The Palm City Company Administrator - Case Study Example

The Palm Company Administrator By Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 0 Introduction 3 2.0 Role Efficiency Analysis 4 2.1 Performance of the Tasks and the Duties 4 3.0 Strengths and Weaknesses from the Personal Perspective 5 4.0 Improvement Suggestions 6 5.0 Appraising other Members of the Groups in their Roles 7 6.0 Appraising Team Management Skills and Problem Solving Skills 8 7.0 Personal Learning and Discovery, an Evaluation 8 8.0 Plans for the Future 9 References 9 1.0 Introduction Palm City is a US company that specialises in the sale of dates and cookies made of the same dates and imported from Saudi Arabia. Its annual capital of £205 is equally distributed among its five shareholders. It is a company whose leadership is done by the shareholders coming to the fact that each of the shareholders has a role to play in its management. The roles of the shareholders are divided in to five pools depending on the area of specialisation; The leader of the company The director in charge of marketing Director in charge of the finances Operations director and The overall company administrator. Of the above, my position was that of the administrator of the company. The biggest role that I had was to create operations cohesion and discipline in the others so that they work within the rules as well as the regulations as legislated by the Young Enterprise Company (YEC). The other was to act as the chief advisor in legal matters to the company. To effectively perform these roles, I knew that it was necessary to become familiar with the rules as spelt out by the YEC as well as the Young Enterprise Legal Responsibilities (YELR). On top of this, knowledge about shares was important because the ownership of the members was based on ownership of shares in the company. In this position, I would liaise with the external stakeholders to the company such as suppliers. The first meeting we had produced an opportunity for me to exercise my leadership abilities. To this, I made sure that all the members of the company had sound knowledge of the roles they had to play. This also included the strategic expectations of the company to the m in the long run; being practical about their operations and meeting the specified deadlines. Therefore, the study on the leadership of the organization was meant to provide sound direction for the foreseeable future and also lead the operations in a way that is as effective as possible. The task given to the marketing director was to provide the business with a strategy that was competitive enough to see a progressive increment in the revenues. The financial director had the role of keeping the records in the financial section as effectively as possible. The office of the administrator had the overall role of making sure that all activities that were planned are effectively adhered to by the members so that the journey to the meeting the strategic objectives is effectively met. Every activity that the company would engage in was drafted by the administrator and strictly adhered to the laws as indicated by YEC and YELR. 2.0 Role Efficiency Analysis 2.1 Performance of the Tasks and the Duties Crevani, Palm, & Schilling (2011) determined that the agenda of any meeting spells out the entire meeting programme. This was duly exercised in meetings as well as discussions because it summarily stated the all the important sections of the meetings, the discussions and any deliberation with the interest of the company at heart. In our case, the agenda made sure that all matters were put to the discussion as well as calling for the contribution of all the members. Such a step is important in that it takes to consideration all the ideas from all the important stakeholders. It can therefore be stated that professionalism was duly applied during meetings. This method has the capability of providing a logical guide in which harmony and high levels of efficiency are inculcated in the meetings. It observes time and order (Carroll, 2012, p. 129). For instance, one of the times that a meeting was held indicated that the marketing director needed to have some substantial information ready. This was duly communicated to him beforehand and indicated on the next meeting agenda. He was supposed to produce a workable marketing strategy. Another important issue was the specialisation and division of work. It was indicated that when this was done, the level of production efficiency as well as the time used in production were highly reduced. The human resource became very dedicated and the result was that there are some strategic objectives were realised earlier. This was discovered during one of the regular meetings in which the progress of each department was to be tabled by the respective departmental heads. 3.0 Strengths and Weaknesses from the Personal Perspective According to Akinbowale, Lourens, & Jinabhai (2014), when trust and high levels of transparency are created at the place of work, the duty performance and general output is increased. For me, I understood that creating a good relationship between the company employees and other members was useful as a progressive process. What I did was to make sure that participation that is active is introduced to the company and all the members are included in the process of making decisions for the company. This was a point of strength because it worked well. Secondly, I took a personal initiative at motivating the employees so that they are motivated to work towards the strategic objectives of the company as a team. This is a situation that worked well. In normal circumstances, Allen & Helms (2002) noted that points of weaknesses must always come up even in the strongest plan. Such was also my case. First, I noted that the aspect of management is a challenge in the first place. Outlining frameworks for specified duties was especially challenging and this led to low qualities of work being achieved. This actually forced me to undergo a consultative process with the other senior company members in whom I had to change plans and focus. I ended up changing from plan to plan before I could effectively state that I had a stable plan for the normal operations. Time management was another issue given that I had to deal with so many issues at the same time. I later came to realise that learning from mistakes was part of management and the issues were corrected through effective time management that allowed me to do effective time organization and management. Wide consultations were also used both internally and externally and the results were noted almost immediately. I started finishing my work on time keeping the quality high. The aspect of teamwork also proved a challenge in that there are some members of the company that were dominating the decision making process at the expense of the others due to the aspect of specialisation and division of labour that was earlier initiated. I corrected this through allowing members to contribute through stated time-frames. All members started contributing as effectively as possible and there was a sense of teamwork coming back to the company. I ended up noting that the important aspect of having effective teamwork is that there has to be effective communication. Teamwork leads to effective suggestions and all members started feeling to be part of the company. From the perspective of Munjuri (2012), it is noted that effective teamwork introduces an interactive decision making process that pushes the company towards realisation of the objectives faster than would be imagined. This is a theoretical perspective that brought cohesion and a high level of appreciation among the company members. 4.0 Improvement Suggestions Having noted the challenges I am facing at the company, I have noted the importance of developing workable strategies especially on time management. With reference to Crevani, Palm, & Schilling (2011), it may seem that time is never enough to complete assigned tasks. This is a common phenomenon. Therefore, setting goals that are clear and achievable objectives is important in determining progress towards goals and a successful company. Time management that is done in a proper way is also a way of progressing towards quality as related to quantity of work done. The other way to improvement as noted was to make sure that there was focus on the challenges and responsibilities that I had. This taught me the aspect of accepting the challenges that come my way, take responsibility towards their achievement and have a vision that is shared as well as setting objectives that are achievable. The other suggestion for improvement is that I am supposed to share my visions, knowledge and ideas with the other members with view to improving them. Lastly, I noted that being open helps develop a progressive improvement aspect on the employees in the company. Listening to the views of the other members of the company and taking them as capable sources of capital is effective in developing sound decision making mechanisms in them (Henry, 2011, p. 88). 5.0 Appraising other Members of the Groups in their Roles I stated earlier that all the members of my group and company were well aware of the responsibilities that they had and those duties that made administrative work as easier as possible. I noted that the members found it easier to submit their progresses of their respective works and shared the objectives of the company through objective delivery that was very objective. This happened albeit some of the members of the company not being able to internalize the objectives of the company as clearly as possible. This was managed through having meetings that were frequent and stoutly brief whenever a member of the company experienced a situation that was difficult. This is an issue that is recommended by Atkinson (2010) and it helped us achieve the set objectives in a timely manner. This was very important. The members of my team strategically came up with strategies that were used to cover challenges that came in various ways. The level of commitment they had in the programme became a motivation tenfold. The accomplishment of the team mission was seen to be an easy task and these were achieved through high levels of transparency, interaction and discussions that were very productive. 6.0 Appraising Team Management Skills and Problem Solving Skills From the aspect of specialisation and division of labour mentioned earlier, it was determined that members of teams became self-centred. This made them to leave out the tasks I considered general without any person to attend to them. This was a small matter that was resolved within the first two meetings that we had. After that, more meetings were organised so that we could review the progress of the different groups of people on these matters. Effective subsequent steps were taken based on these meetings and their findings. In transporting, there was a problem getting the products from the Saudi Republic caused by shipping delays and this also resulted in delays in the sale of products. Two solutions were reached on, one of which would be viable. First, it would be prudent changing the shipping company or bringing the products by use of air. This, according to Auzair (2011) would increase the convenient levels. 7.0 Personal Learning and Discovery, an Evaluation The first thing I learnt was the aspect of time management. It helped me know the importance of drawing a list of preferences. The list would guide me on what to work on first to the last. The amount of work was also determined and this focus led me to increasing the quality of the work I did. I realised that time is a limited resource and without effective planning, it would be impossible realising the goals as per the schedule. The most important opportunity was to take part in implementation of projects on practical basis alongside being able to effectively evaluate data in a qualitative and quantitative manner. Crafting a powerful business plan was the ultimate achievement in all case. Teamwork was realised to be very important and there are some tasks that can only be realised through this. All these are definitely helpful in my future career and life. 8.0 Plans for the Future Participation allows real projects versatility by the participants. This is a major advantage (Bivainis & Tunčikiene, 2007, p. 321). I now have the capability to work in different sectors such as private or public; small SMEs to large corporations are also no challenge. With the desire for more value in myself, I am planning to further my course by taking a master’s degree in project management. To this, my expertise will double up and I will be able to run firms that are bigger with structures that are more complex. I will not have added value to myself alone, but also to these companies. References Akinbowale, M. A., Lourens, M. E., & Jinabhai, D. C. (2014). Employee Performance Measurement and Performance Appraisal Policy. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 5(9), 65. Allen, R., & Helms, M. (2002). Employee Perceptions of Relationships Between Strategy Rewards and Organizational Performance. Journal of Business Strategies, 19(2), 115-139. Atkinson, R. (2010). Project management: cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, its time to accept other success criteria. International Journal of Project Management, 17(6), 337-347. Auzair, S. M. (2011). The Effect Of Business Strategy And External Environment On Management Control Systems: A Study Of Malaysian Hotels. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(13), 234-250. Bivainis, J., & Tunčikiene, Ž. (2007). Integrated approach to strategic planning in public institutions. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 8(4), 97. Carroll, J. (2012). Effective Project Management in Easy Steps. London: n Easy Steps. Crevani, L., Palm, K., & Schilling, A. (2011). Innovation management in service firms: a research agenda. Service business, 5(2), 112. Henry, A. (2011). Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Munjuri, M. G. (2012). Workforce Diversity Management and Employee Performance in The Banking Sector in Kenya. Africa Management Review, 3(1), 1-18. Read More