the completion of the project. She can come up with a system which requires every member of the team to report on the progress of the project in his specific area of responsibility. Kathryn can also make use of the available technology within the company to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as it should. For instance, she can keep inventory of the project using technical means. Monitoring and Control Keeping in touch with what is going on in every aspect of the project is very important. Kathryn can put in place monitoring and control mechanisms that will help her manage the project efficiently. One of the monitoring and control mechanisms that she can incorporate into her operational planning include mini-performance analyses the work of deferent team members. References Becker, J., Kugeler, M. and Rosemann, M. (2003). Process Management: A Guide for the Design of Business Processes. New York: Springer Brimson, J.A. and Antos, J. (1998). Activity-based management: for service industries, government entities, and nonprofit organizations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Haynes, M.E. (2002). Project Management: A Practical Tool for Success. Toronto: Crisp Publications Jeston, J. and Nelis, J. (2006). Business Process Management: Practical Guidelines to Successful implementations. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann Knutson, J. and Bitz, I. (1991). Project management: how to plan and manage successful projects. New York: AMACOM Kumar, S.A. (2006). Production and Operations Management. New Delhi: New Age International Lock, D. (2007). Project Management. Hampshire: Gower Publishing Limited Shim, J.K. and Siegel, J.G. (1999). Operations Management. New York: Barron’s Educational Series Read More